The benefit of knowing locals

This week we have actually managed to venture out and do things! It was so unbelievably hot on Tuesday so the cafe's owner's two daughters who I work with suggested we headed to a river near their house after work that has a few swimming hole spots along it. It meant that all the family came in to help with the clean and close up so we could head off earlier to the river. We stopped by their house on route which was a little strange and uncomfortable being in the owner's house but not too bad. They live on a large farm near the hills with the house being at the top of one them with 360 degree views of the countryside. It was pretty breathtaking and would be an amazing place to live and grow up. The water was rather cold but so very refreshing after a busy day at work. Because it has been so hot it also wasn't as deep as expected so it was more of a paddle than a swim. Even with crouching it only came up to our shoulders. Nick was rather jealous, I could tell, and it just so happened that on one of my days off this week he was given the afternoon off. I suggested we headed back to the river they showed me so he could experience it as well. The scenery we drove through on Tuesday was amazing but I felt I wasn't able to appreciate it fully without asking the work girls to stop the car all the time. Although the afternoon with Nick was much colder it was so nice to be able to fully take in the surroundings and admire the hills and valleys we were driving in to. A couple of months ago we bought wetsuit fabric style water shoes to wear in rivers when we went exploring and we were able to try these out for the first time. It definitely made walking around on the gravel a lot easier and even though the water was freezing it was still fun paddling around in the now fuller river. This week also saw my beautiful niece turn 3. It's quite impossible to comprehend that she's been in our lives for 3 whole years now and how big and grown up she is becoming. We Skyped with my family at the weekend and it was amazing how interactive she was with us. She had a stage of not really engaging with us on Skype so it made me rather happy that she seems to have passed that stage. I can't believe how quickly Zephyr is growing either. He's such a chunky squishy mini person now and it does pull on the heart strings knowing that we will not be involved in the first stage of his life. I do hope not having a continual presence from two awesome people such as me and Nick doesn't have too much effect on him later in life. It reassures me that Aeryn is still very much aware of who we are and hopefully our relationship with her will not have altered too much on our return. Although it makes it so much harder being away knowing they are back at home we just have to remember that this is probably our only main opportunity to do this and we need to make the most of every minute.Meer informatie