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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

10.21.09 Happenings

I have been getting the best comments and feedback from the blog! Thank you so much to all of you who are reading regularly and are curious about our trip. I am trying to be really persistent about updating and giving interesting/funny information that will make everyone drool over our trip. Hahaha, just kidding. Lots of fun things have been happening lately and I have just been waiting, patiently of course, for Brett to put more credit on our internet card so I can update everyone!

We are slowly getting a taste of what the wet season will be like in the tropics. I have heard it starts to take effect anywhere between November and late December and lasts through about February. This being case we will either get about 2 months of it or none of it. I think all the locals block the wet season (aka summer) out of their minds because it is something you want to forget until it rolls around again. It reminds me of the flu, which hopefully none of you are getting. Whenever the wet season does come it will bring rain, humidity, hot weather, thunder storms and the possibly cyclone. Yikes. It has started raining a little bit every few days and let me tell you people from Washington you have not seen rain like this. I swear there have been days in WA when I think to myself, “It seriously could not rain any harder.” Enter… the tropics. Holy cow, it can rain here. It is so loud on our tin roof and it gives Brett and I the most wonderful magical feeling. WE LOVE IT! It is loud, chilly, soaks the ground and then goes away after a few minutes! I can only imagine once it really starts. Of course, we chat with the locals and friends about it and they tell us we haven’t seen anything yet. We are waiting with baited breath.

Not the best picture but it was seriously raining.

Ok, so I have told a few people about how we have made some friends and I wanted to give everyone chance to get to know them a little better! Marty, is from Vancouver BC and is the main guy who runs the chairs business for Brett’s boss Calvin. He has taken on the name Party Marty because he knows everyone and is always the funny happy life of the party! He is about 30 and moved to Australia about 12 years ago. He goes home every season for a couple of months to see his family and check in. He has been living in Port most of the time but he has hopped around to a few other places. He is really great and he has a big screen TV with every sports channel so we get in our NFL fix! It is awesome. We usually spend Monday and Tuesday morning at his house catching the games from Sunday and Monday night football at home! I was shocked to hear from Marty that he is planning to move home for good possibly after this season.

Brett and Marty flipping between baseball and football!

Next is Calvin. He is Brett’s boss and one of serious big guns in town. He runs the entire beach hire business and somehow magically set it up so no one can ever compete with him. He is the strong silent type but so generous and fun to chat with because he knows everything about Port and Australia. He has a really cute dog named Angus who hangs out at the beach with him every day and sit in the pub with him while he enjoys a beer after work with his employees.

We have a great couple we hang out with from New Zealand. We met them because they are our neighbors. They have been here on and off for a few years but are actually moving back to New Zealand at the end of November. Dean is 26 and Lisa is 20. They are really great and we do dinners or hang out on the beach with them quite a bit! It is fun to have a couple who is our age and is fun to hang out with as well! They have become our good friends and it is nice to have neighbors to share stuff with and make funny memories.

Speaking of funny memories Brett came home a couple of nights ago and jumped out of the van yelling for Dean. It was dark and Lisa and I headed out the door after him. Brett was driving back from the movie store and a huge 5 ft brown snake crossed the road right in front of the van. Brett considered running it over but thankfully he didn't because later we discovered it is illegal to run snakes over in Australia so instead we watched it slither away while chasing it with a camera and a flash light. Not the smartest but we were being really careful and the boys were so into it. They were yelling, jumping, laughing and being so serious all at the same time!

"The snake was THIS big!"

Brett has been kiting his little brains out lately and he is so happy because of it. He went out yesterday 4 different times and started no later than 730am and got finished at 530pm. He was on and off the beach the whole day, hanging out with the other local kiters, who he now knows all of them, and stopped only for a football game at Marty’s. It is awesome to watch the boys kite and there are some really, I mean really, awesome kiters in Port. They are die-hard, try anything and everything kiters. Bretto, who runs WindSwell kiting school (Brett’s original job), and his 2 brothers Brendan and Kyle are really good kiters. They are fun to watch and you can tell they push each other and encourage each other to be better. I think Brett really looks up to them!

Kiting at Four Mile Beach (Yes, that is a 7m!)

Ok, so I have given you some updates! There are more pictures on facebook and I have provided a link! Thanks again so much to everyone who has been reading! We love you all and miss you so much!

Love, B and K8

Ps. We received our first package from Mich, Chad, Dick, Bo and baby Olivia and it was awesome! It was a fall inspired care package with so much cute stuff and yummy goodies, plus Halloween candy! Thanks so much and everything was so thoughtful!

http://www.facebook.com/editphoto.php?aid=2087198#/album.php?aid=2087198&id=39200194

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