Day 308! Well, plans are working out here in Yamba! I got the job at the hotel, I have a nice place to live, I have a bicycle… I still need to get surfing in, BUT I’ve made some solid friends it seems! We ended up hanging out all day and had a blast. I’m looking forward to hopefully hanging with this crew more!

I woke up early this morning a bit tired after a late night out with friends. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to say that! But I had a major errand to run and plans for the day, so I needed to get a move on.

So by 9am, I took a shower to wake myself up, threw on some clothes, my back pack and bike helmet, and set off on my bike to the grocery store!

I definitely left at a better time today for my bike ride! It wasn’t nearly as hot as my trip last week but it was still a good workout. I timed it this time around too, and it took me about 15 minutes to get to the grocery store.

I then spent the next bit wandering around the store, trying to find everything I wanted. I got a nice haul of groceries and put them into my backpack and reusable bag as I checked out. And then headed out on my bike ride home.

This ride only took me around 12 minutes! But, with the additional weight and the groceries and the sun being a bit higher in the sky, I was dripping in sweat by the time I got home.

But it was totally worth it, because now I have food for the week and a nice little workout in all before 10am!

I put my groceries away and then made myself breakfast. I then promptly took another shower to de-sweat myself and then took a 30 minute Power Nap.

When I woke up, I had a text from my new friend, Will, asking if I was still down to go to the brewery, the Wobbly Chook, this morning. I of course was and I cracked open my book till about noon when he was ready to hang out!

I met him at the brewery just down the road and he already had a beer waiting for me! He’s a very nice and giving guy. Will and I sat and chatted just the two of us for a bit and snacked on some French fries. Once we finished up, we hopped into Will’s car and headed to his parents Tavern across town.

The Yamba Shores Tavern was a beautifully laid out bar and restaurant overlooking the river. It was much bigger than the hotel but was pretty much exactly the same concept, minus the hotel rooms.

Some of Wills friends were already there, so I grabbed both of us a beer and we joined them for the day. Will and I switched off getting each other beers, which seems to be how the drinking culture works in Australia, or at least Yamba.

These new friends were Clancy, Lilly, Charlie, Pat, Shannon, Paul, and Vashti. I’m definitely missing a name or two in there but that was the bulk of us! It took a little bit of warming up and getting to know each other, but I quickly started gelling with the group and it was a super fun afternoon and evening.

Clancy and Lilly were just back from living in Brisbane for a bit, but back for the summer time! They quickly started calling me El, mainly because they didn’t want to confuse me with Clancy’s sister, but also a very classic Australian thing to do is shorten everything. My friends back home used to call me this too, so it was nice to hear!

Charlie and his girlfriend met in Japan while they were both doing a work and holiday ski season… so I chatted with them a lot about that because it was in the same town as the women from the bike shop suggested to me!

Charlie and Vashti both work at the Burger Spot, which I applied to the other day. Vashti is actually the current manager so I told her I’d be happy to help out and pick up a few shifts. So we’ll see if that turns into anything!

I don’t know too much about Shannon, but he was a nice guy who was tagging along with the crew. And then Paul was the odd one out, he was much older but a very young soul and still fun to be around. He’s a very nice and quirky guy too.

Today was the big horse race in Australia called the Melbourne Cup. So everyone was betting all day on the different horse races. It was fun to sit, drink, and watch them all bet. But I abstained, seeing how I’m in the market of saving money right now.

We stayed at the bar for the majority of the afternoon and once 5pm hit we decided to move to our next spot. The bowling club!

We took the taverns curtsey bus to the club. This town having curtesy busses is so cool! It should be a thing all bars should have to make sure people get home safe and sound.

When we got to the Bowling Club, we had already reserved two lanes. So we got our names in the system and started bowling!

The bowling was a blast, there was a lot of banter and a lot of chit chat still. This group of friends is very nice and very close together. So it was really cool that they let me in so quickly. After our round of bowling, we went outside to sit and chat more before heading off to our next spot. A restaurant called ThE MEXiCaN (I’m not sure why it’s capitalized like that… but it is how it is).

We got some nachos to share and margaritas and continued just chatting about random things. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had a group of friends to hang out with and this was so far, a blast of a night out in Yamba! Hopefully, this will be how it is all summer!

Our night didn’t finish at the Mexican. After we split the bill, we made our way up the hill to where I work! The bar staff were happily surprised to see me and see who I was hanging out with because they’re also friends with some of them as well!

Also earlier in the night, Will gave me his hat. Yesterday and today I made some comments about how cool it was and that I’d hopefully get one as well. His hat was a Little Dragon Ginger beer hat that, as a bar worker, a rep had given to him to promote their beer. Apparently they’d come into the bars from time to time. Will told me he’d be able to get another one, so he gave me his! I made sure multiple times that he really didn’t have to but he insisted, so now I have a really cool hat to wear to work! Also my coworkers were a bit envious of it.

We hung out for a bit, but the bar wanted to close up shop. So we headed out and went on our separate ways!

I exchanged a few numbers before I left and everyone was chatting about how fun the night was. I can’t wait to hang out with this crew more!

I got home, made myself some quick quesadillas, and then promptly went to bed expecting to be able to lounge about all day in bed… but, I guess my plans were going to change (but you’ll have to wait for tomorrows post for that)!

– Elie