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WEEK 15
Dear Lincoln, Lilliana, Leni, Juliana, Evyn, Jack, Faye, Chloe, Emerson, Lake, Rita, Violet, and Ella,
Sadly, my time in Australia has come to an end, but I got very lucky and stayed in such a beautiful place during my last week. Just up the coast from Sydney is an area with incredible beaches and some beautiful natural areas. Cliff tops that tower over the beach, natural lagoons, and lots of bushland make this area really great for long walks and taking great pictures.
This week, I stayed with Tia, who is 5, and Zadan, who is 3. They live with their mom and dad in a really lovely house with the best view I have ever seen. They love to eat vegetables and organic foods, so I was very happy to stay with them as they eat most of the same foods as me. Their mom grows sprouting seeds that are delicious and really good for you.
She has also planted lots of beautiful flowers and plants in their front yard.
Even the local spiders seem very happy to hang out there. I checked that this was not a dangerous one before I got too close!
Tia and Zadan’s dad is super smart. He does a really important job, and he often has to travel for his work, but he gets to work from home lots so he has plenty of time to spend with them.
This family love to have one on one quality time with each other. One day, while Tia was at school, Zadan’s mom took him for a special day out and I got to go along too.
First we went to a great indoor adventure playground because it was raining outside. Zadan really loved the ball pool.
Next they showed me a lagoon. That’s a big lake made of seawater. When the tide is high, seawater flows into the lagoon and then the tide goes down, and a piece of sand separates it from the rest of the sea, and that’s what makes a natural lagoon.
On the beach we found loads of blue bottles. These are tiny little jellyfish that float on top of the water and sometimes get washed up onto the beach. If they sting you, it can really hurt!
We saw the lifeguards. They were watching the beach very carefully as it was a bit of a stormy day.
Later on, the weather got better and I decided to go for a long bush walk by myself. It was a little scary, but I remembered to look out for snakes and deadly spiders!
The view from Tia and Zadan’s house was incredible.
Paragliding is a very popular sport. People get these huge parachutes and jump off the cliffs. I saw this man preparing to launch. He had like 100 strings holding his parachute that he had to sort out! It was very tricky to get it up in the air and it kept falling into the trees.
I had a wonderful time on my bush walk, it was so peaceful, and the light coming through the gum trees helped give me these beautiful pictures.
I also saw a kookaburra. It was sitting at the top of a branchless tree and it was so still, at first I thought it was just wooden, carved into the tree. When it moved, I jumped!
Then I saw a couple of familiar birds. I wonder if these magpies have been following me all the way from Sydney?!
And on my back, guess what I saw... it wasn’t a bird, it wasn’t a plane, it was the paragliding man had launched and was sailing very high up in the sky!
When I got back to the house, I saw a very funny sight indeed. Tia and Zadan were taking a bath and their dad was playing guitar... in the bathroom! They call it their “Bathtime Concert” and they sing songs while their dad plays guitar.
They carried on the concert for me after their bath and sang me lots of traditional Australian songs.
Before she went to bed, Tia showed me her beautiful collection of crystals, including her crystal tree.
The next day, it was Tia’s turn for a day out. Zadan was spending time with his dad so Tia’s mom took her and me down to the beach. We got really lucky with the weather. The sun was shining and it was super warm.
We walked all the way to the rock pools and looked for interesting seaweed.
When we finished at the rock pools we noticed some familiar figures down the beach. It was Zadan and his dad. Those guys had come to gatecrash our outing! But we were really pleased to see them and it turned into a beautiful day out for the whole family.
The next day, both Tia and Zadan went to school so I went off for a big adventure. I decided to go down to the lagoon and walk the other way down the beach.
Seriously, kids, I have seen some beautiful sights on my travels, but this place was like paradise. I couldn’t believe how blue the water was, how soft the sand was, how warm the sun was, and how clean the air was; and there was almost no one there except me! I saw one couple sunbathing and a few people running down the beach, but apart from that, it was more or less just me and my thoughts walking down the beach that day.
I did see some guys surfing and stopped to take a few pictures. They were very good.
I walked all the way down the beach to a small town. The beach curved around into a bay.
And there was a really small paddling pool for kids behind a man-made stone wall.
And around the corner I found a really nice café, with a wall of shells.
I decided to get a coffee and watch a young fisherman get his boat into the water.
I also saw a dog playing “fetch” in the water.
Later I went down to watch some fishermen bring the fish in. They cleaned them at this special table, and threw the scraps to some eagerly awaiting pelicans.
Bright blue sky.
But then I turned around.
And this is what I saw:
The biggest storm clouds I have EVER seen!
People were quickly packing up their fishing gear and their surf boards and heading for their cars.
But I had a long, long way to walk. I started to run.
And this was the last picture I took:
Shortly after I took this picture, the storm was above me and I have never, EVER been so frightened. It was hard rain and big bolts of lightning and the loudest claps of thunder I have ever heard. I am never scared of a storm if I’m in a house, but it’s a different story when you’re on your own on a beach. But I learnt something really important that day. If you experience something that really scares you and it passes (and the storm did eventually go away), you know that you are a little braver than you were the day before.
Yes, ever since that day, I have been a little braver than I was before I experienced the Worst Storm Ever!
When I eventually got home, Tia and Zadan gave me the biggest hugs I’ve ever had and that made me feel so much better. But it also made it much harder to say goodbye.
I made so many wonderful new friends during my visit to Australia (and rekindled a few old friendships). I will really miss Emma, Troy, Tex, Leroy, Penny, Dane, Tansy, Zach, Zoe, Jacinta, Jett, Shirley, Pete, Matt, Jenny, Holly, Chloe, Craig, Pauline, Jim, Tim, Annette, Amanda, Chris, Taeus, Pepper, Cypress, Mark, Agi, Zsuzsi, Nicky, Diana, Zadan, and my sweet, sweet, Tia. They all made me feel incredibly happy and loved and I will look forward to visiting them again as soon as I can. But right now I have to fly half way around the world to Europe, and a country called Switzerland, where a very cute girl called Annelie is waiting to be my new friend!
I will write to you again soon.
Miss you all very much.
All my love,
Susie xxxx
