My vacation week got off to a great start yesterday. Bex had invited the Snook and me to help celebrate Fin’s birthday. Eleven of us headed up to Berowra Waters (about 50km north of us) for a picnic on the BBQ Boat! This was basically a pontoon with a built-in gas grill. We puttered up and down Berowra Creek (which joins up to the Hawkesbury River), stopping occasionally to eat, swim, and even fish.

I remembered to get batteries for my camera, but I somehow forgot the memory card. D’OH! So all the pictures are from my spectacularly crappy mobile phone.

The first is me driving our little GoGet car. We actually had to take a ferry (a drive-on ferry!) across the creek to the marina.

Next is me and the Snook on the BBQ Boat. You guys, we had SO MUCH FOOD.

The third picture is me and Fin swimming alongside the boat. Since the Creek is tidal, the water was saltier than I expected. The current was pretty strong too, so I didn’t stay out there for very long.

The last picture is Snookums working his hand fishing-line off the side of the boat. He didn’t catch anything, but he did get a few nibbles.

At one of our last stops, I noticed something orangish floating in the water near the boat, like a discarded shopping bag. “What’s that?” I asked to the Snook as I pointed it out. “Jellyfish.” Suddenly we noticed there were loads of them. They’d all drifted into one cove, and we were right in the middle. They weren’t the stingy-death kind, thank goodness, or I’d still be freaking out about having swam in the same body of water. They were very pretty though, and I was amazed to see something like that out in the wild and not at an aquarium. It was very cool.

Thanks again to Bex and Fin for inviting us!

I had my first class tonight over at the Thorpe-quarium, and it was great. There were four of us in the class (all girls), and our teacher was a young woman from Brazil. Two of the students were very new to swimming, while the Irish chick and myself were further along. We started with the basics – blowing bubbles under the water. Then we moved on to floating and kicking, first with kickboards and fun noodles but eventually without. Nothing too taxing, but it felt good to start at the absolute beginning and confirm that what I was doing was correct. I’m also proud to tell you that I am the frickin’ Hermione Granger of floating. We were supposed to use the noodles to start, but I tossed mine right away and showed the teacher that I could do it without.(I think it’s my pot belly. I have natural buoyancy.) The other girls were all nice and friendly, and we had a fun time together. I can’t wait to go back next week!