Where were we… oh yes, christmas was celebrated properly now in a warm Australian weather.

Next day (29th of december) Peter’s mum and sis took me out wanting to spend some “girl” time with me :) We went to have coffee at Artista i think it was called. Apparently one of the best coffee places in town. And yes it was good, but i had had already two big coffees at home. And third one there was a bit too much, but at least it was a good one! Then we went “op-shopping” as Australians call it. Which for other people who don’t know what that means, is second hand shops. We went to quite several ones, but didn’t find anything this time. Not that i can remember though.
Later on we took Peter’s car to service. Funny, i remember is it far? As we needed to walk back, or ask someone to follow us and drive us back. And he said “just down the road”. We have a different understanding of that as i later found out :) So we had a long walk home. It was fine though. Later we went to have lunch with his pastor and his family. Surely i was nervous, after all this is a pastor we are talking about and meeting people first time anyway is a nervous occasion, but all went splendid and they too were super friendly and nice people. And their kids were real nice too. I don’t know what it is about Australians, but i seem to like them more and more as i went along and met more people. We had quite a long talk later on, even though i can’t really recall all we spoke about, but it was fun that the kids kind of just vanished inside and we were sitting outside. And then at one point it was “spitting rain” as they say. That means it’s lightly raining. Australians use a lot of funny expressions.
That reminds me, did i tell you about thongs? No, i don’t mean underwear, but they call flip-flops thongs. First time i heard that, i was thinking someone is asking about my underwear, so i was like “what?!” :D I must’ve done that a lot with Peter at first, but think i’ve gotten more and more used to new expressions. And if I occasionally forget or don’t know, they gladly explain to me.

After the lunch with pastor and his wife (Andrew and Kylie), we did something at the shopping center. Maybe dropped off our film roll of photos (we had a real camera with film roll and all that we tried out) and had ice-cream.
And then off to dinner with Peter’s brother Steve and his family. That food was so yummy and i did wish i had a bigger stomach for that! You know those moments when someone makes something really awesome, especially desserts, and then your tummy doesn’t fit anymore? Well happened a lot in Australia :D
That evening wasn’t that great for me. Been having a lot of new people and meetings and add anxiety and jet lag and all that, so we didn’t stay long. But had pleasant time regardless and the kids are just adorable that they have! :)

Later that night we got around to seeing some christmas lights. See they have some people who spend loads of money and electricity to hang out christmas lights. Some put them just around their house, some decorate trees and get special lighted statues. Be it santa or reindeers and so on. So we drove around a bit to see who’d put up lights. It wasn’t much, but a little.
Then went for a short walk on Jetty too, which is like a… i don’t even know how to explain this. Like a bridge, but not going anywhere? On the seaside, with wooden promenade thing. Anyway, had a short walk because i was cold. Imagine that, it’s Australia and an Estonian is cold. But then again the breeze is chilly at night time. And it was getting late. So back home we went.

30th december we had another outing. Meaning we went somewhere to see something. This time we left early in the morning to meet Peter’s aunt Debbie. She had been supporting me quite a while and lives far away so we agreed to meet half way. And Peter’s mom hadn’t seen her in a while too, so his parents came along too. We met Debbie at Macadamian castle which is a place with some animals, some souvenir shop, cafe and just a place where people go. We also went in to see some native animals. I got to feed kangaroos! AND emus! But kangaroos, the small kind, they were adorable! And soft. We saw different animals, but they had strange names, so i remember nothing. :D But had still good time meeting Debbie and having cool day driving there. We had lunch there, which was good, as most foods here.
After meeting all the animals, talking with Debbie and having lunch, we parted our ways and me and Peter went off to have our own drive a bit (we came with two cars there). We stopped along the way to take some pictures and such, because after all, it was my first time in Australia and driving around and just super cool to see all this scenery! So many mountains. And they grow corn! And bananas! So cool!

When we finally got home (it was a long drive), at one point we thought to go for a walk. At the breakwall thing. I don’t know how to explain this, but they have built a breakwall to stop some waves or something. Anyway, i was standing with Peter at some spot and just watching waves crash in and it was all nice and calm and fun to watch them… when all of sudden whooooosh! And we were wet! One wave got us entirely wet and i burst out laughing and so do people around us who were close by. And my first question is “Is my phone dry?” :D It was in Peter’s pocket as i didn’t have pockets and phew, it was dry. I squeezed out excess water and wow, that was fun! We took my phone to the car and stayed watching a bit more (because water isn’t cold there, so i didn’t mind getting wet), but didn’t get wet more. :) But that was one of the most exciting things that happened to me through the entire trip i think.
Surely we weren’t prepared for this, so we tried to walk a bit to get more dry, but at one point needed to go home, so how do you get to sit in the car without making it wet? Well, i had brought my big scarf with me, as i often am freezing (and then later i am sweating, i’m weird i know). So had that on our seats and i think we found something else, but Peter’s car did get a bit sea water too. Oh fun adventures!

We got home and explained our amusing adventures to his parents too. And then i think we watched a movie (after getting ourselves a bit more dry).
But yes, that random splash of water on the breakwall, really made my day so much more fun and surprising!

to be continued….