Hi everyone - Happy February! By now, my parents should be about 4 hours into their long journey back to the US. I shed a few tears this morning as they pulled away, and then, as if I needed another reason for an emotional breakdown, that David Duchovny/Minnie Driver movie Return to Me was on TV this afternoon. You know that movie - the one where David's wife dies in a car accident and their dog keeps waiting at the door of their home for her to return, and then David meets and falls in love with Minnie, who just happens to be the woman who received his wife's heart in her heart transplant surgery...yes, that is the one. So, I write this blog with a few serious cries good and out of the way. On to the positive!
Isn't it Super Bowl weekend? For us it will be Super Bowl Monday, as it will be broadcast over here on Monday morning at 10am. "Super Bowl Monday" just doesn't seem to have quite the same ring to it as "Super Bowl Sunday" always does.
Huge congratulations to some of our dear friends on recent engagement announcements and some other dear friends on surviving their first holiday season with baby boys. You all know who you are. These engagements lead me to a brief run-down of travel plans that we have so far, just in case some of you are beginning to look at flights to come visit us here in Australia. We'd hate to miss you! Andy and I will be in Tasmania 2/24-3/1. It looks like Andy will be making a quick trip to the Minneapolis area sometime in June. We will both be making a trip to the Portland and Duluth areas toward mid to late August. Then we'll be visiting central Australia 9/4-9/11. By that time we'll have been living here for a year, and Andy and I have declared that "all bets are off" as to where we'll be living following the September central Australia trip. Andy is definitely pulling for some time in New Zealand.
Ahhh - New Zealand. New Zealand was incredible. We're definitely looking forward to spending more time in that country. But I am a bit ahead of myself in sharing about our trip with Ray & Marcia. Back up to January 5th- (I promise I'll try to keep it as concise as possible, but there really is just so much to share! Get yourself comfy is what I suggest):
Jan. 5 - we took the train from Melbourne to Geelong, and spent the afternoon strolling the harbour, eating fresh mussels, and eating* (again) at a local pub called The Bended Elbow British Ale House.
*I will refer to 'eating' multiple times throughout this trip description*
Jan. 6 - our 6am flight took us to Sydney. Ray & Marcia spent the day touring the ferries and Manly Beach with some friends they had met in Melbourne, while Andy and I ferried around the harbour and enjoyed late afternoon in The Rocks historic district.
Jan. 7 - we spent most of the day at Bondi Beach. It was gorgeous. We saw the Spanish Harlem Orchestra perform at Sydney Opera House - definitely one of the many highlights of this trip.
Jan. 8 - we were on an all-day Blue Mountains bus tour trip. I got to pet a koala and we saw our first crocodile. That night Ray, Andy, and I had dinner at the Lowenbrau Pub in The Rocks district and wandered around a bit while Marcia stayed in.
Jan. 9 - we visited Sydney Tower and then boarded the massive Princess Sapphire cruise ship around 3pm! This ship has a passenger capacity of 2670, and we believe this sailing was sold out. It literally took us (all of us) days to find our way around the ship. There were 6 pools and 8 hot tubs, a casino, a shopping area, multiple bars, restaurants, and nightclubs, an entire spa area, an internet cafe, a library, a movie theater....ok, you get the picture. This ship is like a massive luxury moving town! It was incredible to even be standing on board this ship, looking around Sydney Harbour, looking at the Sydney Opera House - it really felt like a dream. We pulled out of Sydney around 9pm that night.
Jan. 10 - day at sea. Andy was a good sport and dragged himself out of bed at 5:30am with me to watch our first at-sea sunrise. My mom and I spent hours lying beside the pool. Lots of eating.
Jan. 11 - day in Melbourne. As Melbourne is old news to us four, we stayed on the ship and lazed around. Played some shuffleboard, caught the afternoon movie, etc. Lots of eating.
Jan. 12 - day in Hobart, Tasmania. My parents excursioned (not sure if that is a proper use of that word) to Port Arthur, while Andy and I toured Hobart on our own. Lots of eating.
Jan. 14 - day at sea. Lots of eating.
Jan. 15 - day at sea. Lots of eating.
Jan. 16 - Fiordland National Park scenic cruising. Without a doubt, this was the most spectacular event of our entire trip! It was quite unbelieveable that this ship could be maneuvered up and down the sounds that we visited. And it was quite unbelieveable that we were doing it, and with my parents by our sides. We had a splendidly clear, warm day in an area that receives rainfall over 200 days/year. The pictures only hint at the magnitude of this region of our world, and I must recommend to everyone that you go to see this majestic location. The only downside to this day was that I was now fighting a pretty serious sore throat and nasty cold that was making me feel miserable, and the boat was rolling pretty good at times. Poor Marcia even threw up in a plastic bag as we lounged on the back deck. This event will stay with me forever! My poor mom and I, quite ill, while our two men sleep away in deck loungers at our sides :) Despite our illnesses, still lots of eating.
Jan. 17 - day in Dunedin. Andy and I were scheduled to do an afternoon sea kayaking trip, but the weather was rainy and a bit windy, so our tour was cancelled. Last minute we jumped aboard my parents' excursion that took us on an afternoon bus tour of the city of Dunedin and provided us a visit to Larnach Castle. Lots of eating.
Jan. 18 - day in Christchurch. My parents had an all-day bus & train tour of the region, while Andy and I did some Class 3, 4, & 5 white water rafting on the Rangitata River. Another huge event for us on this trip! 28 people from the cruise ship went on this excursion, and 6 of them found themselves out of their raft, floating down some pretty serious rapids at one point during the day. Andy and I definitely think some of these people had litle idea of what exactly Class 5 river rafting meant, and they certainly ended up experiencing much more than they had bargained for. Thankfully everyone survived and, although they were a little bit rattled, ended the day with smiles on their faces. One lady told me, "My kids are never going to believe that I did this!" This same lady was one of the 6 that had gotten tossed out of her raft, and she had slight wounds to her arms and face to prove it. During slow periods of the river, I would put my hand down in the blue-gray glacial water and think to myself, "I'm rafting in New Zealand," while trying to soak up our surrounds all the while. Really great.
Jan. 19 - day at sea - We're starting to get sad that our cruise is going to come to an end. Lots of eating. My dad and I played Bingo in both the morning and afternoon sessions, and even bet on some wooden horse racing, but came away in the hole every time.
Jan. 20 - day at Tauranga - all 4 of us did an all-day bus tour to the town of Rotorua, visiting a geothermal reserve, a Maori cultural lunch and musical/dance performance, and, wait for it......the Agrodome! And you know what? I have to type that the Agrodome was pretty cool. We saw 19 different breeds of sheep and a sheep-shearing demonstration to boot! Andy and I agree - we have never known so much about sheep as we do now.
Jan. 21 - our ship docks in Auckland. We disembarked at 10am, and by 10:45 we had picked up a rental car and were on our way to the beach town of Hahei, along the northeast coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Auckland. At 2pm we checked into our beachhouse, strolled along the beach, shopped at the local grocery store, grilled burgers for dinner, and beach strolled some more. We were a little bit disappointed, as the weather was kinda overcast and misty, and campers that we chatted with told us that we had just missed a solid month of superb weather and calm, tranquil waters, but it was impressive none the less. Not quite as much eating, now that we don't have a 24-hour buffet (or trough, as Andy and I prefer to call it) or our usual 8 restaurants providing 5-course meals to choose from each night, but we got by.
Jan. 22 - all 4 of us hiked to Cathedral Cove. Beautiful - both the hike and the destination. Strolled around Hot Water Beach. Visited Purangi Winery - by far the most laid-back, chill winery I have ever visited. If I ever go missing (by choice, of course) you could probably find me there. Took an off-the-beaten-path route on our way back to Auckland, checked into our hotel near the airport, returned the rental car, and cheers'd ourselves for a vacation well done. We landed back in Melbourne on the 23rd around 9:45am.

Whew! Well, that is going to have to just about do it for my blogging today. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and vacation recap.

To my parents - you are terribly missed already. Thank you so much for everything, and for being here with us for the holidays especially. It's nearly like you had the chance to live in Australia with me, not just visit us, and that remains quite unbelieveable and will always be a blessing. I'll start work on our next folder of travels real soon :)

Hugs and kisses all around - Cheers!

Love, Christy