13 hours to Paradise

I just found a wish card of my sister which she had written for our wedding. That's the last time we'd visited that same stretch of paradise, bringing our own little mob to witness our wedding the toes in the sand. In that card, Evelyne wrote "...you've chosen to live your lives on an off-road track full of adventures, fun and happiness, sometimes passing some moments of hardship, but every now and then discovering that other turquoise beauty of a beach after the sand dune... you are blessed with your two most lovely girls being your heroes in this adventure..."

Well, not that we hadn't had any adventures until we revisited paradise in September and October this year, but that thirteen hour road trip into our heavenly location is always a long awaited journey into our favourite neverland - a front row place deep in Western Australia's outback where the desert meets the sea with all its riches.

It's a not-so-strange-to-us-any-more world dominated by the heated and windy forces of the sun and the daily and monthly cycles of the moon. The peaceful sight of the pure threesome of white sand, deep blue sky and the all-colours-in-between reflecting ocean acts like the best of relaxation therapy, so effective it works from the first moment you pick a seat and start to watch out: you lose the sense of time given by a mechanical watch and tune in with the bigger forces.

Time stands still when you connect, but in the same time it passes like a flash as you witness the tide go out to uncover vast hidden worlds only at the lowest of tides. Then there's the moon, friend and enemy depending on whether you wish to have free light at night time, or prefer exploring the depths of the Universe beyond the myriads of twinkly stars. There's no such thing as a light switch - trust me, it's a very bewildering, yet addictive situation.

After months of wreckless exploitation of mind, body and soul in busy City lifestyle, this is exactly what I need: a remote and scarcely inhabited underworld where there is no disturbance by mobile communication networks or modern day comforts such as showers, TV or airconditioning. A scarce place where you become aware of the true beauty in the simple things surrounding you and where you feel this urge to go celebrate life and express yourself, screaming, dancing, laughing, playing, taking off that top layer of your skin.

A place where the cold in the esky disappears as quickly as the beers, only to leave water, some sturdy fruit and veges and cans of tuna to survive the last few days before we hit the bottom of reality and need to hit the road for a few hours in order to head back to civilization for supplies... yes, it remains a dream hard to live forever. But isn't this the beauty as it allows others to go out and make the same luxury experience?

See these two albums on flickr for more impressions of holiday paradise:

First Paradise
Second Paradise

And also see these albums for some pre-holiday paradise impressions, in the remotest city in the world, yet our most beloved place we call home:

Springtime Walk in the Perth Hills
Summertime Highlights
Living the Sailingboat Dream