Hello All! Well you were probably wondering if you would ever see another post from us again! And here we are! Anyways we have had a very busy year. Since Last January we have had family visit us here and then took a trip to the states in September. So needless to say we have been all over the place. Both here in Australia and in the states. So... I will give you a brief synopsis and then load up the pictures.
So I think that my last blog left us at the Australian Open in January. Well, after that we got busy. Jakes parents, brother Bob and wife Corla came and visited at the end of January. Bob and Corla stayed for 3 weeks and Jake and Margaret stayed for 6. While here we travelled with them to up to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. We stayed at a great resort with a beautiful pool in Cairns. This was good as that was the time of year the Box Jellyfish come into shore, so you really don't want to swimming at the beach. Their stings a can kill. Yikes! While in Cairns we took a trip to Green Island to do some snorkeling at the reef. We had a great day despite the plethera of tourists on our boat and on the island. I think my next trip will be on a smaller tour for a day of snorkeling to the outer reef where the fish and coral are a bit more colorful and the number of people fewer. However, we still had a blast swimming in the ocean and seeing the fish, coral, etc. The island was also great because Ben and his Grandma had decided to not snorkel so they did a glass bottom boat tour of the reef and then had the rest of the day on the island to hang out together. They went to the wildlife park there and saw the crocs, koalas, etc. So it in the end, I think for group, it really was a good tour.
After the trip we headed back to Melbourne. Jake took the family for some day trips around town and then our visitors headed for Tasmania for 4 days. (We still need to get here at some point.) After Tazzy and a full visit, Bob and Corla headed back to the US.
Okay so this a is turning into more than a brief synopsis. Oh well!
Shortly after Bob and Corla left, we headed up to Sydney with Jake's parents to meet my sister Christy and her family. We spent 5 days going all over Sydney. We hit the Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbor, Manly Beach(this is where Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were married) and of course took several trips on the harbour ferries. It was a great 5 days. Like I have said before its such a great city to visit. Everyone who comes to Australia needs to go here!
So from Sydney we went back to Melbourne and spent the week taking day trips to all the beaches while Jake's parents took a road trip to Uluru, another one of my favorite spots! My sister and her family are definitely beach people and we a great time with the kids body srufing and boogie boarding. And of course I think that the cousins were all happy to see each other.
After a week in Melbourne we headed up to the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise for what we were hoping would be a great week of Sun, Surf and Sand. While there, Jake's parents headed back to states from Melbourne. It was a bummer that we didn't get to physically say bye to them but it all worked out.
So, back to the sun surf and sand. Well, I think we picked the wrong week. There was a hurricane that had broken up off the coast and so we got five days of RAIN! Okay so the first full day we were there it was cloudy and a little rainy but we were able to play on the beach, swim in the incredibly warm water and take surf lessons. Me, Ben, Rachel, my brother-in-law Phil and nephew Andrew partook in the surf lessons. Even with crappy weather and the choppy waves it was awesome, dude! I loved it so much and I didn't even get to standing on the board. This summer in January, Rach and I are planning to take lessons at one of the beaches down here. Of course Jake continues to bring up the Great White factor. Honestly, I am a beginner and am only going out to waist level water at this point. Uh... I think I will be fine!!
The next day, the rain came down harder so we drove south to Coolangata to the World Surfing Championship. Where, yes it rained but not so bad. And the surfers were incredible. The waves were huge and it was just amazing. I had never been to anything like. It was so different and so fun! I think Phil, who is a surfer himself was in a very happy place that day.
Unfortunately, from here, it really did get sad, weather wise. The rain was so hard and the wind was blowing so strong that the palm trees were literally bending sideways. They closed all the beaches. And of course all the people from the area kept telling us that it NEVER rains like this here!!! Right....... It was so bad that we were wondering if maybe we should start boarding up the windows in our hotel.
What also sucked was that there are all kinds of theme parks with roller coasters and rides, etc. This is really one of the prime family spots in all of Australia. Since it was raining anyways, we took the kids to Wet and Wild world. Yes it was rainy and windy but hey, nobody else was there so the kids had the run of the park and they were wet anyways. Really at this point we were just trying to glean anything out of this trip. As we golfed at the indoor mini golf centre, it really began to feel like spring break in Seaside. That became the theme of the rest of the trip. 8,000 km for a trip to Seaside, OR!! Oh well, we forged through survived the rain and really did make the best of it. It was great to just spend time with everyone!
So that is what kept us busy for the first couple months of 2006! Enjoy the pictures!
