Twenty20

While Josh was away training in the US, Kristi had the opportunity to go to a Twenty20 cricket match between Australia and South Africa with Maria, a good friend from work. Twenty20 cricket derives its name from the basis of this style of the game - that each team is only allowed a single inning of 20 overs. As such, it is a much faster game than the Test Cricket that we went see on Boxing Day. The game only lasted about 3 hours and was much more action-packed. The excitement of the night was that a new player, David Warner, came out with gun's a blazin' and made 89 of the 182 points scored by Australia - it was quite impressive! (Unfortunately, the next game he came out and only scored 7 before he was taken out...apparently too much pressure!) We had a wonderful evening and, since Maria is a serious cricket fanatic, it was great fun to watch and learn a bit more about the game!

Back and with Mac

Josh here with an update on travels. It has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks here for the Aussie Kails, we returned from Lord Howe on Jan. 3 and I took off for a week of training in wintry Chicago on the 4th - not much time to pack or adjust and a lot of time in an airplane seat. The trip back provided a great opportunity for a brief Kail gathering in Chicago since it meant "only" a 6hr drive for the Iowa and KC Kails. Mom, Dad, Tim and Rachel met me at O'Hare where not surprisingly one of my bags was delayed and ended up on the next flight - luckily that was only 45min later! The big secret of the trip was that I had brought along Dad's Christmas present - a new guitar made from Australian woods. It didn't take long for it to get tuned up at the baggage claim and strumming to start. Throughout the rest of the night it would make appearances as songs came to mind or were requested by the rest of the group. I also got to experience the massive amount of choices involved in the salad buffet at Sweet Tomatoes, we're not in Melbourne anymore Toto! Though not long enough, it was fantastic to see the family again and catch up, share pictures and stories and start to plan the next visit for Mom and Dad in May.

Once it got to the point that I couldn't keep my eyes open it was time to get checked into training at the 'Q Center' in St. Charles, IL. For being a massive campus, it was very empty as not many people were taking training this time of year. It was nice to get reconnected to folks from the US and the course was helpful in reminding me of some of the 'things to think about' once I start looking for the next promotion in a couple years. The training also reminded me that I am US Lactose Intollerant - apparently something happens in US cheeses and milks that my body doesn't like. I can eat almost any cheese in Oz that I like, but one slice on a sandwich during training kept me up half the night with stomach cramps! Which brings up another point - I never actually adjusted to US time, was never hungry at the 'right' time of day and had trouble sleeping nearly every night. It did make re-adjusting to Melbourne easy, but made it a bit tough to get through the week in Chicago.

Last but not least on the whirlwind was a quick visit to Denver! (For those keeping track: 6hrs with the Kails, 5 days in training, 23hrs in Denver) Heidi picked me up at the airport (and for once all my bags actually arrived) and we headed to Stapleton to do a quick look at our house (and wine cellar) and then meet up with Carmen, Jim and Shannon for dinner. Though not without dramas in actually getting a table, the restaurant was nice, the wine was good and it was so awesome to catch up with everyone. I really enjoyed seeing Shannon again after 2yrs - so much has changed and I'm really looking forward to her Australian visit in March. The other news of the visit was collecting all the various Christmas gifts and purchases that we had received/made during the holidays. The largest purchase being a new laptop - a Macbook! I'm super-excited about this change especially since our old laptop in Melbourne has a screen that no longer holds itself up, has no working CD drives and only works on USB1.1 rather than USB2. Some of that means nothing to many of you, but the bottom line was that it was time for an upgrade. We've now had a bit of time to transfer pictures and music over as well as explore the different touchpad functions, programs and set-up. Thus far it has been a steep learning curve, but I'm still optimistic that we made the right choice. We've already edited a video even - look out Brother Tim, I'm hot on your tail in the video space now!!

So to wrap things up, I'm glad that I was able to squeeze so much into such a short amount of time but it also really makes me look forward to being home-home when our time in Australia is done. It has been a wonderful experience that I would never trade, but I do miss family, friends, mountains, and home.

Holiday Travels

With mandatory breaks from work, we took the opportunity and expanded our Australian travels to Lord Howe Island located off the coast of New South Wales. Known for bird and coral life, no mobile phone coverage and having more bicycles than cars, we were really excited to explore this World Heritage-listed place.

Our first stop was Sydney for a stopover before an early flight the next day. Having been to Sydney a few times we didn't have anything specific to see or do, so we relaxed around Circular Quay and the Botanic Gardens, ending up at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The current Monet exhibit was a great way to escape the heat and humidity and get a bit of culture at the same time. After the gallery it was time to head off to dinner and a movie at one of Sydney's popular tourist and local attractions, Govinda's. To make 'dinner and a movie' easy, Govinda's puts on a large vegetarian buffet, and then also show movies above the restaurant. The buffet was full of tasty Indian foods, the movie was unique (Burn After Reading), and the futons were comfy - overall a memorable experience.

The next morning brought our flight to Lord Howe, and after a bit of repacking to meet the 14kg/person limit on luggage we went to meet our little aircraft. No dramas on the flight and before long we'd landed on the island, met our host, and hopped into the van to take us to our apartment accommodation. We stayed at Leanda-Lei, which just happened to be associated with one of the boat tour operators on the island, allowing us to quickly plan out some activities for the week including a turtle cruise that afternoon. We spent the middle of the day exploring the area on foot, ending up at the lagoon to meet our boat to snorkel and search for turtles. The turtle cruise was a great success with many of the massive reptiles spotted (and of course photographed) proving that it is a big plus to have a local guide that knows where each turtle likes to hang out. Our first snorkel experience was also amazing with the amount of colorful corals around and also seeing both an eel and a nudibranch. The area was so full of marine life, it was definitely an indicator of how much more we would see throughout the week.

Our second day on the island brought the biggest challenge - a climb up Mount Gower, 855m of rock that defined almost half of Lord Howe Island. We booked in with Jack Shick, a 5th generation islander, to take us up and down the mountain on the 14km return hike. Jack was great both in terms of knowledge of the terrain and island history. He also turned out to be quite the photo-buff and gave Josh a few more tips to consider for his photography. The brochures and websites about the hike failed to mention exactly how challenging the 'moderate-hard' walk would be, but had we known that it involved sheer cliff faces and using ropes to pull yourself up steep and slippery inclines, we may have reconsidered having the walk on our itinerary. As it was, by the time we realised the difficulty we were too far in and had to continue to the top to get a rest. The view at the top was amazing and the clouds parted to show the full island beneath us with some spectacular colors in the lagoon waters. We enjoyed our sandwiches and pretzels, psyching up for the challenging descent. Taking our time and staying as safe as possible we picked our way back to the bottom - proud that we'd made it, but also pretty well tired and sore.

After a challenging day on dry land, we decided it was time to spend a day with the fishes and starting out feeding some of the semi-tame Kingfish found at Ned's Beach. These are not small fish, but they've learned over the years that if they hang out in the shallow water people will wade in and feed them bread. Not wanting to disappoint, we brought along a few slices and had a blast watching these massive fish go chasing after little bread morsels. Josh took the camera and got a couple shots underwater as well, though it is easier to see the size of the fish from Kristi's above-water photos. We had time for a quick snorkel around the reef at Ned's beach and then it was time to get ready for the afternoon's adventure - fishing! Leanda-Lei had organised a boat for some of their guests and we got to go along with a view towards catching our dinner. Having never fished in the ocean we didn't know what to expect except sun and water. With 5 fisherpeople aboard, the guides had decided that we would use hand-lines rather than poles for fishing. This allowed everyone to be fishing at the same time without getting into each others way and causing tangles. First stop was south of the island towards Ball's Pyramid where Josh got the first bite AND the first fish (not on the same spot). The first bite ended up being a small shark who proceeded to bite through the line once he got close to the boat, and the first fish was a good sized kingfish that proceeded to ruin Josh's shirt by bleeding everywhere. At least it was only the shirt being the biggest casualty of the day and nothing more serious. After moving to a different fishing spot the bites really started to be fast and furious with Kristi taking home the honors of both the biggest shark hooked (1.5m long Gallapagos Whaler Shark) and the biggest fish (another bigger kingfish) for the day. Our fishing buddies also had some good luck bringing in quite a few of their own Kingfish, a few Trevally, and a Bluefish. It was a great experience for our first ocean fishing trip, and fresh caught and grilled Kingfish is a treat that we enjoyed for two dinners and two lunches!

After all the excitement of the first two days, we spent the rest of the week either in the water scuba diving, snorkeling or kayaking, or on land traipsing around the island watching the various birds go about their lives. Josh was extremely happy to be back under the water and the diving was excellent with plenty to see including more turtles, sharks, eels and of course urchins. The dining on Lord Howe was actually very impressive and we enjoyed a few very nice meals out on various verandas with a pleasant breeze and the night sky. After a quiet New Years Eve we spent a glorious calm New Years Day with a morning scuba and an afternoon of reading books in the shade of pine trees overlooking the lagoon. We very much enjoyed our time on Lord Howe Island and by the time we got home we felt rested, relaxed and ready for a fun-filled 2009.