Byron Bay (2)

Friday 22/12

By Ludivine:

I woke up at 6:45am to make a breakfast smoothie (banana-walnut) for our family then we all ate breakfast and at 7:30am Florence, Mom, and I went to the surf school to go surfing! After the 20-minute drive to the beach, we got in the water to start surfing and we see a school of dolphins! There were about 7-8 of them and it was so nice how they jumped in the waves and all. After the dolphins left, we surfed quite well and after an hour or so they came back! It was a nice show and made up from few days ago when we went kayaking to see some but didn’t see any. During surfing I even got to a point where I could surf the whole wave by myself (without the help of the teacher). After that we went to rinse off in a lake nearby where there are tea trees or something along the lake and the leaves fall in and make the lake tea colored! The lake even tasted like tea and if you stood up waist deep in the lake, you couldn’t even see your feet! After that we got back to our house, had lunch, did two lessons of homeschooling, relaxed awhile until dinner and for dinner we ate pork ribs, potatoes, and apple sauce with ice cream and pancakes for dessert.

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By me:

The surf lesson is at 7:45am this morning.

Quick breakfast; Ludivine prepares a nice smoothie.

I stay home with Jules, who spends most of the time on his iPad.

I catch up with the posts.

The 3 girls come back around 11:30am, smiling and exhilarating. They enjoyed a lot and they even saw dolphins while surfing! Cool.

I prepare a salad full of good things.

The children do 2 sessions of homeschooling while I continue the posts, prepare the file for the registration of Jules to St Philippe school (in 6th grade) and catch up with the confirmation of our trip to Galapagos (in June next year). There are so many thing I’d like to do: watch a movie (we have Apple TV and Netflix here), catch up with the posts on the blog, enjoy Byron Bay’s vibe, watch the (interesting) saved posts on FB, read a book… But, as usual, we have to do tradeoffs.

Isabelle and I go to town before the surf shop closes (at 6pm) in order to book surf lessons for the 3 kids (Jules was a bit jealous when he heard the girls telling about their great morning session), Isabelle again just renting a board.

We go back home. I prepare an aperitif (with nice Comte and Parmesan cheeses) while Isabelle prepares pork filets with apples and small potatoes in oven for dinner, with crepes as desert.

I continue to work the whole evening.

It’s midnight and I have contrasting feelings about today: I’m glad I did a few required things (Jules’ file for his registration to St Philippe school, confirmation of our Galapagos trip, (4) posts about Lady Elliot Island…) but, as usual, on the other hand I’m wondering if this was the right thing to do or not. Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy fully the Australian’s way of life in Byron Bay? Probably yes. And tomorrow I’ll again probably spend the main part of the day on my laptop, preparing New Zealand (I haven’t booked any accommodation, except the 2 x 10 days in campers).

 

Saturday 23/12

By Florence:

This morning we woke up not too early. We could wake up whenever we wanted because today the surf lesson started at 10 AM. We ate some cereals and fruits. It was delicious. I love it when we eat fruits in the morning. When we were done eating, we headed to the surf club. We got our wet suits and surfs. This time I went with the surf bus. There was only this little girl named Kaitlyn. We were playing on her dad’s phone. Her dad had a go pro and he videotaped us the first time. He made it a montage. We watched all the ones he did. They were really nice. Kaitlyn was really kind and funny. We arrived at the beach and we directly started to surf. I managed to stay on my surf and jump to do a 180. I was so proud. I loved surfing and I was really sad that it was the last day. It was so fun in the water. When we were done we headed back and we stopped for a quick dip in the tea lake. On the way back Ludivine also came on the bus and we ate Pringles, it was amazing. When we came back home we ate and took a shower. We ate a salad and it was delicious. When we were done we worked for 1h 30 and then we left. Jules stayed home. We went to see some bookstores. I didn’t find anything, but I wasn’t really looking either. We were walking from one bookstore to another when we saw Kaitlyn on the street! She was with her dad Christmas shopping. It was such a coincidence! When we were done we went to the lighthouse. It was beautiful. I loved it. It was all white. When we were on top, we saw some shapes in the ocean of turtles, eagle rays, dolphins, and even a leopard shark. It was amazing. When we were heading back down to get the car, we saw a wild kangaroo! It was super cool! Then we got in the car and went back home to get Jules. We got Jules, and then we headed to go eat sushi! It was delicious. They really tasted like the ones in Japan. When we were done, we did a quick stop at Woolworths aka Woollies. Then we went home and slept. Bye.

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By me:

Kids have their last surf lesson at 10am today. Like yesterday, Isabelle goes with them with a rented board and I stay home. I work on the blog.

They come back around 1:30pm. We eat a salad, outside. The weather is great.

One homeschooling session today.

We then go to town (Jules prefers to stay at home, to rest). We go to 2 bookstores to find books for Ludivine. She loves to read and we want to encourage this of course (like any activity not involving a screen basically…). We then go to the lighthouse. The light at this time of the day is beautiful. It’s a great place, with superb views (including on the beautiful Tallow Beach). We see sea turtles, rays, a pod of dolphins and even a leopard shark from up there! Walking back to the car, we even see a wild kangaroo (our first one!).

We go back home. Just the time for a shower and we go and eat in town, in a nice sushi restaurant, at the counter. The salmon is delicious. Nice dinner; quick one (as usual in this kind of conveyor-belt sushi restaurant). As usual, we take maybe 2 or 3 plates (out of 20) from the conveyor belt itself; we mainly order what we like (rolls, sushi and sashimi of salmon).

We stop at Woolworths on our way back to buy a few missing things for the Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night. We buy big shrimps.

We eat an ice cream at home and then the kids go to bed (they are tired) while Isabelle and I work on our laptops (till 1am for me).

 

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