The past week has been soo relaxing. Wednesday morning we dropped off Chris and Tanya at the airport (they were taking a holiday in Sydney) then headed out to go shopping. In preparation for the real world, we've started setting the alarm for 7 and are keeping to the habit of doing yoga, breakfast, then getting out. The house is quiet without the dogs, who are still at Hillie's house. We're going to go back to Pryamid on Wednesday to spend the weekend and have a bon fire and do more sightseeing. The plans for the beach house fell through and it's okay because we're really quite content to take it slow and enjoy the simple things. While Chris and Tanya were gone, we did some weeding in Caroline's front yard and hauled the green waste over to stuff it in Chris's bin (we'd filled Caroline's too). It's amazing how much grass will compact when a person jumps on it repeatedly. ;)
Friday we packed the cameras and a lunch and took the train into the city, to the Royal Botanic Gardens. What an AMAZING place! It's huge, and the landscaping is thought-out and well-tended. It's obviously been around for a while, judging by the size of the plants. There's a Children's Garden with a water feature for them to play in, and a gorgeous lake where dozens of waterbirds have taken up residence. We ate lunch on a grassy rolling hill overlooking the water. Although there were quite a few tourists walking about, it was very tranquil and restorative. A lot of the plants were labeled by species and each turn of the path could make you feel like you'd wandered into an entirely different landscape. I took so many photos that I filled up my SD card! I had a back up, thankfully. We stayed until the sun start to set and then hurried across the street to the war memorial to watch the last of the rays flare above the city.
After catching the train back home, we grabbed a quick dinner and headed to Tara's house. We'd missed games night but spent over an hour just catching up. The night before, we'd joined her at her dad's house to watch Supernatural and I got to meet her impressive little dog, Izzy. Izzy is part Kelpie and part Border Collie, just under two years old, and super submissive and lovey. She's intense and intelligent and has loads of potential. I really enjoyed meeting her (and the rest of Tara's family!).
Saturday Caroline and I headed back to Paddy's Park with some lunch and the cameras. I'm so jealous of the park; on the weekend it's home to the local obedience clubs and every afternoon, the local dog owners meet up to let their dogs play off-leash as they walk around the main field. It is not truly fenced in, and I'm convinced that Aussie dogs are just born more obedient than American ones. But the park is so much more than that--it's also got miles of paved and dirt paths that wind around abandoned paddocks and ponds and follow the river. Caroline said that the bike path will actually take you into the city if you stayed on it long enough. The longer you walk the trails, the more you feel like a trailblazer. Aside from echoing dog barks and children shouting, the air is broken only by birdsong. Crash and Lucky would love it--and I would too. I could easily see myself setting off with them and walking for hours. For such a large city, it's surprising that there are still places like this--but I suppose it's also crucial. Visiting a quiet park like this at least once a week would be the only way I could tolerate such a dense population.
We finished the night with dinner, Wonder Boys, and BROWNIES.
Sunday the weather was BEAUTIFUL again. After getting up early and going to the grocery store, we went back to the airport to collect Chris and Tanya and take them to their house. There we looked at all the pictures they had taken in Sydney. They both had some amazing shots of the architecture, as well as playful ones of themselves. We left around lunch time and went to some new op shops, which were extremely crowded (because it was Sunday?). But I found some new pants and a few other odds and ends, and when we'd gotten tired of bargain hunting we returned home and started to prepare an early dinner. Caroline and I played a couple rounds of scrabble then, when I could no longer think straight, we watched the 100th episode of Supernatural (not bad) that Tara had loaned us a couple nights before. Of course brownies and ice cream were involved, and we started to watch a movie I'd bought from Blockbuster on a whim, called Buried Lies, but it sucked out loud so hard that I can't even find a link for you. We turned it off and went to bed.
Monday night Tara is coming over to introduce us to NCIS: LA, and we're making pizza!! *smacks lips*
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