Daughters

I just had a wonderful 3 weeks of visits with my daughters.

The end of June was Stefanie's school break.  She came to Victoria for a visit and brought her boyfriend Cody who is from Oregon.  Although he has traveled the world he had never been to Canada!

Cody and Stef on top of Mt. Douglas

A couple of weeks later, Andrea flew to Victoria for a visit and to travel with us to Portland.  She and I spent a day in Port Angeles, Washington, a ferry ride on the other side of the Straight of Juan de Fuca.

At Hurricane Ridge

Salt Creek Beach

"Purple Haze" at the Sequim Lavender Festival 

While in Portland we attended Stefanie's 'Pinning Ceremony' where she received her lab coat and the school pin which signifies that she can now practice chiropractic under supervision.  We were all thrilled for her but more for us...she adjusted each of us for the first time.  It felt great!

Getting help from her Professor with her lab coat. 

Stefanie with Andrea, Keith and I  - her supporters! 

Delicious Mexican food at Por Que No? 

But it wouldn't be Portland without eating at food trucks, the infamous Voodoo Donuts; visiting all the funky places and of course brunch!

Brunch at Helser's

 It was a great trip and we all had so much fun!

Jason flew in to Victoria for a few days at the end of Andrea's visit. Here they are a Butchart's Gardens - beautiful.

Back to the Outback

In the meantime between my blogs other parts of life have been taking over.

Good parts like my daughter Stefanie and her boyfriend visiting us for a fun week of being tourists in our town and enjoying the south island scenery.

And the not so great parts.  Our renovation is running a month overdue so we had to move to a hotel for a week.   Now we're back in the house dodging tradesmen and inhaling paint dust!

So let's escape back to the Outback.

Instead of campgrounds Australia has Caravan Parks where you can camp or rent a cottage like we did.

Our home away from home.

There is a common area with access to BBQs and picnic tables to enjoy "shrimp on the barbie". 

 And you may meet wildlife -  lots of Kangaroos and Emus.

It's a great retreat with a glass of delicious Australian wine after a long day in the searing heat.

They've arrived!

As you know I am part of a group that sponsored a refugee family from Syria.

I am so happy to tell you that the family arrived in Victoria last night.

I can't send the photos of their arrival to protect their privacy but I can tell you that they are a happy, grateful, friendly group of people.  Despite travelling a long way, from Turkey to Toronto to Victoria, they were energetic with high spirits.

The family includes three young children, their parents, aunt and grandmother.

We rented, furnished and decorated a townhouse for them.  They won't want for anything for a while!
The family will live in the townhouse.  The grandmother and her youngest daughter will live with her young Canadian husband in his apartment in Victoria.

You can imagine how happy he is to have his new wife here at last.

Members of his family will help the family get settled.

It's been a seven month journey with a happy outcome.

The Red Continent

As we traveled north the Gum trees got smaller, 

Rivers were dry as a bone.  Yet despite the drought flowers survived and bloomed.

Towns were few and far between.  

We would stop at the occasional Road House for refreshments and a break in the searing heat.  






Gas was the most expensive we have ever encountered.

One of the few sights was these giant, hard Termite nests.  They would appear every now and again, hundreds of them like haystacks in a farmer's field.

We saw herds of feral goats and sheep and the occasional cow.  We saw many kangaroos...all dead on the side of the road.

The red dust of Australia got everywhere.

Surfing AUS

I love surfing.  Well I love to watch people surfing.  I did try it when I lived in Australia but never got very good at it and certainly never did "hang 10" or perform an aerial.

We visited lots of good surfing beaches and I saw women about my age taking lessons.  It is the thing to do on a weekend morning in Australia.

Instead of taking swimming lessons at an indoor pool kids join surf clubs and learn how to rescue people. The red and yellow flags indicate that the surf club is on the beach.  Most beaches have a surf clubhouse and some even serve refreshments.

The waves may not appear large but it isn't easy to stay upright.  Unlike skiing you wax the top of the board to get a grip!

In my next life I want to be a surfer chick!

WA

Australians are notorious for shortening the names of their favourite places. WA is what the locals call Western Australia and Freo is short for Freemantle, our first stop for a couple of days on the wild and wonderful west coast.

A local butcher shop that had everything you could imagine, floor to ceiling. 

From Freo we drove south, enroute we stopped to dip our toes in the warm, vast Indian Ocean.

Parakeets and other colourful songbirds are commonplace. 

 We spent a day in the wine district around Margaret River where there are hectares of vineyards...

and hundreds of wineries.  A Grasstree - unique to WA - in front of one of the wineries.  Later on our trip we saw fields of these unusual palm trees.

Many wineries sell jams, jellies, nougat, chocolate, tapinade and other yummy items that you can taste before you buy.

But we went for the wine.   "Hmmm which one should I try next?|"

Movical Interlude

You might be wondering why I haven't continued to blog about our amazing trip 'Down Under'.

In the past year we planned a major renovation to our house.  We knew we had to vacate the premises on May 5 and had made alternate living arrangements.

We were having such a good vacation that we didn't think much about it and certainly never anticipated how much work it would be to pack everything up!

Nor did we anticipate the jet lag or the flu I caught on the return flight or that Keith had a 4 day business trip just after we landed.

Lots of stories, lots of work, but the move finally came together.

 Most of our furniture is in this 'sea can' in our driveway.

 The walls, 1960's valences, trim and door and window casings are gone!

Now back to Australia!