Summer Down Under

by Pensy, Alison

  Sam smiled and held on tight as they rode off towards their next destination.

  The next stop was another temple, much bigger than Tanah Lot, called Besakih. As they were walking towards the entrance, a sign caught Sam’s attention. She stopped dead in her tracks and glared at it, annoyance prickling over her skin.

  “Bloody cheek!” she exclaimed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “That sign says that no women on their periods are allowed in. I’ve never heard anything so sexist in all my life!”

  He raised a very handsome eyebrow at her outburst and the corners of his mouth were daring to quirk into a smile. “Are you on your period?” he asked.

  “That’s none of your business!” she shouted back at him, fury bubbling just below the surface. She hated anything that was put there to show control over women. Her hackles were raised.

  “Well, I only ask because the reason they put that sign there is for the protection of women. The monkeys that inhabit the temple grounds have been known to attack women on their periods. I think it has something to do with the hormones you emit,” he explained in quite a matter-of-fact way.

  “Oh,” was all she could bring herself to say. Her hackles dropped and a slight feeling of embarrassment crept over her. Truth be known, she felt just a tad silly.

  “So?” he repeated. “Are you?”

  “No, I am not!” she stated, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin before stomping off in front of him.

  Daniel grinned and shook his head at the blonde who was storming off ahead of him. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts and carried on after her.

  It turned out to be a good job that it wasn’t Sam’s ‘time of the month’ because the monkeys were incessant. Within seconds of entering the temple grounds, they were climbing all over her, sitting on her head as if they were some oddly fashioned hats. She started laughing as she watched a monkey climb up Daniel’s back and perched itself on his head. It was just the funniest thing she had ever seen. She couldn’t stop laughing and it was infectious. Daniel started laughing, too. Before long Sam was bent double, hands on knees. Her stomach was aching she laughed so hard.

  When they eventually regained their composure, they wandered around the grounds of the ornate temple that stood, full of grandeur, in the center. The sun was warm, and people were mingling with looks of admiration and awe in front of the temple. After they’d had their fill of the sights, they wandered back to Daniel’s motorbike.

  “That was the most fun I’ve had for a very long time,” Sam admitted.

  “I think we’ll stop somewhere for a late breakfast, if that’s okay with you.” he said.

  “Absolutely, I’m famished.”

  They found a secluded café situated on the beachfront. The ocean sparkled in the sunlight and the palm trees shaded them from the heat that was starting to beat down. The couple fell into their usual easy conversation. Sam hadn’t enjoyed being with anyone as much as she did with Daniel, but she reminded herself that he was going home tomorrow, and it was very unlikely that they would ever see one another again. She felt a little saddened by that thought, but pushed the feeling aside. She was going to enjoy every minute until the time came for them to part ways.

  They spent the afternoon searching out the touristy places. Everywhere they went, the island was true to form with its stunning beauty. Her breath was taken away on more than one occasion. Having her own beautiful guide didn’t hurt either. One of the downsides to their expedition was that most of the places they visited, they were swooped upon by locals trying to sell their wares, but this time they didn’t bother Sam as much as the first.

  She was learning to say no and walk away. It seemed to be working. She just had to be confident, something that was slowly coming back to her. She enjoyed the feeling of being assertive, she had never been assertive before and it came more naturally to her than she would have imagined. When it started to get late in the afternoon, they headed back to Sam’s hotel.

  On the way back, a little old man, sitting on top of what she assumed was a yak, loomed up on the side of the road ahead of them. As they got closer, she could see that he was playing a small flute. He looked so comfortable on the large animal’s back, like it was the most normal thing in the world, to be sitting by the side of the road, on the top of a huge white cow with elongated horns.

  “Daniel, stop!” she cried. “Please, pull over.”

  The amusement in his face was evident as he pulled the bike over and turned to look at her. She got off and was captivated by the music the old man was playing on his little hand carved instrument. It was hard to believe that something so primitive could produce such a charming, harmonious sound. Sam walked up to him, introduced herself, and asked if he would mind her taking his picture. Otherwise, the folks back home were never going to believe her. To her surprise, the old man slid down off the yak’s back and gestured for her to get aboard.

  “Oh, no, I don’t think so,” she said as politely as possible. The more she shook her head, the more he kept gesturing towards the ominous looking beast, and it didn’t look like he was going to take no for an answer. If she had learned one thing about the Balinese, they very rarely took no for an answer.

  After a few minutes of refusing his gesture, she accepted defeat and agreed. Well, she was there to experience everything. That was her excuse and she was sticking to it. She climbed up onto the yak’s back, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Whether that was to do with the fact that she was now sitting astride a big white cow, or that the big white cow had a defined and somewhat protruding backbone, she wasn't quite sure. Probably a bit of both. Mustering a smile while Daniel took a picture, she quickly slid off, back to the safety of terra firma.

  They got back to Sam’s hotel after the sun had set, and a feeling of sadness started to rear its ugly head. There were only a couple more hours left with Daniel before he would be on his way home and she would continue on with her adventure.

  The evening flew by way too fast. They enjoyed dinner together under the vast thatched roof of the restaurant at the hotel. The bustle around them faded into the background as they took advantage of every last moment they could. Daniel eventually looked down at his watch and looked up at her with a grim expression.

  “I really have to go,” he said quietly. “My flight leaves early in the morning.”

  Sam put on her best fake smile, trying to disguise how heavy her heart felt.

  “Thank you so much,” she said. “I have had the best couple days. Thanks for showing me all over the island and rescuing me from that mob.”

  “No Worries.” Daniel smiled. “My pleasure, it was wonderful getting to know you, Sam. I hope that if you’re ever in my neck of the woods you pop in and say hello.”

  “I certainly will,” she said in an automatic response, but knew it was highly unlikely that their paths would cross again. He lived in the middle of nowhere on a sheep station. She couldn’t imagine that her travels would take her that far off the beaten track. Anyway, she didn’t think she would ever have the strength to say goodbye to him twice.

  They walked in silence to his bike, her heart pounding. A lump in her throat was developing and she did her best to force it back down. Daniel reached down to take her hand when they got to the bike and pulled her around to face him, something she was trying to avoid.

  He looked at her one last time with those piercing blue eyes, cupped her face gently in his strong hands, then leaned over and laid the most tender of kisses on her lips. Sam’s legs went to jelly and she couldn’t help but ease into his caress. After a moment he slowly pulled away. He opened his eyes and whispered. “You are beautiful, Sam. Don’t ever let anyone tell you any different.” With that he got on his bike and left.

  Sam swallowed hard, fighting back a tear that was threatening to make an appearance. She turned to head back to her room, feeling like a little piece of her had been torn away with his departure. His whisper lingered in her mind. Yo
u are beautiful, Sam. If only she could believe him.

  Chapter Six

  Sam wrinkled her nose for the umpteenth time since she had sat down on her flight from Bali to Sydney. Relieved that it was nowhere near as long as that from England to Bali, as the person sitting next to her was not the most pleasant smelling specimen she’d ever come across. Unfortunately, the flight was full or she would have moved the moment she sat down. It was always a bit of a crap shoot traveling by plane. You never knew who you would end up sitting next to. She prayed her nostrils would not be traumatized for all eternity and tried immersing herself in a good book to distract from the stink, but it was not having the desired effect. The occasional thought about Daniel crept into her mind. Okay, so that last comment could have been a slight understatement. She re-read a paragraph six times before she gave up, slammed the book closed and huffed out a breath. The passenger sitting next to her shot her an uneasy glance.

  Sam scolded herself as thoughts of the past two days together kept seeping back into her mind. She tried telling herself how unlikely it was she would ever see him again. She even tried telling herself that she didn’t care if she ever saw him again. That didn’t work either.

  She pulled a piece of paper from her purse and ran her finger over the numbers scribbled there. He had given her his phone number, but as he was on a sheep station in the middle of nowhere and her plans didn’t run to sightseeing on a sheep station, she resignedly folded it up and put it back. She pushed him to the back of her mind, but he kept pushing forward, like clockwork, every few minutes.

  The flight landed not a moment too soon for her distressed nasal cavity and she thanked her lucky stars she had not sat next to that person on the much longer flight from England.

  It was then that something started to sink in, she had made it! She stepped foot on the tarmac and excitement spilled from every pore, giving her the urge to kiss the ground, which, thankfully, she was able to resist. After working every hour God gave her for the past year, she was finally there, Sydney Australia. She could hardly believe that she’d made it!

  As she was making her way to the arrivals lounge, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a window and gave herself a wry smile. Staring back at her was the epitome of a touristy backpacker. Shrugging her shoulders, her smile widened to an all-out grin.

  Her hair had been braided in Bali. It had taken two ladies two hours to plait row upon row of tiny braids while she sat under a shade tree on the edge of the beach. Well, she had to find something to do for the other four days she was there. Admittedly, this had been one of her less thought out notions. To be honest, she looked pretty ridiculous, Bo Derek she was not, but until now she couldn’t be bothered to take them out. It was going to take ages when she finally got around to it. It did have its advantages, though. Braided hair, it turned out, was very easy to care for.

  Her clothing consisted of a Bali souvenir t-shirt and the loudest most colorful board shorts she was able to find. Her image left a lot to be desired, but for the first time in a long time, she didn’t care.

  Sam now realized the greatest thing about traveling on your own was that nobody knew you or knew anything about you. You were never likely to see any of them again, so there was the freedom of just being you because no one seemed to be judging. Something that seemed to happen to her all the time back home, the feeling of constantly being judged was never far away. Most of the time she felt like she just wasn’t good enough somehow. It was as if no one pushed her to do anything because no one had any faith that she would be able to, so why would they bother. Now, whether that was just her imagination or not, it didn’t matter anymore because here she was twelve thousand miles from home, on her own. She admitted to feeling a little smug at the thought that no one she knew had ever done anything like this before.

  Talking to complete strangers was something that started to come with ease now; if she should make a fool of herself, something she had a habit of doing, who cared. She’d never see them again anyway.

  Finally, arriving at the luggage carousel she waited, subconsciously holding her breath until her bright green and black backpack slid down the chute and made its way towards her. She hefted it up and over her shoulder. The image was complete. She couldn’t look more of a touristy backpacker if she tried. Now, she had to focus on the next task at hand, and that was finding somewhere to sleep that night. It surprised her that this did not terrify her as much as she thought it would.

  Sam looked around thoughtfully, then spotted what she was looking for. She strode towards the illuminated “Information” sign, plopped her backpack on the floor, and smiled down at the lady behind the desk.

  The information clerk looked up at her and didn’t even blink at her appearance.

  “G’day,” the lady said with a bright smile. “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, please,” Sam replied. “I’d like somewhere to sleep tonight. Do you have any ideas?”

  “No worries,” the lady said while reaching across the desk for a heavy binder. “Would you like to stay in the city or at the beach?” The lady paused for a moment and took in Sam’s appearance more seriously this time, then added. “I’m guessing you would like to stay in a backpackers?”

  “What’s a backpackers?”

  “They’re like youth hostels. They’re just not part of a big organization. You can usually find one in nearly every town in Australia.”

  “Oh, okay, a backpackers at the beach then, please.”

  The lady thumbed through the binder and tapped a page with her finger. “I’ve got just the place,” she said. “Coogee Beach Backpackers. They will even come and pick you up.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  The information clerk dialed their number, asked for Sam’s name and gave it to the person on the other end of the phone. She replaced the receiver and told Sam that they would be along in about half an hour and pointed her in the direction of the shuttle bus pick up area. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. The first hurdle didn’t turn out to be a hurdle at all.

  Half an hour later, as promised, she was hopping onto a minibus, run by the backpackers, and scooting through the streets towards what would be her home for the next few weeks. It was her intention to do a lot of exploring in Sydney; it was such a big city.

  Upon arriving at the backpackers, a young hippy looking guy showed her to her dorm. He told her to take any bed that was empty. She thanked him and he scooted off, leaving her standing in the doorway. Sam looked around the room. It was cozy, in a disheveled kind of way. There were two sets of bunk beds; three of them were quite obviously occupied. They were covered in people’s belongings and had not yet been made. The whole room actually looked quite homey in an odd sort of way.

  She threw her stuff on top of the only bunk that looked vacant. The room was empty, but the sound of voices drifted down the hallway. At that moment, the strangest sensation of unease washed over the young traveler. She didn’t like it one bit. She’d not felt anything quite like it before and tried to figure out what it was. Fear wouldn’t describe it, she was not in danger. Nor did she feel anxious or sad. What she did feel, however, was alone. Out of nowhere, the fact that she was on her own in a strange house, in a strange country, and as far away from her home as possible sprang to the forefront of her mind. She suddenly missed her family. Sam guessed she was feeling homesick. She’d never been away from home before, and twelve thousand miles suddenly seemed like a very long way. Swallowing a lump that forced its way to her throat she took a deep, calming breath. Homesickness was not a nice feeling; in fact, it was all consuming, threatening to swallow her whole.

  She tried to tell herself that she’d be fine and that she’d find friends in no time. It didn’t seem to make a difference. She stared into space for a moment wondering what to do next when a voice distracted her thoughts.

  “Hi,” said a bright soprano voice behind her.

  Sam jumped a little at the interruption to her thoughts and turned around to see a petite
girl with long flowing black hair, her face lighting up with her smile.

  “You must be new. My name’s Becca.”

  “Hi, I’m Sam. Yes, I just arrived. Flew in from Bali this afternoon. Have you been here long?”

  “Ooh, Bali,” the petite brunette cooed. “I loved Bali. I arrived a couple of weeks ago. This is a great backpackers, you’ll love it here. Everyone is really friendly.”

  The young girl spoke quickly without taking a breath, almost singing her words. Sam felt her shoulders relax. As Becca continued her friendly chatter, the homesickness monster slunk back into the darkness.

  “Have you seen this view?” Becca asked, strolling over to the window to hold the curtain aside. Sam followed and stared, again.

  “Wow, I didn’t realize we were this close to the beach.”

  The view from the window was such that you could see the whole of Coogee Beach’s half moon bay directly below them. The waves were much wilder than those in Bali. They crashed up against the shore. Sam spotted some people surfing. They flitted in and out of the waves. Some of them fell, but most looked like they were glued to their boards.

  “They’re crazy!” Sam exclaimed. “They’ll kill themselves doing that.”

  “C’mon” Becca said with a smile, grabbing Sam’s arm “Let’s get a milk shake and go down to the beach and watch; they’re really very good.” Becca could see the newcomer looking over at her belongings and added. “Don’t worry, there’s a code of honor in these places. No one touches anyone else’s stuff, but keep your money and passport with you to be on the safe side.”

  Sam felt relieved as she grabbed the small bag that held her valuables and followed her new friend out of the door.

  A few minutes later they were sitting on the edge of the beach, milk shakes in hand. The sound of the surf was almost too loud to talk over, but Becca attempted conversation anyway.

  “So, what brought you all the way out here?” she asked.

  “Oh, I just wanted to see some of the world.” Sam replied. She wasn’t being completely honest, but then others didn’t need to know the sordid details of why she came to be sitting on that beach so far from home.