Day 264! Today was another very chilled out day, as it was my last with Sam and his family. Tomorrow I’ll be heading into the city to check into the hostel Immy has been staying at! I’m super excited to be in the city, be able to cook for myself, and be back in the traveler setting. I’m so thankful for everything Sam and his family has done for me the past, almost, two weeks, but I’m excited for the adventure to continue!

I went to bed fairly early last night and I woke up this morning bright and early around 8am. I got ready for the day and then sat in bed reading my new book. Sam was out and about for the morning so I just read for essentially the entire morning.

I started my travels reading a ton but the last few months of being in Koh Tao, I lost touch with it. It’s been really nice devouring a book again… which to be honest a little over a year ago, I would have never thought those words would leave my mouth.

Sam still wasn’t back for lunch, so I decided to head out into town and find something scrumptious. It was a gorgeous day out, and it finally felt like the cold was starting to go away (I don’t want to jinx it). The walk was very pleasant and a nice sunny day brought a smile to my face!

I found a fish and chips restaurant on the main strip of the town, that’s actually close to the train station I’ve been using. The restaurant was called Fish Tank and was very close to the chicken sandwich/burger spot Sam and I went to the other day.

While I was in England, I only had fish and chips one time… but this one was really good and definitely competed with it. It unfortunately didn’t have mushy peas though. I guess I’ll have to go back to England to experience that again (maybe late next year, we’ll see).

After I finished this delicious meal, I started my walk back home. I decided to get a bit lost and wander my way back. This led to me taking a much longer way back home, but it didn’t matter too much since I had nowhere to be and it was such a nice day out.

Right as I got back, Sam called me and asked what I was up to. We decided to head to a park together, so right as he got home we headed back out to play guitar and hang out at a park overlooking the beach.

We hung out here for a couple hours basking in the sun and playing songs back and forth on the guitar. This was one of the first places Sam took me in Brighton, so it was fun to spend it here on our last day living together!

There were a ton of people out, walking about. It was really nice to see everyone taking advantage of this beautiful day.

It started getting cloudy to the point where the sun was constantly covered, which made it much chillier out. So we headed back home and Sam whipped us up some cheese toasties.

We watched a bit of TV until his mother got home and when she did she needed some help moving things into her car. After that, it was time to get ready for dinner.

I helped set the table and then moved to playing more guitar. Eventually their grandmother came over for dinner and it was time to eat.

We had Jane’s special bolognese, which apparently was a childhood staple for Sam and Lucy. So I had a bit of a peak into one of their childhood favorite meals. It was really good and dinner was full of lovely chatter including conversations about pasta vs noodles and what constitutes a dessert. It was a nice way to round out my time with this lovely family.

Sam had some university work to do at a classmates house. So I retreated to my room to devour more of The Way of Kings. After a bit of reading, I called it a night!

It’s been a real treat spending time with Sam and his family. They instantly adopted me into their family and made me feel at home, even with their house being in a bit of disarray. I bought Jane a bottle of wine as a thank you, but I don’t think anything I could do would accurately show my thanks!

Housing someone you don’t really know for two weeks and even feeding them is insanely kind and generous. I’ll remember these two weeks for a long long time!

Here’s to the next chapter of living in Melbourne!

– Elie