The Colours of our Garden

Now that it's Summer....

or at least it feels like it, there are some things I'd like to do. We spend far too much time around the house, mostly because there's so much to do here, but it's time to break the habit and get out more.

• Beach bbq!
• BBQ/party at the house (once the porch is complete)
• A lazy Sunday in a beer garden with friends
• Some time up at Mt Lofty, including the Botanic Gardens there, which I have yet to see
• A hike somewhere, perhaps at Waterfall Gully (perhaps not all the way to Mt Lofty as that takes 3 hours!)
• Attend an Adelaide United game

Gazzanats

Well, I've just had an interesting experience. I'm just home from my first Australian motorsports event, something called Gazzanats (so named for Gary Myers, the fella who started it...Aussie nickname for Garry is Gazza, go figure, combined with nats for national). The two day event was primarily comprised of burnouts, which as far as I can suss out, is a car standing still and then going in small circles whilst burning the tyres enough to blow smoke all over the audience. I can't quite figure out the allure, but hey, it was a nice sunny day and I got to snack on yiros, chips, corn dogs, ice cream and something called a chico roll (which is very over-hyped by the way). I didn't figure out until about 4pm where they were hiding the beer tent, and by then the beer was sold out:( Pics to follow...

Oh boy am I in for it

Well it is about 80F today and I'm sitting in the sun on my porch. It is bloody hot man, and this is only Spring. It gets into the 100s here, and this feels like a completely different sun than the one we have back home. I'm retreating inside.

I Finally Have Some Wheels!

Well, I have been a true pedestrian for well over 3 years now. Buying a car in Australia has been on my mind, but until recently, I was holding off as there are plenty of other things to spend money on and the gas/petrol here is outrageous. That being said, not being able to get out and about without begging my husband to take me became far too much to endure! We've been looking for a couple of weeks and yesterday finally bought something...a '93 Toyota Camry wagon (only the best car in the world!).

Update: The car is home. She has some cosmetic defects and you can tell the last owner or two didn't take very good care of her interior, but she runs fine. Sorted out registration today ($730!!!) and am working on insurance, while the hubs is finding me new(ish) tires. Coversation between the two of us last night below regarding getting the car insured (keep in mind for the last 6+ months the hubs has not allowed me to drive his car because it is not insured, and told me that if I wanted to drive it, I had to insure it). While I love that he found me a good, reasonably priced vehicle, I must poke a bit of fun at him.

Hubs: "Well you'll have to add me to the insurance."

Me: "Yeah right! And why would I do that?" (Hubs is a bit of a petrol head and I would so not let him put that stress on my new baby.)

Hubs: "It will help my insurance rating." (Hubs was about one speeding ticket away from losing his license when we got back in Oz...4 in one year will do it.)

Me: *ROTFLMAO* "Dream on!"

The things men try to get away with!

There's a Man Smoking on my Roof

We have two giant gum trees in our backyard and we're having them trimmed back this morning. The tree trimming fellas have just arrived and one of them climbed up on the roof with a chain saw on a pole. I looked up and there he is, smoking on my roof. The cheek of some people! Steve isn't fussed but I am. That reminds me, I forgot to take before pictures:/ Now there's just the cleanup...at least we'll have fuel for our new heater next winter.

All Quiet on the Home Front

Well, I just got home from dropping my mom off at the airport and the house seems very quiet to me. There's no one like your mom and it was so nice to have her here. When you're 10,000+ miles from home, you value the time you have that much more. I finally had my mom here to visit with, and to show my new house. She helped with the gardening, showed me how to strip a table, helped me pick out some new things for the house, convinced my husband to hire someone rather than try and trim our big gum trees himself, figured out how to make something out of the bricks and other materials we had laying around the yard to hold the chopped up wood, baked her fabulous cheesecake and lasagna, and generally just made my house more beautiful. Thanks Mom...and miss you!

Mom's Visit

Mom's been here 2 weeks now and we've taken her around to see quite a few things. Here are some pics. So far we've made it to The Big Rocking Horse & Wildlife Reserve, another reserve I completely forget the name of at which you can hold a koala, Hahndorf (no pics) for beers, scenery & sausages, Melba's Choc Factory, The Old Adelaide Gaol (can you believe it was open until 1988 with those conditions!), St. Peter's Cathedral, and much more. The hubs took a day off work and took the mom to Waterfall Gully, Sky Lookout and Penfold's (killed me to work that day) and we're off to the Barossa with the in-laws as well. Gotta love being a tourist in your own city...outtie to the zoo now...