Australia - part 2

My super cute card from Cassie & Hamish

possible new blog name once this trip is over perhaps?? Aussie Mo? I like it! and I LOVE vegemite!

Helen, Murray & I flew down to Bateman´s Bay to see their parents for a few days as well. It was a really nice trip, great to see them & fun to finally meet their dog Emma!

Murray & his Dad Peter cooking at the BBQ

A lovely family dinner

Peter, Lyn, Helen & I

Emma relaxing with Peter on his chair

Ahhhhh what a cutie - that does not look very comfortable though!

The marinade is what MADE the meal - so so yummy - hats off to Peter! I must get that recipe....
I think Emma wants a bite of the food too!

The boys cooking away - with Emma hoping for some scraps
YUMMY! Gotta love BBQ - onion, sausage, steak & tomato

Lyn´s YUMMY corn soufflé
A group pic from our last dinner at the in-law´s house.

from left - Peter, Helen, Me, Murray & Lyn

Me, Lyn, Peter, Murray at the local Botanical Gardens which were lovely!!

Me giving the tree Peter & Lyn bought for Helen, Murray & I a few more leafs. Hopefully the next time we check on it it will be a bit more leafy on it´s own:) I had a pic of the sign that says our names and what the tree is called, but can´t figure out how to edit out our surname cause it´s all in Spanish - oh well, will post it later.

Peter at the restaurant between 2 lovely flower paintings
Lyn & Helen

Me & Murray

The oh so lovely burger Murray had at lunch

It was just a tiny little cafe - but WOW the food was amazing!

My lunch - garden salad & yummy soup
And another FAB dessert - hats off to the French chef!



Our Last Day in town we met up with some friends at Shelly Beach - just a short walk down from Manly

I had some yummy ice cream too - my favourite - mint choc chip
Murray & Helen

lunch before we went down to the beach - yummy grilled fish & salad & corn!

Murray spinning his candy snake
Amelia & Steve in the surf

Cute Amelia on the beach Steve & Amelia checking out the cold water

Steve, Selina, Murray, Amelia & Me

Steve witnessing our wills (the things you have to do before a long trip - yuck!)
Murray, Me, Kelly & Andrew

Jana & Murray (check out the - I think they are called - Surf Skiis)

Chris, Libby, Murray & Me Lovely Shelly Beach
Relaxing on the beach with Manly in the background
Hard to see cause the photo is so dark.... but there is a dog on the roof! I saw him climb out of the window onto the roof for a bit of fresh air - too funny!

We didn´t have a ton of extra space in the bag.... so used Murray´s shoes as extra storage space
Murray put was trying to put some face cream into a smaller container - but there was a little accident - what a mess!

The backpack - Murray´s clothing bags are red - mine are the cute blue flowery ones.

I am SO SO glad it all fit!!

Today we are packing up, leaving in about 30 minutes to do our first all day bus ride (fun fun). BUT it´s well worth it - 7 hours of bus riding - then we get 2 full days at the beach - whooo hooo! Then we´re off on a 3 day trek to see Angel Falls - can´t wait!

Last dinner in Manly at Ribs & Rumps - lovely

Muy Bien

We´re here in Venezuela! Absolutely exhausted after 39 hours of travelling to get here, but we´re here! It was 40c (110F) when we arrived!!! After much walking in circles finally found the hotel, and our friends & we just had a nice bite to eat with them. Tonight we meet our tour guide and the rest of the group then tomorrow we´re out of Caracas & we head out towards the beach (YAY!!)

I will try and post the rest of our Aussie photos tomorrow morning before we go:)

Sydney

We took the red eye flight to Sydney, Australia
And on our first weekend we went to visit our friends Steve & Selina & of course gorgeous Amelia!!! Isn't she a cute little lady!
Sweet
Amelia, Selina & Clara

The boys managed to find the beer we drank in Russia at the bottle shop! And Murray had the bottle opener we bought in Russia to open them up!
Gorgeous Clara cuddling in the blanket I made for her
Cutie

Murray & Amelia
Steve at the barbie
Please disregard my socks with sandals! It was chilly!!

The wine collection - they are so nice to be storing some for us as well (nice to dig into when we visit!!)
The nice dessert wine we chose to share that we picked up on a group trip to the Hunter Valley in Jan 2006.
It was SOOOOOOOOOO yummy

Yummmmm Tim Tams - the best Australian cookie ever
Murray & Amelia

We also took a lovely day trip to Windsor
and had a little picnic but it was HOT that day!! around 36c (102f)

Steve & sleepy Clara
me & the bikers - they were Everywhere cause it was such a nice sunny day!

It was an exhausting day
Amelia getting an excellent view of the valley
Me, Clara & Amelia
Clara wrapped up for her nap time
Cuddles for uncle Murray

Cuddles for Aunty Mo
She is SO sweet - so talkative too! But I admit after we did this puzzle for the 10th time it got a little old :) But she's so cute I couldn't say no!

Piggy back rides
I hear Selina is happy Murray taught this game to Amelia, now she wants to put erasers on her face (or rubbers as they call them here - although I don't know if I will ever be able to say that....) like uncle Murray!

It took Steve quite some time to find his true calling in life

These are very old pictures of course

thankfully he has finally found his calling
doll groomer! lol

We had SUCH a nice time visiting them, gosh I will miss them:( But I do really look forward to spending some more quality time with all of them once we are back from our trip!




We also received our shipment of boxes from London - all 32 boxes accounted for!! We opened all of the fragile ones & some of the others & everything seemed just fine - what a relief!



Gorgeous Stunning Manly

The view from Cassie & Hamish's balcony at their flat in Manly - wow
Helen, Cassie & Hamish surprised me with a 'congrats you're Australian now' party!!

sister-in-law & friend Helen & me
Hamish, Cassie, Helen & Me & our Australian feast
Fairy Bread & Lamingtons
The oh so so so yummy Pavlova (I had 2 pieces - made me feel a bit sick to eat that much - but it was SO good)!!
Me & Fairy Bread

Carmello Koalas, Strawberry Creams & Fantails
I love the Koalas - yummm - just a little chocolate koala filled with caramel


My new I love Australia shirt - too cute!

Waving the flag for my little stuffed animal friends Koala & Kangaroo
Murray & Hamish at the BBQ
Me & Cassie
My new cup with Australian animals on it - filled with Australian beer - of course!
Please notice the necklace - cute little Koalas & leaves!
Murray, Me, Hamish, Cassie, Helen

Oh and just in case you forgot
Murray's eye post Minnesota to Sydney flight

Lovely Huh? (that picture at the beginning of the post is a close up of his eye!)

We fly out of Australia today and should be in Venezuela about 30 hours from now - fun fun! I'll try to get the rest of the photos from our Australian trip up asap!