Rain, Leeches and Fires-Oh My!

About a month ago, the travel bug got to some friends of ours and us. We decided we would go somewhere and see a part of Australia that Matt and I hadn't been to and Lauren and Tim wanted to venture to again. We first started looking at cheap airline tickets with Qantas, Jetstar, Virginblue, and a few others as they are constantly running domestic sales around AU. After deciding we'd go to Sydney for a weekend, it was time to book the tickets.....except someone decided to take his sweet time on making the final decision on going or not and the tickets we no longer 'on sale' like we wanted them to be.

Hmmm...what to do we asked ourselves because Lauren and I had it in our minds, and on the calendars mind you, that we were going away that weekend. We decided we'd venture down the Great Ocean Road and go camping for a weekend.

Now keep in mind the saying I've picked up here is 'if you don't like the current weather, just wait 10 minutes and it'll change', as the weather in Melbourne is constantly changing and is never normal (I'm starting to wonder if this state even knows what normal weather is for the current season). The forecast said rain for the weekend, but we decide that we'd risk it and go ahead and try it out.

I HAVE NEVER been camping outside of using cabins and was in for a treat as Lauren, Tim and Matt said I was only going to be able to bring one bag, no make-up and that was it. Now I'm no princess, but I absolutely refuse to pee by a tree, so if I couldn't bring what I wanted, then we were at least going to camp at a place that had some sort of hut with a toilet!

Everyone started IM-ing me at work Friday, that the weather wasn't going to be very promising, and they'd booked a room at the Apollo Bay Hotel, which means a 'beautiful' room above a bar. After 3 hours of driving,in the rain, on a road that some drunken idiot decided would be fun to follow the curving and hilly coast line (had to make Matt stop once as I was about to spew all over him), we arrived at our shelter for the evening, really beginning the adventure....our room was no larger than my parent's laundry room and all 4 of us were going to sleep there.

We decided to go down to the bar and mingle with the locals, which ended up being a bunch of 'pleasant' people who need reminding to pull their pants up a bit. Every time people bent over the pool table, which was right in front of us, all we saw was a whole heap of butt cracks! Lauren and I decided our 'mingling' experience was over and time for bed...oops said the bartender, let's just crank up the music a bit for a lullaby, NOT! We all four ended up falling asleep to what Matt refers to as 'duff duff' music!

Saturday came and we decided to head out to the camp grounds, which were only about 30k away and check it out. After much debate, we decided the grounds were ok, it was only a slight mist of rain, the weather guy said it was supposed to clear up, so why not set up the tent. In the process of setting up the tent, both Matt and Tim got leeches and one of them may or may not have panicked like a little school girl! After setting up the tent, was time to go back and get food and fire wood.

Matt and Tim with their master piece!

Lauren and I went for a minor rock climbing adventure when we got back to camp with enough food to feed a small army, in search for the light house that was a little further down the coast. Note to self, the light house is not as close as we thought (but we did manage to get some sweet pictures) and about an hour into the wander decided it was time to turn back.

Rainbow we saw on the 'light house' search.

It took the boys a solid hour to get the fire hot enough to cook, and one small kitchen knife, a Swiss Army knife, and two finger cuts later, the veggies were diced and foiled and ready for be cooked. We learned that we probably should have started earlier like the other people who started around 4 because we ended up eating dinner in the dark in the tent.

As we were falling asleep, finally, it began to pour down rain. I was extremely thankful we had some sort of shelter, but my dearest tent maker, if you put two 'bug screens' in the same spot, the rain will get through and our feet started to get a bit damp, but all in all-the night was successful and the tent didn't fall over!

We finally managed to pack everything up in the mist that wouldn't stop and went to go a bit further down the Great Ocean Road and see the Twelve Apostles. Despite the wind that could pick up a small child and the sharp freezing rain, the viewing was great!

We had a great camping weekend, I didn't have to pee by any trees, and there is discussion of camping again before the weather turns to fall. Who knows, maybe Matt and I'll even buy our own tent and make it as a weekend getaway because it is soooo cheap and fun (minus the rain)!

The call that changed it all...

It all started in October of 2009 when I was driving home from work in Tulsa with Matt working in Kansas City for a commodities trading company. He called to say he'd been offered the opportunity to transfer with the company to Melbourne, Australia. At first I thought he was joking, but 6 months, multiple negotiations, one engagement, and heaps of boxes-we boarded a plane bound as far south as they go- to the land down under.

We decided to get married back in Oklahoma in August, seeing as both our families lived there. I went home to Tulsa in late June to finish planning the wedding. Matt followed in August, about a week before the wedding, and we spent 5 days in Fiji on the way back to Melbourne.



Picture from the wedding.



Tokoriki Resort in Fiji on our honeymoon.

Matt has continued his working with the company trading wheat in Australia while I have taken on many different hats while trying to sort out my visa situation. Moving here I was on a 'Work and Holiday' visa and am now, after 8-9 long weeks and multiple phone calls to immigration am on as a spouse for his 'Employer Sponsored' visa.

We decided to start a blog about our adventures here in Australia (even though we’ve been here for almost a year), settling into the new lifestyle, language barriers (and let me tell you there are new words I learn every day!), and the ups/downs of married life. We hope you enjoy reading about them just as much as we love experiencing them!