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| Karaoke Wine Tour |
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| Hanging with the locals |
It's been quite a while since my last post so I'll just give a quick update on some things that happened in December over here! As most of you probably know, my parents were out for a visit and after a bit of a bumpy trip (UNITED AIRLINES FAIL!) and a lost bag, they finally settled in and we hit the ground running! The day they arrived we had lunch at the beach in Coogee than came to Raymond Terrace for a "Thanksgiving" meal, which was one of the best ever, thanks to my future mother-in-law, Denise. We rounded out their weekend with a gaol (jail) tour, karaoke at the bowling club, and then an epic karaoke bus tour to wine country for my (late) birthday celebration. A fun time was had by all, but by the time we finished the big weekend, a few days camping with our parents was much welcome. We had a crazy encounter with a wild possum, which came down the tree looking for food and ended up jumping on Andrew's leg (even though we didn't have food!). We fished in the ocean, went prawning in the lake, had a ski, and quite a few hands of cards. We visited Oakvale petting zoo again and got some fantastic one on one time with the kangaroos, koalas, and goats again, which was only made better by the cloudy weather that kept the crowds low.
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| Beautiful engagement cake made by Denise, I even helped with flowers! |
The second weekend was our engagement party which was a fantastic celebration filled with good food, plenty of drinks, and great company. We spent the next couple days seeing some sights around Raymond Terrace and then headed to Sydney for their last few days. We had quite a bit first night but pulled through and wandered around the city the following day, including a fantastic tour of "The Rocks", an area just outside the harbor where the convicts were originally housed when Oz was first settled. The chilling stories, cool artifacts, and friendly guide rounded out a great day in Sydney. The next day my parents flew out and the Sydney Siege occurred, where we had just been strolling past the day before! For those who don't know much about the siege, a terrorist held up people in the Lindt Cafe (a coffee shop endorsed by Lindt chocolate) which ended 18 hours later with two casualties. It was a sobering moment for all of Australia as a terrorist attack like this had never happened previously in Australia.
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| Chrissy Tucker |
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| Chrissy twins |
Chrissy, or Christmas, here was a fantastic day. It could have easily made me homesick but instead, I was surrounded by love, laughter, and family and could not have asked for a better day. We played Monopoly, ate a DELICIOUS meal, drank a few Coors, played cards, and tried to escape the humidity of the 90 degree day. Jemima, Miranda, and Sam (Jenny's kids) got suitcases for their trip to the USA, which was pretty exciting as well! Nothing warms the heart like kids on Christmas, regardless of where in the world you are!
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| Camping in the forest |
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| Camping on the beach |
For New Years weekend, Andrew and I packed up Terry's truck and went camping. We had quite the setup and spent one day in the forest, one day at a campground with Andrew's mates, and one day (New Years Eve) on the beach. We threw a line out, caught, cut, and cooked fresh fish and steaks for dinner along with a fancy bottle of champagne. We could see fireworks from a town nearby so we watched those at 9 pm and after a game of cribbage, ended up sleeping around 11. Although we didn't make it until midnight, we were up for the first sunrise of 2015 and enjoyed it watching dolphins, having brekkie burritos, and having another fish. Around 8 we encountered a weary Irish guy who was lost on the beach and had wandered kms away from where he was staying. We packed up and gave him a ride to the road and headed home ourselves for a few more days relaxing before getting back to reality.
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| New Years Eve 2014 |
Overall, a great end to the best year of my life!
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