Two Weeks of Oz

Well, we officially left home two weeks ago today! Not that it meant that we got to Australia right away. In fact, our original flight route was Halifax-Toronto-Vancouver-Sydney-Melbourne. The weather looked decent everywhere that day so I wasn't concerned. Until waiting at our gate in Toronto, and our flight to Vancouver was all of the sudden just plain old cancelled. So here's the kicker: we really didn't have any time pressure, nothing to specifically "be in Australia" for. However, because of our colossal complications with our NZ visa, and re-routing to Australia at the last minute, our flight from Sydney to Melbourne was not attached to the rest of our route. Aka, you miss that flight, regardless of the circumstances, really not their problem.

So thanks to our awesome counter guy at Westjet, he managed to rebook us on a route that would get us to Sydney before our next flight... via Shanghai. Yawn. The trip got much longer, in terms of being on an actual airplane, eating airplane food, and potentially sitting beside someone annoying. We flew 14 hours to Shanghai, then another 10 to Sydney. Needless to say, we were grungy and tired upon arrival. Didn't stop us from jetting into the city in our 5 hour layover! We went in and bummed around the waterfront, Opera House, all that jazz.

We then finally boarded our last flight, and after 48 hours in total, we arrived in Melbourne. In a heat wave.. after winter in Canada. It cooled down in the next few days - the weather here actually amazes me. Builds up to about 35-40 degrees, then spends the next week cooling to 20, etc. But man it's amazing how cold 20 feels after 40 (hehe don't hate me). 

We've spent our first two weeks in Melbourne exploring like crazy. Jen & Jag were on holidays which was great for us because it means we've spent so much more time with them than expected! We got to meet friends of theirs, the Rhodens, who we spent New Years Eve with (after spending the day on the beach - weird concept I'm telling you). Taural may be one of the best cooks I've ever had the fortune of being present for. He had me at "bacon wrapped steaks." We explored beaches, used a LOT of sunscreen - seriously. I missed some spots on my hands and feet the first day and well - regret. My weird hand and feet tans are appalling now.

We went over for dinner to other friends and Jen & Jag on New Year's Day, and it was lovely as well! We also got to see wild kangaroos, and we attempted to stalk some wombats but no luck. We also spent a day exploring the city, Melbourne is seriously a wicked cool place.

We spent this past weekend away on the Great Ocean Road with Jen. I got to re-see the 12 Apostles (shouldn't they really be called the 8 Apostles now??) and the Loch Ard Gorge, and got to see lots of beach towns and the Bay of Islands for the first time. I mean, I don't mind re-seeing anything in Australia because it's all beautiful, but it's extra exciting because I get to experience it all again for the first time through Ian's eyes. I love that he gets to see a huge part of my life, that existed before he came along. And now I get to share it with him.

It's been an awesome two weeks, the stress of the last few years is gone, my mysterious health problems seemed to have calmed themselves (hopefully for good but you never know), and Ian has officially be on vacation longer than he's been since he started working at 16. It helps we get to chill out, relax, and hang out with some of my fav people :)