Hunter, Wine and Bob

Our first trip of '09. Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Wine region. B&B. The photos tell some of the tale. 

The unknown world of cricket

So much to catch up on...that's what I get for not keeping up with this, hey? (btw - "hey?" added onto the end of a sentence is a huge Australian thing...we've somewhat adopted it :) 

I'll start at the cricket. Now this is a game that neither of us could follow for awhile. So many rules, foreign rules. Different types of games played. Strategies. I guess I always just thought of it as a croquetish type game played by white vest-clad, white zinc-lipped gentlemen with large brimmed hats. Ahh, it is so much more than that, my friend. One of our good Australia friends, Brooke, had the patience to help these feeble minded Yanks understand the game and how important it is to this nation of Australia and many other countries. Let me start by saying it is a big deal. Like baseball to the U.S. We've had the chance to go to a couple of 20/20 games, these are the shortest version of the professional game...about 3 hours. They tend to be a little more exciting as well, more fast-paced than the traditional test match cricket which sometimes takes 5 days!!!! Yes, days.... about 7 hours per day!!!! ugh. That of course includes a break for tea. :) I feel like our sports are so barbarian - if only we would allot a tea time during a football game, automatically more refined. Anyway, we've come to appreciate the game to the point of playing it ourselves. We already taken part in cricket in the park as well as beach cricket. Maybe we'll bring a set back to share in the joy of this new found sport in our lives. 

Dog and Keys Show

New Year's weekend we spent a couple days down in Cooloogatta, on the Gold Coast, to see a Dr. Dog and The Black Keys show. Good show. Beautiful beach town.