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!)