Honey, We're Home...

We got back home today after 20 hours of travel- from Melbourne to Los Angeles, then on to Portland. The trip went smoothly except for the bulk of our luggage not joining us until tonight (they nicely delivered it to our place). I got maybe an hour's sleep so looking forward to catching up the next few days. I saw a wonderful movie, "The Namesake" during the flight, based on Jumpa Lahiri's book of the same title; I recommend it. It is surreal to be back, and we are getting reaquainted with our home. The cats will be making their own trip from Colorado via plane sometime in the next week and we'll enjoy getting reaquainted with them, too. What did I miss the most, you wonder? My immediate answer is our cats and our friends/family...I also missed biking/walking around the neighborshood, being able to find exactly what I need at the grocery store, browsing at Powell's books, and my very comfy bed.

Going Home

We've returned from our sunny vacation in Queensland and are back in Melbourne for one last day. We fly home tomorrow morning- and we're both really looking forward to being back in a beautiful city we know well, surrounded by familiar sights and people. We actually met a staff member at the Long Island Resort who was from Eugene, OR! Our vacation was incredible and very relaxing- for me, the best part was swimming among all the coral and vibrant fish in the Great Barrier Reef. Amazing. I didn't want to get out of the water. I will post alot of pictures after we get home. Love, Rebecca

Goodbye, Melbourne

http://www.jacksons-camping.co.uk/kidstuff/images/jet-plane.jpg

Our last day in Melbourne has arrived and as you can see, we're doing test runs of our flight to Brisbane (notice who is in charge here- ha ha!). Mark is having his final day at the office. We're ready for a sunny vacation in Queensland! Yep, we're leaving- on a jet plane- don't know when we'll be back again....actually, we'll be back through here on Sept. 23-24 for a couple days before flying home to Portland. But we'll be in a hotel, living out of our suitcases. Yesterday morning I did instant messenging with friend Mary who lives in Garnett, KS. It's just amazing to me how she can be there in Kansas, and I in Aussie land, and we have instant communication! (A few weeks ago, I got to see her and the family via webcam, which was really a treat). Yesterday afternoon I went to the Booktalk Cafe in Richmond and traded in some books. Today I'll go to the city library one last time, and stop by a cafe for some flat white. I'll probably walk around the Botanic Gardens one last time- it has been one of my favorite places here in Melbourne. So, my friends, it's time to stop blogging for now (we won't have laptops with us on vacation although I'm sure when we get home I'll be posting vacation photos). What an amazing experience it's been! Thanks to you all for continuing to read my reflections on life in Oz.

One Final Go...

Photo: http://gridskipper.com/travel/melbourne/index.xml

Sadly, we only have 3 days left in Melbourne. We leave early on Saturday morning to fly to Brisbane, where we'll spend a few days seeing the city before traveling on to the Whitsundays. We've been taking the photos off the fridge, doing laundry, reading the last of the library books, and enjoying our favorite restaurants one more time. I'm going to miss this place, despite longing for our home in Portland.

Last night I decided to give being an Aussie one final go (as they would say here)...yep, I tried Vegemite, a barley spread well-known by Aussies, used mostly on toast or sandwiches. It looks like dark chocolate, but let me assure you, it tastes nothing like it. Perhaps tar would be a better visual description. From the website, "in 1922, a Melbourne man named Fred Walker had the bright idea of using yeast extract left over from the manufacture of beer to create a wonderful source of vitamin B and tasty new spread that every Australian will grow up with. But it took many years for the product to become a success..." (Really? I wonder why.) You can read more about it here. The word that came to mind while trying it was "powerful"...but not in a good way. An article I read likens it to "salty diarrhea", which is closer...Let's just say I'm leaving vegemite behind for the Aussies to enjoy. In 2006, there was a rumor that vegemite was banned in the United States, and Australians entering the country were being searched for it. This led to anti-American comments in the press, but it turned out to simply be a rumor: "The U.S. FDA later stated that although it is technically illegal in the U.S. to add folate to food products other than bread or cereal, there were no plans to investigate whether Vegemite contains folate..." (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite)