For anyone who reads this occasionally....

I've got a new project. :) Cause I don't procrastinate enough.

See: www.linkyloulists.blogspot.com for details.

Mount Gambier

I know it's not very exotic for South Aussies but we just are back from a GREAT weekend in Mount Gambier. It's the second biggest town in our state (Adelaide is the largest) with a population of about 24,000. It's part of the Limestone Coast and so there are lots of geological features to keep Ryan happy. I was just glad to get away from my marking :)

First off, we went to visit the Umpherstone Sinkhole. From the tourism website:

"Once a cave formed through dissolution of the limestone, this sinkhole was created when the top of the chamber fell to the floor of the cave, creating the perfect environment for its "sunken garden"."



This is us, funnily enough in front of the sinkhole. It was really bright out and I didn't check whether this photo worked. As you can see, it didn't. However, it's the only photo from the weekend with us in it, so I figured I'd post it anyhow.



The sinkhole is remarkably cool, even from the point of view of the geological ignorant (ie. me). There is a full time gardener who volunteers to keep it all pretty, and it certainly was!



Can you tell I liked the sinkhole garden? :) I think I was just impressed that it was so green. It rains a lot in Mt. Gambier. After viewing the Umpherstone sinkhole, we went into Mt. Gambier proper to see that it had closed for the entire long weekend - yay provincial towns! So we went and looked at another sinkhole and then wandered around the Blue Lake for a bit.



Once again, from the Mt. Gambier tourism website:

"The Blue Lake was formed when the volcano erupted through the limestone allowing the underground water to fill the crater, creating the lake that we see today. Each year in November the lake starts its colour change from winter sombre blue to brilliant turquoise blue, before returning to its winter hue in March."

So yeah, it was a bit grey. Ryan wanted me to take this photo so you can all see the different layers in the rock. :) You can see the blue colours around the bank though.

After walking around the Lake for a bit, we went on a bush walk. It was great though a little more strenuous than the "Easy, gradual slope" that the sign advertised. We spent a lot of time admiring the view as there was an old man in one of those electric buggies in front of us and we were sure he was going to get bogged and need our assistance at some stages!



As you can see, the recent rainfall made the whole area pretty vibrant! We ended our full day in Mt. Gambier with dinner and a movie, then wandered back to the sinkhole which is floodlit at night. So here's the last photo of it, I swear :)



So that's the "travel journal" updated - we had a really lovely time. Totally recommend the area for a quick getaway!

Adelaide to Melbourne - April 2007

Well, we went on a short trip the other week, just to visit friends in Melbourne. We normally fly over but since it was school holidays and we had time, we decided to save money and drive over instead. This was a pretty shocking trip. Officially, Australia is the driest continent (having the least precipitation - at least Antarctica has snow!), and has one of the most variable rainfall climates in the world. Our current drought is the worst on record and recently, the government has announced that water restrictions on farmers will be further increased so that they will be unable to irrigate from the river at all. This is especially a problem in South Australia and Victoria, the two states we drove through, as they have had only the smallest percentage of rainfall expected over the last two years.

Anyhow, I took these photos on the drive - I just couldn't believe how dry it is out there. Remember, these were taken at the very end of April, when we usually have had heavy autumn rains!





This one has a little greenery in it - thank goodness for the hard-living gum trees. This really shows how important it is for Australia to encourage the re-growth of our natural flora - cause when things get bad, they can survive on very little water.



And just to include some pics of us, here's one of me, having a stretch-break on the 8 hour drive:



And here's one of Ryan, relaxing at an outdoor cafe in Williamstown to end on a high note:



We're going to Brisbane in July - will post again then!

Ryan's 30th birthday party

Okay, so this isn't really a travel post but I'm going to post it here just so I can share some of the photos of this great night. Thanks very much to Cheryl from Xavier for her shots - they're the good ones :)



If your pic appears here and you don't want it to, please let me know. Comments about how gorgeous we all are are appreciated too :)

A few pictures...

...and then that's it for a bit.

We're all settled in back at home. All the laundry is finally done and all the gift distributed!! I've even lit my first candle :)

I've had a fun time getting used to driving on this side of the road though. Weird. I think I've hit the windscreen wipers hundreds of times - more than I did in the US!!


This first pic was taken in Kyoto. These guys are hawking for rickshaw passengers. I just love the trees and the light in this shot!


This is a gorgeous tree that I photographed in Kyoto. I think I'm going to have this shot framed. There was only the last of the autumn colours around when we were there. It must be AMAZING in fall.

Ryan is a big fan of the site Engrish.com and this was such a stunning example.


This is one of the Buddhist temples we visited. I had to lie down on cold marble steps to manage this shot. Andrea, Miyao and Ryan were standing below in the cold cold evening and thought I was quite mad!!


A shot of the Great Lawn in Central Park. I had a very well-timed flock of birds fly straight through the shot :)


Ryan's friend, Ken, took us to the riverwalk in Brooklyn and this is a shot of Manhattan from there. I just love the light in this photo. I don't think it takes any skill to take good shots in this light :)


This one is of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The coolest thing about it is that it was absolutely pitch dark when I took this and I couldn't see any of the detail! I just gave night vision a go and I love the result!


This is one of my shots of West Point, Virginia, where Ryan's sister lives.

And that's it for a bit. I've left out pictures of people as I don't know if they want them posted on the net. We had such a blast - can't wait to do it again.

Back to work tomorrow - looking forward to it in one way, but gee, holidays are nice!!

Love to all who read this,

Lynn
xx

VA, NYC and home again

Well, this will be my last post I should imagine for a bit, though I might play with some photos and post them later in the week... I'm sitting home in Adelaide, eating watermelon in my PJs (yay Gin for bringing me watermelon - you're right, it is the best thing ever!) and thought I'd post the last final days before I hang out the first load of laundry and then crash out. Ryan is already asleep on the couch - he made it through half a suitcase before fatigue grabbed him!!

Well, when I last wrote, I was about to head off for yet more shopping... :) I had a fun time driving around checking out shoe stores in Hampton and Newport News before crossing the bridge to Norfolk. Can you believe I STILL didn't find the dream boots that I have been searching for?? Ah well, had a fun time trying. The way home from the Norfolk mall was not so fun - I did a huge tour of some of the less salubrious areas of Hampton Roads in the dark and I seem to have lost the "accelerate and pray" method of driving that is needed for the interstates of Virginia during rush hour. Eventually, I made it back to Randy and Lucy's to meet up with Ryan and quickly change for dinner.

Don't we make a nice looking group? From left to right, Ryan and I (duh), Jack and Robin (Ryan's sister and BIL) and Bryan and Nancy (Nancy is Lucy's daughter). We went to a new area of Newport News which has been developed since we were last in Virginia, called Port Warwick. It's a lovely little place - will be interesting to see how it develops character in the next few years. The meal was amazing - especially the chocolate mousse gateaux dessert.

On Thursday, Robin brought her kids over as did Nancy and we had a crazy, noisy, kid-filled day! Nancy, Robin and I did sneak off to this great store for an hour or so, leaving four kids under 7 behind :) and did some last minute shopping. I found some fabulous candles again, but I knew Ryan would go mad if I bought any more wax so I was good and only bought two tops, a stubby holder and some earrings... The highlight of the day for Ryan was taking his nephew, Jared, to show him the family military collection. Many members of Ryan's family have served in various roles and since it was Jared's birthday on Saturday, he was allowed to choose something to inherit. He ended up choosing a huge, decommissioned WWII shell (and Robin told us the next day that he was so excited by it that he slept with it in his bed that night - waking up all smelly and musty!!) It was really sad to say goodbye to Robin and the kids and I cried yet again and Ryan didn't... Honestly!! I had to convince Ryan to accompany me on a late night trip to Walgreens to make me feel better...

The next day, we got up and did the final bits of packing before Randy and Lucy drove us over to the airport in Newport News. We stopped for lunch and were nice and early to check in...then we found out that our flight had been delayed by high winds in New York. Grrr! What made this really disappointing is that we had booked tickets to see Company on Broadway and because of the delay, we had to ring up and cancel. Very disappointing as I have only managed to see one show this trip :( Still, our flight finally left just after 6pm and we made it to our hotel by 9ish. We decided to head out to dinner to a Mexican place that Ken took us to, when we were in New York at New Year's. GREAT Margaritas!! We even got to sign the wall as we left -


As we left the restaurant, it was pretty darn cold but that lovely husband of mine still indulged me in a girlie dream - to ride around Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage at night.

It was so gorgeous. All the tourists from New Year's had gone home, I think, because as we went through the park, we couldn't hear any other carriages. It hasn't snowed much this year but the snowfall this week was just heavy enough to stick so the park was blanketed in the lightest touch of white. We passed the ice rink (which was deserted), the carousel, the Chess House and the Great Lawn - all silent and wintery....gorgeous!

Coming home, I took this great shot of the library which I'm going to post just because....

The flights back to Australia were pretty uneventful. Ryan slept more than usual which was good cause he wasn't as crabby as usual :) I apparently slept through some pretty bumpy turbulence which I'm pretty pleased about. We had icecream in Tokyo. Sydney airport was very dull. And my mum picked us up in Adelaide with as much excitement as she usually does... my brothers will know what I mean. She didn't try to leap the barrier this time though. :P

And now we're back to the mundane - laundry, tidying, thinking about school starting next week. Sigh. We had a fabulous trip though and I'm loving unpacking and seeing all the stuff that I bought in my month of shopping frenzy! We ended up buying one BIG new suitcase and a smaller gym bag specifically for all the candles that I purchased but managed to fit everything in and make it back in one piece!

So bye for now, will post pics in the week as I get a bit more organised - I have over 270 shots to look through!

Richmond

Had a great day on Sunday in Richmond. It's been unseasonably warm so we could sit outside and have a long, leisurely lunch with our friends. We then went for a stroll and had a look in some of the shops in Carytown. I managed to come away with yet another candle to add to the seven pounds of scented wax that I've already bought.

After saying farewell to Bob and Kirsten and also checking out a few more shoe stores in the Short Pump shopping area, we drove back to Newport News to meet up with Alex and Courtney for Mexican food at our favourite restaurant in Virginia, Tequila Rose. Thankfully, the food is still fabulous and the margaritas are still yummy...and huge! This is the small size!

It was a great night and so lovely to meet Alex's new girlfriend. Well, new to us - they've been living together for almost two years!! The night stayed warm so we got to eat outside on the deck - a bit of a novelty in January in Virginia!!

On Monday, Ryan was off with the "boys", doing who knows what and I toodled around on my own in the rental car. Popped past the Prime Outlets again, stopped in at the Christmas store and then drove down to Newport News Park where I did the 2.6 mile trail. So so so pretty - dammit though, I forgot the camera battery so will have to do without pics. It was again lovely weather - 75 degrees, whatever that is in Celsius - so it was lovely to walk around and once again, there was no one there. I really don't understand why no one walks these trails. I walked them every weekend when I lived here but I only passed about six people and it was a public holiday here. I love this trail - it winds around a lake and you can spot deer and squirrels as you go. I also love how the path itself is soft with dry pine needles and fall leaves.

Monday night, we spent hanging out with Ryan's sister, her husband and our neice and nephew for the last time at their place. Cate and Jared have grown so much since we saw them in 2004 and we're sad that it will be a long while til we see them again! Who knows what sort of personality traits they will develop by then! We're now at Ryan's dad's house in Suffolk for the rest of the trip. We're trying to make the most of the last few days though and avoid thinking about how much we'll soon be missing everyone here. (I'm trying to drink my body weight in Diet Dr Pepper too.) We drove over here yesterday morning and then went for lunch with Ryan's grandparents to celebrate his grandfather's 85th birthday. We came back to their house after lunch and looked at some family pictures - quite fun to see photos from the 1930s when Paw Paw was in 2nd grade in the middle of the Depression!

Last night, we also caught up with the last of the Denbigh crowd, having dinner in Chesapeake with Sue and Bill. We had forgotten the joys of the interstate in peak hour though - nightmare! Sue cooked up a massive meal - roasted game hens, sweet potato and cranberry bake, green bean casserole, herbed pototoes and berries and angel food cake for dessert. It was wonderful to see their home and meet their furbabies.

Today, we're having a day in at Randy and Lucy's. Lucy has organised some barbeque (which is slow cooked pork, shredded when it's tender and then mixed with BBQ sauce and vinegar...sounds a bit odd but it's DIVINE!) for dinner. I am thinking I may pop out to the mall in Norfolk this afternoon, though it's turned really cold out there (36 degrees Fahrenheit) so we'll see if that happens. Robin and Jack are coming past tonight and we are going out for dinner with Nancy and Bryan, Lucy's daughter and her husband. We always have a fun time when we go out as a six, so we're looking forward to that too! Tomorrow, Robin is bringing her kids over for our last full day and then we're flying up to New York on Friday! I can't believe it's all almost over but we're enjoying the last few days with family as much as we can.