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This may possibly be my very last post to this blog. Thank you to everyone who followed our blog, it made us feel that our endeavours and accomplishments were worthwhile.

Stuck at Work....

It's 6pm, and I'm still sitting on my computer at work. My drive home isn't too far, but because of the Brisbane river I have to take a funny path to find a bridge and get to the south side where we live. You can imagine at rush hour all of the bridges in town become quite congested, and today the bridge I usually take is closed. My only other option is straight into the middle of downtown, but we all know that will be a bad idea at 5pm on a weekday.

So lucky you! I finally have no excuse but to blog it up until traffic clears. A lot has been happening in Oz (as usual), the weather has been fantastic and every one seems to be travelling (except me anyway).

Jensen and Jessica spent a couple of weeks with us, and hopefully they had as good of a time as we did. We got to do the tourist stuff again which is always fun, and they happened to be here at the right time of the year for Ekka. Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo was really good, and I even got to pet an Echidna in addition to a Kangaroo, a Koala and a Wombat on a leash. By the way, a Wombat on a leash competes for the cutest thing on the planet - all fat and pigeon toed.

Summer is off for Malaysia soon, meeting up with some friends who are spending time in Korea. I'm quite jealous of Dustin who will be heading to The Red Centre next week on a Contiki tour. The Red Centre refers to the arid desert lands in the middle of Australia, including Alice Springs, Ayers Rock (Uluru), and then heading up north to Darwin (where the movie Australia was filmed).

In other news, I've been keeping busy studying for a new certification, trying to get out riding on my dirtbike as often as possible, and working hard as ever. Some of you may remember a couple of years back when I passed my CCNA certification with Cisco, and it was probably the hardest test I've ever seen - in fact it took me two tries. That certification is about to lapse, so I deicded it was time to progress to the next certification, CCNP - Cisco Certified Network Professional. This one is guaranteed to be much harder than the last one, but instead of one exam I have to pass four individual exams. I'm giving myself two months per exam, and the expectation that it may take me two tries to pass each one. None the less, I am very confident I will pass all four, and we'll see if I have any motivation left over to go for another certification after that.

Well, I think I might be safe to battle traffic by now (I hope), so I will leave you with our latest photo galleries:

Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo
I know Jessica loved cuddling the Koala, I was extremely impressed by the "Free Flying Birds" show, and of course everyone loved the Red Pandas, the Koalas, the Kanagaroos and the Chinese tourists. (What?! Aren't they part of the attraction too?)

The Ekka!
Brisbane's version of the state fair, it originally was called the Exhibition and was geared towards buying, selling and showing livestock. Now it's just like the state fair back home, plus showbags.

Just a teaser....and yes, we are becoming terrible bloggers....

My little/big bro Jensen and his lovely gf Jess just got on their 16 hour flight to go back home (NOT envious!) and I am still recuperating! We all had a blast. These are just a couple of photos from their amazing;y fun 2 weeks here in Oz! More to come....miss them already :) Here we are with my Aussie friends (above) at the Ekka (state fair/carnival) and then below with the Paddies ( Irish mates) at the most eastern point of Australia, Byron Bay!

Quick One

Last weekend Dustin and I had nothing better to do and we both agreed that we needed to get out of the house. Summer was working all weekend, so she wouldn't miss us either. We decided to get up early Saturday morning and drive out the the Glasshouse Mountains and go 4-Wheel driving. Of course we brought along our tents and an esky full of beer. We did some great 4WDing, even though it got scary in a few deep mud holes. Then we set up an awesome campfire and sat outside next to the heat while it drizzled ever so slightly.

Check out the full picture gallery here!

In other news,
This morning Jensen and Jessica arrived, and are likely out having fun right this moment. As soon as I leave work, we are heading out to Stradbroke Island where we are going to stay at a wonderful B&B and do some driving on the beach. Stay tuned for pictures and updates from their trip coming soon!

Blog Blog Blog

It's been a while, I sure am bad at keeping up to date on this stuff. Life is so busy all the time, which is good because we do so many cool things. And when you finally get a chance to relax (even if you're relaxing with swine flu) it is absolutely wonderful.

Fraser Island is kind of a magical place when you talk to Queenslanders, everyone has been there and everyone loves it for their own reasons. It has more of a reputation than the other islands (Bribie, Stradbroke and Moreton) because it has more history, and because it is a bit farther away from the city. About 4 hours drive north, it is in the heart of Hervey Bay, which is the main whale migration path. It is also supposed to have the worlds purest breed of Dingoes, as the rest have been cross bred with domestic dogs. The island was absolutely gorgeous, with the clearest water you have ever seen in a lake, and a 5 star resort which was almost hidden in the jungle.

I had been planning my dirtbike trip to Fraser with a group of guys from DBW for almost 5 months and I couldn't wait! We finally arrived and met the other 16 riders over a cold beer and dinner. The next morning we woke up to the rain absolutely pouring down in the cold and I was bummed. But, by the time I had got out of bed and geared up the rain had stopped and the sun was shining! Only in Queensland...

We set out on the sandy trails around the island, riding the beaches, the lakes, even riding right upstream the middle of a flowing creek or two. We played in the waves, rode donuts on the beach, and some of the guys did wheelies for more than 5 kilometres at a time! When we were inland, we were averaging about 60km's an hour through sandy twisting tracks and dodging deadly tree roots - so much fun! On the first day we put down almost 280 kilometres around the island, and only scratched the surface of what there was to see. We had to stop in 4 different townships to re-fuel, as the dirtbikes only get about 80km's to a tank. At each township we would share stories and laugh, and the dingoes would come in hoping to get a free feed.

The second day we set off towards the other end of the island, only getting in about 150km's because we all had to catch the barge back to the mainland around 1pm. It was a fantastic trip, and though there were lots of crashes nobody got hurt and no bikes were busted. I can't wait to do it again! One of the guys on the trip was wearing a professional helmet camera, and got 5 hours of DVD quality video from the first day! It is fantastic to watch, and you guys can check out some clips from it here, though these aren't quite DVD quality:

Fraser Clip 1
Fraser Clip 2
Fraser Clip 3 (Wheelie King!)

Of course, click here to check out the full Fraser Island gallery!

My mate Nick owns and restores Studebakers, and his favorite thing in the world is drag racing! With almost the same group of guys who went to the Indy races last year, we loaded up the esky full of beer and headed out to Willowbank Raceway for the biggest drag racing event in Queensland, the Winter Nationals. It was a great time, we got to see a few cars explode and they raced some seriously fast motorcycles too. We even got to see two of the fastest V8 supercars (Whincup and Lowndes) go down the quarter mile twice, running an astounding 10.84 seconds at 134mph!

Click here to check out the full gallery!

This little piggy went to the doctor, this little piggy stayed home.

You may just cringe if we posted a photo of the two of us, so we'll stick to this one for the time being. Here's what has happened in the last 4 days, and we'll let YOU be the judge.

Saturday night: B convinces me to accompany him to a party that his co-worker was having. We make an appearance, chat away to new people, and hang out with Craig (co-worker).
Sunday all day: I (Summer) went to the Gold Coast airport to shoot a TV commercial for Jetstar (local airline here). I was dressed as a flight attendant and had to play air hostess and hang out on a plane all day. (I will blog more on this once the ad airs here, but let's just say my face will be seen nationally all over Oz in a few months...YIKES!)
Monday morning: I wake up with a sore throat, and feel as if I've been punched in the head (throbbing headache). I blame this on my intense day from Sunday's shoot. 10 minutes later, B texts me to say that Craig (aforementioned co-worker) didn't come into work because he had dun...DUN...DUN... SWINE FLU. Brian comes home from work early because he too isn't feeling up to par.
Tuesday all day: We both feel yucky, I've got massive sinus congestion and B is feeling achey all over. Neither of us have high temperatures, but feel quite ill nonetheless.
Today (Weds): Brian's boss instructs him to go to the doctor, where the nice Dr isn't sure if he has swine flu, but sends him home with Tamiflu and the option to send some swabs into the lab to confirm if its actually the dreaded swine...

So....what do YOU reckon? We are sitting here huddled by the heater, watching Huey cook on TV. I'm torn on whether to actually take the tamiflu, or just let whatever is going on in my body simply run its course. We're taking precautions by drinking heaps of (freshly squeezed, thank you very much) O.J. and wiping down everything in the house so that poor flatmate Dustin doesn't catch whatever we've got. Unfortunately we're missing work, social functions (like the State of Origin 3 game tonight) and possible birthday barbies this weekend :( Anyone in the States know of someone who actually has swine flu? Who knew it wasn't just some phantom virus floating around the world??!

...AHCHOOOOO! *COUGH COUGH HACK COUGH* :( What a depressing blog post, sorry mates!

Fraser, Mackay and 4th of July!! :)

*WHEW* I know, I know, we've been MIA yet again but I've wrapped up 3 major events in one big post for your viewing pleasure. Think of it as your 4th of July gift from us :) First up, the last weekend of June we headed up to Fraser Island.
Voted in the top 10 best things to see in Australia, Brian was meeting up for a big dirt biking ride with about 16 other guys :) I came along for the adventure to soak in the sun, and check out this awesome island made of sand!!

We stayed at the Kingfisher Bay resort where I sat by this pool and read...ahhhh...

While B was out riding, I went on a guided canoe paddle where we saw a shark in these waters!! (I couldn't bring my camera with me on the tour, but you'll just have to believe me on this one)

B took me for a 4wd adventure to the other side of the island.

Our eco-friendly hotel was built INTO the trees, thus making it a huge treehouse!! (Our room is in this pic)

Just barely caught the stunning Lake McKenzie before the sunset. (Freshwater lake in the middle of the island) ABSOLUTELY PRISTINE AND CLEAR WATER!!

The ferry that brought us here :)

Just got back from a ride and exhausted but LOVING LIFE!! (Stay tuned because I'll let B blog more about Fraser-he knows heaps about the dingoes, wildlife, his riding experience, and the utter bliss that was his weekend)

Moving on to...this bloke? Yup, I spent a few hours with this man in Mackay, where B's company sent me along with him on his LAST WEEK FOR HIS MACKAY WORK PROJECT! (yes, I am yelling due to my extreme joy) While B was at work, I took the rental car and explored the country town where I took a tour to find out all about how the sugar cane are transformed into sugar that YOU consume all over the world. Most of Queensland is notorious for its sugar cane fields, and my sweet tooth and I learned all about how it gets from the field to the cup of coffee.

Yes, I went for educational purposes, but they practically made me eat fairy floss (above), drink rum, taste pure sugar cane juice, and fudge :)

I checked out a couple of local beaches (gorgeous) and wiggled my toes in the sand.

Again, I'll let B tell you more about the coal terminal and the work he's been doing for the Government but we'll just sum up Mackay with saying it was a small town with nothing to do.... I stayed in the hotel to watch MJ music videos and EAT! Luckily his company paid for all my food....oink OINK...but so glad to have this boy home in Brissy!

Ahhh yes, now onto America's bday! We invited (forced) our mates to come to the pub to celebrate the 4th. Since there are so little Americans here and (let's face it, nobody except Americans celebrate it) we couldn't find any public celebrations except one tiny bar who made craft beers and had ribs & hot dogs for dinner. Our friends were great fun and we all ate, drank, lit sparklers indoors (the obnoxious American way!) and were merry :) I even decorated our Irish, Aussie and Pommie friends with stars, and we listened to MJ because our friend Leah was the DJ! :)

Hope everyone back home had a great 4th, and are staying COOL in the summer heat! We are bundled up in this southern hemisphere winter :)