Still alive and kicking!

Hi everyone! Wow. It's been WAY too long since I last posted something. I apologize! Mom came to visit for three weeks and Steven has had the computer to study for finals so there hasn't been time for blogging. Hopefully you will still continue to read because we still have two months of travel to go! Please check out the five new posts below, through the Friday, April 3rd post - "Easter Break".

We will be leaving Melbourne for good on Sun morning, flying to Brisbane. After we do some traveling along the northeast coast and north central region we'll head to Bali and southeast Asia...which I can't WAIT to see. We hope everyone is doing well. We miss you, love you and hope you're enjoying each day as much as we are. We are certainly blessed!

Great Ocean Rd...the views never get old

This past Tuesday we took Mom on the Great Ocean Road tour, a trip we took earlier in February. As the title says, the views along this coastal tour never get old. Below are a few images from our last trip in Victoria...


London Bridge has fallen down, fallen down.



Loch Ard Gorge

Beautiful!

Just hangin' out in a tree.

Lovely rainforest!

We were obviously ready for our closeup.

More fun things in Melbourne

While Mom was here we had a bunch of fun outings in Melbourne. We went to a 1950's-style diner that actually imports their chili and Dr Pepper from the states! It was nice to be transported back to the good old USA for an hour.

One evening we had a bit of a therapy session for Mom and visited the SkyDeck, an observation deck on the 88th floor of a skyscraper. For those that don't know, Mom is terrified of heights so to be 88 stories above Melbourne only separated by glass was a bit daunting. But she did so good! And we had some amazing views.

Puffing Billy, Pete and a chair big enough for two...or three

There are TONS of pics from this trip so I think I'll let them do the talking. We went on an day trip about an hour north of Melbourne to the Dandenong Ranges. Here we celebrated Mom's bday and made some wonderful memories!

Playing around before our ride on the Puffing Billy steam train!

Look at all the train-goers!

Warm hands, warm hearts

Can't you just picture him saying "Eh" like the Fonz?

Me & Pete the bird. We became fast friends. PS - crazy hair is because of all the birds landing on my head...not a new do.

I don't know this bird's name. But she looks like a Rosemary...or maybe a Tina. Tina the bird!

Is a symptom of bird flu crazy faces?

Since we figured we can't always have our ducks in a row, we might as well have a picture of it.

Whoa! Imagine the throw for that chair!

Beautiful end to a beautiful day!

Mom Lee touches down in Australia!!

We were so blessed to have Mom come visit for three weeks! Of course I was thrilled to have someone to do stuff with while Steven studied and went to classes, and what better travel buddy than Mom! We sure did keep her busy though. Our first outing was to Phillip Island, south of Melbourne. This was my first real driving experience in Australia and I'm surprised Mom wanted to keep traveling with me afterwards! After about an hour of trying to get out of Melbourne, we were on our way to visit the Koala Reserve, Vietnam Memorial and the Penguin Parade. We got to see a koala upclose and personal which was neat. At dusk we headed to the Penguin Parade where you get to sit in and watch the world's smallest penguins emerge from the sea and waddle ashore to their sand dune burrows. Pictures aren't allowed (we don't want to scare them off!) but here is one image I found online to give you an idea of what we saw...

I soooo wanted to scoop one up and hide it in my scarf to take home but I resisted. Aren't y'all proud of me?