Aussie Trip {Part 13} Pet Porpoise Pool

While my main focus in visiting Australia was to catch up with friends and family, I did want to do a couple of touristy things and bring back some cool photos for my blog ;) On one of the days I had with Bethany we went down to the Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs Harbour. At this point in my trip the weather packed up so the day was a bit chilly and we had some rain (#totallynottheidealweatherforourexcursion) but we decided to go for it anyway since we didn't have long together, and we had a good day regardless. :)

: : Gotta love shutter lag ;P : :

: : Oh yay, caught some of the action this time!! : :

: : We got to stroke the dolphins as they swam past; they're so smooth! : :

: : Oh, hello! : :

: : Lol those teeth are so small . . . ! : :

: : So hard to get good shots with the sun reflecting off the water :/ : :

: : They look so cute here, but wow the smell :P : :

: : Someone's hungry! : :

: : Eww fish :P : :

: : I love how this one at the back is just doing his own thing lol : :

: : I don't normally take photos of rubbish bins . . . but . . .  : :

More to follow :)

Aussie Trip {Part 12} Port Macquarie Wrap-Up

On my last day in Port Macquarie, Aunty Dee had to go back to work and most of the others had to study for school or uni, so I had a pretty quiet day getting my stuff organised to leave and such. After work Aunty Dee and Kimmi took me partway to Grafton, and we met up with my friend Bethany so I could spend a couple of days with her. I think I'm mostly going to let the photos speak, along with a caption here and there this time. Thanks so much for everything guys; I had a really nice stay with you all! :)

: : Travelling the world, trying out different irons ;P : :

: : Oops idk what happened with me there . . . ! : :
So excited that the light keeps hitting Liam's eyes just right! #photographerdreamcometrue

: : Do we have these signs in NZ?! : :
I thought it was strange we were about to drive straight onto an island . . . #oops

: : Major intersection with trees instead of high-rise buildings?! All the way!! : :

: : Trying to get the creative juices flowing : :

: : Liam was so excited to meet one of his NZ cousins! : :

: : +Susannah Smith when I finally had wifi and we could message!! : :

: : Morning drinks on my last morning : :

: : So many great memories around this table in just a few short days : :

Aussie Trip {Part 11} More Beach Shots

We made the most of the amazing weather (aka heat wave) while I was in Port Macquarie, with trips the the beach two days in a row. We took books and snacks along and just relaxed and chatted and took it easy for a bit. :) The one problem was I hadn't gotten into the habit of applying sun screen (in NZ I had still been wearing long boots and my puffer jacket :P) so burning two days in a row wasn't ideal. #notefornexttime

Since I haven't quite replaced my dinosaur-age laptop that's required for all my photo editing, I'm splitting my beach pics between two posts. ;)

: : Miss ya Liam : :

: : Helping Dad watch the beach : :

: : We actually managed a group shot!! : :

: : Oops wrong jandals, should have taken my red ones ;P : :

Aussie Trip {Part 10} Thirty or Thirty-Eight Degrees?!

I spent an extended weekend in Port Macquarie with Uncle Simon and Aunty Dee, and Nathan, Kimberley, and Liam, and wow it flew by so fast! We kept things pretty relaxing which was nice. Uncle Simon and Aunty Dee had visited NZ briefly in April for Uncle Pete and Aunty Louise's wedding, but we didn't have much of a chance to talk; and it had been 10 1/2 years since I last saw Nath and Kim. I think I said already that this was the first time Liam and I had met. So it was nice to keep things pretty low-key and have plenty of time to talk and catch up. 

A heat wave hit Port Macquarie the weekend I was down (#perfecttiming) so I think we had upwards of 30 degrees nearly every day, although the mornings and evenings were still a bit chilly. It was so nice to be able to have most of our meals outside, or just sit out there talking, reading, or emailing home lol.

: : Liam and koala : :
Port Macquarie has a whole trail of these koalas apparently,
although we only saw a couple when we went out for ice cream and a walk one night
guess I'll put that on the list for next time I'm over. ;)

: : Old well I think?! : : 

We went to the beach a couple of times and it gets warm just sitting there! Snapchat said it was 38 degrees or something one day I think, although I'm not sure that's 100% accurate. I inadvertently got a head start on my tan for the summer . . . hooray for natural-coloured stockings for church lol. ;P

: : Playing with his new Lego : :

: : Kimberley (right) and a friend : :

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!