time flys...

when you're having fun! Well at least that's one of my excuses for it being over a month since I last posted. That and being interstate and then with lack of computer/technology for 5 days. As always after holidays there's so much that I could write about that's been happening, but if I wrote about all of it then ... it'll be mega long (or should that be meg meg long...) Let's just see where this goes then hey?

This morning I/we (being lisa, sez, stef, em, dave, law, G, phil, nic and alex) got back from our splendiferous and much anticipated camping trip at Second Valley. At the moment I'm sunburnt in many places, including my lips which is really painful and annoying (any ideas on remedies?), and just slept for 5 hours and am still tired, but it was way worth it. I love camping - time kind of happens without you realising it. It was so cool just to chill out with everyone and live together for a few days (even grumpy moods are bonding experiences ;) swimming, snorkelling (soo good down there - cuttlefish, jellyfish, star fish, big fish, small fish, creepy seaweed, squid and no sharks or blue ringed octopus!), exploring, walking over rocks trying not to knacker your feet, finding warm rock pools, watching sun sets, talking, play-grounding, making up wierd and wonderful words and stories, eatting (not only did we not die of starvation or over consumption of 2 min noodles, we ate darn well! bbq, spag bog, butter chicken, f&c mm mmm), climbing hills (and almost getting blown off), meeting fellow camp-site-iers and their dogs, sun burn and Phil's heaven sent Iced Tea relieving spray, photos (does it even need to be said? it's a given!), marrying inanimate objects ('if the sky was a man i'd marry it!' (dw dave, lol)), cliff jumping (well i wasn't there - went to Glacier Rock (must see destination *cough* lol), Granite Island and King's beach with Phil, Lisa and Lexi - but it sounded cool and I wish I could've done that as well!), singing in the car, and being out of touch with the outside world... AWESOME, love it! It was really good staying in Emma's caravan/camper thing (thanks Em!)- haha just like last year the guys had the coverless tent (which actually would've been kind of cool, even if everyone in the campsite could see in BB style) and the girls were living in the comparative lap of luxury - it did get pretty crowded/cosy last night when the "storm" was supposed to be coming thru and the guys squished in too :P

BEFORE the camping trip I went to Sydney for two weeks with the family which was a really great time as well (they just keep on rolling!). I'll go with my highlights/listing mood - we had Uncle Stephen's 50th on the 1st which began with the new years fireworks on the harbour - we ended up (after trialing many locations and being ushered to better ones :P) under the bridge on the right and it was amazing - I haven't done that since I was a kid, and it was so beautiful, especially when at the end there were those showery fireworks going of literally right above our heads on the bridge. Seeing all the Aunt's, Uncle's and cousins (more of whom than I realised read this, better watch what I write! jk ;) was probably the biggest highlight (and no I'm not just saying that because you guys read this). I feel so grateful to have a family who's I get along so well with, and who are strong Christians - it was a partic encouraging time that wise in terms of having a bit of a reevaluation of my faith actually. Wish we could spend more time hanging out with them - actually now I will, I'm going over for Susie's 21st on April 1st (I've been assured there actually is a party and it's not just an April Fools jk, haha!) , woo! Michael and I literally took hundreds of photo's so there's no shortage of visual aide to assist remembering the trip! Gotta love those photoshoots on the beach. Oh, and there were ACTUAL WAVES at the beaches which took a bit of getting used to compared to most of our South Aussie ripples. Just to salute the trip in an appropriately celebratory manner my cousin Jennifer and her husband Kirk had their second baby - welcome to the world Emily Eileen Barker (not Parker Barker as we had suggested unfortunately)! Go the middle-name-Eileen club!
On the way home we stayed with my Aunty Caroline and her partner Lynne at Blackdown estate in Bathurst that they're busy running at the moment which was gorgeous - looked like it had jumped off the pages of Country Style, and with the whole farm thing I felt like I was on McLeod's Daughters, v cool and a relaxing way to end the trip.

SO that's prob missed out a lot of stuff, but you get the gist. I'll get some photos up here soon!