HOLIDAY!!!

Oct. 26th, 2011 11:39 pm
venetia_sassy: (101 Dalmatians // happy puppies!)
[personal profile] venetia_sassy
So, back in July I was feeling like hell. What was usually my best time of year was ... really, really not this year (thanks to an earlier failed attempt to start doing aquarobics again.) I had the prospect of a possible day out here and there but nothing much else.

One day, Mum was talking about her planned trip to the US and mentioned that they were going to Savannah and Charleston as well as seeing various things in Washington. It happens that Savannah and Charleston (also New York, which Mum also wound up visiting) are in my Top Five US Cities I Want to Visit. I was very happy that Mum was getting to go to the US to see her friend, sightsee, etc ... but I admit there was a slight pang of envy just then.

I think it was a few days later, when Mum and I had been talking about the visit to Taronga Zoo we still hadn't manged to get around to, that I googled Mogo Zoo, home of the white lions. It was a place we'd both expressed a wish to see but I wasn't sure exactly where it was. Turns out it's about four hours drive from here. Last year, that would have been impossible. But now that we have a new (to us) car, possibilities opened up ... when I said this to Mum and said that hey, maybe we could go down there sometime, stay overnight nearby, Mum said yes, let's do that! But if we're going down there, let's stay a few days, there's lots to see in the area.

I sort of blinked a bit and asked if that would be okay? Because she's the one with a job and the one who'd be doing all the driving. Mum was all, check out Bateman's Bay! And Mollymook! And Montague Island!

And I did. And very quickly, the three day, two night trip I was imagining stretched to four days, three nights ... then five days, four nights and I told myself to get away from Google.  

The words 'South Coast' do not immediately appeal to me as I am not a beach person. They're nice to look at but since I'm a pale-skinned, low-energy person, they're not usually places of sustained interest for me. But the South Coast ... we're going to look at beaches, yes. We're also going on a whalewatching tour! With bonus fur seals and penguins! I have never seen whales before.

We're going to some nice restaurants and Open Gardens. There are art galleries, little shops, beautiful restored buildings ... we'll break our first drive in the Southern Highlands then head further south and stay at a different place along the coast every night. I found and booked everything online (to Mum's surprise.) We leave next week and I am so excited.

I cannot express how much the prospect of the trip and the distraction of planning perked me up back in winter. About a month later, I started to pick up physically but even when I still felt lousy, the thought of a change - not just an afternoon or even a weekend out but almost a week away from home, visiting somewhere I've never been before - it really was a help.

Oh and the tiger I mentioned yesterday? We are going to Mogo Zoo and we're going to have an Animal Encounter - feeding a tiger! (With chopped meat, I assume. Not our fingers.*g*) How long did it take me to choose which encounter ... red pandas! Meerkats! Servals! White lions! But the gorgeous tiger won out. And Mum just said, it's your holiday. You choose.



(no subject)

Date: 2011-10-26 09:07 pm (UTC)
turlough: megalith stone circle with setting sun, solstice at Stonehenge ((other) evening twilight)
From: [personal profile] turlough
Wow! Your upcoming vacation sounds absolutely awesome! I'm so envious ;-) Driving around like that, enjoying the scenery and looking at old buildings and visiting little shops is exactly the kind of thing I love doing. It's the perfect vacation pretty much I've always thought.

Oooh, I didn't realise you were going to meet the tigers that close. It sounds so exciting! I would have had a terrible time choosing what to do. Meerkats are cute and so are red pandas but I think the final choice for me would have been between the serval and the tiger.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-01 02:12 am (UTC)
glitteryv: (Mikeyway gives you thumbs up)
From: [personal profile] glitteryv
Yays, I'm so happy for you! Going on holiday is one my favourite things too. ^_^

Oooh, and yours sounds truly lovely! I'm not too partial to beaches--which some in my family consider an anomaly of sorts because of my Hispanic background, etc--but, being at a new place for a few days is ten kinds of awesome.

Oooh, an animal encounter is tremendously exciting! If I were you, I'd make sure to count all of my fingers AFTER the encounter. Hee!

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