Day 307! The day is here!! I have found my first group of friends in Yamba. It came about in a very nice interaction at work, but you’ll have to read today’s post to see how it fully played out.

I woke up this morning to a notification on my phone saying my shifts for this week had been updated, again.

I took a look and I saw I was working today from 12-3pm! I was surprised to see that and definitely was not going to complain about more work. In fact, I was pretty excited to see that because it means the work I’ve been putting in is paying off!

So after I rolled out of bed and took a shower, I FaceTimed my parents for our weekly FaceTime!

As always, it was wonderful catching up with them and chatting about our weeks. We also chatted a bit about plans for me to head to the US for a couple months next year. So the ball is rolling on that a bit!

I finished up chatting with them and made myself breakfast. I’ve run out of many things, so I definitely need to do a grocery run ASAP. But for now, oats, the end of my peanut butter, almonds, and my last mango will have to do!

Still not a bad start to the day.

I went back to my room to relax a bit more before work. I read more of my book, which is still insanely good. Brandon Sanderson has done a very good job with the Way of Kings books so far.

I then threw my work clothes on and made my way up the hill for my first weekday shift. The walk was pretty muggy and I had a feeling the humidity was meaning it was going to rain later.

This shift was the slowest shift I’ve been a part of, but even so it was still very busy at times. There wasn’t anything super crazy different during this shift until a glass absolutely exploded into smithereens in my hand. Luckily it just shattered apart and not into my hand but it startled me! There were glass bits all over the place that took me a while to clean up.

Not the first glass I’ve broken when trying to separate two glasses, but the first one to turn to dust!

Outside of that, I met a very nice French couple. Most of the time when I’ve met foreigners while working, I’ve asked if they’re on holiday or doing their work and holiday. They usually just say holiday… BUT this time, they said they were here for their work and holiday IN Yamba.

I immediately hopped on this opportunity to chat with them and eventually grabbed their contact details because they were working in town too!

After my shift ended at 3pm, I grabbed a beer and asked if I could join them for a bit. They said yes and this is how I got to knowing Elliot and Charlotte! They both quit their jobs to come to Australia and work for the year before heading back to France. They had a pretty jam packed schedule of working and traveling to see all they could… but they’d be in Yamba at least till the end of January! Which means there’ll be plenty of time to hang out.

They told me they were heading to the beach and then meeting some coworkers at the bowling club and asked if I wanted to join! I said I’d pass on the beach, I need to eat and rest a bit after work. But I said I was 100% in on joining them at the bowling club.

So I parted ways and then headed down the hill to relax before hanging out with them later.

I decided to grab a cheap meal from the Yamba Fisho before lounging about. I was planning on going grocery shopping during this time but I thought I’d do it tomorrow since I was going to the bowling club soon anyways.

While I was lying in bed, the storm I had anticipated earlier in the day came down. It was another fairly large lightning storm with some impressive streaks of lightning across the sky.

At first I was bummed, because I didn’t want to get drenched heading to the bowling club. But it died down and I was able to hop on my bike and make it there without getting soaked. I didn’t realize how close it was to my house, but it was probably a minute bike ride maximum.

I got there first at 6:30pm and grabbed a beer while I waited. But then 7pm rolled around and I still hadn’t heard from them… but I also neglected to tell them I was already there. So it turned out they were at the bowling alley of the club.

This club is fairly large with a small 4 lane bowling alley, outdoor lawn bowling (a version of bocce ball), a rock wall of sorts, a small casino, multiple bars, and a restaurant.

Elliot and Charlotte were both there and so were their coworkers Will and Angus. Will and Angus were both locals, pretty much born and raised and friends since they were very young. Will’s parents own the restaurant that Elliot and Charlotte are working at and him and Angus were super kind and welcoming!

They had already started a bowling game, but they all let me take some “celebrity shots” and I ended up hitting 2 strikes… one was on my first bowl too, not too bad for not having bowled since Laos!

We then took the conversation outside, where we ended up sitting and drinking till around 11pm! While we were sitting and chatting, Will said him and some of his friends were planning on going to their restaurant for drinks and to watch the big horse race that was happening tomorrow and he invited me along! It just so happens he lives down the road from me, so the plan was we’d meet up at the wobbly chook, grab a beer, and then use his restaurants courtesy bus to get to and from his bar.

Hopefully that plan will work out!

It was a VERY nice day at work and night of hanging out with people my age! I’m excited to have finally met some nice people wanting to hang out and I’m looking forward to the people I’ll meet through these two local guys!

– Elie