Fun in Sydney Over the Past 9 Months

We arrived back in Sydney for an unknown amount of time... we thought we might be here waiting for our UK working visa to be processed for a month, but it turned out to be more like 9 months! Oh the joys of the English beaurocracy! So in the meantime, we have had fun doing lots of house-sitting, catching up with friends and family and trying to see and do lots of things in Sydney. Here are some photos of the fun we've had recently:

A weekend visit to Jenolan Caves near the Blue Mountains

A weekend food and wine trip to Melbourne, including dinner at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen
Chris Gardener's 60th birthday party - fancy dress (hopefully obviously)

Marg and Roy's 60th Wedding Anniversary - complete with letters from the Queen and PM!
Another weekend away - this time on the South Coast in lovely Broulee with Shez, Joel, Tommy & Lachie

Soph's girlfriends annual Christmas feast - with host Shezzy here
Another Christmas tradition - Kris Kringle with the KSBS girls
The beautiful Emily Keenan at her hens day/night/event
One of the many Christmas feasts we enjoyed on Christmas day

New Year's Eve excitement at Snowgoose & Pete taking command of the farm on the quad bike
Em and Josh's wedding in the Hunter Valley in January and all the girls gathered around the stunning bride!
The view just down the road from our awesome McMahons Point house-sitting job
Australia Day BBQ in McMahons Point
Scott's quarter of a century birthday - Maddy looking very impressed in the background
Lunch with the girls celebrating Sleece's birthday at Hugo's Manly
The Growers Markets in Pyrmont.... yummmm
Enjoying Shakespeare on the Green in Waverton with Frecks
Huw and Matt in the working dog trials in Rylstone in February
Al, Lil, Sophia, Chook and Sleece taking in the sights in Canberra by bike - visiting Canberra's newest resident - Lila!

5 Days in London...

Our trip ended in the UK with a brief visit to Peterborough (where Pete grew up) and to London. In London we caught up with Lex and Yohanna and our friends Mick and Flick. We enjoyed a whirlwind tour of London, trying to take in as much of it as possible. It was a great way to end an awesome and amazing 6 months of travel. Home-ward bound.

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New York, New York
After our great time in DC, we had an even more wonderful time in New York City. We rented an apartment for the week in the East Village (of Manhattan) - and feeling just like local New Yorkers we took to the streets for a week of intense sight-seeing, coffee drinking, subway riding and general fun. During our week we saw all the main sights (we think) - 5th, 6th and Madison Avenues, Central Park, FAO Schwarz, Times Square, the Financial District, the Chrysler building, UN building, Public Library, Statue of Liberty, the Museum of New York City, Magnolia Bakery, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Seinfeld diner and lost of good cafes (thanks to the Tasker's recommendations)! Our nights were filled with a comedy club, baseball game, Broadway show (Mamma Mia - left Abba in our heads for days!), a visit up the Empire State building and cocktails at the lovely Plunge bar.
We thought Manhattan was fabulous - great shopping, transport, sights and constant life/activity. We'll be back!

We love Washington DC!

As we were in the area, we decided to pay a visit to George Dubbya. We had 2 days in Washington and were really impressed by all the amazing buildings, museums, monuments and the respect with which America's political, cultural and social history was displayed (and even more so because most sights were free of charge!). We went through the Library of Congress with beautiful ceilings, the Supreme Court which receives 10,000 appeals a year, saw the Capitol, walked "The Mall" (a mile of museums and galleries), went to the moving and very sad Holocaust Museum, explored the restaurant scene of Georgetown, tried to go up the Washington Monument (which was booked out for all of June), circled the White House (where squirrels were bounding across the lawn - seriously!), walked through Arlington Cemetery which holds 290,000 graves (and interrs 24 a day), caught up with Abraham Lincoln at night, and viewed the Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Memorials. Even though we didn't catch up with George, we really enjoyed DC and would love to go back to explore more of it one day.

A few days in Maryland, USA

From Tennessee to New York, to Maryland (via many states including New Jersey - the embroidery capital of America). We flew from Nashville to New York, hired a car and drove about 5 hours to Maryland. Under the assumption (and the advice) that America is the land of the free, where you can drive at whatever speed you like, there was a moment of pure fear for Sophia when pulled over by a State Trooper for exceeding the speed limit (which, for the record, no one was obeying), followed by a moment of pure relief to be let off with a polite warning. The highlight of our time in Maryland was not the Police pullover, but catching up with Mike and Sarah Pasalich and their friends and families for Paso's graduation from Sovereign Grace Pastors College. It was again great to meet up with some Aussie friends and especially good to be part of the graduation celebrations for Paso.

Nashvegas & the Smokies

With great excitement we arrived in Nashville and were greeted by Nathan and Cassie Tasker at the airport and chauffeured in their massively massive American van (complete with limousine style interior lights), with Nath pointing out the Nashville highlights, to their gorgeous new home in East Nashville. We enjoyed 5 days with the Taskers who were very generous and wonderful hosts. We were treated to the 'Nathan and Cassie Highlights of Nashvegas' tour which included lots of cafes and shops - plus the Cheesecake Factory, Music Row, Franklin and Green Hills Mall (and the heavenly Whole Foods store). It was great to be there for Cass' birthday and to meet their friends and see their Nashville life, which really suits the work they are doing. It was really wonderful to hang out together and have conversations in English - finally! Thanks for having us Taskers - we look forward to catching up in London in a few months.

From Nashville we hired a car and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains to stay in Pete's ex-boss' (Pearl's) cabin in the mountains. The cabin was magnificent - with cable TV, dishwasher, fabulous views and the promise of bears lurking in the thick forest around us. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on if you were inside or outside) we didn't see any bears but did enjoy an amazing array of butterflies, squirrels and turtles of all things! We ventured into the town of Gatlinburg, where we were tempted by Dolly Parton's "Dollywood" theme park, "Fanny Farkles'" foot long ogle dogs, the "Salt and Pepper Shakers Museum" and various other gimmicky attractions - but managed to restrain ourselves. We did spend a few very hot days walking in the Smokies, which really were beautiful - very green and lush forest. Whilst we chose to walk through the park, there was also the option to see the park via the 'automobile track'... in true American style.

Last stop in Central America - Mexico City

Surprisingly fantastic! Another late arrival due to a Dallas stopover and a directionally-challenged cab driver put us in Zona Roma, a ritzier area of Mexico City where we were upgraded from a smaller than 3x5m room to a suite with private bathroom, kitchen, fridge, couch and TV.

What we did not expect from Mexico City:
- To be able to walk around safely late at night
- To have a very safe, fast and efficient subway on which we could get anywhere in the city for 20 cents
- To find a number of great museums and beautiful buildings
- To be able to buy 'family size' and 'Coronita' (throw-down) coronas
- To thoroughly enjoy the open-top tourist bus

3 great day trips from Mexico City.

Teotihuacan, home of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world and our first Aztec ruin (the Aztec's are the ones who loved human sacrifices and other interesting methods of worship to deities such as 'The Hummingbird God').
Puebla, a beautiful colonial town housing 70 churches, great restaurants and currently in the throes of their own little 'Puebla Idol' competition.
Taxco, the silver capital of Mexico... ouch!The end... Flying out of Mexico City saw the end of 5 fantastic months travelling South and Central America. We were blessed with safety, amazing sites and a great time. America here we come!