A very much needed photo update!

I'm not quite sure why the formatting is so weird on this post, sorry if it makes it difficult to read!

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Weekend in Renmark and road tripping home.















We visited the World's Biggest Orange! Be Orange!
You can never escape Wartburg College.


















Monash Adventure Park: Me, Julie, Tariana, and Ellie.



















Monash Adventure Park: Gabby, Tariana, Me, and Ellie























We crossed into Victoria for a photo!


















Me and Ellie at the "How's the Serenity" boat.
Watch the Australian Film, The Castle, to get the joke.



















Me, Gabby, Ellie, Julie, and Tariana standing in a dry fountain... it was a gift from Renmak's sister city in China.


















Evidence that I ate Kangaroo!

It was yummy!

Bron, Brian, me, Tariana, Gabby, and Ellie out for coffee after dinner in Renmark. Ellie and I stayed and Bron and Brian's house while we were away.





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Easter Bilby

In Australia they changed from having an Easter Bunny to an Easter Bilby.
This is a chocolate bilby, it is similar to a bunny, only uglier!





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Hilary and my adventure to Grange Beach!





















Catching some rays... LOVING IT!

I was eating rice cakes... this was just prior to being attacked by the seagulls!
For real. haha.

Hil and me with hair blowing all over!

Me and Hil, we asked someone to take this pic... the man was there with friends that just arrived from Canada! They came from ice and snow too!

I found a dead crab... yuck!

I <3 Stephen

:)

Somebody was wind surfing and had to walk their kite thing back up shore to catch more waves.






















The water was so beautiful!



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Magill Interpretive Trail
















This is the path at the interpretive trail... at every station there was information about Adelaide and the surrounding areas.

















I almost fell off the bridge trying to get this photo!
haha.


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Play group!

Here are a few pictures of some of the kids that come to the playgroup I help with every Wednesday.















Play group... Jack one one of his sisters, Bella.

Play group... Bethany, Sophie, Scarlett, and Ellen.

Me and Bethany at play group, she is the cutest baby- ever.


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Coffee and the city.














Macchaitos in Australia are not the same as Starbucks in the US. They are more like an espresso shot with a bit of froth on top. A new experience.

Sipping on my macchiato. haha.

40s swing dance night.

Me and El hanging out with Hil and Matt in the city one evening.

El and me dressed up!

We were a bit confused because the stairs disappeared!






















Showing off my skinned knees in a dress!

I tripped running... yep.

Lucky 7 (the 40s swing band) it is kind of hard to see the dancers in this picture, they were really good!


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Free Pancakes

At Cafe Primo they give you a free pancake with every entree... yummy!

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The Valentines Flowers Stephen sent me!
I have the best Fiance EVER!
:)

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Trying a few new things.

This was chocolate covered honeycomb... not too bad.

Chocolate covered gummy worms... an interesting thing.

Me and Hil eating the chocolate covered gummy worms.

I don't have a pic of me eating turkish delight... let's just say it wasn't a favorite of mine. :)


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A couple of Random pictures from the city of Adelaide.

Just for you, Amanda Jane :)
American Apparel in Adelaide, Australia... who knew!?

This statue is often referred to "Adelaide's Balls." People were shocked that we didn't see them when we were in the city. It took us intentionally looking for the balls to spot them.


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Helen, Peter, and I spend a 13.5 hour day driving south of Adelaide so Peter do a few counseling sessions and Helen could do some networking... here are a few photos along our way!

Best fruit stand.... EVER! :)

This is Aggie from the fruit stand. He is Greek and knows how to grow some amazing fruit! I'm holding up the free peach he gave me for being such a good customer. haha.

This is the great Murray River. It is the main water source for most places in Australia. As I mentioned in a previous post, if it stops running or gets too low Adelaide and many other cities won't have any source of water.

This is a picture of some of the landscape on our way up to Berri, it is beautiful!

It might be kind of hard to see, but part of the drive is very rocky land. This makes the land almost useless because people can't really live here.

Beautiful view!

We took the car ferry across the Murray River on our way to Wakierie and Berri.

The highways were lined with trees, but after about 20 feet from the road most of it was dirt and rock.



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Lamingtons

Lamingtons, and Australia dessert. Di from the Magill office made these for us... they were very yummy!



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Cricket Game!

After the game... this is a portion of the trash on "the hill." Starting in May Australia is going to stop using plastic bags when you buy things from the stores, I wonder if they'll do anything about all the plastic beer cups... it is highly unlikely.

The cricket field... the game goes from 2:30pm to 9:30 pm!

Hil and I decided to have a familiar American experience, we got hotdogs and chips (fries) at the cricket game.

This is photo of us sitting on "the hill" at the cricket game. As you can see there are a few security guards needing to keep some very excited fans under control.

Weekend in Renmark!

Friday:
Today we had to opportunity to sleep in a bit before coming into work. I wasn't able to sleep in much, but it was nice to have a relaxing morning. I walked to the Magill office where we had lunch and I got caught up on my blogging, was able to check email, etc.

Julie Hahn who is a parent encourager at LCC picked Ellie and I up to help her at a mobile creche for the weekend. Hilary hasn't been feeling well so she stayed behind and was at Helene's house for the weekend. After Julie picked El and I up we went back to Julie's house where we waited for her daughter Tariana (14) to get home from school, then Tariana, Gabby (Julie's other daughter -18), Julie, El, and I headed down to Renmark.

The five of us stopped for dinner at Cafe Primo and got ridiculously stuffed- and we saw rain! haha. It started to downpour for about 15 seconds and at the end of the rain there was one loud crash of thunder. After about a minute you couldn't tell that the ground was even wet. After our tea (dinner) we finished our drive to Renmark.

Once we arrived in Renmark we went straight to the Lutheran school where we were doing the creche to set up for the next morning. After getting everything arranged Julie, Gabby, and Tariana dropped Ellie and me off at Bron and Brian's house while the three of them moseyed to their motel room. It was a bit awkward at first because we didn't know Bron and Brian, it was around 9:30pm, and we were pooped.

After attempting to get to know them better we finally said that we needed to get some rest... our words were beginning to make no sense. However, once we got in bed the neighbors (a place where backpackers come to hang out, crash for a while, etc.) were very loud. So, sleep was difficult.

Saturday:
This morning Bron and Brian had breakfast with us. I tried crumpet... it is a mix between toast and a pancake. It looks like a thick piece of bread, but there are lots of air bubbles and it tastes kind of like a crunch pancake after it has been toasted. Not bad.

Gabby and Tariana picked us up and we headed to the school where I helped the lady in charge of putting together morning tea and serving lunch. Julie told me that it would be good to sit in on the first session of her parenting course because it had a lot to do with sociology, and yesterday I expressed interest of how and why people act the way they do in community. I sat in on the course and really liked what was being taught. Julie is a great "parent encourager" aka teaching people how to parent.

After the first session the four of us set up stations for mums and their children to play and interact together. It was interesting because some mums worked really hard at learning how to play with their children while others stayed back and didn't really interact much. I taught one mum how to play mancala with her daughter. We then broke for lunch and tea.

After tea I asked Julie if she minded if I came in and participated in the rest of the day. The session was about parenting, but really relationships in general. We did a section on the five love languages, which I've read a little of the book but haven't really looked into it a lot... the whole idea makes a lot of sense. Anyways, I was surprised to find out that my love language is touch....I don't think that is what it really is, I just think it is something I've been missing. I didn't realize I was missing it until today. (I'll explain more in a bit).

After the sessions we helped put everything away and headed to the motel pool. I dipped my feet in the water, but really enjoyed sitting and feeling the sun on my skin. It felt so good, I can't even explain it. Julie then dropped us off at Bron and Brian's house where we got ready to go to dinner.

Later on Gabby and Tariana picked El, Bron, Brian, and myself up to find some dinner. We ended up eating at a restaurant at the bottom of a hotel. I ate kangaroo, can you believe it?! haha... it was pretty good! It is a red meat, but has no cholesterol, and is very lean. I passed my plate around the table so that everyone who hadn't tried kangaroo in the past had the opportunity. I was surprised at how much I liked it- yummy. :)

After dinner Brian and Bron walked us around Renmark for a bit and gave us a brief historical tour of the town. We had coffee and this nice restaurant, then Ellie and Tariana fed the possums strawberries that someone gave them. Bron and I were walking and she put her arm around me as we chatted while we walked ahead of the group. The way she touches people really makes you feel good... it might sound a little weird, but Ellie describes her hugs as, "Bron gives you the type of hugs where you didn't even know that you needed one until she hugs you."

Back to what I was talking about earlier with needing touch... once Bron put her arm around me I realized how much I missed touch. People here don't often hug or touch each other when they are communicating and I'm used to being able to hug people when I see them or am leaving. Also, when I'm talking to certain people I intentionally touch them, this may be a hand on the shoulder or arm... if you're one of the people that I touch, I think you know what I mean. Anyways, I realized how much I really miss this. In the past month I got one hug from Larinda from the playgroup, one from Ellie, and my interactions with Broan were my only times touching people.

After touring the town and getting our coffee we headed back to Bron and Brian's house and I read until I crashed in bed.

Sunday:
Today we went to church at St. John's with Bron and Brian. Julie and her daughters also attended but were a little more timely and we ended up not sitting together. The service was pretty good... your traditional Lutheran service. After church Bron stayed for a congregation meeting and Brian took us back to their house to pick up our belongings.

We then decided to be a little touristy on our way home! :)
We drove to Victoria, another state in Australia... this is where the bush fires were. We just drove to the state line and got a few photos of us in Victoria.

After our adventure to Victoria we drove back to Renmark where we get subway and ate off the side of a busy road. Subway basically tastes the same here. We then headed back towards Adelaide and we stopped at a sign for the town called "Morgan." I got a photo of me with the sign :).

We then made a quick stop at the world's largest orange... Be Orange! Then we moseyed our way to Monash where there is a giant playground... GIANT. The Hahn family usually stops here when they are in the area, we played on a it a little then headed to Waikerie. Waikerie has a chocolate shop that is to die for... and Julie needed her dose of hot chocolate with chili. I had never tried chocolate and chili and when I bit into Ellie's piece of dark chocolate with chili and nearly choked. The chili got caught in my throat. Hmm.. never trying that again :).

After our chocolate experience we continued to Adelaide and Julie dropped us off at Helen's house for tea (dinner) and Ellie practiced singing with Tanya who was leading a worship service at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in the city. After tea Tanya and Ellie left early to practice more at the church while the rest of us chatted a bit before heading over. When we got there Hilary and Helene were just getting there.

Ellie did a great job singing... she helped lead The Holden Evening Prayer Service. After the service Helene dropped El and I off at Hosanna Heights where I listened to music and read until I my eyeballs started crossing when I was reading. haha.. it was quite a busy weekend.