Over the last week, Mel and I have noticed that our daily routine has been significantly toned down in comparison to our first two weeks in Australia. Now that we have a home and that we have unpacked and settled, most of our days have been spent getting used to the area and all that it has to offer. We now have discovered our own local shops etc to buy our groceries, we know our butcher, we check in at the local bookstore daily (Mel is itching to get the second book in the Twilight series), and we are trying to get more comfortable with the somewhat disappointing bus system in town.
On Thursday, Julie (the woman we live with) and I went into Broadbeach together to have a shopping day. It was great; we really had a chance to bond and get to know eachother. Julie is in her early 50s and is a grandmother to two beautiful babies, and she has such a zest for life! She's hilarious to be around and is usually the one who has the most outrageous comments and stories.
While shopping, I found a new dress (Amy, you'll absolutely love it, so we can share when I get back) and some new shoes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that clothes and shoes here are significantly more inexpensive than at home. I've been thinking lately that I may need to purchase another bag or suitcase because there's so many dresses and shoes that I'm seeing that'll look great in my closet at home.....
Later on Thursday evening, Mel, Julie and I went into Surfers Paradise and sat in a pub outside for a drink. Mel and I later walked along the strip and did a little more shopping.... the fashion here is a bit different from home. Everyone is a little more dressy; females especially all wear sundresses, and they're so cute! So, they're in every shop and when they're so inexpensive, how can you say no?!?
Friday was the night Mel and I decided to go out on the town. After almost three weeks here, we still hadn't treated ourselves to an official girls night out.
Julie was nice enough to drop us off into surfers and we started our evening by strolling along the beach (sporting our new australian threads). On friday evenings, there's apparently always a market on the beach, so we decided to check that out. They were selling really neat stuff (but nothing you'd take home) mainly crafts and nick-nacks that have no real usage except for collecting dust. We looked at that stuff for a bit, then walked through the town, and had a coffee at Starbucks. For dinner, we made sure we were well informed on the best place to eat (we checked out menues around town for over an hour!.....we're hard to please i guess). We settled on a nice Italian restaurant, and were quite pleased.
After dinner, around 10:30 we decided we weren't ready to go home yet, so we decided to grab a drink at a local irish pub. We got in and had a few drinks and really started enjoying ourselves. There was live music playing all the oldies that everyone knows and we ended up meeting some Aussies. One thing we were told is that in Australia, it's illegal to serve more than one shot at once. They can serve them one after another, but you can't line them up on the bar.....crazy eh?!? We made friends with the bar tender too, and she ended up making us some authentic australian shots that I can't remember the names of.
Overall it was a really enjoyable night.....until we decided to take a cab home at 3 and had to wait in a line forever..... but the cabbie was really nice and offered us some suggestions on where to travel while we're here.....aussie's are so helpful!
Saturday we recovered.....we didn't do much.
Today Mel and I discovered bus routes. We were very pleased with ourselves when we successfully took a bus to Broadbeach and back. It was absolutely beautiful on the beach today. The temperature was cool, so we didn't end up swimming, but it was so enjoyable laying in the sand. Mel slept for most of it, and I read a bit and just 'people watched'. There was a group of about 8 Men and their little boys (ranging from about 4yrs - 7yrs) and they played touch football for close to an hour. It was so nice to see them interacting and all the mums and little sisters sat on the side cheering and clapping for them. It made me miss home a bit, just because it really infoced a strong sense of community and family. Broadbeach seems like more of a family beach whereas Bondi beach (where we started out) was very hip and happening with lots of surfers and model look alikes.
Once we came home, we made a simple soup for dinner and watched 'I am Sam'....I have officially cried my eyes out (but it's an amazing movie) and now I'm ready for bed.
hope you're not all terribly bored by this long post
miss you all
xoxo
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