Our Journey to Thailand - First Stop, Australia

On our journey to Thailand, we took a detour to Swansea Heads, Australia.  While David worked for three weeks, Caryn and I took road trips to pick up/drop off cars at various Thrifty locations, visited numerous beaches including Red Head Beach (love the name), had a few beers and pies and explored nearby towns.  While we were there, we also had the opportunity to get to know Rod and Gisela's (our hosts and owners of the Thrifty franchises) German daughters and granddaughter, Maren, Gabby and Natalie as they were in town for a visit.  The yanks and the Germans had many fun times, especially involving driving on a side of the street none of us were accustomed to.  By the time we left Australia, I felt like I had learned a fair share of German.

Other highlights of our time in Australia included a weekend in Burleigh Heads, on the Gold Coast,  to visit Jan and Bill (Rod's sister and brother-in-law).  The beaches were stunning and although it was the middle of winter, I still managed to get sunburned.  We also spent a weekend in Sydney visiting our old stomping ground (Balmain, where we were on a teaching exchange in 1997), meeting up with friends Peter and Ali and Marg and John at the London Pub in Balmain, running into two former students (now 23 or 24) and making sure we had some tourist time at the Opera House, the Paddington Outdoor Market, the Rocks, Paddy's Market, Manly Beach and Darling Harbour.