 |
| Back in Melbourne, Victoria |
So where are we now, what took us so long to blog and what is our big news!?
Hold on to your seats folks (and kudos to you if your using a standing desk)- We're off to BEIJING, CHINA! Kara has landed a pretty nifty teaching job and John loves Chinese food (a win-win).
Just a quick background to our last several weeks and then more about China: after leaving hot and sticky Malaysia we arrived in to the very cold Melbourne, Australia. In fact at the beginning of November Melbourne suffered its longest cold snap (for the month of November) in over 20 years!! Brrr!! So after a hop, skip and jump from Japan via Kuala Lumpur we arrived back into Aus. What hit us (after the massive wait at immigration) was the smell; the hot dry wind, dead grass and soft gum trees. We were back and it seemed even the birds were happy!
 |
| Visiting the Yarra Valley Chocolate emporium - oh no! |
The last few weeks we have been kept occupied helping our hosts move house, and going shopping! First was a new computer (to keep our blogs going!) and then all the winter gear we will need for our first northern hemisphere winter. We have also been devouring a lot of food! Food that we missed the most; nachos, eggs benny, lamb, fresh salmon and salads! lots of salad!
 |
| Getting ready! |
 |
| Snorkelling on great barrier reef, Port Douglas |
Kara's mum also popped over to Melbourne and we spent a day exploring the Yarra valley wine, chocolate and cheese trail (another fav we missed!!) before heading off to tropical Queensland (with Kara and her sister). So while John stayed in freezing cold Melbourne catching up on movies and admin, Kara was in Cairns soaking up the sun!
 |
| Kara, Tania and Tash relaxing in the resort pool |
 |
| Champagne cocktail by the pool anyone? |
Cairns sits about half way along the great barrier reef and is where the rainforest meets the reef. It was amazing and we spent time reading by the pool, eating fresh tiger prawns and snorkelling. The highlight was definitely heading out onto the reef with the local marine biologist for a close up of his environmental work... yip even saw a shark! Without a heartbeat, I could definitely say its like a paradise! (Thanks for the organising Tash and Mum for the surprise present).
 |
| Exploring the beach |
 |
| Exploring the resorts private beach before breakfast |
 |
| Ahhh... what? |
So what's the plan now? We have our Chinese visas (yip- these were just as tricky to get as you might think), the dentist and doctor's appointments are done and we think we have enough clothes to stay warm.
Second phase... the arrival! So we're off this Friday, with several days up our sleeves we have planned to stop in Saigon (Ho chi minh) for the week! We also want to take the time to say a big thank you to MEG AND MISHA who accommodated and generously hosted us during our three weeks in Melbourne! We love you guys!
Tot siens,
John and Kara
No comments:
Post a Comment