New Zealand Photos

Update to come...

More Trips

OK, just one more paper to go... I can do this.

[Side note: apparently they don't call assignments "papers" here. I emailed my boss and told him that I was having "paper issues" so I would be coming in later that day, and he was extremely confused. He even asked the office if they thought I might be "stuck on the toilet." How am I just finding this stuff out??]

But as promised, I said I would reveal the exciting travel itinerary Will and I have coming up. So here it is!

On Tuesday (the day after I hand in my last assignment) I fly to the Gold Coast in Queensland for a Youth Mentoring Conference that I am attending for work. Due to limited vacation days, Will won't be joining me for this particular trip, but I'm really excited about it as it is the first time I've been to Queensland! (and it will be really, really warm -- something that Melbourne hasn't quite been able to master yet this year)

I will be returning from Queensland on Thursday night, just in time to fly out on Friday morning to...

...wait for it...

...NEW ZEALAND!!!!

Yes, we will finally be able to send all of the post cards that people have been requesting. Cue at least five conversations I had before moving to Australia:

FRIEND: Wow, so you're moving to Australia, huh? Why not New Zealand?
ME [thinking]: What, Australia's not good enough for you?
ME [actually says]: I'm a little fearful of orcs and hobbits. I thought Australia would be a safer bet.
FRIEND: Oh, well, send me a post card when you get to New Zealand.
ME: steam comes out of me ears

Apparently unbeknownst to Americans, Australians quite enjoy the occasional laugh at the Kiwi's expense. It may be a beautiful country, but there are, in fact, many more sheep than people. And they say "sex" instead of "six." And "fush" instead of "fish."

SO THERE.

I digress. Despite my personal feelings about New Zealand, it has always been top on our list of places to visit while we're over here. And lucky for us, our friends from Atlanta, Colin and Kirby, inspired the trip by offering to meet us in Queenstown.

So Will and I are flying into Christchurch on Friday morning then driving to Marlborough for the weekend. We will then head back to Christchurch on Monday, stay the night with Will's old coworker, then fly to Queenstown on Tuesday morning, where we'll meet up with Colin and Kirby. Queenstown is known as the "Adventure Capital of the World" and is where bungee jumping was invented. So who knows, you may see a couple of pictures of Will like this:

[Will says: Or you may not.]

After a couple of days in Queenstown, we'll be flying into Auckland (on the North Island) for a day, then back to Melbourne on Saturday.

Colin and Kirby will then get to experience the awesomeness that is Melbourne (and Chateau de Stone), until we leave for Yarra Valley and the Great Ocean Road on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday Will and I head back to work -- just in time for me to plan a Thanksgiving Feast at my office! (people seem skeptical but I think they are all secretly excited to taste the exoticness that is pumpkin pie) -- and Colin and Kirby fly to Cairns. THEN on Friday Will and I are flying to Sydney to meet up with them one last time before they go back to the States on Monday.

Whew, it wears me out just thinking about it! But it will be uber fun. And of course upon our return we will have Christmas parties galore, tons of events (oh, what? that I'm planning? for 1000 people? surely you jest!), and THEN a trip to Tasmania for Christmas! More about that later...

So as you see, the Stones will be busy over the next few weeks, but true to form we will be sure to post lots of pictures once we get back!

Just Gotta Get Through It...

It's paper time in Masters land. I have two papers due in the next week -- one for tomorrow, the other due next Monday. Once again procrastination has come back to bite me. Even after taking a couple of days off work to get a head start on everything, I somehow managed to be "really really busy" during those entire two days and yet not write a single one of the 5000 words I have hanging over my head. So now here I am: a place I am quite familiar with. PANIC... and SPEED WRITING.

But I just have to get through next Monday and then Will and I have a very exciting lineup of trips planned. I'll save that for a new post, as joyous events such as trip announcements should not have to mingle for all eternity in a blog post dedicated to paper panic.

In the meantime I'm getting quite a lot of help with the paper writing process...

Darcy is getting her Masters too

Fiji Picture Gallery - if you're interested

Check out the Fiji pictures here if you're interested!

Enjoy the Scenery*

*Darcy has been made famous on thechive.com, a silly photo-blog.

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/bombs-away-81.jpg

Fiji

Fiji:

Sun.

Islands.

Boats.

Warm Weather.

Quintessential American Establishments.

Music.

Enough said.

The Mighty Cockatoos

It's always interesting when one has the pleasure of running across cultural idiosyncrasies that serve as a reminder that one does, in fact, live in Australia.

For one, the fitted sheet. The Australian fitted sheet is a homeware conundrum I have puzzled since arriving in this fair country. One can imagine that after being used to buying a bundle of high quality linen--including a fitted sheet, top sheet, and two pillowcases--for the average price of $50 it would be quite a shock to find that a sole fitted sheet in Australia costs on average $100. That's right, it is one piece of fabric laced with a scrunchie. Of course, cigarettes are also $17/pack. Although I'm not quite sure why the government is trying to regulate the usage of fitted sheets.

Secondly, upon perusing the dark recesses of IMDB's vaults, we realized that our computer's loyalty lies with Australia as opposed to its homeland when we stumbled across a beloved childhood film involving a hotshot lawyer and a ragtag gang of children playing ice hockey. The name? "Champions." Now while I certainly understand the necessity for literal title translations in an effort to cross language barriers (for example, I have no problem with "Undercover Blues" becoming "Two Spies and a Baby" in Brazil), one would assume that "The Mighty Ducks," which in the early 1990s had absolutely no meaning in America, would have enough resonance to traverse the cultural barrier into Australian film vernacular. Of course, that is until one realizes that there are no ducks in this country.

[Disclaimer: There are most likely ducks. However they are not quite so abundant as in North America, and do not have the same cultural significance. Aka, they have never been on a stamp. And they are probably not featured heavily in taxidermy. And there is no duck hunting season.

OK, there may be duck hunting season.]

Australian Duck

Our own experience with ducks in Australia extends only so far as this one time when Will and I were spending the weekend in the country, only to be awoken at 7am by a cacophony of squawks, which to our ears could have only been ducks. "But they must have flown south for the winter!" our sleep-ridden-selves exclaimed. Until we remembered that a) we are in the southern hemisphere so they would be flying north, and b) upon closer examination of this aviary discord it was actually not ducks at all, but a mighty gaggle of cockatoos. Loudest little buggers ever.

Gaggle of Cockatoos

Which leads us to believe that a more appropriate, culturally sensitive title would, in fact, be "The Mighty Cockatoos." How do you like that, Emilio Estevez?