New Address... and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The view from our window!

Our New Address is:

1 Lugano Avenue

Burraneer, NSW 2230

Australia

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! And, may God bless your 2007!

Phil, Glenis, Rick, Peggy and us!

It was fun introducing our 'Australian Family' to part of our American family! Thank you, Phil and Glenis, for your extreme generosity to us and our family! We love you!

We're hoping for a New Year's Eve celebration on Lloyd's boat, so stay tuned for more pics!!

Only the 2nd most deadly snake in the world.....

By far the best story from mom and dad's trip to Australia has to be dad's showering experience in the desert by Ayers rock. So dad has been warning me for over a year that Australia has 10 of the worlds most deadly snakes, but I hadn't seen a single snake until he arrived. After the 109 F/43 C weather we were all looking forward to a nice shower to cool off and to wash off the red dirt. Dad went first. As you can see this a community style shower. After dad had already been in the shower for a few minutes I walked in to take mine. As I walked in I saw dad's head pop out of the shower and he was saying "snake!! snake!!". I looked down and the snake slithered out of his shower and past my feet. I couldn't help but start laughing once the snake was not in striking distance. The snake went to the corner of the bathroom and stopped. Unfortunately, there was a guy from Mexico in the last shower! He said "did you say snake? oh.......". We expected for him to get out but he took another 10 minutes before he got out. Then the Japanese guy at the front got out of his shower looking quite confused said "spider?" Management then called up their local snake catchers to take care of the problem. They identified the snake as the Western Brown snake.....only the 2nd most deadly snake in the whole world!!!!!!!!! Needless to say dad didn't quite get a full shower and it took a long time before the rest of us got up the nerve (and came up with evacuation plans from the shower) before we went back in.

The bathroom where it all happened. Dad was in one of the middle stalls when it went straight through his shower!!
If you look closely you can see the snake behind the pipes. I would say it was about 1 ft. to 1.5 ft long.......no matter what dad says!

The proud sideways snake catchers. Scary thing is we don't know where they let the snake go!

The Shelby's in Oz!

Pictures from Ayers Rock, aka Uluru, in central Australia. It was about 109 F/ 43 C, definitely hot! We were told to take a picture of the rock every 5 minutes during sunrise to see the changing colors of the rock. As you can see by our pictures the shade of the rock is always changing.

The Shelby's in Oz!

All pictures are of Ayers Rock in central Australia.

The Shelby's in Oz!

Rick and Peggy in front of the Harbour Bridge Mr. Howard

After getting into Sydney at 7pm on Sunday night, Cristin and I thought it would be nice to take my parents for a nice breakfast in Canberra (3 hours away!) at 7am the next morning! We took them to the National Prayer Breakfast at Parliment. They got to see and hear the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard. After some quick touring and meat pies we went back to Sydney to catch the Rotary meeting - so much for a relaxing vacation!!

Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach

Bondi on a typical weekday....look at all of those people!

Crikey, one of our favorite True Blue Australians!!

The Shelby's in Oz!

Mother-in-law / daughter-in-law interaction
Cristin and Mom enjoying a matinee at the opera house while dad and I are out on the ocean with Lloyd.

Matthew McConahey (sound it out)

While in Port Douglas, Matthew and Kate Hudson were filming a movie called “Fool’s Gold.” The movie was set in Florida, but they were filming in North East Australia. We watched them film this scene about 10 times.
Bananas!!!!!
We had our first bananas since Cyclone Larry wiped out the entire crop.
Daintree Rainforest
We visited this world heritage site near Port Douglas. We also went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef for Thanksgiving and my birthday. We celebrated later with a fresh seafood dinner.
Cronulla Beach

Mom and I on the esplanade by cronulla beach

The Shelby's in Oz!

Australia National Zoo outside of Brisbane my parents petting a kangaroo at Steve Irwin’s zoo.
Watson’s Bay in SydneyOur 1st night of the holiday
This is our ocean view from our apartment in Caloundra. Mom and dad were definitely impressed. We quickly brought them back to reality with the accommodation in Brisbane. The only good thing about it was that it was next to Albion Park – home of Australia’s best greyhound racing.

Sydney University
My parents inside the quadrangle of the Great Hall

Mom and the Sergeant
In the weekly fine session, the sergeant tried to make my dad stand up and sing “Oklahoma” in front of the entire Rotary club (about 50 people). Luckily for all of us, we got mom to fill in and I think she surprised the Sergeant with her effort. For once, he was speechless. They later announced that the fine session earned an extra $40, because of mom’s singing. Good on ya, mom.