AUSTRALIA DAY🎉

Sorry for all those who have been disappointed that we have not posted recently. These past months have been busy busy. We will try to catch up as we go along.

So let's take you back to the end of January where we left off. Australians celebrate Australia day on January 26th. There were many events going on that day but we decided the airshow and artillery salute would be interesting. Before the event we toured the national war museum and Travis got into a conversation with a stranger about where in Australia has the best Australia day celebration. According to her, Sydney has a better military show because the Navy ships are quite spectacular. We enjoyed a tour of the military monument to all the wars Australians have been a part of and then went to the rooftop balcony to see the planes do their acrobatic manoeuvres.

It was a really hot day that day but it made for a good view of the planes against the blue sky. Each time the planes would fly overhead, this stranger kept saying how cool it was (I think you can hear her in the video). We got a good chuckle out of it. It turned out it was the same person who tried to help us find the hinge screw from Susan's sunglasses that had managed to pop out on the way up to the rooftop. Travis looked for a bit but quickly realized how futile it was, as we could have lost it anywhere in the museum. 

We stood very far away from the artillery but they still shook us and startled us. 

This is what happens when you try to get an action shot with the flag and it takes too many takes.  Ever since meeting Susan she has taken care to not burn her part but it happens very fast for her, hence the umbrella and the makeshift covering. You can also see how well her one arm sunglasses fit on her face 😂.

Susan is getting more adept at shopping at the market which helps with the high cost of groceries. One strategy she used was to follow this old asian lady to see which vendors to buy from. This worked well as the woman looked like she knew where the best prices were. 

Looking back, the city at night was way more calm. As people have started to become more "conditioned" to COVID the streets are very busy at night (sometimes more than in the daytime). This picture is of a very wide tram and pedestrian "street". There are often many buskers. The are usually quite good which makes a walk or shopping trip more entertaining. 

Travis has started school! This is the teaching hospital he attends once a week for practical classes. The rest of his time he spends doing online learning. He hopes it is not too long before more classes are in person. It is a strange experience to go to school and barely know your classmates and instructors. We take for granted the relationships we have in school and other places, even if they are only temporary. They help us feel connected to what we are doing. 

And if you think it's possible in this day and age to live without the internet you'd be wrong. It took over a month to convince the internet company that we had the hardware in our building for the internet. It was a major fiasco. It was a blessing that we had LOTS of data through our phone plans so we could hotspot our computers. This was not very effective but it got us through. We started with 50gigs between us and got down to our last 4 before the internet came online. It is also a blessing that the library is so close to Travis could do his school work. It all worked out in the end but what a headache. 

Oh, this is a shot of the Yarra river. It is the major river that runs through the city. As you can see, it is not a river you would want to swim in for fear of infection. Locals commonly use the Yarra as a comparison to things that are generally dirty. Clearly, throwing items in the river is a global pastime for riffraff. These are bicycles from the defunct bicycle rental program Melbourne had a number of years back. 

If ever wondered how the platypus was made, here is the aboriginal legend depicted as a drone show. (the kid next to us is pretty funny at one part of the show). Listen closely! 

More to come...