On Friday 4th October I started the weekend with a breakfast of champions – I had 2 slices of gluten free toast with homemade bolognese and it tasted really good. I caught up on learning some Turkish online and wrote a blog post as well as eating a healthy lunch of chicken with veg and a slice of cheddar.
In the evening I had booked in at Lukka bar for fish and chip Friday where they were going to do me gluten free batter. Our Aussie friends were already in Istanbul and would be arriving here in Dalyan in a couple of days and so I was helping them to organise an itinerary while they were here, including booking an overnight trip to Rhodes. Ma and Pa live near to a fish and chip shop back home so they didn’t fancy joining me, whereas the last time I had fish and chips was in Tasmania, December 2018 and wasn’t as good as the UK one I’d had in Sheffield a few months before that.
When I arrived at Lukka bar I was told by the chef that they hadn’t been able to get the cod from Marmaris and so the fish and chips were not available this week. Instead, I joined my parents at one of their old favourites, Çağrı, where I ate chicken shish. Afterwards we had a nightcap in Jiks bar before heading home to bed – Saturday was going to be a busy one!

On Saturday 5th October it rained! By 7am a storm was starting – the sky turned grey, the clouds hid the limestone mountains and I managed to work out where some leaks needed fixing. I did some organising ready for our Aussie friends arriving the next day, including a full itinerary for their 7 day stay in Dalyan.
I had bolognese with pancakes for brunch and even made enough gluten free pancake mixture for the next day which I poured in to a jar to store in the fridge. Dad had gone to watch the rugby but had turned up at the wrong time after me and mom apparently told him the wrong time when we googled the fixtures the night before. Mom and I went shopping as I needed a raincoat and some suitable footwear for my forthcoming trip to Cappadocia in a week’s time. I bought a fake North Face waterproof and warm raincoat, an outfit and ordered some new leather shoes! Mom bought a lovely towel/blanket and I got a present for our friend who’s birthday we were all invited to that night. We stopped by Amy’s bar for a couple of ciders and bumped in to dad who was watching football. Back at home I arranged to go to my parents place for a pre dinner drink at theirs but unfortunately my mom had let me know that dad, who had gone to the barbers, had still not come home. When I went round about 7:30pm he was home and he was in a tangle because he’d had a bit of a pub crawl before and after the barbers and now mom had the face on because we were all due at Maxine’s birthday party for dinner and drinks at Dalyance.
Dad was in trouble but we still went and it was a good night but after the meal mom made dad go home and, as they headed off, I went to town where it got a bit messy – two of the fellas ended up pole dancing in Rodrigo’s bar. On the way home I called in to Lukka for another wine with friends and made friends with a couple of other customers, drinking until the early hours! Nobody would have guessed I had the Aussie friends arriving soon as I stumbled home.

The sun was back again on Sunday 6th October and I was up at 7am having pancakes with rose jam for breakfast.
That evening our Aussie friends and I had gin and tonic on the balcony before my parents came round to meet ready for our first trip on the itinerary.
We had a private boat trip booked with Captain Turgay to take us to Köyceğiz lake and then the Sultaniye mudbaths with a BBQ buffet dinner. It was a great start to the Aussie’s Dalyan holiday and a lovely ending to the week. The mud bath was so good and we were 3 of just 6 in there, while my mom had her feet nibbled by fish and my dad sat with a beer in the bar area. The hot pool was busier but interesting to mingle with the locals and simply relax. I’d not been in the dome-like building before and there were just 3 of us and the ‘lifeguard’ in there, making echoing sounds and loving the feeling of complete relaxation.