Nana and Noosa

Totally candid picture of Carolyn bird-watching at the Noosa Inlet

My mom, Carolyn, (Roxy's Nana) has been here just over a week now and we've been very busy. She's added 20 new birds to her life list and she's seen a lot of them in and around our neighborhood! The remaining were spotted at the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, the City Botanical Gardens in downtown Brissie and on the Sunshine Coast on our first Australian road trip!

Grey butcherbird (top) and Pied Butcherbird (bottom) at Mt. Coot-tha

White-eyed duck at Mt. Coot-tha

Kookaburra spotted at the Noosa Laguna Look-out

The Big Pelican of Noosaville (does not count for bird life list)

Our trip to the Sunshine Coast was great. We hired a car and took to driving on the wrong side of the road with no problem. The weather didn't cooperate fully all weekend, but we managed to jump into the warmish South Pacific and Nate body-surfed like the good ol' sea dog he is.

Look out for the surfer!

Due to a glitch by Travelocity, we got an unbelievable deal on our hotel room at a resort. It had three pools, two spas, a sauna and our room came with a kitchenette and, drumroll, air conditioning!!! Before we left, I picked up a set of long-sleeved, footy pyjamas for the bub because she's only ever slept in just her nappy and she likes to kick(!) off the blankies. We wanted her to keep warm in the cool A/C.

Bubba modeling her new jammies in the cool air

The rest of Nana's visit is to come... to be continued. The sweet sleeping bub pictured above is practicing out her crying-so-hard-I'm-turning-purple skills....

Marsupials and the heat (two posts in one day!)

It's been warm in Brisbane this summer, but it's been downright unbearable for folks down in the southern part of the continent. In many places, there have been many days in a row of temps above 40-45 C (104-114 F). I saw these pictures on a website I often read. The story is these people live in southern New South Wales this baby koala came ambling up to a back porch looking for some relief (even if it's not true, these pictures are still pretty adorable):


(I just have to throw this next one in because our baby likes to bathe in a tub, too)

The next pictures were sent to me from our doula, Janelle. I saw her last week for the first time since Roxy's birth and I told her that the hardest thing about living here has been adjusting to the heat. Apparently, I'm not the only one...

Mussels from Brussels

Mussels and beer - Nate's perfect meal

With Eddie and Lisa in town, we finally had a reason to go back to the Belgian Beer Cafe in downtown Brisbane. We had a jaunt through South Bank and watched the dragon races before getting on the ferry to cross the river to the restaurant.

Eddie using their fancy new camera to capture the dragon boat race on the Brisbane River

Taking Roxy on her first boat ride (she slept through it!)

Roxy's milk-drunk face.

Nate's mussels-drunk face (father-daughter resemblance, no?)

(latter two pictures taken from Eddie and Lisa's camera)

The next day we took a short trip to the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens just outside of town. After a windy bus ride there, we had a great lunch (and not so great milkshake) at the cafe and wandered around for a bit.

Har har - prickly Americans

Lovebirds on their way to live with real Birds of Paradise in Papua New Guinea

Nate showing the Little Macho Chili plant who's boss

Breastfeeding at Mt. Coot-tha? Check!

Watching the cockatoos causing a ruckus around the Japanese Garden

Yesterday (Thursday), we saw Eddie and Lisa off as they begin their new life in Papua New Guinea. They will be fighting the good fight for a couple of years (at least) at a malaria research laboratory in Madang (on the northern coast of the island). It's pretty exciting to have them in the same time zone again, even if they're two plane trips away! We're hoping to visit them at some point in the future - waiting to hear if the snorkeling is worth the price of admission (i.e. getting malaria).

Eddie and Lisa with everything they packed for the next two years

Next up for a visit from my mom! She gets here on Sunday to meet her youngest grandchild in person and to celebrate said grandchild's 2-month birthday! Needless to say, Roxy's pretty excited to meet her Nana.

We've got a short break after my mom leaves before we get to see our graduate advisors Peter and Penny. They're in Canberra on sabbatical and will be here for a short visit with colleagues and to take in a rugby game.

Not too long after that, newlyweds Andy and Darshana come a'calling! They're coping with the recession by taking a month-long vacation to Australia and Thailand. I like the way they think. They get here mid-March, just as we're getting into autumn.

We're loving all of these visitors, so plan your trip! The Australian dollar has tanked against the American dollar - bad for us, good for you! Now that we're on the other side of summer and jellyfish season is ending, it's the ideal time to visit Queensland!