Australia Day and such

Well, we ended up going to Manly beach on Saturday and it ended up being 108 degrees near where we stay!! Yikes. We were so glad we were at the ocean, where the water was quite cool. It felt so good. We found that there was a fish and chips restaurant with Air conditioning, not common here. We had a great lunch there before heading to the beach. Oh yeah, and before that I had some amazing chocolate, banana crepes at a place called, "the Bald Guys chocolate" or something like that. Yum.

At the beach they were having a surf carnival, with lots of races going on. Fun to watch, Erik had wanted to see one! There were also lots of strong currents so there was only a small area flagged off for swimming, but that didn't deter us. There was a place to rent surfboards and boogie boards, so Andrew tried surfing again. I thought he did great. He said it was challenging with the currents. Bryn got a strange painful rash on the back of his knees. We don't know what it was, but it went away after about 30 minutes, we're calling it a jelly or a blue bottle! Sounds better than sea lice or some such.

On the way home, Andrew and Bryn really wanted to eat in Newtown at Thai riffic, they had gone there once before. After a train ride and some walking we found it about 9 p.m. It was a great place and amazing food.

Andrew and Kari finished packing and getting ready and left via taxi with Erik about 1 p.m. on Sunday. Sadness! It was so fun to be together here. Erik thought he could easily take a train back here, but it didn't work out well, he ended up in Bondi and it took him over 2 hours to get home, with lots of walking. He got turned around at Town Hall and was going the wrong way for awhile, that doesn't happen often to him, he's great at figuring out where we are. Andrew and Bryn are good at it too.

Andrew and Kari emailed that they slept nearly all of the 19 hours to Chicago, yay for Unisom! They went from 108 degrees here to about 8 degrees in Iowa, what a shock!

Monday was Australia Day, 220 years from when the British landed in Australia. First we went to an aboriginal festival, they weren't celebrating the same thing, but celebrating their survival despite of it. Ryan got to play some footie, Australian rules football with some kids, mostly they were practicing their kicking, fun! And then we went downtown and saw the fireworks and show at Darling Harbour. It was raining, but a warm rain. I think it kept the crowds down some. We enjoyed it and were home before 10.

Yesterday we spent at immigration getting Bryn and Ryan's visas figured out, hopefully all's well now. Whew.

Today, Erik, Shane, Bryn and Ryan went to Manly beach. Bryn rented a surfboard, but I haven't heard how that went. I'm off to see a movie with the students, called Ten Canoes. All for now,

Carla