Hey Bulldog

Aliya came home from a playdate on Sunday looking like this:

So she decided to get out our face paints. Apparently Andy wasn't too interested in having his face painted, but he was okay with some bicep artwork.

   It was a brutally hot weekend. Finally experiencing a true summer in Melbourne. It got up to 37 degrees, almost 100 degrees F! So hot, the girls went swimming twice. Once in the morning with me at the local outdoor pool. Again later in the afternoon with friends. They were having a sleepover so that Andy and I could attend an adults-only 40th birthday party. Our friends took them to Harold Holt pool. 
   Who is Harold Holt, you might ask? I'm glad you did. He was the Prime Minister of Australia who went for a swim in 1967 and was never seen again. Love their sense of irony in naming a swim center after a Prime Minister who drowned. Assuming, of course, you don't believe the conspiracy theorists who think he was abducted by a Chinese submarine.

Why Don't We Do It In the Road (the Australia Day Parade)

   Can't help repeating, what a difference a year makes! Last year on Australia Day, the girls and I just stayed in our rental apartment, since Andy was working, I was afraid to drive, and we didn't know anyone. This year we were invited to join some friends downtown to watch the parade and take part in local activities.
   As you may have guessed, Australia Day is somewhat equivalent to our Fourth of July. (But not quite, since the Queen is still their head of state.) It celebrates the arrival of eleven ships from England at Botany Bay near Sydney in 1788.
   We met at the train station (love public transportation here!) and headed into the city. We were a bit early for the parade, so we had plenty of time to get some flat whites and browse around Federation Square. 
   While we were waiting, we got interviewed by a TV station. A friend saw us that afternoon on TV in a news preview but alas, we didn't make the newscast.

The interview

Waiting for the parade. Wearing lots of zinc!

Group from Sovereign Hill, in Ballarat

 

 

    Our school's Drum Corp brought up the rear of the parade. It's a huge honor as the parade was mostly community and ethnic groups and very few bands or schools.

  
 After the parade, we walked down St. Kilda Road to the Gardens for live music and lots of food booths and kids activities. We were treated to a fabulous air show while we waited in line for the bungee jump.

One fun activity was panning for treasure in a kiddie pool filled with dirt, rocks, and small colorful stones. Another was using a metal detector to find treasure. And they did: old one and two cent coins, no longer in circulation. The Aussies were smart enough to get rid of those worthless coins, so the smallest is 5 cent pieces. Prices are just rounded off to the nearest 5 cents.

The favorite activity, which we waited in line for an hour for, was the bungee jumping. I end Aliya's video right as she hit her knees on the metal frame, hence the pained expression. 

After a few hours in the sun, we'd had enough and headed home. We watched a bit of the Australian Open, and decided that next year we'll definitely get a ground pass for the Australian Open.
Then we went for a BBQ at another expat's house. The hosts were also American expats, and the other family was a half Japanese/half Australian combo. They'd been living in Japan, but wisely decided to move to Australia to get away from the radiation. A very nice evening spent with friends, indeed!

My Funny Valentine

10 years ago Andy and I received the best Valentine's Day present ever.

Amazing how fast she's grown.

   She's pretty excited to be in the double-digits now! She woke up early this morning so that she'd have plenty of time to enjoy her birthday morning. She feasted on pancakes and then opened a few presents and cards from friends and family. Not much there from us, as we already gave her a pretty big present: tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert next month. She's a huge fan (she's built fan pages on her SuperClubs website!), and was willing to pay for the ticket herself, so needless to say she was quite excited about that present.
   She took baggies with M&M pretzel candies as a treat for her classmates. I didn't take a picture myself, so I stole one off of the 'net. They look like the ones below. Seriously good, the salty-sweet combo just rocks.

    She enjoyed her day at school. The kids all sang the requisite Happy Birthday song. For what it's worth, it's the same in Australia as America, though they do add a Hip Hip, Hooray x 3 at the end.
   That night we had the dinner of her choosing: spaghetti with tomato sauce (don't say marinara sauce here or you'll get something with a lot of seafood in it,) mozzarella sticks, garlic bread, and carrots. Yes, I insisted on at least one vegetable here. She had Sprite to drink, a huge treat in and of itself since the kids normally only drink water. And ice cream for dessert. We couldn't find a "0" so we went with the 5. 

Happy Birthday Alanna, we love you "mostest"!

And Happy Birthday to Kiera, Alanna's birthday buddy who also turns 10 on Valentine's Day. Both girls have a lot in common: they play piano, they love to read, and their favorite activity is asking to use the computer!

I Am the Wombat, Goo Goo Ga Joob

   Oh, I am so behind on blogging. I have a list of things to blog about, and never enough time. And I don't even work. Oh wait, I do now. We finally got logistics settled (thanks Opto 22 and Northeast Automation!) so now I am able to work on projects for my old company whenever I have the time. Last week I did a screencast, and it felt great to be working with my pals at Opto again. Most of you probably know I did training at Opto, but I also made software tutorials and even helped with other videos and case studies. 
   We've settled in so well this year. Girls have been too busy to be homesick, thankfully. We've had Australia Day, school started, plus lots of swimming and playdates,and after-school activities. All of which I hope to blog about soon. But for now, I'll tell you about Wilsons Promontory, aka Wilsons Prom.
   Because three weeks in the US and eight days in NZ weren't enough, we went camping a few days after we returned. We'd gotten a week at a highly-coveted campground, thanks to friends who won the ballot for the sites. Unfortunately Andy needed to actually work sometime this year, so we settled for three days. A lot of preparation, work, and driving for a three-day trip, but SO worth it! Here's an idea of the location, just in case you're interested.

   It was a leisurely drive down. It's also quite different from driving in the US because these "major" highways are often just two lane roads! One we got into the national park, we still had a bit of a drive. Some nice scenery though.

 When we arrived, we didn't even need to set up camp. Our friends had been on the site the previous week, and left their (huge!) tent for us to use. It was nice to have so much extra space as we're used to a smaller tent that barely fits our two queen air mattresses. Yes, I know, we really rough it. Since there wasn't much we needed to do, we took a short walk to the beach. We were barely able to find a spot to put our stuff...

 All that empty beach was the perfect canvas for one of Andy's famous creations: the beach maze.

   The girls and Andy declared the water "pretty warm" and dived right in while I supervised. Someone has to do it, right?
   The next day we took a short drive to the aptly-named Squeaky Beach.

    Although the squeaky sand was fun, as was the rock climbing, we didn't stay too long because apparently the water was colder than at the other beach. 
   That night was quite an adventure. We ended up eating our spaghetti dinner in the tent (and yes, we definitely missed the typical second night dinner of carne asada we always ate when camping Leo Carrillo. We also missed the camaraderie of our friends since it was just the four of us!) The weekend was very windy, and our campsite was really dusty. So we had the choice of eating dinner in the tent, or eating lots of dust/dirt with our dinner. A no brainer.
   We did have to be very careful with the food though. Turns out there are a lot of hungry wombats in the campsite. Warnings are posted everywhere not to leave food out  Earlier in the week a wombat chewed into our friend's tent! Later that night we spotted this guy by the water tap nearby. (Notice that Alanna was so excited that she rushed out with one shoe on the wrong foot and a flip-flop!)

 Wombats are pretty interesting creatures. Most people think of kangaroos and koalas when they think of Australian animals, but these guys are pretty interesting. One website described them as a cross between a rat and a teddy bear. They also have powerful bottoms. They can actually crush an animal who comes into their burrow with their butts! And I wasn't going to mention this, but since we're talking about bottoms, what the heck. Apparently wombats have square-shaped poo! Useful for making piles, or, as the early settlers did in the 1800s, useful for dice. Don't worry bunco ladies, I won't bring any back for you!
   The next day was my birthday. As a special surprise and in typical Andy style, they put together a treasure hunt for me. With the girls help, I managed to find all the creative, colorful clues that led me around the campsite, leading me to presents from each of them. It was so much fun!

 Can you spot the present?

Another great trip. We would love to go back with our friends and spend more time here. 

You Really Got a Hold On Me, Part 3 of NZ Trip

   New Zealand was truly amazing. We couldn't get over how uncrowded it was. Less than four million people (although 40 million sheep.) The guidebooks all warned that January was the busy season, but to us, it was quite empty. 
   This next event was something Andy booked while we were still in California, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. It was certainly the activity the girls had been looking forward to the most: horseback riding.
   We'd originally planned to do it on Saturday, but the way our schedule worked out, we needed to switch to Sunday. Turns out that it was fortuitous. The ranch had a large group on Saturday, but just us on Sunday, so we had a private 1.5 hour ride.

 Tessa, one of the owners, picked out nice gentle horses to suit us. Then they saddled up the horses and we headed off for a ride.

View from the horses didn't suck

Alanna's horse getting ready to nip the butt of Alexi's horse

Whoa horsey!

I want to buy a horse!

   After the horse ride, we continued along the "famous" 309 road, which crosses the Coromandel peninsula. Our destination was Waterworks, a "quirky" water-themed park. It was nothing like what you think of when you think water park. No wave pools or water slides. Instead, just crazy inventions and fun things to play on and explore. 

Water wheel made with recycled items

Look ma, I can fly!

The park had two flying foxes, aka zip lines. They were waaaaay fun!

Old-fashioned swimming hole

Three-person swing

   Andy pretty much wants to re-create many of the Waterworks inventions in our backyard someday. There's a video here that shows some of the other gadgets if you're interested.
   Another highlight was our visit to Cathedral Cove, also on the Coromandel peninsula. 

   Miraculously, the girls made it back to the parking lot under their own power i.e., we didn't have to carry them! We were concerned because after the walk there, and lots of water play and swimming, we knew they'd be tired. So Andy and I adopted the divide/conquer/distract approach. We paired up with a child and discussed their next birthday party the whole way back. 
   We felt the long walk without *any* whinging (whining) deserved a treat, so it was ice cream for everyone. Andy headed over to the snack bar, which was manned by a guy from Montana, working in NZ for the summer!
   For our last night, we headed to a serviced campground near Auckland. It made for a relaxed morning where we had plenty of time to get organized, repack, and return the campervan before heading to the airport.

 

   With three flights across the Pacific under their belts, the girls are pros at long-haul flights. When I told them the flight back to Melbourne across the Tasman sea was just four hours, they said "oh, just a short trip." 
   We did make a stop at the duty-free to get some cheap(er) tequila. There's a reason we don't ever make margaritas in Australia! And at the airport in Melbourne, we made a stop to have our shoes cleaned free of charge. Yep, that's what AQIS (Australia Quarantine and Inspection Service) does when you admit that you were on a farm in New Zealand for a horseback ride. 

Back home after a month away

   After living with six people in a small house for a few weeks, then living with four people in a camper van, we couldn't believe how huge our house felt when we walked in the door. After a month of traveling, it was good to be home. And yes, this does feel like our home now. What a difference a year makes!