Tidbinbilla

5 November 2015

Kristen says...

One of the awesome things about being on the Australian school calendar is that I get the Australian school breaks. Rather than one 3-month long break in summer, they have a 6-week summer break (which will start in a few weeks, since this being the Southern Hemisphere, it's almost summertime here), a 2-week fall break, 3 weeks in winter, and two weeks in spring.

We enjoyed our two-week spring break at the end of September / beginning of October, but unfortunately I'm just now getting around to blogging about it...amazing how busy the end of the school year is, no matter where you live!! :)

Canberra is a remarkable place for many reasons, one of which is the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, which is a really big area of protected land with a bunch of different wildlife refuge areas, including but not limited to:

Emu

Kangaroos/Wallabies

Koalas

Skinks/Lizards

Platapus (terrible pictures--I promise it is there!)

and yes, even snakes!

You may have noticed in some of the pictures above that the ground there is quite rocky--some of the rocks, like the one below, seem to have layers, almost like they are man-made, but as far as I know, they are not!

We have our own "wild animal" at home--poor Pip spent his break recouperating from having four teeth pulled, his back x-rayed and a small lump taken out of his back hip (hence the Cone of Shame). Poor kid! :)

KF

Wineries, Easter Break, Rugby and a New Diet

6.5.15
Kristen says...

Happiest of Easter/Passover to those who celebrate those holidays!

And warm greetings from Australia, where the days are getting shorter and the weather cooler, but so far not any less busy! :)

We have had a particularly large amount to do the past few weeks, what with weekend events, the Easter holiday, our HHE (STUFF!) being delivered, and of course, multiple trips to the chiropractor...le sigh.

So let's start with our winery trip a couple weekends ago...a friend of a friend is leaving soon, and so wanted to buy some wine to take home with her...and since I am a firm non-drinker, I became the much appreciated designated driver. :)

There are many wineries in the Canberra District, in large part due to the cool climate. We visited four, and Chris and our friends sampled (and purchased) a wide variety...

Chris contemplating a red

Most of the wineries use netting to try to keep the birds off the grapes before they are picked

Christmassy wine barrel art

Wine bottle art

A llama

It was a beautiful day and we had a really nice time!

 The following weekend we went out for breakfast across the street from an apple orchard--it's fall here, and we're enjoying being in the middle of the local apple season!

More netting!

Visiting the apple orchard was particularly good, since our chiropractor has put us on an inflammatory diet, which has outlawed: sugar, wheat, bread, potatoes, milk...basically everything I eat. On the approved list? Fruit, vegetables, beans, eggs, cheese (thankfully, or I'd have starved to death!), yogurt, and things I can't eat like nuts (allergies)...

So we've had fun experimenting with recipes this week. So far I've made flourless brownies (made from dates) and pudding (made from oats), as well as quiche and grilled cheese with a cauliflower crust/bread and a delicious veggie frittata...

So, clearly we're not starving...I do REALLY miss bread, though, and I'm not going to lie, we totally cheated on this diet on Easter Sunday when we went to the Pancake Parlor after attending the 6 am Sunrise Service...

Also on the schedule for Easter Sunday? A trip up Red Hill for an amazing view of the city:

Beautiful!!

What else did we do over the Easter weekend? Well, our stuff was delivered at the end of last week, so we have been spending a lot of our time unpacking and putting things away...I finished the library (much smaller than it was in Vlad, unfortunately) last night:

And we gave ourselves a reward for all our hard work by attending our second-ever rugby game!

And were met by singers!

Fun fact...there are two types of professional rugby in Australia, Union and League. The Raiders, the first team we watched, are rugby league, while the Brumbies (an Australian horse), the team we watched this weekend, are union.

They both play at the same stadium, but the style of play is quite different.

For one, the Brumbies got to do this:

 FUN!

A Knock On is like a Fumble in American football (called Gridiron here)

Go Brumbies!!

 Of course, a weekend in Australia isn't complete without a kangaroo sighting:

And that brings you back up to speed with what's going on here...

 It's good times!

 KF

Our First Few Weeks in Canberra

14.3.15
Kristen says...

Gosh I love Australia. It's a great place to be! (Even if it does take WEEKS to get a decent Internet connection...)

Anyway, the Internet is connected and I have soooo much to catch up on!

We've been here less than a month, but already we have been really, really busy! (So, get ready for lots and lots of photos!!)

It's easy to be busy here--the weather has been gorgeous (average between 65° and 85°F) and very sunny, and it's late summer here, so there are lots of fun activities planned. We have a goal to get out and see things while we're here, and so far I think we have succeeded! :)

So where to start?

How about with our new house? We are so lucky to have an actual house, with no shared walls and on a lovely cul-de-sac...it also has a good-sized yard for Pip to play in (although in lieu of grass we have wood chips...so he pretty much spends most of his time on the porch.

When we're not at home, we're either at work or enjoying one of the many summer activities Canberra has been offering, like:

The Color Run

We didn't participate (because, running) but we did catch the very end as we strolled around...crazy!

Enlighten (An annual event where many major Canberra public buildings are lit up by huge often-changing light projections...it was really cool to see!)

Old Parliament building

One of the many projectors

Questacon (the Science Center)

Same building (Questacon), different projection 

These look like banners, but they are projections!

Guess...what do you think Fairy Floss is?

It's cotton candy!! 

YUM!!

It even has an en"light"ened stick inside. So cool :)

One of the lighted features of Enlighten; paper boats floating on Lake Burley Griffin

One of my favorite projections--the dandelion petals blew all the way across the building...really cool! 

Golfing! Chris can't wait for all our things to arrive so he can hit the real golf courses...until then we're settling for the driving range and mini putt!

 The Canberra Show (Cultural note: What they call a show in Canberra, we in the U.S. would call a Fair...I had no idea when we went to the Canberra Show that we would be going to what amounts to the closest thing to the Iowa State Fair in Australia! AWESOME!!!)

The midway 

This building had a guinea pig show upstairs and the crafts contest downstairs (including fabrics and threads, woodworking,  jewelry, paper crafts, even millenary (hat making)!)

The lacemaking section (tatting included!)

This building had the food contests (prepared as well as vegetables and fruit) as well as flowers, and on the other side, varied industries booths

Award-winning veggies

I think the Iowa State Fair needs to start up this contest--fruit arranging!

 Balloon Spectacular! (Because who doesn't want to wake up and watch balloons go up at 6:15 am...really, who doesn't?)

So many balloons, so little sunlight!

One side of my face is so much brighter than the other because there is a large lamp lighting the area

It was so weird how close we were able to get to the balloons...and how close the balloons were to each other! They were definitely touching as they were inflated

Hello, moon

I just can't get over how close these balloons are to each other!

We look pretty good for how early we got up! :)

There were some really funnily shaped balloons!

We are also enjoying some of the wildlife we've been interacting with (SOME of it), and noticing some of the...interesting products available

Baby blue-tongued lizards

A wild kangaroo! 

Kangaroo and car races

Otherwise known as eggs...

They are all about pre-mixed alcohol here--this is lemonade and vodka, but you can also get rum and cola, Jack and cola, etc pre-mixed at any liquor store (or bar, apparently)

OK maybe this isn't so weird...Foster's is "Australian for beer", in America at least! Here, it's not so popular.

OK, you still with me? 

Sorry, that was a lot of pictures...but we have been so busy!!! It has been so much fun! And the fun continues tonight with Skyfire...hooray!

KF