Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy Days and Mondays – Best Weekend #12

One of my favourite books is Holidays in Hell by American satirist P.J. O’Rourke.

At this point you might be thinking, “American satirist. Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

But it’s a fine collection travel disaster stories by the man who once wrote, “Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose, with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs”.

This book came to mind as we were driving up the coast, in torrential rain, to spend three days in the gorgeous Great Lakes district.

We’ve been toying with the idea of buying a couple of acres at Wootton, so hubby can fulfill his dream of being a Pitt St. farmer.

Sadly, we’ve toyed too long and the dream is now a fantasy.

It’s like the time I said, 15 years ago, “Prices in Byron Bay have peaked, darling. No point in buying a holiday shack there”.

Never, ever take investment advice from this little black duck.

Actually, it was great weather for ducks when we arrived at Tea Gardens: the region had received a third of its annual rainfall in the previous 24 hours.

Undaunted, we climbed into double kayaks to explore the waterways, home to Australia’s largest dolphin colony.

Three-year-old Grace was as enthralled by the commentary as she was by Larry – the handsome chap who was literally floating her boat.

Four-year-old Taj promptly fell asleep, upright in the front of the kayak, while we watched a mother and baby dolphin frolicking nearby.

Despite the rain, it was a magical experience.

I began to think that this weekend might be OK after all.

Sodden, covered in sludge and riddled with mosquito bites, the kids couldn’t have been happier.

The next three days were spent cancelling outdoor activities and doing some hard-core bonding.

I’ve been reading all these studies about how board games help families to bond.

Guess what? They’re right.

Monopoly revealed the true character of each family member: the girls forgot to budget and ran out of money after buying every house on the board, while the boys hoarded all their cash.

(See previous statement about investment advice.)

During hide and seek, Taj kept screaming “I’m here, I’m here” just to get attention, while Grace disappeared for so long we thought she’d suffocated in a mystery hidey-hole.

Must be second child syndrome.

They’re used to being forgotten.

Playing board games also allows kids to vent their feelings in a non-confrontational way.

(Jeez, I’m starting to sound like Dr. Phil now.)

Avoiding eye contact, Taj talked about being punched and bullied at pre-school.

It was something he’d never spoken about before.

On the third day, the sun caressed us as we checked into the Seal Rocks Lighthouse.

Not only is it the most beautiful spot on the east coast, you can stay in one of the superbly renovated 19^th century cottages.

As the sun set over Lighthouse Beach, I concluded that The Carpenters were wrong: Rainy days and Mondays don’t always get me down.

Holidays are what you make of them.