Adventures in Australia...

Fun at the Races!!

This is me with Tash, Sarah, and Rebecca Stark (right to left!) I work with Sarah and get to see their family often because of our Rotary connections! This night, John took us, along with our partners, to the night races at Canterbury. Bill and I placed a few bets, but let's just say we 'aren't quitting our day job!' :) Apparently, there's more to betting on horses than just picking the prettiest jersey colours! ;) Anyway, we had a great night!! Thank you, Stark Family!!

So, this picture was one thing that I just HAD to do!! He was pretty cute - Kremlin (scary name, I know!) - but I think I prefer holding stuffed Koalas!! I kept trying to get him to kiss me, but instead he would just munch on the eculyptus! Apparently I wasn't too appealing to him! ;)

Last Friday, Bill and I made our second Farm Trip - this time to a farm near Brisbane. We departed Sydney at 6 am and spent the whole day in the Brisbane area (the farm was only 1.5 hours from the airport!), before returning home that night at 10:30! This farm is one of the largest producers of sweet corn in the country and have the packing process down to an art! It was a very interesting adventure! After we visited the farm, we hung out at the Southbanks area of Brisbane. You may already know this, but Brisbane is situated inland on a river. Therefore, they do not have any beaches in the city, unlike Sydney! So, they have created this area on the River that has sand and lagoon style pools - to look like a beach! It was pretty funny - and, lucky for us, I brought our cozzies!! :) This picture is from the beautiful Southbank area of Brisbane.

Bill is - as we speak - taking his last final of Grad School!! He studied hard for this final - I hope that he is doing well! And, I have my last day of work tomorrow! It's amazing how fast time is going! We are off to 10 days in Tasmania on Saturday, so we'll definitely have some good photos to share when we get back on the 27th!

Thanks for reading!

Friends in Australia

These are some of the friends we have made during our time in Sydney. The (only) guy in the picture is Sebastian, Bill's German friend from Uni. The girl on the far left is Alie, his girlfriend from Boston. We went to a free Australian Symphony show at Hyde Park to celebrate Alie's birthday - it was fantastic! We had a little picnic and enjoyed the music!

We were shocked.... I had heard that Australia Day was a very popular holiday, but I NEVER thought I would see this many Australian flags!! It was amazing! EVERYONE had a flag on them somehow - a tatoo, wearing the flag as a dress, flag teeshirts, etc. It was wild!

This is my book club. We meet once a month to discuss the books we have read. It has been great and I have really enjoyed it! I have read almost 20 books since we have been here -- more than I have read in the past 5 years combined! Some of my favourites include The Kite Runner, the Secret Life of Bees, and Mao's Last Dancer. In the picture are two of our 'Australian family' members - Glenis (standing wearing bright pink) and her daughter-in-law Julie Hayes (sitting wearing pink skirt). We always have a great time, and I hope to continue this when I get back home!! Thank you!