Shell Beach & Monkey Mia- August 6, 2019
It was a pretty standard morning; wake up, get dressed, brush teeth, pack up the tents and trailer, get on the bus, start driving, and pop a “tinnie”. Today’s first stop was the Billabong Roadhouse for people to use the toilets, and get some snacks. I got something way more important than snacks. COFFEE. My muse, my best friend, my always supportive and necessary pick me up. My drink of choice since my daily coffee dates with my mom at the diner that began at the ripe age of two. I haven’t been able to get enough since. And for those who are about to blame my coffee drinking as a child on my vertical challenges, I was only allowed decaf at the time. So try again.
We arrived at shell beach. I was so glad because I really had to use the toilet. On the way to the water I stopped at what was one hundred percent the worst smelling drop toilet I have ever smelled in my life. Thinking about it makes my stomach turn. I was in and out as fast as possible with my shirt over my face and my hand over that doing my best to block the stench from entering my nose. It’s weird how something so discussing could lead to a beach so stunning, so unique. Shell beach who’s name is so accurately portrayed is filled with these gorgeous white shells in lieu of sand. There are hilly shell dunes that lead to a gorgeous ocean of stunning blue water that goes on for miles. Itwas the perfect place to have our first true relaxing time of the trip outside of the bus, even if only for 2 hours. We made the best of our short time there; soaking in the sun, doing some photo shoots and cooling off in the ocean. The only negative about the beach was that my skin is so sensitive that any part of my body that directly touched the shells ended up with little cuts on it that didn’t feel too great. Also, playing any type of games or catch was pretty much impossible because walking in bare feet was pretty much unbearable. Despite those little nuisances, the pain was well worth the trip there and I was very sad when it was time to leave. I think we all were.
A short drive later and we reached our hostel for the night, RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. This was our first time on the trip sleeping in a hostel rather than camping in a tent. We were all so excited to sleep in a bed and also have a nice hot shower! Unfortunately by the time we got there and checked in, many of us didn’t have time to shower before we had to walk over to the pier where our Shot Over sunset cruise was departing from. I was one of the people on the trip who decided I’d rather take a nice relaxing shower after than rush to shower and get ready in about 20 minutes. Usually I would be the person to take a quick shower before. But after not having a good warm shower for days and not knowing when my next one would be, I wanted to savor the moment.
I was one of the last to get on the boat (surprise, surprise). The first thing I spotted when I got on was Jamie laying on this netted area in the middle of the boat that was directly over the water. I immediately got excited because it looked like it was a hammock and with direct views of the water but without needing to touch the water. It was pretty much my perfect scenario. I immediately lied down on it. While it wasn’t bouncy like a hammock, it was still so comfortable and I was so happy to just lie there with my bottle of wine and cider cans. I didn’t even care that I couldn’t see the sunset or that I didn’t talk to most of the daisy crew unless they came to sit there too. I just stayed there the entire trip, and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.
When the sun had gone down and the trip was over I had my first hot shower of the bus trip. It was AMAZING!!! We definitely take hot showers for granted as a society but in that moment, I appreciated it wholeheartedly.
Once everyone finished showering, and making themselves look like humans again, we all met in the downstairs restaurant, Monkey Bar. We treated ourselves to a meal rather than cooking in the trailer like we had since the trip began. I had the Beyond Meat vegeburger and holy crap was it yummy. The fries were also some of the best I’ve had in a while- perfectly salted and crunchy.
After dinner it was party time. Beer pong, ring of fire(Kings), never have I ever and more. We were all having a blast, getting rowdy in the hostel kitchen, enjoying the rare occasion of not being on a campsite when we noticed Dec was turning blotchy cherry red. At first we thought he had gotten sunburned at the beach, but then we realized he was turning red in places his bathing suit had covered. He was having some kind of reaction. We hoped it wasn’t serious but in our less than sober state we decided putting him in the freezer would help. We let him sit there for a while, and even though some of us were slightly concerned for his wellbeing, the party continued until we all passed out in our own beds or with others.
Catch me if you can…
Jo Mo