The Hunter Valley

Back in June, Shelby and I decided to brave the Australian roads and we set out on our first roadtrip. We headed out of Sydney for our tour of - Hunter Valley - Australian Wine Country.

On our way out of the city we made an impromptu stop at the Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park(www.walkaboutpark.com.au) where we got up-close and personal with wallabies, a very soft Koala and bats (Shelby was not so sure about this...but they grew on her)!!

Once in the Hunter, we had a relaxing dinner at our hotel which included beer tasting, as we were staying at Potters Hotel and Brewery. The next day our wine tour started with a pick-up at our hotel at 9:30am - thank goodness someone else was doing the driving!! We enjoyed a wonderful day of wine tasting...and tried to embrase the whites...as 2008 was a bad year for reds in the Valley. Our favorite place for tasting was the Peterson Champagne House (http://www.petersonhouse.com.au/) - they make a sparkling red wine here and Peterson's has several different ones which are quite interesting!!

Wine country - great trip - might have to check it out again this spring!!!

First NRL Game - Go Dragons!!

As most of you know, I am a big sports fan, so learning about rugby was top on my list of things to do while in Australia. This has proved a bit more challenging than I had anticipated. Back home when you say football, it means the same thing whether you are talking college or pro. Here rugby, or Footy as they like to call it, has Union, Aussie rules or League, which have different rules and different means of scoring. But I am up to the challenge of learning all three.

To get myself started, we headed off to a League game between the Dragons and the Bulldogs. Now this was sparked by the interest of Ryan's friends, 2 of which are Dragons fans and 2 who are Bulldogs supporters. Sarah and Brett came in their red and white, while Lloyd and Jane came in their blue and white...the challenge was on. As for Shelby, Ryan and myself we remained neutral, although Shelby is leaning towards the Bulldogs and I am for the Dragons, now!!

It was a great game to attend...Friday night, small stadium, Bulldogs ranked number 1 in the league and the game was sold out!!! The game came down to the last try with only seconds left on the clock...the Bulldogs managed to score and it seemed they had come from behind to win...Lloyd and Jane were shocked and very excited (as were all of the Bulldogs fans around us)!!! But then the video ruling came and due to an illegal block in the back field, the try was no good and the Dragons won!! Now came Sarah and the rest of the fans in Red singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" - their theme song!! Then came the throwing of garbage on the field by the Bulldogs fans...they apparently didn't agree with the call!!

Definitely experienced Footy at it's finest!!

Fun in the Rain at Manly Beach!

A Rainy Day in Manly

When most people think of Australia, they usually think surfing, beaches and sun!! Well this would be true if I were here in the summer months, but I have arrived just in time for winter....which means cool weather and rain.

Shelby and I are working very opposite days right now, so when we get a day off together we are trying to make the most of it and doing something different. So even though it was forecasted to rain today, we decided to hop a ferry and head out to Manly Beach....check out the town and walk along the coast.

Ryan met us at the ferry dock, we grabbed a cup of coffee and hopped on the ferry for our 30 minute ride to Manly.

I wasn't prepared to jump in and try some surfing, but there were several people out taking a go at the surf that the off shore storm was bringing in. As we stood on a cliff just south of the beach we watched as the sky darkened and the storm rolled in. The bit of sun that was trying to break through made a beautiful rainbow.

No sun and surf for me...but had a great time exploring Manly...can't wait to go back on a warm, sunny day!!

The Blue Mountains

Easter Weekend

I know, I know you are thinking Easter weekend, wasn't that 2 months ago....and yes you are correct. But between working a lot more than I am used to and having no internet access in my apartment, it has taken me a while to get organized. But you will be happy to know that I have a couple of blog posts organized and you can breeze through them at your leisure. And now that i am getting organized, I hope to be better about blogging on say a weekly or fort-nightly basis!!
So, way back when in April, Shelby and I woke up on the Saturday morning of Easter Weekend and took a 2 hour train ride from Sydney out to Mount Victoria, a cute little town in the Blue Mountains. We were meeting Ryan and several of his friends out there, whom were already gathered at a friend's house for the long weekend.

We had a great time hanging out with Ryan and his friends. Jane's house sat on a beautiful cliff overlooking a valley...the cool misty weather led to some beautiful views from the balcony. On Easter Sunday, Ryan joined the girls as we headed off to do some light Bush Walking (as they like to call hiking here). And then it was off to Leura to enjoy a bit of shopping. We ended our day with Hot chocolate and scones with fresh cream and jam...sooooo good!!

Monday was a bit rainy, so we spent most of the day indoors playing board games and relaxing. The boys and I did decide to brave the weather for one more bush walk - and I'm so glad we did, because on the way home I saw my first kangaroo (outside of a zoo)!! Poor guy looked scared to death...he was standing in the middle of the road as we came around a curve on our way home...he froze and lucky for him we were going slow, as we had just come through a stop sign. Sorry , there is no picture of this...he moved a bit too quickly for me!!

A Much Needed Warm Up!!

I would love to say I have been sooooo busy that I haven't had time to blog over the last six weeks, but that just isn't true. Although I have been working regularly, I have had some time for fun.

Just two weeks ago, I was in San Diego and Los Angeles for 7 days. As much as I have enjoyed the opportunity to experience winter at it's coldest, it was nice to be back in the warm southern California sun for a few days.

After getting my rental car, "The Hooptie" as Diana so loving referred to it, I headed to my old roommate Stephanie's apartment for some much needed sleep. (Note to self, when booking a flight on an airline that has recently been bought out and has been so lovingly referred to as 'America's Worst,' check that your seat assignment does not change when they combine their flights with the new airline.) After 2 hours of sleep before heading to the airport, I was looking forward to my window seat, so I could rest my head and go to sleep!!! Unfortunately, I got stuck with the middle seat and proceeded to fitfully attempt to sleep for the next 4 hours!!

I drove down to San Diego on Thursday and had lunch with my friend Michelle. We enjoyed Margarita's and mexican food under the warm afternoon sun - it doesn't get much better than that!! I then met Diana at our hotel in the Gaslamp district. We headed to happy hour at a local bar to start the night off. From there it was back to the hotel for a quick nap. Our friend Kelly joined us for dinner and a night out on the town. The 3 of us met last summer when we were all travel nurses at Tri-city Medical Center - we had a great summer. Since then, Kelly has moved back to Kansas, gotten married and is now back in San Diego for another assignment while her husband is finishing up officer training school in Virginia. Diana has traveled to Tacoma, WA, Pheonix, AZ and is currently on her way to Palo Alto, CA. It was great to catch up!!

Dinner was a lot of fun - my friend Julia, who is currently finishing up her Pediatric residency in San Diego was even able to join us for dinner. I have known Julie since college - it was great to have dinner with her too - she is still trying to get me to move back to Cali.

On Friday, I got up and met my cousin Brent for brunch. His son Brendan is 6 weeks old and I got to meet him for the first time. Unfortunately I had a bad cold and the NICU nurse in me allowed me only to admir him from a distance. He is a wonderful little boy and I think I even managed to get a little smile out of him!!

From there, it was time to head back up to LA. I was meeting Diana near the Petsmart, where she had boarded her cat for the night(whom she travels with) and we where going to follow each other to my friends house in LA, dropping the cat at a kennel of the way. Easier said than done!! On my way to meet her, she called to say the cat was very upset and was refusing to come out of the cage. When Diana would get close to her, Shiner would hiss and attempt to bat at her. It took over an hour to get her out of the cage and into her crate. With this development it was determined it was best for Diana to get a hotel room for the cat!! That's right - the cat!! She and I were staying at my friend Lisa's place because it was more centrally located to the things we wanted to do. So we checked the cat into the LaQuinta Hotel near LAX, where she enjoyed a weekend of luxury!! The funny this was that in the 3 months since Diana last stayed at the hotel they have gone through a complete remodel - meaning they no longer allow cats!! We had no other options, Diana didn't think she would do well around lots of people, since she was still pissed off from being lock in a cage for 24 hours, so we snuck her into the hotel. Set her up with food and water!! She did great and when we saw her on Sunday she seemed much happier!! The things we do for our pets!!!

Well - more to come in the next post!!