Guests - Round 2

Well we've been entertaining Chris and Tara for about a week and a half now. Chris leaves for Canada tomorrow and Tara isn't much further behind him (maybe a week or two). On Saturday we inherited three lovely British girls that I used to work with in Brisbane. They're up here looking for work and living in our loft in the meantime. It's so wonderful to have the house full of people and laughter. And with everyone in the house having a car we finally have more opportunities to get out and see some sights! I'll hopefully post a picture of the girls soon!

Mackay and Bowen

Will and I rented a car this weekend for the first time since we arrived in Airlie. Having the freedom to get things from the supermarket that we previously couldn't (large garbage cans, tank refill for our gas stove) was only part of the excitement for us. Getting out with the wind in our hair, listening to our own music, brought back lots of great memories of just getting out of Calgary for the weekend.

Saturday when we finished our running around we picked up Cathy and Naomi and went to Mackay to see a movie. The girls opted to see Step Brothers, while Will and I saw the new Mummy movie. We had a nice dinner beforehand and did a brief walk around the town. It was lovely just to be somewhere else for the first time in a long time.

 

Sunday we picked up the girls again, added Tara to the mix and headed to Bowen with the hopes of snorkelling at Horseshoe Bay in mind. Bowen is a sleepy little town about an hour away from Airlie with some of the best beaches and ocean views in the area. Coincidentally, the movie Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman was filmed in Bowen. We had a great lunch, did some snorkelling and lots of suntanning. Here are just a few of the views we enjoyed this weekend.

This weekend also gave Will and I a great chance to scope out some drives and sights we'd like to show his mother and grandmother when they arrive in October.

Our first batch of guests

Will and I got our first batch of houseguests last night around 11:30 p.m. Our friends Chris and Tara from Calgary and their friend arrived late last night after their wild three month drive around Australia. We are thrilled to finally have a housefull, no matter how long they decide to stay with us. It will get tricky though as we are expecting friends from Brisbane to be arriving in a week or two quickly followed by Will's mom and grandma! At least there will be a bit more excitement at our place and hopefully more stories and photos to follow.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Photos

Hey, I finally developed the photos from our Race week trip. Enjoy.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week

If you've ever wondered what it's like to swim with the "big fish", we got our first taste of the action this weekend when we went to Hamilton Island to catch the end of the week long yachting regatta. We didn't need to beg and plead for a spot on the media boat to get fantastic pictures - our ferry trip to the island put us smack in the middle of the race, so Will was able to get up close with his camera, all while standing at the back of our transportation.

Our stay at Hamilton was made relatively cheap and fun as we bunked with some of my Infront co-workers that had been on the island all week running the media centre. The last night was no exception to the craziness that had dictated the entire week, as Will and I were put to work taking photos and proofreading newsletter/media release copy, well past 9 p.m. Once we escaped the media centre though, we were OUT for the night!

Cathy, Naomi and I managed to stay out well past 3 a.m., partying it up with some of the journalists and camera crew from the local television station. Will on the other hand barely made it until the pub closed. Sunday we nursed some sore heads while we patiently waited for breakfast at the overcrowded marina restaurants. We did some wandering, did some souvenir shopping, took some fabulous photos and finally called it quits to go home and rest. It's safe to say that this was probably our last trip to Hamilton Island. The accommodation was free for us (thanks to an extra bed in my co-worker's room), we've seen pretty much all of the island and it's rather boring and expensive if we wanted to just spirit ourselves away for the weekend.