Australia Day Long Weekend

Well it wasn't really a long weekend - but by taking Friday off we created an extra long 4 day weekend! We went to Croajingolong National Park, on the border of Victoria and NSW - a drive you can't really do over a weekend. It's been a while since our last camping trip, for various reasons (life being busy etc etc) we haven't really done much since our big trip. This reminded me how much fun it is, and how many beautiful places there are to see in Australia.

Point Hicks
Point Hicks is where, on 19 April 1770, the continent of Australia was first sighted by the men on Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage. Cook records that it was Lieutenant Zachary Hickes who first saw land, and Cook named the point after him.





Mueller Inlet camping
This was our first campsite - the water was very shallow & very warm! Only downside was the mozzies who also liked it very much.



Dunes walk


Skerries
Rock islands home to Australian and New Zealand Fur Seal colonies.




Dead seal - kinda morbid but it was my only chance to see one up close



Live seal



Marlo, a little township between Lakes Entrance and Mallacoota




He was huge!

Good to know I've been wasting my life so far....

Not that religion ever hinders anyone's progress:

http://williamsonletters.blogspot.com/2009/02/girls-at-university.html

Christmas & New Year's

EY makes us take two weeks’ of leave over the Christmas period. Right up until the break I was resenting the fact that I have to take leave, but now I realise how much I needed it. I was very run down and I didn’t even realise it. Working full time and studying is turning out to be harder than I thought.

The first week was spent catching up with friends who come back from overseas to get a brief glimmer of Australian summer. It reminded me how awesome it would be if everyone simply came back to Australia and we could hang out all the time – you know who you are :)

The second week I spent in a diving trip from Melbourne to Sydney with my family. I’ve never seen that side of the coast before, whereas I’ve been to the Great Ocean Road a dozen times. If fact, I’ve never been beyond Lakes Entrance. There a lot of nice beaches along the way, but I can’t say there was anything I have a burning desire to go back to except Jervis Bay National Park:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jervis_Bay. We only spent an afternoon there, but I would love to go back next year.

Some photos from the trip:

Lakes Entrance



Bateman's Bay



Tathra



Mogo Zoo





Jervis Bay National Park, Greenpatch Beach





Blue Mountains



(We were supposed to see the Three Sisters from here)

Tim's early Christmas present

EY Ball

A great night out - it's nice when you actually get along with and want to go out with your work collegues :)

Wilson's Prom

The Prom has been devastated by the recent floods, and unfortunately a lot of the walks were closed, but it's still a wonderful place to visit. It dawned on me how much work and money it must take to maintain access for the public - the roads are full of potholes, bridges are down, debris across paths, paths washed away, and all this only 2 years after the bushfires! It must take serious dedication to keep restoring things knowing that nature will only knock them down again.

Apart from that we had a lovely time with Evan & Lisa – thanks guys :)

Lotsa ribs in Sydney

I was weak... couldn't finish them. I thought they would just be thin slivers of meat between the ribs but they were quite substantial!