crazy storms and kangaroo curry

well we had an amazing weekend full of fishing, swimming, cooking, etc.  sunday evening, as I was cookin up some kangaroo curry and freshly baked bread, the wind started to howl and lighting was flashing every few seconds.  it took quite some time to get the rain pouring down but eventually we got dumped on too. it was really exciting but i am super glad we weren't outside walking at that time. a co-worker was out on the marsh and almost got hit by a tumbling piece of corrugated tin about 7 feet wide and 5 feet tall. yikes! the local bar lost its roof too...happily our place is new and built to withstand a class 3 cyclone or more.  kangaroo curry and bread turned out lovely.  back to the grindstone this week...and it's been a rough one so far. 

fishing and puppies!

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yesterday we got to skype the whole family (both in peru and in the states) and I got to see the thanksgiving dinner going on full force without me :( last night we went to a wonderful dinner party and then this morning headed off to have a go at fishing! we went at low tide and didn't have any luck sadly. caught several crabs but they were too small to eat really. jose also caught a sea snake! that was exciting. we saw lots of birds and cute mud skippers and jose had his first go at driving a car! he did really well and we'll start doing more of that soon.  even though we left empty handed we had a really fun day and then went to grab the new puppy in town who needs a home...guess who wants to keep him (her actually i think)!  I want to name her happy or noodle. we took her to the pool and had a lovely swim and now are relaxing at home.  fantastic weekend as usual. puppy adoption to be decided....

more food, broome visit

well it seems that most of our time is spent cooking, eating, and taking pictures of it. I need to join a gym asap! anyway we had a fabulous left over curry dinner the other night with a Mediterranean salad to match. I went down to Broome for work for two nights and got put up in this unbelievable hotel.  While work was pretty busy and I got a lot done and got to see some good speechies down there...I also made time to swim in the beautiful pool there, enjoy some touristy spots, have some great dinners and such. Sadly I missed Emmett's bday - happy birthday emmett!!!!! - and Claire is sorely missed.  Drove back from Broome today and saw lots of weird looking cows, huge termite mounds, and beautiful rivers. Got home and jose made a great meal for us which was really appreciated! Pics still added to the end of the Derby album http://picasaweb.google.com/nicole13/Derby?feat=directlink)

curry night!

well we had a ridiculously delicious curry evening. this was preceded by ecuadorian coffee, banana bread and white choc chip & macadamia nut cookies after swimming most of the afternoon. we then began cooking for the curry night and then more friends joined us with even more food and i think i ate enough for a hippo. emmett made the best crepes with chocolate sauce and fruit on top! yum! after dinner we headed off to a local (huge) bash for two people's birthdays and enjoyed the live music and costumes there for a bit before walking home under the nearly full moon. i had to wait another hour before i could lie down without feeling like i was going to hurl from being so full. gross...portion control anyone? sadly claire, our partner in arms, has left us to return home.  she is going to be sorely missed and i am currently plotting ways to ensure her return.

fitzroy visit!

i just got back from a remote trip with claire to fitzroy crossing. we saw lots of kids, assessed them, made up treatment programs, etc. it was a fantastic and productive visit and we also got to fit in lots of swimming, bootcamp, dinner, more swimming, and a visit to geikie gorge (pronounced geeky) where we saw wonderful dark rocks, a beautiful river, and wild kangaroos! the second picture has a kangaroo but you can't see it because my phone's camera is not very good. oh well. someday i'll get a good one and prove they really run wild out here. think we saw a croc's nose in the water too! beautiful sunset, great town, great company, just hard to leave jose behind with his training in derby. maybe next time he can join us.

after party nacho time, making fried rice, and hair cuts

Have had a great time lately, making nachos from left overs after swimming all afternoon, watching the boys cook up a storm in the kitchen while claire and I sat back with a glass of wine and our feet up. lovely. then claire gave emmett a much needed haircut and hilarity ensued. we retired to the veranda outside and had some beer, talked about storms, life, work, etc.  we're all really depressed though since claire is abandoning us to go back home...sniff. i am plotting a way to get her back here asap. also plotting to keep emmett here for another three months so our little pack isn't totally torn asunder. more pics under derby album

salsa, mediterranean tucker and spanish!

all the makings of a fabulous dinner party with great new friends in town.  Everyone brought a dish and the theme was Mediterranean cuisine. Turned out all veggie which was actually lovely, although jose was missing his meat.  we had sangria, fried cheeses, musaka, salad, potatoes with aioli, spicy salsa, pita, guacamole, antipasto plate, hummus, and then cakes, cakes, cakes, and cookies. it was awesome.  we listened to cumbia and salsa music and i attempted to dance while the columbian ladies put everyone else to shame. got to practice my spanish with the columbians and the ecuadorian guy too.  it was a blast.  more photos under the derby album...

boab prison tree and driving lessons

we've been out and about doing lots of fun things in town, mainly with our new friend Claire and when he is around, Emmett too.  Claire took me out to learn to drive stick which went fairly well for a first go-round.  Then we stopped by the boab prison tree, a site of significance here in Derby. Then we also stopped by May river up the Gibb River Road to get a peek at what the famous river track is like. It's beautiful but HOT! No crocs sadly, but really interesting rocks.  Sometime in the dry season we can go camping up the gibb

storms, sunsets, cooking, dinner parties!

So kind of more of the same. It's a bit of a one horse town so we spend a lot of time down by the jetty watching the sunset with a beer or a glass of wine. Lovely really. And we spend a lot of time cooking meals from scratch because food is expensive here, especially to eat out, and there aren't a lot of restaurants to choose from (3 i think).  We recently had another dinner get together with friends from work and had an absolute blast.  We've been swimming and moving furniture around to suit our taste. We also went on a walk for a free breakfast put on by the town shire (rec center), met a lot of nice people, and scoped out where all the ripe mangoes were hiding in town.  We've added more photos to our derby album (link under photos or on the right under albums or here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicole13/Derby?feat=directlink)

job prospects, soccer, tv, new friends = happy hubby

all fears have been assuaged for jose now which is great! he's found a work place in town that is helping him find jobs and training for the jobs. we moved in to find a tv ready and waiting for us with four whole channels...many of which play soccer games, so he was excited. we've made lots of really nice new friends and have more social opportunities than ever before, sometimes too many. we also found a group of guys who play soccer every evening on the high school football field! So he is in heaven. I even got to play with the guys last night and had a total blast...dusting off the old defensive skills.  really enjoying the town here a lot. the new job for me has been kind of overwhelming, but it was expected.  we miss everyone back home....