The World was here First

Last week I saw Anneke, Chris and Koen again for the first time since our flight here. I'd invited them to my apartment and after they met my roommates we went out for dinner to a place I'd been once before called Bare Grill. The Bare Grill stood out because of its burgers and the raclette cheese they put on top of them, and its milkshakes were to die for, which is what I wanted to convince them of. I did. That night the three of them slept over, because the AirBnB they stayed in was an hour away from the city centre.

A few days later we decided to go to Palm beach together after their hosts has recommended the walk to the lighthouse and the view from there. It was quite the drive, but totally worth it. It wasn't very warm that day, but it was still a beach we were going to and I had no idea about the climb that lay ahead of us so I was not properly dressed for the occasion. The beaches itself weren't that special, so we started our walk uphill straight away, walking along rocks and on unsteady stairways, but with beautiful views on the way. Once we reached the top it started raining and although there was a big chance of seeing dolphins, we didn't see anything from where we were standing. Standing on top of that mountain though, I realised that everything I'd seen so far had been there for so many thousands of years, which is a weird thought because Australia has only such short known (or written) history. How many people had sat where I sat? What was it used for hundreds of years ago? Had the aboriginals treasured it as much then as the tourists do today? So many questions and so much to see for such a new country.

The following day we went to a different beach with the four of us, because Koen and Anneke had surfing lessons, so Chris and I worked on our English reading skills with our feet in the sand. That afternoon we went to their AirBnB and we had a barbie, as the Aussies say, but hell broke loose... at 4 pm the sky was pitch black and it started raining like I hadn't seen before here in Australia. The thunder and lightning were frightening and I thought it wiser to stay at their place that night. Thank god the food was delicious.