Auckland is awesome!

Seriously awesome! Long journey to get here but loving our holiday! Met mom and ray here yesterday. Today we are in rotorua. Who knew there were redwood trees here!

we're aussies!

yay! we're australian residents as of today!  so excited we now have healthcare! we celebrated with one of the special wines we bought in Perth last year.

we decorated our office and are planning to win the prize of best decorated department...and we really got into it!  we hung snowflakes, lights, wrapped most of the boards on the wall, hung hand made decorations and I painted the back window which was SO fun!  hope we win!   Exciting update...............WE WON!!!! 

new car!

yay!  we finally got ourselves a proper 4 wheel drive....after over a year over here with suv envy.  very excited about getting to take it out camping and fishing and all kinds of adventures :)  my favorite part though has to be the fact that the car name (pajero) actually means wanker in spanish.  hilarious! 5 more days until new zealand!!!

hospital christmas party

had a great time at the hospital christmas party this year - held at the boab inn.  all of our department came and we had a blast. it was SO hot though.  bonus was the fact that it was a full moon and a lunar eclipse too!

fishing and seafood

talk about yum. jose went fishing a week ago or so and got some catfish. then this week he got his first barramundi!  so exciting.  we've been eating way more fish and other seafood lately which has been a nice treat.

we went to the local art auction the other night - something i've been waiting a year for also.  we managed to pick up the two prints shown above (one by mark norvall and one by tina higgins).  They are such good finds.  also got the bottom print from the mowanjum art centre. i've been coveting these prints for ages.  a few more pieces we've picked up here

december boab flowers

i've waited an entire year to see these beautiful, fragrant flowers.  they are all over the boab trees already and are absolutely stunning.  more photos here

stunning sunset - looked like jupiter

what an amazing sunset.  to me it looked like jupiter.  i just loved this sunset and it was easy to get lost in the sky.  more photos here 

sunsets and full moons

getting some better sunsets lately but no real storms which is sad. beautiful full moon recently and a lunar eclipse too! didn't get a snap of the eclipse but it was beautiful and orange. on the same night as our hospital xmas party!  that was very fun :)  pics to come later