Max & Kaure in Alotau: Breakfast by the beach

Wanigili Beach front facing Waga Waga

Sometimes on a Sunday morning if the sky's clear and the sea's calm I like to take Kaure paddling in the canoe. We pack a few munchies and a drink and paddle out to have brekky with the fish. Kaure's always intrigued, he loves looking at the fish and just being out on the water and it gives me a chance to practise my paddling skills! A few Sundays ago, we had Javier and Jamon Simpson over for the week-end and decided to have breakfast on the beach for a change.

Kaure,Javier and Jamon Simpson playing.

Having come up with the "brilliant" idea to cook pancakes over the fire, I soon realised it wasn't as easy or as fun as I had imagined it to be. Number one I had to find dry wood (it had been pouring with rain the whole week so trying to find anything remotely dry was pretty challenging), Number two I had to make the fire which didn't happen right away (when you have 4 hungry kids staring at you, it can be slightly stressful!), Number three, I had to actually make the perfect pancake which was no easy feat let me assure you, not when you've got smoke coming at you from every angle, your eyes are watering and you're constantly being told by an eleven year old (Jamon) just what the perfect pancake should look like!!

The quest for the perfect pancake!

So what was meant to be an easy going relaxing Sunday morning brekky by the beach ended up being a rather stressful and exhausting experience! No, it wasn't that bad really, after 2 flops with the pancakes (I was using an el cheapo frying pan so had to change it to the heavier one) by the third round when I finally did make the perfect pancake all the kids actually cheered!!We ended up having pancakes with honey and french toast -hey it was all worth it but when Jeannie (my girlfriend) called later that morning and suggested we make a fire and have lunch by the beach I had to decline- I was all fired out!