Perth, Western Australia 11/2009

ahh, the west coast.... an uneventful flight dropped us into perth and added an extra 2 1/2 hours to our day (kinda makes for a long day there, at the end...).  nova, as always, is a champion traveller (though the 2 1/2 hr time difference meant she woke up at about 0530 every morning - which is actually pretty good because that means she was sleeping in until 8 am adelaide time).  jessica and brian picked us up from the airport - they'd flown in the previous day and rented a car and carseat (the lady at the counter was genuinely concerned about the whereabouts of their child until they explained the situation) - and we headed south, straight for margaret river, an area known for its wine and surfing (neither of which we really sampled) south of perth.  nova napped most the way down, so once we got to our holiday house, jessica, nova and i went to the beach and payton and brian ran to margaret river for groceries.  we ate great every night - red snapper (a whole fish tossed on the grill) and grilled veggies the first night and seafood pesto pasta with prawns grilled on the barby the second night, and local white wines and beer.  (the beer was from a fremantle brewery, little creatures, very good).  also got to do some whale watching from the porch - humpbacks and souther right whales, though we couldn't see them so well as to differentiate; mostly we cheered just to see a blow spray. nova's favorite part was jumping on our bed - i remember loving that so much as a kid... and now we all complain about the crappy mattresses in hotels/rentals... ah, well. 

on sunday, we all drove down to cape leeuwin and toured the tallest lighthouse on the aus mainland - very interesting!  it's still a functioning lighthouse, though not the kerosene lights from the old days.  from cape leeuwin we went to margaret river and had lunch then home again home again to watch horton hears a who on the tv (that was the largest viewing nova's ever seen of it - usu she sees horton on a 12 inch computer screen) while the boys napped and jessica and i read (in between glances at horton - jenny, i think that cd has gotten us through a lot of meltdowns here in aus.  i suppose i should be embarrassed saying that, but mostly i'm thankful!).

monday, we went to the beach for a bit and had a delightful swim.  nova was not in a beach mood however, and finally turns to me, hands balled into fists and in a gutteral voice with a desperate look on her face says, "i need to sleep!" well!  that shocked us in to action! however, she did not sleep.  but she was in perfectly good spirits once we got her in the car with wheatley and jellyroll and drove to olio bello (an olive orchard and olive oil producer) for lunch.  it turns out we are raising a young sophisticant (is that a word?) who demands her bubaccino (steamed, frothed milk with or without chocolate syrup in a small cup for kids) at breakfast (and i do mean she literally asks for it) and will hammer only the finest of olives - has learned to pit them herself - along with camembert cheese and bread dipped in boutique olive oil!  what a palette! actually, the olio bello orchard was amazing - so much so that the four of us bought a bunch of olive oil!  mmm, tasty! 

anyway, after olio bello, on to perth.  we had a nice hotel right in downtown perth (however, hotels and downtowns do not exactly cater to bubs - babies - so one has to get creative with food and sleeping arrangements between nova's bedtime and mama and daddy's bedtime).  jessica and brian once again proved their worth as good, laid back friends and moved down six floors and across the hotel to be near us so i could put nova down and we could hang out in their room!! so nice! tuesday was the first day of the conference, so payton was off to learn geological things.  after her nap, nova and i went to king's park, an incredible hilltop park that overlooks the city and the swan river with very manicured lawns and a lot of war memorials.  it's very beautiful and nova LOVED just running around.  i listened to lauren's advice and went into the gift shop where i found the very park-and-botanic-garden-related books: "a bush christmas" and "an aussie night before christmas".  so nova now has a couple more christmas books.  

on wednesday, i met up with liz - married to another csiro scientist, both from san francisco who moved here about a year ago - and payton ditched the morning lectures so we rode the train to fremantle.  a very cool little town with lots of shops and cafes, but probably more enjoyable without a 2 yo (or WITH grandparents!). we ate lunch at the little creatures brewery before payton had to leave - and nova dined on fresh tomatoes and cajun squid rings!  what a weird baby!  

payton ditched morning lectures again thur. morning so we three went back to king's park.  after payton left, nova and i went to cottlesloe beach - just a short train ride away - and played in the sand and surf.  on the ride there, nova sat next to an elderly woman (i'm already too uncool to sit next to... sometimes).  this gal LOVES kids, that was obvious, and despite nova's initial shyness, the woman eventually won her over.  they chatted the rest of the train ride about wheatley (nova's plush penguin), nova's shoes, ears, seats and bottoms. at one point nova patted herself on the chest and said, "nova. nova."  it was great!  i think it was the first time she introduced herself to someone.

the results of the conference (despite skipping out on a few things) were: payton was informally offered a job in perth (we decided we like adelaide better and payton likes his post-doc, but he hopes to collaborate with the perth group some), payton met a scientist  named matt ____ (?) that used to work at los alamos and knew adam (adam - that's two bizarre international connections you and payton have - rolef and matt), and payton won an award for the "best hydrogeology talk" - gift certificate to amazon.com (did my christmas shopping a little too early!) and a nice bottle of red wine from margaret river.  not bad! 

an uneventful flight home left us happy and tired... and facing a LOT of laundry.  hope nova makes a quick adjustment to her new time zone.  we spent saturday hunting and gathering (i.e. going grocery shopping) and just soaking up time with payton before he left on sunday for a week long sampling trip.  

again, brian and jessica put an arm around my shoulders and fed nova and me venison burgers on sunday night after payton had left.  and what else did they serve? olives, of course! 

Pics for Christmas Pageant, AI3DE 11/2009

not exactly a white christmas...

christmas cricket - with wombat, koala, platypus, goanna and bunny rabbit.

the jolly swagman... who'll come a waltzin' matilda with me?

three wisemen - on real camels!  never seen that before in a parade... (what am i saying? i haven't seen any of this in a parade before!)

the water jump on the cross country course.

this and the following are all show jumps... big show jumps.  

this horse (same as the one above) won the entire three day event.

this gal, same as the one below, is adelaide's darling - silver medalist in the beijing olympics.

PAs in Aus!

ahhh, summer.  this november we blasted through records that hadn't been broken since the late 1800s.  back then, they had a run of five straight days of 35 deg C weather.  but this year, we had seven days of 35 - 43(!) (that's 95 - 109.5 F!!!) and its still spring here! wow.  i think i can hear arizona laughing, though.  

but the real incredible news is that i am actually working as a physician assistant over here!  i mean, what are the odds?! PAs originated in the US, there's at least one school in the UK, a brand new PA program in queensland, aus, and i don't know about any other foreign programs - but they may be out there.  so, we moved to a country half way around the world that happens to be the second foreign country JUST beginning to educate PAs and we happen to land in the one town - adelaide - that is actually running a trial on PAs and trying to start a PA program of their own.  AND they were hiring!  so now, i work for the upper GI (gastrointestinal) team (ed - you taught me that internal organs are only for keeping the bones healthy, i can't understand all this liver and bowel stuff).  i'm also helping write the curriculum for University of Adelaide's PA program - i've been pleasantly surprised to find out how much i enjoy that part of my job... maybe it's because all my patients look at me like i'm crazy when they say their belly hurts and i start examining their shoulder.  i can't understand it.  actually, not only have i made a field change here (from ortho to GI), but the medications all have different names (eg.  tylenol = panadol here)  and i'm having to get good at interpreting australian, british, irish, and indian accents. very interesting! it's good to be working again though.  nova now goes to "school" three days a week and loves it.  she actually naps better at school than home, so we rely on those three days for her to catch up on sleep after the weekend!

what else has been going on in the past few weeks?  the adelaide international 3- day event was held here, right in the parklands surrounding the city just a couple kms from our house.  i volunteered to fix jumps for both the cross country and show jumping.  both days were long and hot, but it was a real treat to see olympic caliber horses up close - the obstacles they hurdle! wow!  payton and nova enjoyed a father-daughter weekend and went to the christmas pageant (a parade held on november 14th, of all things.  and i thought the US was a little early in promoting the christmas thing...).  payton was pleased to announce he's never been to a christmas parade where the cheerleaders were "wearing so little!" and upon review of the pictures, we realized it was the first parade either of us had ever seen the three wise men on actual camels.  

payton and i are hoping to learn to surf this summer, so we each took a lesson down in middleton, sa (near port elliot and victor harbour, for those of you familiar with the area).  it seems like a pretty family-friendly sport (for beginners), since the beaches we visit have friendly surf and one of us can go play in the water while the other plays with nova on the beach.  nova loves it too and spends all her time sprinting up and down the beach or into and out of the water.  ...we cuddled our skis and boots before putting them away for a few years, and now we're looking for wetsuits and surf boards...

we celebrated an early american thanksgiving and late canadian thanksgiving with our friends brian and jessica - burgers and veggies on the barby after watcing the classic adelaide (car rally - lots of racing porsches and ferraris) come in from their final race.  lots to be thankful for!  hope everyone has a great thanksgiving on the actual day.  

we're off to perth for a week.  three days of vacation and three days of conference for payton (= six days of vacation for me and nova).  should be fun.  

cheers,

lindsey

Coffin Bay National Park, Eyre Peninsula, SA 10/2009

our first day at coffin bay, payton, nova and i went on a bushwalk (hike) to black rocks lookout.  our camp was on the bay side of the peninsula, but this area looked out over open southern ocean.  

camp kitchen with a view of coffin bay.

nova wearing daddy's hat - a bit big but provided a lot of shade...

our neighbors handed down this kid's camp chair to nova, she loves it.  this was a few days in, so she was starting to get tired...

nova and zara harrington at point sir isaac.  we 4x4'd out here with the other folks we were camping with.  fishing was poor and the water was COLD (ambient temp not warm enough to counteract the ocean temp), but the girls LOVED the beach and kept setting up their "ice cream shop" (which was a little painful for the adults as it only emphasized the ice cream we did NOT have!)

nova catching one of her many naps on the 4x4 track - i can't believe what she slept through! this is on the way home from point sir isaac. 

ah, gunyah beach.  this beach was on the open ocean side of the peninsula, so it was huge and sandy with lots of big rolling waves.  

our faithful ponies, gunyah beach.

surf casting at gunyah beach.  

nova's first tinny ride.  ty took us out in his tinny on the last day.  nova didn't want to get out of the boat when we got back to shore...

halloween isn't celebrated here to the extent it is in the states and we missed the one party we were invited to since nova had a nasty cold, but this is what she WOULD have worn..

nova talking to her alter ego.

GAB sampling and Lindsey and Nova home alone pics 10/2009

the GAB patrol - cutting edge science in a truck.  that glossy dome belongs to glenn - hope you're wearing sunscreen, mate! 

payton's swag.  that sleeping bag you see there is my 15 yo down, -20 deg bag... payton took it because its not as warm as his huge synthetic down sleeping bag.  oddly enough, we thought it practical to ship sleeping bags sufficient for winter camping in the weminuche to the hottest, driest continent in the country.  huh.  

some interesting sponbill-type bird.  some ranchers have water rights that allow them to make little wetlands like this.  makes for a nice camp site.

where does all that space junk land that falls out of the sky?  australia!  every now and then, one might see a wagon from the 1800s next to a bit of nasa flotsam on some fellow's station...

where are we?!

the australian outback.  wow.

glenn opens an artesian well for sampling... 

i think even cutting edge science can be a little boring.  glenn lying on the ground waiting out a long sample session.

same sample session as before - but this is brian doing a little yoga.  payton staved off boredom by photographing his weird colleagues.  these are our friends, folks!

meanwhile, back in adelaide....  this is one of the cutest pictures - look how happy those girls are... and they don't even speak the same language!  blanka, the 2 yo on the left, is polish and, obviously, only speaks polish.  but it didn't stop these two from smiling, laughing, holding hands, imitating each other and babbling in their own languages to one another.  its one of those fascinating hurdles that small children so easily over come but that can prove so difficult for adults.  it was precious to watch nova and blanka.  this was at monarto zoo - a big, open-land zoo that had lots of great animals, but nothing so photogenic as nova and blanka!  nova and i went here with two of payton's csiro colleagues - a german fellow and a polish fellow (and his wife, sister, brother-in-law and niece, blanka).

on a hike in a little preserve in adelaide called morialto... we had a great time hanging out with jessica, brian's partner, while the boys did head stands in the outback.

the saturday after GAB sampling trip, we went to the port adelaide festival - a food and arts festival in the transitional bogan 'hood of port adelaide - where nova commandeered her daddy's ice cream cone.

Coffin Bay, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia 18-23/10/2009

ahhh, beach camping! the last time payton and i went camping was when nova was 11 mos old and we went on a three day raft trip on the gunnison river with clay and megan tallmadge and their two kids (5 yo hayden and 2 1/2 kayla).  well, camping with a 2 yo is a LOT different than camping with an 11 mo old, thankfully.  

early, early friday morning payton, nova and i started the 8 hr drive to coffin bay national park where we would meet our friends nikki, glenn, zara and laila harrington and another couple whom we'd only met once - ty and shannon andrews.  nova, always the most incredible traveller, did great and the road trip was smooth travelling.  the campsite was a 60 minute four-wheel into the park to a place called black springs.  on the bay side of the eyre peninsula, the beach there is largely made up of mussel, cockel, clam and scallop shells and some sand.  the water is a beautiful turquoise and very peaceful.  every evening, we could see dolphins hunting just off shore.  ty and shannon camped there also (because four wheeling is a big part of "heading bush" in australia, aussies have perfected the 4WD camper trailer that folds down to a 3 meter by 2 meter box on wheels and blows up to a canvas 5x5 meter house with a kitchen and queen size bed.  battened down, the trailer then often has a rack that clamps over the top so you can strap the tinny - a little fishing dinghy - on as well as the tinny's trailer! and it all hinges on some sweet little flexible pin and clamp system - not your usual ol' ball hitch.  and they drive these knobby-tired things into anywhere, bucking along behind the land cruiser, happy as you please until its home sweet home in the bush); we had a tent.  glenn and nikki stayed in a house in coffin bay township since laila is still so young (6 mos).  

glenn and ty both have tinnies and love to fish, so payton - not because he loves to fish, not because these are his old drinking buddies, not because he is one with the ocean, but simply (and unfortunately, in my opinion in this situation) because he is a dude, one of the guys - payton went fishing too.  now, you know i have always wanted to hang out with the guys, was even a little slow to realize that what i though was lindsey hanging out with all her guy friends was really lindsey crashing guy's night, but at times like this, i don't mind pulling the hen card and saying oh, well, i'll just hang out on the beach with nova... (not that anyone was really asking if i wanted to come fishing).  despite all the hooks in the water, about four fish of legal size were caught all week.  one of those was caught by my own darling provider, and just when it looked like we might be having a salmon trout and veggie stir fry, glenn, who was holding the fish and showing us identifying marks of the salmon trout DROPPED the fish and it swam away.  it was a dark moment. we had just a veggie stir fry for dinner.  the other three fish were caught by glenn, so he and his had a happy fish feed back home in their luxury condo in coffin bay.  sigh.  

we stayed in coffin bay nat'l park for six days.  payton, nova and i went on a hike one day to black rocks lookout, on the southern ocean side of the peninsula.  on monday, glenn and nikki and the girls drove in to our campsite and ty and shannon in their cruiser and the gardners in gg all drove out to point sir isaac where the fishing was supposed to be great (it wasn't.  but everything else was great).  about an hour and a half drive that covers seven miles of beach - a crossing that has to be timed with the tides - and a lot of sand dune driving, got us to the tip of the peninsula.  nova and zara had a great time running up and down the beach and although the water (and ambient temp) was not conducive to swimming, per se, it was warm enough to go for a dunk or two and enjoy that beautiful water.  it has been suggested before that we need long john wetsuits as the water temp here is quite cool, but having none, payton still gamely went snorkeling across the bay with ty and glenn to look for oysters.  as blue as his t-shirt when he got out, payton was cold enough to declare that he needs a wetsuit and that a cold beer actually did not sound very good.  yet.  nova napped on the drive back to camp - it turns out she can sleep (did most her napping, actually) on bumpy, sandy, slippery, dusty 4WD roads.  who knew?!

the next day ty, glenn, the gardners, and jessica drove to a different part of the peninsula to gunyah beach - an ocean beach that is bashed by big, beautiful open-ocean waves resulting in a huge sandy beach.  the dudes did some surf casting (this is actually a type of fishing that looks fun).  you take a long (~12 ft), thick rod, rush into the ocean as the waves recede, toss your bait out as far as you can over the surf, then high-tail it back to the shallows before the next huge wave comes in.  you get pretty wet.  then, you just stand there until something bites.  if you're really experienced, you get a rod holder, set it in the sand, then go drink your beer until your line starts hopping around.  then you have to set the beer down and go reel in your fish.  you catch pretty big fish surf casting.  glenn was the only one who got something - an 18 inch salmon trout (which is neither a salmon nor a trout) - and he is a solid fellow, but that fish tugged him into the water a couple times; pretty cool to watch.  

nova, jessica and i, on the other hand, ran around in the sand played in the waves.  nova LOVES the waves and is fearless.  and smart enough to realize that if it's too deep for her, no problem, get on mom's hip and ask HER to wade in to her waist.  what fun! 

sand driving is a bit like driving in the snow, kind of slippery and squirrely - but in order to float in the deep sand, you drop you tire pressure and keep your speed up (long stretches of beach and you'll be clipping along at 60 km - a little less than 40 mph).  filling up our tires on the way out of the park we noticed a big sidewall bubble (potential blowout.  no good.) so got to use the spare.  what a great trip!  there is a lot of this country that reminds us of rough-around-the-edges montana and the things we loved about that state.  nonetheless, the drive home was split up and we spent the night on a little dirt "beach access" turn out listening to the crash of the waves with the southern ocean wind whipping off the water.  nova was having some trouble falling to sleep and i found myself wishing i had used the "ocean" option (instead of "rain") on the white noise machine nova used to use in the states, as if the huge natural white noise machine outside our tent door might induce some pavlovian response and cause her to drop off to sleep immediately.  it is a mark of how tired i was myself to think that my daughter might ever drop off to sleep immediately.  ah - the eternal optimism of parenthood.  this of course got me thinking of all the ways you know you're a first-time parent camping: you bring your book thinking you'll have a chance to read, you bring your running shoes thinking you'll have some time for exercise, you daydream about vacation being more restful than everyday life, you daydream about a solid night's sleep, you think your daughter will just want to play in the sand with her dry clothes on instead of march straight in to the water.  you find you're second-guessing yourself about your white noise selection seven months ago...  it is a crazy world, people! 

as it was, we had a fabulous time - saw dolphins, goannas and sleepies (lizards), tons of emus, kangaroos - including a joey in the pouch (actually made the mistake of leaving the vestibule open while nova slept soundly in the tent and we were hanging out at the camp fire and returned to flush out what sounded like a huge mob of kangaroos (probably only 3 or 4) and find nibbled apples, half eaten bread loaves and a pile of kangaroo droppings underfoot - blast!), cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, rosettes, cormorants, pacific gulls, little penguins and a scorpion.  there are lots of snakes there too, and although other campers saw one, we never did. doesn't mean they didn't see us, though! makes for a tighter leash on the babies...  nova was awesome - loves playing outside and exploring.  not sure when it will be, but we're already looking forward to the next trip...

Great Artesian Basin sampling trip 10/2009

well, payton SHOULD be writing this, but what with a post-doc, pressure to publish, a two year old and a wife without friends (kidding, its not THAT bad), he hardly gets a moment to himself... and you can bet that moment is NOT going to be spent blogging! 

anyway, payton and two co-workers - glenn harrington (from south aus) and brian smeard (from canada; he and his partner actually moved here the same day we did) are collaborating on a research project looking at the shallow (and some deep) groundwater in an area called the great artesian basin.  they went on a seven day sampling trip pretty much straight north of adelaide, almost to the border of the northern territory and along the edge of the simpson desert.  since those landmarks probably don't mean anything to you, let me clarify - they were in the middle of #%$@ing nowhere!  the boys sampled pre-drilled wells and largely followed a 4WD trail called the oodnadatta track (anywhere south of nowhere in this country is on a four wheel drive track - not like you think of in the mountains, but flat, sandy, scrubby, shrubby, hot, dry, sandy, extremely remote four wheeling) - the thriving metropolis of oodnadatta consists of two bars and a hotel and healthcare is delivered via the royal flying doctors who come maybe once a month.  camping consisted of a big fire, drinking XXXX (called 4X) beer - a queensland favorite... and it is HORRIBLE beer - and tossing your "swag" (a large bed roll) on the ground.  there are ranches out there, they call them "stations" here (and a pasture or large field is known as a paddock), and they are huge.  hectares and hectares.  which, if you look at the land, makes obvious sense because the single scrubby brush per 10 acres is hardly enough to feed a single sheep, much less a flock.  so ranchers around here don't drive trucks, but fly planes to check their land and livestock.  

it turns out payton, glenn and brian all get along real well... except brian REALLY (i mean REALLY) likes the dave matthews band - an unfortunate blemish in an otherwise really nice guy (kidding brian.  sort of.)  so, payton has the fortune of collaborating with two other young scientists (both fellows are finished with post-docs and are full-fledged research scientists) who are excited for and interested in their work and careers, and all three share interests outside of work; friends and colleagues.  a lucky combo.  as payton said, he has a lot of technical training to bring to the table, but has a lot of practical knowledge to gain from working with these guys. glenn is married to a gal named nikki (also a hydrogeolist doctorate) and they have two daughters - zara is three and she and nova play well together, and laila is six months.  brian's partner, jessica - also a geologist! (i have to have conversations with myself when we hang out just so i have something to talk about with someone) - is ADORED by nova.  seriously.  nova wakes up in the morning and says.. not mama, not daddy, but "jess-a-ca... want to see jess-a-ca".

so the guys had a blast growing dirty beards, hitting emus (a sad but true accident), drinking bad beer and sampling ground water.  the good thing about this for me was that it finally lit a fire under my ass to socialize!  nova is now enrolled in swim lessons and kindergym and we even had a couple playdates (you can bet that's right up my alley!).  we hung out with jessica and nikki and her girls, went to a big open-land zoo called monarto with a polish family and a german fellow from payton's work (THAT was interesting), and wondered endlessly how single mothers do it... and that digressed into how ANYbody does it with more than one kid... and after that, i just started hoping payton got home soon!  

and so, the two parents to one child ratio is now happily restored and less than a week after payton got home, we took off for a camping trip to coffin bay. 

Gardner Whitehurst Rankin trip pictures: 08/2009

Some pics of our time in Australia with Mom, Dad, Lauren, Adam, and Theo:

the big golden guitar, baby!  tamworth, nsw.  payton saw this on a sampling trip and brought back golden guitar magnets for the kids.  we may come home with a big magnet collection...

aah, sydney, nsw.

view of sydney from our hotel room.  

nova, mom, lindsey, theo, lauren on the circular quay (pronounced "key") in front of the sydney opera house.

gran, nova, grandaddy, HUGE ray at the sydney aquarium.

theo at the sydney aquarium.

nova and lindsey on the ferry to manly beach, sydney.

fred and liz on the ferry to manly beach.

getting ready for the water at manly beach... it may be pants and jackets weather, but these kids are getting their feet (and most their bodies) wet, dammit!  its beach time!

nova on gran's shoulders, manly beach.

nova at taronga zoo, sydney.

adelaide's central market.  pictures just don't do it justice.

central market: ok dad, kranskies.  chili cheese kranskies... go, go, GO! 

theo at the central market.  its hard to explain to a two year old why he can't crush the pretty flowers....

gran and nova, central market, adelaide, sa.

go the redlegs!! our local norwood oval and footy team - the redlegs.

lauren and theo at the redlegs game.

at (one of) the hans heyson trail head(s), and nova's 2 year old birthday (sunday aug 07, 2009).

hiking along the hans heyson trail.

a kangaroo mob we raised on they heyson hike.

payton hiking with nova in the backpack, heyson trail.  the views on this trail were unbelievable.

beautiful nova.  on the heyson trail.

nova's birthday cake, decorated by aunt lauren.  

happy second birthday, baby girl! 

  

dance party to madonna with the girls.         theo playing in our backyard, norwood, sa.

yoga with gran. 

nova and theo at the adelaide botanic gardens.

wow! i cannot explain this behavior.  i don't think i've ever worn that outfit while pushing nova in HER stroller.  but there she is.  i think she can walk in heels better than i can!

lindsey and nova in front of nova's "school", adelaide, sa.

theo and nova on lauren's and my shoulders on the walk home from visiting nova's montessori school.

lauren and theo at henley beach.

lauren, theo, lindsey, nova digging sand holes at henley beach, adelaide.  

lauren, lindsey, mom playing hopscotch at henley beach.  turns out its a more difficult game than it looks...

theo and nova, the young oceanographers, henley beach.

theo and nova doing some sand climbing, henley.

nova combing the beach, henley.

theo is ready to fly the kite! henley beach.

different beautiful day, same great beach - henley.  lindsey, nova, adam, lauren, and theo.  pretty sure we went for gelato afterwards...

the whitehurst rankin family, henley beach.

nova and lindsey, henley beach. this was the first time i got to put a skirt on in... oh... about 10 months.  we had great weather while everyone was here, but once they left, adelaide went back to cool and rainy.  blast!  people say we'll want the cool back when it is 40 C out, but i don't think so.

 

lindsey, nova at henley.

aah, the barossa valley.  wine making central of south australia, and australia in general.  

vineyards in the barossa valley.  vines weren't budding yet, but the wine and the biking were fantastic.

the sonntag house.  our self-serve b&b in the barossa.

brekky on the barby, sonntag house, barossa valley, sa.

wine tasting at the rockford vineyard.  INCREDIBLE wine - if you ever find a bottle from here or are at a restaurant that serves it by the glass, get it.  and if its too expensive, then you'll just have to come here to try it!  they still make red wine the old fashioned way here, in large, open wooden vats.  the buildings are all original as well.  a really amazing place.

making red wine the old fashioned way, rockford vineyard, barossa valley, sa.

nova and theo playing at the table... this is what mom and dad got to do while lauren, adam, payton and i got to go wine tasting for a weekend! 

theo and lauren at glenelg, a popular beach area in adelaide.

gg's load for the great ocean road three day road trip; in front of the norwood house, sa.

gg's back seats - you can tell it was early in the trip as everyone was smiling!! payton and adam are up front, smiling even bigger because they're not in the back.  here, though, you can see theo's carseat, dad and nova in the backseat, and in the far back are lauren, mom and lindsey.

the giant lobster, great ocean road.  

the limestone coast, great ocean road, south australia.

nova on daddy's shoulders, great ocean road.

liz, lindsey, lauren, nova, adam, theo, payton, fred at the 12 apostles.  also saw some southern right whales here.

liz and fred at the 12 aposltes.

tired babies! 12 apostles, great ocean road, sa.

some of the 12 apostles (there aren't really 12, due to collapse).

the (less than) 12 apostles.

exhausted and thirsty for milk.  we had lunch in the village of torquay (pronounced "tor-key") and got one last chance to stretch our legs before zipping up to melbourne.  

the mcg (melbourne cricket ground)!! hallowed ground for sportsters (angelic choir in background).

the actual oval inside the mcg.

the very un-posh heading off to the posh "fog" restaurant. we were not part of the "in" crowd, and not because of our accents...

the monarch bakery in st. kilda (a suburb of melbourne, victoria).  we got some treats here and ate them on the beach.  last evening before lauren, adam and theo flew home.

theo and nova on st. kilda beach.

payton and nova, st. kilda beach, vic.

grandaddy and theo, st. kilda.

adam and theo, st. kilda.

the family on st. kilda beach.  

the giant koala (this is giant thing #3).  we didn't actually stop here, but saw it from the highway when mom, dad, nova and i were driving back to adelaide from melbourne.

cinderella helps me clean after company had gone (and while mom and dad are in perth) - who doesn't love doing house work in their wellingtons?

the artist at work in the backyard.

nova on an evening hike at rawnsley station, wilpena pound, flinders national park.  mom, dad, payton, nova and i came here for a quick weekend, but got beautiful weather and a great hike in.

wilpena pound wallabies.

as usual, photos don't do the area justice, but this pic was taken from the wilpena pound lookout hike.  the mountains are the backside of the syncline, the treed area in the foreground is the trough of the syncline.

team gardner at wilpena pound lookout.

wilpena pound emu - these things were everywhere.

drove home from wilpena pound via the clare valley on father's day.  the clare is a less tourist-y (but no less successful) wine growing valley like the barossa.  this valley has a lot more farming - and the hills are covered with hectares of of bright yellow crops - rape seed, from which canola oil is made.  

and finally, on mom and dad's return from their barossa valley trip, the giant rocking horse was photographed.  so many giant things. so little time....

last day before mom and dad flew home to colorado - brekky on the barby at home.  mmm mmm, good! love the half grill, half griddle combo.