Saturday, June 2, 2012

Maitland Bay


Maria, Nicole, me, Katie


On Thursday, had crumpets for brekky, which are like English muffins but spongier. Really good! Katie and I went with Maria and Ian to the shops (so weird not going to The Square) and got some wine for a thank you gift for Murray and Jeanette. We picked three different whites and a nice red. Then we picked up Nicole from school again, and headed back home to get changed for a Maitland Bay hike. It was drizzling, but coming from Lismore it was normal to us. We borrowed their rain jackets and went on the half hour drive to this gorgeous area that was a lush forest. It was an easy hike going down, and the paths were all stones or paved which was so different from what we’ve hiked on the past semester. There was a lookout and through the clouds there was a big city about 5 kilometers away. I asked where that is, and Murray said it’s Sydney! How cool is that?! He mentioned how it would take so much less time to go there by water compared to the 2-3 hours it takes by road.
Sydney in the distance! 
We got down to the water and of course, I ran to feel it. It was surprisingly warm and inviting, but I resisted the urge I had to jump in. We walked along the unique coffee-swirled rocks and learned about the vertical plates from Ian. Again, it’s so fun to travel with smart people who know things…I love learning as I go with them!
After a while just watching the force of the waves crash up on the rocks, we took a long walk along the beach and learned about the shipwreck that happened off that shore. Murray saw a fin of some sort in the water and I got so excited that I could finally see a shark in nature, but it never surfaced again unfortunately. We headed back up the path, which was all uphill from that point. It was surprisingly easy, and I figured that must be from walking up the campus hill to Orion twice or three times a day.
That night we ordered pizza: Hawaiian (my favorite), the works (with anchovies and all), and meat lovers. It was a true family night, as we sat around talking in the living room as we enjoyed the pizza. We were lucky enough to have Murray show us a slideshow of his professional photography. He is the guy on the sidelines of professional sporting events, from rugby, soccer, biking, swimming, volleyball, race cars, and so on. The pictures were incredible, as he is extremely talented. He’s done a whole African safari series of pictures and is now an author of his very own book of photographs. 

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