The Murdoch Childrens Research Institute discovers ways to prevent and treat conditions affecting babies, children and adolescents, helping them lead happy, healthy lives.

Now that I’ve said that, back to my trip. I got back yesterday (just in time for a work Oktoberfest party ) from 2 weeks up in Cairns. The trip was to do with my work with Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, but there was a lot of fun involved – right from the start since I was upgraded to business class at the airport . My first week there involved taking part in the induction week for secondees from Westpac, IBM and KPMG going to Indigenous Organisations in Cape York and Cairns for a month. This included a full day of four wheel drive training, cultural induction, and some free time exploring Cairns. We had a few fun nights out, although my favourite night was at a little backpacker restaurant/bar called the Green Ant Cantina where we had some drinks and Mexican food.

For my first night there, only a few secondees had arrived, so we headed up with Rose (the Cairns IEP director) to Djarragun College’s (a local Indigenous School) new wilderness centre where we had a BBQ and stayed the night in the dorms by the river. It was a fun night and a good way to get to know the people who had already arrived and start getting used to the big Land Cruisers that we would be driving up to the Cape.

On Thursday afternoon we set off North for our camping weekend on Cape York with a 3 hour drive to Cape Tribulation in the Daintree rainforest. It was a beautiful drive, although since the region has been quite dry, the river crossings mostly involved driving across dry river banks. At Cape Trib we spent the night in dorms at a little place by the beach called PK’s jungle village. It was a gorgeous spot because the rainforest goes right to the beach, but unfortunately the food in the restaurant there was disappointing and cold – I guess they weren’t used to dealing with a group of 25 people in 9 cars!

We woke up bright and early Friday morning and drove a little way along the rd for breakfast on the beach right at Cape Tribulation which was very beautiful, before continuing our drive to a community called Wujal-Wujal. At Wujal-Wujal, some local Aborigal ladies, Frances and Gloria, took us for a walk to a waterfall called Bloomfield Falls and told us a little bit about there culture which was interesting. We then continued on to lunch in Cooktown where we had some delicious grilled Spanish Mackerel and Chips. Cooktown was beautiful and on the water, but like everywhere else in the region, there was no swimming due to Crocodiles and Stingers! Cooktown is named after Captain Cook who stopped there for a few weeks to repair his ship in 1770. A lot of English words for Australian animals come from the local language there (Guugu Yimithirr) from the interactions during this time – for example Kangaroo which is how the word gangurru was written.

From Cooktown we continued our drive further up the Cape to Lakefield National Park where we camped at the Kennedy River. The afternoon drive took us over some quite treacherous roads – it was serious 4wding! The camp site by the river was stunning (Despite not being able to swim!). We spent the evening sitting on our swags (little camping mattresses) chatting, and having a delicious camp dinner of steaks, sausages and vegetable stew all cooked on the fire by Vit, the Westpac Cape York Secondee Program Manager. Vit was a real bushman – despite his Albanian heritage! After dinner we cooked some Marshmallows on the fire and played a game of celebrity heads which was surprisingly fun! It was beautiful sleeping under the stars and I had a surprisingly good nights rest!

Saturday morning we had a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs before packing up camp – we weren’t having lunch that day because of our schedule so I made sure to eat heaps Once we were all ready to go we headed to Lama Lama country where we were fortunate to be getting shown around the Aboriginal land by some of the locals! It was beautiful and varied land – almost desert like, to rain forest, to beach! We even got a chance to freshen up in the ocean near Port Stewart since the beach had a large shallow area so crocs weren’t an issue! We did have a funny thing happen though. All the cars had UHF radios so we could communicate on the rd, and coincidentally we had been tuned to the channel that Lama lama used to re-broadcast over a wide area. On the long drives our radios tended to end up being used for games like I Spy and other silly conversations, so when we arrived at the Lama-lama station they had a chuckle since they had been listening to all our conversations!

That night we camped at a site that they called ’safari camp’ that they were planning on doing up so that tourists could pay to camp there. We had a great evening there with another big camp dinner (including heaps of prawns) where we were joined by a lot of the locals. We then sat around the camp fire having more marshmallows before settling in to our swags. Unfortunately that night I barely slept because of mosquitos!!

Sunday morning we were up really early to get on the road for the long drive back to Cairns. Unfortunately my car had been the one carrying the prawns and ended up stinking of prawns, but the trip had to go on!! An hour in to the drive, the secondees going to Coen headed there separate way but there were still 8 cars that continued on to a little town called Musgrave for breakfast. The car of secondees going to Pormpuraaw, as well as Vit, then headed their separate way leaving 6 cars to continue.

About an hour after leaving breakfast however there was some unexpected excitement. One of the cars hit some soft sand and rolled! Luckily no-one was hurt (a miracle if you look at the photos), but it still left everyone very shocked. We got the 3 secondees who had been in the car to a nearby road station where they waited for an ambulance to check them out as well as the police. In the mean time I got everyone water and suncream and we got all of the bags out of the rolled car – apparently it often takes a few weeks to get a tow truck and by that stage everything including tires is usually gone! Having heard that, I also took the initiative to take the spare tyre from the crashed car and switch it with a flat tyre that my car was carrying since we’d got a flat on the second day

Once the police had seen the car and recorded the GPS co-ordinates, we got back on the road. 2 more cars headed to Cooktown, which left only 3 cars of Cairns secondees, Rose, and I to head back to Cairns. The accident had delayed us a few hours so we didn’t get to Cairns until 8, and still had to unload the cars and return them so it was a tiring evening. Overall however it was an amazing and eye-opening trip!

This week I’ve been working with Rose in Cairns on IEP’s Indigenous Employment strategy for the region. The CEO (Ralph) and Chairman (Ian) of a West Australian Indigenous Affairs Foundation called Wunan were also staying so I helped Rose with hosting them. It involved sitting in on lots of interesting meetings, such as with the Principal of Djarragun College, Jean Illingworth, and some local Aboriginal leaders. Rose and I also met with local Government representatives and the Djarragun transition to work manager. The Cairns secondees all started work, but we still caught up for dinner every night which was good fun! All in all a very productive trip – and I even managed to get a tan!

Last night I got back just in time to put on a silly outfit for the BCG Oktoberfest party at the Lowenbrau in the Rocks where I had a few Steins of beer and caught up with friends from work. Now I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend with Jacks who I haven’t seen for 2 weeks!

Have a look at all the photos in the gallery!
Hope you’re all well.
Ben

Saturday we walked around the entire city, headed down to the beach at Glenelg for lunch and explored that area for the afternoon. That evening we dressed up for a night on the town with our first stop at Mesa Lunga – a trendy wine and tapas bar. We had a few glasses of Adelaide Hills/Barossa Valley wines and a bit of banter before dinner at Adelaide’s infamous Ying Chow (a cheap Chinese joint that is legendary with the locals) We then made our way to The Bar and finished the evening at Lotus Bar.

Sunday morning we picked up our rental car and made our way to the hills for a day exploring the famous wine region. We had a delicious breakfast at a tiny little providore cafe (the kind I dream about opening one day!) A couple of ks down the road was our first winery – Petaluma. The cellar door and fine dining restaurant are inside what’s known as the old Bridgewater Mill which is actually still in operation. Their extensive wine selection took nearly an hour to go through before we headed downstairs to check out their champagne room. Some of the bottles had been then for nearly 15 years (with the dust to prove it) and would be there for another twenty! The old German town of Hahndorf was our next stop. We strolled along the main street, had lunch and made our way to the next winery on our list – Shaw and Smith. Michael Hill-Smith is actually a friend of Ian and Siena’s and he’d helped with our initial planning of the trip and set up the special tour at Petaluma.

He met us at his winery to guide us through our tasting which as you can imagine added so much to the experience. Ben and I channelled our inner John Allen while he explained the intricacies of the wine, the history of the winery, his personal journey as a wine maker/businessman. After nearly two hours there Ben and I headed back to Adelaide with our 6 bottles from Shaw and Smith.

Monday was reserved for the Barossa Valley which is famous for its Shiraz so as you can imagine I’ve been dreaming about since we’d booked our vacay! The drive in itself was a treat. Our first stop was Yalumba which is actually owned by Michael’s cousin. They had a huge cellar door with a gorgeous fire place. We’d decided to take advantage of the sunlight and make ourselves a picnic for lunch so our next stop was the Barossa Valley Cheese Shop to pick up some freshly made Goat’s Brie before heading down the road to Penfolds. We purchased a delicious bottle of Bin 28 to add to our ‘cellar’.

Maggie Beer’s Farm was next on the list to pick up some more essential ingredients for our picnic before heading to the charming boutique winery – Hentley Farms. We’d tasted their Zinfindel at Mesa Lunga the first night and I fell in love with it. So we tracked it down and to our delight it was the perfect setting for our picnic. We purchased a bottle of the Zin and enjoyed a lunch of fresh cheese, wholegrain bread and vegetable pate overlooking the picturesque vineyards.

Our last stop was Jacob’s Creek which was a bit of a disappointment after our special experience at Hentley Farms. The cellar door was actually referred to as the ‘Visitors Centre’ which I’m sure paints the picture perfectly for you.

We flew back the next morning bright and early. Ben rushed straight back to work and I was off to my health retreat in the Hunter.

It was a fabulous trip and we had such a great time. Let us know if you want some tips for wine tasting in Adelaide!

There is much more to report on…but in the interest of keeping these as short as possible we’ll hold off on that…

Lots of love,
Jac and Ben

The snow at Perisher was actually quite good all weekend, although it was pretty cold and blizzardy at the top of the mountain. It was Ciersley’s first time at the snow, and Marilia is a beginner too, so Byron, Ben and I did quite a lot of riding together. Ryan was being a gentleman and being patient with Marilia

Despite it being a year since we were last on the snow, we all got back into it pretty quickly and were flying down the slopes and hitting the terrain park in no time! I was even trying some little jumps, and got some good photos of Ben and Byron doing some jumps, rails, and drops. On the Sunday, Ben even landed a 360 which he was really excited about.

The weekend flew by, and on Sunday afternoon it was time to head off. We drove straight from the slopes back to Ben’s hotel in Canberra where we relaxed and showered before heading out for an early dinner. I then had to hit the road to head back to Sydney, and sadly had to leave Ben in Canberra!!

We’re thinking of heading back down for another weekend soon, so we’ll see what happens.

Thanks so much to all of you that donated to us for the City2Surf. City2Surf is on Sunday so we’re both looking forward to that.

Hope you’re all well!
Jacqueline and Ben

Our last few days in LA were sunny and relaxing. We spent some time by the pool at the Altadena Country Club relaxing and working on our tans for a final few days before heading back to cold and wintery Sydney, as well as heading to Manhattan Beach which was beautiful.

On Tuesday night we had some friends over for a final ‘party’ before heading home to catch up with everyone once more. I even got a keg to make it feel like an American party to me and a friend of ours, Eddie, brought over some delicious home made Hummus.

On Wednesday night, we had our ‘last supper’ with the Fisher Fam at Mc Cormick and Schmick in Old Town where we had some delicious seafood and wine, before going for a stroll through Pasadena City Hall. Bonnie and Lou treated us to a delicious bottle of wine – one that Allee was even served but Jacqueline nearly missed out on by having her wine glass removed as we sat down!

To everyone that we caught up with on the trip, it was so great to see you! To everyone that we didn’t get a chance to see, hopefully we can catch up sometime soon – We’re going to be back in LA for Christmas.

I just want to say thanks one more time to Bonnie and Lou for taking us to Maui – it really exceeded my expectations and was heaps and heaps of fun!

Love to all
Ben and Jacqueline

As Ben mentioned, we had a delightful day of fun in the sun at Honolua and snorkelling here in our cove with tons of turtles! The next day (Wednesday) we headed down to Maalea to catch the ‘Pride of Maui’ out to Molokini for our first two dives. About half way through our first dive, we spotted a giant manta ray swimming about ten feet above us! Honestly, its wing span was about 8 to 10 feet! It was giant! Mom and Vikkee were a little spooked but as you probably guessed Dad and Ben were off to get a look up close and personal. We swam with it for about 3 minutes before it unfortunately left us for other waters. The next dive was a bit uneventful after the manta spotting and the visibility was only about 20 feet and quite murky.

Thursday, Allee and I took Ben up to the top of the ‘active’ volcano here on the east side of Maui called Haleakala. Its last eruption was in 1790 which formed Makena beach on the south side of the island. The crater at the top (elevation 10,000 feet) looks like the surface of another planet! The temperature at the top was 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder and the winds were pretty intense, but we walked around for a while. I even got kicked out of the visitors centre for eating an apple…oops! We headed back home for the afternoon and snorkelled with the incredible turtles here in the cove.

That night we took Ben to his first original Hawaiian Luau where he and Allee were forced on stage to perform the Hula. Don’t worry – I took video! The food was delicious, the drinks were abundant and the dancing impressive.

The next day we were up to hit the surf just south of Lahaina. Allee was a natural and stood up on the very first wave she caught. We lasted two hours surfing the waves at the base of a gorgeous valley (unfortunately we can’t say the same for our sun block!). It was an extraordinary setting – the island of Molokai in the distance and the sharp cliffs and deep valley on the Maui shore. Check out the photos – words just don’t do it justice. We had a picnic on the beach and then strolled along Front Street in Lahaina for the afternoon. We also went to Mom’s favourite bar – the Mai Tai lounge for one of their famous Mai Tai’s on the water. it was a gorgeous afternoon. That night we headed up to a family friend, Mike’s, house which is just in the hills above Lahaina. We had a swim in the pool and took in the incredible views over a few drinks, and a dinner of absolutely delicious smoked ribs! We also kept their 2 kids busy because Bubba started a game of calling them ‘Smoochface’ which turned in to an all out battle of name calling! They were also impressed by Ben’s ability to eat anything, including 2 kinds of cheese on 1 cracker!!

Saturday morning was an early wake up call for a dive off the coast of Lanai – another island about a hour from Maui. The island is slowly being built up and currently only has a population of 2,500 and is owned by a member of the Murdoch family. The shore of Lanai is absolutely breathtaking. The black volcanic cliffs dramatically drop into the water to create a rough coastline where the powerful surf pounds into the rocks. Aside from the manta spotting, the diving at Lanai was a cut above that of Molokini and definitely made Hawaiian diving compete with that of Belize and Bali. Our first dive was gorgeous and you could see for miles! We checked out a new species of lobster that had only recently been spotted in Hawaii, and has only been seen at Lanai, living in this specific lava flow. For our second dive we dove what is known as ‘Cathedrals’ because the lava flow actually created a mini cathedral underwater – complete with an alter! It is essentially a cavern where the sunshine beamed in through a hole in the ‘roof’ like the sun shining in through stained glass windows in a cathedral. As we entered the cathedral, we were greeted by three friendly white tipped reef sharks who seemed to follow us throughout the dive. It was an incredible experience (thanks Dad for setting that up!). We’d worked up quite the appetite by the time we got back to shore so we headed to Cheeseburger in Paradise for some…ok a ton…of food.

Our last day we went to breakfast for father’s day in Napili Bay and then rented boards again and hit the somewhat non-existent surf at Puamana beach. After about an hour we decided to head to the north of the island to show Ben yet another beach and for a change of scenery. After a few hours there we started the journey back home but unfortunately for the island and for us, there was a huge brushfire (or bushfire for the aussies) engulfing the southern tip of West Maui (Maui is made up of two large mountains with an isthmus in between connecting east and west Maui) and all roads to Lahaina, Kaanapali, Napili and our place were blocked! This was about 3:30 in the afternoon and the authorities said to try again in 2-4 hours. So to kill some time we went to Iao canyon and hiked up to the lookout and back down to the waterfall. We then decided to head down to Kihei which is on the southern bit of East Maui for a sunset swim. With the roads still closed (it was 7:30 by now) we went to dinner at a local Japanese place. The fire at this stage was meant to be under control by 9PM. After a nice long dinner we called the information line and found out that the road would not be opening until morning! We jumped in the car and drove to the first hotel we could find with vacancy and luckily got two rooms for the seven of us. Our phone rang at 3:30 am and Dad was rallying the troops to get a head start on the drive back before the other stranded tourists hit the road to get back to West Maui. Without any traffic and the road freshly opened we made it back to our house.

That about sums it up – which is fitting as I’m sitting on the plane on our way back to LA. It was tough to leave the relaxing, stress free island lifestyle knowing that our tans and care free attitude will soon be replaced by the winter rain and office dwelling in Sydney. At least we have Spice Temple to look forward to upon our return!

We have a few more days in LA before we head back down under – throwing a small get together at my parent’s place and hitting the beach to soak in the summer sun just once more.

That’s all for now!
Aloha!
Jacqueline and Ben

We landed in LA last Saturday and were met at the airport by Jacqueline’s family who we were both really excited to see. By lunchtime we were enjoying ourselves in Old Town Pasadena, where Bubba (Jacqueline’s brother) and I were ’sampling’ some delicious beers in half-yard glasses. That evening we had Jacqueline’s grandparents, as well as some friends over for dinner whilst we tried to overcome jet lag. Jacqueline succeeded better than I did, since I decided I had to have an afternoon nap (probably in part due to the 80oz of beer at lunch) and then woke up at 3am.

The next day I was a little tired but had a great day, since we all headed to Olvera St in downtown LA where I hadn’t been before. It’s kind of like ‘little Mexico’ and it doesn’t feel like you’re in the US at all! I had some delicious chicken mole tacos, and a beer with lime and tomato juice to get the day going (Bubba is pretty much mexican and also made me try menudo which is tripe soup and I wouldn’t really recommend!)

That evening it was time for my next ‘first’ in the US – going to a Dodgers (baseball) game. We had great seats and the time flew by – in large part due to the Dodger dog and garlic fries that you have to have at a game. Allee and Jacqueline were all dressed up in the Dodgers merchandise but somehow we never made it onto the big screen, and Bubba even got accused of being Canadian for talking during the national anthem! Despite all our support, the Dodgers unfortunately lost to the Phillies, but at least it meant we were home in time to head out to meet some of Jacqueline’s friends at the Yard House (again!).

Monday morning Jacqueline and I headed off on our road trip – first stop Lake Tahoe to visit my storm parents, John and Shirley. We arrived at 2 and Shirley took us straight out for a lovely afternoon hike to whale beach where I got in the water but Jacqueline was a bit of a wimp and stayed dry – to be fair, we could see snow in the background and the water was a little cold. We then had a delicious home cooked meal, and John gave us some lessons in wine appreciation over a few bottles of wonderful wine!

In the morning the road trip continued at our usual hectic pace and we headed off to Berkeley to visit Jacqueline’s grandparents that live there. On the way, I decided that I was well overdue for my first double double animal style from In’n'Out Burger – yum yum!! We had a nice relaxing afternoon in Berkeley, and had a great catchup with Lou and Gita, before a delicious beef bourginon dinner and an early night which we were both in need of. We were however up at 6.15 the following morning to join Gita for her morning walk around Berkeley which really is a very nice area! The show had to go on after that, and Jacqueline and I were back on the road, although this time only a relatively short drive down to Palo Alto where we had breakfast with Susie, an old family friend, and had a quick look around the Stanford campus. It was really good to catchup with Susie (and for Jacqueline to meet her) since I hadn’t seen her in a few years.

After breakfast, We headed over to Sami’s place in Palo Alto. She is one of Jacqueline’s really close friends who is living in Palo Alto with her boyfriend Alex and they had invited us to stay. Sami took us for a drive to Los Gatos to see where she grew up, before we headed back to her’s for a celebratory glass of Champagne. We then headed into to San Francisco for some shopping, before dinner with Alex (at the Cheesecake Factory overlooking Union Square). Jacqueline had arranged a bit of a reunion with her triathlon friends at a cool little bar called the Tipsy Pig, near the Marina. Elliot, a friend Jacqueline met while studying at Cambridge joined too. We had a great evening, and really enjoyed catching up with everyone.

Jacqueline and I both love the Bay Area and would have loved to spend some more time there, but in keeping with our road trip, we were off first thing in the morning for breakfast in Santa Cruz, and then lunch in Isla Vista to reminisce about UCSB. Lunch was at Silvergreens where we had our first date, and we strolled around and saw the Bagel Cafe, and all the other places we used to frequent. We then headed to downtown Santa Barbara for a stroll and some more shopping, and then dinner at the beer cafe whilst we watched the LA Lakers play Orlando Magic and win to bring them closer to the NBA title, which was fun since I’ve never really watched a whole basketball game, and it was very close and went to overtime and was won in the last few seconds! After dinner, we met up with Morgan, a good friend of mine from Bali who is at UCSB, as well as his Dad who was visiting. We’d decided we wanted to get back to LA though, so we just had a margarita and a quick catchup before getting on the road back to LA. It was nice to get home!

Back in LA we just had a few nights before heading to Hawaii. Our first day, Friday, we headed up to the Camarillo outlets with Jacqueline’s mum, Bonnie, and sister, Allee, for some serious shopping before lunch at In’n'Out (I really love the burgers!), and then dinner at one of the Fisher’s favourites – a mexican restaurant that they affectionately call ‘Peter’s’ after the guy running it. We (and especially Jacqueline) got stuck in to some delicious Margaritas before heading out to Glendale to meet Jacqueline’s friends Nadia and Julia for some cocktails at Katsuya which were very yummy indeed. It was a fun night and we were both feeling like I needed some extra rest in the morning.

Despite how I was feeling, Jacqueline, Allee, Vikkee and I headed to the Getty Museum in Santa Monica in the morning which was really cool. We then headed to Old Town for lunch and some shopping before heading home for a rest. Jacqueline and I then had dinner with Amy and her boyfriend Brian at P F Changs for some Chinese food. Amy is a good friend from Singapore who lives in Pasadena, and we had a great time catching up. After dinner we met Allee, Vikkee and Ashley at the movies to see’the Hangover’ on Vikkee’s recommendation and it lived up to it! We laughed the whole way through!!

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but since arriving in California we had experienced the dreaded June Gloom and barely seen any sunshine, so in the morning, we decided it was time to take action. Vikkee was heading to Newport beach where she is at uni, and had heard that it was sunny so Jacqueline and I decided to go too. It was great to get a little sun, and have a wander around Balboa Island by the water. After a couple of hours there however, we headed to the Airport, because a friend of mine from Sydney, Kieran, was flying in to spend one night on his way to Business School in Chicago. As always, LAX was a madhouse, but we managed to find Kieran, and head home for a quick turn around before heading to one of Jacqueline’s good friend’s, Caitlin’s, birthday party. We had a great time and the party continued after we got home. We had to be up at 6 am the next morning to finish packing and head to Maui (and Kieran to Chicago).

That about brings me back to where I started – we flew in to Maui yesterday afternoon, and stopped in Lahaina (the biggest town on the west coast) for a yummy lunch, before getting to our Condo in a cute little cove called Honokeana. We just relaxed for the afternoon and did a grocery shop before Jacqueline, Bubba and I produced a delicious dinner of chargrilled Tuna Sashimi salad and bbq’d mango curry prawns. Today, we had a morning snorkel in our cove where there are lots of turtles – at one point we were swimming with at least 5 in 2 metre deep water – before heading to another bay (Honolua) for some more sun bathing and snorkelling and even more turtles. It’s so wonderful to be in the sun relaxing!

We’ll write another blog at the end of the trip to tell you about the rest of our time here, but we have an exciting few days ahead starting with diving at Molokini tomorrow, and hopefully some surfing.

Hope you’re all well. Check out the photos that we’ve put up so far!!

Ben and Jacqueline
xx

Almost a month ago now (just after the last post!) We headed down to Melbourne for the weekend because one of Jacqueline’s work friends, Charissa, was getting married. We flew down Friday night straight after work and stayed with the Fedeles (my cousins, aunt and uncle). It was a great fun weekend, and we did some shopping and had a fun night out in the city on Saturday which started with dumplings for dinner with some old friends of mine, as well as Pasquale and Wendy, and ended with some very enthusiastic karaoke!

Sunday morning I was a little tired but we got up and headed out to Charissa and Bob’s wedding in the Dandenong mountains. The sun came out and it was a beautiful service! Bob even sang a song for Charissa as she walked down the aisle.

The following weekend was my birthday, and it was a real celebration. Jackie surprised me with dinner on the Friday (day before my birthday) at a restaurant called Cafe Sydney which overlooks the harbour and the Opera House. We had a martini, a delicious bottle of wine and some very yummy food! Saturday we then went to a music festival called V Fest (organised by Virgin) with a few friends of ours. The festival ran all day in Centennial park and the sun was out so we really had a lot of fun. We saw Duffy, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Vanilla Ice (yes, he still exists!), and lots of other bands!

On the Sunday, we had yum cha with my family to celebrate my birthday with them, and then I invited all my friends to a cool wine bar near Kings Cross called Gazebo. We spent the afternoon there drinking rose and Sangria, and even playing some boules in the park. For my birthday Jackie bought me/us a kayaking/wine drinking/oyster eating day at the central coast, north of Sydney, which we did yesterday, so the celebrations have really carried on.

Last weekend, we went to Tasmania for the Easter long weekend since neither Jackie or I have ever been. We had some drama with our flights, and ended up having to fly via Melbourne, and spend Thursday night there so that we could get into Launceston nice and early on Friday. Getting into Tassie was an eye opener – all the ‘towns’ we drove through turned out to be clusters of about 3 houses and finding somewhere for breakfast was actually kind of hard, especially since it was good Friday. After finally finding some food, we headed straight to the Bay of Fires, which is a gorgeous area of the East coast where the rocks are red due to iron deposits. We explored for the day, and then spent the night in a town called St Helens at the youth hostel, where we ended up chatting with an Italian guy from Sydney called Marco who joined us for pizza and some beers in town.

The next morning we were lucky again with the weather and headed a little further South to Coles Bay where we started our hike in the national park. We first climbed up to the top of Mount Amos which was a combination of walking/climbing and scrambling over rocks, but was well worth it when we saw the beautiful view of wineglass bay (Check out the photos!!). We then climbed back down and grabbed our packs and hiked over to wineglass bay where we set up camp for the night. When we got there we were very hot and sweaty and decided to jump in to the beautiful, but quite chilly water to clean off. The bay really was stunning and secluded, and there were even wallabies hopping around the camp site.

For dinner we had brought along a feast (not really – but yummy anyway!) of canned tuna and beans, crackers, and a bottle of wine which we ate on the beach which was really nice and relaxing. We then had an early night after reading by torchlight in the tent! In the morning we woke up to another beautiful day and started the hike back to the car which took till around lunchtime. From there we decided to head straight to Launceston to check it out, but discovered that it really isn’t a big place, and there isn’t all that much to do, especially when everything is shut for Easter!

We did manage to go wine tasting in the Tamar valley, and go for a stroll up cataract gorge which is 10 minutes walk from Launceston. That night we managed to find somewhere that was open for dinner (Alchemy), and ended up having a delicious meal of grilled fish and some Tasmanian beer, before having an early night since neither of us managed to get too good a night’s rest in the tent the night before!

The next day it was time to head back to Sydney, although our flights were delayed (again!!) and we didn’t get home until 11 at night which wasn’t ideal! All in all though it was a wonderful weekend.

Next weekend is Anzac day so we’re having people over for Champagne and Pancakes which will be fun. Jacqueline is even making her famous chocolate chip pancakes! Unfortunately though we now don’t have any holidays until June when we head to the US. We’re both really excited for it though!!

Hope to hear from you soon! Check out all our photos if you get a chance!

Ben and Jacqueline

Since then we’ve been busy little bees at work. Ben is still working during the week down in Canberra. Given that he’s spending so much time down there, I really wanted to check it out and experience Australia’s capital for all that its worth…whatever people may say about it

The first day I was there I did all of the standard tourist stuff – went for a tour of old parliament house, walked around the gardens, checked out the museums and generally got a feel for the city. That night we headed out to dinner in Manuka. Conveniently Pasquale was still there working on locum so he joined us. The next night we headed into the ‘city’ for a Japanese dinner (complete with Sake bombs!) and a night out at the Irish pub – King O’Malleys. My obsession with cider from my days at Cambridge was in full control and Ben and I enjoyed a night just the two of us enjoying the cider and the music.

The next morning we headed to the Degas exhibit which was absolutely incredible. The famous artist’s sculpture of a ballet dancer was even more impressive in person. We then headed to new parliament for a tour before driving north 45 minutes to the wineries in the region. We ended up purchasing a few bottles from the three wineries we tasted (Dionysus may have been a favourite…but that was just because of the name. Coincidentally, the cellar master’s nephew worked at BCG and Ben knows him!!) A friend of ours, Stuey was having a party in Yass which wasn’t far from the vineyards so we stopped in to see Jason who was down there from Sydney as well. After returning from a lovely day we relaxed before a night on the town.

Ben took me out to Courgette, a delicious gourmet modern Australian restaurant in the city. After an incredible dinner (probably one of the best dining experiences we’ve had!) we headed back to King O’Malleys (so I was slightly into the pear cider!) where Sam (a friend of Ben’s from work) joined us for a dance, some good laughs and a great night!

The next morning we checked out the War Memorial. It was interesting to compare the ’story’ told by the Australian museum to the ones I’ve seen in the US…it was quite the cultural educational experience! We then joined Tushar and Claire for lunch before a two hour bike ride around the city. I think we ended up leisurely biking over 30k. It was a great way to experience the city…but then again we all know how I feel about cycling! After a casual dinner I headed back to Sydney leaving Benj in his hotel room at the Realm.

This past weekend we spent in Jervis Bay, which is three hours down the coast, with team husky – Byron, Kasey, James and Millie. We rented a gorgeous house in Huskisson called Casa Cantamar and true to its name it was a Mexican style hacienda. We relaxed by the beach, went for a bush walk, drank lovely sangria and ate gourmet food. On the way back we leisurely made our way up the coast along the Grand Pacific Drive (and across the Sea Cliff Bridge) including stopping in a precious town called Berry. We had lunch by the beach with James and Mils and made it home for dinner with the family in Kirribilli.

This weekend we’re heading down to Melbourne for Charissa’s wedding! I’m really excited to not only see a great friend that moved a few months ago, but to spend time with Ben’s family from Melbourne and to do a little bit of shopping in the fabulous city

Next weekend we’ll be celebrating Ben’s birthday. Friday night I’m taking him out for a surprise dinner. Saturday we’re going to V Fest to check out the Killers, Duffy, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs and a few other awesome bands. Sunday we’ll have yum cha at East Ocean which is our favourite followed by drinks at Gazebo with a bunch of friends. It’ll be a great weekend that’s for sure but we’ll update you after that!

Drop us a line when you get a chance…and get excited for June 6th…we’re heading back to Cali

Lots of love, kisses, chocolate chip cookies and exercise highs to all of you!
Check out all our photos in the gallery!

Jacqueline and Ben

Jackie and I are off to Bali tomorrow with both of our families. We’re really excited to be there for both Christmas and New Years!

Since we’re not going to have internet for 2 weeks, we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Hope you’re all well.
Love
Jackie and Ben