January Visit

As most of you know, in January my parents came over to Australia for a visit! It was a great trip and we all survived! We were able to do so much sight-seeing and visiting with people on the Central Coast. I think one of my parents favorite things was getting to meet the members of the Gosford congregation and spending time with them. We had an invitation to dinner almost every night we were in town! Here is a list of what we did during the two weeks...

Day 1: Mom and Dad arrived at the airport around 8 am. Chris Payne came with me to the airport, where we picked up mom and dad and she drove us to downtown Sydney to drop us off. We decided right away that we better do the Harbour Bridge Climb, or we may not do it! Here is a picture of the Harbour Bridge to show you how high we climbed:

Day 2: We went to church and class in Gosford and then we went over to the Lawrie's house for Sara Moad's baptism. It was great! Then, we went to Terrigal with Amber and Jenny to have some great fish and chips. We sat right by the ocean! On Sunday evening, we went to the Central Coast Mariner's soccer game. Although it isn't American football, I have really enjoyed the Mariner's games this season and wanted mom and dad to come to a game with me.

Day 3: Sallie-Anne Moad took us on a driving tour around the Central Coast and then we went back to the Moad's for dinner. Mom and Dad loved the tour and they got to spend some time on the beach and just see the area where I live. We went to a beautiful lighthouse and saw a great view from the top of Killcare Hill. We also saw the pelican feeding at The Entrance.

Day 4: Off to Nelson Bay at Port Stephens for a dolphin cruise around the harbour. It was very relaxing and we saw tons of dolphins! That evening, we went to Ray and Lynn Gritten's house for dinner and to talk about our trip to the Blue Mountains the next week.

Day 5: Australia Day! After stopping by the shops for some lunch to go, we headed out to the beach for a picnic with members of the church. It was great to spend more time with people and mom and dad loved walking down to the beach where they got in the water for the first time! For dinner, we had a cook-out at David and Joy Mowday's house with their family. The Mowday's got dad an Australian apron for him to grill with at home.

Days 6-8: We flew up to Cairns, in northern Australia, for a holiday at the Great Barrier Reef. On the first day, we took the Skyrail up to Kuranda in the rainforest. Mom and I weren't too sure about the Skyrail, but the town of Kuranda was very nice. Mom and Dad bought several souveniers and then realized that we only brought carry-on luggage! Oops! Everything made it back fine, though. On Friday, we went on a full day tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Dad got to go scuba diving and mom and I snorkelled, all seeing some amazing things. We had a perfect day and all got a little too much sun. For our last day up north, we went on a crocodile farm tour and walked through the botanical gardens. It was busy, but we had a great time!

Day 9: Off to church again at Gosford where Dad led singing and we had a church fellowship luncheon. That evening, we headed over to the Brown's house for dinner and good conversation. The Brown's are so much fun to spend time with!

Day 10: We toyed with heading into Sydney for the day, but decided to spend a day in Gosford. We went to the Ken Duncan gallery. Ken Duncan is a famous Australian photographer. He takes wonderful photos. We bought a few souveniers and then headed to the mall for lunch and a few odds and ends. Then, we went to the Stone's house for dinner. We let dad drive, which mom didn't think was a very good idea...

Days 11 & 12: We travelled to the Blue Mountains with Ray and Lynn Gritten. It was a great trip! We had perfect weather and made a lot of really great memories. Mom and Dad loved spending time with the Gritten's on this trip. I think they made friends for life! We did a bit of hiking as well. Overall, it was a fun trip. We also stopped by the Featherdale Wildlife Park on the way back, so mom and dad could pet and feed some kangaroos and koalas. When we got back on Wednesday, we hurried over for dinner at Stuart and Lyn Penhall's. Then, we went to class at church that night and then to Macca's afterwards! Busy, busy, busy!

Day 13: We finished up running some errands in the Gosford area. We went out to the beach one last time, which was nice, but super hot! We reached temperatures of over 100 degrees this day! Also, we have a Scholastic factory here, so we went to the factory store so Mom could get some "Aussie" books for pre-school. On Thursday evening, we went to the Lawrie's for dinner. Evan and Graham cooked up some fabulous kangaroo, lamb, pork and steak for us! Dad enjoyed the exotic meat, but Mom stuck with pork and steak. It's hard to eat kangaroo when you just finished petting one the day before!

Day 14: Taronga Zoo day with the Buck family! We met Joe, Tiffany and the boys in Sydney on Friday, then went out to the zoo for the day. We saw tons of different animals, but my favorite by far was the baby elephants! It was so fun to go to a zoo with Jude and Pax because they really enjoyed all the animals. After taking a picture by a statue of a rhino, Jude kept asking us when we could see the "moving" rhinos. It was so cute! We ate dinner at our favorite pizza place in Sydney, then headed on home.

Day 15: We woke up, packed up, and went to breakfast at the Payne's house on our way to the airport. We had a great breakfast and even were entertained when a goana (sp?) appeared on their back porch! It was a huge lizard! Then, I took mom and dad to the airport!

Overall, we had such a great time during the 2 weeks they were here. Hopefully, I can talk my brother and sister into making a trip sometime next year. Anyone is welcome to come visit! :-)

It's that Time...Christmas Time is Here...

It's beginning to feel a lot like....Summer! We've had steady 90 degree days lately here in Australia, so it certainly doesn't feel like the typical cold December that I'm used to! I'm still getting used to the fact that my apartment does not have air conditioning. I have a couple of fans, but it is definitely not cool inside! I did decorate my little Christmas tree and hang the stocking that my mom sent me to get in the Christmas spirit. I think I'm channeling my Aunt Martha and Uncle Steve, because I already have all of my Christmas shopping done! Here are some fun pics from this month so far:

The "rat-tail" is alive and well in Australia. Just ask Evan. (our youth minister)

Claire, Jenny, Me and Laura with the decorated Christmas tree at the Community Centre. (we decorated it for them)

I could've sworn that Clark Griswald was American???

Hannah, me and Jenny at the STAMP graduation.

Pac Rim Weekend

This past weekend, the Pac Rim group from Oklahoma Christian was here on the coast. We had such a great time! We picked them up from the airport on Thursday night and then headed back to Gosford. We woke up to a rainy and cold Friday, but we still were able to go to the Australian Reptile Park near Gosford. It was fun to watch all of the students experience kangaroos and koalas and a few creepy, crawly creatures as well. (Ok, I was excited too.) We watched a show where one of the park employees "milked" a poisonous snake right in front of us! I hate snakes! (Milking a snake is when they get the snake to bite on a jar to extract some of its venom in order to make anti-venom. It saves lives!)

On Saturday, we had my first real beach day here in Australia! We took the Pac Rim group to Pearl Beach where we sun-tanned (or burned), had a barbeque and played ultimate frisbee. We were there for several hours, so we all got pretty fried. After the beach, everyone went back to Kev and Deb Brown's house for dinner and a devotional. The singing was so great! I loved it!

We rounded out the weekend with a sausage sizzle on Sunday and then most of the students came to a Central Coast Mariner's soccer game with us on Sunday afternoon. It was a very busy weekend, but I loved getting to hang out with the students from OC. I felt so old, though! Ha. A few of them knew of my brother, Ben, and several were friends with my cousin, Todd, who is a sophomore at OC.

"Milking" the snake!

Me feeding a kangaroo!

Me and Steven (Pac Rim) at the soccer game.

Halloween 2010

Although Halloween is not a typical holiday here in Australia, we were able to have an Area-Wide Young Adult's Halloween party this year. It was a blast! Everyone came dressed in a costume and we ate pizza, carved pumpkins, played Halloween bingo and had a costume contest. Some people had never carved a pumpkin before! The Americans will be shocked at this, but I paid $56 for 4 pumpkins to carve!! Aussies enjoy pumpkin, but it is a different kind of pumpkin. Mostly, they use pumpkin as a vegetable. You can have roast pumpkin or even pumpkin soup! I actually really enjoy it.

This year, Jenny, Amber, Amanda and I went dressed as the ninja turtles. (I've been trying to get someone to be a ninja turtle with me for years.) We had a Queen of Hearts, Aladdin and Jasmine, Gene Simmons (KISS), and a multitude of others! We had about 20 people total, so it was a great success!

For a pumpkin soup recipe, go here: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/5175/pumpkin+soup

Losing a Tire

So, this past weekend was our Gosford Family Camp. It was a great weekend, but on the way, we had an interesting experience.

Jenny and I had gone shopping for all of the groceries for camp on Wednesday. We had to take the church bus because there was so much food, it wouldn't have fit in the boots of our cars. The "bus" is really just a 14 passenger van and in Australia, you have to have a special license to drive them. Since I still have my American license, I am eligible to drive the bus. Anyway, we loaded up on Friday afternoon, with all of the food and our luggage to head off to camp early. The groceries partly included 18 kilos of beef mince, 10 kilos of pork mince, and a TON of milk! It only takes about 45 minutes to get to camp, so we didn't think we needed coolers or anything, because everything would go right back in the fridge. What we didn't expect is that we would get a flat tire on the way!

I would like to take this time to thank everyone in my life who has told me how to react if a tire blows while driving. I remained calm, kept the wheel steady and pulled off to the side of the road. First of all, we were on the highway (going at least 100 km/hr-about 75mph), I was in the passing lane and it took me a second to figure out what happened. I heard a noise, then smelt something burning and then we realized that the tire had blown. And when I say blown, that is really what I mean. This wasn't just a flat tire, there was nothing left! Luckly, the church has NRMA (like roadside assistance), so we were able to get the tire changed fairly quickly. Quite an adventure! I've never had a flat tire while I was driving before!

October Already??!!

I can't believe that it's already October!! Where did 2010 even go? Things are moving along here in Australia, and as I've mentioned before, it is starting to get warmer here. We've had some really nice Spring days along with some really rainy Spring days. I am hearing good things about October and November. The weird thing will be having a HOT Christmas and New Year's!

One thing that I'm really missing about Oklahoma is football season. It seems that the past few years I have really been into watching all the games, reading the stats and then discussing them with all of the guys at work. Football (or gridiron, as Aussies call it) is just not popular here, so it is hard to keep up. Luckily, I was able to go over to some friend's house on Sunday morning to watch the OU/TX game. Boomer Sooner! We had daylight savings here on Saturday night, so it was on at 6:30 am (2:30 pm Central time in the US), rather than 5:30 am. I must be a dedicated fan! Here is a pic of me with my OU doll (courtesy of the Runyons) and my OU football schedule:

Birthday

With the coming of September came my 27th birthday! AHHHH!! As you can tell from some of the pictures, I went through a "AHHH!! I'm old!" phase and put a couple of pink streaks in my hair. Ha. Overall, I had a great birthday! On the actual day, the ministry team went out to lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant. It is a small, family-owned business, so the same people are at work every time we're in there. The girl who always waits on us gave me a hug and told me happy birthday! Ha!

In the evening, Jenny, Amber, Amanda and Tiffany came over for a spaghetti dinner, complete with a Dr. Pepper from the international food store at one of the malls here. After dinner, we went and saw a movie, then came back to my place for chocolate fondue dessert! Yummmm!!!! The girls and I had a great time.

On the night following, a group of adults/young adults went out to dinner at one of the only Mexican restaurants in town! The food was good, just a sweeter type Mexican than I'm used to. Jenny made a birthday cake that was delicious as well! See below for some fun pics...