Funny Little Frog

Catching up. My midterm went well on Friday so I was able to thoroughly enjoy the weekend in Byron Bay. I met my parents at their hotel after my midterm where my dad was ready with the rental car. We drove to Byron, checked into our motel, and went to a nice restaurant for dinner. Good food and wine and some amazing dessert that had something to do with white chocolate and honey. We were pretty tired so we went to bed early.

We all got up early and it was decided that we would go to Ballina (where my second cousin Kaia lives with her husband Dan and their two little girls) for the first part of the day. We spent some time catching up and then we went to the beach, despite the on-and-off rain, where Dan and I went surfing. The break was great and because the weather was less than perfect there was basically no one on the beach and maybe ten surfers out at most. I was so pleased with the good conditions and free board usage/tips from Dan! After the beach, which we left when it began to rain hard, we went back to their house where we had a delicious lunch. We went back to Byron after lunch, and despite the still on-and-off rain, my mom and I made he trek to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is on Cape Byron, on which is the most eastern point of Australia. I, of course, needed a picture with this sign. The trek back was longer than on the way there—we did a loop—and we ended up getting a little side-tracked because the signs for the trail were terrible. I was also not feeling well during all of this, but all in all, my mom and I both agree it was well worth the over 2 hours of walking. The views off the cape where you are standing so high above the water on a very steep cliff from where you can see the sandy beaches on both sides is just amazing—even when the weather isn’t! So when we got back to the motel we were exhausted and soaking wet. I showered and we took a breather before heading out for dinner. We went to a smaller restaurant that seemed like a little café but ended up being a great restaurant with the best food I had had in a long time. The owner (or we think he was) convinced us to get a $50 bottle of Shiraz which was yummy.

On Sunday we went to the market in Byron which happens every Sunday there and is a place where mostly locals, but also many tourists, go to buy and sell and socialize. Once again, the weather was crazy and there was on-and-off rain. My dad mostly listened to the live music while my mom and I shopped. I bought several pairs of earrings (a weakness!) and a necklace, as well as a piece of artwork that my mom will bring home with her. I could have bought so much more there—I loved everything! Kaia and Dan and the girls met us a bit later and we had lunch together. My mom and I got falafel that was delicious. It got really sunny while we were eating, but then of course it was time to leave! We left a little after 1:00 because we had to have the rental car back in Brisbane at a certain time. The drive back to Brisbane was faster than on the way there. I said goodbye to my parents, who were staying in Brisbane for the night and heading off to Heron Island (on the Great Barrier Reef) Monday in the early morning. I got back to campus in time to shower and unpack before dinner. I caught up with everyone on my hall and then went to bed early because, once again, I was so tired/could not/would not do work.

Today I had my 8am chemistry lecture but no practical this afternoon. I have an assignment for anthropology that requires a lot of research so I’ve been working on that all day at the library and in my room. Now I’m going to go print some stuff at the library/check out some books I need for resources for the assignment and then go to my spin class.

Ok so my computer froze so I'm posting this now. Spin class was super hard today; I'm not sure what it was but our instructor definitely changed something up today. Let me put it this way--I don't know if I'll be able to walk in the morning. Ok I must get work done tonight because I saw Charlene on my way to the gym and she wants me to come to Chrissie's (one of her roommates who I went to Fiji with) birthday party tomorrow night. Peacing out.