Blogs from Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Sitting in the living room in Margaret's apartment drinking my coffee, I could hear the waves crashing on the rocks of the break water and watch them spraying into the air. I was waiting to watch the sun rise out of the ocean - just the opposite of our home in British Columbia where the sun sets into the ocean!! After the sun had risen Dwain and I took a walk along the beach path to join the other early morning walkers, joggers, bike riders and to watch the kayaks, rowboats, fishing boats and surfers and swimmers, all out at the crack of dawn. On Saturday Margaret took us for a drive around the town of Wollongong and out to the house where I grew up. I rang the doorbell and told the lady who answered ... read more

Too excited to sleep, didn't get a few things done last night due to last minute commitment to bloodline on stupid Netflix. Up at 5 and last minute sorting, cleaning. Off to get Kasey from a sleep over, hoping she is tired enough to sleep this afternoon so we can start working on UK time sooner rather than later. Hoping for weary tired not obnoxious tired! It's really like three trips in one this time as we all pretty much have very different plans once we get to the UK. Michelle freaked me out last night when she commented a few of her bloggers in the UK are rugged up, but after concern my second thought was PRIMARK!!! Always a UK highlight for us ( well Kasey and I). Long haul and no stop over, what ... read more

W czwartek wybrałyśmy się do Symbio Wildlife Park (http://symbiozoo.com.au/), gdzie miałam spotkać niezwykłe zwierzęta Australii. Park jest bardzo mały i właściwie nie ma tam gatunków znanych z europejskich ogrodów zoologicznych, jedynie kilkanaście wybiegów/klatek dla lokalnych mieszkańców lasów czy pustyń. Na początek niezwykle sympatyczny diabeł tasmański, który bez ustanku biegał wewnątrz wokół swojego ogrodzenia po wydeptanej ścieżce. Już wiem, skąd te wiry kręcone przez postać z kreskówek (animki) ;)) Dalej były leniwe koale w liczbie 5 sztuk, na których jakikolwiek ruch trzeba był dłuuugo czekać; w końcu udało nam się zaobserwować spacer po gałęzi w kierunku lunchu - listków eukaliptusa. Fantastycznym przeżyciem była możliwość wejścia do wybiegu kangurów i karmienia ich sianem. W zagrodzie było ich kilkanaście sztuk w tym jedna samiczka z małym w torbie :) Dalej był... read more

This has been a hectic week of cleaning, packing and goodbyes. But we finally made it on the bus last night to Wollongong to make our final farewells. We'd like to make a special thank you to all those who fed us, helped out and showered us in love and generosity in our last couple of weeks in Canberra. There's no way we could have coped without each and every one of you. Feel the love through the blog wires coming back at you. Coebbie and I fly to Santiago, Chile on Monday at 9.30am from Sydney. Thought I'd make sense of this blogging business before we fly out. Love love LOVE to you all, we're going to miss you like crazy! Or at least until we get there ;)... read more

Call me sad, but I was kind of excited about coming to Wollongong. As it turns out, it’s not that flash! :-) It’s sprawling and industrial and there seems to be quite a lot of dodgyness. After looping through the town, we drove straight to City Beach where dozens of surfers were catching a wave after work. This area is also a serious boot camp location and there were people training and working out literally everywhere.It made me feel quite lazy for just walking around! After strolling along Marine Drive and around the town centre, we drove out to the university to find a place to park our van and be ready for our morning swim at the campus aquatic centre (ie free sleep and shower). Wollongong’s students are truly spoilt with the awesome recreation facilities ... read more