Canberra

Dad's last day here in Australia today :( he's flying back tomorrow morning to Calgary. I  can't believe he's already going back! We've been in Canberra for a couple days now staying with Charmaine and Owen, dad's friends. They are absolutely wonderful people and have treated  us like kings since we got together with them in Sydney.

We drove to Sydney from Budgewoi and met Charmaine and Owen at Darling Harbour. Their daughter lives in a gorgeous apartment/hotel building that faces the harbour bridge and Opera House. They kindly set us up on the 13th floor in a 2 bedroom apartment that was fully stacked with everything we could ever need (including bath robes) and a beautiful view. We literally felt like we won the lottery or something, it was so beautiful! We spent the first couple hours catching up with them and having drinks. Then we took the ferry across the harbour  to a fine dining restaurant called Wild Fire that faced the opera house.We had a HUGE delicious meal of all kinds of meats and sides, lots of wine and yummy dessert.

Saturday morning I went for a run along the harbour before we all  took the ferry across to Watson's Bay where we saw the gap--a lookout where apparently people have jumped and committed suicide, kinda creepy but a nice area. We had a great seafood lunch and then headed back  to Darling. Saturday night we went to a Picasso Art exhibit and then got to check out hte first day of the Sydney festival that consisted of thousands of people, all kinds of live music and dancing. We even got to see some acrobatics.

On sunday Stew, Dad and I drove to the Blue Mountains and saw the famous 3 sisters (mountains). It was neat to see and compare to our 3 sisters in Banff. While Aussie's are much smaller it was cool to see some inland and take a detour. It was a long drive down to Canberra but we made it around dinner time at Charmaine and Owen's house. Monday I tried the running trails of Canberra and then we went to a bunch of museums. We also got to see Parliament House and get some great pictures. After eating a pizza at the museum Stew wasn't feeling well so he slept for the next 14 hours while I visited with Charmaine, Owen and Dad, and occasionally checked on my patient. Glad to report he's much better and has been assisting me in our search for farm work somewhere in Victoria, Australia. We've applied to dairy farms, fruit picking, wineries, etc. and are patiently waiting and calling places in hopes of getting a job so we can save some money.

Charmaine and Owen have offered their place for us to stay until we find something which is so nice of them and they have been nothing but incredible to us since we found them. Spoiling us rotten and feeding us the best food! We figure we should get out of their hair soon and back to our reality living in the van and eating cans of tuna haha. Fingers crossed that we find jobs soon!!