A very happy Aussie birthday

The only bad thing about my birthday was that Holly had to leave right before it. But besides that, it was a great day!

On Friday, Toby and I went out to dinner at one of our top places, the Buffalo Dining Club. It's an Italian restaurant that specializes in cheeses, which they have flown in from Italy a few days a week. It's hard to eat anything but the cheeses there because they are so good, but this time we also got a pasta. They serve it in a cheese wheel so you can imagine how deliciously cheesy it is! It was a fabulous dinner!

I love, love, love having my birthday during a warm month! And even though my birthday Saturday wasn't particularly sunny or hot, I was determined to go to the beach for my birthday. So we did.

I chose Collins Flat beach, which is just near Manly. I picked this beach because it's one of the quieter beaches to Sydney: you have to walk to it through a short trail so it gets less traffic. We saw this big guy on our walk in.

The beach is also set back in a cove so the waves are pretty calm and it's excellent for snorkeling. Little penguins also nest there. I kept my eye out for them, but didn't see any, sadly. Oh well, it was a long shot!

The beach was pretty much deserted when we got there: just like Toby likes them.

We had a birthday skype on the beach. These cute people decided to match us, even though it was nighttime and freezing cold back in Tennessee.

The beach day was mainly reading and hanging out on the sand. I did a little snorkeling, but it got pretty overcast and cooled down, so I didn't stay in the water too long. That was OK though, it was a good day for chilling out. Here I am, hanging out in the tent. This is T's preferred way to enjoy the beach. =)

This guy came by a couple times to sell ice creams from his boat. What a great job!

We closed out the birthday celebrations back home with takeaway pizza and a picnic down by the harbour. The rain came in right as we finished up, so we walked home in the warm rain - what a great day!