Kitty Love

There is a couple here that we really like and have become bffs with.  They are a travel nursing couple (just like us!) and they live within five minutes of our apartment, which is awesome.  We know them through work at the Sutherland Shire Ghetto Public Hospital (real name: The Sutherland Hospital).  This couple just got a cute little kitty. They named her Simba. Actually it's a boy, but I have a tendency to always refer to cats as female.  Maybe because female and feline both start with 'f.'

She's bony and skinny and doesn't look a thing like Gretchen.  

But at the same time she reminds me so much of Gretchen.  Gosh, I can't wait to hold Gretchen Doodle again and try to put a leash on her and take her for a walk.  

Here's skinny Simba not looking nearly as excited as I do.  Maybe I'll win her over. I have until early August.

If I play my cards right, I'll have plenty of quality kitty time here in Australia with Simba.  

You know how dog people always make a point to let you know they love dogs and absolutely hate cats?  Well, I guess you could say we're cat people who love cats and can't stand most dogs.  We only like dogs in the best of circumstances.  Like when they're well trained and don't yip your ear off.  And when they don't smell like, well, wet dog.

Lazy Weekend

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time."

-Frank the Tank

We didn't bring any of our movies or tv series with us.  We're aching to watch some of The Office or Arrested Development.  Recently, we purchased Old School.  It never gets old.  And neither does the above quote.  And 75 percent of the other dialogue in the movie.  

This past weekend we did...very little.  Mostly relaxed and wasted time.  We made a pros and cons list to help me decide where to go to graduate school.  That took much longer than anticipated. We called family.  And of course, we took advantage of a bright and sunny Saturday and went to the beach.

We got ready for a pizza date dinner at our favorite establishment, Midnight Pizza.  Just look at the excitement on Clark's face.  Sheer bliss and excitement.

It may not look amazing in this picture, but trust me, the point and shoot does not do this pie justice!  Oh, and this is a large, by the way. 

On our way back to the apartment, I decided to document the problem that is tagging.  We see it all over the city on buildings and especially in the train cars.  I don't think I've ridden in a train car that hasn't been fiercely and thoroughly tagged.  Sad.

We took some pictures whilst waiting for the train to take us home.

Clark and his nasty Gene Simmons tongue.  Ewww.

And Sunday we attended the Australian equivalent of General Conference.  We watched last week's Sunday sessions at the Stake Center.  That's the problem with living in the future.  Sometimes you're left out and left behind.

Back to the daily grind now, but we're looking forward to this upcoming weekend.  We be flying to Tasmania!

Have a good week, y'all.

Camping on the South Coast

This past weekend we were invited to go on a young, married couples (i.e. no kids) camping trip loosely organized by some couples in our church stake.  We drove down to Jervis Bay with our friends Jade and Levi, and arrived at the Green Patch camping area a little after sundown.  

The first sign of wildlife we saw as we drove into camp was this giant boa constrictor!  

With no lanterns and only a few torches (flashlights) we were able to set up the tent and cook our sausage sizzle dinner.  So greasy and satisfying!

The next morning Levi and Clark set sail on the deep blue.  

The small marina left little room for error...if you enlarge this photo you'll see that all the people from the other boat are staring and Clark and Levi, hoping to avoid a collision.  It was really windy.

The wind was so strong that the sail couldn't be put up all the way at first... Clark wants me to make it clear that they were "lost at sea" because they couldn't get the sail up, thus they didn't have complete control of the boat.  And apparently they "discovered" a deserted beach, but neither Clark nor Levi claimed it for their respective countries.  What a shame.

While Clark and Levi were navigating the waters, the rest of us were lounging on this gorgeous beach.  This water was incredibly cold, but we got in!

The girls: Jade, Bec, Marieke, and Emma.

After a couple hours of wondering where Clark and Levi were, we spotted them from afar, sail finally up and working!

And here they come!

Heading for shore!

Later in the afternoon I went on a walk around the camping grounds and spotted wildlife in full force.  Here's a mommy and baby wallaby.  The little Joey even has it's head sticking out for the camera!

And here's a kangaroo teasing me with it's tongue out.

 Rosellas are beautiful little birds we see around Caringbah all the time.  They seem pretty friendly and harmless, but I have yet to hold bird feed in my hand and test their friendliness.

So bright and so vivid...

Later in the evening we stopped by a historic lighthouse on the way to dinner.  The sign said to watch out for cliffs...

I guess the sign wasn't joking!

Awwwwww

Nothing like an intimate photo on a cliff overlook!

So not much remains of the historic lighthouse.  I believe it's been out of comission since the 1930's.  Here are the vestiges of a lighthouse that really didn't serve it's purpose very well (many, many ships sank off these shores).

The next morning Clark and I tried to capture a jumping photo with the self timer.  It didn't work out so great.   Next time we'll just drag someone to the beach to take the photo for us.

Ahhh, loving the white sand.

Group photo of the whole five couples on the camping trip.  We had so much fun getting to know new people and seeing the Southern Coast of New South Wales.  

Camping was a blast.  Thanks Jade and Levi for providing us with...well...everything we needed for a successful camping trip!  

Questionable Sunrise

The other week Clark and I had the fantastic idea of waking up super early on a Saturday morning to watch the sunrise over Cronulla beach.  It's seemed like a good idea in theory, even if we were forgoing one of two days of sleeping in over the weekend.  We prepped Friday night by buying breakfast so we could enjoy our morning meal in awe of a magnificent sunrise.

Super stoked to be up at the crack of dawn on our day off!

Ugghhh, too early.

At least we came prepared.  Strawberry milk and donuts?  Breakfast of champions for sure!

While sitting and waiting for the sun to rise, we stayed entertained by surfers AND a feral cat.  Too cute to be a feral cat? Nope, it's a bonafide living-under-the-rocks-by-the-beach feral cat.

Semi friendly, semi skittish.  I miss Gretchen.

Mmmmm...Clark enjoying his tasty breakfast.

Mmmmmm, there I go enjoying it, too.

Looks like the sun is about to make an appearance!

And moments later...uhhh, I think the sun is up and has been up for a while.  Damn you overcast skies! Our clever idea to watch the sunrise was thwarted by nasty clouds.  Maybe next time?

At least we got to watch surfers catch some waves and enjoy a delicious and most unhealthy breakfast together.  The feral cat was an added bonus.

The old men club was out in action early in the a.m.

Super sexy bods.  We're so lucky to have witnessed such a sight.