Opening Scene: Morning
<Sound Dept engaged >
Monday morning and the whole island quietens down. It seems
a significant amount of the touristy hordes have left after the weekend’s
festivities and as consequence the senses become attuned more to those who have
stayed and (even more enjoyable) – the background noises of the place. When these
are noticed the enjoyment of being lifts a notch or two. Layered on the side of
a very steep hill, the castle exposes every noise made in the hidden cove to
the astute listener, some you have to be attuned to, some are forced
unwillingly into your consciousness. The crew of the Sound Department worked
overtime today, the soundtrack cleverly woven into the fabric of the script in
a seemingly effortless expression of a day in the life in a human manipulated tropical
paradise.
n.b. The most important (and thus most repeated sound) over
the whole island is the persistent “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”…of a buggy moving backwards.
Whatever situation the cast is placed in – there is aways the sound on the ““Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”….” of a buggy moving backwards.
As the day starts it’s extremely quiet – even though the
birds have earlier sung their dawn gratitude chorus they have since reduced their
song to the occasional cry which echo with a forlorn yet somehow uplifting resonance
around the valley. “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”. The pumping throb of the big diesel engines of the
ferry slowly work their way into the consciousness as it creeps towards us from
over the distance waters. By the time its nearby and heading to the harbor around
the corner it dominates the aural landscape for a brief time and then disappears.
Some minutes later the quiet beach turns into a cacophony as its wake washes
over the low tide sands – and for a brief time it’s like we are next to an
ocean beach. As quickly as the washing sound rises it fades away leaving the
cove and its inhabitants to speak to themselves.
A cockatoo or two cry out, chased away by the dominating
currawong and quickly disappear back over the ridge. The helicopter over at the
rich people’s haven comes and goes, sometimes out to the reef, more often though
to the airport as the occupants are far too important to spend 10 minutes on
the road as compared 2 in the air, besides those pesky buggies with their open
windows may dislodge an expensively manicured hair curl. “Fair enough” the crows
cry out as they circle and wheel in their constant arguments with each other…
and the universe in general.“Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”. The breeze slowly moves the drain chain back and forth along it's guide, sounding like a koala calling for a mate.
OffSpring No.2 got up early and left the castle wing with barley a bump, performed an early morning marathon to the other side of the island, narrowly dodging a snake on the track and left an amorous couple to themselves on a secluded beach on the far side of the island. The toaster ejects its contents onto the bench with a spriong. Non-Blogger left Blogger snoring in his “nose driven into the sheets” posture to walk down the hill to the town whilst OSNo.1 and Companion eventually arose to use and then clean out the coffee machine – repeatedly.
<sound check – do we have a bite of an espresso machine going “glug, glug, glug..” ? yes ?Excellent – just put it on repeat for a while please>
Blogger then decided to continue to collect slow TV video, capturing
the view from the private balcony of the perfect ambiance of the glistening waters
with the purposefully moving watercraft slicing their ways across the perfectly
shimmering waters under the graceful blue skies, the warm tropical sun beautifully
accentuating the distant islands glimmering in their magnificence as they have
done for many a millennium. A vacuum cleaner starts next door.
The rest of the cast was down at the moat at this time luxuriating
in the warm waters and enjoying the lucky horizon ambience when the young
family arrived. It was around this time the baby at moat decided that it was
time to start demanding something. Not sure what it was. Neither did the rest
of the cove. We all did know however, that whatever it wanted it didn’t get it.
For well over an hour (possibly more). The cast had led a retreat up the castle
terraces (akin to that described in the Two Towers by Tolkien) only to find
that the wailful cries were echoing up the valley and into the wing as if the
source was in the next room.
The acoustics of this place are amazing. Every conversation
held outdoors is heard by everyone else in the castle. People arrive (we know
about it). People leave (we know about it). People buggy past us below our terraces
wing (we know about it). On top of that – there are the “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeps”. There is
always a “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep” somewhere.
Play of the Day Scene: Beach To Peak
Of course, being a cast of 5 highly opinionated players
ourselves we are want to be making our own amount of contribution which makes
up the cacophony of noise permeating throughout the valley, blameless we are
not, participants we are. All adhering to the script – that’s why we’re here –
just actors in the game of life and make our noises we do.
And so it was back to Feline Peeps beach in the afternoon for a spot of water frolicking whilst the tide decided to fill up the bay. Blogger, OSno.1 and Companion managed to snatch a rig without booking and went sailing. The breeze was not the pervasive Sou-easterly, was less persistent than yesterday and as was a bit trickier to control, however being the skilled mariners we now are, we had no problems getting out and coming back in exactly as we wanted to (unlike those less unfortunate/skilled peeps who needed the roundup kelpie boat to bring them back in). From an acoustics angle the sound crew really did their job well here with a high level of background white noise whilst tacking and then turning the volume down to almost zero whilst we were running with the wind. Also – this is the place to escape the “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeps”. No buggies reversing out here!
The sound of the occasional SUPer falling into the water,
the squeals of delight from the kids splashing around was a great soundtrack for
this scene. Even the victim of the reef shark being taken away was kind enough
not to make a fuss – so one even knew about it. Cinematography at its best.
The cast then headed back to the castle (yes there were Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeps in there) to get back to Wardrobe and Catering in order for the next scene
which involved a hike up to the lookout which overlooks the resort and exposes the southernmost
vista aspects of the island for the first time. It was a hot and sweaty trek up the gravel paths
to the top of the hill. Upon arrival we were greeted with a 360 degree vista –
if you bothered to walk from one side of the plateau to the other. Spectacular views,
thoroughly enjoyed whilst the cast earned their keep by promoting a local beer companies’
product.
Blogger managed to capture some of the sunsetting over the passage
whilst totally capturing the conversation of the lone Argentinian tourist’s
conversation she had on her phone whilst she was up there. <Note to Sound Department
– override audio recording of that scene).
The sunset was fabulous, didn't make a sound and so we bid it farewell as it continued its journey, the refreshments perfectly delivered and justified and the walk back down in the fading light tricky, yet we got through. The half moon was sort of lighting our way at the end of the track and was totally resplendent as we were floating on our backs in the warm waters of Feline Peeps beach afterwards. In the dark. No one else around. Just we cast members and the silence of nature around us. Lay your back, put your ears under the water and all you can hear is the water swishing around and your heartbeat. Ca-thump, Ca-thump…..
Refreshed and now hungry we headed back across the grassy
grounds surrounding the SUB, ignoring the noises of the cries of the egrets
protecting their stupidly placed nests and headed back to our wing in the castle for
the next scene to play out.
Closing Scene: Rufus over dinner
Dinner was put on by OSno.2, was thoroughly delightful and
was accompanied by Rufus Du Sol soundtrack. From the visually awesome experience
of the Joshua Tree NP to the Sydney Harbor we spent the evening giving back to
the valley a sound track that befitted a fabulous script. Hope they enjoyed it.
We did.
And as this entry is finalized the wailing cries of some
feathered creature echoes throughout the stillness of the night. Not sure what
they are after, hopefully they’ll find it. Also not sure what the beast is that’s
crashing its way though the foliage under wing, just hope it stays in the foliage
and not into the premises… as it seems significantly large.
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