This morning I shocked myself at waking up at 10am, not getting up at 10am, but waking up at 10am. Really, that is most unlike me! I realised that I must have needed that much sleep to recover from my ordeal!
It was a bit overcast, so I spent the rest of the morning chilling out in my room, having some tea and cereal and surfing online, until I was certain I was my old self once again! After taking a shower and getting ready, I found out which was going to be our new room and moved in, before heading out for a walk into town.
By this time, it was rather sunny so I walked the whole way along the Esplanade and enjoyed the views across what looked like mud flats, laughing at the big sign warning of 'danger of death' from crocodiles, but perhaps looking a bit more carefully at the mud under the decking I was walking along in case anything might be lurking about, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting tourist! Thankfully I was not eaten by a croc! I also saw a lot of hermit crabs very slowly moving about in the mud, leaving a trail behind them.
At the end of the Esplanade I came across the lagoon - it was really nice, similar to that in Brisbane and very inviting! I wished I had brought my swimmers, but didn't really want to walk back for them, so just sat on the side and enjoyed the sun and the views across the lagoon and over to the harbour. A band was playing which really enhanced the ambience and made for happy sunbathing! There was a little market going on so I had a mooch around that before heading to ProDive where I was meant to meet JJ and sort out my diving paperwork.
When I arrived at the shop, they had already checked everyone back in and taken them off in the buses! I called JJ and she was almost at the hostel, so I headed back there to let her into our room - I had the keys! When we were reunited we enjoyed downloading to one another about what had happened in the last twenty four hours; JJ's other dives, my journey back etc. She was shattered so had a nap whilst I (shock horror) was given the responsibility of putting the washing on! I managed this task with only moderate flapping, before coming back to the communal area for a cup of tea and a surf. During that time, unbeknownst to me I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and all of a sudden every single bite felt like it was on fire! Ouch!
I gave JJ a wake up nudge and then set about my next 'grown-up' task of hanging the washing up to dry on the line outside. It was now beginning to get dark, so this activity was a little bit more frantic and stressful, as I could feel things biting me but was not able to see them! At one point I looked down to see a big cricket on my top which made me leap about, yelping and flapping at my top before it leapt off into the darkness!
I returned to the room feeling triumphant, yet itchy and then JJ and I began getting ready to go out. The people from the boat were meeting up at the Rattle & Hum for drinks and dinner. I decided I needed to go, if only to show people that a) I am not always miserable and b) I am able to speak!
At the pub, quite a few people had arrived, including guests and crew, and all seemed genuinely amazed at my transformation! We had a really good dinner and enjoyed chatting to everyone. I ended up at the end of the table housing the German/Swiss contingent and JJ finally got her wish - I spoke German! I hadn't let on to them that I could speak/understand German, so when I suddenly joined in their conversation, all were pretty shocked!
The evening then moved from there to the Woolshed, where Arek got us dancing on the tables! This set the trend and suddenly every table in the place seemed to have people dancing on them, rather than being sat at! It was lots of fun and I certainly redeemed myself as being a bit more fun than anyone had witnessed on the boat!
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