Hunter Valley and other misc. pics

  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Sunday, June 7, 2009

Hi again--

Before too long, you won't be receiving these blog entries from me.  Whatever will you do with your time???  Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last month or so.  By the way, my travelblog website changed, allowing me to weave the photos into the text, so we'll see how this goes. 

- Hunter Valley--Jim and I managed to get away by ourselves for 2 nights to the wine country which is about 1.5 hours north of us.  We golfed the afternoon we arrived.  Jim said it was a "short course" but I found it to be plenty long for my taste. 

 

-  Day 2 was a full day of wine tastings.  We were with a small group which included some Americans visiting from the OC, some folks from Ireland and England.  Lots of fun to share the experience with a diverse group.



- Day 3 was some shopping in a little village and then a wal around some beautiful gardens owned by a super-rich family that owns the little village as well.  One section of the gardens was called "Storybook Gardens" and you'll see why from the pics.



- Sam participated in the zone cross country event.  He was in the top 6 in his age group at his school, qualifying him to move up to the zone meet.  He came in 41st out of 72, with a side stitch the entire time, so pretty impressive that he even finished!


- We visited a wildlife sanctuary nearby and got up close to a lot of Australian animals.  Not just roos, but Emus (they're rude), wombats, and a Tasmanian Devil.



- Whales!  I could kick myself for not joining them, but when a colleage of Jim's invited us out on his boat, I decided that it would be a good "boys only" outing.  Big mistake...they ended up seeing whales migrating, which was unexpected.  Instead, I was home watching Marley & Me and balling my eyes out.  But I am thrilled that they got to see them.



- There's are a variety of night and beach pictures, some of which really showcase Jim's talent with his camera.  He's taking it very seriously, and I think it shows in the results.



- Last but not least, here's a picture of my tennis buddies.  We're a very social group...we play for about and hour and a half each Friday morning, then have morning tea (which often includes some homebaked goods), and it always seems to be someone's birthday to celebrate...in this case, mine and Jenny's.....



The next 6 weeks will undoubtedly be busy.  We've been slowly going through closets to determine what we will ship home, donate, sell or pitch.  One of the cars goes up on trading post, which is like Craigslist, today.  Jim will hang on to his a little longer, as he'll be returning after we come home in July (just until end of October...hopefully).  The boys finish school on July 10, so we'll likely be home sometime that following week.  We need to get the shipping and furniture rental squared away before we arrange the flights.  And in between all those plans, we need to have final get togethers with friends and tick off a few more of our "AUSTRALIA MUST DOs."  The time will likely fly by.  But we are looking so forward to getting back and settled into our routines there and getting together with friends and family back home.  I'm sure I'll have one more entry between now and then, so until next time....

barb, jim, max and sam