goodbye for now Australia

Our two more days in Newcastle were lovely.  We had yummy breakfasts, coffees and baby chinos.

We went to a wildlife park that was almost more like a farm with tons of baby goats, lambs, kangaroos, camels, and cows that we could feed and pet.

We enjoyed an art session at "The Lock Up" which is an old prison that's been converted into an art gallery.  The art session was held in what used to be the old outdoor fitness space in the prison, which had the only shower in the prison for the prisoners.  There was a featured photographer whose work was on display, so the kids used toilet papers rolls as though they were camera lenses and they drew what they saw through the lens.

Dinners and a lunchtime smoothie with Dawesy and Aleah.  Friday beach sprints at Mereweather Beach.  And a quick ride home on the city public transport.

We absolutely loved our time in Newcastle and will be returning again in the future!  Thanks again for everything Dawesy and Aleah - we'll miss you!

We decided to get some miles under our belt before our last night in AU, so we left our wonderful friends and we headed south along the coast.  About 1.5 hours later (the half-ish way mark) we stopped for the night and spent our evening having dinner, playing soccer with kids, and checking out pelicans at Terrigal Beach.

We head home tomorrow... see you again soon AU!

made it to newcastle

After bowls of muesli, toast and coffees, we packed up our suitcases, checked out of our hotel and started our relatively short trek to NewCastle.  Our first stop - the Bogey Hole, which is a sea bath in Newcastle that was constructed in the early 1800's by prisoners at the direction of the commandant.  The water was a bit chilly, but that didn't stop the boys from jumping in and riding the waves that crashed over the ledge!

We weren't able to check into our hotel yet, so we met up with Dawesy at a cool café in downtown Newcastle for some delicious vegan food.  

Our hotel was a bit of a mess.  They required a local AU phone number in order to send our access codes, when we finally got access to the place our room hadn't been serviced and the company wasn't sure of when they could clean it.  So, they moved us to another property which had a similar phone number issue.  

A few hours later though and we had a nice room with a small kitchen and a great view of the lighting and thunder storm that began soon after we settled in.  So, we waited for a break in the storm, made a quick trip to the nearby Aldi for some dinner fixins, and did what we could to make a nice dinner in our new place.

The storm was beautiful to watch and we all stayed up a little late enjoying the sky light up.

happy day in Cessnock

We spent one more day in Cessnock hanging out in the main town, enjoying coffees, baby chinos, pumpkin scones and hot cross buns,

shopping at the second-hand store Vinnies, saying "how ya going" to the Cessnock fire department,

hiking up the hill to an awesome playground with an incredible view of the city,

a second visit to our pool, and a mellow evening.

This part of our trip has left us loving this area and looking forward to all that will come in the next few days.  Tomorrow, we are off to Newcastle!

Cessnock rocks

After a pretty decent sleep, Gordy and I were ready to get out and amongst it for our first day in Australia. So, the three of us packed up our gear and headed out. Our first priority was to charge the Tesla since our hotel doesn’t have a charging station and Todd hadn’t charged it much since he left Manyana. This was a more difficult task than you’d think. We eventually found a place and were then able to walk to a coffee shop with a playground and a free arcade nearby where we all played air hockey, shot hoops, and rode snowmobiles with some very pornographic avatars for about an hour.

Our next stop was the Cessnock pool across the street from our hotel. We all swam laps in the 50m outdoor pool and then Gordy played on the splash pad complete with a small water slide and a tipping bucket.

Wine tasting at First Creek came next where Todd and I very much enjoyed ourselves for an hour. 

Then, we made a quick stop at Aldi and had a picnic dinner on our hotel lanai with lots of random good finds (hummus and pretzels, lentil and saffron rice salad, etc.).

So far, we are very happy with our Cessnock stay!

hi daddy!

Finally after a week of Todd being in Auz without us, it was time for me and Gordy to join him! So, we packed up, said goodbye to Nana and Niele, fed the fish, harvested as much garden treasures as we could, and boarded our jetstar plane. 

The flight was a little bumpy for long enough that my belly got a bit unhappy. But, after a nice 2-hr sleep, I was back in action. We changed planes in Melbourne and then arrived in Sydney 14 hours later to see Todd, Muzz, and Mickle waiting for us at our gate exit! 

Our bag was the first one off the plane, so we grabbed it from the carousel and walked with our crew to their hotel and our car all the while catching up with the boys. Lots of hugs and promises of visits later and our Sells family was in our Tesla embarking on our 2+ hour journey north to Cessnock. 

Our Aussie adventure has begun!

happy leprechaun day

This year, Gordy decided that he was done trying to catch leprechauns. Despite his teacher and classmates best efforts to convince him that trapping leprechauns was the best thing to do, Gordy decided that he didn’t want to risk hurting the poor guy. So instead, he made a bowl of green confetti with a pipe cleaner ladder for the little fellow to play in. And, boy was he rewarded! The leprechaun left him a scavenger hunt that resulted in 9 gold coins.

He also peed in the toilet and turned the water green before ditching out the back door.  At least he didn’t trash the house like last year!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!