Another day, another buffet breakfast. At 7am it looked like the staff were going to have a crap day, since the fruit ice cupboard was leaking quite badly on the floor and people were slipping and sliding. While they frantically moved all the food and waited for the plumber, we sat about stuffing our faces, although not to the level we had done the day before. It was steaming hot in the pool terrace which wasn’t conducive to eating. We observed the drunk americans and their friends from the day before drinking coronas at 7.30am in the morning.
After breakfast we rung out the last few hours of the buggy hire by visiting millionaires row and checking out the marina again. We visited a store that sold statues which were rather impressive until we realised they were made out of ground marble. There were real marble ones there too, but the awe had gone out of the process.
Here is a video I made on the way back from the marina:
Headed back to the hotel to get in to togs while Chris and Drew took the buggy back. Pauline and I killed time waiting for them at the main pool, she read a book while I watched ladies do water aerobics. They found us at the pool and immediately Chris wanted cocktails. I ordered a cockatoo which was like a banana flavoured milkshake, obviously in a white and yellow colour. MMMmm yum.
Our routine at the pool was
- get a cocktail
- do a lap
- talk to someone on the lap
- muck around at the big round end
- get out and go for a swim at the beach (which was about 10 hot beach steps from the pool)
- get back in the pool
- get a cocktail
- repeat
On one of our laps, Chris engaged a irish woman who he mistook for an american after one sentence. Got in to a bit of trouble with her on that. Eventually he pulled it back from the brink of anger, but it was fortuitous in another way. A girl came up to us and said “hello, thought it was you two!” to Chris and Drew. Turns out she was Drew’s sort of neice who was about to start work on the island the next day. She hung out with us the rest of the afternoon telling us about the secret staff stuff she knew about the island thus far and introduced us to the acronym NBO (next boat off). Apparently smoking pot or having sex in a pool with a guest is enough to get you sent off, which were some fun stories. We were in the pool for about 5 hours drinking cocktails and listening to a guy play Jack Johnson type songs on his guitar while we floated on the water. I love music while swimming – I want all the concerts I go to to be at the pool!
Feeling a bit cooked, we headed back to the rooms for a short break, then went to Toucans for lunch. Most of us ordered burgers, which were acceptable but not a patch on Grill’d. Once again we discussed the lack of airconditioning, but Chris and Drew pointed out that people probably wouldn’t go outside if there was aircon. Time for another swim, we went back to the beach pool for a dip. Tangling with kids and mens testicles, we only spent about an hour at this pool and went back to the room. On the way we said goodbye to Drew’s neice, who was very interesting and fun, then adjurned upstairs. Chris and Drew were burning red so we offered them our aloe vera gel to help them out. Neither of them had put on sunscreen and paid dearly for that.
After an hour or so of sleep we got the bus up to One Tree Hill to try and watch the sunset and drink cocktails. Unfortunately the cocktail bar was being packed up when we arrived and the cloud was covering the sun, so it wasn’t the beautiful site I was expecting. At least it was breezy up there and the bus was airconditioned on the way back, so it wasn’t a complete waste (maybe).
Back at the hotel we booked a reservation for dinner at the pool terrace and came back 30 minutes later. Everyone except Drew had dessert since we didn’t feel like a huge meal, but after seeing Drew’s tasting menu I was rather jealous. Happy with my dessert though – as Chris said, Fine dining in shorts and shirt by the pool is cool.
Back in the room I watched the last bit of 42up before crashing out.