Back home again, again.

We're back home again from our latest trip. We had a great, relaxing time in Belize. We dove three days (including the Blue Hole dive). All of our dives were amazing, and I really feel like I'm getting the hang of it (15 dives in four months does a lot for my confidence). On our very last dive we were with just one other couple and two dive masters, so the dive masters rigged up a feeding contraption to lure a lot of fish and nurse sharks. So we spent the last dive with about 8-10 nurse sharks. It was quite amazing. Of course, they're harmless as you can see by these photos. The water was pretty choppy, though, so that stirred up a lot of the sand on the bottom so the pictures are a little grainy.

So we can finally put our passports away for a little while, but that doesn't mean our travels are over. Far from it. In August we're going to Kansas City to spend a few days with my sister and her family, and then off to Nashville to visit some of Dave's family. We sure don't sit still long. Bella and Wesley are starting to look at us like we're strangers.

Keeney's Set New Depth Record From Belize

Our summer of travel has continued to one of our favorite spots: San Pedro, Belize. We arrived on Wednesday and quickly made our way to the Blue Water Grill for rum punches and Belikens. Belize has a contest that they are famous (or is it infamous) for. They put down a board with a bunch of numbers on it, put up a net around the board and drop a live chicken onto it. The chicken does his business and the lucky number that gets crowned wins. Hence, the Ckicken Drop. We didn't win, which was bad because we didn't win the pot, but good because we didn't have to clean up after the chicken so it was a push.

Yesterday was a leisurely day on the beach and then a stroll into town. We had dinner at Elvi's Kitchen which is the same as we left it - fantastic local food. Since we hadn't been adventurous in about 3 weeks (or since we got back from Australia) we ventured out for our first dive to Blue Hole today. The boat ride takes about 2 1/2 hours from Ambergris Caye and started at 5:30 this morning. Blue Hole's depth is around 430 feet; we went as far as 140 feet which was a new depth record both of us. It was kind of crazy because we were at 45 feet one minute and the next 120! The walls opened up at that depth and there were these huge stalagtites hanging down that you could swim through. Gretchen did great! Her eyes kind of bugged out (as did mine) when she heard that it was a 130 foot dive but the adventurer in her took the challenge by the horns and now she can saw she's been there and done that.

We still have until Wednesday with no itinerary. More blogs to come..

So now what?

Since we've been planning this Australia trip for years, it's quite strange now that it's done and over with. Now I kind of have this feeling of "Now what?" We've been chasing this carrot of Australia for so long, that it's pretty quiet without it. But, we don't rest on our laurels too long. Today we fly to Belize for a week of R&R and more diving there. OK, so it may seem like a bit much to you after a month-long trip, but hey, we figured we might as well use up some more frequent flyer miles. Plus my new job working for Dave provides a bit more flexibility when it comes to vacation time (especially when the boss is going along) ;) We have really enjoyed these last couple of weeks of me starting to work for him and figure we just might be able to make this gig work. I guess now we're just finding new carrots to chase.

So it's adios again for a little while, but that also means more trip pictures for me to post when we get back from Belize :)

Sydney photos

By the time we reached Sydney at the end of the trip, we were pretty wiped out. But here are a few pictures from the harbour city, including Darling Harbour and Manly Beach.
So there it is, our month-long trip in a nut shell. I was beginning to think that it was going to take me another month just to post all the pictures.

Tasmania Photos

We added Tasmania to the itinerary when we extended the trip because we thought, "why not?" So going into it we had few exectations and no plans. And we were very pleasantly surprised by the place. Great people, unique history, towns with character. There is nothing west of Tasmania until you get to South America and it's southern neighbor is Antarctica. These first pictures are from the Tasmanian Devil conservation center we visited. The stone building is the penetentary at Port Arthur and the remaining pictures are from our day of hiking around Cradle Mountain.

Great Ocean Road Photos

I've fallen a little behind on getting these all posted. Today's photos come from the Great Ocean Road. I think Dave did it justice with his photography.
-A friendly reminder
-Our car at the start of the GOR in Torquay
-Bells Beach, a big surfing spot
-Yes, those are kangaroos, and yes, they are on a golf course. Fore!
-Cape Otway lighthouse
-We encountered this cow as we left the lighthouse
-Twelve Apostles, probably my favorite picture from the trip
-Loch Ard gorge, the site of a horrible shipwreck that left only two survivors
-London Bridge

Melbourne photos

In Melbourne we took in an Aussie Rules Football ("Footy") game and enjoyed all the animals in their great zoo... except for the pelican who wanted my sandwich!

Perth photos

Wreckage from the Batavia shipwreck from the 17th century at the Fremantle Shipwreck Galleries.
The Perth skyline from King's Garden, just above our hotel.
Elizabeth Mall in Fremantle ("Freo").
Dave and the Indian Ocean at Cottesloe.
The Fremantle Prison; built in 1850 by convicts and used as a maximum security prison until 1991.

Uluru/Kata Tjuta

Next stop: the Red Centre!



Uluru before, during and after sunset.

We went for a sunrise camel ride one morning. It was so cold before the sun went up. Our camel's name was Gibson.

Kata Tjuta

During our Kata Tjuta hike.

Finding Nemo in Cairns

Dave with a large clam.

Me with a clown fish.

The boat "Reef Encounter" where we spent a night and did all our dives.

A pool overlooking the ocean in Cairns.

Auckland, NZ photos

We only spent an afternoon in Auckland before flying out to Australia the next morning. Here are a couple pictures of the skyline.