Australia Day / Float, part 2

On this day in 1808, General Bligh, of "Mutiny on the Bounty" fame, was Governor of New South Wales, and seemed to have troubles with subordinates in the same fashion as he had on his ship. A coup, known as the "Rum Rebellion," took place, culminating with Bligh being pulled out from under his bed by the military. *If this were Wikipedia, I'm sure there would be all sorts of disagreement about my recounting of Aussie freedom, so I do not claim this is entirely accurate. And so today we stood in the forecourt of the Museum of Sydney (formerly the Government House) to watch an anti-climactic reenactment of the anti-climactic rebellion by Sydneysiders as part of the 200th celebration of Australia Day.

But enough of this history lesson. We kicked off our long weekend down at Gordon's Bay. This was my second attempt at a snorkeling lesson. The tide was high as we searched the boulders for a shaded spot where Amy could sit while David and I attempted to swim. I put my water-wings on, same as before, and we made our way out to the rough surf.

By this time the tide had risen high enough that we couldn't easily make our way to the inlet where the water was shallow enough for me to stand. So, with little blue floaties on each bicep, I tip-toed my way past all the tanned, though un-toned swimmers, across the large, hot rocks, to shallower waters. Or so I hoped.

We reached the inlet where we'd swam last time, but as I slid into the rough waves I was immediately slammed against the rocks, shells scraping me as I was pulled back across them when the wave rushed out again. I almost lost my balance, and could feel the snails clinging onto the rocks for dear life as I clung onto them.

With a powerful current, I never really snorkeled. I got used to the mask and did a few practice breathes with the snorkel itself, but the water was pushing me around so much, I didn't think it wise to let myself go with the flow. ha!

Cold, with bruised elbow and scraped knee, and with a little help hoisting myself free from the water's tight grasp, I was back on dry land. I'm a little more comfortable in the water, but no more a snorkeler than before.