Sunday, January 25, 2009

Update!

Hey everyone! We are indeed having some exciting adventures on this trip. Unfortunately, we aren't able to post things yet. As soon as we are able to access a computer where we are not paying per minute for time we will amaze you all with pictures of our awesome experiences... in the meantime- imagine us having a splendid time and stew in jealousy. We are off to Cairns in the morning. Have a happy Australia Day everyone!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Waitomo Black Water Adventure

Well the trip is officially under way. After waking up in Auckland, we drove towards Waitomo. On the way, we called 'Rap, Raft n Rock' cave rafting company to book ourselves for a tour. We rapalled into the cave 27 m. The view on the ride down was amazing.
We floated in tubes down the river in the dark. The walls and ceiling were glowing with glow worms. They looked like the stars.


Then it was time to crawl through some holes and REALLY tight spaces.


Tara and Barry went through a really tiny space that required them to go sideways the entire way. Our guide said he had only had one other person make it through before.


Barry started to lose his wetsut on the way through.

After about 3.5 hours in the cave it was time to climb out. Nancy went first and the white dots at the bottom are our rubber boots.

This is where we got in and out. Truly incredible.



Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Happy New Year!

It was a pretty quite New Years in Canberra. We found out too late that Sydney was the place to be. No worries though we got ourselves some bubbly and enjoyed ringing in the New Year in a different country.




My parents called just before midnight.



Tara poured us a drink and then it was out to the balcony to watch the fireworks that were happening down town.


The picture isn't great. But the view was pretty good.


After we were into 2009 it was time to call Tara's parents and find out how things were back in 2008 and brag about living in the future.


Happy New Year and best wishes to everyone in 2009.


Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A Visitor From Ontario

Between Christmas and New Years I got a call from my cousin Caroline. Despite all of the snow storms at home she had managed to fly out of Toronto and make her way to Australia to visit friends.

Jason, Marissa and Caroline where staying at the beach about 2 hours away from Canberra. They decided to come to the Capital and see us. Caroline met them a couple of years ago when they were living in Milton, ON. They were working and travelling in Canada for a year, much like I am doing now in Australia.

We had a really good visit. It was great to see Caroline and meet her friends.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Boxing Day

Boxing Day was another busy one for Tara and I. After some very productive shopping, we were off to the lake for a barby.
Ivan (our minister), his wife Margaret and daughter Jenny (all on the right side of the table), hosted Hong, Tracy, Tara and Me for a delicious meal by the water. The food was so good and we had a really great time talking with them. Ivan had a great Aussie hat to keep the sun off. He let me wear it for the picture. I am hoping to get one just like it for our trip.



Lake Burly Griffin is in the background. There we lots of people kayaking. Tara and I thought about commandeering there boats but we decided to wait for another day.

After dinner Ivan took us up to Telstra Tower. It is a telecommunication tower that sits on the top of Black Mountain and offers some amazing views of the city.

The end of another great day in Oz.