Coral Bay
The morning after the night before, we were up early to go snorkeling as part of the Easyrider tour. As we lay there on the aptly named 'Paradise Beach' sunglasses on, heads thumping and mouths dry. Someone said something like 'and relax.' It sounded like the prelude to a psycho or hypnotherapy session. I think it was Zandra who followed it with "Imagine yourself far from the hangover, far from the pain. Picture yourself lying on a beach, the warm breeze blowing on your face, the sea softly lapping by your feet..." I love the smell of irony in the morning.
As if the universe liked and wanted to justify my 'Paradise Paradox' theory, something special started making the news as it headed towards us here at 'Paradise' Beach.
The sea was doing strange things. Although Cyclone Inigo was still miles away and the skies were blue, the calm sea kept moving quickly up the beach (as if the tide was coming in) then stopping, staying there for 5 minutes or so, then going back a few feet, then a few more, then forward again half as much. All at irregular intervals, all while the water was flat and calm.
Anyway, it didn't affect our snorkeling, we all got a little taste of the diverse marine life in Coral Bay.
Last day of anti-biotics! Woo-hoo! It was tough not drinking for the last 10 days but due to my strong character and knowledge I don't need alcohol to have fun, I managed to stay clean.
I am gonna have to give up Yakult though. I like the taste and apparently its really good for me but it freaks me out that its got all those so called 'friendly' bacteria in it. It scares me in that advert where the little girl looks at the bottle going "hello, hello, hello..." Anyway, I pop a couple of anti-biotics and then drink some Yakult and that gets 'em.
This is town. A dive shop, a supermarket, a bakery a couple of tour shops and little medical centre. The big building at the back is the hostel. The 'Ningaloo Reef Club.'
Looking the other way is a few caravans by the beach selling tours, a camp site on the left and pub at the top of the road. The nearest town (Exmouth) is about 150kms away. Isolation... with facilities. I like it.
The next day was grey, a clear sign to us Inigo was on its way. The decision was made that tonight should be the night for the Cyclone Party. Traditionally, a Cyclone Party (the northern hemisphere equal is a 'Hurricane Party') is held when everyone in town heads to the strongest building in town for safety from the high winds. Then has a big party. As we figured we'd probably get hit by the opening rains overnight, we figured we'd better start the proceedings ASAP.
We started the evening with some drinking games. I cant remember if it was called 'Wheel of Fire' or 'Circle of Death' but i'm sure you get the idea about the end result.
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Circle of Death/Wheel of Fire:
Cards are arranged in a circle around a large glass, if the circle is broken. That person drinks.
Red 'drink' cards, you nominate someone else
Black 'drink' cards, you drink yourself
2 - Drink 2 fingers worth
3 - Drink 3 fingers worth
4 - Whores. Girls Drink
5 - Drink 5 fingers
6 - Dicks. Boys Drink
7 - Thumbmaster. Once the thumbmaster puts their thumb on the table, everyone has to. Last person drinks.
8 - Toilet Card. You cant go to the loo unless you have one.
9 - Freeze Master (Freeze master freezes in an obvious position. Last person to do the same, drinks)
10 - Social Drink (Toast)
Jack - Category e.g. ladies underwear brands
Queen - Name Game (Michael 'J'ackson (J)-> Jack 'B'lack (B)-> 'B'ill 'B'ryson <- double letters reverse direction)
King - Pour some drink in the glass in the middle
Ace - Make up a rule for the game (No Swearing, Stand on your chair when...)
Breaking any rule results in a drinking penelty.
The game is over when the last King is pulled from the pack. That person then has to down the full contents of the glass in the middle.
***
This was a combination of 2 rules. 1) The last person to stand on a chair after someone has been nominated to drink, has to drink. 2) Once standing, the last person to be singing and doing the actions to 'The Locomotion' has to drink. Drink fines were also handed out everytime someone got confused and sang 'I should be so Lucky'
About Midnight, they shut the bar area at the hostel and we had to move on. Drinking games should cease quite early as they're designed to get you drunk quickly before going out. By now we'd been playing for about 4 hours and everyone was having such a good time that we wanted to carry on. I've told you about Coral Bay so I want you to guess where the best place to go after dark is...
It's midnight, the pub is shut, the hostel's already turfed us out, the beach is too dark, where could we possibly go that's open all night and plays good music at reasonable levels? Thats right! The bakery!
One of Coral Bay's little quirks is that the bakery supplies the bread and cakes for here and Exmouth. Every night the bakers start baking about 11pm. The bakers leave the plastic chairs out all night and play anything from Hip-hop to Garage to Trance, anything to keep them moving and baking. People from all over town just congregate at the only place that's pumpin'. Every now and then they even bring out off cuts or cakes that've gone a bit wrong, making this the place to be in Coral Bay after dark.
Some of these photos are a bit dark but you can see them if the room you're in is dark and you have a nice big high resolution screen (easy eh?).
Alcohol is an amazing and beautiful thing.
Being both absolutly stunning and a really nice girl, Emma here would generally be completely out of my league.
It would be morally wrong for me to put down what happened later for just anyone to see (though it is a pretty good story) and besides my Nan reads this! Therefore I've decided to start up a kind of 'XXXthatluckybastard' a username/password protected part of the site that only a trusted few can see. I haven't made it yet but if you're interested, let me know and I'll judge whether I can trust you or not...
Here would've been a fine shot of some stunning babes if (ironically) the person taking it had used the flash. I was on the beach when this was taken but apparently its a multiple tit (and one arse) cyclone party flash. My camera battery was nearly dead and as they were checking to see if it came out, it died.
Now chaps, everyone together..."D'OH"