Nielsen, O'Connell's, Crocs, Buddy, oh my!

Happy July from Australia! I can't believe it is July - it doesn't feel like July for us. Maybe the Yankee 4th of July BBQ Party that we're hosting this Friday night at our place will help. We've encouraged our guests to bring their most creative 'Yankee-rific' food item, so we'll see what we end up with! We're supplying the hot dogs, potato salad, and apple pie.

Before I get started on a bunch of other topics I must "Hooray!" my Uncle Denny & Aunt Linda, for they are on their way to Australia this September! They've got a whirlwind of a trip planned, with visits to Sydney, Cairns, Ayers Rock, & Melbourne, all in 3 weeks time. We are thrilled to have more family coming to visit us and this country.

Well, we successfully visited & returned from official Australian "Croc Country" on our journey to see our good old friend Jason Nielsen and to meet his girlfriend Leslie. What a fantastic feeling to get off the plane in Cairns and receive a huge hug from such an old friend (and a huge hug from a new friend I might add as well) over here in this part of the world. Our week couldn't have been more perfect - we had warm, mostly sunny weather, we stayed at a crazy Jungle Village on our 4WD journey from Cairns to Cooktown, and we stayed at the resort where Jason & Leslie are chefs the rest of the week (at awesome friend prices I must add - $50/night rather than the non-friend price of $180/night - sweet). We ate a ton of great food (most of it prepared especially for us by our personal chef friends :), enjoyed a lot of good drinks & laughs, saw our first crocodiles in the wild, went on an Aboriginal rock art tour, soaked up some sunshine, and enjoyed late afternoon naps nearly every day.
Aside from visiting Jason, seeing crocodiles in the wild was definitely the highlight of the trip - I think it made all 4 of us feel like little kids again, sitting in the boat just staring at these impressive & intimidating creatures, passing the binoculars around and whispering phrases such as, "Wow!" and "Oh my gosh!" and "My mom would not approve of this." The largest croc we saw was about 12 feet long, we think. Thanks to Jason & Leslie for being such fantastic travel guides, travel partners, and hosts throughout our visit!

With that trip now in the past, we are really on countdown for our upcoming trip to the US next month -- that's right, it's next month!!! I've received a few requests for flight details for our arrival in Portland, so here they are: we arrive on Alaska Airlines flight #2586 on Thursday, Aug. 14th at 12:45pm.

In general life news, things are going very well. I'm working FT this and next week at the shop, as one of the owners is on holiday. I love working down there. I subbed at a special needs school for 1 day 2 weeks ago, which was interesting and went really well. Andy and I attended a rather bizarre social gathering sponsored by the teaching agency I work with the Friday before we went on vacation - nothing like getting a bunch of substitute teachers together to liven up an indoor lawn bowling arena. You may think I'm joking here, but trust me, I am not. By the end of the evening, Jag shots were being poured all around, of which I must admit... I had 2! Eeewww! I can't even recall the last time I did a straight shot of liquor. And I was one of the well behaved ones! Thankfully I didn't feel too horrible the next day, and our friends Marloes and Annelieke came over and we feasted on pancakes for hours.
It is mostly cool and kinda gray in Melbourne so far this winter - some rain, but nothing like Portland's locked-in grayness for days on end. There's usually some sunshine every day.
Enjoy the pictures - oh, and there's some awesome ones of Buddy at the end that we just got from Zach - if you have ever seen Buddy, you will be shocked!

Wishing everyone a safe and fireworks-filled 4th of July!

Cheers from the land down under-

Love, Christy
xoxoxoxo