Sydney and Easter

So a few weekends ago we went to Sydney to visit Royal Easter Show which is kind of like the state fair in a highly populated state like Ohio or California. Here are some of the pictures from the show.  It was great to finally see some cattle!

Cute little Angora goat

Well groomed Angus cattle and their 'home' for the week

The Charolais show

We also got to go to the Blue Mountains and see the 3 Sisters (unfortunately, the 3 Frobose sisters weren't there)

Got to see the Big Merino in Goulburn

and his big backside, too.

Sydney was a blast - we're going back in June and I'm definitely going to make sure my cameras are charged so I can get pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Easter was fun - we went to church (will eventually write a post about our church), I made engagement chicken for dinner and then Dean, Maree and their daughters Olivia and Bridget took us to our first Australian footy game!

Engagement chicken - that's a lemon sticking out, btw.

In front of Etihad stadium before the game

 Hyatt and Dean talking footy

Hyatt and I with the North Melbourne mascot, the Kangaroo

The footy field in Etihad Stadium

We had a pretty eventful holiday weekend.

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz ~

Starting to Enjoy the City

Don't freak out - even though I'm starting to like city life we are still definitely coming back. Can't take the country out of the girl (or something like that).

Why am I liking it so much? Let me count the ways...

-- I can walk to the grocery store in 10 minutes
-- There are tons of GREAT boutiques and shops within a few short blocks.
-- I have never seen so many restaurants in such a few short blocks (bars, yes. restaurants, no). Greek, Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese - it's all just a 10 minutes from our comfy apartment. There is actually a shortage of fast food here - only McDonald's (Macca's), KFC and Hungry Jack (Burger King).

I guess the best thing about city life is that it's just so much quicker to walk somewhere than drive.

We're so excited that quite a few of our friends are coming to visit soon! Mandy, Kristen and Andy are coming in June and Lenny, Candace and Jenny are coming in July! On top of that Doug Albright is probably coming in the fall, just not sure of the date yet. And last, but not least, Hyatt's parents are coming in late October - the rest of the year is going to fly by!

Cheers
FroBuzz

Queen Victoria Market

I may have mentioned that fresh produce is a really big deal here so we buy fresh fruits and veggies about 2x a week. Our most recent shopping trip was to the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) which is gigantic and not only has produce but meats, veggies and lots of bakeries for fresh breads.

Most of the produce is cheaper and fresher than what we could buy at a grocery store so this will probably become a weekly event. Check out these pics of our first Queen Vic Market experience.

Hyatt examining some kiwi - we bought 10 for $2!

The nut stand

My favorite - fresh strawberries!

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz ~

Hyatt is actually in Australia too.....

Dedicated readers,

This is Hyatt, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Brandi's elusive husband who hasn't contributed to this blog at all up until this point. However, I can now put those claims to rest.

As the main driver and navigator of "Lois the Lantra" (See previous post), I thought it may be valuable to describe driving in Australia. Two words = It Sucks. Sure, getting used to driving on the left hand side of the road is easy enough, until you lose focus for some reason and your driving instinct kicks in, say in a Woolworths parking lot where you confuse and anger any driver around you. I may or may not have done that at one point, Brandi was really impressed.

Another example would be when I decided to pass a car going an anemic 100km/hr, 10km below the speed limit, however once I passed him in the other lane, I forgot to get into the original lane until I almost collided with the cars going the opposite direction. Although I will say that although I have been the one doing most of the driving, my lovely wife did drive for a few hours down the Hume highway back to Melbourne on Monday. She did really well, except for the times she ran over the rumble strips to wake me up, because apparently I've done that once or twice since we've been dating.

However, driving in general is not all that bad, especially in the country. Getting to see the countryside by our own car somehow reminds me of home. I get to feel like a good old American again, although when I go to the fuel stop I have to remember to buy petrol or ULP instead of 'gas', which here means pressurized natural gas that only certain cars can drive. I imagine most of you reading this in the US are also pissed off that gas prices are flirting with $4.00 in the States... well here it costs about $1.50 a liter, which comes out to about $6.00 a gallon!

All in all, I am very glad we have a car and we're definitely getting the hang of driving it, plus it gives us the freedom we haven't had to go to the store and not have to carry groceries home for 30 minutes. We could actually buy a watermelon if it would fit in our fridge, whereas before it was just too much weight to have to carry home.

Well, that's all I have to contribute for now, hope everyone back home is doing well......

Until next time, if there is one,

Hyatt

A GREAT Day!

Today I received several reminders of just how truly blessed I am to have such amazing family and friends.

When I checked our mail today I found not one, but two, packages waiting for me (none for Hyatt, just me). Inside was a wealth of goodies, momentos and cards from so many people!

Double the fun!

MJ sent me a new book to further strengthen Hyatt and I's marriage (she's the best), cheetos, gummi worms and Crystal Light!  I am so spoiled!

Movies, Peeps, Crystal Light and a photo album from my Aunt Jody in Logan, KS. 

Also in the same box was a Target giftcard, McD's gift card and picture frames!

The Easter Bunny doesn't know jack about treats - look at all the great stuff my family and friends sent me!

I'm going to have to ration all these wonderful goodies.

Probably the best thing I've received in the mail yet - yay! I love getting mail!

I also got a ton of birthday and Easter cards - you guys rock!

Hyatt and I are so truly blessed. Thanks so much to everyone who has sent us cards and goodies. You have absolutely no idea how much it means to us that you are keeping us in your thoughts.

The Rental Saga Continues...

When we last spoke of renting and landlords, we were in the process of taking our 'landlord' of the ML to court.

The latest update is that since we moved is that we were waiting on the form from the court system to inform us of the date.
We waited. and waited and waited - finally, we got sick of waiting and Hyatt called the office yesterday while we were driving back from Sydney. Our meeting was Monday. The notice was mailed on March 30 - we left for Sydney on the 12th. We got back this evening (19th) and it's still not here. Never got the notice! Crap. Can we just catch one break while we are here? just one?
We are applying for a review of the case so we can have 'our day in court.' I'll let you all know how that goes.

The worst part is probably that Hyatt emailed our 'landlord' on April 13th to let her know that we hadn't yet found out when we'd be going to court but we'd let her know when we did.  She knew and didn't tell us. Awesome.
Cheers
FroBuzz

Pleased to Introduce.... Lois

This is Lois. Lois the Lantra

Lois is our sweeeeet ride - she gets 8 km/liter (if you figure out the m2g pat yourself on the back). She hauled us all the way to Sydney and back this past weekend (SEVERAL POSTS ABOUT THE PAST 5 DAYS ARE COMING UP- get pumped).

This is a disgruntled Australian driver

Much more content to come - like I said. get pumped.

Cheers,
FroBuzz

UPDATE: Lois gets 13 km/liter. I'll let you do the math on the mpg yourself.