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?

Easter break

APRIL 8-13, 2009

I think Steven got his fill of driving in Australia on this trip (24 hours total). We rented a car and headed north. Our first stop was a city called Mildura, in northwest Victoria. We really enjoyed this city. They have palm trees lining their major street and lots of neat things to do. Wineries, restaurants and shops. We strolled along the river around dusk and Steven caught some good pictures...

About an hours drive from Mildura is Lake Mungo. But there were no beach bums or bathing beauties here. Oh no! Lake Mungo is actually the remnant of an ancient lake.

The Lake last experienced permanent water over 10,000 years ago and has recorded continuous indigenous habitation for 40,000+ years – making it the site of the oldest known human occupation in Australia. This is where they discovered the first known cremation.

Next on our journey was Wagga Wagga (not to be confused with Wocka-Wocka). This was another town we really enjoyed. They had a city park that had beautiful flowers and surroundings. We were able to watch the hundreds of beautiful white cockatoos that inhabited the trees. They also had a nice little market going on around this river area...

Next we headed to Merimbula and Pambula beach. We visited the beautiful beach areas they offer and just basked in the warm sun. Very nice on a cool autumn day! Overall, a very lovely Easter trip!

It's the weekend!

Hi everyone! Easter is coming up which reminds me of how much we have to be thankful for. Every night I go to bed and thank the Lord for each day He has given me and that I get to spend them with my wonderful husband. I've been missing family and friends lately though...one of the stages, I believe, you go through when you're traveling. You feel like you're missing out on things back home. My best friend Katy just got engaged and I wish I could be there to celebrate this time with her. Congrats Katy and Jeff!! And the kiddies are growing up so fast. I miss seeing little Ethan, Lib, Victoria and Justin! But this too shall pass. I wouldn't trade anything for the experiences we're having and this time that we get to be alone.

Good news: we're so excited because we get to keep the flat we're renting for the whole time! Yea! We'll be heading out for Easter break on Wed. We're heading up to Canberra, the capital of Australia, via the Great Alpine Road. Wish me luck because we'll be camping! Ahhh!! Hopefully it's not too chilly or windy. Take care everyone and have a great weekend!

Things I love about Melbourne

I thought I would start writing posts regarding things I love about certain areas...just to give a better insight into our experiences. So here goes...

1) My two loves, fashion and food, are equally celebrated and revered...sometimes even together! I mentioned before how open-minded Melburnians are when it comes to fashion. I think it comes from the variety of cultures that culminate in this wonderful city. They have such a casual approach to getting dressed...not in the sense of the clothes themselves being casual, but in they way they are worn and put together. It looks like they woke up 10 min before they had to leave, opened their closet and this non-trendy-but-amazingly-fabulous outfit fell onto their generally well-sculpted bodies (sorry for all the dashes). And they never fuss or mess with their hair or clothes when they're out and about. Everything has a perfect fit and looks like it goes together so well. I love it and hope I can learn from it while I'm here!

2) Suzuki Night Market in Melbourne!!: Even though Steven and I were only able to attend one (they close down at the end of summer), I really enjoyed this totally Melbourne experience. We met up with an MBS (Melbourne Bus School) student, Bhavani, and her partner, Robert. (ps. they call boy/girlfriends "partners" over here) It's a wonderful, truly Melbourne experience. There are tons of food stalls with vendors selling everything from curries to Mexican dishes. Yes, the quesadilla cart was very busy. There are live performances. This night happened to be a Flamenco/Spanish night with dancers and live music. It was so much fun!

(photo from qvm.com.au)

3) The shortening of words and adding "-ie(s)" or "y" on the end. This is really an Aussie thing in general. A few examples...

football (rugby).....footy

Brisbane.....Brisie

sick days.....sickies

Biker gang....gang of Bikies

best friends....besties

postman....postie

This can be very helpful when you're trying to fit in with the Australians. I can be in conversation with some of them and just start shortening and adding to words and seem like I've lived here all my life. For example:

Aussie: "Ay mate. It's a bloody hot out today."

Me: "That's fair dinkum. I had to wring out my clothesies in the sinkie after my walkabout. No worries though because I had another pair of knickies in my dressie."

Now this conversation would never actually take place because a non-Australian can never use slang like a local. They'll just sound silly. The best you can hope for is to have some idea of where the conversation is headed. And that's goodie for me!

Tasmaniacs

It takes about an hour to get to Tasmania from the mainland. We flew in early in the morning and arrived in Hobart ready to start our tour of the east coast. Our first stop was Freycinet National Park. This trip was a mix of camping and staying in small, self-sufficient cabins...a very inexpensive way to travel and not too bad, except when it's windy. And it was! It was a lot colder in Tassie than I thought. I think the weather seems to be off and on. Sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny. But always very pretty! We did a 2.5 hour walk in the park, up to Wineglass Bay. And man did we earn that view! Over 600 steps to the lookout...

The Travelin' Fools taking a breather

Another beach-goer...

We also checked out Honeymoon Bay...

Then we headed north to St. Helens where we checked out the Bay of Fires area. Unfortunately it was a drizzly, cold day so we didn't get great pictures of the Bay of Fires itself. But we did get to see Binnalong Bay....

....before we headed south again to see the Tasman Peninsula...

The Grampians & a petting zoo!

The Grampians were very pretty and we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather while we visited a few of the major sites in the park including...

MACKENZIE FALLS

THE BALCONIES

CRAZY ROCK FORMATION (not the official name)

My absolute favorite part, though, was going to the petting zoo in Halls Gap. We were able to feed and pet wallabies (tiny kangaroos), deer, peacocks, emus, and many other native Aussie animals. I was in heaven!

Also along our drive we spotted some koalas just hanging out in the trees. And one even had a baby in its pouch!