Alyssa and Tim flew out early the next morning to go back home, and we slept right through it. Luckily we had said our goodbyes the previous night. Kuniko and Julia seemed to have the worst of the hangovers, but that didn’t stop Julia from suggesting a visit to the beach on Boxing Day.
We went to a nice beach (I believe it was called North Beach?) near Wollongong, and there were a lot of people out there enjoying the warm weather. The surf was pretty strong – I was surprised that so many people were playing out there in it. Julia and Steve went out and swam a bit, but Kuniko and I just relaxed and walked up and down the beach. Every now and then teams of skydivers would parachute in across the way, and they sure came in fast!
After a while at the beach we got back in the car, and then stopped at the supermarket on the way home to look around. Steve took us through the back door, and it was a pretty stinky shortcut. The supermarket was fun to explore, and we bought some tinned seafood to bring back as souvenirs for our neighbors, and some beer to restock Steve’s fridge.
In the afternoon Steve wanted to take us out for lunch at the Harborfront seafood restaurant. Since we had been eating lobster, prawns, bugs, and oysters the last few days it wasn’t a surprise that everyone ordered meat instead of seafood. The location of the restaurant (and our table) was perfect, with a nice view of the harbor and the boats docked inside. There were even people swimming in the harbor – I don’t know if I would swim in the harbors near our home in Japan.
The food was delicious, with lots of unique spice combinations that I could experience for the first time. We had some good local beers, and then a really nice wine with lunch. Our liver break wasn’t quite as long as I had expected!
After lunch we walked around the lighthouse which commanded an almost panoramic view of the ocean, and from the top of the hillside we could see storm clouds moving towards us from Mt. Kembla. Luckily we made it to the car before the rain hit us, and the rain let up after only a half hour or so.
For dinner on Boxing Day we drove a ways down the road from Steve and Brenda’s house and attended a pizza party with a twist. It was held at a community center that had a big eating area outside, complete with a large traditional pizza oven. The party was by invite only, but there were about a hundred people there. First, you picked up a pizza pan with a crust already rolled out on it. You put sauce that the host was kind enough to provide, and then you put whatever toppings you brought with you to the party. The host cooked the pizzas for you, and called out your number when it was ready. I guess it is an annual tradition, and it was fun to take part. The place was adjacent to railroad tracks, and a train hauling coal from the nearby active coal mine chugged through now and then. On top of that, the place had a miniature railroad surrounding it in a big loop, but the trains (about the same scale as Train Town in Sonoma) were out of action for safety reasons. It was an interesting place.
We sat under some trees and ate pizzas and drank wine with some friends of Steve and Brenda. They came prepared and pulled out more prawns to eat by the handful, along with some good wine. They made a nice pizza, too – no sauce, just smashed baked potatoes, olive oil and rosemary. Yum.
It was our last night in Australia, so we came home and Steve was nice enough to share a nice glass of scotch with us, and we sat around their living room talking about life in general and travel in particular.
We had a good time with the Coursey family, and they really made us feel at home while we were there. We hope to spend more time together with them in the future, whether it is in Japan or in Australia.
