Fishing Day

We went fishing with the kids a couple of days ago. It was the first time I'd been fishing, and I had fun. It was a beautiful sunny day again, and Mick has four fishing rods so we took those, some bait (the locals recommended corn and cheese and bacon rind), a couple of buckets, and some snacks and water. We also took sunscreen for the kids and everyone had a hat except me. I pulled my hair back in a bun to keep my head from getting sunburned, but I forgot about my neck.

We fished for a couple of hours. The kids liked it at first, Emily more than Eddie. Poor Mick had to deal with three people who needed their lines cast and their lines untangled and wanted advice. :) We didn't catch any fish at all, but we felt nibbles and we tried hard. We had to walk along a path but it hadn't been kept up so there were patches of places where large bushes blocked the path. Most of these were skeleton bushes, which don't have prickles or thorns and are just annoying to push through. However, there were large sections where the path was overgrown with prickle bushes. Imagine a bush that was solely rose thorns, only sharper, and you've got prickle bushes. Em was wearing long pants but the rest of us had shorts on and I think we all had blood drawn. I had cuts on my hands and arms too. Not the most fun part of the day.

There were clouds in the sky, but it was mostly sunny and warm. We fished in a couple of different spots but had no luck. It's hard to go fishing with a 6 and 8 year old because that doesn't keep their attention for very long and they don't want to be quiet of course. I can't say I blame them. :) I enjoyed it, and would go again. It was nice just to be outside, though the flies were killer. And then we get to the sunburn...

Because of the tilt of the earth and its rotation, Australia is closer to the sun during the summer than the US is during the summer. Now, I'm a pale girl anyway, so I should have been wearing sunscreen. But I didn't think about it. I guess I didn't realize the power of the Aussie sun. So, here are a few pics to show my scars. It hurts to raise my hands above my head and to cough or laugh or anything that moves my shoulders. And the blisters are getting worse. But, I will survive and now I know better! :)

Videos of Boxing Day

I am posting videos of the snake, one of the lizard eating the frog, and the lizards who had a fight.

This one is of the snake

This next one is also of the snake:

A final video of the snake:

This last one is of two lizards as they circle each other and posture for territory:

Boxing Day pics

Here are the pics from our Boxing Day adventure. :) Oh, and I forgot to mention that we went to Red Hill Lookout before Cotter Dam and had lovely panoramic views of Canberra. Find the lizards and snakes in the pics below. :)

Boxing Day

Boxing Day…a day much like our “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving. There are tons of sales and good deals and lots and lots of shopping. Also, Boxing Day is the start of the fourth test in the Ashes Series. Most, if not all, of you are going “wtf is that???” Well, I’ve learned more about cricket than I ever though I would. So, we’ll start with a quick and dirty cricket lesson.

Cricket is like primitive baseball. I am by NO means an expert, or even fully versed in the rules and whatnot surrounding cricket games. I want to say there are 12 men on a team and two are substitutes maybe. I know that 10 men bat each inning, and to move on to the next inning (there are two innings) all 10 men have to be gotten out. Now, here’s how it’s a bit different. There are two batters at a time and instead of running the bases and only batting once, each batter bats until he is gotten out. Also, there’s a rectangle in the middle of the field called the pitch. The main batter stands behind a line in front of three wickets (wooden sticks) and uses a cricket bat to hit the ball. The bowler starts back from the pitch and has a line he can’t cross when throwing the ball but he gets a running start. A run occurs when the batters swap places on the pitch, running back and forth. If a ball hits a wicket, the batter is out. If the batter hits the ball and the ball is caught before hitting the ground, he is out. If a batter is running back and forth and doesn’t get on his side of the line before the ball hits a wicket thrown by an outfielder, he is out. Some bowlers bowl the ball with a spin on it and some bowl very fast. Most teams have multiple bowlers that can be substituted. To win, a team must get all the batters out twice (complete two innings) and still be ahead in runs. If all players aren’t gotten out twice by either team at the end of 5 days, the game is called a draw. It’s a tie if all batters are gotten out twice and the score is zero. These are obviously really rare. Those are the basics.

Now the Ashes is a series of cricket games played between Australia and England. The Ashes is a series of “tests” that take place in November, December, and January. A test is one game (two innings). They are always between Australia and England and they don’t take place every year. The actual Ashes themselves are a cup, a silver trophy, and the trophy is so fragile it never leaves the country it’s in now. Cricket is a big game here, in England, in Pakistan, India, South Africa, and other countries. Obviously not so much in the US.

So Boxing Day is the start of the 4^th test of the Ashes series. England has won one game, one game was a draw, and Australia won one game. England is winning the current series, and if they win this test, the Ashes will be over and the 5^th test won’t be played. However, a big thing to do on Boxing Day is to watch the cricket. We watched a bit of it, but wanted to go somewhere.

We had lots of suggestions from the crew at Christmas dinner. Gibralter Falls, another falls, and several other places. We ended up driving to Cotter Dam and Tidbinbilla. We drove along some areas that had been flooded, including Paddy’s Crossing. Normally, if we’d had the Patrol, we could have crossed the water and gone looking for wildlife. Alas, my car wasn’t going to safely cross. We kept driving….

Then we got to Tidbinbilla. This is a wildlife preserve. We bought an annual pass because we knew the kids loved the play area and it was only twice as much as a day pass. The preserve has lots of kangaroos, an amazing playground with ropes and rocks to climb, a huge slide and bridges and water running through it and just generally cool stuff. There’s a sanctuary where koalas live and wetlands where platypus live as well. We walked around for a couple of hours and saw a koala, a red-bellied black snake, lots of lizards, emus, and various birds. The first animals we saw were of course kangaroos. Lots and lots of them. Then we saw a koala just added to the sanctuary. They are almost impossible to see in the wild, and though we searched in the sanctuary, we couldn’t find any. Next, we came across the red-bellied black snake. I thought it was a good size snake, though Mick says it was small. I took video of it wandering around. It is a poisonous snake, so I didn’t get too close, that’s for sure.

We kept walking and I spotted a pair of small lizards. They were fighting! I didn’t get the fight on video, just got them circling and posturing. The victor took the tail off the other and we saw the blood and the stunted tail of the loser. Pics and vid will follow! We kept walking and searching for koalas but couldn’t find any. After leaving the koala sanctuary, we went to the black flats and the wetlands. We drove around and stopped at the lookout. What a beautiful sight! Huge panoramas and lovely mountains and hills around. Then we walked around ponds and through forests. We saw cockatoos and emus and more lizards. We just missed the platypus. :( We saw a turtle and several large birds, including black swans and geese and ducks. We watched a lizard eat a tiny frog.

It was a beautiful day…sunny, warm enough. Mick and I really loved getting to spend the time together. And knowing that we can go back and visit the wildlife for the next year is awesome. It was a lot of fun. So my first observation of Boxing Day was filled with excitement!

An Aussie Christmas

I didn't think this morning that I would make it through the day without breaking down from being away from the US. But I did. Let me tell you how.

First, Christmas Eve. Mick got home early and we had a really nice night. I cooked dinner and we finished wrapping presents for Brian and Lesley and Ashley. Mick got out his vinyl records and we listened to 80s compilations and sang along til after midnight. We had a really nice time hanging out and spending time together. Mick gave me a pink rose to celebrate our first Christmas together. It was very sweet.

Then, when we woke up, Santa had stopped by. :) Our stockings filled and extra presents were left for the kids. Yay! I'd made sausage balls so I had some for brekkie. I called my family on Skype and got to speak with my aunt and uncle too which was great. Mick and I opened our gifts to each other and the gift from my parents before we left to go get the kids.

At Claire's, the kids showed us all their cool toys. They got one of those 4 in 1 game tables that has Foosball and ping pong and air hockey and pool. And Em got a Glee Karaoke game that she and Claire were singing along to. Claire and I had a glass of champagne (haha, at 9:30am) and we had a talk and opened presents. Claire gave us some chocolate and a picnic blanket that folds up. We had a good time hanging out and then took the kids back to our house to open gifts again.

They tore into their presents and then we had Mick open his surprise present that the kids and I made. The kids are forever saying, "I want...." and Mick's standard come back is "Well, I want a Ferrari." So, the kids and I made him a red Ferrari so he can't say that anymore. :) Pics below! We also had crackers, which two people pull apart and they make loud cracking noises. Inside are gifts and the ones we bought had paper crowns in them, which is an Aussie tradition so we put those on.

Next we all got in the car and headed to Brian and Lesley's house. Brian is Mick's dad and Lesley is Brian's wife. We arrived and I was surprised because several other people were there besides family and I hadn't expected that. Brian and Lesley have a lovely house and prepared hors d'ouevres for us. The table was set for 13 people and we each had a homemade place card in front of our seat. The thirteen people were as follows: Annie and Branamere (family friends, especially close with Ashley), Ashley and Tom (Mick's brother and nephew), Brian and Lesley, me, Mick, Emily and Eddie, Mandy (Lesley's daughter), Judy and Doug (Lesley's sister and brother-in-law). I had more champagne, which is apparently a tradition for Christmas. :) Who am I to argue? lol

We had a lovely spread of food for Christmas dinner. Lamb, ham, turkey, and prawns, salads, potatoes, and other various crudites. I'm not much of a seafood eater, but I tried the prawns and they tasted pretty good. The champagne was flowing, the wine was open, and the food was great. The conversations were great too.

I have to give truly special attention to the people and the way they made me feel. I am not likely to circulate through a party of people. I tend to not feel comfortable "working a room." However, I've never felt as welcome and warmly received as I did Christmas Day by every person there. I sat next to Lesley, who I'd met in Chicago, and we talked for a while about the US and their trip. I was across from Mandy. She is in her 30's and is preparing to move to Norway for a couple of years. We talked a lot about passports and moving to new countries and visas and finding work. She was very friendly and nice. Judy and Doug were nice too, and we talked about psychology since Judy taught psychology and had just retired and since Mandy was thinking of getting a degree in psychology. Because Annie, Branamere, Ashley, Tom and Brian were at the other end I didn't get to talk to them as much at lunch. However, one of the first things Annie said after meeting me was that she wanted to take me out for a girls' night out. Aussie people are friendly, warm, kind, and so very willing to help. I'm reminded again and again how generous people here are. It's amazing.

After lunch we all sat outside on the patio in the garden and the kids played with Mandy's cat and Brian showed the boys his model planes which are seriously impressive. Lesley served us fruit and chocolates and more champagne. I got to know Annie and Mandy and Ashley better and enjoyed listening to Doug and Tom and Branamere talk about their perspectives. Mick commented that we were multicultural- lots of Aussies, an American, a Serbian, and a Scottish man. I felt that I connected most with Annie and Mandy. They wanted to take me out this week so we'll see if we can all work that out. Annie's vivacious and outgoing. Branamere, her partner, just recently moved to Canberra from Serbia and he is very much going through what I am- a new country, new culture, finding a job, and instantly becoming a parent to two children when he has none of his own. And that's why I think Annie immediately wanted to take me out. She sees that I am going through the same struggles her partner is going through and wants me to know she gets it. And getting to know Ashley was nice. We hadn't really had much chance to talk and he's very nice and though, like me (quiet at first), we did have several conversations and exchanged good-natured jokes. I was very sad to be away from my family and the US for Christmas, but I couldn't have asked for better company since I couldn't be there.

After Brian and Lesley's, we went to a nearby park and played until the rain started to sprinkle down. We came home, played card games, and fed the kids. Emily gave me a manicure with her new nail polish and used all six colors. :) Claire came by to pick them up. Mick and I had planned to drive to the coast on Boxing Day but the crew at the Christmas dinner changed our minds a bit with how crowded it would be. Bruce had invited us to the coast but we decided to change our plans and instead stay close to Canberra. This was especially good because Claire was heading to the coast Monday and she and her friend were going to leave Boxing Day eve instead of Monday morning. So this way we could take the kids on Boxing Day.

I have a whole post to make on Boxing Day, and today too since I went fishing for the first time and got a bad sunburn. But, those will have to wait because I'm getting sleepy. :) 

I've attached the pics! They never attach in the order I want them to, but I know you all are smart cookies and know in general what goes with what! :)