Out with Wayne and Tracey

Some photos from our night out on the town with our friends Wayne and Tracey.

The Alice and Ayers Rock- NT

We just returned from a 5 day trip to Alice Springs.  It was magical and HOT (38 degrees C).  Jeff worked from home for 4 of the days and we took an 18 hr tour to Ayer's Rock and covered 1000 km.  We went with a great company, called Emu Run.  Richard and Shorty served us all our meals, snacks and drinks with our BBQ dinner at sunset and provided excellent historical commentary, jokes and little known facts about the region.  Although we were in the middle of nowhere, we learnt that there are water holes and food sources everywhere, one just needs to know where to find them.  The Aboriginis have been doing it for thousands of years.  Our ride home was complete with wild dingo and kangaroo sightings.

A tour to that area of the world wouldn't be complete without tasting some of the local delicacies.  We went to a quaint outdoor restaurant, called Red Ocre on our last night and ordered the tasting platter which consisted of camel, kangaroo filet, emu sausage, and wild barramundi.  The restaurant was out of crocodile.  I'm glad I tried it but can't say that I'd order it again.  Jeff wasn't really in the mood for game but he was a good sport nonetheless.  See our pics.

Mardi Gras

Today marks the day of our 1 year Anniversary in Australia....and Mardi Gras! We had an amazing night, and It was fun to dress up- very SF! We painted the town red with our friend, Ben and met colourful characters. photos here.

Nice summer day out part 2, and QE2 viewing

Sunday was also a really nice day, and we took full advantage of it once again.
We started out by going for a swim at the Andrew Boy Charlton Pool, which is right on Woolloomooloo (gotta love that name :) bay.
The Queen Elizabeth 2, here in Sydney on it's final voyage, happened to be berthed right on the other side of the bay from the pool, making for some good photos (click here for photoset).

Nice summer day out, and Queen Victoria viewing

Since we finally had a sunny day on a Saturday, we decided to take full advantage of it.
We started out with a dip in the pool, then we packed the picnic trolley and went down to Circular Quay where the Queen Victoria had just come dock.
This is her maiden voyage. As you can see, the ship is absolutely massive, by far the largest ship I've ever seen (although there are even larger cruise ships out there). On Sunday the Queen Elizabeth 2 (from the same fleet) will also be docking here, and they will pass each other in the Harbour. We'll be there taking more pics :)

We finished off the afternoon with a picnic in the Royal Botanical Gardens, which overlooks the Opera House and the Harbour.

More photos click here.

Sunday Barbie chez Weller

We spent an amazing afternoon with Wayne & Tracey and got to know their 2 lovely kids, Jade 12yrs and Belle 2yrs. It was our first true Aussie barbie and Wayne wasn't kidding around with the roast, chicken and shrimp! The pool was warm but the trampoline was the most popular by far. This is us with Ms. Belle....

Painting

It poured down rain the entire weekend (still pouring today actually), so it was a good weekend for us to finally paint our bedroom and put up some of our artwork that was recently shipped from the US (thanks Mary!).
We will soon post some pics of the finished room (have a few more photos to hang).