First Year Gone By!

Hello there everyone!

Well, does time fly? I was so excited a few months ago when I had the blog up to date but now, I'm further behind than ever. Wow, where did the months go?

Yes, to Bryan and I time most certainly does fly, and fast! Where has the year gone? We can hardly believe that we have been here in Sydney Australia for a full year. There has been a lot of firsts for us this past year. On June 28th, 2009 we had our 'First Wedding Anniversary' too. (more about that in a post of it's own soon).

Since we came back from our visit to Canada in January, 2009 things really went into high gear. Bryan has been really really busy at work. He is out of town a lot but that gives him a great opportunity to see more of Australia. He's been in several different areas from Cairns (Northern Queensland) to smaller centres near Melbourne and Adelaide (Southern Australia) to Perth (Western Coast of Australia).

Well, one of the firsts is that I started working in March 2009. My new place of employment here in Australia is at 'The Children's Hospital at Westmead'. I support the paediatricians in the General Medicine Department. It is a really convenient location. Only a 30 minute walk - one way. When Bryan is in town he drives me to work in the morning and I walk home afterwork. Work is very busy and has had its' challenges as well. One being trying to understand the Aussie accent and slang. It's coming though! My boss and other doctors that I deal with are very nice and the other girls in the area that support other doctors have been very friendly.

It is currently winter over here and yes, this winter we are feeling the chill in the air. One morning (Bryan was out of town) when I was walking to work I even put on my mini mitts while walking. Ya, Ya, Ya, I'm a wimp! But believe it or not it is a bit chilly here in the winter. Not as bad as Saskatchewan but I didn't like the winters there either.

Well, let's go back a few months here and I'll give you a quick run down on what we've all been up to since January.

FEBRUARY 09 - As posted previously we went to Manly Beach and watched the sunrise.

MARCH 09 - We took the bike and went to Lithgow, NSW. It is about 1 1/2 hrs Northwest from where we live. We also took in the Ullysses Annual General Meeting which was held in Penrith (1/2hr from us) and found a wonderful new bike which we put on our wish list.

APRIL 09 - We went to 'Shoel Bay' for the Easter Long Weekend. Very nice weekend. The place we stayed was the one with the red roof on it in the picture.

MAY 09 - I surprised Bryan with his belated birthday gift. Diving with the sharks. We also went on a weekend bike run with the Ulysses Bike Club to Coonabarabran - 4 hrs from us.

JUNE 09 - Our 1st Wedding Anniversary was spent in Sydney CBD (central business district). The view from our hotel room was breathtaking.

JULY 09 - We went to the 'Hunter Valley' region. Wine country! All I can say is beeeautiful! We also found the end of the rainbow as in the picture below. Honestly we saw the end of the rainbow but found no pot of gold!

Well, that is the breakdown of the past few months. Please keep checking the blog for more detail of each adventure as mentioned above. I will try very very hard to get the details of everything on the blog as soon as possible. It seems that after working on the computer all day that it is hard to sit down again at it for the evening as well. But, I will keep plugging away.

Just a couple of more pics and then I shall sign off for now. Mom Paur and Mom Willett these next few pictures are especially for you two. The birds we have around here are phenomenal. The cockatoos are always around our place sqauwking very loudly but what a sight to see! Lately there has been heaps of them hanging around. There is another bird that I always see at work. I don't know what it is called though. The Kookaburra's come and visit every once in a while by us as well. The Myna birds are always around in great numbers. They like to sit on our balcony railing too.

Cockatoos gathering for a 'loud' chat. Just across the street from us.

One of the many kinds of birds I see at work by the hospital. Beautiful!

A Kookaburra perched on the building across from us.

Magnificant Myna!

Well, that is all for now. I apologize for not keeping up with the blog but I hope to get all our past adventures done very soon. Again, keep checking the blog for more details of the events described earlier. I hope you enjoyed this brief post and remember we love you all and are missing you too!

HUGS AND KISSES TO ALL!

Bryan and Maureen