'Wicked' in Oz

The girls headed to the "Big Smoke" (Sydney) on Saturday to take in a performance of the Broadway musical Wicked at the Capitol Theatre. For all of us Wizard of Oz fans out there this opportunity was truly a creative and unique look into the humble beginning of those witches from the Emerald City that we learned to love and hate as children.

We had our pre-preformance lunch and cocktails at Ripples restaurant along the wharf near Darling Harbour. Great food, beautiful weather and fabulous atmosphere.

Cheers! Vicki (my next door neighbor), Me, Sue (Ben's Aunt) and Cheryl (Ben's mum)

Work is the Pits!

A birds-eye few of my job location where I work as the "Enviro Chick" at an open cut coal mining operation in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. Quite a landscape change from the cotton fields in the San Joaquin Valley of California aren't they? No.1 Open Cut Pit (the town of Muswellbrook in the background and my office site in the foreground)

FYI - Muswellbrook Coal Company was one of the first open cut mines in Australia. The coal reserves were encountered by chance during a water boring opeation in 1907 and underground mining commenced in 1908 and continued until 1997. Current open cut mining operations began in 1944. No.2 Open Cut Pit

Going Bush

The long "Labour" Day weekend marks the start of school holidays for 2-weeks. Families pack up the kids and hit the road towing boats, bikes and trailers, heading to vacation spots all over New South Wales. We spent our 3 days camping on a property just outside of Quirindi, which borders the Doona State Forest, with our friends Adam and Vanessa and their 2 children Maddie and Nick.

Our little camping community in the bush.
Adam is an experienced bush camper so I was fortunate enough to get a few lessons in cooking "bush tucker " such as "damper" which is bread baked in a camp oven (aka - dutch oven) over coals. Of course I had to introduce these Aussie folks to art of making S'mores too....what camping trip wouldn't be complete without them?

Adam and Lori putting the finishing touches on the "damper" before tossing it into the camp oven to bake.
The damper was a success and tasted great especially when served right out of the oven with butter. Yummo!

In between rain showers and "sticky" (pesky) flies that were constantly trying to challenge our spirit we had a fantastic time.

Ben patiently waiting for the rain to stop while tending the fire.
Some of the more noteable activities we engaged in was exploring all the tracks that ran through the State Forest on our quad bikes and log surfing!

Adam and Ben demonstrate the art of "log surfing" !

The Bush Campers - Adam, Nick, Vanessa, Lori, Ben and Maddie