Back in the Saddle and Ready to Ride
So turns out I wasn't really over whatever was ailing me before. Saturday ended with a horrible sore throat which morphed into the various stages of yucky cold/flu over the last several days.

In the meantime I've had so much to write about. So we'll see how much time I have now.

Family Down Under
The biggest pick-me-up came last weekend in the form of an email from my mom telling me that my cousins from Texas are coming down for a cruise around New Zealand at the end of this month. And they purposefully were planning a couple days at the end of their trip in Sydney with the hopes of seeing us. Problem being that Sydney and Brisbane are like my hometown and Nashville -- we're talking a 15-hour drive here. But Hans has said that we can fly down to spend a weekend with them. (And I am SO excited.)

Friends on TV
Did all ya'll watch Conan last night? If you missed it, you can apparently watch the whole episode online here... if you're in America. That's the 10/17 episode, Act 5 you're looking for. I'm so proud of those guys.

Veni Vidi Vino
Of course, last weekend was our Berry to Bottle Wine Appreciation day at Kooroomba Vineyard down south in the shire of Boonah. (A shire! I know!) It was such a lovely day. We had a tour of the vineyard. Had a gorgeous lunch. We were seated by the afternoon speaker, winemaker Dylan Rhymer, who indulged us by answering all our wine questions in between bites. Then after a walk around the lavender field, we came back to learn about wine tasting. I think we're officially wine snobs now.

It was fun. And we had a good time trying to really describe the smells of the wines. I know I used "freshly mowed lawn" and "dry-erase marker" at least once. Okay, so we might not have it down to a science yet.

I'll upload some photos soon.

Tales from the Train
I am so captivated by a saga that seems to be unfolding before me as we ride the train in the mornings.

It started last week Tuesday, I believe. We started riding an earlier and emptier train, so when we get on there aren't many people in the carriage. But I noticed a woman sitting in one of the four-person (where two seats face each other) seats next to me. I only took note because (1) there was a moth on the window next to her and (2) she had a real noticeable smokers' cough.

The next stop after ours, a man got on though I didn't notice until later when he came down the aisle and sat down across from her.

She kind of giggled and asked what he was doing. He made some comment about deciding to come and bother her again. And they proceeded to make small talk the rest of the way until we got off.

Again, I really only took note, because the guy was telling some anecdote about an American judge suing a dry-cleaning company. Which, yes is a bit ridiculous. But I'm still sensitive about how the conversations always end with all kinds of blanket statements about Americans.

So fine. Whatever. I presumed they had sat on the train near each other in the past and were on day number two of the awkward getting-to-know-you phase.

Right, well on Wednesday we ended up sitting on the other side of this lady AGAIN when we got on the train. And again, at the stop after ours, the guy (who I'm now calling Mr. Burns, because he has 1.5-inch thick sideburns that go straight down from his temples to wrap under his jaw) gets on the train and makes his way through the carriage to sit across from the smoker lady, Ms. Coffsalot.

On this day I take note that she does a lot of hair swishing and purposeful leaning and she echoes the ends of his statements. There was some definite flirting going on, and it was kind of grossing me out, but whatever.

To Be Continued...
Just found out that we're calling a half-day sort of thing here, so I have to finish paying a few bills and make a deposit before we lock up.