We're still down here...

although we are approaching the end of this two-year tour.  A lot has been happening since the last post in July.  First, I didn't win - once again - the Washington Post Travel Photo Contest.  They picked a picture of a tree with a barn with some sky behind it.  But it had a good story - somebody's boyhood memory.

We had Debbie's brother Scott and his sons Hunter and Aiden and daughter Arden come for 10 days via Thailand.  We spent some time in Canberra for the 4th of July but also worked in a trip on a houseboat on the Murray River, then down to Melbourne to celebrate Arden's 12th birthday, then back up through Canberra to Sydney.  Here are a few shots from the visit.

Here we all are with Ambassador Bleich at the Embassy's 4th of July bash (1800 people, and Debbie had a large hand in organizing in her new job as Protocol Assistant to the Ambassador)

And Debbie was recognized...

Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Scott and new friend in the park across the lake from our house...

 

The view of Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle from Mount Ainslie, Aunt Debbie apparently loving Arden to death.  The coathanger thing in the background is Parliament.  The low white building in front is the Old Parliament, now the Museum of Australian Democracy.

Presto - and here they are at the coathanger thing on top of the Parliament.

Now on to the Murray River...

Here's the boat we spent 2.5 days on - complete with spa on top, BBQ, 2 plasma TVs, 4 bedrooms and bathrooms, a great kitchen and a living room.  We were not roughing it.

Under way to Echuca for dinner, first night.

Under Way from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Aunt Debbie on the phone with Mom...

Captain Aidan at the helm...

The Mighty Murray River at dusk.

The Woolums Build A Fire from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

 The Woolums Build A Fire.

We avoided both self-immolation and incidents at sea and were able to return the boat in one piece.

Now, on to Melbourne.

Birthday on the Melbourne Dinner Tram from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Here we are on the Dinner Tram - which is actually a nice restaurant which tools around the city for a couple of hours.  We used the opportunity to celebrate Arden's 12th Birthday.  Tom and Jan went on this when they were here last November.


Woolums Over Melbourne from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

We took a trip to the top of the Eureka Building to see Melbourne from up top.

And ate fresh oysters at the Victoria Market

Then it was back to Canberra for an overnight and on to Sydney.

 Where we went up into one of the Sydney bridge pylons and then lunch with a view of the harbor and a significant landmark in the background...

And no trip to Sydney is complete without a visit to the Sydney Fish Market:

Woolums and Fish from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

And then they got on the plane home, while we stayed an extra night in Sydney with friends and went to the Opera House for a concert:


Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.


These are our friends Matt and Lorraine.  Matt's an Australian Army Reserve Officer who visits us frequently in Canberra.  Lorraine has a family of kookaburras (see my previous post on kookaburras - it's the bird that makes the call that you hear in all the old Tarzan movies) she's presently housing in her back yard and which come to the kitchen window every morning to be fed...meat.  That's right - the little guys are carnivorous.

Sydney Opera House At Night from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

There's an entire complex of restaurants and nightclubs under the Opera House.


It was fun having them all here.  But another visitor was on the horizon...to be continued in the next installment of "Ikins Down Under."