Happy birthday to me!! After being woken by my phone ringing at 4:20am and then 5am (thanks Dan & Raelene haha ?), I still managed to sleep until just after 8am. Then I was excited to turn my phone back on and check all the birthday messages from family and friends around the world. Feeling totally loved ♥️♥️ Had a great long chat with Clare which was so lovely. I got an awesome (reasonable hour!) call from Daniel, Raelene, Marcel, Xavier and Vasana who were driving north to Coral Bay (hence their early morning attempts when they still had reception). They were just at the Overlander roadhouse so had reception but unfortunately I lost them after awhile as they headed into the great unknown (or far as the internet is concerned!!). Also got a wonderful video ... read more

After sorting out apartments this morning, I moved across into the one with the balcony and sea view. Very nice little spot as I look out over a mini orchard - in the backyard of other places here. Once I was settled in, I decided to walk along the coast in search of a beach to spend some hours at. The coastline is stunning with lots of rocks along the way, until you come around a corner and see a beautiful bay. I walked past the first one as I knew there were several more further along a rocky bush path. Each one I came to was more beautiful than the last but in the end I stopped at one called Robinson's. I hired a sun bed as the beach was all stones, and it only ... read more

Another lazy start to the day - I'm starting to get used to this and will be in for a rude shock tomorrow when I need to be at the airport by 7:15 lol. Headed down to the Point in Sliema for a morning swim. It was occasionally overcast today but when the sun came out it really had a bite to it. I enjoyed my time swimming the length of the 'pool' and taking the occasional view of Valletta in. After swimming and sunning for the morning, I headed back to my apartment, stopping along the way to have an espresso macchiato. After showering I headed out again to meet up with friends of Clare & Pete's - Mary & Peter. They were delivering a lens that's Clare was lending me to replace the one ... read more

This morning I met up with my cousin Rosie and second cousin Lucas at Giorgio's for breakfast. It was also an exciting morning because the Eagles were playing the Demons in the prelim final and the match was well underway when I woke up! Daniel was in Amsterdam so we were 'chatting' throughout. i could safely leave the apartment to meet up with Rosie & Lucas by three quarter time lol. It was so lovely to see them! Lucas had only arrived at about 1:30 this morning (from London) as his flight had been delayed. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and especially enjoyed the coffee this cafe served! We chatted about what we all wanted to do while we are here and decided we would jump in a ferry and explore some of Valletta and then ... read more

Those earplugs worked a treat! I did wake at 4am though with a cramp in my leg. After dealing with that I got up to look outside, as I knew thunderstorms were predicted for today. I had heard a very loud clap of thunder (through the earplugs) sometime earlier, so I wanted to see what the impact had been. The sea was quite high and there were even small waves washing up the steps in front of the hotel, which was interesting. The next morning I could see one of the restaurants hosing down their floor so I assume the water came up that high. After breakfast I chatted to the guy at reception about options for today. I wanted to see the Citadel but was also interested in a boat trip of some sort. There ... read more