We Didn't Start The Fire!

This past weekend was more of a relaxing and calm weekend because I have been trying to save my gold coins (the Australian dollar is a gold coin, in case you were confused - I am not a leprechaun) for the upcoming weekend. "Why? What's next weekend?" - you may ask... Well, Saturday I decided to splurge and purchase a ticket to Brisbane to see old friends and make the most of my [rare] long weekend. Monday, October 7th, is LaboUr day in New South Wales, and just like the American Labor Day, it is a public holiday and businesses are closed - therefore, I do not have to work. 

[Fun fact: not every state in Australia has the same Labour Day. While some states (NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Australia Capital Territory) share the first Monday in October as their official Labour Day, other states celebrate their day-off-from-work in March (Victoria and Western Australia).  Looks like I'm forgetting two states/territories - Tasmania and Northern Territory - yeah, they don't celebrate Labour Day. Sorry, hard working labourers.]

Anyways, as I am getting too ahead of myself and am writing about next weekend, let's stop and talk about this past Sunday. Myself and a few other sheilas (Aussie slang alert) decided to travel away from the typical touristy beach crowds at Bondi and Manly and escape to a more secluded beach, Palm Beach. Palm Beach is known for its exotic tangerine coloured sand, as well as being the set location for the Australian soap opera, Home & Away.  I was hoping to run into a Mario Lopez-type "D-list" celebrity while we were there, but unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead, I found a "Wu Tang Clan 4 Ever" marking on one of the beach cliffs, leaving me to believe that Method Man, RZA, Ghostface Killah and all the other homies of the Clan had visited Palm Beach before me. #BLESSED. 

Back to our Sunday: As it is still a little too chilly to sun bathe all day, we decided to strap on our walking gear and made it our mission to walk to the peak of the beach where there is a lighthouse, along with a breathtaking view. Except we didn't make it very far at all. Nope, we did not make it to the lighthouse - not because we were lazy and decided to try local Australian beers instead - but because there was a bush fire blocking the walking path up to the lighthouse! According to a local man, the bush fire had started Saturday morning and had been burning throughout the night and into Sunday. There were firetrucks, fireboats, and fire-helicopters all on the scene trying to calm and extinguish the fire.  Because the fire was blocking our hopes and dreams of getting to the lighthouse, instead, we decided to try local Australian beers and hang out on the pier... (note: we did not choose to be lazy, the bush fire MADE us!)

While we were sipping our Aussie brews and soaking in the Aussie sun rays, we made the unanimous decision to come back to Palm Beach another weekend - a weekend where we research first to see if there is a natural disaster preventing our proposed plans.