Sharking in Exy

Aussies love to abbreviate words. Any words, but especially places. Fremantle is Freo, Brisbane is Brizzy, Tasmania is Tassie, Exmouth is Exy. The list goes on. I have fully settled into daily life here, which is a little crazy. I arrived on the 23rd of June, it's the morning of July 24th here (still 23rd at home!) and I feel at least a little more sure of what I'm doing these days. When I got to town, my friend Corinne and I were looking for an apartment together. That officially fell through and since town is basically booked out for the next few months with Western Australians who are happy to spend their days in 80 degree heat up here instead of the 40s down in Perth, it's not looking like we'll find something else anytime soon. Since I have several co-workers who are still living in campgrounds or sleeping on couches, I'm reaaaaally glad to be living with Sandra and David.

Dave's dad, Rob, came home from work a bit early one day last week when I was making dinner so I fed him. We had a lovely chat about my eating habits (mostly vegetarian but definitely still eat meat when it's served to me) and I've since come home to hot dinner, courtesy of Rob and his mad skills, two nights this week. He made lasagna one night and made two pans of it so that mine could be meat-free. Seriously, what a sweetheart. All three of my housemates are wonderful humans and really good housemates, so I'm very glad to be here. Only more glad when I think of the campgrounds I could be living at instead!

I'm still bar tending 6 days a week, and I've settled into a routine of working on the whaleshark boats on Sundays. I go sharking in the morning, scramble around to get that job finished and be at the Potshot in usually less than 20 minutes in time for my dinner-to-close shift. It makes for a very long day, but having a short gap between the two jobs actually makes it easier, I think, because my body just remains in go-go-go mode instead of having a chance to rest and actually FEEL tired. It means that church hasn't happened in a long time (there's one mass per weekend here because there's only one priest in the whole region of several hundred square miles and it rotates between Sat night and Sun morning), but I figure spending the morning in God's creation will tide me over until that's an option on the table again. I had Thursday off from Potshot because of a training I had to do for the dive shop, so I also went out yesterday! Such a gorgeous day. Swam with two different sharks, watched humpback whales playing (including a mama teaching her calf how to breach - jump out of the water and splash - for a good 15 minutes. Incredible!), didn't get sunburnt. Good good day.

One of the perks of my dive shop is that they send along a professional photographer on every trip so that people can pay attention to swimming with the sharks instead of trying to figure out how to take underwater photos with them and missing moments. We include the photos in the cost of the day, and I snagged some photos that my co-worker friend Sara Barbieri took. Which is super convenient because my photos wouldn't hold a candle to these. So these are the critters I'm getting paid to take people swimming with!!!

Whale shark

Most of the sharks we swim with are juveniles... this one was only about 5 meters long

Each shark has unique spot patterns that researchers use to track their movements - there's still SO much we don't know about them

My first day swimming with manta rays and I got to swim with TWO!

See the sea turtle swimming just above the manta??!

It's magical up here, y'all.

Today is Friday so it'll be a long one. I've got a lunch/dinner split shift at Potshot, and Friday nights are always hectic. Same for tomorrow. And then Sunday, back out on the water with these beauties!!!

Free Wifi

I wasn't sure how to get started this morning but knew I had to: I talked to Mom Mom last week while she was staying at my parents' house for a few days and she encouraged me to blog again... so I knew I needed to blog again. I'm still at Sandra and David's house, my co-workers, but they don't have wifi! They just have big data plans on their cell phones and use that connection to power their various internet wanderings. I, too, have a large data plan (data is SO MUCH CHEAPER in Australia than in the US), but I'm also cheap and would prefer to use free data over not free data. So I find myself sitting back at the Ningaloo Visitor's Center, tapping away this post.

It's another beautiful day in paradise (but actually - 75 degrees, not a cloud in sight, cool breeze) and my bike ride to the Visitor's Center with a mug of tea in hand went surprisingly well. It's only been a bit over a week of using my bike every day to get around town, but my single-hand riding skills are definitely not apparent yet. I spilled tea the whole way here. But I made it! And MOST of the tea is still inside its vessel! So I'm chalking it up as a win.

Things in town are getting busy, so work is getting busy. I'm on duty at the Potshot for 6 days, 5 of which are split shifts - so I work both lunch and dinner shift with a 2-3 hour break in between, depending on how busy things are. I got a text from the Dive shop earlier in the week wanting to know if I can go out on the whaleshark boat EVERY DAY next week, so sounds like they're busying up, too. I told that boss that I'm happy to help out when the bar work schedule allows for it, so as of now I'm scheduled to have off from both jobs tomorrow (July 4th) and then work both jobs on Sunday. I did that last Sunday and it went shockingly well. Start at the dive shop is 6:45am, I finished up around 3:40pm, raced home on my bike (no tea in hand that day) for a shower and a change of clothes, and was at the bar for a 4pm start. It was hectic, and a long day - I stayed at the bar til close that night - but pretty amazing to spend the day helping people to swim with the largest fish in the sea and then head straight into work flirting with old men at the bar. Ideal.

I think I mentioned that Sandra and David have dogs, but I'm not sure I mentioned what snuggly little cuddle bugs they are or showed you photos:

Mako

Tia

Maddy

All of my clothes are slowly getting dog hair infested because all three love to climb up in your lap at the end of the day. Especially because the evenings get a bit chilly (desert climate even though we're smack up next to the sea), it's so nice to have a little space heater half flopped on your lap while you're reading a book. So I'm happily taking the dog hair in exchange for warm snuggles. On my days off (or mornings off when I'm not on split shifts) I've taken up residence in a hammock on the porch at the house. David mentioned the other day that it's creepy to suddenly discover that I'm in the hammock, and have been in the hammock, as he's going about his day around the house, but he hasn't noticed because I haven't moved in several hours and only my feet, sticking out the end, are visible. Hiding in plain sight. There's a cute little pigeon that visits the bird feeder in the yard who walks across the roof before landing to make sure the dogs aren't nearby. So he flops on the porch roof (corrugated iron) and struts himself over to the edge (making quite a clamor) and then pokes his head down to see who's nearby. The hammock is right under his landing spot, so it's lots of fun cooing at him when he pops his little face out.

I'm hungry and have to get to work in an hour so I'll leave you with some photos I took at the Pool Bar last night during my dinner shift:

Back to Exmouth

My travel plan was to leave Perth by noon on Monday and I have to say I did fairly well. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at Salsa Rossa and really did almost no packing or departure prep short of purchasing straps and a tarp to hook my newly purchased bike to the roof of Tessie. But even that was more of a social outing because Nat and I took Cooper to the dog beach and then decided to stop at Bunnings, the monopoly hardware store chain, on our way back home. Either way, it was a to do list item done in advance!

Gisela had the good sense to give herself a few days to pack and get her life together before departing for Newman, I did not. Same story, different day in Kate world. Sunday night after work I really didn’t A. feel like packing and B. want to miss out on time spent with my housemates, so I instead stayed up til 3am with them, watching Dirty Dancing and then having our own dance party in the living room. Around 1am I remembered it was Father’s Day at home, too, and got to catch up briefly with the Papa Bear. Then off to bed for an early morning hangover and wake up!

Because my body thinks I should have the privilege of enjoying every moment of a hangover, I was up by 8:30 (early for me these days) and got my butt in gear with the packing I’d been avoiding. By the time the other girls rolled out of bed I was pretty well on my way, so Weronika’s offer of French Toast for breakfast sounded perfect. We got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, I got the car loaded and myself showered, and was ready to go by 11:50! Hit a few delays because Wiebke was on a work call and I obviously couldn’t leave without a hug, and then I was out, car gassed and properly on the road by 12:30. It started raining about 1:30 and intermittently poured the whole way to Geraldton. It was starting to get dark, I was starting to get sleepy, and it was still pissing down rain, so I pulled over, did some quick Googling, and found a former convent that has new life as budget travelers’ accommodation to stay in for the night. Not only did I get to sleep horizontally (which wasn’t gonna happen in my car with my bike tucked in the back – didn’t even need the straps and tarp after all), but also had some really hearty leek and potato soup at the hotel next door. Good plan, Kate!

"The Old Convent" in Northampton, Western Australia

I was in bed by 8:30, awake around 7:30, and on the road about 8:15 on Tuesday morning. 11 hours of sleep will really get a girl motivated for a long day’s driving! Thankfully I had the foresight to get a free Spotify trial, so I downloaded a bunch of Road Trip themed music mixes (my favorite was 70s Road Trip Classics), so I had the windows down, the music blasting, and had the early morning joy of remembering that people in the north wave at each other as they pass on the highway! Love it. With one stop for fuel in Carnarvon, I made it to Exmouth by 4pm. I texted some friends to let them know I’d arrived and was on a couch, catching up on the last three months, by 4:30. Have I mentioned before how very lucky I am?

Travel weather: Day 1

Travel weather: Day 2

On my way into town I stopped at the roadside memorial for Operation Potshot figuring it'd be good to have a basic idea of the history of the word since I'm going to be working in a bar named after it. Apparently Operation Potshot was a WWII endeavor to create a US submarine base in Northwestern Australia so that subs wouldn't have to go all the way south to Perth and Fremantle (or even further to Albany) to have surface support. Lots of US servicemen who tried to defect were sent here as punishment since they basically couldn't escape (even today it's basically the middle of nowhere, so I can only imagine how desolate it was in the '40s when the base was operating). There were some cool stories of devil-may-care Royal Air Force members who just decided they were going to relocate up here without the military's permission, did so, and ended up convincing the RAF that a full-fledged base here was a good idea. They were only partially correct because cyclone season here is a real bear, but for the few months per year when the Exmouth Gulf cooperates, it was a good idea! 

Anyway, after hanging out with Matt and Kayla, I grabbed a pizza for dinner at one of the local breweries, Whalebone, and then made my way to a coworker’s house. When she first heard that I was coming back to town she reached out and offered me a place for me to stay while getting settled into town rather than have to stay at the local hostel – so, so nice. I spent most of the evening hanging out with her, her partner, her father in law, and their three dogs (heaven), and then got a text from my friend Corinne saying she had a lead on a two-bedroom apartment for us! So at 9pm I went to check out a little two bedroom apartment right in the center of town with – get this – a view of the ocean from the kitchen sink. Corinne put in our application this morning so keep your fingers and toes crossed that I have a more permanent rental in just a few days!!

This morning I took advantage of the chance to sleep in a bit – Corinne told me she hasn’t had a day off since arriving in town two weeks ago, so I get the feeling I’m going to really hit the ground running. Chatted with M&D, then grabbed some shorts and a tee (it was already almost 70° when I woke up!) and went to a café, The Social Society (SoSo for those of you who are hip to Exmouth shorthand) for an oven-warmed almond croissant and chai. Basking in the sun over a hot baked good and tea was a really, really great reminder of why people love it so much here. After a bite to eat I stopped by the dive shop that I had been training at in March before Covid scared me back to Perth. I chatted with the owner and he put me on the roster for a training day on the Whalesharking boat this weekend! So I’m back to having a job and a half in Exmouth; it’s like I’ve stepped straight back into March with hardly a blink.

My friends Kayla and Matt said the same thing when I visited them yesterday – the last three months have been a whirlwind, but it also feels a little bit like nothing has changed. Western Australia’s Covid restrictions are easing even more as of this weekend – no caps on how many people can be in a bar or restaurant beyond a 2m² per person rule, bar-goers can drink standing up (they had been required to be seated for the last two weeks), and all the travel barriers within the state are gone. The last change will be to undo the hard border with the Eastern states, but Victoria, the state that includes Melbourne, is in the middle of a Covid outbreak so now it’s sounding like it won’t be until August at the absolute earliest.

I miss my housemates and my friends in Perth, but this is a cool adventure, too. I feel so fortunate to be in a place where Covid is under control enough that some semblance of normal life can proceed. I’m so glad I was able to get work, and the promise of enough days to complete my 88 days to stay here for a second year. I wish I could travel home (I’m supposed to be in California with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, and cousins RIGHT NOW, but am obviously missing that), I wish I could hug my people who are stateside, but I’m also so very lucky to be where I am. I guess life is always weird, but how fortunate am I to not have to wait 3 months for letters from home like Dad did while he was in the Peace Corps in West Africa? I can just video call when I need a verbal hug.

My first shift at the Potshot is this afternoon at 4, so I’m hunkered down at the Visitor’s Center using their 1 hour of daily free WiFi to post this. I rode my bike (and wore my helmet!) to get here. I’m sitting in a warm, sunny spot, realizing I need to start carrying sunscreen around in my bag all the time again. Life is wonderful.

I may be pale as a sheet now, but I don't think that's gonna last too much longer!

New beginnings

I'm employed! I've been working as a waitress for the last three weeks at an Italian restaurant in East Fremantle (after work I can drive home in 6 minutes). As my boss, Shannon, put it when he hired me, "I don't care if you have experience, I just care if you're intelligent enough to learn how to do things the way I want them done" which is pretty perfect. I had been losing hope that I'd find work, knowing that I was going to be heading north again at some point. I still need to complete my 88 days of regional work to qualify for a second year on my current visa and potential employers did not, I discovered, like to hear that I'd be leaving in 4-6 weeks. Reasonably, they didn't want to re-do the hiring process in 4-6 weeks and have to re-train someone. Anyway, Shannon needed someone right away and my landlord told me to check in with him. Worked a charm!

My first shift I only had a handful of screw ups so, God help me, I was working solo on my second day ever working as a waitress. Shannon is not only the owner, but also a career chef so he supported me from the kitchen, reminded me to pick myself back up after a mistake and keep chugging along, and told me that I'm really being too hard on myself for someone who's brand new. All really lovely sentiments to hear when I was panicking about running the floor by myself. So we muddled through and now, three weeks later, I finally am starting to think I've got a handle on things. I worked 9 days in a row this past week (Shannon was always quick to remind me that if I have the day off I can ALWAYS say no to late asks for help, but it's so nice to be out of the house and making money again that I've said yes. Plus it's earned me his gratitude for showing up when they're slammed with numbers - always good to have in my back pocket when I need a job again after getting my regional work done!). I've been dreaming about waitressing, and forgetting to call tables away for their next course to be prepared by the kitchen, but by and large I'm just glad to have work and to be trying something new and, above all, to be working for a really solidly good dude who took a chance on a 29 year old American girl with no hospitality industry experience. The universe continues to look out for me!

Anyway, Shannon hired me despite my plans to head north again, but I'm getting itchy about heading north so I can start the work. I can't remember if I've explained this breakdown before, but I need to complete 88 days of work in either agriculture or hospitality/tourism to qualify for a second year visa. The caveat is that if I choose to do hospitality work, it has to be north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Helpful map of the Tropic of Capricorn

The last two days have been hectic with making plans to go north. For most of the last few months I've been planning to return to Exmouth for my regional work and hoping to work for the same employers who hired me three months ago when I was there. One of them reached out and asked if I was still keen to work, the other said he'd love to chat about having me back once I returned to town - said I should pop in for a chat when I arrived. All good, right? Except I only have 135 days to complete 88 days of work (less, really, because I wasn't planning on arriving up there til June 23 or 24) and started to get worried that the work will dry up. 

So my newest housemate, Gisela, is on essentially the same timeline as me. She arrived in Australia one week after I did and she also needs to complete her regional work. She hatched a plan to go to this hotel in the middle of NO WHERE (on that map up above it's basically under the "T" of Tropic) that would guarantee 40 hours of work per week - ensuring that we can get the 88 days done and dusted in plenty of time. The town is called Newman and it's a little mining town in the Outback. I interviewed with the manager there and for two hours I was convinced I was moving to Newman... but then I got a text from the second boss in Exmouth, completely spontaneously, asking when I would be arriving in town so we could chat about when I'd begin shifts at the bar. WHAT. So I explain the Newman thing to him, explain it's not that I don't WANT to be in Exmouth but that I, practically speaking, need to go with the sure thing in terms of which job can guarantee me a second year visa. I thought he'd really kindly say "okay, good luck, see ya never" but instead he told me he would find a way to make it work!! The next morning he texted me again confirming that he was willing to make things happen, so anyway, long story, I'm going to Exmouth again. I'm really bummed that Gisela and I won't be doing this Outback adventure together, but I'm hoping that I can find a time to get out to visit her before she leaves Newman. There's an apparently spectacular National Park that's maybe 2 hours drive from Newman so fingers crossed I can visit her so we can explore it together!

Everything about my life in Perth is really peachy at the moment (pretty much all the moments, actually). I haven't been diving too much recently, but I did make it out for an AMAZING dive a few weeks back with my friend Grant and we saw 12 weedy sea dragons. TWELVE OF THEM. Grant took a whole bunch of photos and will hopefully send them along, but I pestered him mercilessly until he sent along this one:

Me with my Weedy friend!

All the schmutz in the water was actually alive: it's little critters that the weedies eat, so this fellow was just scooting along munching on basically underwater gnats. 

One of Weronika's many wonderful qualities is that she really loves making meals as much a visual feast as a gustatory one. She is so intentional about setting the table and bringing in flowers and plating things nicely where I usually work along the lines of "it's all going to the same place, so I don't much care what it looks like." Anyway, she's been attempting to train me in appreciating the beauty of an intentionally presented meal and so the day after my last blog post I set up a table for us to enjoy breakfast on our front porch together and I did a damn fine job of it if I do say so myself. *Weronika agreed*

She made the waffles and I set the scene and we had this lovely leisurely breakfast on the veranda! She's slowly convincing me that her way is the right way. 

We also all decided we'd take turns making dishes from home which came about because I mentioned my love of pierogi. Weronika was not only shocked that I knew what piergoi are (shout out to Uncle Jim!) but thrilled to hear that I wanted her to make some. She'd never attempted it before but I finally, finally convinced her to give it a whirl and the results were AMAZING. 

This rainbow has nothing to do with pierogi but was equally beautiful as the potato dumplings

Whenever possible, we try to get down to the beach to catch sunsets. A few weeks back Weronika and I both had the night off and caught this one:

It was VERY chilly and windy (and I need to get her a Phillies cap)

North Mole lighthouse (also a great dive site!)

One day last week Wiebke and I were the only ones home so we took a bottle of wine to the beach and caught one together:

One of the world's cutest creatures

Because I'm leaving in a week, I'm trying to spend as much time with my various people as my schedule allows. This is complicated by the fact that Wiebke and Nat both work days, Gisela, Weronika and I work nights, and Simon works both, depending on the day. So yesterday Nat and Mick and Simon and I went on a double date to an Irish pub in the city so we could have a properly poured Guinness and some gorgeous Irish stew. Totally worth listening to Simon complain the whole drive in about how much he hates going into the city. 

Two Irish girls

The four housemates all agreed to try to take a day off on the same day so we could spend it together and today was that day! We're just home from a day spent eating pizza at a beach side cafe, sipping beers at a beach side bar, and taking photos under the Fremantle Rainbow. 

Me, Weronika, Wiebke, and Gisela at Scarborough Beach

Wiebke Voguing

Me, Weronika, Gisela, Wiebke

Me, Gisela, Weronika and Wiebke in front of the rainbow!

We divided for a bit post-outing with promises to get back together to continue watching Pitch Perfect 2, so I need to scoot so they don't start without me! Next post will be from Exmouth!!!

Good Good Day

You know those days that are just a little golden around the edges? Not necessarily because everything goes to plan or some noteworthy achievement occurs, but just because it feels satisfying in your bones? Today was one of those days.

Yesterday we three housemates were peevish at our landlord. Without getting too far into it (I'll just get myself worked up again), he's been here every day this week and is pushing all our buttons. The day started with him showing up in the morning, unannounced and while we were all still in our pjs, to show the 4th room in the house to a prospective new housemate. That pretty much set the tone for the day - and not in a good way. 

**This is the point where I should mention that Irena, my Russian housemate, moved out rather abruptly on Wiebke's birthday on May 1! It was a little dramatic and awkward because she told us as she was literally walking out the door with her suitcases, but it's meant that the last two weeks have been glorious because it's just the three amigos in the house and we're borderline obsessed with each other and every day is full of fun and laughter and sunshine. We just cook meals and watch movies and sip tea together every day and it feels so wholesome! So it's Irena's former room that my landlord was showing.**

Anyway, after yesterday being frustrating, today was such a gift. Had a weird dream about Wiebke and I trying to scare away an intruder who was attempting to kidnap us from my parents' house in Havertown, but from there everything was smooth sailing! Woke up. Chatted with the Papa Bear. Made some green tea with jasmine. All good stuff. 

Last week I finally made some scones from a McKee cousin's recipe and Weronika and I ate 80% of them straight out of the oven. Obviously, I slathered mine with double cream. We managed to save one for Wiebke, gave one to my landlord (who was - surprise! - at our house!), and otherwise they went straight into the bellies. Today, I wised up and made a double batch. Planned to give half to Nat to bring to her in-laws as a thank you for inviting me to Mother's Day dinner last weekend (can I just say it was so wonderful to have a Mom in hugging range on Mother's Day since I couldn't see my own Mama?!). So anyway, fresh baked blueberry scones, walked myself over to Nat's to drop off hers (spoiler alert: we ate them all, so I need to make more for her in-laws) and ended up hanging out for a few hours in the sunshine. 

Blueberry Scones

Have I showed you Nat's dog, Cooper, yet? He's a total sweetie. We went to the dog beach together last weekend, just the two of us, and it was wonnnnnderfullllllll!

Popped myself back home and decided it was too nice to be inside, so I did some weeding and pruning in the garden. Sitting in the grass made me a little itchy but I wanted to exercise before showering so I headed out for a run along the river, did a little yoga in the riverside park (which, duh, made me more itchy - I'm not the brightest bulb), and made it home a little before 5. Now I know I've waxed eloquent about this fancy, non-homogenized, full cream chocolate milk, but I don't remember if I told you that I got it at a fancy grocery store in the CBD (Central Business District AKA downtown Perth), not in my neighborhood. Well post-run Kate reaaaaaaally wanted some of that chocolate milk (my college swim coach always made us drink chocolate milk as an after workout recovery drink and I've used that reasoning to justify all chocolate milk purchases in the last ten years since I stopped swimming) and did some internet sleuthing to realize there's another fancy grocery store only 2 miles from my house! So away I went.

Got a little overzealous in my pruning efforts but now we get this beauty in the house!

Fancy local grocery store totally didn't disappoint. I got the chocolate milk, some produce, some fresh sourdough - all the good stuff. Both of the Ws are out on dates tonight, so when I got home I started blasting music, made myself some toast with the fresh sourdough and ricotta and basil from the garden, and successfully stopped myself from drinking the entire container of chocolate milk! 

Stopped by the side of the road on the drive home from the grocery store to snap this. 

Even my shower was so good. And now I'm wrapped up in my new-to-me huge robe that I got last week at the op shop (opportunity shop = thrift shop) and my new Ugg boots that I got on sale (I'm in Australia, so they're required winter gear), and I've got a really great '70s playlist that I'm jamming to! Life is so good, y'all.

Ricotta toast

So I started my day with a happy conversation with Dad and some tea and seem to be ending it with a happy blog post missive to you all and some honey chamomile tea! I think I'll go watch a cheesy movie, or maybe some episodes of the West Wing. I love days like today. And I love all of you! 

Funemployment

I can't help but feel like all my funemployment has been practice for this lockdown business. All those childhood summers that didn't last quite long enough, all those Christmas vacations that could have lasted just a few days longer, last Sept/Oct when I was preparing for my departure to Australia - all of it was just a preview of what social isolation would be like. Can I just tell you: I LOVE social isolation! No pants required most days, so many endless hours to read all the books I want, not even allowed to go out so no need to feel FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) about social events that I only sort of wanted to go to anyway. It's amazing. I've been giving some thought into my extroversion and can't decide if that's actually accurate... I'm way too content living like this to be a real life extrovert, right? Or maybe I am still an extrovert but having beautiful relationships that sustain me by phone, video chat, email, Facebook, and in person in my shared house is making up for the lack of social outings in the real world. Not sure.

Every time I talk to anyone back home, I feel like a broken record: "I am SO LUCKY to be in Western Australia right now." Seriously though. Nov-Jan I was so lucky to be out west and missing the bushfires that devastated the east coast, now I'm living in a place that has such a firm hold on this virus that we're talking about lifting restrictions SAFELY (unlike at home where literally thousands of people are dying every day and they're going to re-open the economy anyway, which I just cannot wrap my head around). We're on Day 7 in a row of no new infections in WA, down to a total active case count of 14, but still restaurants and bars are closed (except for takeout), travel is still restricted within the state, and we're still limited to social groups of ten or fewer people. I realize that the US and Australia are different countries with different norms, but, like, this is a pretty free country, too. I'm not living in North Korea here. But when I've mentioned the state borders being closed with mandatory 14 day quarantines if you cross for anything other than government-sanctioned reasons (ie. you're a truck driver hauling goods, you're a health care worker, etc), everyone back home is like "well that just wouldn't work in the US because it's a free country" and my mind is blown. For the same reasons that we don't allow people to yell "FIRE!" in crowded venues, I can't imagine why public safety isn't being taken more seriously. I digress.

I'm spending my days, as I mentioned, in comfy clothes and reading books. Wiebke and Weronika (pronounced Veronica, if I haven't mentioned that already) and I cook together a lot of nights and we take turns doing the dishes and it all feels pretty much like utopia. Bit like being in college again, actually, with the sometimes day drinking, constant laughter, and fun outings to buy groceries. I leave from time to time to hang out with Nat and Mick - they just moved to a new house last week that is LITERALLY around the corner from my house and it's only magnifying the feeling that I'm re-living college - and with Simon, who has been introducing me to the most beautiful dairy products I never knew existed. For instance, non-homogenized, full cream milk. OH MY GOODNESS. I love milk, always have. Grew up on 2% or Whole Milk when Mom decided to treat us. But I had no idea that "Whole Milk" at home is NOT the same as full cream milk. Simon had some full cream stuff and I asked to try it and I honestly can't imagine something more wholesome and delicious. It's basically like drinking melted ice cream (which, fair enough, some people might think is gross. But not me.). So then I found some full cream CHOCOLATE milk at the grocery store and had to try it. My mind was blown. There was like a 2 inch cap of cream at the top, a quarter inch of separated chocolate on the bottom, and drinking it is like having the world's richest chocolate milkshake. Heaven. Just this week, I learned about double cream. Think yogurt consistency, but you just eat a dollop of it with fresh fruit or a homemade apple/rhubarb crumble (don't ask how much butter/sugar was involved in the making) and think to yourself "yes, yes; I could die happy now." Anyway, all of this does NOT jive well with my complex feelings about how cows are treated in the dairy industry and certainly doesn't help me in my quest to consume less dairy, but it's a weird time we're living in and if double cream and the world's richest chocolate milk make things feel better, so be it.

One of the best parts about being back in Perth is having easy access to scuba diving again! Exmouth, though located next to one of the most biodiverse reef systems in the world, doesn't have the easy shore diving Perth does. You need a boat to get to most of the sites up there. So I've been soaking up as much under water time here as I can!

Easter Morning dive with Nat

Diving with the boys: Colin, Rich, and Mick (he's hiding on the far right by his car!)

For a while, social distancing rules stipulated that you could only be out in public in groups of two (and it was recommended that both people live in the same house). Nice thing about diving, though, is that everyone can very easily get ready at their own car, you can walk to the water at a distance, and then convene under water as safe dive buddies! A friend I made up in Exmouth, Corinne, also moved back down this way when the borders were shutting down, so I've gotten to dive with her since being back in Perth. Being able to soak up these last few weeks of warm weather as we settle properly into autumn has been so so good.

When I was up in Exmouth, I was slathering sunscreen on constantly throughout the day and was still browning up fast. Skin cancer rates here are higher than almost anywhere else in the world and locals swear that you should buy sunscreen here and not bring it in from elsewhere (like the US) because the formulas are different. Stronger. So anyway, I was spending so much time on the water up there that I decided I needed a bathing suit with more coverage and I bought this utterly charming long sleeved suit that I got to wear exactly one time before moving back down here. We were having a game night two weeks ago and I got so excited telling them about this suit that I can't wait to get to wear again that I fashion showed it to them. And then we were talking about flannel shirts (my one true love, other than full cream chocolate milk) and so this happened:

Floral bathing suit + Flannel = High Fashion

Anyway, talking about how much I love this suit made me want another one and there was a SALE and so, long story, I now have two long sleeved bathing suits.

Dad's Daily Report today mentioned his concern that I not slip into alcoholism while living this hedonistic, college-esque life. So today is Day 1 of "Help Dad Stop Worrying" dry spell. So the W's and I are just back from the grocery store where I picked up some new non-caffeinated teas (I can't drink tea past noon or I can't sleep) and I have some chicken stock I made last week that I can sip on as well. This afternoon Wiebke is working, I'm finishing this post (which they've been reminding me for like 3 weeks that I'm supposed to write), and Weronika is making homemade waffles with the waffle maker she bought this week. It's a murky weather week in Perth - winter seems to have arrived with all its wind and chilly rain - so I'm having mushroom soup and some of my new tea for lunch. Bought some nice looking ricotta and a good loaf of bread so I'll make little ricotta/honey toasts for appetizers and then I'm on dinner duty tonight: cheddar/zucchini/carrot fritters with a dill mayo side. Yum :)

Weronika made these sweet potato fritters last week and they are SO GOOD. Little spinach and tomato on top with a dollop of unsweetened yogurt. Bomb.

She's gonna be so pissed I snuck this photo of her

Wiebke's 30th birthday was last Friday and Weronika is an event planner at heart. So we did some sneaky shopping to get decorations and ended up with this:

Wiebke is immune to the siren call of sweets, so we got her a kilo of hummus instead of cake

Weronika's middle-of-the-night handiwork

Birthday Girl

I taught them how to play beer pong but we couldn't find pong balls so we used toy cars!

Fruit for dipping in melty chocolate

 

It was an awesome day. Plus, while I spent the morning helping Nat and Mick move into their new house around the corner, Wiebke was on dog-sitting duty with Cooper and they got to go play all morning!

As I do at the end of every post, I'll try to be better about updates on the blog :) For the last month or so, I've been reading as much as possible to take advantage of my Kindle Unlimited subscription of books. I got through almost all of Jeff Wheeler's books (really fun fantasy novels with magic and fierce lady characters) before my subscription ended yesterday. So now that I don't have that as a time constraint, I'll be free to blog!

Also just saw the latest gov't numbers and we're 8 days in a row with no new infections and down to 11 active cases! YAY PUBLIC HEALTH POLICIES THAT WORK!!!