This morning I got up and dressed, then had a cup of tea with Robyn and sat watching tv for a bit. Heather arrived and joined us in our morning tv viewing. We then spent the rest of the morning alternating between tv, chatting and doing some work on an application Heather is completing for a job in Utah, which was fun as I got to give my brain some exercise!
The sun was shining outside, so Heather suggested we went to the beach (I’m thinking ‘Cool!’), but on a bike ride (now I’m thinking ‘Arrgghh!’). I figured I would give it a go anyway, even though I’ve never been a particularly competent bike rider, but I knew the beach wasn’t that far. Heather pumped up the tyres on the bikes and we got ready to rock, by that I mean I sat on the bike and tried to remember how to ride one.
I was surprised how relatively simple it was to ride a bike, although there was one slightly odd factor which I hadn’t expected; there was no back brake, only a front brake. Instead, the way to stop without using the front brake and flying forward over the handlebars, was to back-pedal; something which did not come naturally to me, as I kept going to squeeze a brake which wasn’t there. Eventually I got the hang of it (ish) and we made it down to the beach without incident.
Once at the beach, we went for a short walk along the sand, before we noticed a big rain cloud further up the beach. At first we thought it was just hanging about up the headland, but soon we realised that it was actually advancing towards us. There was even a rainbow! Heather had brought with her a pot of shells she has collected from the beach over the years, but had now decided that it was time to return them, so we sprinkled them about quickly before hopping back on our bikes and heading back to the house, being chased by the rain as we went. I nearly managed to outrun the rain, but sadly it caught us just as we got back, so we got a bit damp.
We warmed up with a spot of lunch – beans on toast; I asked Heather if she’d ever had cheese on it and she hadn’t, so I introduced her to this concept and she really loved it! We talked about the strange combinations of foods we’d invented over the course of time and Heather asked if I’d ever had ‘fairy bread’ – I confirmed that I hadn’t, which amazed her! She assured me that I needed to give it a go. We watched a quick bit of tv and then the two of us went off to Nowra in the car.
First we went to Woolies and collected some groceries, including ingredients for ‘fairy bread’ and another iconic treat – ‘Mars slice’. We then raced to the ‘Roxy’ – a very ‘old skool’ cinema, to see ‘Get Him to the Greek’. It was a tiny cinema and very cute indeed. The film was good and there were quite a few bits shot in London, so that was nice – seeing black cabs and double decker buses. We had a good giggle at the film, nibbling on some bits we’d bought in Woolies, then went home.
Heather then set about my introduction to Mars slice; we chopped up and melted three Mars bars with some butter, then mixed a load of Rice Crispies into the chocolatey goodness. Once the concoction was all ready, we poured some melted chocolate on top, spread it in a dish and popped it into the fridge to set. Next on Heather’s agenda was my induction to fairy bread, so she showed me how to make it – a piece of white bread with a thin spreading of butter, topped with a crust of hundreds and thousands. It seemed like a strange idea but it actually worked! Yum! I text Sarah, Tom and Becs to tell them that I had tried another iconic Aussie food and they all agreed that fairy bread was fabulous! Heather then had to go to work, so I went to get dressed, ready for dinner out with Jim, Robyn and a few Rotarians at the Fishos.
It was lovely seeing some familiar Rotary faces; we had a lovely evening chatting away and enjoying a few beers and some tasty food. I was overjoyed, at last, to be able to drink a schooner of Tooheys Old on draught! Amazing! I’d forgotten how good it was. When we got home, we chilled out with the tv and another beer or two, whilst I clicked about online for a while, with the cat and dog curled up next to me. Wonderful!
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