Brad: part 2

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This time Brad flew down to Melbourne for a trip down the Great Ocean Road. Two tents, all of our clothes, a stove and cooler, and 2 surf boards all jammed into a tiny Hyudai Getz! You can see in the photos how well surfing went for Mike... that's me being spit out of the ocean onto the sand!

We finally saw some Kangaroos and Koalas! Trust me, koalas aren't that exciting... they simply don't move at all. And the views were incredible all along the coast. Combine all that with Cappachinos, cooking on a portable stove and a little berry picking and you get a great little trip!

Blog 'Bout Buff, Bronzed Brad and Byron Bay

So, in case any of you have been reading the "International News" section of your papers, you may have read about the bush fires that have raveged a lot of Victoria in South Australia. To ease the minds of anyone who may not have heard news from us the past few weeks, we are fine and central Melbourne hasn't experienced any of what the media is calling a "national disaster".
While Victoria is experiencing a major drought, New South Wales (the State Byron Bay is located in) happens to be getting more rainfall than ever before. In fact, some of the northern parts of the state are flooded and are experiencing the complete opposite of Victoria. Hence, while in Byron Bay, it rained and rained and then was sunny for a while and then rained some more.
Having said that, we did have a fantastic time visiting with Brad and his super chill posse at 2D Pacific Vista. Being the bad reporters we are, we have no photos of the actual house Brad lives in. (Sorry to our moms who are the only ones who care about looking pictures like that!) We spent lots of time on the beach, playing in the surf and visited what is officially considered "the eastern most point of mainland Australia"!

The Tennis and the Heat Wave

We are getting pretty settled here in Melbourne now and so the posts have slowed down. I thought I would post a few pics of January though. The Australian Open Tennis took over the town for 2 weeks, and we went to the Tennis twice! For 20 bucks we get front row seats on world-class matches and get to join the party all day! Although... it did take place over the hottoest week Melbourne has seen in a hundred years! I know we won't get much sympathy from home, but 3 straight days over 43 degrees without AC or even a fan is hard to handle! Never thought we'd look forward to a cool change of 36!