All The Good Girls Go To Hell (Mollymook not Budapest)

Hello dear reader. Yes, it's been a couple of days since my fingers danced lightly across the keys. I don't mean to neglect you, it's just, well, there's only so much to report about beach walking and waves and sipping champagne on the balcony at sunset.

Saturday morning I opened the blinds to see two Southern Right Whales, mother and calf, moving languidly through the water, heading north, just off the shore of Mollymook Beach. They drew quite a crowd and were in no hurry, the mother rolling over in the water and the calf swimming quietly around her. The pictures are not what I had hoped, but for the millennials out there, proof is in the picture, not in the pudding.

Quite the spectacular sight really. Graceful. Beautiful. They reached the northern end of the beach and then headed out toward the open water to continue their journey north.

While it is pretty obvious we still haven't worked out climate change and its causes, I would have thought that we understood plastic and the problems it poses in the ocean. Yeah. Nah. Our daily walks along the beach have been quite pleasant, if strenuous at times due to the limited stretch of sand we had to walk on (climate change). A storm before we arrived unbedded a lot of kelp which has washed up in the shore break and drifts up and down the beach in diminishing proportions as it gets washed up above the high tide mark. The other morning our walk did not coincide with a low tide and we walked, at times, through berms of kelp. This continual denial of climate change and the impact we have on the environment is an absolute disgrace. 

Returning to my childhood days, I scoured the shore line and drying seaweed for anything interesting. The result? I spent a lot of time rescuing sea urchins, large and small, and returning them to the water away from the washes of kelp that threw them back onto the shore only to become food for seagulls. There was the usual array of detritus, shells, drift wood, left thongs (it's always the left thong - why?) and so on. Above and beyond everything else, coming second only to the kelp in weight, was plastic. Cups, lids, containers, bottles, toys, bags, seals ... if it was made of plastic it was there. But if the plastics industry provides jobs, then that's ok yeah? Ultimately there won't be a need for jobs when we don't have a planet because we have destroyed the ecosystems that have sustained us for so long. 

And that little rant brings us to today's song, All The Good Girls Go To Hell by Billie Eilish (2019). Have a listen.

Similarity #7: Music. Budapest has contributed significantly to the Classical Music scene where Franz Liszt established an Academy of Music. Music in Mollymook is representative of a wider, less classical genre, colloquially known a 'bogan shit'. It can be heard blaring form the cars that do continual laps of our street as they drive down to 'check out the waves'. I can save them the bother - small waves, shore break.

After the excitement of whale watching, I decided I needed to feed my coffee withdrawal. I've had one cup since we've been away. Straight to Dr Google to find the best establishments of nearby Ulladulla and to purchase some supplies. The number 1 café recommendation had tables on the verandah in the sun over looking the boat harbour. That would have been awesome, except for the 30kmph westerly that was trying to move the patrons and the furniture closer to the boats. 

We opted for Woolies instead and were asked about our face masks by a local. I explained that they could be purchased on the South Sydney website, "Oh, we can't do that!" came the reply and she walked off to join her husband in bunnies supporter's jacket and scarf. I couldn't survive without the internet.

On leaving Woolies we came across the second best rated café in town. I was a bit suspect because it was a 'chain' establishment. Nonetheless, nothing ventured as they say. We ordered 2 long blacks and some sweet treats. Both were disappointing. This chain seems to have succumbed to the American coffee concept (God knows why; Americans can't make decent coffee) and upsized our cup size automatically watering down the coffee. Sigh. The sweet treats were, well, sweet, even the lemon tart. The only bitter thing here was me. Anyway, back to the gale force wind and home to the shelter of our living room to watch the waves roll in and think about when we will open the champagne. The beach walk has been postponed.

Similarity #8: Food. Budapest has Trattoria Toscana that offers pizza with river views. Mollymook has Tony's Pizza (since 1970) that offers take-away or delivery so that we can eat our pizza with ocean views. The review of the food will be in the next post.

As the afternoon wore down the wind showed no sign of abating so I decided I needed to do a lap of the beach to balance tonight's pizza and wine. I left Jayne rugged up battling with the final pages of A Little Life.  If you ever feel life isn't going well for you this tome will provide loads of perspective. It was low tide when I hit the beach which made the walk easier as the sand was firmer but the wind detracted from the experience.

Back again inside an hour it was time to go and pick up our pizza. Now cars doing laps of our street is obviously a thing here. In fact random people turning up and sitting in their cars for 5, 10, 15 minutes is a thing. Some even love to share their music (see Similarity #7). But tonight ... there was a car parked across the road, as in perpendicular to the gutter, blocking half the roadway. Why? Well, the, ah, gentleman who had been driving was taking photos of said car. A special you car you ask? No. I think the owner may have been special. It was a Honda Accord circa 2004.

And with that it's time to say goodbye. Sunday is a transit day, we are heading to Shoalhaven Heads.

Until next time ...