Australia

During this trip, we were lucky that we had a chance to visit Australia twice :-) The first time for only 4 days just before our flight to New Zealand and even though it was a bit rushed, because we had so many people to visit and things to do, it was a great visit. Emilie (Yohan's sister) just gave birth to baby Ben and his mom was also visiting for the birth Australia for the first time, so it was a real family reunion :-) So cute is little baby Ben, absolutely adorable!!
Besides doctors' appointments and other bureaucracy we had to arrange, I had the pleasure to meet for the first time my cousin Peter. He is officially I think my grandmother's cousin, but because my grandmother doesn't have any family, it was the first time for me to

meet any family from my grandmother's side. Peter is so lovely!!! He lives in Canberra, so it was from Emilie's house in Lisarow a 4 hours' ride, but we were both so happy we did it! We had a great time talking to Peter, really enjoyed the lunch he took us to and mostly, it was amazing to see all the information he collected over the years about our family. I saw pictures from my grandmother when she was young and letters she wrote years ago about her children and also letters from my uncles and aunts writing about their small children, that are now already adults and have their own children. So special! I could have stayed there for many more days, but unfortunately we had to drive back :-( I really hope to have the next visit more time!
Besides Peter, we also had a chance to meet up with Carola and Nadia. Yohan still knows Carola from the period he traveled the first time to New Zealand and lived in Sydney and me and Nadia were flat mates in Tel Aviv. So much fun to meet up and to have a chance to really catch up!! To keep in touch through Skype and WhatsApp is great, but meeting in real life is just so much better :-D

Our next time we in Australia was when we arrived from New Zealand, with 2 weeks stopover before we had our flight to the US. Not many people knew that we were in Australia, because we had a lot of doctors' visits planned for the 12 week baby tests and because

we couldn't tell yet that we were pregnant, it was kind of hard to explain why all the appointments ;-) Luckily all the tests went great and at the last days of the visit we could finally call all our friends and family to tell the happy news :-D
Besides cuddling Ben all day or going to baby stores to buy things for Ben and of course secretly already to start checking out baby strollers for ourselves, Emilie had the great idea to go for a long weekend to the mountains. She found a great house where we would all fit and it was a great choice. A country house close to Tumut, in the middle of nature, next to a river and the only thing you could hear was the birds and cows that walk around the property freely. When you are there, having dinner outside, you really wonder why you would ever want to live in a city ;-) We had great fun checking out the river, well..... I mean them including Nugget, but I had my own fun with staying out of the water with Ben. Even when he cries, he is still super cute :-D His eyes, absolutely to melt from!

As a day trip we went picnicking at the Paddis River Dam, a beautiful spot, in the middle of nowhere. We only went there for a few hours, but Emilie and Eran where there in the past to do camping. I can totally understand, because it's a great place to wake up to in the morning. They told us already before arriving that there would be a chance we would see wild horses, but to be honest I couldn't believe my eyes, when I looked to the other side of the lake I saw a wild black horse just standing there and looking at us. So special!! We followed it and were able to see from far even other horses as well. It was great, I didn't think I would ever see a wild horses in my life!
Besides the Paddis River Dam we also visited the Talbingo Lake, it's so much fun to travel with a jeep, because you can just drive till the water, put the sunscreen up, take the chairs out and you are super comfortable. A cold drink from the fridge, a book to read and fishing for who want, what else would you want in life!?

When you drive around, it's amazing how many kangaroos you see on the road but it was already the third time for me in Australia so I really wanted to see some kangaroos and koalas from close by this time. So we went to the Reptile Park close to Lisarow were you can actually come very close and even touch them. And we were lucky, because there was also a baby kangaroo, crazy how they are fold up in their mother's pouch!

Even though it was short visits to Australia, we definitely need to go back again, it was great to spend so much quality time with Emilie, Eran, Ben and Nugget. Thanks again for all your hospitality and we couldn't have felt more welcome in your house! Can't wait to come back soon :-)

After Australia, it's time to move continent, so bye bye Australia and hello North America :-D