This morning my alarm went off, and I still can't believe that it is actually time to get up. Only after getting about 3 hours sleep, I could feel the hazy, dull headache that was present.... realising that I didn't even have a good night of alcohol to show for it. No, just purely lack of sleep.
I remember that I have a full day tour ahead of me today, so I make quick work out of getting up, and getting ready for the day. I quickly packed my bag, ensuring that I had packed everything that I might need and then head off to breakfast.
I start to walk to the dining room, and soon realise that I'm actually only seeing this place for the first time today. It's amazing how much your eyes can play tricks on you when you are so tired, and when it's dark. The beautiful flowers, arranged so neatly outside everyone's rooms, in daylight revealed the truth, they were in fact plastic! I saw a pool, that I had no idea was there the night before, and I made my way around to the dining room, that I vaguely remember the guy pointing out to me, in the early hours of this morning.
I make my way to the door.... I push, and yet it doesn't open. I know it's open, as I can see people in there. How do I get in? So trying to look like I'm not a moron, I ask one of the guys who works there how do I get in for breakfast. He takes me over to the door, the one I had just tried....... and turns the key that is so obviously in the door, now that I have a proper look. Yep, I'm a moron!!! I giggle, making me look even more stupid than what I really am, thank him, and then go in to find my seat. I do get some relief from my embarrassment, when the next lady came to the door, and she too couldn't work out how to get in!! Phew, I'm not the only one!!
Once breakfast was finished, I waited in the lobby for my tour guide to collect me. The wait wasn't long, and I soon found myself in a minivan with a number of other tourists.
There were quite a few Aussies in the van, and found myself again lucky to be with such amazing people. A son and his mum, also from Victoria, and another couple from Queensland, we all seemed to get along really well!! The conversation as always, turns to our travelling experiences, where we have been, and where to next!!
For most of the day, I ended up hanging out with Cheryl and her son Wes. We just seemed to click, and chatting came easy!! Cheryl was really down to earth, and I loved hearing all about the places in the world that she has travelled to. Wes, reminds me so much of my brothers back home, so soon found myself chatting away quite easily with them, as if I had known them forever!!
We travelled across the island, following the coast line on a remarkably smoothly made road.
We eventually pulled up to a carpark, and after showing our national park ticket, we entered into a world of very large carved statues. We walked along a marked path, and fast approached the heads. Some were standing up, all proud and tall, others lying flat, as if they were facing the sun in order to top up their tan. Either way, the sheer size of these carvings, made them so impressively awesome. Carved straight from the cliff faces, the question still remains, how the hell do they move these huge statues?!?! These days it's easy, they use a crane, but can you imagine how hard it would be to move a 10-20m stone statue a few km away, without machinery???
We walked around the paths, and stared in awe at these huge statues. Then we made our way down the path back to the van.
We continued on our tour to another set of statues. This time, it was a row of them, precariously balanced high up above the sea. We sadly learnt how many of these monuments had been destroyed and carried away by a tsunami in the 1960's. However today, they have restored the straight line of statues again.
We continued on our journey, heading to another location that had been destroyed by the tsunami. However, this place still has such a strong significance to the history of this island.
We headed off for a yummy lunch, and soon found ourselves back on the road.
This time we stopped at a magnetic rock, where our guide showed us how the rock made a compass go off it's rails, spinning around, not actually displaying the correct direction of north.
We eventually found our way to a beautiful, turquoise blue beach. Here, protecting the beach, were a number of tall statues, some of which contained their hair rocks (although, if you ask me, they still look like top hats). We were all very happy to walk around on the white sand, checking out the statues as we went.
The choice to swim was available, however again the choice was made easy for me, when the allocated time to swim was not worth the effort of getting changed and then trying to dry all of my clothes. And the fact that I didn't even have my bathers or a towel, well that just sealed the deal. Instead, Cheryl, Wes and I, just found a nice patch of green grass, and we sat and chatted for a while longer.
It soon came time to head back to the van, which then dropped us back off at our respective hotels. I soon realised, that I don't even know what my hotel looks like in the day time. Thank goodness I had my guide to let me know where I needed to get out!!
Soon after I returned to my hotel, I decided to walk to town, in search of food for dinner. It wasn't far from my hotel, only a couple of streets away.
I wasn't overly impressed by the food options, instead opting to head to the supermarket and pick up a packet of crackers. That will do!!
I walked back to my hotel, and ate my actually surprisingly yum crackers. Unable to comprehend how tired I am, from so little sleep, I soon ask myself, is 7.30 too early to go to bed?? Nope!!!