A Farewell Party, Aussie Style

Saturday night was our going away party at Rowan and Nyoli's house. The theme was Australia. Above are our Australia outfits. They were pretty loud, but fun to say the least!

Joe and Alice, some of our first guests. They were Surf Rescue people. Great costumes!

Ah, Bob and Anne! They came in their R.M. Williams attire! I am very happy they dressed up!

Nyoli, Kyrali (I have no idea how to spell her name), and Riley. They were the masterminds behind all of the food and preparations!

You wouldn't know it, but this boxing kangaroo is actually Darren. One of the best costumes by far!

Us with Rown and Nyoli, the party planners! Rowan was a guy called Peter Allan. He was an entertainer. I guess Hugh Jackman played him in a musical called The Boy from Oz.

Bob got his hands on the boxing gloves and decided to take Justin out!

Justin with some of the party goers!


We had the best party we could have ever asked for! I had so many more pictures, but I had to pick only a few. I think we had about 40 people come. It was a mixture of church people and Justin's work people. We had a blast! It was sad saying goodbye to everyone at the end, but we will be back to Adelaide!

This will be our last post in Australia. So sad! Justin and I have been talking about keeping up our blog (well, I will be keeping up our blog), back in Dallas for all of our Australian friends. The only thing with that is that we are pretty boring back in Dallas, but we can try! A week from today, we will be back in Kansas City. This has by far been the fastest year of my life! Justin and I have had the best time of our lives here and we will never forget all of the amazing friends we have met here!

Melbourne Weekend Trip

We were off to Melbourne this past weekend to meet with Justin's main boss in the head office. We had a really nice lunch on Friday and then we had the rest of the weekend to relax and enjoy Melbourne (this was our third trip there!). The picture above is us before we headed off to go see Wicked. Wicked is really good!! Justin even liked it. It is about Glenda the good witch and the Wicked witch of the West and how they became who they are in the Wizard of Oz. The music was amazing and the story line was great! I couldn't recommend it enough!!

On Saturday, it was ANZAC Day which commemorates all of the war veterans. So we walked around the city and watched a bit of the march. This is me in front of the State Library. Last time we were there, Justin and I went in and looked at several exhibits. It is a really nice library.

This is one of the famous Melbourne trams.

Justin by some guy named LaTrobe. He was out in front of the library.
Some of the ANZAC marchers. If you can see the Regent Theater in the background, that is where we saw Wicked.

In Melbourne they are famous for what are called "hook turns". A hook turn is where you have to turn right (or left for Americans) from the far left lane (or far right left). It is supposedly to help the trams to keep flowing since they go down the middle of the streets. Whenever you have to do one, one of these signs in there.

This is the Melbourne Post Office. Pretty nice, huh? After our nice tour of Melbourne, we went to a place called Peninsula Hot Springs with one of Justin's friends from work. It was about an hour and a half out of town. It was like a spa with natural hot springs to sit in. It was really nice and relaxing!

On Sunday, we headed to the Melbourne Aquarium. They had penguins on display! They were really cute!

He looks like he is posing!

They had this big pool where you could watch them swim. They are so fast!

How cute is this little guy!?

That seaweed looking thing is a sea horse type thing! Craziest things I have ever seen!

After the Aquarium, we went to what is called the Sky Deck which is a look out from a sky scraper. I think it was like 300 meters high. The main thing in this picture is Federation Square.

You can see the Melbourne Cricket Ground in this one. Oh, and the river running through Melbourne, is called the Yarra.

So that was our weekend in Melbourne. It was our last hurrah before we head back home. The next time we are on an airplane we will be headed home. We have about two weeks left here. It is really sad thinking about leaving. Australia is wonderful! This week, the packing begins and we move out of our apartment. Then next week, we just enjoy Adelaide. We miss you all, and see you in a few more weeks!

Our Last Weekend in our Apartment

Justin and I had our last weekend in our apartment this past weekend! It is absolutely crazy how fast time if flying by! We move out of our apartment next Thursday and this weekend we will be in Melbourne. We had a laid back weekend catching up friends and it was really nice.

Friday night we went out with our friends, Darren and Kylee. On Saturday, we did our usual calling home and shopping. We hung out at the Botanic Gardens and watched parrots fly by. I am really going to miss that! Oh, side story. Last week just and I went running and what do we see? A kookaburra just sitting on a sign post. How cool is Australia! Anyway, Saturday night we had a nice night in watching the footy!

Sunday, we had a great long run! Then I went to go see the Adelaide Thunderbirds play netball. Netball is a big women's sport here. It is kinda like basketball except no dribbling or backboards. It was really fun!

Like I said this weekend we head off to Melbourne and then only two more weeks in Australia. We arrive back home on May 9th and will spend a week in KC and then back to Dallas on May 16th. Take Care!

Easter Weekend on Kangaroo Island

Back to Kangaroo Island! We went to KI last June and it was in the middle of the winter, cold, and rainy. This time around absolutely perfect weather every single day! First stop, Seal Bay! Here are some seals.

Mommy and baby seal.

This little pup was supposed to be about 6 weeks old. He was adorable!

This is Bales Beach. It was just down the road from Seal Bay.

These are Justin's little buddies he fed every night. They look like giant rats from this angle, but they are wallabies! They came to our front porch each night for a feeding from Justin.

Our little house. It was great. It had two bedrooms and a really nice kitchen.

We visited the Kelly Hill Caves. My second trip to caves during my time in Australia.

Caves

Caves

I believe this is Hanson Bay. We went to so many beautiful beaches they are hard to keep track of!

Hanson Bay

Hanson Bay

On the way to see Admirals Arch

Admirals Arch

Remarkable Rocks

By Remarkable Rocks

Watch out Justin! The rock is falling on you!

Remarkable Rocks

Climbing under rocks at Remarkable Rocks

Snake Lagoon hike....I am not sure what the bay is called, but it sure was nice!

Snake Lagoon hike

At the beach at the end of the snake lagoon walk

Beth making us Easter morning pancakes

Justin and Rob waiting for some yummy pancakes

We had to walk through these rocks to get to Stokes Bay beach

And through the rocks, Stokes Bay beach! Beautiful!

We headed to a a place called Paul's Place. It was like an animal tour where you got to interact with animals. Here is Justin with a koala.

Justin with a python

Justin with a black cocky. He was having a good time hold all of the animals!

Me with birds on me!

Justin with a bird.

Paul, of Paul's Place, just sheared a sheep and told me to hold onto the wool and next thing I knew I looked like this!

Paul again threw this guy in my arms before I knew what to to! He was pretty heavy!

Vivonne Bay! I love it here! On Easter morning Justin and I went for a walk on the beach and saw 8 dolphins swimming in the ocean! Australia is magic I tell you!

This is Little Sahara. Basically giant sand dunes. People were sand boarding down the hills!

Hiking up to the top.

View from the top.

Justin burying his feet in the sand, one of his favorite things to do!

Me and Beth looking like Bees at Cliffords Honey Farm

Some man feeding the Pelicans!

Well, Easter on KI was absolutely amazing! We had the best time! This weekend we don't have anything on. Then the next weekend we are off to Melbourne. Only two more weeks in our apartment which is a bit crazy! We will be home before we know! So sad and happy all at the same time!