A cozy day at the beach

After our long day in the city on Friday, we slept in and had breakfast around 11 am. It felt so good! Luke was at home that day, so we decided to do something together. Since it was super hot but cloudy again, we wanted to have a cozy day at the beach. The three of us headed to Royal National Park. We originally wanted to go to Wattamolla Beach, which Steve and Patrick had already shown us, but the road was closed due to too many people. So we had to keep driving. We ended up going to the next beach in the park, Garie Beach. It was crowded there too, but at least we were able to park on the street and walk to the beach.

We spent some time lying on the beach, going in the water, chatting, and eventually eating our sandwiches. Luke and I went in the water twice, while Andi only went in once because it was too cold for him the first time. The sea was really cold, but since the weather was so humid, the water was a refreshing break. Although afterwards, we couldn't feel our feet :D

In the late afternoon, we went for a bushwalk along the coast and hiked up to Thelma Head, where we had a beautiful view in both directions along the coast. Then we made our way back to the car and went home. By the way, this was the day when the bracelet that I have been wearing on my wrist since our high school trip to Italy, which I received as a gift from a vendor at a market, finally came off. I originally thought it would fall off within 2 weeks, but it actually lasted 4.5 years. Andi always thought it was ugly and was very happy that it finally came off, but for me, it was quite unfamiliar at first. Now I guess I need a new bracelet! :D

We arrived home around 7 pm and after taking a shower, we had lasagna for dinner. Delicious, finally having lasagna again! After dinner, we had a game night because we asked the Solomons if they liked playing games. They dug out their game basket and everyone except Sol played Pictionary and then Articulate. It was really funny! Luckily, both games were the junior edition, so Andi and I were able to handle the English words quite well. We had to look up a few words in the dictionary, but overall, we did pretty well. Interestingly, when guessing, you suddenly think of words that you didn't even realize you knew. As a team, Andi and I almost won because we know each other so well and can compensate for some of our language deficiencies. Explaining things in English is a great way to practice the language, and we learned many new words. But it's also worth mentioning that we (especially me) have already gotten much better at English and more fluent in speaking since the beginning of our trip. The time spent with host families, where we only communicate and hear English, is very effective for improving our language skills. The Solomons were impressed with how well we can speak English and how well we understand everything. Pretty cool :D

After the fun game night, it was time to go to bed because the next day was New Year's Eve, and we wanted to get some rest. We were really looking forward to our party, and I'll tell you all about it in the next entry :)