//saturday//

::lazy saturday::

Today we went to a spring fair at a local Anglican Church. First stop was the bouncing house, then onto the balloon animals.

davis in the bouncy house

green sword (no longer with us after a tragic pop) and yellow dog

snack time in the grass outside

The rest of the day was spent at home in the backyard. I drove for the first time and we all survived! I only turned the wipers on once instead of the blinker. The hardest parts for me are the fact that the blinker is on the right side of the wheel and the wipers are on the left. There are round-a-bouts everywhere here. You enter them from the left, another brain freeze for me. I have noticed that people are friendly while driving here. Even driving in Sydney people will let you over and not cut you off. We have not been honked at... yet.

Thomas and I are heading to Sydney on Sunday!

//baking in Australia//

I bake to relax. Something abut throwing together ingredients and creating something {hopefully} edible is enjoyable to me. However, when something does not turn out the way the picture told me it would look I tell myself I will never bake again.

Carlie made a d e l i c i o u s pavlova when we first got it. It. Was. Good. It was beautiful too, with raspberries and strawberries on top. I found a recipe and decided I would give it a go. I am hooked! So far I have made two and I'm already thinking about the next flavor/topping I will make. 

Measurements here are a little tricky but it helps to use an Australian cookbook :) some ingredients are called something different than what I am used to reading. 

rocket = arugula 

Icing sugar= powdered sugar

Capsicum = red bell pepper

another dessert I have wanted to try for a while is the macaron. We had a lot of lemons so I found a lemon and coconut recipe. Taste wise it turned out great but I didn't nail the texture or look. 

 Ingredients 

 The finished product

I hope to visit Luduree for {real deal} macarons when we go to Sydney. Hopefully I will be inspired to try again. 

trip to the zoo!

On Friday we took Davis to the Shoalhaven Zoo to celebrate his 3rd birthday. The drive was about 30 minutes from Gerringong. The drive itself was beautiful. When we walked in the gates Davis spotted the slide right off. After about 20 minutes of Davis sliding, we walked around to see the animals.

Davis on the slide.

Animals we saw that were new to us: the dingo, wombat, wallaby and kangaroo. The koala was on a plane from Victoria the day we visited.

I think I had more fun than Davis or Thomas! We held the wombat for a "family" photo! He was pretty much a big baby. Davis was brave and touched a baby crocodile and snake! Yet he would not pet the wombat or the baby possum.

The zoo itself was more like an animal park. It was very rustic, which I liked. The zookeeper made it sound like a majority of the animals they had were rescued. The zoo was situated along the Shoalhaven river and was at the base of steep rocks.

My highlight of the trip was feeding the kangaroo joey. I could have taken our little friend home with us.

Zookeeper holding the wombat

Martin family Christmas card!

Davis feeding the goats

Davis and the peacock he chased around the zoo

Davis feeding our friend new family member

Davis and the dingoes

Thomas, Davis and the water buffalo with their long tongues

Thomas, Davis and the camel who wanted to give Thomas a kiss

 

 

 

Georgia and Baxter's new brother...or sister!

We will definitely head back to see/hold the koala.

On our way back we stopped in Berry for a quick lunch and then dessert at the Milkwood Bakery. 

Davis and his chocolate cupcake.

update from down unda'

Davis is 3! That is the big news around here. We celebrated all day, made pizza for dinner, ate birthday cake and opened gifts.  I told Davis we could celebrate his birthday for two days, one day for his Australian b-day and one day for his American birthday. His response...."I might get sick if I celebrate for two days." I replied, "Too much cake will make you sick?" his answer, "yes".

The past few days have been pretty quiet. Sunday was a full day for Thomas. We all went to the evening service Sunday night. They sang happy b-day to Davis and had cupcakes. The congregation is so very thoughtful and kind. We heard a group from YWAM speak on the work they are doing in and around Papa New Guinea. Hamburgers for dinner!

Monday we went on our second adventure. We drove about 20 min north to Shellharbour. Thomas needed something for the computer. We ventured into the Target which I quickly realized was not like American target. It was nice but not what I expected. No Phillip Lim for Target here :(

Tuesday was birthday celebration day. {see above}

The last few nights it has rained poured here. Today it is sunny and warm out. Low 60's to mid 70's by the afternoon.

We spend most mornings around the house drinking coffee and watching the news and curious george. Davis and I usually head outside to play in the backyard or the playground up the street.

I do miss Atlanta with all the choices of shops/grocery stores/restaurants but I am enjoying having fewer choices. It does make life easier in a way. There is one grocery store, one bakery, one coffee shop, a few restaurants and 5 playgrounds within walking distance. People are friendly and don't seem to be in such a hurry. Life is relaxed here.


We are planning to head to a zoo on Friday to celebrate Davis' birthday. We look forward to seeing kangaroos, koala bears and other Australian things.

#martinsdownunder

trip to kiama

kiama is about 10 minutes from where we are. we took our first trip {by ourselves} out of gerringong. thomas is doing a great job driving. i have not tried driving here yet. maybe soon.

our fearless driver

we grabbed a cup of coffee and walked across the street to...wait for it....a playground. they are seriously on every corner. we walked around the shops, mainly a bookstore, toy store and a pharmacy type store that was closing for the day... at 3pm!

 we walked down to the water and sat there for a bit letting davis throw rocks in the water. there was another playground here too.

we enjoyed our fish and chips dinner outside by the playground. made it back to gerringong by 6pm when it was getting dark.

davis playing in kiama

it has rained here the past two nights. very peaceful falling asleep to rain here. the weather has been cool but should warm up later this week. tomorrow is thomas' first sunday preaching at church. 

sky in kiama

goodnight from the martins in australia.

follow our adventures on instagram: #martinsdownunder

 

tour of the town

Today we walked. we shopped. we took pictures. we were tourist.

Davis slept till 9:30 so our day started out l a z y

We were able to Facetime with Peter and Carlie, and both of our parents/siblings! We also got to see baxter and georgia.

Our first stop was the blue espresso bar for a cappuccino. We walked across the street so Davis could play at the playground. mom and dad enjoyed their coffee :)

We walked down to the town square and visited the post office, bakery to order Davis' birthday cake!, grocery store for a few things and to the bank. 

After lunch we walked up to the Gerringong Headland (picture above and below).

We promised Davis ice cream after our walk. We sat on the hill pictured below and enjoyed the views.

 We drove to another playground, pirate themed, and let Davis run out his energy.

After dinner Thomas headed to church for youth night. Davis and I played with legos, cars, watercolor paints and read books before bed.

what better way to end the day than to watch kindergarten cop. ha!

#martinsdownunder

Australia: {week 1}



 We are here {have been for almost a week} and still can't believe it! We have known about this exchange for about a year, so to be here is surreal. The picture above was taken at Sublime Point which had amazing panoramic views of the coast. We made this stop halfway between Sydney and Gerringong. And so began the difference between American coffee and Australian coffee, more on that later.

We were warmly greeted by Carlie and Peter at the Sydney Airport. After talking with them over emails and Facetime it was great to meet them in person! We were sad for them to leave and head to Atlanta! We all wanted to hang out a bit more, but we look forward to seeing them at Thanksgiving!

So, to cram 6 days into one blog post...here we go:
- driving on the "wrong" side of the car on the "wrong" side of the road is taking some getting used to
- "cuppa" = cup of tea
- light switches are opposite. turn a light on you switch it down. turn it off, up
- lemonade here is fizzy/bubbly
- coffee is a bit different, short black is more like an espresso instead of a small black coffee with no  cream
- visited the blow hole at Kiama
- went to ShellHarbour for Thomas to get a phone. 
- attended morning worship and evening worship at Gerringong Uniting Church

The views here are a m a z i n g. There are no words to describe it.
You look one way and you see water. Look another and you see hills, green pastures, cows, mountains. We were able to spot some whales way out in the ocean the other day.

Everyone here is so friendly. We have been welcomed by the church and are so thankful. We had a wonderful lunch with a couple from church today and they even brought their dog so Davis (and Thomas and I) could get our dog cuddles in. Baxter and Georgia are missed.

Thomas has jumped right in to work. While he is out visiting people or teaching, Davis and I have been exploring. There are playgrounds on every corner it seems like and of course the sand at the beach can't be beat.
 
The church had a nice lunch and welcome/send-off for both of our families.

looking forward to more adventures.
#martinsdownunder