Sunday, April 22, 2012

Tony & Gill's Aussie Visit

Well, Tony and Gill's big visit to Oz has come and gone, so I thought it was time for a quick re-cap for the rest of you who didn't stow-away in their suitcases :)

The 4 of us had a great time together, and here are a few pics to show it:

The first night we had a little present-opening session... some very generous gifts from Tony and Gill, as well as from my parents. Andrew got a new work shirt, a Whistler magazine, etc, and I got a couple Lululemon tops, lotion, and Clinique stuff. So happy!


Tony enjoyed reading his book on the couch every day. It was funny b/c at first whenever I'd look over from the kitchen I thought for a split second that Andre Agassi was lying on our couch... and then I'd realize it's just Tony!


We climbed Mt. Coolum one day... you can see where we live on the coast in the background. This is the same hike we did with Emily a couple of years ago.


After the hike we headed to the Hyatt Coolum Resort which is open to the public for swimming and hanging out... we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Tony and Andrew could model for Sears, don't you think? ;)


As soon as we picked them up from the airport we had a swim in our pool, then a long beach walk... trying to keep them awake till Aussie bed-time. (Sorry these pics are out of order... blogger is weird these day... let me know if you know how to fix it.)


Another day we rented kayaks and cruised around the canals near our place. There are heaps of multi-million dollar homes in this area, so it was interesting to see their backyards and "how they live" from the canal. (You can see one in the background here, behind the grey pillar.)


A couple days later we rented bikes from the same place and rode up and down the coast... most of us used Cruiser bikes (like the yellow one you see above), which were quite fun. You can see the water/beach in the background; the water is the most beautiful colour of blue-green at this point of the coast.


Our last 3 days we headed up to Noosa where Tony and Gill generously took us for 3 nights at an apartment-hotel. The weather wasn't as good as the previous 2 weeks had been, but we still got to do some hiking and body-boarding. Look how brown Gill is... she beat me in the tanning department, hands-down, after being here for less than 2 weeks! (Steve and Austin, I think your Michelle Obama line in your birthday song for Gill is dead-on!)


And all good things come to an end... here they are waving good-bye before leaving for the airport.


Another out-of-order pic... playing pool-side ping pong at the Hyatt... every time you hit the ball too hard you'd have to fetch it out of the pool!

When we asked them what their favorite part of the holiday was, Mum said her long beach-walks at 5:30 every morning, and Dad said watching the surfers.

It was great having you, Mum and Dad, and truly hope you had a wonderful holiday.

Now it's time to get some representatives from the Hiller side over here... hint hint!