Pacific Jewel - P&O Australia
I shouldn’t have been able to balance on a wheeled-contraption and use my body weight to propel myself forward on the sand.
But I did, and slayed it! Being the most clumsy, accident prone person on earth (17 broken bones, numerous torn ligaments, a zillion bruises and just a half-dozen concussions), I tentatively eyed the segways parked in a neat row. Having survived both quad-biking and sand-duning, I thought why not score the trifecta?
After a short demo by the lovely instructor, we climbed aboard our segways. Little Miss excitedly chose ‘Echo’ and was literally bouncing with anticipation. While I waited for further instruction, and found my footing, I heard Miss Hope whisper to Echo The Segway,
“Don’t worry, I won’t
crash you. But don’t get too close to mummy as she is very clumsy.”
Gee thanks, Hope. As my brow creased a little, I then
realised that my youngest has this odd, but sweet way of taking everyone’s
(even inanimate objects) feelings into consideration. And, she was right. It
would be a miracle if I didn’t do something klutzy.
As well as the two of us, there were two others in our group. The instructor showed our party of four how to use our body
weight to make the Segway move. The physics behind it confused me, but hey no
throttle meant less chance of crashing. After a few false starts, I was soon
off zooming on the sand. Hope was an absolute champ and took to it like a pro!
What fun, what joy! We raced alongside each other, giggling and having the time of our lives. Seriously, it was exhilarating, and for me, a priceless bonding moment.
The segways were extremely easy to manoeuver and safe, and only once while attempting to do a 180 degree turn did I fall off. This resulted in peals of laughter from Hope. A quick brush off my butt to rid the sand, and I was back on. The only unfortunate thing was that the tour ended too quickly. Next time, I'll book the longer tour.
As we parked our segways back to their starting positions, I vowed that one day, I’d own one of these marvellous machines. Much better than walking!
What fun, what joy! We raced alongside each other, giggling and having the time of our lives. Seriously, it was exhilarating, and for me, a priceless bonding moment.
The segways were extremely easy to manoeuver and safe, and only once while attempting to do a 180 degree turn did I fall off. This resulted in peals of laughter from Hope. A quick brush off my butt to rid the sand, and I was back on. The only unfortunate thing was that the tour ended too quickly. Next time, I'll book the longer tour.
As we parked our segways back to their starting positions, I vowed that one day, I’d own one of these marvellous machines. Much better than walking!
With only an hour left before the last tender, we jumped back in the ocean to soak up the last few healing vibes of the warm water.
Reflecting on the day, we experienced so many news things, pushed ourselves to try activities we’d never normally tackle and most importantly created memories the two of us – mother and daughter – will cherish forever.
