Today was all about whales and dolphins and shopping. Super spontaneous. I started the day with my morning coffee on the balcony with the short Brandon Sanderson novella The Emperor’s Soul. The sun was out, clear blue sky after a night of rain. I can definitely live with that.

We took a spontaneous stroll, had lunch at Coolangatta Hotel and walked further south to Rainbow Bay Lookout again. We were not disappointed. First, we saw a huge lizard! Then we saw beautiful beaches, followed by several whales breaching which inspired us to instantly google where the closest shop was where we could buy binoculars. On our way there, before we even left Rainbow Bay Lookout, we saw a big pod of dolphins swimming right behind the surfers and I instantly felt sad that we’ve been here more than a month, and I haven’t gone surfing yet! Another big lizard, some sleeping brush turkeys and we were back to the esplanade, taking a quick stop at Ripcurl. Which turned out to not be such a quick stop. I bought a bikini, a hooded beach towel, and a normal towel. I am ready to fully go in the sea now! Mikael bought a t-shirt, a flannel shirt, a pair of pants, socks, a hat, a wallet, a backpack, and a water bottle. Big time shopping! And that was not the end of our spree. Our last stop was Wade’s World, a photography shop where we bought two pairs of binoculars.

At the pier right below Kirra Hill, we saw two whales breaching, just minutes after we arrived. And they did it twice, before waiving their tails and just showing off their backs and eventually going back under. How unreal wasn’t that? So worth getting those Nikon binoculars. We also talked a bit with an American lady who walked past and asked us if we had seen anything. She said that later in the season, the whales come really close to shore. That will be exciting!