the daily Austin...

austin on video

New feature on the phone. Now with video!

Australia days 1-3

Well, I had thought that I would find free wi-fi in more places, but it didn't turn out that way. Then, when I did make it to a McDonald's with wi-fi to send the first 3 emails I wrote... My "candtony.com" account wouldn't send. The following were sent on days 1-3.

Australia ONE:
Well, I had very low expectations for the flight and I wasn't disappointed. It was a very long day, but it seemed even longer. Wow. I. Need. Sleep. (and I need to start taking pictures!) i'll try to stop complaining about the flight- at least until the flight home.

It is Thursday. We left on Tuesday. We did not get to have a Wednesday, officially. That's just weird.

We didn't see much of Sydney as we only passed through the airport on the way to Melbourne, but it looked very nice from the air. We'll be back.

Melbourne, from the air, flying in looked very different. The trees look like something from Dr Suess-eucalyptus, I think. The landcape really looked different, something I wouldn't say about Sydney.

We spent the first day here trying to keep from falling asleep (seriously- can I just go to bed now?) The neiborhood we're staying in is trendy, and the apartment is very nice (photo). We bought some groceries and took some walks very close to home.

Tomorrow, we'll actually go into downtown and see what there is to see. I'll send some tourist photos!


Australia TWO:
Hopefully I'll add more photos today, but once again I forgot to take many. Perhaps b/c I was carrying Elizabeth most of the time?

We took a tram downtown and visited the Victoria Market. Cat and Elizabeth bout some hats and we also bought some t-shirts. Susie bought Zib somw tiny koalas, too.

On the way home S&S bought some food for dinner. We will go back to the market I am sure. It ranges from fresh meat and veggies to suvenirs and clothing. And, we barely saw much of it.

The day started out way too hot and still, but improved later in the day. It was so hot I insisted that we find ice cream for Elizabeth.(Funny how she cheered up at the mention of ice cream). When we'd had about enough of the market in the heat (and grumpy kids!) we decided to head back. Before we left the wind picked up a bit. Before we could get on the tram to go home THE WIND CLEANED THE STREETS INTO OUR FACES! But, then it was replaced by a nice cool breeze and didn't rain until we were on the tram.

About more than halfway home the tram got stopped behind a broken tram. Well a couple dozen were stck there too. We got out and walked in the improved weather. Even Austin cheered up in the new cool breeze. The walk was longer than expected, but nice.


Australia THREE:
Well, today I finally did take a bunch of photos! But, they're in the camera so I might not get them attached. Cat will probably try to get them up on facebook.

Today we went to a really wonderful wildlife sanctuary. It's a good thing it was nice because it took us 3 hours to get there. We took a tram that we waited on about a block from our room then waited for a train at a downtown station followed by waiting on a bus. There seemed to be far too much waiting and it took us 3 hours to GET TO where we spend the day.

The bus ride was nice though. The countryside is picture-postcard like. There were vineyards and sheep and cows and a large amount of very little. I had read that you don't have to go far from any town in Australia to end up in nowhere. Think west Texas, but pretty.

At the wildlife sanctuary, we met a friend of a friend of Cat's and her husband and 2-year old son. The son and Elizabeth got along very well and we all had a great time together. Imagine missing photos of two small children holding hands and being cute.

We saw all of the typical Australian wildlife that you only find here. Elizabeth was able to pet a kangaroo! We saw duck-billed platapuses and almost everything else you've ever heard of. You know, except for the animals that were hiding. Oh, and a ton of snakes that could kill you.

The birds there were facinating, too. Oddly though, many of the really interedting ones were not part of the displays. There were tiny wrens with bright blue feathers and inquizative ibises. The ibis were interesting almost everywhere except when we were eating. Then they were like gulls at the beach. We saw a "birds of prey" show that featured the response of the birds that just LIVED THERE trying to protect their young. Funny.

On top of the animals, the plantlife was almost enough to make the trip. It all seemed so different.

On the way home we were blessed with good timing and there was less waiting so it was mostly a better ride. We went looking for something to drink after we got off the train and were treated to Elizabeth dancing to a traditional Japanese instrament of some sort. The music was nice and Elizabthe was sweet. However, be the time we got to the tram (the last & shortest part of the journey home) Elizabeth had gone very punchy and Austin wouldn't stop crying. Oh well, it was too much public transport to expect small kids to endure.

I'd like to take out the frustration on the guy two doors down who dares to have an annoying laugh outside on the balcony where I can hear him. Actually, the people here have been very nice. It seems to be a very friendly place everywhere we've been.

Australia four

On the 4th day it rained most of the day. We took the chance to go to the big downtown train station to recon our trip back to the airport and spend the rest of the day at the market.

We all took a min-van taxi to our hotel from the airport. It cost us well over $100 (did I mention everything is expenssive here?). When we fly to Sydney we will take a buss to the airport and save $50-$60. Yay!

There is a big shopping mall attached to the train station. It's sad when the "sale" price is 2 men's shirts for $199! Ok, it wasn't ALL that bad, but pretty close. We needed to buy a pair of socks for Austin's chilly toes and the gormet children's store had us covered for $8. Ouch, but he was happy to have warm feet.

From the mall, we went to another one of Melbourne's markets to shop for our dinner and eat lunch. Cat picked out giant prawns and an ugly mud bug that tasted great but was hard to look at. See our flickr page for photos.

After we returned from the market we were very lucky to have both kids fall asleep for naps. It gave Cat and me a chance to go for a walk together w/o kids in the fun area down by the beach and the neighborhoods between here and there. The street we walked to is famous for its cake shops. It should be world renowned for its cakes shops. Wow. It all looked so good that we bought a slection of treats from two different shops. Perhaps another day we'll go buy something from the other 3 shops.

And much like the cakes, we also bought Elizabeth a fairy outfit due to unbearable cuteness.

on the road again

Sometimes I get to go to fun places for work.

he's baaaack

I'm back...

Not much different in less than 2 weeks?

new phone test...

New phone. Sending pictures and very small text. I think the font may have come from erasing my sig files. Hmmm... 

at the project...

I guess that facebook has killed this blog, not that I posted much here anyway. This is where I am today.

happiest baby ever

I hope that's not too dark, but phones make bad cameras. What a smile.

where am I today?

The big projecg in New Bern.

my little rock-star

The zib loves rock-band. Can she dance with a guitar, or what?

i hate spam

My credit card number was stolen. 

I can't begin to understand the motivation of whoever did this, but it seemed to have been done for fun. Nothing of value was purchased by/for this individual. They signed me up for the super-deluxe Netflix account and they ordered a get-rich-quick scheme for me. 

I have a new credit card number.

Netflix sent us a notice that we suddenly had two accounts. That was easy.

The get-rich-quick scam was... a scam. I really had to beg to get them to cancel me and avoid the coming monthly charges that would follow my free* CD (pay only shipping!).

But the worst part of the whole thing is that my home email account is now collecting spam. It may seem amazing, but although I've had this account for about 10 years, this is the first time I've been sent adds for "male enhancement."

Whoever you are: next time buy yourself a nice new TV with my credit card; just don't open my email up to spam!!!

*If you want the CD, it's your free. Just send me the shipping charges.

(I emailed this entry from my phone to my work email so that I could run a spell-check. Work's email system rejected my message as spam.)

i am the Basil Fawlty of home improvement.

Sleepy...

best beer logo ever...

Still waiting for the new Kelly, no word yet. Thoughts of peace and happiness for the parents in waiting.

i'm no twit!

Cat signed up for twitter to send tweets to her blog. But, it can be done by the email, too.

little fat man

he eats, he sleeps, he poops, he eats...