You know what I find mind-blowing about living in Sydney? They have like 20 beaches at your disposal within a 1-hour driving radius. 10 of those are within 30 minutes from where I’m staying.

I’m not used to this concept at all.

This morning Pat, Tim, and I didn’t have any plans for the day – so why not go to the beach? Because that’s completely normal. We packed up our towels, snacks, books, and off we went to Maroubra beach.

Pat got me two books for Christmas, and I was excited to devour them. There’s just something so thrilling about having a new book in your possession.

The sound of the ocean always puts me in the best mood. There’s just something so soothing about it. I was sitting in the sand and reading my book when a seagull suddenly got all up in my space. He was eyeballin’ me hardcore. So I stared right back. He made a move to get closer, and I moved my toes closer. And then it hit me that I was having a territory battle with a bird. So I shook my leg at him and he flew away.

Assert your alpha!

I then took a walk down the beach to see if I could find some sand glass. Apparently, I’m quite awful at spotting it and couldn’t find any. I did, however, find several jellyfish washed up on shore. Dodged that.

My one regret of the day? Sunscreen. Or the lack thereof.

Because I’ve been in summer for months and months, I can’t even remember the last time I got burned. I did not, however, plan for three hours at the beach. My skin was all like, “nah girl.” So I’ll be feeling that later. Awesome.

Later that night consisted of going to a rooftop bar with Pat, Arna, and Tim where we had bats fly over our heads. Apparently that’s a thing in Sydney? I’ve seen multiple groups of bats flying around the city near dusk. I find this really weird. And creepy. And ever so slightly terrifying.