True north

These are very special termite mounds, made by VERY special termites.

Each mound points north/south!!!

Dedicated

This is the Bulldogs game. We hung out in a car park at a National Park to listen to the game. We are so damn dedicated!

Hungry bugs

This is a termite mound. These little buggars are HUNGRY!!! These things scatter the entire Northern Territory. Farmers plow around them, National Parks honour them, it's all quite funny.

Batchelor

The town of Batchelor was a good introduction to a "typical" NT town... one where the general store, the post, and the petrol station were all the same thing!

Home sweet home!

This is the only Mercedes we'll ever drive!

Happy Pride Chicago!!!

We miss you Chicago... and Halsted... and Ann Sathers... and Chipotle...

and...

We're baaaaaack!

We are back from 8 days in the Northern Territory. We didn't get eaten by crocs, although it was touch and go at one swimming hole! Once we sort through our 486 pictures and get some sleep (we flew all night) I'll update you all with pics and stories.

G'night!

Hello from the Northern Territory

Good morning from Darwin. We arrived at our hostel at about 3:30am after our twilight flight. It's warm and windy here and funny bugs scamper across the floor.

Megan woke up a bit before me so she thought she'd scope out the breakfast options. Apparently there are 2 takeaway places near our hostel, one of which is called "Uncle Sam's." Sounds like she had some ups and downs with this plan... and we ended up with chow mein and a blueberry muffin! I love it here already.

Goal of today: Don't get eaten by a croc. Saltwater or freshie!

MIA

Sorry for being MIA... I was up at Mount Macedon for much of the week on a department retreat. 15 Red Crossers locked in a conference centre... good times!

Rugby at the Telstra Dome

Australia v. Ireland

GOOOOOO WALLABIES!!!

We live there!

Yummy

We went back to our yummy rissoto balls restaurant to celebrate 7 months in Australia. It was pretty strange to sit there... gainfully employed, happy, and loving our lives in Australia without any worries about finding a car, apartment, and furnishings. We've come a long way!

Old school doggie

Footy and lollies

Great seats!

Not-so-typical June

I don't typically bundle up in a scarf, hat and winter coat on my birthday... but that's life in the southern hemisphere!

Happy 7 months- Part II

The Wallabies beat Australia! Happy 7 months in Australia!!!

Yup, we went to the Doggies game at the MGC at 2pm and the Wallabies rugby game (vs. Ireland) at the Telstra Dome at 8pm. What a day!!!

Happy 7 months- Part I

Go Doggies... win #10!

Happy 7 months in Australia!

Working hard.

Ginger what? Ginger who?

This is my friend Nes. And a ginger bread man. Apparently it was a confusing encounter.

Winter is here

Winter has arrived (yup, quite strange to celebrate a June birthday curled up next to a space heater). It's now time to bust out all the winter foods... so we thought we'd start with Jason & Mairead's stew. Look at all those veggies! I'm proud of myself for finding something with that many veggies that I love to eat!

Forget Paris

Melbourne outranks Paris
Paola Totaro
June 12, 2008 - 9:20AM

Melbourne has not only overtaken Sydney on the list of the world's top 20 most liveable cities, but leap-frogged Paris into the top 10 in the quality-of-life stakes.

Compiled by the uber chic design and lifestyle magazine, Monocle, the rankings will be published on June 19, crowning Copenhagen as the world's number one city. Munich, the winner last year, dropped down to number two while London - financial and cultural behemoth of Europe, did not even squeak it into the best 20 list.

The list defines Tokyo as the third best city in the world with the Nordic capitals of Stockholm and Helsinki joining the top ten. Berlin took out the cultural capital prize while Paris's pioneering Mayor, Bertrand Delanoe [umlaut on the e] - and new innovations like the bike hire scheme and the 'Nuits Blanches' when museums stay open all night - have reinvigorated the city to win the Best Global city.

For Sydney, disappoinment: the Emerald City dropped from number 7 on the list to number 11 while Melbourne's rankings climbed from number 11 to number 9.

Melbourne, says the magazine, is vibrant, art loving, booming - and sprawling: "Melbourne's economy is humming, its arts scene is thriving, and more than 1000 new people a week are calling the city home."

the midwest

Thanks Queeny

Thanks for the b-day. I love have Mondays off!

Australian Mexican Food

We went out to dinner with some friends last night and they took us to a Mexican restaurant. It was HILLARIOUS! It was called "Mexican Graffiti." They proudly boasted Corona, which was a step in the right direction. However, it went downhill when we saw the spare ribs, "potachos" (potato wedges with nacho toppings), a teryaki sandwich, and plates inspired by California, Colorado and New Orleans (a bit north of the border I think).

Another great part of the menu was the pronunciation chart. It stated:

Fajitas = Far-hee-dahs

Far? faRRR? No Australia. There's no "r" in fajitas. I love them.

We also had a non-Aussie with us. She's from the UK and asked Megan what a burrito was. Ha!

Callan Ward

I love Altona... it's the perfect little neighbourhood for us. We were just at the grocery store and found ourselves in a conversation about Callan Ward with our checkout girl. She, of course, goes to school with him and was so excited about his first game. We asked if he's a nice boy, and she said, "He wears his footy shorts to school sometimes." What an 18 year old boy!

Welcome to the team!

Here's our newest boy. He's adorable. And he kicked a goal in his first game. Oh... and we won. :)

"When Bulldogs pup Callan Ward meets with his fellow students at Williamstown High School on Tuesday to discuss their long weekends, he'll certainly have an interesting tale to share.

Ward debuted with the Bulldogs on Sunday against the Saints, just under two months after his 18th birthday and just over six months after he became the youngest player to be drafted by the club in the 2007 intake.

His day started at 6.30am, when, too excited to sleep, the young gun woke and realised he was set to make his AFL debut. Then, it ended with his mum shedding tears of pride in the rooms following his 12-possession, one-goal game."

Pumpkin???

This is a "pumpkin" according to the silly people here. What a strange country.

Trading hours

Here are some "typical" Australian trading hours.

Happiness

Wombats... antiques... what more do you need?!!!

Quilt show

So proud of her big purchases!

Road Trip!

Today we took a road trip to Daylesford, which is about 100 kms from Melbourne. It's known as a quiet, artsy, gay friendly, mineral spring-y, bobo kind of place. We went mostly for the quilt show. Yup, the quilt show. Stop laughing. We are hand sewing a quilt and thought we'd hit the road and see what adventures we'd find in a small country town. It was a fun adventure, but I'm not sure we'll be racing back to Daylesford. There was kind of a "you don't belong here" feel to it. It's kind of a touristy town that isn't so sure it wants to be a touristy town. Oh well... we made it off the couch. That's an accomplishment on most Saturdays.

Bulldogs v. Saints

Sunday can't come soon enough.

Go Chicago!!!

We want the Olympics! 2016!

I miss my Uncle Julio.

Ouch.

That's our skipper... after taking a knee to the head (and then passing out on the field). Don't you worry, he came back into the game after getting 7 stitches. Ouch.

LOOOOOVE THEM!

That's right... our boys blew into Tasmania and beat the undefeated Hawthorn Hawks. We flew over there to enjoy the 106-74 beating. We proudly sat there in our reds and blues in a sea of yellow. Fortunately we had some very kind Hawthorn fans sitting around us and they simply told us how "shocking" the umpiring was. It's ok that they couldn't admit that we were better.

It was a great adventure. We flew into Hobart, which is like a small scale Seattle. We drove 2+ hours up to Launceston via a tiny town with lemon & sugar pancakes and "hot chocolate croissants." The radio stations were playing their special "undefeated playlists" in honor of their boys (sad). We went to the game, got to run around the field after the game, and got a few autographs. Then we drove back to Hobart on a white knuckle drive (roos and wallabies rule these roads). Then... it was off to the airport bright and early so we could rush home and watch the game on tv. :)