Thursday, June 16, 2011

Eye C U

Last February, when my mom finally bought her ticket to come and visit me in Perth I was thrilled. I was excited that not only we would be able to spend some quality time together, but that I would be able to share my new home and life with her. This wasn't her first trip to Australia so we would skip the touristy stuff and I could focus on showing her my day to day activities, as well as all the small things I love about the place I currently call home. In anticipation of her visit I decided I wanted to take her camping, after all, the bush has been such an important part of our life.  There would be no dramas since we have an extra tent and sleeping bag, and I figured we could always rent a RAV4 and she could sleep on the back if need be. As Mom's trip neared the days became shorter and winter began to settle in. A few weeks before her arrival the not only did the temperatures dropped and the rains arrived; I realized that camping with Mom would not be a joyful experience. So, we decided to go with plan B and show her how we experienced the Australian Bush before we dished out 25 buck for our tent--a night in an Ozzie  Caravan Park.
It was just our luck that just up the road in Cervantes was a Caravan Park we had previously visited. The place had been clean, and had all the amenities to provide a true experience. Unfortunately, the place was all booked up. So we moved on to plan C. We decided to stay with the destination because of its proximity to the Pinnacles, but we didn't want to pay to stay at the overpriced hotel in town. We remembered from our previous visit that the town boasted a Backpackers accommodations.
I was in a bit of a quandary and I had to question if I really wanted to put my mom through a hostel experience. I had only stayed at one Backpackers in Australia and it was extremely clean and comfortable, but I couldn't shake the vision of some of  my less that stellar experiences in Europe--like the place I stayed at the first year I moved to Granada. The University had recommended it as an ideal budget accommodation to stay at while we looked for apartments, but perhaps exotic would have been a better description. Sure, the centrally located Hostal was very clean and the family that ran the place were very nice and made you feel like part of the family. However, things became a bit too friendly when, during one of my curtainless showers, I became the star of a peep show. The door which was missing a door knob had a wad of toilet paper stuffed in the round hole, and half-way through my shower a human eye replaced the paper.
I put my past experiences aside and after much deliberation, we decided to give the Cervantes Backpackers a go since it would be for just one night. Besides the room  had its own ensuite, whereas at the Caravan Park we would have had to to make the midnight dash across the park to the Ablution Block.
As it turned out there was no need for the earplugs I had packed, as there were no drunk young'uns running around to all hours of the night keeping us oldies awake. In fact, we pretty much had the immaculate place to ourselves, and our room even had a view of the Indian Ocean and Mom was a happy camper.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Maya, it's nice to have backup plans on trips and it is especially nice when those plans turn out pretty good. I'm glad that you didn't need those ear plugs and that your mom was a happy camper.

    And btw, that eye in the key hold story, yikes.

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  2. Hi Maya --

    Am glad to learn your mom had a good time visiting you guys. My mother visits me in Hong Kong fairly regularly -- and it's been interesting learning what she likes to do (more of) while on holiday versus what she doesn't! :)

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