Trip to Nelson Bay

We went up to Nelson Bay on Saturday and on the way is an animal park that we stopped at to see kangaroos, koalas, sheep, etc. We were seriously the only people in the entire park that were above the age of ten and didn't have kids. The park was really muddy because of all the rain we've had so our shoes were awful looking! We were able to feed sheep, baby lambs, goats, camels, kangaroos, horses, and pigs. I stayed away from the pigs they were gross! I was nervous to feed the camel and was going to chicken out until Jimmy told me, "Jill when will you ever get to feed a camel again, just do it!" So I did and Im glad, his mouth was like a suction cup and it took him about 2.5 seconds to eat all the food out of my hand. Right as we were leaving we found this hilarious "cut out" family.. Merd and I couldn't resist! We had so much fun and here's some proof. How cute is he! Look at the little Joey in the pouch They really loved Jimmy..only b/c he had food! Gotta love this one! This Kangaroo is sitting exactly like Belle! Directly on his ass! Greedy Bastard! He was literally climbing over the fence to get Jimmy's food. To think that we were petting cute little Lambs and the following night Jimmy had Lamb Shanks for dinner! He was joking that it was the cute little white one that Merd is feeding. Sad.

Newcastle

From the second we got into the car in Sydney I have been super picture happy! I try to keep it ready because I don't want to miss anything! Merd drove me around Newcastle today and I must say she does a pretty good job of driving on the other side of the car and road. I saw some beaches and even walked on the amazing sand! I feel like my dad just cut some wood with his saw and dumped it onto the beach. It feels like dust and doesn't even stick to your feet. I exchanged $500 and got $605 Australian dollars.. not too bad when you get more than you gave them! Their money feels waxy and so much more clean and colorful than ours. WE all know how obsessed with cars I am so I had to take a picture of a Toyota Prado AKA a Lexus GX470 back home. So weird! Oh yeah and the Acura TSX at home is a Honda Accord/Euro here. Last but not least Rusti the labradoodle next door is so cute! This is how she hangs out during the day, and she never barks! That is my kind of dog :) Oh yeah this is Jill writing by the way. Here is my Australian money that I exchanged over today. You have all of the bills from 50 to 5 and then they have 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins in addition to 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent and 50 cent coins. Here is the car I was talking about. Here we are in front of Dixon Park (one of the 5 beaches that Merd took me to). First time that I felt Australian sand...did you know that they transport sand to Hawaii??? It literally feels like saw dust! Here is Merd driving. She started laughing when I said that I wanted to take a picture. It is weird right? Last but not least, here is what they call the Newcastle penis. It is a look out over Noby's Beach.

Goodbye California

So Jill and I flew out on Tuesday from LAX and went directly to Sydney. Our flight was a little over an hour delayed so we ended up taking off about 1:20AM and arrived around 8:30AM on Thursday Sydney time. Jill was upgraded to premium economy but I wasn't so we regretfully declined so we could sit together in Economy. BAD IDEA! After about two hours we were both wishing we had bigger seats, even if they weren't next to each other. As soon as we were able to use our TVs in the headrests, I found out that mine didn't even work. I asked one of the attendants to reset it and they did twice and it still didn't work. I was in the middle seat and next to a guy that felt he needed to take up the entire arm rest so I felt claustrophobic the entire time. We missed out on our Cadbury Hot Chocolate, both of our snacks in between meals, and didn't receive the sleep masks while everybody else had one. I got fed up about 2 1/2 hours into the flight and took a sleeping pill and didn't see Jill for another 5 hours. So much for sitting next to one another! Anyways, we learned our lesson and will never decline a upgrade again! On a brighter note, here are some pics of us on our way :)

1 day!

Jimmy is literally packing the car as I write...we are headed down to Sydney and it is now less than 24 hours before we take off! I am so excited that I don't think I will even sleep at all tonight!

3 days and counting...

So I officially am done with Hunter Water as of yesterday. I now am at home for two more days and then off to Sydney. It is only Thursday and I am starting to pack. It is weird to think that I will only be packing mostly summer clothes considering it is 9 degrees Celcius today. Translation...around high 40's F. A bit cold for me to say the least. Anyways, Jimmy told me today that no matter how soon I get done packing we are both leaving at the same time. :) I just am getting too excited and can't wait! Off to packing, but I will see you all very soon!

3 Weeks!

Just wanted to let you all know that it is now down to 3 weeks until I come home. I am so excited it is basically all I think about. I have been out of work now for a month, but got a call from the agency on Friday telling me that Hunter Water wanted me back for a week. I go back to work tomorrow which means that I am not sitting around the house with nothing to do. My mind will be occupied for a week with work stuff so then I will only have to worry about the two weeks I will have left which will fly by! See you all soon.

Byron Bay

This past weekend, Jimmy and I went up north to a place called Byron Bay. The reason we went in the first place was because he was doing another triathlon...I know, he is a little exercise crazy right? The triathlon over the weekend was Olympic distance and he finished the race in 2 hrs 42 minutes. But just to back track a little, on the way up to Byron (all 8 hours of the drive) we passed by two "Big" items. Apparently they have these all over Australia. The first one we came across was the Big Banana. Pretty big right? The next one along the drive that we passed was the Big Prawn. They don't call them shrimp here...so that line on the movie Dumb and Dumber isn't correct..."Let's put another shrimp on the barb-e." Anyways, back to the Prawn... After I got done taking those tourist pictures, there was more to come when we got into Byron because it is the most Eastern part of the Australian Mainland...as you will see the picture... This lighthouse was where the photo above was taken. You will see in the following picture that you can follow the path all the way down to the water. This is just another picture of Me and Jimmy at another lighthouse...sort of a tradition now. So, back to the triathlon. This one provided bibs to wear (the top he is wearing is called a bib or a singlet) and let me tell you it was hilarious because it was a little short and tight. After we had a good laugh, he started his race and 2 hrs and 42 minutes later he crossed the finish line. I was so proud of him I had to just give him a hug...sweaty and all. He decided to take a picture of that moment and I have to say I think it is our best picture yet. Although I tell Jimmy that he is crazy almost on a daily basis, I support everything that he is doing with the triathlons. Byron Bay was the one he wanted to finish most of all and he did in good time might I add. So Jimmy, when does the training for the first half Iron Man start? :)

Manly

On Saturday night James and I met up with some friends for dinner in Manly (which is a place in Sydney). We went to a Tapas restaurant and can I just say there was a lot of food and 2 jugs of Sangria and nothing was left on the table. Leave it to our group to dominate all of the food and drinks! Anyways, James set up the reservation and when we got there the waitress said that it was made for Sunday instead of Saturday. Through all of the drama, we finally got a table and we ended up sharing it with another party of five. A little strange at first but it worked out really well. It was a great time. This is my friend Meg. Oh, I can't forget Doyle in the corner... Here is Me and Jimmy. Doesn't he look handsome? :-)

26...feeling a little old

I experienced my first Australian birthday! Since I was away from home, Jimmy tried to make my day really special. The night before he made me a cake... He also gave me my first card. We were brushing teeth and changing into pj's and there was a card set out for me. I didn't open it right away because I never open anything until my actual birthday but he insisted that I open it. I soon found out that it wasn't a birthday card. Basically he got me a card because I haven't received any in the mail and was a little upset. The next morning, he brought me up a cupcake with a candle and some strawberries and sang happy birthday. I mentioned that my dad used to leave something in my room on my birthday so he filled in. I then got up and opened some presents... Jimmy got me some Ugg boots and a gift certificate to get pampered at a spa for 3 hours! Jimmy's family got me some drinking chocolate with a cute little mug to go along with it, and the beautiful coach purse and wallet is from my mom and dad. Jimmy then had a great idea to do cake early for morning tea so I could see my parents over skype and they could sing with Jimmy. The cake was delicious! Later on that night we met some friends for dinner at a place called Mama Mex. It was a Mexican and Italian food place...weird combination but the food was great! We then went home and had some more cake! Overall it was a great birthday and it's all thanks to my guy...

Wedding

Jimmy's friend Jimmy got married a couple of weeks ago and it was a great time. The way they do ceremonies and receptions here is they have the ceremony and sign the marriage certificate right at the alter after the ceremony. They then have a three hour break or so for pictures and the reception is back at the same place a while after. After the ceremony, Jimmy, myself, and a few friends went to the pub down the street and then went back for the reception. It was a good night. I got to spend some time with his friends (Jimmy and I were the only couple at the single guys table). After about an hour or so, our table got in a little trouble. It started with Jimmy thinking it was a good idea to empty out the center piece and fill it with wine to drink out of... It progressed with our new roommate, Murray, pouring the entire bottle of red in there and drinking the whole glass in one drink. If it makes any difference the groom told him to... It ended with our table getting cut off of alcohol, except for two people :) Jimmy and myself continued to get glasses of wine...little did they know...Jimmy started the whole thing. Overall it was a great night. We ended up getting home at 1:30 and thought it would be a good idea to call my mom and have a conversation. Fun times huh mom?