it seems my spot has been taken

by a four legged creature.  which is great actually :) she has calmed down a lot in the past few weeks and really enjoys just taking naps with us at every opportunity. I had a long weekend and we spent most of our time napping on the couch until one day i came back to the couch only to find she had completely taken over my spot!  we also met a really nice couple this weekend through a neighbor and witnessed yet another incredible sunset!

happy australia day and running in the pindan

 

australia day was yesterday (26 of Jan), though many call it invasion day. anyway it's a bit like our fourth of july except more "bogan." that is apparently equivalent to trailer trash. so that's fun! i had the day off and was totally unproductive. i read a book all day and miski napped with me on the couch between walks on the marsh.  so cute.  that evening jose and i went to a potluck party at a co-workers house and had a blast! my bogan name is shaniqua and jose's is jamario.  we even got honorary australia tattoos (fake).   then today, a bit rough around the edges, we went for a run on the marsh with miski! after all the beautiful, cool rain we've had here it was unbearably hot in the sun today.  we had a lovely, sweaty, pindan-y run and then went home for some leftovers. pindan is the name of the red earth here.  we have loads of video of miski running, rolling, shaking paws on the Derby 2011 Album so happy australia day everyone!

chasing a storm

i know i keep saying this but each storm keeps getting even stronger than the last and is more incredible than the ones before.  i went for a walk with miski today around 5pm. the usually salty, dry, dirty marsh had become an ocean. it was spectacular. the bridge that usually houses a wee bit of water trickling under it had become a full fledged river where the dogs can swim. you could see storm clouds brewing on the horizon. i ran home to get the camera and jose. jose didn't want to go as far as i did so i ran back again to the bridge, taking photos. well i got caught on the way back in the beginning of the downpour and the winds were so strong it was actually kind of scary. i love the storms and the sky here but i was sad to discover that our backyard has become flooded with this particular rain (never happened before) and now miski cannot sleep outside tonight...should be an interesting evening. we have about 1/2 a meter of space for her to pee outside. poor thing. anyway check out the rest of these amazing photos.

impropmtu trip up the gibb river road

we had eggs and pancakes for breakfast this morning, a nice treat! got a call from emmett inviting us to take a little drive up the gibb. we jumped on board for that right away and tried to get to may river but the road was too boggy at the end and we couldn't risk getting stuck.  so we kept going up the gibb a bit more and came to what you see in the photos above - heaps of water cascading over the road from a flooded plain to the right. the water was unbelievably hot but we had a blast running through it and generally being immature. miski loved it which is nice because she is normally afraid of water. this was just enough to be fun without being scary for her. really fun afternoon! sadly miski got car sick or something and had a bit of a barf a few times. poor girl. i guess no more car trips for her...  but emmett and brooke took it in stride and i discovered that i am totally ok to clean up all kinds of vomit if it's my own doggy child. we played fun category car games on the way there and back. now miski is safely tucked away at home having a snooze while it rains outside. nice lazy sunday  see way more photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicole13/Derby2011?feat=directlink  also under Derby 2011 under albums

lazy saturday and brooke in town!

we had a great, lazy saturday and then brooke drove up and we all had dinner together at emmett's place. he cooked up some incredible chicken kabobs that i need to duplicate someday. it was fantastic - great food, great wine, great company. after dinner jose and i joined our friend jamie at the local pub to watch the Asia cup game (Australia vs Iraq). talk about a cultural experience. wow. anyway the boys had fun drinking beer and becoming frustrated at the lack of progress in the game. they had to go into double overtime but australia finally directed a goal just beyond the keepers reach. so that was a very positive end to a great evening! i actually slept in until 8:30 this morning which is absolutely unheard of. here's to a lazy sunday.

lizards and puppies

i finally got a chance to take a photo of one of these funny little lizards. well he isn't so little. it's a blue tongue lizard who had the misfortune of going into our neighbors yard with her two dogs. hopefully he's ok. they have the most amazing blue tongue.  and miski practically jumped out of her skin when i got home from fitzroy! we've enjoyed some lovely rains here, walks on the marsh, dips in the pool and making burgers and having beers on the jetty at sunset. good to be home.

traipsing about in fitzroy again

well it is definitely the wet season here now. it's great because it's not as hot and humid as before and the storms are spectacular. but it does make transport difficult with flooded roads and access to places being cut off. all part of the fun. out in fitzroy this week again for work. got to see a huge goanna which i chased after. i was later told they like to crawl up people because they cannot see well and when threatened they try to reach the highest place. i guess i should not run after them again, but they are too cute. just had the most powerful storm i've ever experienced here. it ripped through for about an hour and made our hotel shake like it was an earthquake. i've never seen lightning or heard thunder like that before. incredible. hopefully we can get back to derby on thursday!

water water everywhere and a little surprise on the doorstep

with the huge rains we've been having there are some parts of the road from broome to derby that are submerged. it is so beautiful this time of year - all green and alive.  still pretty hot and humid but not as bad.  then we were greeted at the front door by a beautiful frog! i was super excited but jose hates frogs. can't see why, he is gorgeous. miski was super excited to see us and i swear she's even bigger than when just four days ago.

fish for dinner and then hungry hungry hippos and other games broke out!

after our successful fishing expedition (well one fish), we took a little nap and then went back to brooke and ash's place for dinner with their neighbors. ash made the fish up with soy, garlic, ginger, and salt. and it came out beautifully! we had loads more food and fantastic mango daiquiris courtesy of jose for the recipe. we all got a bit boozed and that's when the game show games came out! started playing games from the cube and then finished off with the beat the star ending of predicting when toast would pop up. but the highlight of the night for me was when hungry hungry hippos was brought out. i LOVE that game! i walloped a few people and so did jose so we had a face off and annoyingly he beat me at a game he'd only played that night...and that i grew up playing. irritating. anyway that was good fun. totally want to move to broome

finally got ourselves a fishy!

went to broome for work and emmett and jose met us all down here on friday. had an awesome bbq friday night, a lovely day of shopping and garage sale-ing saturday morning and a great brunch in town. then we headed off to the broome jetty for a bit of a fish. wasn't looking good there - all our neighboring fishermen were catching pretty good looking fish but we had nothing. when they left we took over their spot and within 10 minutes got ourselves some dinner! very exciting. i felt bad for the fish but i'm excited to eat him tonight nonetheless.  jose and i caught him together! check out more photos here http://picasaweb.google.com/nicole13/Derby2011?feat=directlink

incredible storm

the wet season has officially started and we've had some incredibly strong and impressive storms. the fitzroy river is way way up and the mud flats have become a lake. the lightning we see here is absolutely incredible.  check out the video - barely does it justice.

fishing day with our first croc sighting!

brooke came up from broome to visit this weekend which was amazing! we went to a couple of parties in town on friday night and had a ball.  saturday we went garage sale-ing and i got some much needed kitchen gear - casserole dish, french press, extra pan, etc.  then we got invited to go fishing and have a picnic out at the river. we accepted of course and had a great light lunch and then fished for quite a while. sadly no fish again this time, apparently it was the wrong time of day for fishing. oh well. it was so much fun though, very relaxing and we got to see our very first wild croc!  just a baby, but dangerous looking nonetheless. you can just make him out in the photo above.  more photos are under Derby 2011 Album

wallaby sighting and miski eats watermelon!

random but we saw a cute wallaby on our way out of broome and got home to a very very excited puppy! we celebrated our return with some watermelon rinds.  she absolutely loves them.  our trip to broome was so great, just still not ready to return to work! see albums/photo section for our new years album or http://picasaweb.google.com/nicole13/Derby2011?feat=directlinkhttp://picasaweb.google.com/nicole13/Derby2011?feat=directlink for our 2011 Derby photos.

another lazy day

got up this morning and went swimming in the ocean at cable beach. it was spectacular, but very strong currents and very salty water kept me from staying in much longer than an hour. we basically lolled around the rest of the day and i got our tix to Bali for this june and started planning. SO excited! Also started planning our trips in november and such...but that's a ways away.  strolled out to town beach to look at roebuck bay (where water fowl come to feed) but it was sweltering so we came home rather quick and had a couple of cold beers and cooked up some sausages for dinner and enjoyed the beautiful sunset and evening rain.  ahhhh. wish we didn't have to leave tomorrow morning!

an amazing end to an amazing new years day

 

wow. i mean this morning was incredible on cable beach. then we came back, had some breakfast, lolled around a bit, had some lunch, took an amazing, drool inducing, coma style nap, read a book, then decided to go for an adventure.  we visited the local cemeteries across the way here, then drove out to gantheaume point here in broome. the sky was incredible, as was the very high tide.  it was breathtaking and mesmerizing to watch the waves. we explored the craggy rocks and i took a million photos. then as we were leaving we were treated to the most amazing rainbow (two actually) i have ever seen in my life.  what a beautiful omen for a great year!  we visited the port and fishing club after that and then came home for an amazing spaghetti and garlic bread dinner followed by beer on the porch and a mythbusters episode! i have to say, today was the best new years day i have ever had and bodes very well for the year.  happy new year everyone. we send our love and best wishes for 2011!  more photos here: new years album!

happy new years day 2011!

because we actually got some rest, emmett and i woke up at the crack of dawn. jose wasn't very impressed but he was coaxed him out of bed with paneton (peruvian christmas cake) and coffee.  leisurely breakfast and then we all headed down to cable beach for a dip in the water. no jellyfish right now and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. hot as hell and humid, but the sky was unbelievable.  had a lovely dip and a walk on the beach. i collected shells of course. a beautiful start to the new year.  happy 2011 everyone. best wishes and love for the new year....though most of you back home haven't had new years yet!  see all our new years photos here: new years album

happy new year from broome!

traveled down to broome in cyclone watch weather.  we got into town and went first to the visitors center where a worker was panicking and said everyone was closing due to the cyclone. we freaked out and went shopping right away and bought heaps of alcohol, food and clothes on sale.  it was pouring but we made it and enjoyed a really awesome, laid back new years in a co-workers flat (she's off traveling). we settled in and cooked up an amazing meal of bbq chicken (jose's special sauce made it excellent), salad and roasted chili potatoes. yum! enjoyed the fireworks on tv, drank some wine and beer, ate grapes (peruvian tradition), burnt cinnamon (another peruvian tradition), lit some sparklers, and popped open a bottle of bubbly.  went to bed right after midnight because we are old and were grateful for feeling fresh the next day!