Spring is in the air!

Today was a lovely day in Melbourne (as was yesterday!). Yesterday, CO and I headed out to Bells Beach and he went surfing. I was content reading on the beach with the sun warming my skin and a slight breeze on my face. It was delightful!!

The trees are in bloom (and allergy season is in full swing) and St Kilda Road is absolutely gorgeous. It's lined with elm trees and is one of my favorite parts about traveling around the city. The Yarra River was lined with people out enjoying the sun, and people were basking on the steps in Federation Square.

Tomorrow, CO and I are going to run 10K as part of the Melbourne Marathon races. Let's hope we don't die. :S It should be gorgeous, but we haven't trained as well as we should have... oh no!

Let me just say

That I LOVE Melbourne. Love it. I really enjoy living here. It's fabulous. Everyone should come visit us, it's just that wonderful. Please come visit us! I love riding the tram through the city on my way to and from work - it's a gorgeous city with fun architecture, cool parks, lots of stuff to do.

Oh, and I need some more help. Dh still hasn't chosen a name yet, so I'll nag him about that ;) But we are going to go to a Halloween party this year I think, and so I want to come up with a funny costume. I'm thinking maybe something annoyingly American? Who could dh and I be?

And you have less than 60 days until my birthday. Just a heads up ;)

This week in pictures

Melbourne has lots of old stuff... stuff covered with graffiti

Swanson St., downtown Melb

Flinders St. Station - aka "the clocks"

(a working train station with the next train times on clocks)

100th anniversary of "The Great White Fleet"

The HMS Darwin?

Me by the USS John S. McCain based out of Yokuska, Japan

It was named after the current Senator/presidential-hopeful's grandfather and father

The bridge - always my favorite place on a ship ;)

Aussie ship on left (04), McCain on right

For Melbourne Day, I went to see the replica of the ship that took the first settlers to Melbourne. It's called the Enterprize. Not the StarTrek Enterprise, sadly.

View of Melbourne from the Docklands area (where our church is)

Telstra Dome is in the center-left. A lot of "footy" is played there.

Wait a second... Hungry Jack's stole Burger King's logo?

Nope - it IS Burger King!

The house that dh's grandma grew up in

The church where dh's grandmother and grandfather were married

A beautiful sunset from St. Kilda

Our cousin Anthony had an art show.

This is us with Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Peter, and the artist himself

dh and I with Anthony and Alli (his girlfriend)

Lou and Reubs

They let dh drive their car home... (they were present - don't worry!)

Would you go in a park? Would you go in a pub?

To church that is...

I tend to like non-denominational churches. I've been to churches that have met in parks, in restaurants, in schools, in movie theaters, in an Elks building, and most recently - in a brewhouse! I think the hardest thing about moving so often is trying to find and connect with a good body of believers.

Last week, we were unsure of where we would go to church, but then I saw a sign on the way back from a "Melbourne Day" event. It advertised church in the James Squire Bar and Restaurant. I convinced dh we should go, and we did. We enjoyed it! The people were friendly and helpful, even though we were a bit late. For only being here 4 more months, this church is perfect!

Check out more at Docklands Church.

Pics around town

Dh's school, Melbourne Business School
part of the University of Melbourne

Dh on the Yarra River

Melbourne on the Yarra

The city and Federation Square

MCG, the Melbourne Cricket Ground

A tram - our main mode of transportation

Uncle John and dh in his Bulldogs scarf - thanks Uncle John!

Me and Aunt Buelah

Melbourne!

We're in Melbourne! And we had thought it was cold in Sydney - not so! It's even colder here! Dh and I are getting really good at layering and at rotating the three sweaters that we each brought so that it doesn't look like we're wearing the same outfit every day...

Ok, to highlight what we've done in the past week or so... we have:
- gone to the Blue Mountains
- travelled along the coast from Sydney to Melbourne, taking 3 days to do so
- found a city to retire to : Narooma
- spent a night at Lake Canjola and seen wild kangaroos/wallabys (don't ask me the difference)
- spent a night in Narooma - including eating fish & chips at a local restaurant, eating fresh fish from a fishermens' co-op, checked out surf, found an Australian Volunteer Coast Guard station
- seen a town called Tilba Tilba
- crossed the Sea Cliff Bridge - it's pretty cool!

Of course I have pictures from all of the aforementioned events, but I'm still using the relo's computer, so I can't post them. Maybe once we get back to the states I'll have better luck getting a useable wireless signal.

Australian words that don't quite mean the same thing they do in the States:
- bush : means forest, wilderness
- napkin: diaper
- serviette: dinner napkin, the thing you use to wipe your mouth when eating
- dodgy: sketchy, shady, slightly dangerous; as in "that neighborhood is a bit dodgy"