One of the things I miss about my hometown is the river that is only one street over from my house. The loop I used to run frequently is almost exactly 3 miles so makes for the perfect running trail. Although I don’t mind the treadmill, some

times I really miss outdoor running in an area I am comfortable running alone around and familiar with.

While I haven’t had too much trouble with jetlag or adjusting my body clock to Australian time, I have been waking up between 5-6am since my arrival. This morning I woke up rather sore after doing a circuit workout yesterday so decided to  take an easy walk around the river to stretch out my legs before heading off to Church with my parents.

My early morning walk was timed perfectly with the sun rising over the water.

Such a peaceful way to start my Sunday

After church my parents and I headed down to The Strand, a popular waterfront strip with lots of grass areas and BBQ’s for public use. Some of my favorite restaurants are also along the strand that offer outside oceanfront seating to enjoy the views – and that’s exactly what we did!

We tried a new restaurant that recently opened called Longboard Bar and Grill and grabbed a patio table to catch the the sea breeze

We were all super hungry so started off with the rustic oven potato wedges with a side of sweet chilli sauce and sour cream

For our main meals, my parents opted for burgers and chips…

…while I tried the homemade cannelloni

“Sweet potato, ricotta, baby spinach finished with a tomato sauce and topped with rocket parmesan salad”

Holy yum! It was definitely satisfying and just the right size. One thing that I always notice when I come back to Australia is the portion sizes at restaurants here compared to the U.S. When I was ordering this meal I

asked the waitress what she thought of the dish. She stated it was delicious but emphasized how big the meal was. I guess subconsciously I was expecting a huge pasta dish similar to something you would get at The Olive Garden or Buca di Beppo but that is certainly not what I got. I wasn’t disappointed however, as the meal was a perfect size for one person. Guess it was a great reminder for portion distortion and portion control