Christmas 2011

We had a lovely Christmas. It was not at all like an American or even a German Christmas, more like what I think Christmas is like in Hawaii.  It was warm, we sat outside, the tree was fake and we had BBQ instead of turkey.  Very different, but very nice as well.  Although I will admit I missed the snow and the cold quite a lot. 

Tree at Joe's Grandparent's house.

Christmas Eve we drove up into the mountains to a little country village called Black Heath.  Joe's cousin Nat is managing a pub there and had invited us up for the holidays.  It was amazing, we rambled around in this old country pub that even Darwin himself had visited.  Pretty cool.  The grounds were almost a park-like setting and the pub itself was a rabbit warren of rooms and spaces to explore.  We spent most of the evening in the large pool room sitting on leather sofas laughing and drinking. 

Back of the pub.

The arch to the far left is where we enjoyed our breakfast.

Of course we couldn't wait until Christmas to open our pressies, so the boys ran off and got them and we all tore into them. 

Christmas Cracker Joke... What do you call a penguin in the Sahara desert? 

                                                                     ...LOST!

I got a happy Christmas penguin in my stocking!

Christmas day arrived and we all were feeling the fun we had indulged in the night before.  But Joe's cousin trouped on and made us a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs.  We sat on the upper veranda (that's a porch) looked out over the beautiful grounds of the pub and enjoyed the sun.  It was a beautiful start to our Christmas.

Awesome Nat cooking our Christmas brekkie.  YUM!

After we finished breakfast it was on the road to Penrith to have Christmas with the rest of the family.  Pa had cooked a lovely ham and there was tons of food to go around.  Yummy.  Everyone enjoyed their pressies.  Pa especially enjoyed the dishcloth I knitted him. It's his favourite color.  Can't you tell...

He did get two manly camo colored ones as well.

Joe's sister Dannica and Grandma.

Joe's Mum looking at the cook book we got her. Indian.. yum.

And finally Joe's much anticipated pressie from Adelaide.  A litho of one of Hans Heyden's watercolors.  He loved it!

Adelaide... Kangaroo Island...part 2

Remarkable Rocks
      ....No really... they are!  Flinders Chase is a National Park that we visited on Kangaroo Island. And we saw... you guessed it some pretty remarkable rocks. giggle.  This is a grouping of rocks that the tide has eaten away at over the years and the remaining shapes are pretty darn cool!

See Remarkable!

We found our new Aussie home. What do you think?

It was super cold.. hence me looking like a turtle.

Climbed up here.. nice view! 

There is a reason I call him my Monkey. 

Beautiful. 

I can do it!!! 

Much easier for Joe.

New Zealand Fur Seals
   ...STINK A LOT!!!!

OMG do these things smell bad!  Why do they stink so much? Because they crawl out of the ocean to do their business... yes THAT business... ewwwww... so those tide pools... not really made of tide. #vomit.

But the good news for them is that they are cute.. look at this baby and mama. sooo sweet!

Reminds me of the moors... or at least what I think moors look like having never actually seen a moor.

The fur seals live in the hole on the right. 

The blobs on the rocks are the Fur Seals... the brown puddles... well I'm sure you can sort that out on your own.

Why Aussie's love a windy day...

...Because it makes the laundry dry super fast, of course.

Today was a field day, and I don't mean we ran amok doing fun things.  Nope it was a Marine Corps Field day, much less fun.  Really that's just a fun way of saying we spent the day doing chores. "A field day" sounds so much more exciting than, "I'm going to do the laundry", now doesn't it. So field day we had.

I took some pictures so you could see where we are right now.

Looking out the back gate at our laundry on the line.

Joe vacuuming our very messy room. It looks much better now!

I didn't get a chance to take after pictures as we are dashing off as usual.  We are running up to Penrith to have dinner with friends and say hi to everyone there.  So I won't get a chance to post again till early next week.  I'm going to be finishing up our trip and then posting about Christmas. And showing you all what I got Joe at Hans Heysen's house. :)  Squeeee... he loved it BTW.

Adelaide...Kangaroo Island... part 1

The day when sheep were called kangaroos, kangaroos were called stumps, cows were called shrubbery, and the word Kangaboingytail was invented.

Our trip started off at the god awful hour of six thirty in the morning. Yucky.  We got on our bus, listened to the tour guide talk for a bit, zoned out, and then fell asleep.  At that hour of the day, what do they expect?  We travelled all the way down the coast to the ferry, jumped on board and headed off on our adventure.  Thankfully there was a little cafe on board because we were sooo hungry.  I had a Boston cream donut and in Australia, it's called an American donut.  LOL

Once we made the crossing, we got on another bus and headed off into the great rugged wilderness that is Kangaroo Island.  Our driver was hysterical, he was a very punctual man and insisted that we be on time as well.  Poor man, I would imagine his job is a bit like spending the days herding cats.  So once we reached a stop he would say, "People you have 3o minutes here, be back on the bus in 30 minutes!".  And of course everyone would straggle back to the bus a bit late and he would say, "Madame, you are late!  You are holding the whole tour up! You are late!".  But as he was speaking to the Japanese tourists who spoke very little English, he was wasting his time.   Poor guy.

I think an office like this makes up for late tourists. :)

The first stop was a wildlife sanctuary where we got to get very close to Australian Sea Lions.  It was mating season and there was quite a ruckus when two males took a liking to the same female.  The poor loser was chased down the beach. 

Those little brown bumps behind us are Sea Lions.

Someone is having lots of fun frolicking in the water.

We saw an amazing Raptor Show.  There was an especially cheeky pair of kookaburras who were more interested in eating bugs than doing what they were supposed to be doing.  Also a very beautiful barn owl who hopped from lap to lap and said hi.  He liked me, he hopped from my lap to Joe's and then back to mine where he sat for quite a long time.  He was a beautiful bird.

If you make a noise like a mouse... you get this response. "Dinner?"

Squeeeeee!!!  Look what I've got!!!

Wedge Tailed Eagle.

Adelaide...The Borassa

Our second day in Adelaide was spent on the MUCH anticipated tour of the Borassa Valley.  For those of you who don't know, it's one of Australia's major wine regions.  We had been looking forward to a whole day spent slightly tipsy, warm and happy from drinking loads of wine.  Sadly we only got to visit two wineries, one with amazing, great wine and one that brewed swill.  But the scenery was pretty amazing.

Joe at the first winery of the day.  We liked the wine so much we joined their club.

 Yummy... new wines sent every quarter.



The anticipated much hyped stop of the day was surprisingly the winery that brewed swill. LOL Oh well, the tasting room was beautiful.  See...

"Psst... honey the wine is terrible.  I know... just smile"

Another crazy Aussie thing.. apparently a family of 10 lived in this tree for a long time.  Eventually they built a house, but this was their home for many many many years.  Looks a bit drafty to me.

One of the non wine stops of the day was a visit to The Cedars, the home of famous Australian artist Sir Hans Heysen.  He was a very influential artist in the early 20th century, he painted mostly landscapes, capturing the gum trees and distinct Australian sunlight as no one had done before.  It was a beautiful property and the art was of course stunning.  We felt that we stumbled across a hidden gem of Adelaide.  It was beautiful and reminded me of Pop and Mimi's house.  Same exposed wood and beautiful art everywhere.  And somehow I didn't get any pictures here. Oh well, I did get Joe an awesome Christmas pressie!!!

Is it too early for me to be up on a soapbox? I mean this blog is pretty new...  Oh well I can't let this one rest.  My Fellow Americans... Please... I beg you... when you are overseas, don't act like an Ugly American. Please... We had one on our bus, you know the type, some schmo from BFE Florida who thinks that everything that he has left behind in America is a million times better than what he is seeing here.  Yeesh.  If you love where you are from so much that you have to rip apart the country you are visiting, STAY HOME! Also, please follow the rules and for god's sake be quiet. *steps off soapbox*

Adelaide, a large Country Town.

Part of the trip I won to Australia last year was a three day trip to Adelaide.  So three days after we got back from Fiji, we boarded a flight to Adelaide.  As an early Christmas pressie, Joe had gotten me a new point and shoot camera and I was having loads of fun playing with all the features.   For example, this edgy picture of my toes.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  So we got off the plane and found a tour to Hahndorf.  Because what else would you find in the middle of Australia except a traditional German village.  And as Germany is our favourite spot to go exploring, off we went on the Hahndorf tour.

Us on the tour bus at the start of the tour.

Joe likes vegetarian cows...yum yum.

Hahndorf was a very Australian German town. But I think if you hadn't been to Germany, it would be very German.  It was fun and the lack of a German layout didn't stop us from buying lots of German kitsch.  I'm now the proud owner of a genuine Australian Bavarian Cowbell to hang on my door.

The move so far.

It's been almost two months since I packed up everything we owned, said goodbye to dear friends and family and followed my hubby to his home country of Australia.  We have had some amazing moments here and not all of them have been shared with everyone.  So here is a quick post to catch everyone up.
The Vow Renewal

November 26th 2011

The day was magical.  I woke to the sound of pouring rain, turned over to Joe and said "gum boots it is".  We had planned a day of celebration on the beach and it was raining.  Thankfully I had rented a hall just in case of bad weather (thank you Jen for the idea).  So having resigned ourselves to a day indoors, we got up and started getting ready for our big day... take two.

I was sitting having my hair and makeup done and a friend came in and told me to look outside, it was clearing.  The clouds lifted and the sun came out for the first time in a week.

Nothing that we had planned happened as it was supposed to, and still it was the most magical day ever.  Joe and I walked down the path to the beach hand in hand to "So Happy Together", and stood in front of our friends and family.  It was amazing to see everyone there, some sitting on quilts, some standing behind and all smiling.  We said our vows to eachother, had two wonderful readings and that was that.  It was so simple and perfect.  Amazing how everything can go wrong and turn out just right.

Amazing photography by Nigel Unsworth.  www.nigelunsworth.com.au 


The Honeymoon (take two)

Our trip to Fiji was serene.  If you need a place to relax and get away from it all, go to Matamanoa Island in Fiji.  It was like a summer camp in the 50's, like in Dirty Dancing, where they have scheduled activities and everyone knows your name.   Matamanoa is a tiny resort, only 26 rooms so it feels like you are all by yourself in paradise.  Everyone gets a personalized sign on their burre, and it is a rite of passage to mark that you have been on the island by climbing a rock wall as high as you can go and leaving your sign there.  Of course I took ours home, I love kitchy things like that!  It will be hung on the door to our first Aussie home.

The best thing about Matamona is that they have a first class dive shop there, so Joe was busy the whole time. Where was I? Reading by the pool of course.  ;)  But really, a place that can provide me with the down time I crave and keep Joe entertained with lots of activities is just perfect for us.

Night activities were the funniest, Fijian dancing, Kava drinking (like drinking out of a muddy river), and International Crab racing were some activities on offer.  International Crab racing was a hoot, there were 10 crabs each from a different country (although how Switzerland has hermit crabs I don't know) and to make it interesting, you had to buy a crab.  Winner takes half of the pot, 2nd place takes 30% and 3rd takes 20%.  Joe and I looked at the standings, and bought three crabs, one from Switzerland one from Japan and of course the USA crab.  Some Kiwi who was living in LA tried to get the USA crab but I just kept bidding higher.  He cost fifty Fijian dollars, but man was he worth it! Of course my lucky crab won and we got $173.00 taken off our bill.  Yeah!!! USA USA USA!!!!!

Fiji was amazing.  We loved every moment of it.