Sunday, October 26, 2008

Lazy Down Unda

Hi all,

Sorry for not posting much this month. We have been a bit slack.

We went camping a week (or so) ago to Noosa North Shore. It is about 2 hours north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast. Morgan and Kate have friends that own a little plot of land in the Noosa National Park and they were gracious enough to invite a bunch of us up for the weekend to camp.

In short it was great. The spot was perfect. It has a small concrete slab poured for setting up your camping chairs with a fire pit at the far end. Half of the slab is covered with a roof and has a small sink and counter for preparing food. They also have a large water drum for catching rain water and outdoor shower. All the frills of outdoor living.

The best thing is that the spot is only about 30 meters to the beach. Oh yeah!!!! And what a beach. This beach runs about 60 km up the eastern coast of Australia. The only drawback is the traffic.... yes I said traffic. It is legal to dive on this beach with a 4x4. So you have to keep an eye out for them as they pass. Aside from that it was perfect.

Here are some pics!


Shamus and Breagha were pretty excited to go camping. On the Wednesday prior to leaving they had to sleep in their sleeping bags on their bedroom floor.


Catching some early morning sun. No hats and sunnies ... yet.


Breagha would entertain herself for the whole day at the beach. She is in her own world ... all she needs is a shovel, a bucket, an ocean and tonnes of sand.


The rest of the gang just "maxin and relaxin"





It wasn't just 4x4s tearing up the sand.

As always you have to share your campsites.


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Some Brissie beauty

As I mentioned in a previous post, it's spring here. And that means there are lots of trees/bushes/plants in bloom. Very beautiful. So, I finally took my camera out to snap a few pics.

This is by our place...


Just off our street...


Thought I would also throw in some of the different types of transportation used here.

The City Cat....

It's great. Goes up and down the river. And there is a city ferry that goes across the river and back. So, lots of options. And the Cat runs frequently so you aren't waiting around forever.

This is an ute. A very typical Aussie truck. And they all seem to be white!

Another white city work truck.

More beautiful flowers. This is a bloom from a tree. The trees are amazing here.


This big shrub is in New Farm park and every time I go by it I think of my sister, Cheryl. She is TOTALLY into gardening and obsessed with purple. So, she would love this.


Just by our street. The colours right now are truly amazing. My allergies took a beaten at the beginning because eeeeeverything was blooming. But this past week has been much better so I'm crossing my fingers!!! There are some huge trees...and they are really huge...that bloom bright yellow or purple flowers so I'll try to get a picture of one of the them soon!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANADA!!!
WE MISS YOU ALL!


Monday, October 6, 2008

Ahhhh, the spring weather is HOT!

It's only spring here and it's been 30degrees the last few days. I'm going to melt in December!!!

It's really going to be nasty. I'm hoping that as it gets hotter, my body will be slowing adjusting to the heat. We'll see how that theory works out!

This past weekend was super busy for us. Friday night was a girls evening at Clo's. Went over for a "Stitch n'Bitch". There was 6 of us and only 2 did stitching...and the rest of us did the bitching! heheeee....good times! Thanks Clo!

Saturday was off to New Farm Park for a Birthday BBQ for Mike. Remember Mike? He's from Montreal and works with Darryl

On the way to the park....we found a very big spider crawling on the stroller! Darryl tried to get him off and he landed on one of our bags. Damn, this isn't even considered a big spider here!

Yeah, with the heat comes the critters!!

The birthday boy, Mike. And his son, Jason.


Shamus loves babies. He really wanted to hold the baby, Maddox. (Mike and Mireille's newest addition) Maddox wasn't too happy about it though. :)

B. Just hangin' out.


Then.......
Saturday night.
Off to Jen's birthday party! Jen works with Darryl and did a theme party. Dress up like a drink!

Jen - as RedBull. I can't remember the other drink. Hmmmm, too many and I don't drink much besides wine and beer so I didn't know half the drinks. And I think the Aussies made some up!!


Canadian Boys....Krispin also works with Darryl. He's from Vancouver.

Trish and Michael - Take 1.

Trish and Michael - Take 2.



I enjoy Jeff's costume the best - Souther Comfort. Being an American Boy from the southern states, he was quite entertaining...giving everyone some "comfort".
"are ya ok?" "do ya need a hug?"

.....Oh, getting tired but we still have Sunday!!!....
Off to South Bank with the kiddies!!



South Bank is across the river for us. It's the best place. It has everything that you would need to entertain the kiddies. I love going there. And the kids love the beach (man made beach). The beaches in Australia are known for great surfing. So, that means that the waves are quite big and strong and can be rough. This can make it tough to go swimming with the kids. South Bank is perfect because there are no rough waves to drown in!

Today I took a first aid/CPR course for work. It's tomorrow also so I'm enjoying a little work break!! And it's interested as I'll be learning some different things than what you learn in Canada - like snake bites, spider bites, jellyfish stings....

Tomorrow night we are going to Felicity and Nigel's for dinner and play time for the kids. And then I go to Sydney on Friday morning for work. Back on Saturday night.
So, a busy week!!