The Chronicles of Williams

Waterfalls in Australia are more common than you'd think.  You're probably thinking about beaches and the outback and heat when you think of Australia but there's so much more.  Wish I could write a blog with just the smells of Australia... it'd be awesome!! Last weekend we went up the mountain to Wentworth Falls (about 20 min drive from our house) and had a great day watching waterfalls and hiking around.  The rocks and formations and the beautiful "blue" haze that contrasts the green of the forrest and the dark sandstone rock was great.  The weather was perfect and it wasn't crowded so that made a perfect day for us on Saturday! Here's a few pics but more on fotki.com/williams Then, on Sunday we loaded up and drove about 1.5 hours down the mountain to Cronulla, south of Sydney.  It was a cool beach but super crowded.  We realized it was their spring break (12th year high school students are out of school so it's their party time). 

Making bread in Australia might not be that special to you, but I am so proud of myself for making the best bread of my entire life today! Maybe it's just being somewhere different and quiet.   Although I miss my friends, my tennis in Wyoming, my garden, my kids (and their friends) and our extended family, there is something about being on the other side of the world from your "life" and finding a place for yourself while you're there.  I'm not getting sidetracked and don't worry, you'll get to hear all about the bread adventure, but as I'm writing I realize that something as simple as making a good loaf of bread, making basil butter or trying to find out what bird is tweeting so sweetly have all been things I haven't had time to enjoy for a while.  It's my fault for sure!  I get caught up in everything and everyone and love having people over and doing everything "big".    I won't change that about my life, but I think this s

Getting behind on the blogs.... they're having a traffic jam in my head so today might be Mega Blog Wednesday before it's all over:) Exploring David's campus at University of Western Sydney and Richmond Last Friday I decided to visit David at work, take him to lunch and see Richmond for the first time.  Getting to Richmond from Springwood was a nice 20 minute drive.  We live on the mountain but in 20 minutes I drove down a steep windy road (with hairpin curves) and ended up on some beautiful farmland crossing a few rivers and seeing 7km of "watch for kangaroo" signs.  The university was on the edge of town and when I pulled onto campus I could see the trees and flowers blooming in white, pinks and these cool purple bunches of color hanging in the trees!  What a beautiful campus! Can you see the purple blooms? The road to David's office We found downtown Richmond and it was so cute! Lots of shops and old houses with Victorian architecture, a big p

Why is eating out expensive in Australia?  Our first meal in Australia was a nice breakfast, not huge, but a few people had eggs and some toasted turkish bread, some cofffee.  For 5 of us the bill was $65.   As we explore Australia, we watch for restaurants to try out, but we have yet to get out of a restaurant for less that $50!  We're not ordering anything fancy. We're talking a sandwich and a drink for 3 of us.  We've learned that what is more common, and what we can afford, is to stop by a little street cafe after a hike or for a break and have some hot tea and a scone or biscuit.  We can afford that but it's still $6 for a scone.... but we can save up for this treat:) When shopping at the grocery store, the food prices and products are very similar to our American stores.   Some new items, like more thai, indian and other asian spices are available at the regular shopping store, but just like in the USA, to get the best spices and products you need to shop at

Tennis, music and food connect people together I've realized. Today was my first attemp to find some tennis women friends that I can play tennis with during the day.  It was just perfect!  I went to the courts just as the sun was warming up everything and there were about 7 women waiting for 1 more person to show up for their "Wed Social Tennis".  It was a fun round robin and very casual (just like I like it).  It was just fine to talk in the middle of the point about lunch, your garden or anything else that suited you.  We laughed and made fun of each other and blamed all of the shots we missed on the sun.... just like we do at home!  Oh if only my Laramie sisters were here!  These women would love Jan's pirate tatoos that we wear, or the plastic jewelry we like from the dollar store, or Cathy and Deb's collection of stolen road construction cones, or Cheryl's influence on us to wear skull apparel. Another part that was great ...... it was only $5 to play

We’ve been showing you all around Sydney and the other areas of New South Wales but realized you don’t know about where we live yet. We’re settled in and love our house, backyard and the birds and animals that come visit. Yesterday we decided to bring the camera around with us. Go to our fotki.com/williams album to see all of the pics, but here’s a little background about what you’ll see. David and I headed out to the library to do some work and email for the morning so you’ll see pics of our house, car and front garden. Our house was owned by a gardener so the flowers are so unique and gorgeous. We’ve heard that there is always something blooming here and that some trees we have in the front and back yards will be blooming soon. The trees without leaves are great for us now to see our little possums running around. They go from the tree in the frontyard, hop on the roof and run around and then leap to the tree by the deck in the backyard and sit. After the library we walked ar

Manly beach... surfer class Sunday we enjoyed our discount to all trains, ferries, busses to and around Sydney.  We drove to the train station and rode the train right down into the heart of Sydney.  Musicians and entertainers and out, the outdoor cafes are filled up, the sunshine was perfect and it was a perfect day!  We got right onto the Manly ferry that goes from Sydney up to Manly which takes you to a thin strip of land on the edge of the ocean/harbor where there are miles and miles of bike riding trails, surfer classes, BBQ grills out for the public to use, snorkelers and scuba divers, joggers, bikers, skaters, jazz on the main plaza area.  It was a nice mix of San Diego and Hawaii. While hiking around we saw a super cool Eastern Water Dragon (cool lizard).   He just loved sitting on the rocks while we're all walking by and taking pics of him.  Sail boats were everywhere and along the ferry ride you can see that each little beach and cove of the harbor was full of the

Our list of what we like about Australia so far is growing....  1. I like when I wake up at 6am it's prime in the USA for US Open tennis watching 2. David likes the really large mean ants 3. Cullen likes his school, finding new birds,   food... bakeries and the new variety of sports around here 4. We love hearing our possum(s) running around the roof and jumping from tree to tree at night and trying to find them with our flashlight 5. Hiking and looking for kangaroos 6. Playing tennis while cockatoos fly around overhead 7. Plants that only Dr Seuss could imagine 8. Knowing we almost have a car and internet at home! check out the pics when you have time... putting them up now... www.fotki.com/williams

I've got alot to catch up on, but for now this is a GREAT introduction to Sydney.  We're enjoying it and learning about which neighborhood to explore next.  http://www.52suburbs.com/ Our friends have a beach house in Cronulla (sp?) and we hope to take everyone there in December.  The Blue Mountains and Springwood/Winmalee where we live is amazing.  Tropical and cool so very different from Wyoming, but we are enjoying the cockatoos squawking every morning like dinosaurs and the little possums that come crawling around our rooftop at night while we sleep.  The flowers are amazing and since spring is arriving here, it's great fun to garage sale and visit garden shops.  The home and garden shops are packed and everyone is giving our free sausage sandwiches from the grill:) We are settled into our house but just need to find a car so that's our mission this weekend.  More to come but all is well in Australia so far!