Showing off my new camera

Look out my ornithologist friends! Here's some pics off my new digital SLR which arrived the day AFTER I left for Australia! Tragic I know but I'm only just starting to play with it now. The camera is a Nikon D60 and oh she is a lovely beast. So good to have that level of control in my hands again.

These photos were taken in Port Aransas at one of the bird sanctuaries that we've been to before. No sign of the gator though! I'll let my twitcher friends see if they can name these beauties, although I'm pretty sure I have most of them pegged :D

Remember to click on the pics to make them bigger!

Back in San Antonio

Yeah I know I've been back for over a week now, but trust me, it has been so busy that today is really the first time I feel fully home, feet on the ground and ready to go.

Seeing Jo waiting for me at the airport was so wonderful that for a brief second I didn't realise how much bigger her tum is, but bigger it sure is! She still hasn't put on much weight, no extra anywhere else, just the tummy (5kg all up!). She looks fabulous - 29 weeks yesterday. She passed the gestational diabetes test (although I'm not sure how given the amount of Easter 'candy' consumed!) and everything is kicking along very smoothly right now. Tuesday is a wriggler but doesn't seem to move all the time like some wrigglers, not enough to be excessively uncomfortable at this point. Lucky us, yet again!


Here's a pic just to prove that Josie is doing well. Our lovely friends hosted a preggersaurus BBQ the day after I got home. It was gorgeous weather and great to be sitting out in the sun reminding myself what time it was and which side of the globe I was on now. Good food never hurts either!

These are the three preggersauri from the BBQ. While not in order of due date, can you believe that Josie is last in that lineup?

So while I'm here mindlessly blogging, let me just cover the topic of swine flu since everybody seems to be freaking out about it. Jo and I are not sick, nor are we at any great risk of getting sick. The cases they keep talking about here are near San Antonio, not in San Antonio, and it is a very big city anyway! No one has died outside of Mexico. Let's not go Henny Penny just yet folks. (Wow, and in another weird twist I just discovered that Henny Penny is also a brand of chicken fryers...wrong much?) Can I just repeat, at this point no swine flu-related deaths have been reported outside of Mexico.

Ok, pandemic hype aside, we took advantage of the luscious spring weather and went back to the Texas coast this weekend with our Norwegian friends and their two little ones. It was a lovely break from the hectic work week that was last week. The temperature was perfect and even though it is only just spring the sea was at least 20 degrees and perfect for swimming. There was even a bit of surf! The first time I've seen any kind of waves there. I managed to discover and maim a whole new set of sandcastle building muscles and burn my shoulders, but I needed some sun after spending the past 6 months or so as a mushroom.

The Texas Gulf Coast on what looks like a wild day, but was actually perfect and much more pleasant than the belting heat of summer. Remember to click on these pics to make them bigger.

Tassie pics

Ahh home sweet Tassie home... It seemed even more beautiful to me after having been away.

It was a gorgeous day at Cornelian Bay - even better for the dude in the boat I reckon!

Ahh Mount Wellington, how I miss you as my compass

The flowering gum at Jo's parents' house (those apostrophes hurt my brain!)

And just to remind me that Tassie gets cold, SNOW! Snow to 600m even, in early April!

The Headlines

Clearly I'm still in Australia hence no blog posts! Thought I'd just quickly post some of the news. Expect a more comprehensive post soon

# Tassie was wonderful and it was so good to see everyone. Talk about making me homesick though! I think I ate myself through half the state satisfying my cravings for prawn laksa, fresh Tassie oysters and washed rind cheeses.

#I have my visa in my hot little hand so that venture was successful, woot! Having an 'appointment' at the consulate seems to simply mean they will let you in the door and has nothing to do with an actual time system. As such I milked it, arriving at sparrowfart and getting ticket number 3 through the door which means I was out of there by just after 9am! Record time. The only questions I got asked this time seemed to be about the economics of my program...soo glad I took all those bank statements and 'non-immigrant intent' proofs (sarcasm).

#My bad luck with flights and planes continues...this time my flight out of Hobart was late, leaving me very little time to make the Adelaide connection. That stress became redundant when we attempted to land - the plane bounce once and then aborting the landing, suddenly thrusting again and taking back off to circle the city for a while! Scared the crap out of us all to say the least but landing #2 was fine, albeit well after my connection left. No idea what happened but I'd prefer not to do that again. Made it to Adelaide a few hours late but in one piece so that's where I am now.

That's enough excitement for now. I'll have better internet for a few days so I'll try to pop up an update again soon, and maybe some pics. Thanks to everyone who has fed me or given me a place to crash or transport so far, and sorry to everyone I didn't get to see this time round <3