Winter Down Under

So we just about made it through our first Australian winter…can’t say it’s been too bad. In fact, just last weekend over 60,000 people decided to brave the winter weather for one of the country’s largest races…the City2Surf annual fun run. The idea behind the race is that all the runners start out in the middle of Sydney’s central business district and run about 14 km to Sydney’s most famous beach, Bondi. Carey and Greg both participated in the event…just not quite exactly in the same way. Carey got up early in the morning to meet up with some friends to run the race, while Greg slept in and met up with some other friends for a nice leisurely breakfast. The plan was for Greg to be down at the finish line to take some pics of Carey as she triumphantly finished the race, however breakfast went a little longer then expected and by the time Greg got down to Bondi everyone was already in the pub for the post race festivities. All was not lost however, we managed to enjoy the rest of the Sunday afternoon in the pub celebrating.

The weekend of the City2Surf was also the weekend of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which are quite the big deal in Australia. Nothing seems to get the Aussies more excited than sporting competitions. And for such a small country (20 million people) they manage to hold their own pretty well. As we write this entry, they currently stand fifth in the overall medal count thanks mainly to their skills competing in all things water related. Whether it’s swimming, sailing, kayaking, rowing, or playing water polo, the Aussies seem to thrive in the water. And they seem to get the biggest thrills out of beating the Americans, which thanks to Michael Phelps didn’t happen too often this year.

While the City2Surf and the Olympics have been two of the bigger events of the final month of the Australian winter, we also managed to squeeze in a birthday party for two of our good friends who both turned 30 this year. The night involved lots of drinking and dancing, which seems to always lead to two things…Carey breaking out some sort of accent and Greg breaking out his infamous cup dance. On this particular night Carey decided to try to impress a Scottish couple with her ability to speak with a Scottish accent. And while they thought it was quite amusing, I don’t think anyone will be confusing her for Sean Connery anytime soon. As for the cup dance, its Australian debut (which is actually pronounced de-boo down here) was successful as can be evidenced in the pictures below.

Winter down under isn't so bad...although I think we're both ready to start hitting the beaches again!