We all woke up early to catch the high tide. We borrowed surf and bodyboards from Dave, walked across the bridge to the beach. Water temperature was about 20-21 deg, perfect with a wetsuit. Tim and Sarah tried surfing, with the help of Tom. They both succeeded to stand up and surf the waves a few times.

We had bbq for lunch, with Nel, Chris, Dave and James. A typical Australian bbq: sausage-sizzle. We celebrated Matilda’s 5th birthday with a delicious sponge cake covered by at least 10 cm of pink creamy topping.

We had a coffee and ice-cream downtown, then went back to the beach for an hour of bodyboarding, before the rain forced us back to the cabins.

We picked up Fish and chips takeaway for diner that we ate while watching rugby league on TV – the State of Origin decider’s game between Queensland and New South Wales.

Back to Chris and Nel… I have pretty much always known them, ever since I was born. My parents had bought an old house in the middle of a field in Normandie with them – a very 70s thing to do – where we would spend weekends and holidays when we lived in Paris. I remember playing with Nel and her brother Ollie when I was like 2 or 3, and being puzzled because I could not understand a word of what they were saying. Then we moved away from Paris. The house was sold, eventually, and I didn’t see the Olsen for like 2 decades, except Nel who had spent a few weeks with us later on. This takes me back to my very early childhood.

NB: Thomas took and shared some of the pictures below.