Tathra

First of all, my homesickness/mood is directly correlated with the weather. Haven’t been the slightest bit homesick for the last week or so (sunny, beauuutiful beach weather). And today all I want is to be home curled up on the couch with the fam and brownie (it’s raining). At least I’m predictable??

(My apologies if this isn't well written, I have been writing a paper all day and I think I have used up my daily quota of cleverness and quality writing.) 

 

This past weekend I had every intention of staying home and getting the rest of my school work for the session done. So of course when I was invited to go home with a friend for the weekend I immediately said yes. Again, predictable, right? My Friend Liam invited me to go to his family’s place in Tathra (5 hours south on the coast) with him and 3 other guys from campus east. So, Liam, Greg, Jackson, Miles and I all piled in Liams creepy surfer van and headed down! The van is only creepy because there are no windows in the back seat, otherwise it is really cool. It seats 6 with plenty of room for surfboards, wetties, backpacks, etc.

We got down there late Friday night. Liam’s family lives in the back/downstairs of the café that they own and run, so we had excellent food all weekend. All of the beds are downstairs in one giant room dormitory style. It was a pretty sweet set up. 

Saturday we got up, had some delicious brekkie and drove down to Middle Beach for a surf. The waves were small and the weather wasn't perfect, but it ended up being super fun. At one point we saw a group of whales swim by so we paddled out as close as far as we could to say hello. They stuck close to the surface for quite  a while and we saw lots of fins, humps and tails. Pretty cool! After surfing we went to the warf and the boys jumped off a few times. There was a HUGE seal that was hanging out catching fish. Saturday night we had a cookout at another beach/campsite for Liam's younger brother's sixteenth birthday. At the campground I chased a wallaby and two kangaroos...such a good day for seeing wildlife! At the end of the night I had to drive the creepy van back to the cafe (being the only one who hadn't had any beers). It is an older manual...in the dark, on windy dirt roads. I only stalled twice and both times it was on a steep hill. A wee bit scary, but we survived!

Sunday we slept in and then took Liam's brother's boat out on the river. We spent the day laying in the sun, cooking over a fire, wakeboarding and skurfing (not sure if I spelled that right, but it is surfing in the wake of the boat). It was a perfect day, very laid back and the weather was perfect! Later that afternoon we watched the New Zealand All Blacks beat France and win the Rugby World Cup and ate a feast of green curry prawns (or chicken in my case). 

Monday was a long drive home in the back of the windowless, air conditioning-less creepy van, but there was plenty of room to stretch out and nap so the drive went fairly quickly. Since I have been back I have been working like a crazy woman to finish all my school work because on Saturday I am leaving for Bali! Today was my last day of class (Woot!) and when I get back from Bali I will have two weeks of finals and then I will be off on more adventures. Time is flying! 

Almost a high five!

Wakeboarding

I helped cook dinner on Sunday- so delicious!

The Van

Kangaroo friend ( I may or may not have chased this fella all over the campground)

 On a random note: for some reason my unit has no hot water today so I have to sneak across the hall to use their shower. I suppose I could ask first, but it seems a lot more fun to just show up. I think I will see how impressed they are by my shower singing.