Royal National Park

How ya goin' mates?

Rain, rain, and more rain. This has been the general state of the weather here in Hurstville, AU. But because of the rain, we saw our fourth rainbow this morning. The rain is much needed here as we are in the midst of a drought and the trees are looking a lot happier.
This morning we took our first trip to the Royal National Park, in spite of a torrential downpour. Our tour guide was Michelle Heldon and she did a fantastic job of driving us through the park on some steep and windy roads. We stopped at Garie Lookout and viewed some awesome cliffs near the ocean. The waves were big and bright blue and we saw some brave surfers riding the freezing water. We then drove down to the beach which was covered with blue "jellies" which Michelle said to watch out for because they will sting you. By the end of this month the water should be warm enough for swimming, without a wetsuit. Check out our video for some live coverage.
"Kookaburra sits in the old gumtree." True story! We saw our first kookaburra today sitting on a phoneline. We also saw an Australian rarity: the Lyre Bird. Michelle told us that most people don't get the chance to see these, so we were luckybirds, haha. The Lyre bird mimics any sound it hears, for instance a car horn, so ornithologists don't know what its natural call is. Another bird we see everyday out our back window, where we have a birdfeeder, is a very small and colorful parrot. They will supposedly eat straight out of your hand, but we haven't attempted that yet. We have also seen some white cockatoos. They are beautiful.
Tonight there is a Friday Social at the church. Margaret Heldon told us to expect about 14 people. Tonights activity is watching a movie on Helen Keller's life instead of a doctrinal class. In spite of the fact that there is no permanent pastor here, the society still makes an effort to gather and enjoy a night together apart from every Sunday. We volunteered to make some guacamole and strawberry shortcake for the event. Yummo! Everything turned out perfect which has us relieved since it for the entire congregation. We wouldn't want them to think that Americans can't cook.
Today was a national holiday because of APEC and the fact that half of Sydney is fenced off. Every morning on the news there is a segment about President Bush and how many bodyguards he has, and an important section about the young star, our own Zac Efron here in Sydney promoting the international release of his new movie Hairspray.
We are eagerly looking forward to our first full weekend in Australia and a break in the rain so we can play some tennis. It is great to help out the society here and to feel useful. There are lots of time consuming jobs for us to do and it is great to know that because we can do them we are freeing up others' time. We are also having a ton of fun on the side.
Shout out time:
#1 To Mary McQueen for the fantastic recipe.
#2 To our supportive families. We think of you everyday.
#3 To Michelle Heldon. You are our favorite guide.

Enjoy the videos and photos.
Reporting live from Australia,
Carling and Sarah