Culburra and Surrounding Towns via Rusty

Another gorgeous day here in Culburra. Wondering if anyone will notice if I don't go to school and just stay here for the year :-)

Little known fact about this town - it was designed by the same American architect who won the contest to design Canberra - Walter Burley-Griffin. Unfortunately Culburra didn't take off quite the way Canberra did so it has a very different feel, so I'm told! I guess I'll find out soon enough :-)

I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback about the blog, glad you're enjoying reading it. I totally appreciate constructive feedback too, so for all of you professional blogger/writers out there, I welcome comments! Really though I'm just happy people are reading this! I hope I can keep up momentum throughout the year.

Today we went swimming quite quickly in the morning. I wasn't sure this was possible, but I think today is the hottest day yet. I wouldn't say it's unbearable, but I certainly am avoiding the sun as much as humanly possible. I think most people are doing the same, at the beach there were people in the water, but no one was suntanning or sitting in the sun, it's just too hot!

The waves here are very different from Vancouver. Much much stronger pull. We went swimming close to the house where the surf was much stronger than where we were yesterday. I have a great deal of respect for the power of the ocean and it took me a while to get in, I'll admit. We had a second swim a few hours ago and the surf was still as strong but it was either get in or melt, so I was much quicker to submerge the second time around.

A view of the beach we swam at. Hard to tell maybe but those waves are pretty huge. You can be standing and the water is up to your knees, and all of a sudden a wave comes in and the water is up to your neck. Crazy!

I don't know these people but I hope it gives an idea of wave size.

After the morning swim we hopped into Rusty, Simon's Uncles 1969 Ford F150 that until today didn't have a name (Simon named it, we all agreed it was a great fit).

Rusty with a view of the closed op shop in the background.
Simon's Uncle posing with Rusty. Apparently the license plate # is the same as his and Simon's Dad's father's first ever vehicle, which is pretty cool.

We headed to the 'op shop' to do a little bargain hunting. I came out with two books, one was the Great Book of Zombies, which has a bunch of short stories of post-apocalypse trials and tribulations that I'm looking forward to getting into. I only brought non-fiction books with me so it will be a welcome break. Rousseau if you read this, know that the book will make it to you next, somehow!

My fantastic finds.

I also bought a book on 'vegetarian gourmet' from the 80s. While the book looks old, the recipes look delicious and it really is my goal to eat less meat so hopefully this book will help me start. I may not be able to bring it back with me but at $3 for both books it doesn't really matter!

One view of the town of Culberra.

From there we grabbed a coffee at a shop in town (town is one of those if-you-blink-you'll-miss-it type of places), and then Simon drove us to the dump to see what else we could find. He did really well for his first "driving on the other side of the road in a giant truck with no power steering" attempt.

Simon's in the drivers seat, hang on!!!

I was impressed, the dump was a rather respectable little place, I was picturing something much less civil. There was an area for rescued items which is where we went. Nothing caught our eyes this round so we headed to a fish market to get some dinner, then a quick stop at an arts and crafts store, then back to town for veggies.

Simon and his Uncle enjoying a tasty ginger beer after buying up the seafood market!

Simon and I are going to make his Uncle dinner tonight, which should be fun. Simon made us a snack of fried fish and oysters post-swim #2, it was delicious. I am a big fan of Simon's cooking, it's too bad he doesn't often have the time. The fresh seafood adds a lot too, it's so great. The oysters here are to me better than the ones at home, mind you I still had to slather them in sauce. But I liked them much better than on previous occasions.

Lunch!

Simon and Uncle Les patiently waiting as I take pictures of everything before they can start eating.

As I'm sitting here writing this the rainbow birds have scome back, in a group of about 6. They're colourful and wow are they ever loud. When they talk to each other it's piercing. I think they're conversing with others behind the house, but I'm not sure. I've also seen 3 different black cockatoos today, and it's been quite a challenge getting them caught on camera. Pictures are taking forever to load so I'll either post them later or if you really want to see them let me know and I can send you the pictures. For every picture on here there's about 40 different outtakes. I've taken about 100 pictures of birds total in the past few days. Mom and Aunt Cindy, you'd be very proud!

Tomorrow we're off early to Canberra, in a car with a/c thankfully. We'll get there mid-day then try to get settled and who knows what else. Monday is a free day of getting organized then Tuesday we have the international students orientation. Wednesday Simon has to pick courses and I'm sure I'll have some running around to do. I want to buy a bike pretty quick and while Simon's Uncle and his wife have been really generous with crockery and linens, there will inevitably be a thing or two that we'll realize we need. After that is up in the air. We'll have 7 days before I need to be back for my school's orientation, and then classes begin...eep! Better get back to that 700 page pre-course reading that I wanted to do!!