Catching up

It has been a while since my last update and I therefore have a few things on my list I wanted to tell you about.
I will start with last week. As you recall I was complaining about the weather and how cold it was around here. I was starting to get sick. I came out of a horrible night on Thursday with a tremendous hangover and felt like sh** for the whole day. My head was close to exploding and there was no way to lie down properly in the car to relax. I sort off collapsed on the Barber's couch on Sunday afternoon with a bad fever and a huge headache. I slept on the couch that night which was good because I don't think I would have survived that night in the car. Janelle set up a bed for me the next day and let me stay in the house til I was better. That was a great help and it was such a good thing to have the chance not having to stay in the car all the time. It would probably have taken me a lot longer to recover if I had to stay in the car all day.
The weather was terrible during that week. Rain, wind and thunderstorms dominated outside and the house got cold as well because Australian houses don't seem to be made for cold seasons. Anyhow I had my layers of three blankets that kept me warm and cozy. It still took me til Friday to get out of bed and til Saturday until I started wandering around outside again.
The weather had changed into beautiful blue skies and sunshine on Friday and the wind had gone down. That mean that the swell that had been created during the windy week was being sorted and shaped into a few nice rides. I however was still too weak to go out which really pissed me of. Everyone was out telling me how good it was afterwards and I couldn't go. I got over it. I still wasn't able to hit the waves on Saturday but had my first walk in the sun which felt so good! There is no better medicine than to chill in the sun...
Sunday was relaxed as well. After a slow start into the day I met up with Tuck (one of the cool Newport guys) and we chilled, I had my first swim after the illness and we watched Oli, another mate, play football.
My first day back in the surf was Monday. I had two short sessions because I ran out of energy so quickly. My first session was at Bilgola with Dylan and the second in the afternoon at Newport with Dylan and Rebekka. It was nice to go out with her because it has been a long time since she was in the water with us. I hope she'll join me more often now where she has more time.
In the evening Rebekka and I went out for dinner in Manly. We where celebrating our 4th anniversary which was on Wedensday  during the time I was sick. It was a lovely dinner at an African place with very good Moroccan dishes. On the way back to the car we had dessert at this place called "cold-rock". You get to choose an ice-cream flavor and as many ingredients as you like (that is stuff like gummibears, chocolate-bars, M&M's and heaps of other cool sweet stuff) and they mix it all together and you have the best ice-cream ever. I'll open a shop like that when I get back.
Tuesday was Rebekka's first free day so she took the opportunity to sleep in. Then we had a late but superb breakfast at Bilgola beach. Porridge with fruit (in this case pineapple and grapes) and a coffee from our coffee-machine which makes very good coffee, in the sun. We stayed there the whole day, cleaning the car and fixing the bag we are making. I started, back in Germany, to sow a bag out of the rest of an old deck-chair and sent it to Rebekka with my Christmas-Gift in it (it was her chair before I broke it) and she continued it attaching a shoulder-belt to it. Now I made some buttons out of a stick and we attached them as well and made holes for the buttons so that we can now close the bag. I'm heaps proud of it and we're going to continue improving our self-made travel-bag with new ideas. I'll take some pictures soon and upload them so you can see it.
We slept at Remy's place today after a relaxed evening in front of the TV and are going to make dinner for the Barbers tonight. We're making Canneloni which I've never made before so wish us luck.
The weather is meant to stay beautiful the whole week which is good for us.
I'll try not to wait as long with the next blog entry. I'm really loving the feedback I'm getting here so keep it up and don't be shy. I also appreciate comments in German if you think it is too much English around here.

And does anyone have connections in California? We have to start planning our flight there and it would be great to have a base where we can get started from. We would much appreciate some advice.