Aussie Trip {Part 17} Back to Brissy

I spent the weekend in Maclean since Uncle Richard and Ben had organised work there. Saturday passed quickly with several movies, trying not to fall asleep, and idk what else ;P

: : Those eyes :O : :

: : LOL : :
Too bad I couldn't bring him back with me,
I really he think would make a good friend for my beautiful Snowbell ;)

Sunday we went to the church in Grafton and caught up with even more of the extended family, then went to Bec and Susie's for the day. Thanks for having us! :) And sorry, I didn't get any photos :/ Sitting at the table to eat lunch and looking out the window to see kangaroos on the other side of the fence was pretty cool and definitely not something I'm used to! 

Monday saw us once again packing up our stuff and saying goodbyes. The drive to Brisbane was fairly uneventful; we could hear thunder and see the lightning in the distance, but when we checked the temperature it was still up at 26 degrees. #yay. Roadworks slowed up the trip in a number of places, although it was interesting to note that NSW kept long stretches of road at a lower speed, even though only sections were being worked on, whereas in Queensland there ended up being a lot more signage, but we were allowed to return to the usual speed limit between work sections.

: : Dream road, you guys, seriously : :
#allthosetrees

: : Yay, fuzzy car selfies ;P : :

: : On a clear day that view in the distance would be amazing! : :
Okay, it still was pretty awesome . . . ;)

My cousin Ben and his wife Kirsten hosted us that night. It was actually the first time I had met Kirsten, although they've been together for a few years now. They recently got their wedding album, so it was really cool to look through that since I hadn't seen many photos of the day.

Aussie Trip {Part 16} Grace's Birthday

I love how Grace's 20th was one of the main reasons for my trip but I barely took photos! :/ From what I heard, she and Aileen spent most of the day in the kitchen preparing an African-themed meal for a number of us; I love cooking but a whole day is pushing it! :O It was really nice though, so thanks ;)

So anyways when we arrived at the cousins' place I walked straight in and announced I was home ;P and then greeted the cats as I found them ;) Uncle Richard had come down so it was great to finally see him (he was away for work when I was in Brissy and we headed south before he returned), and the one week I'd been away from Maclean seemed like a long time . . . it was nice to be back with the cousins and Aunty Vicki there as well.

Some of the second or third cousins came as well, we saw them back on our '05 trip and some of them have been here since then, but I'm still not sure I can remember who's who . . . :O Oops ;P

: : Okay so most of these photos I just pointed the camera in the general direction and hoped for the best; : :
it was too dark to see much of anything on the screen 

Thanks Grace and Aileen and Bethany and Uncle Richard and Aunty Vicki, and everyone else who helped pull this off!
And happy birthday Grace! Hope you enjoyed being 20 . . . since that year's actually over now ;P

Aussie Trip {Part 9} Maclean to Port Macquarie

On my last morning in Maclean I raced to pack everything up and get it back in my suitcase (failed, but thankfully I had grabbed an empty backpack before leaving NZ so filled that up too ;P). I think an iced coffee may have been about the extent of my breakfast in the end (oops) before Grace took me down to the bus stop. Eventually the bus arrived, about 45 minutes late, and the trip south started. The free wifi that the company advertised wasn't working, and the air-con cut out before long; additionally we had a slow driver and some sort of sporting event was on that weekend, so all of that combined with roadworks here and there made for a pretty long and slow trip. 

Soon after five we had a forty-minute or something stop so most of us grabbed food and stretched our legs a bit. Not long after we got going again we stopped briefly to switch drivers, and then it wasn't a whole lot further to my destination. (Some of the other passengers were travelling to Sydney and their ETA was around midnight I think!) I decided against purchasing a SIM card while I was over, opting to communicate through family or find free wifi hotspots. I wouldn't do that again because I ended up on a bus that arrived over an hour late, and had no way to contact anyone. Nathan raced over to the bus stop so someone would be there to meet me, and ended up just sitting waiting for ages; by the time I arrived the rest of the family had joined him as well though so I had a whole welcoming party. ;)

Due to the time and temperature we opted out of fish and chips on the beach, although Liam was quite happy to get underway with showing me his movies instead lol. It was actually the first time Liam and I had met, since he hadn't yet made his appearance when we last visited. He was pretty stoked to meet one of his NZ cousins, and was more than happy to do most of the talking for me, which was great since I was so tired. :)

Aussie Trip {Part 8} Miscellaneous Maclean Snaps

This post will be a collection of the rest of my photos from Maclean, in random order. :) I ended up spending a week in Maclean which was nice. We stayed with our cousins in the same house during our '05 trip, so it was cool going back to a familiar place and remembering things from the last visit. Of course some things had changed, with two of the cousins married and moved away now, and working out parking spaces for cars and motorbikes, instead of rules for the toy guns and flying fox in the backyard! 

: : Aunty Vicki with Paton and the two cockatiels : :

Aunty Vicki shares our love of animals, so it's always fun comparing the pet count. ;) I missed my cat back home but managed to win over most of the cousins' ones while I was over (mission accomplished ;P). And a cat buddy to snuggle up with you during movies is always a good idea ;)  

Love those beautiful clear skies!

And no traffic! :O #takemeback

: : Loving those palms : :

Oh look, more sunsets :P I think I actually have at least one similiar photo (those were the days of film, guys ;)) from 2005, maybe I should compare how much the landscape has changed in 10 1/2 years ;P

: : And that would be the cockroach Luke flicked off the wall towards me . . . : :
When I jumped away he decided throwing it at me might be more fun . . . 

: : Aurora, Grace's cat : :
Um yeah, that would be the bathroom light she's on top of!

: : Luke and Jenna : :

: : Please, feed me?! : :
Seriously, it's too bad I couldn't bring him back in my suitcase!

: : Let's get a photo while are hair and make up are still fresh. lol : :

: : One animal we actually haven't had as a pet! : :

: : Please appreciate this photo; : :
I didn't think to check the grass for prickles before walking over to snap it :P

: : Call me strange; I keep admiring those red bricks every time I scroll past this photo : :

: : Hehe another one :P : :

: : Aunty Vicki's fish tank makes our one look pretty pathetic :P : :
There actually are a fair few types but looks like they've just about all gone to hide from the camera lol

: : Apparently these flowers only last a day or two I think; pretty cool they bloomed while I was there :) : :

: : Awww so beautiful : :

: : Oh, hello! : :

Sadly I didn't take as many photos as I should have, and now my memory won't stand up to super-long recounts I'm afraid. :/ I'll make note of a few things though. Grace and I had planned to do a bit of trekking around and such while I was in Maclean, but she ended up having uni assignments to work on for a lot of the time. We ended up settling with a few good talks over coffee or on the kitchen floor ( . . . #equallystrangecousins ;P) and walking up to the lookout a few times. 

Cynthia, Faith, and I went over to Yamba one night to see PAN and then grabbed Macca's on the way home. Love how we dressed up and didn't take any photos . . . lol. 

Aunty Vicki took some of us down to browse some of the shops one day and book my bus ticket to Port Macquarie.

Luke organised lots of movies for me to watch, and then one night when my stamina for that gave way (I discovered it isn't what it used to be :P) I decided to go back to what I knew and brought out the washing to fold ;P Turns out the lighting wouldn't allow my phone to get a good shot, so you'll just have to trust me when I say that Luke helped ;) lol

And I think that will about wrap up my recap. Chances are I'll remember a couple more things a month or so from now. ;P Thanks for having me guys -- miss you all!

Aussie Trip {Part 7} Beach!

One of the days I was in Maclean, Cynthia had a friend come around, and Faith and I joined them on a trip to the beach in Yamba. The morning was warm and sunny while we packed our stuff before heading over. It turned out quite a few people had the same idea that day, so finding a car park took a while. By the time we actually did get out and on the beach we didn't have an incredibly long time there before the wind picked up and the clouds came over! On the way back we stopped by an antique shop and admired all the furniture of real wood, but decided against purchasing anything ;P We had fun talking and laughing and what have you though, so I say it was a successful trip ;)

: : We didn't make this but I thought it was cool so snapped a shot anyways ;P : :