The beach is good medicine...

Wind and Sea...

These photos were taken at Christie's Beach. Out at the end of the jetty the wind was howlin' and a little air guitar was not entirely out of the question!



There is a huge reef just at the end of the jetty so the water gets pretty churned up.

We met a lovely bloke from Scotland who has retired to this area. A hearty laugh! We discussed our mutual love for Billy Connelly and shared our delight and good fortune to be in this amazing part of the world. Life feels good at the beach!

A Walk on the Beach...

Huge and I joined up with our Colorado mates to visit Ginger at her house in Semaphore. She's a Canadian exchange teacher from Calgary. She lives about a two minute walk from this gorgeous beach.

It was great to catch up with her... to talk hockey, quote Bob and Doug, and oooh over Tim Hortons. Like us, she's got her stash of the good stuff and she brewed us up a lovely cup!

The Dude abides...

And so do we!!!


Our friends Paul and Kim (along with her boyfriend, Patrick) are in Adelaide on exchange from Colorado. We've all become mates here. It's funny to think we've travelled to the other side of the planet to get to know more of our closest neighbours!!!

Anyway... they're good value!
We've shared some walks on the beach, a concert, and several meals so far.

In addition, we've decided to have movie nights....

Undoubtedly, The Big Lebowski is Huge's favourite movie. Mine? In the category of comedy anyway... it's The Princess Bride. Imagine our delight in finding like-minded friends! To kick off the tradition? These titles on the marquee!
(Of course a little bowling was in order.) Paul's house has a long, narrow front hall.... a perfect lane for our improvised game of six pin bowling!


Beer bottles make for messy bowling in a strike situation!

Go the Crows!

Huge and I have become great Aussie Rules Football fans. We have bought two season tickets along with my mate, Jackie, and so we share.

Friday night found Jack and me at the footy again. (Huge watched on television in the warmth of home.) At half time we were so cold that we had to pop into "Crowmania," the fan store at the stadium. See the little granny blanket? It did the trick until it started raining in the final quarter. What a game! I love it!

Final holiday destination....Melbourne

Melbourne always reminds me of Toronto. Trams and theatre. We were here for The Melbourne Comedy Festival so we took in What Would Batman do? A stand-up performance about out-sourcing decision making. We also saw a production of The History Boys at the Arts Centre. Finally...we interacted with the public art! Who can resist?

Some shopping in Fitzroy...

After the Anzac Day parade, we headed to Fitzroy for brunch and some people-watching. We ended up having a great meal at the kind of restaurant that, according to our guide book, Melbourne is famous for... "a nod to Europe and a wink at Australia." Don't ask.... we didn't really get it, but we thought it was clever! The crepes were the best!
Then, we walked and browsed. This area is a bit like Queen Street in its offerings and absolutely delightful in its design!

Another funny hat!

The Salamanca Market was featured in our guide book. It's Hobart's favourite Saturday activity, judging by the crowds of people. We bought some small pieces of art and jewellery, along with some t-shirts. This hat? Tasmanian wool. Regretfully, it's not coming home with us! Its price tag was a bit high!

A wild boat cruise around Bruny Island...

Tassie was a change of pace! We stayed in a teeny, tiny room built onto the back of an old pub-turned-hostel. It was freezing cold at night...well, I thought so! You'll notice we had on more layers of clothes!

We heard about this great tour to Bruny Island from an Aussie teacher at my school. The Southern Ocean was wild! We watched seals play in massive surf and followed albatrosses as they hovered above the waves. Oh...and we saw the most perfect rainbow!

Next stop...Tasmania

It's funny the way we get to a new town and immediately head for the water. The wharf in Hobart is thick with restaurants, information centres and posh accomodation. Oh, and statues depicting Antarctica and various explorers. The Southern Ocean isn't far from here...

Of course, we wasted no time in interacting with the cultural displays!

The last few shots from Sydney....

These were taken in the historic area, The Rocks. It's the oldest part of the city. The wharf-side restaurants (to the left) were very lovely and very expensive. This is as close as we got! It was interesting the way the masts of the ship were part of the patios.
The statue is Captain Bligh. I said he looked like a very little man. Huge said,"They're not made actual size, you know." The historian in him is drawn to these monuments. I just like the funny hats!

A few other bits of silly business in Sydney...

We considered making this particular purchase but just couldn't decide. Huge isn't sharing which one he was leaning toward! Imagine hestitating!
The metal sculpture was no end of entertainment for us both! We are such tourists!!!

Bondi Beach

This Sydney beach is famous for its surf. It wasn't nearly as crowded as the postcards led us to expect. It was midweek, though, and it was a bit overcast and cool.