Port Stevens (by all of us)

     After a 12-hour flight, which felt shorter than our last long flight (because it was), we arrived at the airport in Australia. The most interesting part of the flight was that the flight attendants woke us up for breakfast at what would have been 2am in Sydney, 10pm where we were (above Indonesia) and 8pm in Delhi, not an ideal time for breakfast anywhere. We went through customs and got some SIM cards (only for the grown-ups, sadly). Then Simon found us and drove us roughly 3 hours to Port Stevens.

    Port Stevens is a beautiful down on the east coast. We stayed in a holiday home that the Holloways visit every summer. It couldn't have been a bigger contrast from Delhi. Ben notes, however, that there were camels on the beach, which did remind us a little of Jodphur. We drank tap water to our hearts' content. Simon, Will's cousin, does not look like the Simon from Firefly. He and his wife Louise have three children: Harry (15), Rose (12) and Frank (10). Rose is 1 month older than Ben and Frank is 6 months older than Clara. Everyone got along very well, especially after playing Dungeon World together. 

    Port Stevens was beautiful beach after beautiful beach. Helen starts every day saying "It's another beautiful day in Australia". Clara's favourite part of Port Stevens was exploring sand dunes and collecting bird bones. Will's favourite part was seeing his "cuz" again, but the view from the top of Tomaree was almost as magnificent. Helen loved swimming in the ocean, especially the time she rode a wave in a donut floaty and was asked to leave the water as it was too risky with the rip tides. Ben can't think of a favourite part but would like to note that we all enjoyed watching Bluey together. This is an Australian show for preschoolers that is surprisingly fabulous. There was a beach 5 minutes walk from our holiday home that was spectacular: Turquoise water, squeaky sand, and happily swimming cousins. 

        It has been great to see the Holloways and explore Australia with them. The plants and birds in Australia are completely different from the ones in Canada. One night we left a fancy restaurant and there were about 30 white cockatoos roosting on a tree across the street in the evening gloom. On the beaches, we saw lots of jellyfish, apparently waiting happily for the incoming tide. We came across several primarisms of rainbow lorikeets (Ben invented the collective noun). We are still hunting for the elusive kangaroo.