River Beach
With only a couple of days left we decided to go somewhere relaxing. There were a few options but as soon as Alex heard the word beach in the title she was sold.
This is the place that Dave, the owner, kept going on about because there was a 'Mega Jump' from a cliff. He took Rodney there a few days previously but as they were assessing the 'Mega Jump' from below, they were sent into s***-your-pants mode by an approaching snake! Luckily the snake didn't reach them and they didn't complete the 'Mega Jump'. Although after witnessing Rodney's performance at the waterfall slide, I don't think he'd have done it anyway - not without a verruca sock.
On a nasty Chang Beer headache we got up in the morning in preparation for River Beach.
Sachwhon, the guesthouse driver who laughs hysterically and infectiously at everything, was picking us up at 11.
Dave was actually awake at about 10.45, which is early for him as, like me, he definitely isn't a morning person and upon hearing that I'd be up for the Mega Jump, he decided to come along.
We arrived at River Beach on another gloriously sunny day and the first thing Dave mentioned was how low the water was compared to the last time he was there. Interesting.
The area was lovely with mounds of washed up sand creating a beach with crisp blue waters in between the overhanging cliffs.
All the talk of the 'Mega Jump' made me just want to go and get it over and done with. My one condition was for Dave - who had completed the jump on 5 seperate occasions - to go first so I could see how far to jump and if, as he had said, it was deep enough. He seemed to agree to this...until we got there.
As we climbed up the cliff and then down on to the edge, he became very nervous and was saying how he was afraid of heights. What? He seemed to lose all confidence and was trying to draw straws and play rock paper scissors to decide who was to go first. I rejected his idea and said that as he had done it 5 times, it shouldn't be a problem for him to go first. Standing on the edge the urge was to just throw myself in but I certainly wasn't going to be that idiot on 999, or in the papers, that you read about who paralyses himself cliff jumping. Plus Alex was watching from afar, I could feel her eyes burning into the back of my head and telepathically saying 'if you do this you're a f***ing idiot', further convincing me that I wasn't going first.
We decided to check out the depth of the water below all the while Dave was trying to convince me, and himself, that it was fine. It probably was, I just wasn't going first.
After about an hour of talking it was pretty clear that Dave wasn't going to do it so neither was I. Instead we all just relaxed for a while in the sun and headed back, not being able to look at each other without smirking and shaking our heads full in the knowledge that we - Dave - bottled it.
It was a dark day, beaten by the 'Mega Jump'.
I must be getting old or worse, responsible.