The End

Molly enjoys swimming in the ocean!

So this is my last post on this blog. The Keys are no longer Down Under, so it's time to bring things to a close. Here's the latest on our lives:

1. We're currently living in a hotel room in Oakland, California. It's not ideal with our dog Molly, but we get free breakfast and dinner, and we're not too far from a BART station, so we can get to San Francisco pretty easily. We're trying to make the most of our time in California, going to baseball games (A's vs. Cards today), going on hikes around the Bay Area with Molly, eating at cool restaurants, etc.




2. We bought a house in Denver, Colorado. I actually flew into and out of Denver on Friday for the closing! It wasn't our original plan upon moving back to the US, but once we saw how much renting in the San Francisco area would cost, how low the interest rates were for mortgages, how much we loved Denver when we drove through there on our way out here, and how ready we were to have a house again and have our belongings all in one place, we decided to take a look around when we were in the area. We found a house we loved in the West Wash Park area, put in an offer, and now we move in at the end of July!

3. Zack got put on a project working in Berkeley, California that lasts until at least October of 2014. This means that he'll be flying out of Denver for work on Monday morning and coming back on Thursday night. The first few years of our marriage were spent this way (with him traveling), and it sort of works for us. Plus, Zack loves California, so he'll get the best of both worlds with Cali during the week and Denver on the weekends!

Our hotel room before I unpacked the boxes.

4. We got our shipment of stuff from Australia delivered to our hotel room earlier this week. We didn't have a ton of stuff (mostly clothes), so it actually all fits in our room (including the surfboards!). It's a bit crowded, but we'll survive for a month.

5. We celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary on July 5. We're going to spend the July 4th/anniversary weekend camping at Lake Tahoe. I'm looking forward to an awesome time!

6. I'm working on organizing and posting the thousands of pictures we took on our trip throughout Asia. Some are up already, but eventually they will all be here.

We'll always look back on our time in Australia with fond memories. Deciding to move there for two years was one of the best decisions of our lives. Thanks for reading our blog and following along with our adventures. If you are ever thinking about the expat life or even just visiting any of the places we've been, feel free to contact me with questions or for suggestions.

On to our next adventure...

Our home sweet home in Denver!

Grampians are Great!

I will fully admit that we are total Colorado snobs. Australia is gorgeous, but in a completely different way than our old home. We used to spend our weekends mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking, whitewater rafting, snowshoeing, and camping among some of the most beautiful 14,000+ foot mountains in the world, and it was amazing. So we sometimes find ourselves snickering at the so-called "hikes" here in Australia. Mountain biking among the kangaroos is a unique experience, but the word "mountain" is a rather inaccurate term. And we won't even go near the overpriced bunny hills they call ski resorts out here. But you know what? We went to the Grampians last weekend, and we were truly impressed!

Zack had this past Monday off from work, because it was Labour Day. We took advantage of the long weekend and drove about three hours outside of Melbourne to camp in Grampians National Park. Emily came along with us (Adam had to work), and we met up with Todd and Alena as well.

On Saturday, all five of us did a beautiful hike called the Mount Stapylton Loop. It was 12.2 km, and it took us about five hours to complete. But we stopped a lot to take pictures, eat lunch, fool around, etc. The hike was awesome: great views, some rock scrambling, cool formations, perfect weather with bright blue (dare I say Colorado-ish?!) skies, and fun friends. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

Boy shot-Todd and Zack ride the "camel" rock.

Girl shot-Emily, me, and Alena-sitting pretty near the top of Mt Stapylton.

We attempted several times to get a decent jumping picture with all of us in it.
This was the best one. We had fun trying!

We definitely want to go back to this area of Victoria. Zack and our friends were musing about how the Grampians is what they pictured Australia would be like when they came over here. For me, it just reminded me of Colorado, and that made me happy! I'll have a couple more Grampian posts coming up about camping, the waterfall, and our day spent rock climbing, but for now, I'll leave you with a picture dedicated to our Colorado roots...Zack doing the Tim Tebow pose!