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!

Our Mini-Trip to Phillip Island

Before Christmas, Mike and I were talking about feeling a bit of the travel itch. It's been almost two months since we firmly planted ourselves in Melbourne! So, the week before Christmas we booked some cheap accomodations, rented a car and drove the two hours it takes to get to Phillip Island. I have to say, I got a little excited packing my backpack again! The poor thing has been cooped up in the closet for so long.
The main attraction on the island is the PENGUINS! Every single night the penguins swim to shore and get in these packs and they cross the beach together! There are literally hundreds and hundreds of them. The penguins are so scared of crossing the beach that if something freaks them out, the whole group will turn around and make a b-line back to the ocean until they feel brave enough to try again. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, you will only get to imagine what this looks like because the stupid rangers don't let you take photos! The silly penguins are apparently scared of that too. But please, enjoy the other photos we took!

Christmas!!

We hear that we missed out on one of the whitest Christmas' ever back home. All we got was a nice and sunny 30 degree day! We actually got ridiculed because we spent most of it indoors: opening presents, having breakfast and watching It's a Wonderful Life. We made it out to the park around 6 pm to play with our new gifts and have a good old fashioned Christmas Dinner... Mango Chicken, Steak and Prawns with mashed potatoes and asparagus! It was delicious!

We did miss our families but had a great first Christmas together!

Our Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve! We first went to Mike's work Christmas party, after which we headed to the only Japanese Restaurant that seemed to be open for some noodles and sushi. We also decided to attend our first ever Midnight Mass as St. Paul's Cathedral. By 1 am, they still had another hour of service to go, and we were falling asleep in our pew. I remember hearing a child crying in frustration and could only think "I SO get how you feel, kid." So we smoothly slipped out after "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" and went straight to bed! Santa doesn't come if you're awake ya know.

Melbourne: The Bird's Eye View

For our 9 month anniversary, we decided to have a little night out! (I think Mike was responding to my moody comment that we never go anywhere nice...and I realize how ridiculous that sounds! We're in friggin' AUSTRALIA!! but, anyway...) We thought we'd go up to a viewing deck at the Rialto building in downtown Melbourne. It was absolutely gorgeous and the sunset was stunning! There's a picture on the slideshow of a lake, and that's OUR lake! It's right across the street from our apartment. Mike and I are currently training ourselves for a big run that will take us around that thing a couple times!! Eek!