Busy, busy, busy!

*Highlights*	*Not such highlights*
Bike riding – both (10kms the other day)	Early morning starts – enjoying them, but would like one or two sleep ins - Kate
Kayaking in singles - both	Kayaking in a double – both (who’s the boss??)
Shopping and not being in a dentist chair – Kate	Toothache/root canal - Will
Noticing different plants - Kate	Working to dog’s timeline – just like grandkids sometimes they just can’t wait - both
Sunrises - Kate	Missing the milestones of Lily and Lola - both
Feeling fitter - both	Peace and serenity on beach broken by 3 jet fighters flying over head - both
Lola ringing to tell us she has her first wobbly tooth	Peace and serenity on waterway in mangroves broken by army helicopter flying over head - both - guess we aren't that far from Toowoomba
Facetime with Lola singing and Lily completing the actions to songs – Kate (Will was still asleep)
Long phone conversations with Kyle - Kate
Still wearing t-shirts - both

Learning new things all the time just through observation of a new place - both but Kate especially

Hmm, what am I doing wrong? How come I feel as busy as I did at home? Probably busier which I’m fine with but the issue that makes it feel not wonderful is that often I scoot around someone or something’s timeline. I know, dogs can’t talk – but let me remind you of toddlers, you can say wait but then they start squabbling between themselves, fighting over toys or destroying the house. And when that toddler is big and black and weighs around 50kg it’s easier to walk them before they are bored, even if you’d just like 30 more minutes to work on your blog!

So, while things seem peaceful right now I’m off to put on my walking gear and pick up my phone – big dog will know exactly what that means, and his tail will start hitting walls (as he just doesn’t really seem to have a sense of how big he is) and he’ll push his way through to be first out the door. Lucky he’s got under my skin and I like him.

So, first walk of the day is brisk and moving, big dog and I hit the pavement for about a 50 minute walk of about 4.5kms, I then pop him through the door and collect little dog who has sat at the door waiting, refusing to sit with Will (which he does all day long) in case he misses his turn. Little dog and I wander up to the local kitchen garden, he sniffs and pees and does his dog thing and I notice the flowers, and the banana plants and so much more. (I’ve already warned my siblings that there will be lots of foliage photos this blog!)

Why isn’t Will walking you wonder – he walks slower than big dog and me so my weight loss goals weren’t being hit and let’s be honest, he was just holding us back. Lol. Why doesn’t Will walk little dog you wonder – because little dog is the biggest problem – he only does what I say because I’m the one that feeds him breakfast and hands out treats and because I’ve still got my teacher tone, refined over the last 30 years. If you’ve ever had much to do with Will you know he’s more of a ‘just behave’ kind of guy than a ‘I’ll talk you into it with a bribe’ guy – so this is where we are at and overall it is working much better for us than what we did in the first week or so.

So, that’s walk 1 and 2, then comes breakfast, prepare dogs dinners (which I can now do without reading the recipes) and usually a quick shower. Except for the day the cleaner arrived a day earlier than my brain was expecting – that day it was throw on some clothes and get out. But who can complain, I’d been for a walk on my own to watch the sunrise, had a peaceful coffee and bought a new book, I’d walked the dogs, was having ‘my’ house cleaned by someone else, paid for by someone else, went to a local café for breakfast, paid for by someone else and ended up swimming at Byron Bay before spotting a whale at Lennox Heads -missing a shower was a small price to pay.

Sunrise at South Golden Beach

Kate's swimming spot at Byron Bay

View from half way up Pat Morton Lookout Lennox Heads

So, after the elusive shower it’s time for the next part of the day – Will’s and my exercise time because whilst Will doesn’t enjoy walking the dogs as much as I do he has appreciated getting out and being active. I’ve been wanting to kayak so off we went and hired a double – yep, not the greatest success, tide was low so we bottomed out a few times and there were a few communication issues on the way up stream, cruising back down we kind of found our mojo, enough at least that Will got interested in looking at the two single kayaks sitting here in the yard we’d been offered use of. Next thing I know the motorbike is off the back and the kayaks are in. Yay!

We’ve had two paddles, one right at our back yard. It was a good spot to become familiar with the crafts, although it is tidal there wasn’t much in way of tide to fight. The second and longer paddle, because I may have kept saying, just one more corner then I’ll turn around, was effected by the tide. We made it back without having to carry the kayaks over the sand banks but both our bodies knew we’d had a small work out which was pleasing.

If the weather isn’t enticing for kayaking we jump on the bikes. Best $15 we've spent for a long time was Will's 'new' second hand bike from the Tweed Junktion tip shop. We’ve found plenty of paths that lead to bakeries, country clubs and the like both locally and within a 30 minute drive. (Hmm, wonder why the weight goal wasn’t being achieved???) We’ve also found bush tracks I thought I’d never ride on that lead to the next town and the beach. We’ve even found an app to track us and check our distance, thanks to Val. Both these activities give us the chance to see so much more of the place but as of yet, I’m not game enough to carry the phone over the water, so no photos from there.

This afternoon's ride, I missed the last 2kms or so

(and I'm learning how to put in hyperlinks - if it asks if you want to go to Relive Epic Ride, then I've learnt another new thing today :) ) I forgot to press resume after photo on beach, we then rode back to where we started about another 2kms.

Maybe I’m feeling like we are busy as it isn’t even 6 weeks since we left home and already we’ve seen so many new places, tried new things and learnt so much!