Week nineteen: Oh HEYYY summer!

Aaaah freedom! Last week signalled the end of textbooks, library days and essay stresses; this week signalled the start of three whole months of trash literature, beach days and stresses no greater than the choice between a maxibon and a lemon icy pole.

The Aussie weather decided, therefore, to kick off the summer with less of a bang, and more of a damp whimper. The first half of the week was decidedly morose, weather-wise, with a dazzling array of shades of grey. And a fair bit of rain. Oh, the joys!

Actually, I tell a lie. Monday was a beautiful day for the beach, but I'm pretty sure I covered that in last week's late blog post, so I'll skip to Tuesday.

Tuesday was my first proper day at work, and it started off suitably chaotically, with last-minute relocations and cancellations. I was working in Toronto, which - as Kirsty usefully pointed out - is in France. Erm, not. This was Toronto, NSW - not the rather better-known Toronto, Ontario, nor the (presumably fictional) Toronto, France... It was a gorgeous day, but the average age of a Torontan (Tonrontee?) hovered around the seventy-five mark - meaning that four hours passed without a single sign-up. Luckily, the magical power of milkybar cookies and cream gave Anna and I a boost, and we both managed to find some last minute sign-ups before the day ended. Unfortunately, this silver lining came with a cloud in the form of the demise of my favourite Vietnamese Ray Bans. Heartbreak. Kirsty catered for my inevitable comfort eating (I really, really liked those sunglasses!) with a harbourside BBQ, before we succumbed to our obese destinies and headed to Coco Monde for hazelnut hot chocolates, mmm!

Wednesday was a day off, and the weather was suitably crappy. Roseanna came round and we spent most of the day watching Frozen Planet and Wonders of the Solar System, discussing the acceptability of crushes on keyboard-playing lancastrian astrophysicists, and eating GO-LO frosting. Oh maaaaan we're classy. In the evening we continued the week nineteen theme of Eating Everything That Stands Still Long Enough with a Thanksgiving Dinner at 62 Church St. The food was incredible and plentiful - honey-roast carrots, numerous salads, nutmeg mash, home-made bread, stuffing, apple sauce, sweet potato souffle... Yum. The puddings were perhaps even better - pumpkin pie, spiced apple oatmeal cake, berries and yoghurt, mars bar rice crispy cakes... It has been brought to my attention that most of my posts (and photos) revolve around food. To this boy (whom shall remain nameless), I have one thing to say: SHUSH YOU (you would do the exact same thing if your friends suddenly revealed their Jamie Oliver-esque culinary talents!)

Honey-roast carrots, which were AMAZING.

Home-made bread.

Spiced Apple-Oatmeal cake.

The inevitable bacon strips & bacon strips & bacon strips...

Thursday was another ridiculously disorganised work day, which involved last minute relocations to Lake Haven, a good 90 minutes away. Eurgh. It was quite fun though, and we were posted outside a pet shop with the cutest puppies EVER EVER EVER. I got back quite late and had a quick shower and change at Liz's before going out for dinner with the girls and Lawrence on his last night in Newy. We went to Sticky Rice Thai and the food was so good! Afterwards, it was party tiiiiime at Church Street, in typically ridiculous fashion. Whilst I had been at work, the girls had nipped to Dan Murphys and procured a bag of goon and a bottle of blue curacao and vodka... It made for a repulsively coloured - but not quite so horrifically tasting - drink, and the night got pretty messy. It culminated in a 2am swim in the ocean, which was so warm and so fun! Some of the boys - who shall, to their relief I'm sure, remain nameless - decided to go skinny dipping haha! We eventually all crashed out in Josh's room, and somehow he got the short straw and ended up on the floor, whilst the five other inhabitants managed to procure sleeping space. Sorry Josh!

On the way to dinner :)

Drunken Church St lovin'

Ohhhh dear!

HIDEOUS coloured drink.

Friday morning carried with it a twist of fate. I had a 9am meeting for work, followed by a day of sign-ups. The office is only a 5 minute walk from Church St so I rolled out of bed at 8.45am and headed down. In a strange coincidence, my boss' housemate surfs with some of the boys, meaning that my boss had turned up at the party. The morning after, he was clearly suffering worse than I, and allowed us most of the day off with full pay! Win. I spent the rest of the day in my PJs back at Church St watching Aladdin :)

In the evening, we all carpooled to Joey's parents' house out in the country. It was such a pretty area, and he had an Alpaca farm! We collected up some firewood and spent the evening making smores and sitting around the bonfire. It was a nice, chilled evening :)

So pretty!

Look! I'm being useful! (Not pictured: me breaking the axe...)

:)

Sunset over the Alpaca farm!

Bonfire skillz.

Saturday morning was weirdly foggy, so I went for a run and then spent until lunchtime lazing around. When it cleared, it was gorgeous, and I headed to the beach with Kirst for an afternoon of sunbathing. In the evening, we walked slowly along to Glenrock again, via Bar Beach and Merewether, for a night of sleeping under the stars.

We watched the sun rise at 5.45am, had another quick doze, then went our separate ways. The mountaineers went, well - mountaineering, whilst Kirst and I headed off for a beautiful breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and berry compote; overlooking the early morniung mist over Merewether Beach. Afterwards, we slowly walked back to Newy, via King Edwards Park, and spent the morning lazing on the beach and trying to avoid the mini swarm of bugs which were continuously homing in on us. Apparently Poms taste particularly yummy. When the heat got too much, we went to the Ocean Baths for a swim and an ice lolly, before heading home for a chilled out evening.

Merewether Ocean Baths by night.

BEAUTIFUL sunrise!

Mmmm best breakfast!

Misty Mereweather.

Newy in the fog.

Lone morning trumpeter on the beach!

This week has been so chilled and relaxing, the perfect way to kick off the summer! Next week will be a little more full-on, with more shifts at work, moving house and saying goodbye to some really close friends; but it will also be amazing, as we're going to Melbourne! Ahhh I love my life right now!