Hamilton Island

On Tuesday we went on a sailboat snorkel trip called "On the Edge". It was very rough on the way out and the visibility was not very good, but we did get to go to Whitehaven beach. Kate enjoyed riding upfront on the trampoline. She was, however, very disappointed she wasn't allowed to jump, because the captain said "you can fly up ten feet in the air if you land at the right time, and that's great fun until you land on the very hard and unforgiving deck." She and dad got drenched.

There is a great ice cream parlor on the island, which is incidentally called "The Ice Cream Parlor." Kate was eating her chocolate and hot-fudge-carmel (hot carmel, beats me why they don't just call it that) when several rainbow lorikeets flew down to help her eat. They were on her shoulders and climbed across her shirt in attempt to get the ice cream. They attacked dad as well. Soon, two sulfer crested cockatoos joined in.

Yesterday Kate and I rode the kids quads on a course and kicked up a lot of mud. Our legs were covered in mud and we had spots all over. Kate ran into the bushes three times and had to be pulled out by the attendant, which is ironic because she has been teasing me about crashing a go-cart into a tree because my dog ran in front of me, so I swerved. Who's laughing now?

The beach is very interesting. I don't want to say the low tide is dramatically shallow, but let's just say to get a foot of water it's a fifteen minute walk from the beach. You can actually walk out to some islands. Kate went out during low tide this morning and came back with no less than 102 hermit crabs. I found a huge one yesterday that had very sharp claws. We also took a sailboat out this morning, and mom was extremely disappointed there was not enough wind to bring it up on one hull. Mom and Hobie-Cats are, let's just say, interesting.

This morning we went on a tour at the wildlife center on the island and meet a wombat named Hippo. We also met some dingoes, Dakota and Dozer, and a few koalas named Elvis, Willow, Oprah and Phoebe. We also saw the 5 month old baby koala who is really cute.

Surf camp and sydney show

John had another shift without a call yesterday, which was rather boring, though it did give them time to wash the helicopter, which was a first - it's not every day you get to bucket wash a $16.5 million dollar aircraft - there was, however, a huge rainbow on the drive to work which made it worth going in anyway.  Weather has been a little breezy and cooler but today was fabulous! Last day of surf camp for the girls and we also went to the Sydney Family Show in Centennial Park which is more of a kiddie carnival than the Easter Show - the girls enjoyed the bungees and Kate went in a 'hamster ball' which she loved, in fact, we may have to get one for her to use around the house - it would keep the crumbs from her sandwiches contained. Speaking of sandwiches, the girls were excited to find marshmallow fluff at the 'reject store' (sort of a unclaimed freight store up the road) so they had a decidedly nutritious sandwich for lunch of nutella, peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff....

Last day of a 4 day surfing camp on school holidays - as you can see, the girls are doing well, Tess is down to a 7ft long board and enjoying it a lot! Kate got 'washing machined' yesterday and was a little tentative today, but still had fun.

Tomorrow we're off to Hamilton Island for a week of exploring in the not-so-wilds of Queensland...
cheers,
jh

Showbags and show-offs

We have been having a busy 'fall break' week! Weather cooled down today, in fact snow forecast for the Snowy Mountains south of us, but still in the upper 60s and headed back into the 70s in the next few days. Yesterday we went to the 'Easter Show' which is like the MN State Fair - lots of cattle, pigs, sheep, vendors (though no deep-fried candy bars and not much 'on a stick' aside from the Dagwood Dogs - which are corn dogs), interesting-looking people, etc. The main difference is the 'show bags' - this is a whole hall full of vendors with bags of stuff that you buy - for example, Kate picked up a 'Monster High' bag with pretend locker, nail polish, stickers, etc. for $20, we bought a 'Moove' flavored milk bag (a chocolate milk, strawberry milk, cold pack, two beach towels, packed in a cooler tote bag for $17 - in our defense, we haven't see beach towels for under $20 each and need some). So not exactly 'State Fair Groupon' but still...

And speaking of Groupon, today we used one to do the Sydney Harbor Jet Boats which was really fun - they do 360s and jet about the harbor, irritating ferry captains I'm sure. But a good ride. We stayed pretty dry - see the pictures of kate in her poncho. Also see the pictures of Kate with her 'school's out' breakfast of coffee and nicotine (actually hot chocolate and a cigarette she found on the ground which hadn't been smoked). The girls started surf camp today in pretty choppy conditions, camp continues through Friday so we'll try for pictures later in the week. Tonight we went up the Westfield tower for dinner at sunset which was fantastic - looking at the ocean and all the harbors and rivers and off to the outskirts of Sydney.

Our neighbors Laura and Adam have been having Tess baby-sit Ila after she goes to bed in the evening so that they can go have dinner - despite our best efforts they are paying her $15 per hour - though we're buying Ila gifts on the side to make up for the overpayment. They are wonderful neighbors and we trade backed goods frequently. They brought over another ration of Easter candy to the girls yesterday - bringing us to the point that we shopped in the Lindt chocolate store today in Darling Harbor where it was 50% off everything Easter-related and we bought NOTHING. A cruel and tortured existence we are leading...

cheers,
john

Around and about

We haven't had any big adventures lately, but several little ones - went to Parsley bay to a nice little beach (with a shark net - like most Sydney beaches you're advised to swim inside the nets - the bull sharks can be large and unpredictable) where Kate and I dug a deep hole down to water which she was quite happy with. Both John and Tess have continued with surfing lessons and Kate has been liking bodyboarding - both the girls have surf camp next week since it's the end of fall term here (and thus, the girls have two weeks off, then back to school for 1 day and off again 1 day for ANZAC - memorial - day). Today was Easter, and the Easter Bilby made it here to deliver baskets! The eggs are all brown here, so they don't lend themselves to dying very well - the colors look a little strange. We did get an Easter egg hunt in at the home of some new friends that had about 35 people over for a 'little barbeque' - and a LOT of chocolate. One of the eggs was at the bottom of the swimming pool by accident and Kate went and got her suit on and found it by feeling around (motivated by the fact that she had lost by 1 egg to Tess in the hunt - and the pool egg tied the score again). We visited the Harry Potter exhibition again so that Tess could get her monthly (and last) fix of all things Potter-related. It is pretty cool to get a feeling for the difficulty and amount of work that goes into all the costumes, props, etc. The girls also were zookeepers for a day at Taronga zoo, which they enjoyed, getting to feed sugar gliders (like a flying squirrel) with eye droppers, see the kitchens and the 'menus', scooping kangaroo poop, handling snakes, and learning about different bird handling - hopefully Tess will have more to say in a post soon. Mommy and Daddy several nice hours reading and relaxing and having lunch on a beach in Balmoral - as we were somewhat unmotivated to perform any physical exertion after our 6 mile Spit to Manly shore walk that we had done 2 days prior. Tomorrow we are going to go the the Easter Show (like the state fair), then 3 days of surf camp for the girls (three days of work for John) and then off to Hamilton Island at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef for a week! It's hard to believe that we are well into April already - time is flying! The girls only have 4 more weeks of school until they are finished. We're thinking of and missing our friends and family at Easter! Take care and happy spring!
John