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| This pretty restaurant, L’únigo (misspelled in TripAdvisor as L’Unico) is rated #3 of 16 restaurants in Trinity Beach. We’ll try this one also. The sun peeked out for a few hours yesterday! |
With dense fog and pouring rain impeding the view of the ocean and the horizon, we’ve decided not to go on the road trip along the ocean that we’d tentatively planned for today.
With the intent of taking photos of the scenery along the coastline to share here, we’ve decided to wait until the next sunny weekday. We prefer not to travel on busy weekends fighting traffic and crowds when we can just as easily travel on weekdays.
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| I stepped out of the car to take this shot. Tom reminded me that passengers on the ship had told him that the ocean is murky at most beaches in Australia, as opposed to the clear crisp blue waters of Hawaii and other islands. Here’s an article about the murky waters surrounding the Great Barrier Reef. |
However, yesterday when we took off for me to join a fitness center, we took a drive and stumbled upon a fabulous area with photo ops we look forward to sharing here over the next few days. With wifi limitations and the overall poor signal, we can’t post as many photos as we had in some past locations when we had free unlimited wifi.
Coast Fitness is the closest health club and although modest, it certainly will do the trick. I’ve always found that a health club must be conveniently located in one’s place of residence. It’s hard enough to make oneself workout on a regular basis, let alone having a long distance to drive.
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| View of the mountains from Trinity Beach. |
Working out, although obviously beneficial, requires a degree of self-discipline that I’ve always found to be challenging. Once I’m there and warmed up, it’s all good.
Unfortunately, Tom has to drive me wherever I’d like to go. The car rental required an extra USD $23.22, AUD $30 per day to add me to the agreement. It just wasn’t worth spending an extra USD $2066.58, AUD $2670.36 for me to drive myself to the grocery store and fitness center during the 89 days.
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| There are warning signs along all the beaches in this area in regard to stingers and crocodiles. We’ve seldom seen anyone in the water or lounging on the beach. |
It’s not like Tom has a lot to do to prevent him from having time to drive me around. He brings his phone loaded with books he’s reading staying entertained while he waits. Also, driving a stick shift left-handed and on the opposite side of the road wouldn’t have been ideal for me. In essence, I’m happy I wasn’t included in the agreement. It would not have been pretty.
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| As we exited the car at Vasay Esplanade, we were excited to see restaurants along the street. Trinity Beach Beachfront Bar and Grill which we particularly liked for their menu is rated #4 of 16 in TripAdvisor. We’ll try this one soon. |
It took no more than 10 minutes to pay the required US $177, AUD $230, for the next two months and get my membership card. Not wanting to pay for the third month, my membership will end two weeks before we leave Trinity Beach on September 8th. During that final two weeks, I’ll do the workout at home.
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| This morning’s view at 10 am. |
Hopefully, I’ll be able to find a facility on the tiny island we’ll be living on in Fiji after we leave here. I’ve already begun searching, contacting various resorts for possibilities, hoping to hear back before too long.
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| We can’t see beyond the yard. |
I hadn’t realized that I’d feel so out of shape when I started yesterday’s routine. I can only attribute it to the fact that I was sick during the final month in Kauai, never working out, and then did a less than stellar attempt on the ship when we were busy socializing each day.
Now I’m totally committed to go to the fitness center frequently and give it everything I have. It’s amazing how energized and strong I’ll feel after a few weeks.
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| The modest entrance to Coast Fitness. Although unassuming, it has excellent equipment, everything I can possibly use. |
As we left the fitness center, Tom, with his keen sense of direction, decided to take us on another drive toward the ocean. Little did we know we’d stumble upon a quaint oceanfront area of Trinity Beach we hadn’t yet discovered. I practically squealed with delight as we parked the car.
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| The pool at Coast Fitness wasn’t particularly appealing. With the pool here at the house which we’ve yet to use with the mostly cloudy weather these past few weeks, we won’t be using this pool. |
Even Tom, who doesn’t get quite as excited as I do, couldn’t get out of the car quick enough so we could wander along the ocean boulevard, Vasay Esplanade, checking out the scenery and the various restaurants and their menus. We found enough restaurants in that one location to satisfy us for weeks to come.
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| The equipment is up-to-date and adequate. |
However, we’ve yet to dine out since we arrived. What can I say? We’ve so enjoyed making our meals and, with Tom losing weight like crazy, it’s pointless to dine out and spoil the momentum. Perhaps soon, we’ll visit one of these appealing options.
We’re content, feeling settled in, enjoying the area. We’ve begun looking ahead to the future when we still have holes in our itinerary that we need to fill. We’ve waited long enough and currently are considering several options. Once, we’ve booked the next round, we’ll certainly be sharing the news here.
Have a warm and wonderful day filled with sunshine in your life, if not in the skies.
Photo from one year ago today, June 24, 2014:
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| This was the first time we’d seen these Angel’s Trumpet flowers as we drove in the mountains of Madeira. Later, I saw these in Kauai when I toured the Princeville Botanical Gardens to discover that these flowers are used as a hallucinogenic by certain cultures. For more details, please click here. |