Christmas 2008 Photos

Happy Holidays everyone!


Christmas 2008 Photos

Obamarama!

Check out this awesome Obama photo essay by Callie Shell.

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0810/callie-bp.html

Tunnel Bike Ride

We went on a bike ride recently and I thought it would be fun to try to capture the experience of going through the tunnel...

2008 Royal Adelaide Show Photos

2008 Royal Adelaide Show

Viddyou

Just joined Viddyou, a site for sharing videos:

http://www.viddyou.com/natmeister

Rundle Lantern webcam

There's a new webcam in Adelaide. Check it out:

Rundle Lantern webcam

USA Trip Photos - June 2008

2008.06 Oregon



2008.06 Jason & Kathy's Wedding



2008.06 California



2008.06 Food

photos coming soon

We're more than halfway through the photos from the trip. Links coming soon...stay tuned!

Good to be Home

We got home on Friday and what a relief to return to the slow pace of Adelaide. We didn't really finish moving in before we left so we're picking up where we left off. We had a great trip (except that we both got sick) and the wedding went very well. We have over 1,000 photos from the trip. I've started uploading some to Flickr and will send around links in email once they're all organised. Poor Phil got in a fight just after we left and before our house sitters arrived. He's still walking with a little limp on his left front leg. We've blocked off his cat door for now until he's all healed up. The house sitters did a wonderful job of looking after the house and the cat, taking him to the vet and everything. Thanks David & Clare! It was great to see everyone at the wedding. Now it's your turn to make the trip to visit us! We are both back at work tomorrow morning...

We're Off!

We fly from Adelaide to Auckland to San Francisco tomorrow morning. Here's our itinerary:
6 June – arrive in San Francisco
7 June – drive north
8-12 June – stay beach house at Seal Rock, Oregon
13 & 14 June – stay Portland
15 June – stay cabin near Mt Hood
16-19 June – drive to wedding
20 & 21 June – attend Jason & Kathy’s wedding
22-24 June – visit southern California
25 June – depart from San Francisco
27 June – arrive home in Adelaide

Time Shortage

We are loving our house. Everything is still in boxes but we're getting unpacked as we can. We're leaving for our trip to the USA in 10 days and thus wishing we had more hours in the day to get more done before we go. Phil is settling in slowly. He's not hiding under the bed as often and has now been outside twice. We've decided it will be best for our house sitters if he can go outside and avoid driving them crazy at night. We're getting a cat door installed on Thursday.

We're Moving

We're moving into our house next weekend! We'll be getting Naked DSL, but might not have internet access at home for a little while. Our email addresses will stay the same. We'll have 4 weeks to settle in before we leave Phil on his own for 3 weeks to attend Jason & Kathy's wedding in California. So poor Phil is going to have to stay inside for 7 weeks. He's going to hate us.

Farewell, Pintara

We finally sold Darren's 1991 Nissan Pintara station wagon! We didn't get as much as we'd hoped for it, but we've been trying to sell it for a couple of months now. We decided to sell the Pintara instead of the Corona because I'm still not confident driving manual and the van doesn't fit in most parking garages (including the one I use when I drive to work). Both of our remaining vehicles are automatics. The Pintara will be missed, but she's found a new home nearby with a guy who appreciates the storage space. Farewell, Pintara!

OMG we're buying a house!

Woah, we are buying ourselves a house! It all happened really fast and our heads are still spinning but the settlement date is 8 May 2008, which gives us a month to settle in before our trip up over. The house is further from the city (11 kms) than where we've been renting (7 kms), but was built in 1972... 20 years later than the one we're renting now. We think/hope it will be an up and coming area in the future and it was far better for us than anything else we've seen in our price range anywhere else. It's located in a no through road (cul de sac), is on a large block (750+ sqm) has ducted air conditioning, ceiling fans, a huge shed with a pit, a double carport with auto roller door and a very private backyard with lots of undercover outdoor space. Definitely a good start for us and far better than renting. If you'd like to see photos, let me know and I'll send you some.

Bulldozed

We got a visit from our landlord over the weekend to say that he wants to bulldoze our house as soon as possible so he can start building his wife her dream home. He said he was giving us the minimum requirement of 3 months notice. Unfortunately that time frame would end in June when we're overseas for my brother Jason's wedding, so the landlord kindly agreed to give us until the end of July to vacate the premises.

He also expressed his interest in beginning the work of clearing the block of its trees and fencing, knocking down the shed, and digging some large holes for underground rainwater tanks. He offered us a rent reduction if we'd allow him to begin this work in the next few weeks, which we accepted under the condition that the work be carried out only during daylight hours on weekdays.

So we need to secure somewhere else to live between now and June and need to move house by the end of July at the latest. It's a tight timeline so hopefully the right house will come on the market really soon and we'll buy it because we don't want to move to another rental. We're definitely on the hunt...

2008.03 Melbourne Photos

We took a trip to Melbourne in the van in early March 2008. Here are the photos!


2008.03 Melbourne

US election: how it works

Thought this was an interesting series of videos about the Presidential election and some of the candidates (click the triangle under the black box that points to the right to play):

http://www.news.com.au/feature/0,,5012572,00.html

2008.02 Fleurieu Peninsula

We had a nice weekend Feb 17-18 at the Fleurieu Peninsula. Here are some photos from the trip:


2008.02 Fleurieu Peninsula

Holiday Trip Photos - Dec 2007

Pictures from our trip to Melbourne over Christmas:


2007.12 Holiday Trip