Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Today is Australia day. It's the day that Australians come together and celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. For history's sake, January 26th commemorates the establishment of European settlement in Australia. For those not familiar, I would say the equivalent would be something similar to Independence Day in the US.

For Aboriginal Australians, January 26th often marks "survival day"- celebrating the fact that the indigenous people and their culture have not been wiped out. Australia still has a long way to go with reconciliation, however, I hope with every year, Australians will consider where they've come from, where they want to go and how they can work together, as one, to forward this great country. The Aborigines are such a vital part of this country and it would be such a tragedy if their rights, land and culture were to disappear. And for those reading thinking I'm like the kettle calling the pot black, well no, I know the US and Native American relationship is similar to Australia and the Aborigines, and yes, the US, too, has a long way to go with making things right with the Native Americans. However, this blog entry is about Australia day, so I'll keep on point... OK, getting off my soapbox now.

Most Aussies celebrate the day by gathering with friends and family to partake in a summer barbie while drinking heaps of beer and wine. Of course, there's the usual jaunt to either a park or the beach, and, there is always cricket- either on the tele or playing in the backyard.

For Paul and I, we decided to spend the day taking in some of Australia's natural beauty with a hike. We did the famed Manly walk which is a four hour trek through gorgeous scenery and tropical bushland along the the coastal cliffs of Sydney Harbour.














We saw lots of these guys:



While on our hike, I saw the greatest thing ever... no, not an ice cream truck, but an ice cream boat! The Aussies are genius! The ice cream boat putts along the shoreline ringing its bell as kids wade out and swim out to meet the ice cream boat. How cool is that- you can swim and eat ice cream at the same time!





After a short rest at home, Paul and I headed down to the point to watch some fireworks and enjoy a bottle of bubbly- one of my favourite things to do in the summer!

On another related note, something funny I find is Australia's Meat and Livestock industry's lamb campaign. For the past few years, there has been a big ad campaign for eating lamb, particularly on Australia Day, because apparently they want you to believe that eating lamb is the Australian thing to do. Yes, it's tongue-in-cheek and often these ads come under criticism, however, they seem to work as there has been a rise in the consumption of lamb and the week leading up to Australia Day is the highest lamb trading week. Kind of interesting, huh?

So, I leave you with this year's and last year's ad. If you're unfamiliar with Aussie culture you might not understand it or find it funny- I just find them peculiar.


2007 Ad:




2008 ad:



And one more thing, for anyone interested in Aboriginal culture, there is this great Australian film, Ten Canoes which is a mix of anthropology and entertainment. I highly recommend checking it out as you won't be disappointed.

Home

I am happy to report that I am back in Sydney and happily reunited with the hubs. We're a good team and so it's nice to be back in action together.

It's weird, whenever I'm gearing up to leave the US, I get this achy homesick feeling before I even leave US soil. I think to myself, "I love the US and Australia is this horrible, far away place with nothing going for it. Why am I leaving?" Then, the tide changes and once I land in Sydney I'm absolutely in love with OZ all over again and start thinking, "Who would want to live in the US when you can live in Sydney! This place is amazing." Why the flip flop? I don't know, could it be because our trips to the US aren't very often so leaving is always hard especially when you don't know when you'll return? Maybe it's just a case of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, (or in my case, ...other side of the world!) or, maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me? My guess... I'm torn between our two "homes." Although the US will always be our main home, we've made a life and a home together in Sydney and so it's true what they say, "home is where the heart is," and I guess for me, my heart is in two places at once.

As expected, leaving the US was unfortunately terribly hard. You would think after going back and forth for three years, now, that saying goodbye would get easier, but it doesn't. It just doesn't. It didn't help that Dad was doing poorly so that made leaving even that much harder and stressful. If I could have changed all my flights without paying heaps of money, I would have and now with Dad back in the hospital today... I wish I had. I feel so bad for my mom having to go it alone. It's been extremely tough lately and she is so strong and brave for dealing with everything that has happened, but one person can only deal with so much before needing a shoulder to cry on, a loving embrace or just knowing that there's someone else there to help. I know she could do with having immediate support and love around her to get through all of this... and I wish that person was me and that I wasn't half way around the world. It's really difficult to have a sick family member when you're so far away- you feel so helpless and a bit guilty for not being there to help. So, anyone reading this, please say a little prayer for my family or keep us in your thoughts.

On top of leaving at such a crappy time, my flight back to Sydney was a disaster. After a whirlwind of emotions and trying to stay strong while I said goodbye to the family, I soon ran out of time. My mom was no longer able to take me to the airport and I quickly scrambled to hire a car and drove myself an hour and a half to the airport. I ended up missing my first of three flights. Luckily there was another flight an hour later and I made it to Oakland on standby where I ran as fast as I could through two different terminals to catch my connecting flight to Hawaii. Finally, I arrived safely in Honolulu, however, I cannot say the same for my luggage. Turns out, it was still in Oakland and it wouldn't be able to make it to Hawaii in time for me to catch my morning flight to Sydney. So, sans luggage, I boarded my flight to Sydney, after having a 6 hour layover, and finally made it home. Now I have the pleasure of trying to get my luggage to Sydney when the airline who initially lost it only flies domestically in the US... fun times.

Nature (again)

Another nature post... yep, you bet. You must be thinking I'm a, "tree hugging, let's be one with the Earth" type of person. Well, maybe I am. I love our planet- it's absolutely amazing. Mother Nature has been good to us so in return I aspire to be good to her by living a "green" life and appreciating her beauty.

Anyway, since my last post was nature related, I decided to carry on in the spirit of it and post about something that happened today.

My Dad was having a decent day so we decided to have brunch at the club. The weather here has been about 75 degrees so we enjoyed our meal on the outdoor patio overlooking the mountains and the golf course. Towards the end of our meal, a coyote appeared running across the greens, relatively close to the dinning area, and started to stalk a family of jack rabbits. It would walk cautiously closer and closer to its prey taking cover behind a bush and blending in to the desert landscape when needed. When the rabbits would get wind of the coyote, they'd break out in to a full sprint running every direction while the coyote chased after them. Eventually, the coyote would back off and the rabbits would resume their usual routine unsuspecting that a coyote was still amongst them.

While some people were rooting for the jack rabbits, I was actually rooting for the coyote. It's the food chain, people. It's life. It has to happen. (I'm not cruel, I swear!) I don't know if the coyote ever caught anything because it eventually ran over the hill and and I couldn't see it any longer, but it was still great to get a birds eye view of the food chain in progress.

Mother Nature

I love the desert in the winter. The snow capped mountains framing the valley where my parents live are just breathe taking- especially when the snow has just fallen. Not to mention that the mild weather, the lush, green lawns, the fresh, crisp morning air, the road runners scurrying along and the cotton tail rabbits bouncing all around just add to the appeal of a desert winter. It's beautiful and I love that nature makes me stop and smell the roses. I love walking puppy in the morning and seeing the sun shine down on the valley while the mountain tops gleam with snow. These pictures don't really do it justice, but you get the idea.

The gorgeous views from my parent's home:






Puppy posing for her close up



Thank you, Mother Nature.

Hello 2008

Another year has come and gone and as I get older, I feel like time is literally flying by. The years keep getting shorter and shorter yet when I was small, it was like time couldn't go by fast enough! I guess that's a good thing because it means life is good and I'm enjoying every moment but at the same time I can't believe that it's 2008... doesn't the 90's seems so long ago, now?

2007 had its ups and downs. Paul and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary, spent another year in Sydney, travelled around Australia and to Japan, and turned one more year closer to 30 but we also had some bad news and trying times with my Dad and hopefully 2008 will bring with it better news and a healthy recovery for him.

As I look forward to 2008, I think this will be a pivotal year in our lives together. Lots of change and major decisions are to be made this year. It's exciting yet nerve wracking and a bit scary. But, at the same time, change is good. So, what decisions are we pondering, you ask.... well, you'll just have to follow along with our adventures and keep reading throughout the year... ha, ha!

Happy New Year to everyone and all the best for 2008. Make it a good year and live each moment to its fullest. P E A C E

Merry (Belated) Christmas

Again, sorry on the late posting but as expected, the holidays were crazy and busy with all of our running around for last minute Christmas shopping, travelling, and visiting with our families. Needless to say, hubby and I ended up getting sick. Actually, my entire family ended up getting deathly sick thanks to my infectious sister who arrived from NYC with the "plague." Luckily, hubby & I weren't as bad off as the rest of my family who should probably be checked in to the hospital. My poor Mum is still awfully sick even with all the antibiotics and over the counter medicine one can have. So despite all that, it was still nice to be home for the holidays. There's nothing like being back home with the ones you love for Christmas. Mum, knowing how much I have missed turkey dinner since we can't really get it in Sydney, fixed a delicious Christmas Eve turkey complete with all the fixings.




On Christmas Eve, we also had a lot of fun puzzling, making our gingerbread houses and opening up our NYC presents. We have this traditions of opening up the presents from my Dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve- yay for early presents!


Our completed Rockefeller Center at Christmas puzzle:


Hard at work on the gingerbread houses:


The finished product:




Presents!











Christmas morning started early with the opening up of our stockings and getting our presents from under the tree delivered by "Santa" one by one all while in our PJs. We got some nice loot and Santa was very generous to everyone. I guess we were good this year.

Oh Christmas Tree:



Puppy opening her stocking with a little help from Sister:


Dad giving Mom his big present to her:



Sister opening up her big present from Paul & I (The iPod Classic):


Paul and I opening up a great present from mum and dad- a wine fridge:







Sister taking her new bike for a spin:



After all that work of unwrapping presents, we naturally had to fill our bellies with some yummy Christmas brekkie complete with Christmas crackers.



I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas just as we did.

Mele Kalikimaka

I know, I'm extremely late on posting "Merry Christmas" from Hawaii, but even though it's now 2008, I still have that cheery Hawaiian Christmas song, Mele Kalikimaka, stuck in my head. I guess it's a good thing b/c it will remind me of the fun times we had in Hawaii... even if it was rather short.

We had a lovely time and despite some windy weather and rain, we made it to the beach three times, hiked Diamond Head, snorkeled Hanauma Bay, paid our respects to Pearl Harbour and checked out the North Shore with a cruisey drive around the island.


The view from the top of Diamond Head:



Hanauma Bay:



Pearl Harbour:



My Patriotic take at the USS Arizona Memorial:



Sunset over Waikiki Beach:



I probably drank half my weight in fruity, tropical drinks but hey, it's vacation, and it was Hawaii... what else should I be doing, ha!

My favourite libation was the drunken pineapple... yum.



Or perhaps the tropical itch complete with a souvenir wooden back scratcher would tickle your fancy (I know, horrible pun)



I think from now on, when flying back to the US, we should stop over in Hawaii again... why this is the first time in three years we've done it this way, I'll never know!