Northernly tour pics

Working on a more complete written blog, but enjoy the pictures! We are back in Sydney getting ready for a wedding on Tuesday, crazy! Love to all.

And then...

Wow, so much as happened (again) in such a short time since I last wrote a blog post.

First, I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!! I know it seems crazy, but this is the really good kind of crazy. The "life never really happens like that" (does it?) kind of crazy. It feels like I have known Noah for years and can't imagine my life without him.

Second, I'm getting married, here in Australia on the 3rd of February. Still the really good kind of crazy, although there are other factors of somewhat boring (yet legitimate and important) nature that have helped to propel the wedding up to as soon as possible. And, as it happens in Australia, the soonest a couple can get married is one month from the day they decide they want to get married. (All marriages have to be noticed a minimum of a month and a day before the wedding occurs, hence our February 3rd date). We are planning a small ceremony, I bought a dress, we have a handful of friends and "family" (my Australian family that is) who will be coming. We are going to get married at the Jeffery Street Wharf which is this tiny little strip of a park in North Sydney practically under the Harbor Bridge looking across the water at the Opera House and the city. It's perfect (and free). This is all something I never imagined would be happening in the way it is happening but am, I guess, crazy and in love.

Third, although we will be married here, we are planning to have a reception in Driggs sometime soon to be able to share the ceremony and love and everything else with our friends and family at home who are perhaps too far away to make it to Australia, but who may be able to make it to Driggs. Right now, we are thinking this reception will be held sometime the last two weeks of March, although that date has been thrown all over the place in the last week. In addition, we will be having some sort of reception in London when we are finally able to make the trip up North to visit Noah's family.

Fourth, despite all the hecticness, stress, ups, downs and basic roller coaster involved in the decision to get married here, now, then planning a wedding in a week and a half, we are ridiculously happy, know we are making the right decision for us (and our future), and honestly, are a bit shocked ourselves. I personally get more excited every day for the moment when I get to mesh the world I have been living in the last 3+ months with the world I have lived in for the last 24+ years--even if that meshing will get a bit messy at times, I can't wait for everyone to meet Noah and for us to move on forward in the world together.

Whew. So, other than that, we've still been having fun and keeping way busy. Most importantly we are leaving Kristin's house today to go pick up a car we have decided to rent for the rest of our time in Australia. It is a station wagon and the rental price includes a complete set of camping gear from tent to chairs to cook stove, and we are planning to head up north towards Brisbane this afternoon. The tentative idea is that we will tour up north and back between now and the wedding, then down south in between the wedding and the end of our stay in Australia. Once we get ourselves on the road, get out of here, and have a chance to focus more exactly on the adventuring, that plan will become more solidified I would imagine. But for now, we are so looking forward to getting out of Sydney, seeing some more of Australia and basically taking a holiday from our holiday :)

Other than the ring shopping, dress shopping, calls home to friends and family, meeting with our marriage celebrant, working on our ceremony, finding a place to have the wedding etc etc, Noah has been going to yoga classes at a studio in nearby Mona Vale. They had a great 5 classes for $25 promotional package and that has been great for him. Kristin and I went in for our long awaited Circ show at the Opera House, which was quite entertaining, full of impressive acrobatic feats, and well worth the time and money.

The Sydney First Festival opened on Saturday night; the whole CBD was closed off to traffic and stages were set up all over the place with free live music and dance performances being held all over the area. The city was absolutely packed. Noah and I met up with my friend Matt Parsons (from high school) which was great fun. Because there were so many people though, they had to stop letting people into many of the stage areas because of the massive crowds. This meant that the three of us seemed to be just behind the crowd bubble and we didn't really get to see anything except part of the this musical pirate ship fire act that looked like it was going to be very entertaining, but was in actuality, quite un-impressive. That was fine though, we simply retired to Matt's house early (we stayed the evening with him rather than taking the bus back to Mona Vale, amazing on a number of levels). We had a great time hanging out that evening and the next morning talking to Matt and Jerry and quite enjoyed seeing the house they have just moved into, even though it was still in it's unpacking phase.

So, up, up, up and away. That is where we are off to now. Time to finish the last bit of packing and work at getting myself and our stuff on the road! (I think we are both a little nervous about the whole driving on the left side of the road thing, but we have been told we will be used to it after a day or two, hope so!)

An End And Another Beginning!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!! The holiday season has rapidly come to a close just like it always seems to and time really does seem to be flying by faster than it normally does.

CHRISTMAS:

Christmas in the sun was definitely different, but that almost made being away from home easier--because the whole atmosphere and feel of everything is so different than what I am used to. It was wonderful to have a place to be and a family to have Christmas with and I cannot stress enough how beautiful Kristin and her family have been to both myself and Noah. We had a big "North American" Christmas Eve dinner that I was in charge of cooking (my first turkey!) and it turned out wonderfully. We had a turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie and pecan pie and green beans and bread--the works basically. It was good fun and all turned out quite deliciously. The next morning we were all up by 7 or 7:30 and opened some gifts (the OZ Santa even managed to find us, leaving a handy Aussie cookbook/slang guide, some vegemite, some Sydney playing cards and a few other appropriately Australian goodies :)). After presents we went to the beach for a bit, ate brunch, took a nap, and had Christmas dinner with Kristin's extended family. Pretty rough day all in all. Christmas Eve was the day that a bit of homesickness caught up with me, but it was short lived overall. Noah bought me a puzzle (my family has a holiday season tradition of doing puzzles all the time) that we built, which was super sweet of him. He even managed to find one that was a picture of the Tetons, go figure. All in all though, it was a pretty good Christmas and I can't think of a better place to have been than here given the circumstances.

NEWCASTLE:

After Christmas, Noah and I took a short trip up the coast to Newcastle (about a three hour train ride from the city) to visit his friend Sarah, who he knows from the Yoga Teacher Training course he took in Mexico last spring. Sarah is here to do a Masters program that starts the end of February and has been living in Newcastle (where she studied abroad during her BA) and working for the last little bit. We had a wonderful few days with her and quite liked Newcastle. We stayed in a hostel but spent most of our time outside split between restaurants, beaches, parks, and walking between all three. I had met Sarah a week or two ago but it was fun to get to know her better and spend time on what felt like a mini "holiday" (I guess, in a way, a holiday away from our Sydney holiday...). She will be moving into the city in the next couple of weeks since her Masters program is located at the university here and it is fun to have another friend around.

NEW YEARS, ETC:
For New Years, Noah and I decided to brave the crazy crowds and headed into the city to see the Harbour Bridge Fireworks (because hey, how many times will I be in Sydney for New Years?) We didn't go too wild and crazy about it though and headed into the city sometime around 4. When we arrived, we walked over to the Botanical Gardens to see what the deal was and turns out there was a line to get into the viewing areas winding it's way at least a good half a mile back if not more. We shrugged, decided to not wait in the line (since it was almost guaranteed they were going to stop letting people in quite soon, once the vantage points fill up, they are closed off), and went to hang out in Hyde Park, people watch, and eat a little picnic dinner before wandering down to Darling Harbour for the 9 pm firework show. Darling Harbor was equally packed and teaming with kids and families, which was kind of fun. Here we met up with a couple from Ireland we had met the day before (Patraic and Lorraine, friends of my friend James who I know from my travels in Belize. They have been living in Brisbane the last year and came down to see the fireworks, we had dinner with the three of them (James, Patraic and Lorraine) the night before on our return trip from Newcastle. Whew.) We had a great time with the two of them and after the 9pm show started to wander down toward the bridge to try and find a spot for the midnight display. We stopped along the way at a pub and had a beer (since none of the four of us were too keen on going to find a spot and than standing in that spot for an hour to see the show). The laziness didn't set us back though and we managed to elbow our way into a viewing section just behind an official vantage point where we had a pretty straight on view of the Harbor Bridge. The crowds were a bit overwhelming and it didn't help that at about 20 minutes to midnight, two ambulances attempted to drive out through the crowd where we were standing (which was quite tightly packed to begin with). You can imagine how that went. I'm impressed no one was hurt and no fights broke out. The ambulances did make it out, but their exit also resulted in the creation of a standing crowd where no airspace existed between yourself and the next person. Thank goodness I'm not claustrophobic!

Just as the tension of being packed in like sardines (coupled with the indignant anger many were feeling towards the ambulances) was starting to rise to an uncomfortable level, the fireworks started (thank goodness) and all focus was shifted to the show. They were incredible. The show lasted about 15 minutes and the bit we got to see well were the fireworks coming from the bridge, although we could see other bits off to the side through the trees and buildings (there are several locations along the water where fireworks are sent off from, so that's how you get the incredible view that you see online of the Sydney fireworks where the whole harbor behind the Opera House looks lit up). All in all, it was a memorable New Years Eve. Oh, and the best part of it all? I was wearing chacos and a summer dress...

Beyond all that, we are still here at Kristin's but are thinking about trying to rent a car/camper van for a month or so and heading out of town and exploring for a little while. I'm still getting to go to the beach nearly daily, which is wonderful, and we are sort of just hanging out. Tomorrow I am headed back into the city to meet up with Matt Parsons, a friend I went to High School with, and simply continue to be amazed at how small the world truly ca be. Kristin and I are getting geared up for our show at the Opera House on Thursday, and summer is generally just floating by. How wonderful.

Well, here's to the New Year! Hope it finds everyone well!

P.S. Pictures to go with this post to be forthcoming in the next 24 hours...