Rainy days and Mondays (Lord Howe Island)

I know we've used this title previously, but it is Monday and it has rained for most of the day.

Day 3 (Monday) dawned in much the same way as the previous days – I am making an assumption about Saturday morning based on the weather to date – grey.  The alarm woke me at 7am, I had drifted back to sleep after the early morning wake up call of the local bird life.  There was a gentle breeze, the cloud looked a little heavier and the tops of Mounts Gower and Lidgbird were shrouded in grey and hidden from view.

After discussions with the people who conduct the snorkelling tours yesterday, we decided that today would be the best opportunity to head out on a guided tour.  Wrong, although the weather is supposed to deteriorate from today.  We had breakfast and waited to see if things would lighten up and when they didn’t we cancelled.  There is not much point snorkelling on the reef in thick cloud; the colours just aren’t there.

In another first world problem, the internet was down.  This post is being prepared to be cut and pasted at a later time, hopefully while we are still here gentle reader because I know how much you look forward to a blog post to commence your day.

Although we would have liked to go on the tour this morning, our accommodation is so perfect that I am not really disappointed.  Sitting on the verandah gazing at the lagoon and watching it change colour as the sun grows stronger or weaker is better than television.  The same applies to watching the mist and cloud that often cloaks to the two mountains to our south.  Lidgbird is clear at present and Gower is almost clear so any climbers would be getting a brief opportunity to look over the entire island.

We thought we might wander to the southern end of the island today and grabbed the pack and camera.  As I stepped out onto the front landing it began to rain.  Not heavy, just enough to ensure we repaired to the verandah with a book and a cup of tea.  To venture further would have caused Jayne’s hair to misbehave and that dear friend is not an option.

The drizzle persisted and Jayne opted to brave the elements and head over to the Anchorage for a coffee, although when we arrived we thought lunch might be a better alternative.  We ordered some wine with our food, however, it was all gone by the time the food arrived.  Sadly we had been forgotten and the wait staff required a reminder that drinking on an empty stomach is not a good idea. 

There must be something about us being invisible to the hospitality industry. Yesterday we felt we had walked far enough to earn and ice cream at Thompson’s shop.  We approached the counter and closely examined the various flavours still available since this is entirely dependent on the arrival of the next freight vessel.  Early in the piece it is feast but as the next delivery date approaches, it becomes famine and the habitual choice of passion fruit was sadly only remnants in the bottom of its container.  We made our decisions and discussed the single versus double cone options while the girl behind the counter was literally less than 2 metres away cleaning the coffee machine.  There was no one else at the counter and unless we missed the hearing aids, she did nor appear to be aurally impaired.  Yet she did not attempt to come and serve us.  We waited patiently for a couple of minutes, still chatting in case she had missed our presence.  Finally she turned and seemed surprised that we were there.  Apologies ensued and then she started to concoct our ice creams.  We can only assume this was an attempt to compensate for initially ignoring us because we have never seen so much ice cream piled onto a single cone – the scoops just kept coming, leaving us to ponder what you get in the double cones …

Anyway this afternoon, while we appeared again to be invisible to the wait staff, we chatted and watched the drizzle increase to rain and then subside again.  Given the weather it was a pleasant, if slightly lengthier than anticipated, way to spend the afternoon.

On returning home we discovered the internet was once again alive, although it still functions at speeds that I recall from the days of dial-up access.  I wonder if the PM Mr Abbott or his Telecommunications minister Mr Turnbull have experienced the frustration of internet access this slow and unreliable?  I doubt it, otherwise the roll out of the NBN project wouldn’t have been shelved.  I can’t imagine how anyone on this island uses the internet for commerce or education.

As afternoon stretched into the evening the drizzle continued.  The sound of the light rain on the palms was soporific and it soon lulled some of us into nanna-nap land.  Well she is a nanna.

Being nicely sated following lunch, dinner was always going to be assorted cheeses and wine on the verandah.  It’s a tough life, but somebody has to lead it – even if only for a week.

And in a postscript before attempting to publish this post the drizzle has turned to heavy rain confining us indoors and the satellite television reception has died.  Mother nature is just reminding us who is the boss.