Pinch Me!

In light of my latest hospital visit (last night, 7 hours, don't ask) I feel the need to report on something fun. I may be allergic to law school at this point (seriously, if RPA Hospital gave out frequent-flyer miles I'd be able to get a free boob job or something by now) but I am certainly not complaining about my amazing boyfriend! He was home from Darwin for the weekend and we filled every bright sunny moment of it with bright sunny memories :)

First, I picked him up from the airport. (Please excuse my appearance- Nick took the red-eye so it was 7:30 in the morning.)

Did you know that in the domestic terminal a non-passenger can still go right up to the gate?! Of course I got "randomly selected" at security for a bomb search n' swab, but I passed with flying colours! (no pun intended.) After Nick greeted me by sweeping me off my feet Hollywood style, he gave me a present from Darwin-a gorgeous piece of aboriginal art. It's a crocodile and some lilies and I love it!

Next we left Sydney for the trip down the coast to Nick's house. Ahhh fresh air at last! We rounded up the doggies and took them for a run on the beach before heading out for a scrumptious lunch.

Since the restaurant was out of the item I'd ordered, the chef concocted a special dish- raspberry and custard french toast with marscarpone cheese- just for me! It was utterly delicious.

I was impressed with the coffees we'd ordered too. Nick's Cappuccino was a decent size (as opposed to the thimble sized coffees that usually get served at breakfast places here) and my latte was positively tall! Nice latte art too.

Being the great guy that he is, Nick didn't complain once while I browsed around a couple of cute boutiques. I love going to the shops in new places. Even though I rarely buy anything it's fun to see what's for sale and dream!

The next day we lunched with a couple of Nick's mates at this amazing restaurant overlooking the ocean. The main seating area is outside in this lush green garden and the tables look out right to the cascading cliffs and crashing ocean waves. What a stunning sight!

That evening we drove back to Sydney for a party with students from my law faculty. We ate dinner at Prague- a Czech restaurant in Kings Cross. The food was tasty but very... dense, as I suppose is to be expected. I quite enjoyed my dish- a combination of meat, a sweat creamy sauce, sour dough bread, cranberry sauce and whipped creme, but having tried it once, I probably wouldn't need to order it again. We met up with my classmates at Hugo's Bar in the cross and danced the night away!!!


The next day we went back down the coast to watch Nick's mom and sister play in their Grand Final Netball Match. I'd seen snippets of netball on TV but never watched a whole game before. All the matches on TV are in an indoor arena so you can imagine my surprise when we pulled up to a mass of outdoor courts! The sun was beating down on us, it was about 30 degrees and I'd not come prepared to sit in the sun! Thankfully I managed to locate some sunscreen (well Nick fetched some for me) so after that I was fine. The game was super exciting! Our team lost but it was a pretty close game until the very end.

On Nick's last morning we (Nick, his mom and sister, and I) hiked up the mountain next to the beach near the house. Again it was a hot sunny day (winter? What winter?) perfect for a hike in the woods.

We brought 3 of the doggies who were bursting with excitement in the car ride to the entrance of the trail.

At the top we enjoyed the magnificent view- including a pod of dolphins gracefully gliding in and out of the water in the distance.

On our way down Nick spotted this huge Goanna Lizard in a tree!

After having worked up a sweat and an appetite, a dip in the pool and a classic Aussie barbie for lunch hit the spot!

Ahhh... perfect company, weather, activities, food... What more could a girl ask for?? It was sad to say goodbye at the airport and although I miss him right now, it's only 6 short weeks until Nick is back again. I am already looking forward it :)