Aussie Hound Turns 4

On September 27th we celebrated Bindi's 4th birthday. She received lot of goodies from both mom and dad as well as Grandma and Grandpa. Yes, she is a spoiled little puppy and we love her dearly.

In between the birthday festivities there was even time to give the "Grandparents" a ride on the new quaddy.

Dust Storm 2009

This has got to be the dustiest day I've ever seen in my entire life and the wind is blowing strong enough "to blow a dog off a chain"! Apparently the storm is orginating from the west where the soil is red (clay) so everything looks like Mars, but with gum trees of course! The roads around my work site look like a blanket of red snow has fallen. Wild!

Road Trip

Ben and I recently sold our motorbikes so we could purchase a safer mode of recreational vehicle - a quad runner! We found a great deal but we had to go all the way down to Canberra (Australia's Washington D.C.) to pick it up. This is about a 6-8 hour drive from home. Taking Friday off we headed out on a nice leisurly drive through the countryside. The trip was fantastic and we so much enjoyed all the signs of spring as well as a few Australian icons. We had picture perfect weather too!

Spring bloom in Sofala (old gold mining town)

Canola in bloom - Lachlin Valley

Mount Panorama, in Bathurst, is the most renowned race track for motorsports in Australia and one of the only tracks I know of that you can actually take your own vehicle for a "hot lap". It's too bad the speed limit is only 60km/hour on non-race days. I guess you just have to pretend you're in a V8 Supercar! Vroom Vroom!

Mount Panorama - home of the Bathurst 1000!

Along with the Harbour Bridge, Uluru, kangaroos and the Sydney Opera House, Australia is also known for all things "Big". On our journey we encountered 2 of many of these unique icons scattered around the country.

The "Big Merino" sheep in Goulburn

The "Big Potato" in Robertson

On Saturday morning we picked up our new toy in Canberra.

Ben with our new Honda "quaddy" !

We stayed at a wonderful B&B ("beds & views") just outside of Kiama which is along the south coast. Our accommodation overlooked lush green valleys and the Pacific Ocean. The view was spectacular so we enjoyed a nice bottle of Verdelho as we watched the sun set slowly over the hills and the resident alpacas graze on the lawn.

A Day in the Vines

Over the weekend we enjoyed a beautiful Staff lunch at Wyndam Estate Winery in the Hunter Valley. There was plenty of gourmet food and wine to satisfy our taste buds and quench our palates. We all soaked up the experience and sunshine with our work mates on this fabulous spring day.

Father's Day in Oz

It was Father's Day on Sunday so we honored my FIL (father-in-law) Bob with a special pancake ("pannies" ) breakfast followed by a beautiful drive around the country side that included a stop at one of the local wineries.

MIL (mother-in-law) Cheryl, FIL Bob and Hubby Ben

View from Cruickshanks Winery looking towards Denman which lies just across the Hunter River bridge .