Diamond Beach

We just got home from a week at Diamond Beach, about four hours north of Sydney and 15 mins drive from the coastal town of Forster.

We stayed in a cabin a couple of hundred metres from the beach. We didn't have much of a view due to a rise in the ground and some windswept bushes, but we could hear the waves pounding constantly. The weather was perfect, high 20s every day. We were careful to stay out of the sun in the middle of the day and used lots of sunscreen, but Jasmine still got a bit burned on a couple of days.

We strolled up and down the beach and did a couple of costal walks in the morning or evening - still very hot! This was a very steep climb up a hill then up a tower to get this view back towards Forster. My legs were fit enough for it, but it was very humid and I found it hard to get enough oxygen. Mosquitos in abundance. While Jas and I walked back down at a leisurely pace, Tim and Aiden sprinted down then back up and down again! So we all ended up equally hot and sweaty (except Jas).

We saw lots of crabs on the beach (and a huge dead stinky turtle) and pelicans and dolphins in the estuary (here you see a dolphin fin behind a pelican). Forster lies between the ocean and a series of lakes.

The pool was nice, though not as nice as ours. We've been there a couple of times before and it was always great for little kids as it's pretty shallow. Jasmine is doing a handstand.

Tim brought the kite I gave him for Christmas. The first try on the beach was hilarious, it would instantly nosedive. I had a go and got very wet running through a wave trying to get it flying. Not enough wind I think. A couple of days later it flew well on the bit of ground between our cabin and the beach.

A big feature of the holiday was eating out for every lunch and dinner. For dinner we always went somewhere elegant in Forster, and usually for lunch as well or else a nice pub closer by. The food was nearly all tasty, but I missed my own cooking by the end. All laden with fat, salt, sugar and carbs. I'd feel bloated and sleepy after meals and my weight is up a couple of kgs.

I enjoy holidays but I love being home again, especially my own bed!

Port Macquarie

Monday:

I think I'll save this morning's weigh-in until the end...

We spent last week at Port Macquarie on holiday. We hadn't been there before, but had to find something at short notice as we weren't sure which week Tim could take off work and our usual places were booked out. Actually we haven't been away longer than a weekend since moving to Sydney nearly three years ago! Installing the pool took all our money and attention. Port Macquarie is four and a half hours away (plus stops for lunch etc), north of Sydney, just far enough that it doesn't book out as quickly as the closer tourist spots. Population of about 45,000. It was lovely! We were so lucky with the weather too, 23C nearly every day - in the middle of winter! - clear and sunny.

Sorry a lot of the photos are so glary, the sun was so bright! The beaches were really interesting, lovely golden sand with outcroppings of sculptural rocks.

On the first day we went for a long walk, two and a half hours (there and back) along the beaches and through little sections of bushland. We could see the spouting and splashing of whales not too far out. We got as far as the rainforest café but I was too tired to face the rainforest walk, we had lunch and walked back. I was exhausted!

The kids and Tim collected 'staves of power' - walking sticks that they retained for the whole holiday. I think there was the Staff of Awesomeness, the Staff of Light and Dark, and the Staff of Art. I had a 'poking stick' on the first day but preferred to walk unencumbered.

The kids had a dip in the hotel's heated pool in the afternoon - very brave of them as 'heated' barely took the chill off. There were plenty of other children in with them. The adults wisely all sat in deck chairs and stayed warm.

There were several restaurants within walk of the hotel or else we drove five minutes into town. The food was really good everywhere, hardly a disappointing meal. I had dessert most nights but usually shared with Jasmine. We bought some supplies and had breakfast in our rooms most days. Also plenty of snacks - like the Haagen-Dazs ice cream!

On the second day we drove back to the rainforest area and walked around the 1.3 km raised boardwalk, it wasn't very inspiring. Just scrubby Australian bushland in winter. We weren't far enough north for the pretty stuff. We went into town for lunch and walked along the shoreline, there was a long series of rocks painted by locals and/or tourists - often recording visits to the area. One had dates every year back to 1993.

Later the kids played on the beach opposite our hotel, sandcastles and gymnastics and paddling freezing feet in the ocean. I perched on one of the rocks and enjoyed the fresh sea air.

The third day started cloudy so we went to mini golf - the clouds cleared pretty quickly and I wished I'd taken my hat! Another bright sunny day.

I had slept really well the first night but then had two bad nights so had an awful headache. Tim thought it might be withdrawal (from Duromine/phentermine) but that didn't seem likely to me since it had been more than a week since I'd taken any. Wouldn't withdrawal happen sooner? I slept fine after that so it was only one bad/grumpy day. 

More beach play in the afternoon, and into town for dinner where we found this wall. My angel daughter:

Saturday was the only colder day, max of about 17C. In the chilly morning we had a good walk along the shore in town, and went to the two (very small) local art galleries. Many buildings had these weird graffitied koala statues in front of them - the rainforest walk had several. I checked the website and there are 62 in all, every one painted differently by a local artist as a sculpture project to celebrate the iconic Australian animal.

We thought about going horse riding, or to a movie, but ended up deciding to go whale watching in a boat. In terms of seeing whales up close, it was amazing. We zoomed out to where two 10-metre long humpback whales were dawdling along, they head north this time of year to warmer waters to have their babies before heading back to the chilly south for better feeding. One did some lovely water dancing for us.

Well, actually all the splashing was not for our benefit. The guide explained that all the breaching and tail slapping is by the females to summon the males. And it worked! In about 20 minutes we had six or seven arrive, with dolphins who apparently like to ride the bow waves in front of the whale's snouts (noses?), jostling for position. They were all around and under the boat. 

Unfortunately by that point Jasmine and I were in no position to enjoy or even watch what was going on. The sea wasn't particularly rough but it was a small boat (12 passengers) which rolled and yawed a lot as we putted along keeping alongside the whales, so by then Jasmine and I were both miserable with seasickness and making use of the bags provided. Urg. At least I had been ok for the first bit, I think poor Jasmine was slightly queasy right from the start and it just got worse and worse. She never got out of her seat. The last half hour was horrible for us both. 

Also it was freezing cold out on the open water, even in the heavy waterproof ponchos provided, and I was terrified when we were going fast to and from the whale area (I am not good with speed or heights/depths) especially when the driver put in a few extra zips and curves for fun. So overall I was very glad to get back to land! I felt ok as soon as my legs stopped trembling. At least Tim and Aiden had a great time. And we certainly saw some whales!

On our final morning we had breakfast at a café right on our beach.

Then we went back to a little tea shop where I'd fallen in love with this cute set the day before - you can't tell in the photo but it is impractically tiny - the teapot probably holds one normal cup full and the six cups each hold a mouthful! But fun for sipping the choc-mint tea we bought there. I just had to have it. There is a teeny goldfish in the bottom of each cup, revealed as you drink. I plan to bring it out as a joke, next time I serve visitors cups of tea. Or they might be a good size for nuts, blueberries or other small foods.

Finally the long drive home. It was a great holiday, but I do love home! And my own bed.

Tim is back at work today, the kids return to school tomorrow.

So this morning I weighed 73.2 kg - up 1.7 kg from last week. No surprise there! I did a lot of eating over the past week. Lots of walking, too, but not enough to offset the calories. I'm back on Duromine today, hopefully the break of over a week will help trigger a reset so it works for me again.

I received my TAFE transcript in the mail, it's not my actual Diploma but it says I've passed everything (which I knew of course) so at least I have proof I can show potential employers. Still hoping to hear from that 'perfect job' this week and get an interview.

Library tour

Wednesday:

I decided to combine exercise with a tour of the local libraries. There are eight in the area, if I get a job with local council I could end up working in any of them. Of course I have been to my own local library many times, it is within walking distance and right next to my shopping centre. I have also popped into the main library (much bigger) once but I will include that on the tour to get to know it better. I am in the extreme west of the Shire, it is probably 30 minutes drive to the other cardinal points.

Today I went due east, to the coast. I deliberately parked a long way from the town centre and had a lovely 30 minute walk along the shore, there is a great walkway all along there. It is well into winter here and back in Canberra it would have been unbearable to walk near the lake with the frigid wind coming off it, here there a warm sun and gentle sea breeze. I was comfortable in long sleeves with no jumper, a little too warm by the time I got there.

I wandered around Cronulla library a bit. I noticed four staff members, the two doing the shelving both very young. It looked very new and modern, part of a new-looking community hub building. Not really my style, but it would be nice to work so close to the beach! There were plenty of people using the library and walking along the shore today, but not many on the beach itself - just seagulls.

But there were surfers in the water, bobbing up and down like black seals. Presumably in warm full-body wetsuits.

I walked 30 mins back to the car, it had warmed up and my clothes seemed much too hot now! And I'd decided lunch could wait, it wasn't even noon yet, but as soon as I left the café district I suddenly got very hungry. By the time I got back to the car I was hot and tired and ravenous and not enjoying it nearly so much.

I had thought to fit in three libraries today but decided to cut it down to two. I parked near a big shopping centre and ripped into a quesadilla (yum) then walked to the music shop to buy Jasmine a new reed for her clarinet then to library number two. Much smaller, smaller even than my local Menai. Very quiet, only a few people there, and one staff that I saw. It is near a major shopping hub but tucked away out of sight.

I walked back to the shops and did a quick grocery run, then drove home. In all nearly 12,000 steps, and the day isn't over! I'm pretty tired and my hips are a little sore. Hmm, did the physio say something about not doing too much to start with? I've started wearing my Fitbit again and I'm loving looking at all the reports on what I'm doing. The physio is supposed to email me my exercise program but hasn't yet. I should still do my hip stretches.

Wedding

Sunday:

We spent the weekend at a beach wedding, my cousin Lara who is the youngest of my generation on my side of the family - she was flowergirl at my wedding! And now all grown up and married. We drove down the coast on Friday evening, arriving about 9:30pm. In the morning the weather was as it had been for weeks - cloudy with intermittent rain. The ocean was beautiful but not something you'd dare swim in.

But this was the view from our cabin! Very friendly resident kangaroos.

We had breakfast at the café by the resort pool, walked along the beach, then lazed in our cabin or on the little balcony. I sat for a long time with a cup of tea just enjoying the sound of the waves and the smell of sea air. We were absolute beach front. The kids had a very short dip in the pool and came back blue with cold.

Back to the same café for lunch (nowhere else to go without driving to the next town), and just as we were finishing it started to rain in earnest. An hour before the outdoor wedding! But luckily the rain stopped just as the bridal party arrived.

So many people in the bridal party! Seven groomsmen, five bridemaids, lots of little flowergirls and a couple of page boys. (They stood in the traditional lines for the wedding, this photo was grouped afterwards, also father of the bride on the left and father of the groom on the right.)

Finally I present to you Mr and Mrs Walker! Lara was/is absolutely stunning. She is probably the most beautiful person I know. Also very smart and super athletic. She has a double degree and plays five different sports competitively. James is a doctor, and has climbed the highest mountain in South America and done seven marathons in seven days across a desert so I guess they are suited. He proposed five weeks after they met.

Me and Tim.

The reception was ok but I don't really have much to talk about with my relatives, they are nice but we just don't have much to say! I enjoyed chatting to a few cousins and seeing my Poppa (he will be 99 this year!) but there is one cousin who I am not fond of (I don't think he realises though!) and he managed to insult me about four times in his "joking" way - like commenting I was "pigging out" as I had a tiny prawn canapé... Anyway, we went back to bed early, after the speeches and a little bit of dancing.

Sunday dawned bright and clear and we actually had a sunny day. We went down the beach and Aiden had a splash in the waves while Jasmine and I took lots of artistic photos.

The kids patting a sleepy baby kangaroo.

We drove back up the coast with a long break at another little town for lunch. It was a good weekend away, we should do it more often!

Oh, and I got back to find I'd received 48/50 for the exam in my more difficult subject, yay! Haven't got any other results yet.

Bunnies on the beach

Wednesday:

Our pool site foreman came this morning and we discussed various things, then we (we the family, not including Angelo the foreman) went off to chose the coping tiles. These are the tiles that are laid around the top of the pool edge. Not included in the contract price of course (although the laying is). We were sent to one particular company, I for one was happy to just go with their suggestion rather than visiting every tile showroom in Sydney. We picked some nice tiles, decided we'd be able to fit them in the car boot (trunk), got directions to the warehouse, missed the turn-off and got lost, found it with the help of the GPS. The tiles did indeed fit in the boot but the car certainly felt the weight! Scraped on the gutter on the way into our driveway later, never done that before. A workman has been here the past two days preparing the pool for the coping so hopefully they and the decorative rock bit can be done soon.

Then we went to the beach to have fish and chips with Tim's cousin and family. It was a cool cloudy day (lovely!), not one for swimming. The popular Cronulla beach was being set up for Australia Day celebrations tomorrow with a huge stage for live music, and rather oddly a cluster of giant inflatable white rabbits.

We had a very short walk before lunch, I was feeling extremely car sick for some reason and just wanted to sit and breathe the fresh sea air. I felt better after a while, especially after some fizzy soft drink which was always my mother's cure for nausea. Maybe because it makes you burp? We had lunch and a chat then we headed to a big shopping centre on the way home, Jasmine and I sat and had a cup of tea/iced chocolate while Tim and Aiden looked for birthday presents for Jasmine who unbelievably turns 13 next Monday. I can't have a teenage child! I'm too young!

I've been avidly watching 20/20 cricket for the past couple of months. Traditional cricket takes five whole days of play, but in the 1970s "one day" cricket (50 overs a side) became popular. A few years ago they brought in an even more restricted version of the game, 20 overs a side so it takes about three hours in total. It is much faster-paced and very exciting. There is an Australian competition called Big Bash, city vs city in a round robin that has been on almost every night, and my team is in tonight's semi-final. Hopefully they will make it through to the grand final on Saturday night! Go Sydney Sixers! (A six is hitting the ball over the fence for a score of six runs.) My women's team had their semi-final this afternoon and made it through to their final so who knows, maybe we'll get both trophies!

Sand

Thursday:

Yesterday we took advantage of the fact we had no visitors, and relaxed most of the day. Then in the late afternoon, after the worst heat of the day was over, we went to the beach. The kids were very keen to try out their Christmas boogie boards (is that what they are called in other countries? like a cut-off surf board). They had fun, but it wasn't really a good day for it. There was a very strong wind, so every time they cruised in on their boards on the little waves they were pushed a long way down the beach and had to trudge back to where the safe area was marked by the flags (patrolled by life guards). And being on the beach itself was quite unpleasant, with the sand flaying skin off your bones. I still have sand in my ears despite soaking my head in the bath last night. But at least no-one got sunburned!

My husband is slightly right of middle in the blue Tshirt, with Jasmine in black behind him and Aiden over to the right with the orange/red board. It's the only photo I took between gusts of sand. I didn't deliberately put them in the side of the photo, but I could barely see what was in the frame and had to point and guess.

I did go in the water up to my waist for a little while but found it a bit cold and also full of displaced sand. I am really looking forward to our pool!

After rinsing off some of the sand in the public showers, we went out to dinner at a steak restaurant. Steak and salad was a pretty good choice for my diet but I also ate the curly fries.... and then we ordered dessert. Whoops. I had a deep-fried mars bar. Urg. I felt sick half way through but ate it anyway. My stomach looked like I had a balloon shoved up my shirt and I could barely stay awake the rest of the evening, but worse was my blood glucose level which was 12.2 mmol/L when I tested. That is into diabetic levels and possibly the highest I have ever tested. Really bad choice.

After nodding and dozing in front of the TV for a while, I went to bed and slept for nine and a half hours! For the last month or so I've usually only got around six. That was a good sleep, I guess, although I remember dreaming about being in hospital dizzy and with a fever. I was worried about my weigh-in this morning but I have already dropped back down to my lowest recent weight so that was good. I should end 2016 on a low for the year which is awesome.

 Today will be the hottest of the summer so far and I have no plans to leave the air conditioned house.

[edit: my brother-in-law Nick came over this afternoon and mentioned that he and my little niece Emma were at the same beach at the same time as us yesterday! They only dipped their toes in and played in the sand so they didn't need to be between the safety flags and were a bit further along.]

Sand

Monday:

My weigh-in didn't go as badly as expected, 83.8kg (up 0.3 kg since last week), it was a kg higher than that only a couple of days ago. I ate a lot less yesterday despite being surrounded by junk, my body (and mouth ulcer) were just saying "no thanks!".

We planned to go to the beach today, the morning was gloomy and grey so we didn't leave home until it cleared up. By the time we got there it was lunchtime and after we had a nice lunch it was after 1:00pm, the hottest part of the day. Not great for pale skin. We only stayed on the beach for half an hour. The sun was very hot (I draped a towel over my legs again) but the water was freezing, Tim and I only got wet feet and even the kids didn't go far in. The whole lunch/beach experience was nice, half an hour on the sand was enough. It clouded over again anyway.

Aiden got buried in the sand and had to go into the ocean to rise off a bit.

When we got home he had a shower and left so much sand on the shower floor! I think I'll get him to vacuum the car too.

Tim's dad came over in the afternoon to play D&D with Tim and Aiden. It was a bit of a struggle to find anything to offer for afternoon tea, after visitors all long weekend!

Cronulla Sharks won the football final yesterday, I actually watched it (looking up the rules on my phone so I could follow it). Quite violent, lots of tackling - I grew up with my dad watching Aussie Rules which is essentially non-contact (it was invented for cricketers to keep fit in winter before all this international travel) and based on speed and graceful leaping into the air, this rugby league is men with no neck running until they are tackled to the ground and going off the field with dislocated elbows. No protective gear at all, not even helmets, lots of injuries. The captain of the winning team looked like his nose had been broken about 15 times. The Sharks are the local team for this area and it's the first time they have won the Grand Final ever so the beach suburb was covered in even more blue/white/black banners, flags and T-shirts than last week. There was even a whole car painted in the Shark theme with "We won!" Now that is commitment.

...lol just found out the other football, the one my dad followed, also had its Grand Final this weekend! It was so little reported here that I didn't realise. Just shows Sydney doesn't care about that code - even when the Sydney Swans are one of the teams in the final (they lost)!

Cronulla

Wednesday:

Lovely spring day so we went to Cronulla beach. There is some kind of football grand final on soon and the Cronulla Sharks are one of the teams in it, apparently, so there were flags and blue/white/black streamers everywhere. Although I grew up in Sydney, my father was from another state and followed a different football code so I've never even watched a... NRL? game. Still, go Sharks!

We had to park quite a long way from the nicest beaches (the closest one, Shelly Beach, lives up to its name and is a bit rough on the feet) so had a lovely 20 min walk along the shore until we got to the main beach. I didn't even put a toe in the water today, I sat on the sand and watched the kids who went right in up to their necks and body-surfed on little waves. The did come out a bit blue around the gills though, shivering. It is still only the first week of spring!

Even covered in sunscreen, I felt like my legs and feet started burning the moment I sat down so I draped a towel over myself straight away. I am pretty confident I didn't get burned for once, but I'll keep you posted. [later: sigh, I didn't get burned but Jas is a little pink on her upper back.]

After about 45 mins we walked a little further to our favourite lunch spot. The kids had burgers and I had chilli lime wings. Quite nice, but sweet rather than the spicy I was expecting.

Then a nice walk all the way back. There was a little beach down below the cliffs that we want to visit sometime, it looks like you have to clamber over rocks quite a long way to get to it. Next time. It even has shade! And only a handful of people. A secret beach. Ok, not secret, you can see it from the path above, but it looked very exclusive.

Jasmine took this last photo, she liked the framing of the trees.

We had to hurry home because another company was sending someone to give us a quote to remove the trees. I was not impressed with this one! He quoted three times as much as the cheapest company, and that was for "cash" ie so he doesn't have to tell the government and pay tax. So he was trying to cheat me and the government! We are very law-abiding people and would not be using his company even if his quote was reasonable. As Jasmine said "how are they going to pay for schools and roads if no one pays tax?"

I am getting none of my usual work done but I'm having a nice school holidays so far and so are the kids (I hope). Tomorrow we have scheduled a shopping trip for new clothes, the little blighters keep growing!

Another coast walk

Wednesday:

Feeling much better today after a decent night's sleep.

I was waving goodbye to Aiden this morning when the tree guy from the council arrived. I didn't have any notice of this one coming, he probably didn't need me to be there. He looked around the backyard and made notes on his little map, singing or humming the whole time. I asked if he foresaw problems with removing any of the trees and he picked out one gum that was a lemon-scented somethingorother. It is the nicest looking tree out there and right in the corner where it won't affect the pool, so although it doesn't fit with my theme for the future garden I won't really mind if we have to keep it. It's the ugly scrubbly and/or dead ones I want to get rid of, as well as the ones where the pool will be.

I decided to drive over the coast again for another try at the walk/edit combo. I was able to park right next to the beach so I could leave everything in the car and walk unencumbered. I walked for a bit over an hour, and got tired and hot and sweaty which is great. I like to feel tired at the end so I know I am pushing myself a bit. It was a bit cloudy today but still very warm, perfect for walking.

I then walked a bit more around the restaurant and shopping area to find a nice café for lunch. Full sugar disclosure, I had a lemon squash "spider" (ice cream float) without even thinking about it. At home I only drink water and tea, but when I'm hot and tired I suddenly want instant calories.

My feet were sore by this stage, the down side of having skin on the soles of my feet as soft as a baby's bottom is that they abrade very easily and even the best of socks start to feel like sandpaper! I really need to toughen up.

I picked up my manuscript from the car and strolled into the park by the beach. I had a lovely view and the scent of the sea, but it didn't work out. There were no tables free, and trying to wrestle an unwieldy stack of papers into submission on a sloping lap while I sat on a bench, making notes and sometimes looking things up on my phone, was too hard.

So I drove home again. So sleepy from exercise and sun! I thought about crawling into bed but I knew that if I had a nap I wouldn't sleep as well tonight. Cup of tea instead.

At the beach

Sunday:

We had a family day at the beach. It wasn't as hot a couple of weeks ago when I came for my long walk, but still very nice for winter. Even the kids found the water too cold to go in past their feet.

I mostly sat on the beach and watched the kids play in the sand and splash at the water's edge. The sun was warm on my back, the fresh sea air and view were perfect. It was nice to free my feet from shoes and dig my toes into the sand. It was lovely.

A walk by the sea

Friday:

The coast is about 35 minutes from here, close enough that I could go often but far enough that I don't. There were plenty of other things I could/should have been doing today but I saw from the weather forecast that this was our last day of beautiful weather for a while so I decided to go! And it was lovely.

I thought on a Friday in winter it would be easy to get parking, but not today! It was 24C, perfect sunny weather. Every man and his dog was there walking along the esplanade. I had to park a couple of blocks from the coast, a long way down from the main beach. I turned my face away from the centre of town and walked along the seaside path for about 30 minutes, then walked back and even further until I got to the restaurant area where I had lunch. 1 hour 20 minutes walking without a break! And I enjoyed every minute. The path goes right along the sea, sometimes up a cliff, and every kilometre or so there is a park area with a little beach, maybe a pool (with waves crashing into it and sloping sand to walk in gradually), public toilets and benches.

I got back to the main beach and had fish and chips with a view of the ocean, but in the shade, and lingered at my table. Then decided to have dessert. Maybe not my best decision ever, but they had deep fried Mars Bar on the specials board... I'd never tried it and was curious... and my body is not used to so much exercise and wanted to replace calories! They brought it and it looked pretty blah but it was delicious. If you don't know, a Mars Bar is a sort of whipped chocolate fudge confection with a layer of caramel covered in chocolate. They coated this in a thin layer of batter and deep fried it so the middle was all warm and gooey. Surprisingly good. But very sweet of course.

I had planned to do some editing, indeed I'd been carrying my manuscript in my backpack the whole time, but now I'd run out of time as I still had to do the grocery shopping before the kids got home from school. So I walked back to the car - another 35 minutes, making close to 2 hours walking in all, this from someone who could barely walk at all two weeks ago! - and drove back to my own shopping centre. I was very tired at this point and feeling all that sun. I'm not burned, but I forgot my hat so I got a lot more sun than I'm used to. I did the grocery shopping and got extremely thirsty (I'd had juice and water at lunchtime) and was also craving vitamins or something so I bought a lot of fruit and made up a fruit salad as soon as I got home.

By the time I got home from the shops it was starting to cloud over and cool down. I'm glad I got out and enjoyed the sunshine today, indeed all this week, it is going to be much cooler next week.

PS maybe a little bit burnt

Not very action-packed

Thursday:

Let's see, a summary of my action-packed life over the past few days?

On Tuesday Tim forgot to take the lock for his bicycle when he rode to the station, so after I got the kids to school I drove over and locked it up for him (it was still there!.) I was a bit nervous about doing this. Firstly I wasn't sure where he parked his bike (I found it easily from his instructions) secondly I was only 95% sure that it was his bike I was locking (it was) and thirdly I was scared I would get the combination wrong when I was locking it was he wouldn't be able to unlock it on his way home (didn't happen).

Yesterday we went over to Tim's cousin's house for dinner, the one that lives a block from the beach. Tim met us there after work. Jasmine needed a couple of things for camp so we went shopping on the way then had a churros share plate at the chocolate and churros café. I'd had one dessert there before but not tried their speciality churros. They came with chocolate dipping sauce and strawberries and were delicious. And we shared so it wasn't too much. Then we found parking at the beach and went to a playground for a little while. I sat enjoying the view and the fresh ocean breeze while the kids played. Unfortunately Aiden fell off a low wall and scraped all the skin off his knee on the way down. Not a deep wound, but wide. And covered in sand. He limped to Matt's apartment (actually Jasmine gave him a piggy back part of the way) and we cleaned him up. He was very brave.

Dinner was great, and very kid-friendly. Tacos with all the ingredients in the middle of the table for people to choose, which is how I serve them at home. It's such a relief when hosts cater to children (and fussy adults like me). Dessert was similarly served, ice cream with a huge range of toppings available - strawberries and blueberries and chocolate sprinkles and caramel sauce and other things. It was a great idea.

Jasmine was off to an overnight school camp today. I didn't even check her packing, the school gave her a list, so I hope she's ok! She has packed for herself for years but I do usually check. She even labelled everything herself after I reminded her to. Her other school went to this very same camp location last year (it was a much longer journey from Canberra than from here!) so she knows what to expect.

My work on my book is going well. I am making some drastic changes which was hard to get started but now the ideas are flowing. I think it will be much better for the changes.

I went for a walk today but it was very hot. I think this is the longest string of days above a certain temperature in recorded history here. Autumn has just begun so maybe it will get cooler soon.

Beach day

Monday:

We wanted to go and stay down the coast for a few days but we left it too late to book anything. Luckily we don't live far from the beach here. The weather forecast for the coming week was a mix of stinking hot and storms, but today looked perfect beach weather so we had plans to drive over to the nearest city beach (30 mins) first thing in the morning before it got too hot. Unfortunately I woke with a sore throat, like trying to swallow a golf ball, plus sneezing and runny nose. Bleugh.

After getting up a bit later than usual and having a light breakfast, passionfruit and yoghurt, I decided I wasn't going to let some puny cold in the head stop me from having a good time. I wasn't feeling up to walks along the promenade, or swimming, I didn't even put my swimming cossie on, but I went.

Armed with hats, T-shirts and sunscreen, we braved the Australian sun. For the first hour, while Tim and the kids splashed in the gentle surf, I sat on the sand. After a while I pulled a towel over my legs because I could feel them burning.

I was getting much too hot, so I retreated to the shade on the grass under some trees, and for the second hour read a book or watched the waves.

Turns out is was a very wise move to get into the shade, but not soon enough! Apparently the shorts that cover my knees while I'm standing up applying sunscreen DONT cover my knees when I'm sitting down. Ouch. This is when we first got home, before full colour had set in. I'm disappointed that yet again, despite care, I have got myself sunburnt. I just can't go into the sun at all. Jasmine too. She is a bit pink all over after two hours in the sea. As usual, the boys with their slightly darker skin are fine.

Tim's cousin Matt lives near the beach, he walked over and met us for lunch. He suggested a favourite café first but I looked at the menu and every item was carb-heavy so we walked along the mall a bit and ended up at a tiny Indian restaurant. We like Indian, and also I wasn't up to walking much further. Still sore throat and a headache. The food wasn't ideal for a dieter, I ended up with a big plate of meat with Vindaloo sauce on rice. Delicious, but no vegetables at all. I didn't eat the rice except the bits actually stuck to the beef. It was very strong of me because that saucy rice looked so yummy! And I didn't touch the naan bread.

Then on the short walk back to the car we stopped for ice cream and I was strong again! Nothing for me. The chocolate gelato looked so good and cool and chocolatey. And it's hard when everyone else is eating. One thing that helped me was knowing I'd just told Matt I was on a low-carb diet. Another was seeing an extremely large woman who came in to order. I am fighting for my health!

Came home, discovered the burned knees, slept for an hour in front of the TV. Tim made schnitzel for dinner so I made a modified crumb-free version (ie, steak) for myself, plus salad. I had more salad than this. Really yummy dinner.

I had to guesstimate lunch calories of course, but I think I did well today.

Here are my knees again, with the colour deepening over time:

Half an hour of unprotected sunlight was enough. They are quite painful. On the bright side, as Tim pointed out, they are distracting me from my sore throat!

Beach

Wednesday:

This morning's delicious breakfast was a little bit of bacon, plus cucumber, tomato and some grapes. I get sick of things very quickly (especially eggs) so I plan to rotate three breakfast ideas. Eggs, probably omelette, with lots of veges. Yoghurt with fruit and/or muesli. And a small serve of meat, like bacon or leftover chicken, with salad. I can vary what goes with each, but I have a core plan. I like to plan!

We went to the beach today. The plan was to go quite early so we wouldn't be there in the heat of the day but of course it didn't work out like that at all. We didn't get out of the house until nearly 11:00. Jasmine needed a new swimming cossie as she'd grown out of her old one. The one shop near us didn't have anything left in her size (it's still the middle of summer, people! keep things in stock for a bit longer please!) so we drove 30 mins to the beach, round and round to find parking, parked 11:45, walked to the street of shops a block behind the coast. As we got out of the car I realised I needed the bathroom pretty soon, I've been drinking a lot more these last few days. So we were looking for a public toilet as well as a cossie. We found a nice cossie but still no toilet. Back and forth we walked. An hour had now passed since it started getting uncomfortable! By the time we finally found a public bathroom I was literally in tears. Not fun. I felt so much better after. Drinking so much can be a danger when you are out and about.

The Thai restaurant we were really looking forward to revisiting wasn't open for lunch, so we went to a steakhouse by the beach.

I ate my healthy stuff and left a lot of food on my plate, but did eat half my curly fries. I love curly fries! Luckily Aiden's food came out a bit late so he ate half of my fries while he was waiting, otherwise I might not have been able to resist eating them all. The kids had ice cream for dessert but I didn't have any.

Finally, at 2:00, we went down onto the sand. Not exactly an early start! The weather was lovely, not too hot, and we had lots of sunscreen on. I didn't go in the water, except toe-deep, I sat or lay on my towel while the kids and Tim played in the water. The life guard kept announcing dangerous conditions (a rip that could drag you out to sea) so everyone had to stay in a narrow area of water with patrols on jet-skis checking everyone was ok and herding them back. Despite that it was a lovely afternoon.

A bit over an hour was enough. I felt a bit over-sunned, and have burned the backs of my calves and the tops of my feet. I had sunscreen on and even covered my feet in sand for protection but they are so lily-white they couldn't take it. When we got home Tim collapsed on the bed while I began the process of rehydrating myself. Water and tea and vegetable broth and some grapes. I've counted the exercise as an hour of walking, actually my phone says I took over 8000 steps. And some of that on soft sand!

I had my scheduled dinner and ended up quite a few calories over my budget due to those damn curly fries! Stronger next time.

My plan for NYE tomorrow is to eat healthy all day and have a little something extra in the evening at our family party. Not too much, I have no intention of undoing all this good work.

I had a really unexpected phone conversation this afternoon. You'll remember just a few days ago I showed a photo of my cousin David's land near my grandfather's house, I don't think I mentioned that he actually bought it from my grandfather who had a bit of land there. Poppa gave us all the option and David was the only one interested. The land was valued and paid a reasonable price for, as far as I was concerned, and I haven't had a moments concern or resentment over the transaction. The sale was a couple of years ago. Well today I spoke to another cousin Jamie, who I didn't see at Christmas as he lives further away now, and apparently he is very upset about it! He feels like David got a bargain, David's father manipulated Poppa, and the rest of us have been cheated. He was trying to get me to join him in some kind of protest about it but I wouldn't (and apparently no-one else he has spoken to is bothered about it either). It was really strange because I had no idea there was any tension at all. And I hate any kind of confrontation, so I didn't want to be part of his protest but hated having to say so clearly and firmly! Jamie and I grew up practically next door so were close as children but I've rarely seen him the last 15 years. My goodness, without my mum to pass on the family gossip I just have no idea what is going on. It's a bit sad because I would have said we all get along really well with no problems. Maybe I just didn't know about them!

Beach wedding

Sunday:

We spent the weekend at a beach wedding, with a lot of driving each way. Three and a half hours to Sydney, dropped the kids off with family, then another two and a half hours. The beach was beautiful and the weather perfect - at least I thought it was just the right temperature but the guests from sunny Queensland thought it was freezing! Depends what you are used to.

The bride was one of Tim's many cousins, I don't think I'd actually met her before. I didn't know a lot of people. Tim's father and a couple of aunts. Tim's brother was there, but as children weren't invited my sister-in-law just came to the beach ceremony with my niece and then they stayed at the beach while we went on to dinner.

You notice there are no photos of me. I did take some, but was deeply unhappy with them.

The reception was in a pavilion at a pretty farm. The grounds were lush and green with a partiere garden and roses. The food wasn't so great, but I kind of expect that at a wedding where the caterers are trying to feed so many people all at once. One unusual thing was that all the speeches were after the first course, so everyone got pretty hungry with the long wait before they got their main course and dessert. But the speeches were touching and funny.

We stayed at a hotel nearby and breakfasted near the water,

then headed back to Sydney. We'd left the kids with cousins who live a couple of blocks from the ocean, so they'd had a great time. We walked along the esplanade and had fish and chips at the beach (much more crowded than the isolated beach where the wedding was!)

then walked back.

It was a hot day, much hotter than yesterday, and I had sunscreen but no hat. By the end of all this time in the sun (including quite a few extra blocks to the car as there was no parking anywhere near where we wanted to go on such a lovely day) I was headachy and a bit nauseous. And sunburned on the side of my neck where I missed a bit with the sunscreen. The drive home seemed long and difficult and I was very glad to be home, but apart from possible mild sunstroke it was a lovely weekend away.

I can't wait until we're only 20 minutes away from the ocean!