The drive down to Wollongong included a brief trip across the Sea Cliff Bridge. Its a newly opened bridge that is elevated and curves to follow the waters edge. The view off the edge is of pure Pacific Ocean. We stopped at a lookout on the other side of the bridge to snap some pictures and enjoy the view. Way off in the distance there is a white smokestack, which Dave explained was Port Kemblah, one of the areas biggest steel mills and shipping ports. The water here is a different color than in the US, near the shores it is almost turquoise colored. I think this is because the beaches stay shallow for about a hundred feet out from the shore, you can just walk right out and only be waist deep.
From there we headed on down to Shellcove harbor, called "The Farm" by Sky and Dave because you used to get to the beach there by crossing a man's farm. It has since been turned into a state park. We walked down a rocky path to the beach. It wasn't too busy, but there were lots of surfers around catching the waves. The weather here always seems to be perfect- I haven't had a bad day yet. We hung out here for a few minutes and then headed off to Dave's for lunch.
On the way we stopped to pick up some fish & chips. Just as I expected, the fish here is way better than it is in the US. There is just something about the batter, I couldn't tell what. THe piece of fish was absolutely huge too, probably a full pound. Once we finished up lunch, we played some pool and watched cricket on the TV. India was about to lose to Australia, which didn't really seem to surprise anyone here.
Then, we headed back to the beach to go play around in the water. We had grabbed some bodyboards from Dave's parents and took them out into the water. I haven't been boarding in years, it is still just as run as I remember. I got tossed around a few times and ended up swallowing a big mouthful of sea water, but still had a great time. We dried off chatting on the beach for a while and then drove back to Dave's for dinner. His dad had fired the grill for us with tons of meat- sausages, chicken kebabs and steaks. There was so much food and all of it good. I hadn't grilled in months in Boston because my porch was being rebuilt. I guarantee you I will be making some burgers on it as soon as I get home. While we were eating dinner the baggage people from Qantas called to arrange a delivery time for my bag, sometime between 9pm and midnight tonight. It was already about 7:30 and we were about 1.5hrs from Skye & Dave's house so we finished up dinner and took off for the drive home so we could be there on time in case they showed up early. We didn't want an earlier repeat of missing the flower store from the day before.
Dave, Skye, and I had some quality time to chat with all this driving around this weekend. We talked mostly about things that were different between Australia and the US. Surprisingly, the answer was not much. Cricket and rugby seem to be the big sports here, some of the cars are different, and obviously they drive on the left. Thats about where it stops- they get all the American TV shows. The writers strike hurts them just as much here. Mostly American songs were on the radio, Kanye West, Timbland, John Mayer, and even Fergie (I apologized for exporting her). Apparently the US even exports our foreign policy. Australia is currently occupying/protecting a small island called East Timor up north- it just happens to have access to a huge oil field. It also seems like most of the laws that are passed in America end up here as well- you can't use a mobile phone will driving here either.
Needless to say, my bag didn't show up until 12:40AM. I had already been sleeping on the couch for 40 minutes after playing Wii with Dave for a few hours. Its so good to actually have a decent set of clothes now. I also have my razor, deodorant, and camera stuff. I should finally be able to post some pictures today if I'm not too busy.
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