I called for a BBQ lunch a week ago for 6 and half people, 3 families to go for. The plan was to get a nice place, and gather together to enjoy a summer sizzling BBQ and some outdoor activities. But I was too naïve about the time arrangement.

When we got to that Japanese Garden near the Lotus Bay at 10:40am, all the good BBQ spots had all been occupied. We were forced to travel further along the road to find other places. Now it got quite painful, as the day started to warm up with the temperature like nearly 30 degrees, we were carrying a load of booth of BBQ things but not knowing where to put them. 50 minutes later, we were still looking around. Other two families were on their way to here, we still hadn’t found a proper place. My stress level just soared to the new high record, the anxiety and the heat attacked me at the same time and gradually building up in my head, which caused a severe headache. I didn’t expect it could be this hard and it wasn’t cool.

our BBQ place’s view: not ideal but at least we can get the lunch done

Anyway, we finally had to go for the secondary choice, choosing a spot a bit far from the lake in the bush but not many trees giving shades. Also the trees around had the signs of being burnt badly before. It wasn’t an ideal place, but the BBQ stoves were new models and very efficient.

Half hour later, we got veggie fritters, sausages, chicken, calamari rings, eggplants, roasted potato and mushrooms all on the table. Other people brought some nice salad and wine along. I was sitting there, feeling as if my head was sizzling, just like those sausages on the stove as well. The only thing I wanted was to drink as much as the cold orange juice. In that respect, our cooler was absolutely a star. It maintained the beer, wine and other stuff so cool that it actually ended up the only thing that I believed quite right to bring to this BBQ lunch.

The lunch went for only an hour and the other activities that were arranged before had to be cancelled as the heat got unbearable. Two Australian husbands decided to go home, and their Chinese wives intended to go for shopping and asked us to come along. So we joined in and spent another a couple of hours in Canberra Centre. Nobody bought anything but at least it was a cool place which might be good to help my headache recover.

I did recover, about one hour after I got back home. The headache’s gone, but I got some rashes on my both upper arms. I am not sure if I was just allergic to sun or the sunscreen.