Little Dune Buggy In the Sand

As we were coming out of the dune area, this little guy was waiting in the road for us. He's a bearded dragon. Neat, huh? Croc spotted him just before we were about to run him over and jumped out of the car and picked him up and threw him in the bushes (check out how dirty his hands are!). It's the first time I've seen one.

The day at the Stockton dune's was fun and pretty warm. All the little watering holes (aka baby water) had dried up because of the lack of rains this winter. We saw two huge schools of salmon right off the beach and someone caught one as we were standing there and it was a good sized fish- probably about a foot and a half long. We also might have seen a shark near where the salmon were schooling! Most of the day we drove along looking for good hills to sandboard down and I had a go at the littlest hill possible while the boys were away to pick up Boyfriend from the airport. Croc's two young nephews joined us on our trip and they have a tendency to run down the huge hills as someone rides down on the board and then want to be carried back up. I got suckered in by the youngest one and carried him piggyback up half of one of the hills and he repaid me by pinching me on the fat underside of my arm and his little fingers really dug in and left me with a bruise! On the way home his nearly 4 year old self had had enough of our adventure for the day and he fell asleep on me in the most awkward way so we moved him over and his hot and sweaty little head rested against me for an hour and a half on the way home. It was the perfect day spent with friends and I can't wait to go back next year once the warm weather has passed again.

It's Gettin Hot in Here

It's Saturday about noon here. I've been up since about 7am since Boyfriend had to be ready for Bob to pick him up at 7:30 for their one night trip to Queensland. I've been very productive and have called my Mom for our weekly chat, done laundry, and laid out for about 10 minutes. I couldn't stay out there any longer, it was too hot and I was sweating already! Boyfriend sat out for about 30 on Thursday and he got burnt enough so that it is still red two days later.

It has been beautiful summer weather through the day here, but at night it gets cold and it gets cold fast. On Thursday night I went out back to try and see a huge possum that had just jumped between the roof of our house and our laundry room roof and I could see my breath and it was only 6:30!

Tomorrow I've been invited to go 4 Wheel Driving at Stockton (or as we all call it now thanks to Croc's nephew: The Big Sand) with Croc, the Teacher, the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser. We are leaving here before 8 and then will pick Boyfriend up at around 12:30 from one of the parking lots because he is flying in to the Newcastle airport and it is only about a 10 minute drive from there out to the sand dunes. It should be another fun day, but it's supposed to maybe get in to the 80s tomorrow so that sand is going to be hot, hot, hot! I'm bringing hats, sunscreen, and plenty of water. Hopefully going tomorrow will motivate Boyfriend to finally upload those pictures from our last trip there so that I can finally post them for you guys here.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

As a sidenote: I didn't hear one mention of Sept. 11 here yesterday which seems kind of sad, like the whole world has forgotten already, but I guess life goes on and if it's not your own country that was effected maybe it's easy to forget? Do we, as Americans, do anything to remember the Boxing Day Tsunami? Or China's Earthquake? Or the anniversary of the start of the Genocide in Rwanda? When put in that context, I understand why yesterday was just another day here; there are enough tragedies that have happened in our world that we would probably have to have a rememberance day for some event every day of the year. But as an American yesterday/today home time is one of those days out of the year where I was personally effected in some way by the event so I take time out to remember and reflect on that tragedy. On the anniversary of the tsunami, earthquake, and start of the genocide people in other countries are remembering how they were effected then, and in a sense, even if it's not on the same day, we are all connected by our loss and by our hope for peace.

I am the Fire Starter

Last night we went over to Croc's parent's property for a big bonfire. I never realized how far back their land stretches. When we arrived, Croc and the Teacher loaded us in to an open topped trailer and pulled us behind their quad down to the back of the property where the bonfire was. It was huge! There was a10 foot tree that was still standing in the ground, but was dead as termites had built a huge nest inside that we could see, and that was the centerpiece of the bonfire. All around it were other huge chunks of wood that were alight, too. Beside Croc and the Teacher, it was all of Croc's family-his parents (who are super nice and super funny people) and his brother and sister (who are great as well) and their boyfriends and girlfriends, and then the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser.

Croc and Boyfriend were little fire bugs. Boyfriend had brought over some old fireworks and firecrackers he had lying around in his closet and he and Croc lit them off and shot them at Croc's brother. Croc surprised his brother and chased him so far across the backyard and even hit him with one shot from the firework! The other amusing thing the boys got their hands on last night was a cattle prod. The Soccer Player jolted Boyfriend twice with it and Croc's brother snuck up on him and gave him the biggest shock with it in retaliation for the fireworks. Boyfriend luckily had layers on so he said it didn't hurt super bad but Croc got prodded on his arm and it burnt him! The Teacher had a big night and had to head to bed early with Croc's help. After she went to bed Croc brought out the "goon sack" which is the bladder inside a box of wine. This boxed wine was port and we all took sips off the pouch. It was pretty white trash but was a lot of fun and even Croc's Mom had a few gulps off of it (but only after she had seen me do it)! Then as we were getting ready to leave, all the quads were being used up at the house so Croc had us hop in to his 4 wheel drive and gave us a tour of the back part of the property. We slammed through little trees and it was just like off roading. His brother came up on a quad with his girlfriend on his back and two friends in the open trailer and they ran in to the back of the car we were in. Then Croc put his foot to the floor and we were doing burn outs and racing through the backyard and seemed like we would crash in to one of the old dirt bike jumps or old dead cars they had back there, but we made it safe and sound to the house. It was just like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland and I was squealing and screaming and laughing the whole time!

Sunrise, Sunset

I'm hoping to get pictures and go in to more detail then, but Boyfriend and I had a really great weekend. We were up with the sunrise on Friday morning to drive down to Sydney so that Boyfriend could go on two different scuba dives. Then Saturday we spent the whole day out on the sand dunes of Stockton Beach 4 Wheel Driving with Croc and the Teacher and their family. Although it was freezing, we sat and watched the sunset and it lit up the clouds in to an amazing red color. Saturday night we went to the Farmer and Tinkerbell's house with Croc and the Teacher and LC and Bob Marley were there, too. It was just a nice, mellow night hanging out and talking and I'm sure I impressed the Teacher and Croc with my driving skills when we gave them a lift home.

As we were driving to do errands on Sunday morning, Boyfriend and I talked about what a great group of friends we have and it's really, really true and to have such nice and awesome people in my life makes me so happy!

Hopefully pictures that I took from the dunes will be emailed to me soon and I'll post them and give you guys more details our adventures and the many animals we ended up seeing. Hope you are enjoying yourself where ever you are...I am wishing for some warm, California summer weather right now, but instead I am bundled up inside with the heater on and it's raining.

To A Party

S’s birthday is coming up. He’s going to be 26. I have no idea what to get him, he has no idea what he wants. Normally we don’t get each other stuff. We go on adventures instead and they always turn out really fun. It’s less than a week before his birthday and I still have no idea if he wants stuff or an adventure. I’m letting him tell me what he wants this year because normally I just plan something and surprise him.
I think I already mentioned, last year I got him a surf lesson and a 4 wheel drive trip. The year before that we rented surf boards at Manly and just played around in the whitewash. Then we stayed in Sydney for the night at a hotel I thought was going to be nice, but was not at all. Then the next day we went and got facials and massages at an area of Sydney I thought was going to be nice, but wasn’t. At least the hotel where the spa was was nice and we still had a great weekend, anyway.
The year before that I found out that you could spend the night at the zoo and they’d give you behind the scene tours of the place. It was a pretty cold night, but it was an unforgettable experience. You show up and you are let in to this courtyard where they have tents all set up and a big picnic table. They provide dinner and it was bbq chicken and stuff, plus there was beer and wine. As you eat, they brought around a wombat and some other animals for everyone to pet. After dinner, we went on a night tour of the zoo. The views over to Sydney were stunning. When we got back, it was time for dessert and then bed. It was fairly cold and uncomfortable in the tent. If I remember correctly, S and I giggled cause we could hear someone in another tent snoring, but we managed to get some sleep. At about 6:45 you are woken up for breakfast. Then they brought out a koala and you could pat it and get your picture taken with it. Following that, we got to go back in to the animal area and see all of the animals waking up and being fed before the zoo was open to the public. We got to go in to the giraffe exhibit while they were still in their barn and feed them carrots for breakfast. There was one that S and I just had to feed, she was old and blind so she’d just come to the door, lower her head down and stick her tongue out waiting for someone to place a carrot in her mouth! Giraffe’s have huge, long purple tongues. She looked hilarious and drunk. It was so funny to watch her. Next, we were taken in to one of the kitchens and shown how and what they prepare for some of the animals to eat. After that, our tour was over but then we stayed at the zoo for the whole day checking out all the places we had missed on the tour or had only stopped briefly on and wanted to see more of. When we were ready to leave, we hopped in a sky bucket thing that takes you over some of the enclosures and gives another great view of Sydney and the Harbour and down to the ferry building. We do pretty fun stuff.
S and I are thinking we’ll have a backyard barbeque for him once Croc and the Teacher get back from their honeymoon. Only LC and Bob Marley have seen the house so it’ll be good to have everyone over. My backyard is huge so people can camp out back if they want and if not, at least we have a big space for people to hang out in. S’s parents have a bum fire can at their house that we can hopefully bring over. S hates that I call it a bum fire, but it’s exactly what it sounds like. Well, wait, you’re bum doesn’t catch on fire, so maybe not. But you know how in movies there are homeless people who are always standing around a trashcan that has it’s trash lit on fire? That’s what this is, an old, metal trash can that we throw some logs in and light up. So we stand around when it gets cold warming our hands, like bums in the movies do.
It’ll be for S’s birthday and it’ll be a BBQ but I’m hoping S agrees that it doesn’t have to be a proper Aussie BBQ. I hate proper Aussie BBQ’s. Here’s why, I thought Australia was known for it’s barbeque….Put another shrimp on the barbie and all that (which by the way, wrong, they call them prawns not shrimp) but they are soooo uncreative in their barbeques. We do it way better in America. If you are invited to an Aussie BBQ you will find 1) snags, sausages, and not good ones like you’d get back home, not even as good as cardboard, they taste funny and they are mostly made of breadcrumbs 2) rolls of bread with butter, they have hot dog buns here but no one uses them 3) An aussie salad- iceberg, tomato, tasty cheese, cucumber, and some onion 4) maybe pasta salad or a potato bake or some rissoles (like really gross homemade hamburgers or something). I could pretty much guarantee 99% if you were going to a bbq here that’s what you would get. Not steak or ribs or chicken or hamburgers or hot dogs or shish kabobs or any of the variety of stuff you’d get in California. I’m not a huge fan and we have A LOT of bbq’s in our group. I just normally try to bring something for myself, I don’t mind the bread or salad or whatever, but the meat really kills me. So I’m hoping S will let me do simple appetizers, hamburgers and chicken burgers with potato chips, and aussie salad for dinner, and cupcakes and marshmallows to roast on the fire for dessert. The group seemed to love the Mexican food and whatever else I made at the last party so hopefully they will like this, as well.