I thought it was about time to share an update, Ben continues his in his role, he has quickly become an asset during these unprecedented times, while my business has been forced to pause for the most part though I am enjoying the break by focusing on my health and well-being. I’ve improved my cooking skills and Ben and I have enjoyed lots of time together walking a lot, doing yoga classes and watching Cirque du Soleil shows.
We also bought a second hand surf board to keep us active as soon as we were allowed to safely head to the beach and have managed a couple of cold water kiteboarding sessions recently.
We have been living in Newcastle for the past 3 months, taking safe harbor there from the coronavirus. After spending a few weeks in Terminus Apartment Hotel we have spent a large portion of that time in a gorgeous AirBnB property that has been let out as a longer term rental due to the current situation and laws and we are considering an extension here right through until October while also considering a return to house sitting locally for the right opportunity.
We are on the 8th level beach side of the Arena building, with views over Newcastle Beach, from the Ocean Baths to Nobbys Head & beyond. We choose this particular apartment due to the sunny enclosed balcony where we can listen to the sounds of the ocean while watching the waves and surfing action each day.
We have also enjoyed the local dolphins fishing and playing in the waves and been delighted by whale watching each day as the annual migration of humpback whales pass by. Humpbacks have lungs the size of a small car and when they take a breath they exchange up to 90% of their lung capacity so they exhale with great force! We can see their whales ‘spout’ which can be up to four meters high and alerts us to their presence then if we are lucky we might see them breach, we have a pair of binoculars shared by a friend which are almost a permanent feature!
We went on our first road trip up to Byron Bay to visit some good friends as soon as the laws allowed on June 1st, we went via Forster to visit my Dad and stayed at ‘The Boathouse’ in central Yamba, on the NSW coast and highly recommend this property and pretty little town surrounded by beaches.
All in all, life is feeling a whole lot more normal for us here in Australia, with the big exception of closed borders which don’t look likely to be opening in the near future with the exception being over to New Zealand so that will be our first international port of call and otherwise we continue to wait, and grateful every day that we are here where we have been lucky to miss the worst of the virus. Hope you are safe and well.
Our Awesome Adventures 