Time Flies When You're Having Fun?

That's the best semi-apology I can come up with. It's agreed, though; Natalie and I have done a poor job of updating our blog since our arrival here in the Yarra Valley. But no worries, we're aware of the problem, and we're determined to fix it (to my mother: I mean this, Mom. We'll have you some new reading material ASAP).

Turns out we are having a blast here in Australian wine country. We bottled wine on Friday--their first batch of shiraz, to be exact. Saw some more kangaroos...parrots too. Actually, fun fact: parrots here are like pigeons in the States. They're EVERYWHERE. It was really wonderful at first, but now I just see colorful darts bolting across the sky every time I walk outside. I find it quite distracting. Oh, and we saw an emu in the field over from the vineyard. Second fun fact of the day: Emus emit a dreadful "squaw" sound. Also, when they walk, they look as though they're creeping.

In other news, Catherine has overloaded us--much to our intense pleasure--with her delicious baked goods: chocolate cake, chocolate pudding (a remarkable 12-minute microwaveable recipe), raspberry shortbread, and the most buttery chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted (Sara Lee has nothing on this woman). As she keeps shoving dessert down my throat, I keep wondering how my pants size hasn't quadrupled yet. Turns out that standing out in the hot sun working on vines for 5 hours/day keeps one's waist-size in check--offsets the dessert, you know.  Desperately chasing children who are very often dressed like superheroes and/or fairy princesses doesn't hurt either.

Oh also, two Canadian girls, Mallory and Chelsea, arrived a couple days ago. Four words: Breath. Of. Fresh. Air. NAT AND I HAVE FRIENDS. Not only do they speak like us (I've learned to overlook their odd pronunciations of words like "pasta" [pass-tah] and "about" [a-boot]), but they're young and friendly twenty-somethings like us. AND THEY'RE OUR FRIENDS. The first day they arrived, the four of us all watched the Anne of Green Gables movie together. I've got two words for you now: Kindred spirits.

Thursday, Catherine is planning to take all of us on a 40-min drive to the beach for the day. Supposed to be 40 degrees Celsius...That comes to about 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit. Ouch. I plan on temporarily setting aside my deathly fears of all sea creatures with teeth and instead, desperately fling my body into the cool water.

More updates to come :).

P.S. While removing cobwebs on the veranda yesterday afternoon, Natalie and I came across our first wild, and potentially very deathly, creature. Catherine assured us it probably wasn't a Redback (only THE most deadly, dear god). Could have been a black widow, however, with it's red splotch and spindly black legs. Man, sometimes I just shiver when I think about all the possible deaths I might die here...