Stranded...in a tent

blip, blop, plip, plop....squawk! Cooo cooo chaa chaa chaa chaa!!! Welcome to the wake up calls of our current holiday abode, Suffolk Park Holiday Park, located 7 km south of Byron Bay, NSW. We've been residents for 3 days and quarantined for the last 12 hours due to torrential downfalls. Note past the ellipses and you'll hear the beautiful calls of the resident NSW bird population soothing you to a morning wakeup, well, except they do that at sunup which happens to begin at 4:30am. The squawk is from the local bush turkeys and the "Cooo cooo chaa chaa chaa chaa!!!" comes from the big-billed kookaburras that tend to annoy even the heartiest Australians - even the deaf ones.

Five days into Christmas vacay and we've done quite a bit already. Nina, the word traveler, who's been back to the States most recently, got us a sweet setup of snorkeling gear and Clif bars to set us up for departure from Newcastle. Unfortunately, sickness had its own vote to cast in when we were going to leave for our roadtrip, disabling both of us last Tuesday with the flu. Lame. We nevertheless (at about 75 percent capability) hoisted north along the best freeway in Australia (all 2 lanes of it) in a Holden Astra filled to the brim with swimming gear, snorkelling gear, and tents galore.

We stopped for the nigth four hours up the road in Nambucca Heads. Americans who're reading this, try and pronounce that name, and I'll tell you that you're wrong. Don't worry, we did the same thing. NambBUCKA heads has mosquitos bigger than your face and a decent view onto the Pacific, but for us it was a resting and recovering point. The small tent was laid out, and we appreciated our normal bed the next morning as we awoke to the pains of s;eeping on the roll-out camp matresses (fail). We (expeditiously) got in the Astra and rolled up to Byron Bay.

The drive was quick and purposeful as Nina and I both had the weather radar playing out on the computer as we drove toward our night's campsite. Blue, purple, and red dotted the screen, and we attempted to figure out when the downpour was going to occur over the future-night's sight as we noted the swell towns that dotted the map on our journey northward. Arriving around 1pm we quickly donned the tent and tarp emclosure just to beat the light rain that followed the rest fo the afternoon.

We rolled into Byron Bay, got some lunch and laid out on the beach in the now sunny weather. Byron Bay is a HUGE tourist hotspot, attracting mega-large pops of backpackers from worldwide and an enormous Australian contingent as it's only a 90-minute drive from Brisbane and even less from the Gold Coast. Nervertheless, imagine great beaches and equivalent shopping and you've got Byron Bay.

Night in tent insert here - next day was snorkelling on an island 3km off the beach - sharks, manta rays, and turtkes galore. Great conditions, and I'm getting sick of writing this blog. I'll update later - have a great Christmas and happy New Years and we'll be with you soon...ish.

spring has sprung!

FINALLY the weather has warmed up!! It's been a coooold winter here in Australia... well, at least by Australia standards. I am SO glad it's warming up though! It's tough listening to everyone talk about how warm and gorgeous the weather is back home... while it's rainy and dreary here.

We are heading off on our first camping trip of the season this weekend and our second one next week! This weekend we are going to Myall Lakes National Park. It's a smaller national park with beautiful lakes and beaches. Here's hoping our luck with fishing will turn around this year!!

In other news, I have started my "Fall" semester classes... only two more semesters to go! I am currently taking Raster and Vector Graphics (a fancy way of saying Photoshop and Illustrator) and Digital Page and Web Graphics... so if anyone needs a website or company publications let me know (... well ok, in three months).

Happy Fall : )

Love,

Nina

Oops!

We kind of forgot about this thing didn't we?!? I think with constant updates on facebook we forget to update our blog! Sorry to those who still read this : (

It's been a pretty big month or two here. Charlie and I took an amazing road trip with our friends Duncan (a pilot in Charlie's squadron) and Emily (his girlfriend) around the Northern Territory. We visited three national parks and got a feel for the REAL outback. We got to see tons of birds and crocs (thankfully from a distance). We got to see amazing Aboriginal art and purchased some for our house. We also got to swim in some of the most beautiful pools below waterfalls. It was definitely something we will remember for a looong time!

It is a really exciting time for us because we are moving in less than a year and Charlie has made the decision to leave the Navy. He's decided he wants to get his MBA, so after returning from the trip Charlie had to buckle down and start studying for the GMATs. He will be sending out applications in October and hopefully by January or February we will know where we will be living for the next couple of years.

I'll leave you with a few pics from our trip....

Winter in Newcastle

Good afternoon, all. I made a bold statement a few months ago, alleging that I would post on the blog once a week, a promise that was broken exactly one week after my last post. I apologize for that, and I hereby announce I'll make no such claim again in the near future. Done and done.

As the rain again falls here in Newcastle, the Queen city of New South Wales, I'm reminded again that winter began five days ago on the first of June. We've had exactly two sunny days in the last three weeks and when you live in a city that revolves around the beach you're hard-pressed to come up with original plans for the weekend days. Venturing a guess, I would say that the top five google searches on our computers have been...

1. Fiji cheap awesome deal

2. Hawaii military special cheap awesome deal

3. Vanuatu

4. Cook Islands cheap

5. cheap fares from Newcastle (to anywhere)

Now we have to slap ourselves every once in awhile, remembering that we're in gosh darn Australia, living the dream of every young couple in the USA. We love it, couldn't be happier (the rain is responding to my typing by beginning to torrentially downpour - how is the lawn still yellow?!?), and we really are lucky that we're in a stable place, I'm not deploying for months on end, and we have the ability to explore one of the most amazing places on earth. Speaking of that, Nina's folks (Brad and Leigh, we can't wait for you to get here!) arrive in less than two weeks and we jet off to sunny (I may have just jinxed the trip) Port Douglas, Queensland with them in three weeks to explore the Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rain Forest, and hopefully spot a few crocs to boot. Should be loads of fun and be a chance for me to get some color in my paling complexion. We're looking to play the rest of the trip by ear, but it will be a great chance to catch up and get some time off of work.

Work has been good, and I've been here and there since my last post, spending the majority of time local with a trip to Adelaide for a week, flying in support of some special forces teams. I'll be packing my bags after Nina's folk's leave and heading to the Northern Territory for a bi-yearly exercise called "Pitch Black" to fly for about a month. Following that I'm taking a week off and Nina's flying up to Darwin so we can cruise the outback, looking to explore Kakadu National Park and some other outback locales. Hopefully we won't get eaten by any stray crocs. Seriously, you can't go in any water up there that has any connection to the ocean, lest you desire to make yourself a dinner special for those things. We're looking forward to it!

All right, back to some taxes (we get a 2 month reprieve from the April 15th deadline being out of country and I'm using all 60 days). I'll post soon-ish, and I hope everyone back in the US of A has a great summer!!!

stella is in love....

...but I don't think it's mutual.

For the past day and a half we have been dog-sitting for our friends the Allens, while they have been at the hospital giving birth to their first child (it's a boy!). Bosco, their dog, is a super sweet and loving 80 lb. Chocolate Lab-German Short Haired Pointer cross. Stella has been constantly harassing him since he's been here. It's very entertaining. All she wants to do is to play with him and he wants nothing to do with it.

The Allens are the first of three of our friends who are due this week. It should be a fun week!! Lots of new babies to visit!!

tea party

I hosted a fun little baby shower last weekend for my friend Lauren who is due in May. It was great to have a reason to put my event planning/graphic design skills to use. It really turned out to be a fantastic afternoon - we had high tea at a local restaurant.

annnnnd i'm back

So, it's been waaaay too long since I've posted on here. I just lost all motivation to post. Partially because Charlie was out of town and I was busy with school. Sorry to you readers out there... I think I might only have one left. Thank you Jen G. for being a faithful follower, even when I wasn't a faithful blogger!

A lot has happened here - too much to write about so I'll just write about what's gone on the last couple of weeks. That seems doable : )

Charlie and I have been camping for the past two weekends in a row! We have enjoyed amazing weather, beautiful scenery and great company (the first weekend we went with friends and the second with Stella)! Charlie bought a new tent while he visited the US in March and it has turned out to be a great addition to our growing camping gear collection. Last weekend Charlie was lucky enough to spot a wild Platypus... of course I was off taking tending to the fire and missed seeing it : ( I guess it's pays to be a fisherman - even when you aren't catching fish.

This weekend I am hosting a baby shower for a friend of mine who is due in May. It has been fun to go back to my event planning roots and I have even been able to use my newly acquired graphics skills as well.

Here are some pictures from Easter weekend:

Charlie to USA - It Begins

So here I am onboard an Alaskan Airlines flight from Seattle to San Fran – exit row to myself looking out the window at the Oregon coastline trying to get the Mama Mia soundtrack out of my head. More on that later. Back to the start of the trip takes us back to Brisbane, Queensland and myself and Robbie Cousland, a young RAAF pilot, boarding a modified DC-10 en route to Pago Pago, American Samoa. We took eight F-18s to Vegas for Red Flag in order to get the RAAF pilots exposed to an intense war-like exercise and build some relationships with our close allies in the process. I’ll mention more about the specifics a bit later.

So Cousy (Robbie’s callsign) and I boarded flight Omega 10 and strapped ourselves in to the DC-10 for the 6-hour ride. Omega contracts themselves out to refuel US and foreign air forces during trans-oceanic flights and helps train pilots with refueling. My first experience was a bad one in the front of an F-14 which resulted in a several failed attempts to get my refueling probe in the refueling basket followed by me ripping off an antenna on the bottom of the jet which in-turn worked its way down the right intake. Minor damage to the turbine blades ensued and I got to give blood and pee to make sure I wasn’t flying drunk or high. I wasn’t - I just wasn’t too talented at getting “the thing in the thing”. Those are the technical terms.

Back to the ride from OZ to Pago. Robbie and I lounged in the business lounge of this ex-Japan Airlines DC-10 and I even got a JAL bar of soap. Nina, don’t think I wasn’t thinking about souvenirs for you! A nap, some studying of charts for the exercise, and some banter with the troops that were on the flight, and we were touching down in Pago Pago.

Now Pago Pago is a place we have to stop out of necessity only. You put two tankers and eight hornets up in the air and you’re realistcially only going to get about 2500 miles from your last departure point before you have to either land or run out of gas, and Pago Pago is that point when you’re lifting off out of Australia. It’s not ideal, but they’ve got gas, a runway, two McDonalds, and some really large Samoans to help you get your aircraft parked. I’m talkin’ BIG dudes, and it’s impressive to see a 400ish pound man shuffle around in a skirt and sandals whilst waving some wands to help you park a plane. Nonetheless, we got the jets there all in one piece and got ourselves (about 40 enlisted troops and the 10 pilots) to the hotel to get some food and get some sleep prior to the flight to Hawaii the next morning. A quick swim and a couple of Coors Lights (I accepted my tertiary choice for American light beer since it was all they had) and I was a happy sleeper, waiting to get up and strap in for the six-hour hornet flight to Hawaii.

A continental breakfast at the hotel (not a bad one considering we were on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere) and a quick flight brief by the Commanding Officer (CO) and we were out the door to the airport. Now we had a few things working against us before we even got to the airport, worst of which was the Category 3 typhoon (read hurricane if you’re in the States) that was bearing down on the island from the northeast and a few other issues that made two of our jets inoperable. This left us with six jets ready to fly, and I was content since I was flying as #4 of 6. A good spot with little responsibility and with a few guys behind me (5 and 6) to bite the bullet and stay in Pago in case of other issues. It started raining as we started the jets and we were anxious to get out since we were fighting against daylight and weather. After getting both my engines online I got the bad call from one of the refuelers that they couldn’t get the DC-10 (the one with the most fuel to give us) started due to a bad starter and of course, it being Pago and all, there wasn’t one at the airport to hook up to the plane externally. Hmm. Thirty minutes went by and the CO made the call to take three hornets with the second tanker (a 707) to Hawaii and let us work out the rest. The three hornets and tanker took off into the weathery abyss leaving me in charge of the remaining 3 hornets. I used all my wishing powers to will the DC-10 to start, but unfortunately I must have used those powers up on getting Stella through her second six months of life surgery-free. Dog-gone it.

Before we shut down the jets, in a comical move, we taxied the three “good” jets and two “bad” ones to the highest point on the parking ramp which measured in at a colossal eight feet above sea level. We learned later that the storm surge of the typhoon was predicted to be 25 feet. Of note, the buoyancy of an FA-18 is akin to an unlucky mobster on the Sopranos when it’s full of fuel. And the waiting game began.

We, now minus only three hornets and their pilots, a 707, and a handful of maintenance personnel, headed back to the hotel to ride out the storm. We walked in the lobby to a whiteboard full of information on how to ride the storm (now named Typhoon Rene) out (i.e. don’t look directly at the glass when there are palm trees flying through the air) and a A4 printout of the storm and its predicted path. Right over the island with predicted winds in excess of 100mph. Awesome. The eye was expected to hit at 4am local time. We prepared by getting two cases of beer and hunkering down in a second floor suite which Cousy and I were sleeping in. Now I’m sure there are different reactions to imminent disaster, and the good people of American Samoa were busy boarding up their windows and getting supplies. We decided to take a different approach and enjoy Rene. I don’t think anyone was awake for the 4am zero hour, but we woke to calm winds and cloudy skies – Rene, with respect for the low-lying jets, took a left turn about 50 miles from the island chain, and veered south, gaining intensity to a full-fledged Category 5 Typhoon. We thanked our lucky stars, nursed a few headaches, and ventured out to the actual town of Pago in search of some lunch.

Pago doesn’t really have a whole lot to offer in terms of great eateries, and it’s even worse when the town is expecting a devastating typhoon to hit. Most places were boarded up and we eventually found a resort with a restaurant and a view. Stomachs full and ready to be in Hawaii, we went back to the hotel and got a decent night’s sleep for the next flight.

Weather was good the 3^rd day of Pago, the 707 returned to help us get to Hawaii and we got three jets out with the 707. The DC-10 left with the remaining two jets about an hour later and we arrived in Hawaii about six hours later, crossing into the Northern Hemisphere and into good weather. The flight was mostly in cloud up to the 0-degree latitude line and tanking was rough but manageable. Oahu was a welcome sight although getting out of the jet I didn’t receive a lei, just a rather inquisitive look of a customs official, wondering why an American was flying an Australian jet. I told him I was an American flying an Australian jet made in St Louis and he looked even more confused so I just gave him my passport and we called it even. Waikiki lay in wait, and a day of relaxation before heading to Miramar on Tuesday. More on that in the next post. Until then…

USA 2010

Good morning and once again, I apologize for the hiatus I've taken from blogging. Don't worry, I won't try to sum up the last 3 months in one post - my typing skills and memory aren't up to that challenge.

We'll call this an intrologue (I made that up) to a few more posts that I'll hopefully be making over the next few days and on my flight back to OZ about the past month or so of being away from home here in the USA, working and catching up with family and friends. It's been a great work experience and I've been able to catch up with a ton of folks, including a few new additions to some families, but I'm definitely ready to head back to Nina, Stella and the waning Australian summer. It wasn't a six-month deployment, but for a guy on his shore tour it was long enough.

So, I'm sitting here at SeaTac waiting to head down to San Fran to meet my mom for a Hwy 1 roadtrip to LA, typin' away on my (sorry, Nina - our) new netbook and I'll leave you with a quick recap of where I've been and what's been happening. I left Newcastle a month and 2 days ago on a contract aerial refueler to spend a night overnight in Brisbane, followed by a trip to Pago Pago, American Samoa. Next stop was over the equator and into Hickam AFB in Hawaii for a weekend, followed by another flight to Miramar MCAS in San Diego. From there it was 2 weeks in Vegas for Red Flag with some crazy Aussies with too much money to spend and your standard Australian gambling habits. I left them at the craps tables 9 days ago and headed to Chicago to see Kato and Al (sans Mark) and also made a trip to Ann Arbor with an accidental Wisconsin border crossing. Then it was up to Minneapolis to see some family and realize that there are places in the USA that are way too cold (hold your comments, Schwarze family) and most recently a weekend trip to Seattle to catch up with my best man, Dave, his wife Tami and their new son, Drew. That leaves me at the airport and ready to hit Cali and see mi mama. I'll be back on the blog in a few days with more in-depth recaps, but until then, stay warm, Americans, and to you Aussies (and my beautiful wife), enjoy the beach. I'll be home soon.

-Charlie

NZ pictures

enjoy!

click here

merry christmas!

I can't believe it's our second Christmas here in Australia! We just got back from our wonderful trip to New Zealand and had a quiet little Christmas here in Newcastle. It is still weird to have Christmas in the middle of summer, but we tried to make the most of it. We had a real Christmas tree... it's not too pretty, and a nice BBQ Christmas dinner... leg of lamb (very Aussie!). It's been great catching up with family over the phone and we are jealous of everyone's white Christmas back at home!

Now, we have a couple days to recover and then we head back to Sydney to pick-up my friend Kim who will be visiting us for about a week! Woohoo!

Other than that we are just planning on have a relaxing couple of weeks while Charlie is off. We will be posting pictures and stories from NZ in the next couple days! Love you all very much!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

new zealand!

We leave in two days for our 12 day trip to South Island New Zealand! We will be traveling mostly by car and camping out or staying in hostels. Here's a map of our planned route!

View Larger Map

We hope everyone has a fantastic holiday and we'll be in touch when we return (Dec 24th)!

it's summertime!

Yesterday was the first day of summer. It doesn't feel quite right, but I am happy that all of the flowers are blooming and the weather is absolutely gorgeous!!!

We got our first Aussie Christmas tree yesterday and it is definitely a little disappointing. I was warned that it wouldn't be as 'perfect' as our American trees, but after trimming it for over an hour it still doesn't really resemble a real Christmas tree... oh well! I am just grateful we have one! I was worried Stella might destroy, knock-over or even be scared of it and I should have been worried about her eating all of our ornaments. I just caught her chewing on one of our glittery red ones... not cool.

We are getting excited for our trip coming up in a couple of weeks and Charlie's month off!! Woohoo! Definitely a nice perk!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Spring Update

It's a beautiful Tuesday morning here in Newcastle, and Nina's shrieks from outside signaled the first tomato on her month-old tomato plants that are potted outside. At first I thought I'd flooded the backyard or Stella had dug to the United States, but thankfully it was a lil' tomato that will hopefully not be eaten by the dog.

The weekend was marred by storm clouds but that didn't stop us from making a trek down to Sydney on Sunday to take in some of the sights. I had a pipe dream that the markets down there would provide something amazing for a bargain, but after 10 minutes of aisles filled with overpriced "original" Aboriginal art and Sydney t-shirts, combined with an unflattering exchange rate, we called it quits and used our Entertainment Book of coupons to take in the awe and specter of the Powerhouse Museum at half price. Sydney's answer to The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago it proved not to be, and we speed-walked the entire thing in 25 minutes. Thank God it was half-price. The weather improved a little bit and we took in some of Darling Harbour and hopped on the train from Central back to our parking spot north of downtown. I decided not to pay the $30 price for parking downtown and was happy not to have to deal with tolls and traffic of downtown Sydney as we hopped off the train in Wollstonecraft where we had parked.

The real reason for the trip was still to come, and we booked our way toward Homebush Bay to make Ikea by its 6:30pm close. Parking in the complex was utterly Australian (confusing and poorly designed) and we were through the gates into Ikea heaven after about an hour in the car. Nina promised me bottom floor shopping only and she stayed true to her promise as we carved our way through picture frames, organizers, candles, and Christmas decorations. I'd say only 10% of metro Sydney's population was at the store and we were out with our $100 in wares inside of two hours.

The ride home was uneventful - split shift driving and a quick gas fill-up and we were home by 8pm, and enjoying our taco dinner by 8:30. It was a fun day and I know we'll think twice before heading to Sydney for the markets next time we feel the need for trinkets.

I took a day off of work yesterday to relax and regroup after a long couple months of flying. After getting back from the States it was non-stop work and I truly felt burnt out after the end of last week. Flying hours were up, but our manning has been razor thin and everyone's been stressed a bit too much for their own good. Nina and I spent the day at the beach, me trying to catch a few fish, Nina dealing with the dog, and Stella dealing with her inner demons. She really has limitless energy (the dog) and after four hours of swimming, running, jumping, digging, and treasure hunting, we came home and she was still running around like a criminal. Petstock doesn't carry prozac for dogs, but we may start giving her some rum with her morning meals.

Off to Bunnings right now for some home goods - working the night shift this week at work which means getting home around midnight. Y'all take care, and more from Australia later.

our first camping expedition!

After a year of staying at fancy 4 and 5 star hotels Charlie and I decided it was time to purchase camping gear and dive into the world of budget travel. This past weekend we decided to take our first trip! We wanted to take Stella so that limited us to state forest because the national parks do not allow dogs into them. We decided to head up to Chichester State Forest which borders Barrington Tops National Park, about two hours away from here.

The drive was absolutely beautiful! Tons of farms and rolling hills with lots of parrots, cows and sheep. About 45 minutes of the drive was on gravel road. We were definitely out in the middle of nowhere.

We ended up finding a fantastic spot to set up camp right next to the river and away from any people (there were only about 15 who camped the entire forest that night). Stella had the best time! She retrieved balls from the river, chewed on sticks (we don't have too many in town.. ha), and barked at wild bush turkeys. We had a great time too and we are already planning our next trip... we are thinking beach camping next : )

Here are a few pics for ya...

Camping Chichester State Forest

photos from our trip

I am back in Australia and five days later, I am still suffering from jet lag. However, I did have an extremely comfortable ride over here from LA ; )

It was so great to see everyone over these past few weeks! Thanks for making our trip so much fun!!! We miss you all and hope to see some of you in Oz over the next two years!

Here are some photos from the trip! Enjoy!

US 2009 favorites

Last night home alone (I've been eating a lot of chicken and rice) and then down to Sydney in the morning to pick up Miss First-Class (someone got upgraded on the LAX-Sydney flight). Pretty good week so far since work started on a Tuesday and spring is in full swing with the time change. Nina and I are hoping to get some camping in this weekend since we just got a new tent and will need to be on "budget time" after the last month of travel to the States. New South Wales has a bunch of good locales to camp and even though we don't have a 4x4 we should be able to reach a majority of them with our hatchback or by taking a bushwalk (insert 'hike' if you're American or 'tramp' if your a Kiwi). I did just check the flights to NZ and unfortunately they're a bit more expensive then the last (cheap) ones we got. We're still crossing our fingers, and I'm sure Nina will be actively searching between her classes for next few months.

So, we're almost a year overseas and probably a good while until we both head back to the States together. I'll be either in Las Vegas or China Lake, CA for a month during February and March, 2010 and hopefully will be able to take some leave before or after that, and whaddaya know, I still have no idea what I'm going to do with my life after this tour. 2 years to go, and I could get out of the Navy...no more deployments, but it would mean I'd have to get a real job. Hmm, so many tough decisions. I'm open for suggestions, but I'm really just hoping to hit my head on the toilet and come up with the flux capacitor or win the lottery. Maybe I'll write a book on indecision.

Back from the USA...barely

Hey everyone. Yes, it's Charlie and for all the blog readers who've been waiting all summer for a post, consider this your season premiere. I've been back here on Expat Island for a couple of weeks since the USA trip and Nina's getting back on Wednesday. It's really the first time I've been at home alone since we got married and it's felt a bit strange, especially with Stella at home now. Let's just say I feel a bit like a single dad with a special-needs kid. Please God let our actual children be free from defects.

Stella remains crazier than ever, but she was glad to see me on my return. The USA was great and for those of you who are reading and we didn't get to see, I apologize, but know that we made a pretty decent effort to get to all corners of the States. For my 2 weeks+ I hit 10 airports, rented 4 cars (including a sweet Mustang in San Antonio), stayed in 6 different beds and had a ton of fun. All good things came to an end as Nina dropped me at the Norfolk "International" Airport 2 mondays ago though, and I started my way back to Aussieland. Unfortunately weather in Atlanta was horrible, and my only movement in an airplane was to taxi away from the jetway, wait in a holding area, and taxi back to the jetway after 2 and half hours in the regional jet. Fortunately, they had drink service working and were kind enough to give out the peanuts for free. The frazzled Delta clerk rebooked me on the next day's flight and I rented a car and stayed at my buddy Casey's condo for the night. The next day weather was better and got through Atlanta, LAX and into Sydney with no problems, arriving Thursday morning.

Fortunately for me, on the Atlanta to LAX flight, I sat next to a couple from about 30 minutes outside Newcastle and thry offered up a ride home for me (score!). Their son picked us up outside customs and 2 hours later I was back in Newy. Ironically, if I had made my original flights, I would have ended up in Brisbane since the Central Coast (south of Sydney to north of Newcastle) had a freak dust storm that plowed its way from Adelaide to Coffs Harbour, depositing a ton of red grit and sand everywhere and diverting International flights to Melbourne and Brisbane. Plus, and this is the real kicker, I got out of another day of work.

So, for the past 2 weeks I've been playing single dad to the pooch, scratching my head over what's up with my lawn (sorry Nina - our lawn), and flying a bit at work. No more deployments for me this year, and Nina and I are trying to figure out what to do with our Christmas vacation. Hopefully Jetstar (the Southwest Airlines of Australia) will have some ridiculously low fare sales at some point and we'll get back over to New Zealand for $12 or something. Feel free to suggest anything if you have a good idea.

All righty, back to my yardwork which just means I'll be staring at the random shades of green that make up the mosaic of our lawn. We may have some Austral fungus out there which means I might move my staring to the aisles of Bunnings (Australian Home Depot) to try and find some sort of solution. Or, I may just play "renter that doesn't expect to get his security deposit back" and let the lawn die. I think Stella has done enough to the house that it wouldn't really matter anyway. In positive news Monday Night Football is getting broadcast on my new-favorite channel "One HD", but the downside is that it doesn't start until 11am tomorrow. Guess I'll have to take my calls in the crew room at work tomorrow.

Okay folks, I'll attempt to make this a weekly thing. Until then, Stella and I bid you adieu and look forward to Nina's return to the roughest posting in the US Navy.

one week to go!

After three fun weeks with Eddie and Kelly, I have had a quiet week here in Newcastle. Charlie is still in Thailand...riding elephants, eploring ruins, shopping at the markets (yes, he is actually shopping) and flying with the Thai Air Force. He should be the one writing a blog... he's got a lot more going on this week. While Charlie has been off in Thailand, I have been getting ready for our trip to the U.S. Packing, booking hotels and cars etc. We are both SO excited to see everyone! I can't believe it's only a week away!

I guess that's it for now... off to walk the dog... how exciting.. ha. At least it's a gorgeous spring day out.

Lots of love!!

taronga zoo

We took a trip down to the Taronga Zoo this week before Charlie headed off to Thailand for work. It was a great zoo with lots of animals we aren't used to seeing. I gave Charlie the camera for the day... I needed a little break. He did a great job!! Here's the link to the photos.

Taronga Zoo