Four seasons in one day

As an Aussie girl, born and bred, there is little more soothing than waking up to the sounds of waves crashing, in a tent, with the smell of salt water still on my skin from yesterday’s swim. Call me a pessimist, but I had relegated experiences like this to the back of my mind along with things like margaritas, balsamic vinegar and strawberries. So you can imagine my joy when in my bid to escape the mass street slaughter that is Bloody Eid, I found myself here:

Watching the sunset over Cox’s Bazaar beach, apparently the ‘longest open beach in the southern hemisphere’.  

Dodging the crabs while walking out at low tide on St Marten's Island (yes, that's me in the orange) to reach our snorkeling spot 

Coconut shells - a worthy last meal? 

I am trying to ignore the ridiculousness of my month where I have gone from visiting villages talking with women in their burqas about their child’s nutrition to snorkelling in my salwar kameez for a highly amused audience of Bangladeshi’s on holidays. Not surprisingly, snorkelling fully clothed made me feel a lot like I was drowning, so is not high on my Experiences To Be Repeated list, but it was fun to do something different. 

Anyway, my beach holiday to Cox’s Bazaar and St Marten’s was so relaxing and full of food and chill out time and sun and good company that for a week it really did feel a lot like I was anywhere but in a country with a population of 153 million people, most of which are not sure where their next meal is coming from.

Space, solitude, silence and candy stripes - what more can a girl ask for?

And just to throw another spanner in the works of mind-bending realism, I am packing for Australia tonight for a whirlwind visit that will cover a wedding, my birthday and Christmas. 2 months has never before felt so long – in a good way – it feels like a very very long time ago I was sipping a skim flat white and rushing around Sydney airport trying to buy a phone charger for a phone that in 4 days time I would no longer own anyway. 

Mmmmmm.... woolworths, red wine and a mattress with springs...... Free alcohol on the plane! Plane food! (surely this is a first?) Family and friends..... Sydney, here I come.