Day 124

Olivia came around tonight – a girl in foster care that Rosemaree looks after once a month. She is very scary looking, has no cutlery skills whatsoever and is on meds for being so uncontrollably hyperactive so normally I find her ever so slightly irritating. But tonight, she redeemed herself....

Firstly, she came through to my room dressed up as a junior masterchef – a present from Rosemaree for her 9th birthday last week. The outfit looked great, it has to be said, but more importantly her culinary offering was the most delicious chocolate truffle I have ever tasted mmmm mmmmmmm :D

Secondly, an advert came on during dinner and it must have jogged her brain or something, as she innocently said to me and Rachel ‘Brad’s like that. He never throws things away’. Well, me and Rachel were in giggles and Brad was just in shock, even after asking her to repeat it twice. She then went on further, saying ‘You buy lots of things but never throw them away’ to which Brad defended himself, saying ‘I buy some things to sell.... it’s lucky I’ve got a big shed to put them in’. Olivia then turned back to the TV, as if the conversation was boring her now only to turn back (again to me and Rachel) to loudly whisper ‘A big shed that’s so full you can’t even get in the door’! Brad’s face was a right picture though I hope my laughter wasn’t too much lol :P

Olivia, thank you for tonight’s entertainment :D

Day 125 beach

My day trip down to the Gold Coast was luuuuuush :D I arrived at Broad beach to find the sand too hot to stand on barefoot, without frying my toes so quickly sprawled out on a towel; smeared in suntan lotion, covered in sand and vest pulled up into a DIY crop top, I was in heaven lol. Alternating between listening to my mp3 and the (crystal blue) waves lapping the shore, I was so relaxed I actually fell asleep... testing my suncream to the absolute limit on my poor legs :S

After my nap, I felt all energised and ready to beach hop :), heading down to Mermaid beach, Nobby’s beach and ending at Miami Beach... as I got further down the coast, the beaches became narrower and narrower; by the end, people were actually scrambling up the sand banks to save their packed lunches from the incoming tide. I was fine though, allowing my feet to cool as I walked along the surf though my shorts did get splashed a couple of times by some monster waves. Now, I’ve worn these shorts many time before, even in thunderstorms and never before have the dye leaked, with the shorts deciding to ruin my tanned beach babe effort; instead, I looked like I had monster varicose veins on my thighs. Cool -.-

I then walked back (via the inland path) to Broad beach, where I treated myself to a Boost fruit sorbet crush... this time passing on the mango :P Delicious! Now, I had to be careful on the train back as Rachel normally keeps an eye out on where we are while I do that whole dozing off thing, with head rolling and lolling around before you scare yourself back awake... you know what I mean :P Well, I still did doze off but managed to get off at the right station, where a true aussie character asked me for directions. As soon as I opened my mouth, he realised his mistake, becoming all embarrassed at seeking help from an imposter English girl.... thankfully I did actually know where he wanted to go and even how to get there :)

I arrived home (with red and blue legs) to find that Rosemaree’s sister Di and her husband were visiting so we having a posh barbecue style dinner, which of course involved the whole ‘ I like my steak cooked... normally?’ conversation again :P After innocently asking whether I was hot today, they revealed it reached 30oC at the coast – the highest temp since we’ve been here!

What a way to spend study leave :D