Our Pretend Australia Trip: Day 7 Kiama

I woke up too early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep.  I decided to take advantage of the moment.  I went out to the beach to experience the sunrise.

It was beautiful.  I felt so much peace and happiness.

I want to move to Kiama.

* * *

I went back to the beach, this time with Tim and Jack.  We did some running and racing, which I don't usually do. It was a lot of fun.

A dog and his human were there.  The dog barked a lot and that made Jack nervous.  But then the dog and the human came near us.  The human was very friendly and assured us that the dog was friendly.  I asked if we could pet him and the human said yes.  Jack was shy about it at first, but then warmed up a bit.

On the way into town, Jack talked about us getting a dog some day.

I said he can get a dog when he grows up and moves out.

For breakfast we picked up bread at a place called Baker's Delight.  They have a lot of fancy sugary stuff,  but we decided to get something more plain and eat it with our Finger Lime Marmalade.  

Jack didn't manage to get me to agree on adopting a dog, but he did manage to get us to buy white bread instead of a whole grain thing.

We got something called White Farmer's Loaf.   We took it back to our room and ate it with the jam.  It would have probably been a tiny bit better if we also had butter. But it was still very yummy.

Oh yeah.  I forgot.  Before we got the bread, we stopped at the toy store.

Jack looked around a bit, but he didn't buy anything.

Now we're deciding what to do next. We're thinking of driving to something called Cathedral Rocks.   It's supposed to be pretty.   After that we might look at the blowhole.  Or we might save that for tomorrow.

We'll see......

* * *

Guess what!

We were recipients of one of those random acts of kindness things.  Or well...maybe it wasn't random.  It might be better to call it kindness from strangers.

Here's the story.

We drove to Cathedral Rocks, which is VERY beautiful.

We hung out for a few minutes and "feasted our eyes", as my dad likes to say.

There was another family close by feasting their eyes as well. They were enthusiastically taking photos of each other with the rocks in the background.

Jack was much less enthusiastic.  He said, Is that it?

I guess he was expecting something more.

Well, I don't know what he expected.

Then Jack realized he was thirsty.  He asked if he could have some water.

Of course.  I always have water ready for us.

I take my purple water bottle everywhere.

Okay, but not this time.

It turns out I left my water bottle at the motel.

When I realized this, I suddenly felt very thirsty too.

Now we were only about a ten minute drive from the motel, and it's not at all hot today.   It wasn't a huge emergency.   But I'm a wimp when it comes to thirst and I felt like I was a dying explorer roaming around the outback.

Jack started whining when I told him there was no water.  I said we'd get some water when we got back to the motel.   Jack said that was too long to wait.   I told him I was sorry, and I really WAS sorry.

Jack asked if we could leave now.   Tim said no.  He said Jack could wait. 

I felt thirsty and bad about Jack being thirsty.  I have this thing about never making Jack wait when he's thirsty.   It comes from when I was a teenager.  We were on a cruise.   It was hot.   I was very thirsty.  I really wanted a drink.  The rest of my family was busy buying jewelry while I waited around for them.  When I informed my parents about my thirst, they seemed annoyed and told me I'd need to wait.

I guess I decided that I didn't want to do that to Jack.

And here I was doing it to him.  Maybe it's different though, because it wasn't by choice.

I know.  We probably sound like very spoiled and sheltered people.  And yeah, I guess we are in some ways.

Anyway, just as our family drama was about to escalate into an argument (that would probably ruin most of the day), the other family intruded on our business.

They apologized for eavesdropping and said they had extra water bottles in their car.    I felt awkward accepting the favor, but I knew it would be wrong to refuse when Jack was thirsty.  And yeah....I was thirsty too.

They gave us the water bottles. We offered to pay them.  They said no way and told us to just pay it forward.  It was such a nice moment.

Jack and I drank some water.

Then they said they love our accents.  We said that was funny because we love THEIR accents.

They were very excited to talk to Americans.   Like always, we were excited to talk to Australians.

It was mutual accent admiration.

We talked a bit.  They told us they're from Perth and visiting Sydney and Kiama for the summer holidays.   We told them of our travel plans, and also said we'd be going to Perth in April.   They were all excited to hear this and said we should email them when we get there.   They said maybe we can get together for lunch or dinner.

We exchanged emails.

They were very nice.

One of the kids looked to be about Jack's age.  They didn't become best friends in the few minutes we were together; but they did share some awkward glances and sort of smiles.

I think it would be neat if we got together, although I might be shy about emailing them.  What if they were just being polite and friendly?   People say, Let's do lunch! and they don't often mean it.  

I don't know what I'd say to them.  Hi! We're here!  Do you want us to come over for dinner now?

You know what.   I'll just let them email me first.  

Speaking of dinner.

We're leaving soon to eat at a Mexican restaurant.   

For lunch we had Thai food.   It was pretty nice. After that, it started raining a bit, so we've been hanging out in the motel room.  I played Sims 3.   Jack played Minecraft. Tim watched Robocop 3.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and post now. I'm hoping to put myself quickly to bed when we get home from the restaurant.   I'm getting tired.

* * *

I just thought of something.  I can email the Perth woman and thank her for the water bottles! That's definitely a good excuse to email.   It would be rude NOT to email her.

Maybe we can get to know each other through email. That way it won't be so awkward when we get to Perth.

Okay.  I'm going to go...for real this time.


 NOTE:  This trip journal is fictional.   We are not really in Australia.  Some stuff in these posts are based on research.  Some stuff is based on my reality.  Some stuff is based on past experiences. And some stuff is based on fantasy.  

The non-trip journal posts ARE true and real…except for my dreams (which are written in purple).   



****Thank you to Red Nomad Oz whose adventures may have inspired this entry...at least on a subconscious level.