Natalie's Graduation

We flew into Perth for a quick visit and Natalie's Graduation, she recieved her Masters in International Relations, with Distinction! The ceremony was outdoors and finished with a fireworks spectacular.

Pelican at Shoalwater
Andrew visited Shoalwater and there was plenty of wildlife to be seen including this Pelican who let us walk right up to him, a seal that swam alongside a man for a hundred meters and of course Mr Obie!

Morning swim with De and Obie

Mt Beerwah in the Glass House Mountains

We took a road trip to the Sunshine Coast this weekend. First stop were the suprisingly spectacular Glass House Mountains, which are remanants of a volcano that rise up from the flat plains around them to over 550m high.

Kondalilla Falls National Park

We had a picnic lunch in the Kondalilla Falls national park with 2 kookaburras, 1 magpie, 1 bush turkey and 1 mynor bird all trying to share our lunch. Afterwards we went for a walk in the rainforest and took lots of excellent photos. You can check out more of them on our Flikr photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/23299344@N00/

The Big Pineapple

We had our suspicions about just how big the Big Pineapple was going to be but we weren't dissapointed. Its pretty huge.

Iron Man Race - Moolloolaba

When we made it to the famous Sunshine Coast beach we were just in time to witness the start of an Iron Man race.

Pizza at the famous Schonell Pizza Cafe

We introduced our friends Alvy and Hisako (the original Iron Chefs) to the best pizza in Brisbane which is right on campus at the University. The 5 cheese pizza is one of the many amazing gourmet wood fired pizza's on the menu and they all go well with a glass of red wine.

Fishing with the George's

Andrew's last day in Perth was also his Birthday and the morning was spent on a trip out with Simon and his Dad on their new boat, fishing around the islands in Shoalwater Bay.

Dinner with the BP crew

Thanks to everyone who made the time to see us and apologies to those who we just didn't manage to catch up with. During the time we had in Perth, we were pretty flat out catching up with people, including this dinner out at the Blue Water Grill in Applecross with Andrew's friends from his old work at BP....as you can see we spent a lot of time wining and dining!

A perfect morning on the beach at Shoalwater

We spent the 2nd of January on the beach at Shoalwater with our friend Julie and Andrew's Auntie Raya. It was a perfect day for the beach with hardly a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind.

New Years Day Fireworks at Shelly

New Years Day brings the annual party at Natalie's Mum's house in Shelly, complete with lechon (pig on a spit) and a fireworks spectacular!

Shelly New Years

Dinner at Nine Mary's

The girls dressed to impress as we ate out at Nine Mary's, which does some of the best Indian food in Perth... its almost as good as Curry Connection here in St. Lucia!

Christmas Eve Dinner

We rolled into Perth late on the 23rd of December just in time for an eating marathon that lasted until New Year's day, kicking off at Andrew's Mum's house on Christmas Eve....and yes that is Obie in rheindeer horns at the bottom of the picture.

Sprint to the finish line at the South Bank Cycling Grand Prix
We were lucky enough to stumble accross the Cycling Grand Prix in South Bank. We had a great view at the front of the barricades but our photos doesn't do those guys any justice - they were going super fast! We didn't envy them though - they were working very hard in the sultry midday Brisbane heat.

Riverside Sunday Markets
We ventured by ferry to the art and craft markets held at Riverside every Sunday. There was the usual fare including eclectic jewelry, homemade soaps and the lady thats always selling Bruce Lee tea towels. We walked around the river until we reached the city botanic gardens which had fantastic huge Morton Bay Fig trees and the biggest mosquitos that we've ever seen! There was also an excellent wooden walkway that weaved through a mangrove forest. Actually the mosquitos ended up being quite effective tour guides - encouraging us to "move along" when we'd lingered for too long!

Yellow flowers in bloom at the University of Queensland

People had told us how amazing the jacaranda flowers were in St Lucia but a couple of weeks after the pathways and roads had been covered in purple another flowering tree was painting the University yellow. This was one particularly thick carpet we passed on our walk home.

Dinner in Southbank
Natalie and Jeanne are posing in front of the Nepalese Pagoda. We'd had a great dinner earlier that night with Andrew at a riverfront cafe and enjoyed the view. Jeanne has promised to take Natalie shopping when she is next in Melbourne... which could be very exciting or very dangerous depending upon the view Natalie's credit card chooses :)

Queensland bug

I think we've mentioned previously how many bug and insects there are over here in Queensland....this little fellow made it inside our living room somehow and posed for a couple of pictures.