Hardgrove Update

Sorry it has been so long since our last update. Life in Sydney is going really well & we are working a lot & playing a lot too! We are trying to take as many weekend adventures as we can, but still save money for our upcoming visitors. We have our friend Molly coming in from Chicago in early October & Molly and I are heading to Tasmania for a week!! I cannot wait to see Molly and go and explore another state of this vast country. We are planning to rent a campervan and drive all around the glorious island...this shouldn't be too hard, as it only takes 3.5 hours to get from the very bottom to the top of the state ;-)

Dale is thinking of going on a week long hike in New Zealand while we are gone...he is still checking it out, but it sounds like it will be really neat. It would be with a hiking group and they would stay in little huts/cabins each night. We will keep you updated on both of these trips.

At Christmas we have my parents coming out to visit for a month. It is going to be wonderful to have my parents out and show them were we live, experience a summer beach BBQ style Christmas and spend some time exploring the South Island of New Zealand for a week.

We are sad to miss all that is happening with our family and friends back home....just a few updates from the US side of things. My little sis had her first little baby girl, Kaycee - born on June 11th. My sister also managed to get married and buy her first home while we have been away....I still tease her on all of these things happening in the first 9-months of me being away. I am so happy for her, but very sad that I have missed all of these wonderful 'firsts' in her life.

Kaycee - just 2 days old...she is just SO beautiful! I am so excited to be an auntie to another beautiful little niece. I can't wait to hold her and snuggle her!! I have met her through the webcam though, I hope that she will at least know how I am when we get back to the US.
Speaking of cute little nieces, my sweet niece Isela is growing up so quickly.

Playing at grandma and grandpa's house.

Isela wearing the little koala hat that I sent her....and loving on the little koala stuffed animal.

There are many more updates...and I promise to post more soon, but need to call it a night for now. I have spent many, many hours today updating our site (also updated our Shutterfly site a lot as well - link in the top right corner of this blog will take you there) - password is sunflower.

Love ~Mandi and Dale

Girls Weekend in Kiama

I went away for a girls weekend back in June to Kiama...about 2-hours South of Sydney. It was a great weekend and the girls definitely had a great time getting away for the weekend!

Melinda & Mandi at breakfast
Mandi, Rebecca & Melinda - chillin before the big night out!

Rebecca, Mandi & Melinda - out on the town

The gals relaxing before the night out!

First Visitor Down Under....

We had our first visitor back in April & it really doesn't feel like it was that long ago. It feels like it was just a month or so ago. It was absolutely wonderful having Tripti here & we loved showing her our new home and sharing a few of our favorite places with her. One of those is....Phamish! I think Phamish is Dale's favorite restaurant thus far in Sydney...it is a 'very' small family owned Vietnamese restaurant & there is usually a queue out the door when you arrive since they are only open ~6pm-10pm each night....so it is a very popular place and BYO (which happens to be one of my favorite parts!). We did many things around Sydney during Tripti's visit. We went out to dinner, attended our very first Flugtag event (basically where they drive objects that are supposed to fly off the end of a very big ramp), and introduced Tripti to a few of our Sydney friends.

First on the list were the bats! During the summer, we have them flying by our apartment window. It is pretty cool, but Dale tells me that I will think it is cool until one of them flys inside our apartment for a little visit. OK, he may have a point.....

Then I tried to find my little gecco buddy, he lived out on our patio all summer long...then he just vanished. I was really upset when he left, he was my little friend and he was always around hanging out on the patio when I got home. I think it was just too cold & he had to go and find another home for a few months during the fall and winter months & that he will come back once it gets warm again, but Dale says that someone stepped on him and he is not coming back to visit. He did looks just like a little twig if you weren't paying attention...I guess it could happen; but I am still hopeful he will come back this summer! ;-)

After our adventures around Sydney, we were off to New Zealand for a week. It was truly amazing in New Zealand and you can see a full update of photos & stories on our Shutterfly site. You will find a link to this site just at the top of our blog (top right - password is sunflower). Hope you enjoy! There were just too many photos to try and post separately on this page.

Sydney Update

We had a really busy weekend last weekend (early August) - Friday evening we went down in to the Rocks for dinner and then on to the Sydney Observatory for a night of stargazing. It was really amazing...we took a look through the oldest (still operable) telescope in the world and one of the newest. We were able to see Jupiter and its rings; a few star clusters that make up the Southern Cross (only able to see in the Southern hemisphere) and a few additional star clusters. It was really quite neat.

The next morning we were up early and back down to Circular Quay for a whalewatching cruise. It was a brisk morning, so were were both bundled up and ready for a few hours out on the boat.

Unfortunately the whales weren't fully cooperating, but it was still really neat to see as much of the whales as we did. There were 3 next to us and each whale was ~ 3.5 times the size of the boat we were on. They were each about 30.5-40 tons...so it was amazing just to know that they were in the water just next to us. We are definitely going to try this out again, in the hopes that we will see more next time around! I think we will try it again when Molly is out for a visit in early October.

Mandi all bundled up for the chilly few hours of whale watching

Dale all bundled up too - he looks much cooler than I do though!

You can just see the top of two of them in this photo above

There was a big 'Sydney to Surf' race today & they closed down one of the major roads in the city for the race. It happened to be New South Head Road which is right where our apartment is located. It was pretty neat to watch the runners come up our street this morning (by the hundreds)! Here are few shots I took....

Cambodia

I had an amazing opportunity to make a recent trip to Cambodia. I wasn't even sure what I was in for until I began searching on the internet to see a bit on the background and history of Cambodia.

I had never dreamed that I would have an opportunity to go....well I can say I did it now and now I would love to go back multiple times.

One Night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster....

You have all probably heard the song, I don't need to finish the lyrics for you. But after visiting Bangkok and taking a journey down to the red light district, I completely understand where the lyrics come from now....
I saw many beautiful sites around the city -- the photo to the left is the Grand Palace and the elephant statue below is a beautiful marble statue just down the street from the Grand Palace.
I stumbled across the flower market in Bangkok, it was amazing. There were thousands of orchids in stacks all along the street, it was one of the most beautiful sites I have seen. They were so vibrant and fresh.

Rebecca and I visited the Sky Bar that evening; there were amazing views of Bangkok.

We continued on to explore the red light district...now that was quite the experience, you could say it was a 'once in a liftime' experience...meaning I don't think you will ever find me exploring the red light district of Bangkok anytime soon :-)

Then, there is the morning after....
Here I am just before our flight departed to Siem Reap, Cambodia....where the adventure really began.

Thailand Adventures

I recently took a trip to Bangkok, Thailand - it was a really fast-paced city full of shopping everywhere....as most of you probably guessed already - I was in heaven!! I arrived very late in the evening and I had to get myself from the airport to the hotel to meet my friend...of course the taxi drivers don't speak English very well but thankfully I was headed to the Four Seasons...so that definitely helped.

I joined my friend that had a meeting in Bangkok on Friday, so I was able to crash in her hotel with her. So we were spoiled for the first 2-nights in Bangkok. Our journey then continued to Cambodia, where we stayed in a very small family owned hotel...similar to a hostel but we had our own private bathroom ;-)

Throughout the next few stories are just a few of the photos I took during my very short visit in Bangkok. I tried to see as much of the city as I could and of course find any markets where they were willing to bargain for beautiful goods.

There were amazing temples and statues throughout the city....