where it all began

Today I slept in.... What a pleasure!!! No noise, no cars, no work..... It was great. Then I took the train for the first time today and went to Cronulla, which is a small peninsula south of Sydney (still sort of part of Sydney). I walked along the coast around the pensinsula and went swimming for the first time. At first I just wanted to walk along the beach at one of the bays, but then the water was so nice and warm that I just couldn't stop myself. I had wanted to wait till I had someone to go to the beach with, because leaving my stuff unattended is not really great, but since that hasn't worked out so far, I decided to just take the chance. It was wounderful. The water was warm and really soft.... I didn't stay in too long, because there was noone to watch my bag....
Once I had finished my trip around Cronulla (which wasn't much different from the rest of the coast, still very beautiful, but again cliffs and the bluest water I have seen so far - which I still can't get enough of....) I took a bus to Kurnell. Kurnell is where the Botany Bay National park is and that is where Captain Cook first landed in 1770. They got all kinds of memorials set up alongside the water to remember people that came with him and the first European to die on Australien ground is also burried there. I did not walk around too much, because I was worried I might miss the last bus going back to Cronulla.... So I sat down and read a book right behind Captain Cook's memorial. From there I could overlook Botany Bay and watch planes coming in and landing on the other side of the bay (very busy!). I also got to wittnes how a thunderstorm slowly formed. The clouds were amazing, but the rain in the end wasn't.... ;) It was still a really nice relaxed day (even with the rain at the end). I got to see free flying parrots for the first time. Their colors are amazingly bright, but unfortunately they were too quick for the camera.