My final few weeks were full of tearful goodbyes, celebrations, good friends and lots of good food. Todd and I celebrated our one year anniversary (festivities orchestrated by me) by having a super date. On Saturday July 24th , we rode our bikes to Burleigh Heads and enjoyed brunch by the ocean while watching surfers , kids and their harassed looking parents. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some errands via bike which was really fun and very environmentally friendly of us :). Our super date came to a close with a night in surfers which ended up being fairly short because we were both tired from our biking adventure that morning.
The next weekend Todd and I tried to hike into Stinston Wreck which was a hike that we had tried to plan for months, but something always got in the way… We ended up leaving the house earlier than expected and by the time we arrived at the start of the hike we only had a few hours of daylight left. We walked 300 meters in and were confronted with a swollen river and a log straddling the river as our only means across. We proceeded to wrap our legs around the log and crawl across. Fifteen minutes later we had managed to inch ourselves across. We were wet, muddy and the sun was already beginning to set. Another kilometer or so in, we discovered that the trail was becoming harder and harder to follow so we decided to set up camp by the river (on the trail) and attempt to get to the site on Sunday. We knew it would be a big return trip but figured it was worth a shot. Two hours later we had set up camp, had tea (dinner) and were playing cards in the tent. We discovered that we only had one bedroll because of some packing errors and were laying across a tree root in our hot, stuffy tent. We quickly agreed that this was just not meant to be and so we headed home, with a celebratory stop at McDonalds on the way.
The following weekend, my final weekend in Australia, was spent in Sydney with Al and Gav (two of Todd’s friends from work). We were originally supposed to run the city to surf, a 14K run from Hyde park to Bondi beach, but Todd and I decided to be lazy and so Gav and Al showed us up by their impressive running abilities. Todd and I used that morning to walk from Bondi (where our hostel was) down the cost to the neighboring town of Bronte. It was a beautiful morning and it was nice to get some exercise without hurting our joints through running :) The previous day, Todd purchased a GPS and so he spent much of the morning trying to figure it out to make sure we didn’t get lost on the well marked, self explanatory path we walked down. After Al and Gav finished the run we all met up and then Todd and I managed to meet up with Miles in downtown Bondi. I really had an amazing time meeting up with Miles. The time flew by and I think we are both happy that we have kept in touch throughout our time in Australia.
Our weekend concluded with a night on the town with Al and Gav. We went to a classy wine bar and then moved the party to a BYO Mediterranean restaurant where Todd discovered a new region of food that he really enjoyed. Woo experimenting! :) I am really glad that we spent that weekend in Bondi. It was a new part of Sydney that I had not seen and the endless houses on hills reminded me a lot of San Francisco’s architectural silhouette. Saying goodbye to Al after that weekend was, once again, really tough. I met him within the first month of being in Australia and I don’t think I have ever met such a kind, spiritual, funny individual. I really had an amazing time getting to know him and I really hope our paths cross again in the future.
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| Al and Roman (two friends I miss a great deal) at Moreton (another weekend) |
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