south australia to melbourne

Adelaide


the central market in Adelaide! we (I) loved it here. so many things to buy, but no kitchen to take them to. brock found a number of delicious cheesey rolls to entertain himself while I visited every stall in the entire market.






me, loving it.



a particularly charming lunch counter where they grow their own sprouts!






on the way out of town... we picked up a fly. who road with us for miles. they are very tame here.



bandicoot and baby. spring is the perfect time to be at the wildlife park because everyone has babies and baby animals are the most cutest.



goose feeding. notice babies in the background.



kangaroo feeding. brock was nervous about getting his fingers eaten off by these vicious things so he was in charge of pictures.



Big kangaroo. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about getting eaten by him. he was like 5 feet tall.



family portrait



aren't they weirdly human?



they sleep on their backs like kitties.



Barossa Valley




brock chasing parrots out of the trees so I could get a photo of them.



which never really worked, but you can see them in the upper left... they're white with pink bellies and they roam the valley in huge flocks. we liked them.



it's very pastoral.



except at our hotel which was on the luxurious side. I do love a good hotel bathrobe.






our super fancy tasting menu with wine pairings dinner at appellation.



notice that MY glass is empty, but i'm happy to help brock finish his.



Brock has adopted the official Hedrick gesture to signify that the end of the meal is nigh (and that WAY too much wine has been drunk)... good old spoon dangling from the nose.



Great Ocean Road


the open road... literally. nothing but hills and sheep farms for hundreds of kilometers, which was really pretty.






a particularly charming farm along the way, though i'm not sure the inhabitants liked my photo intrusion. he was EITHER waving to me from the front door... probably saying "g'day tourist! how honored we are that you find our humble home worthy of your honeymoon documentation!" OR he was shooing me away, like "get the f*ck off my property." one or the other.






Melbourne


we love melbourne!



even though it was raining when we arrived.



a teeny taste of home... everyone loves obama.



and we love this little wine bar. i need one of my own. bad.



allegedly the best "coffee" in melbourne. NOW, best espresso maybe. but see i need a coffee. like a legitimate 16 o. not a mostly empty paper dixie cup of espresso with a drop of soy milk in it. i'm sorry, but this will not do. luckily, in such emergencies, there is starbucks in australia. only a few, but there are there. shocking, i know. but i was desperate people. desperate.






brock ready to eat one of his favorite meals of the trip... a moroccan bean stew thing with a sort of cilantro pesto and feta cheese. it was ridiculously delicious. and we loved this cafe.















poor brock, always having his picture snapped as he's eating. but the cafes were so cute and the food was so tasty! these are my photo notes for new recipes at home after all.



our favorite neighborhood in the city.



crocheted tree sock.



spacecraft. i spent hours here trying to decide what to buy. poor shop lady.

part 2: more from australia

HI. we are so behind with the pics... plus we'll be seeing you all (most) in a few days so i'll skip the lengthy intro. we're in melbourne, our last stop :( but here are some photos from our time in north queensland.

Hamilton island II

sailing...





Port Douglas



















the Daintree / Mossman / the Silky Oaks Lodge

australia, the first installment

Hi!! we're having a super time... with the exception of 1) me getting a cold upon arrival in sydney and 2) me discovering a tick in my armpit at dinner one night in byron bay. and of course the on-off rain. i suppose there are much scarier bugs here than ticks. and my cold seems to be in it's final hours. though brock remains inconsolable when he feels the slightest mist in air or cloud in the sky. but we're MAKING DO, don't you worry.

Here are a few photos (with "our" new lens, which i love, thanks mom and dad!) of the trip so far!


Sydney


(our first stop after dropping luggage off at the hotel. at 9am. the most delicious modern italian deli. i had mushrooms on toast and a soy latte, which was divine even after spending a mostly sleepless night getting sick on the plane.)



(botanical gardens... my pictures of the bats and big birds didn't come out)









(our favorite dinner so far at a really neat rustic modern restaurant called pony. we're still talking about it. plus they had our currently-in-storage eames dining chairs which made me semi-lustful for a house as cool as their space)



(saturday market in the yuppy paddington neighborhood, which we of course loved and made us feel right at home. they even had a kiehls, which was excellent because we were low on face wash.)



(spring is a pretty time to be in the city)



(breakfast at a great little spot called bills where people sit idly around, drinking lattes and reading their book/newspaper/magazine. we love weekend every day.)


Byron Bay
(sorry, no picture of the tick. but Brock proved to be an able husband by expertly extracting it with tweezers.)












(the farther north we go, it seems, the bigger the common birds become. this is our friend we met walking to the beach. he's like a giant turkey vulture thing that, along with flock, runs madly through the forest around the resort.)



(finally made it to the pool. success)






Brisbane


(we arrived in gold coast, in the pouring rain, to a sheraton that felt and smelled like an shabby 80's version of sea world... SICK. While pondering our next move, we watched the election results come in and listened to Obama give his excellent acceptance speech, HOORAY!!!! then, newly inspired, we promptly packed the car, canceled our reservations, and drove out of my personal incarnation of hell, to Brisbane. Which turned out to be a fine city after all but mostly involved no aging tropical print textiles nor chlorinated lagoons in the lobby).






Hamilton Island


(finally arriving to the honeymoon part)









(the water is like 80 degrees. at least. we are happy roasting in the sun, reading our books, and snacking on cold brewskis at the moment)





Tomorrow morning we're off on a sailing and snorkeling trip all day... thanks sky, mellie, and yordi!

Friday night cocktail hour(s) + Sunday brunch

As promised, here's the info for our little friday party and sunday brunch at the rental house.

Cocktail Hour(s):
Friday, October 24th
5 - 8 pm

Brunch:
Sunday, October 26th
11am

1091 East Olive Way
Palm Springs 92262



And of course, a link to the house on our trusty friend Google maps.

If you're driving, we suggest you follow the pink route on the map above. If you're walking, you can kind of meander through the neighborhood behind the hotel, past Ruth Hardy Park. It's about a mile from the hotel to the house.

See you there!

What are you wearing?

I'm wearing a white dress. Brock is wearing a super sharp suit.

For those curious about appropriate wedding attire, we're going with

"Dressy Cocktail"


(this is from jcrew, you do not have to dress like these people... but isn't it so much nicer when a post has a picture?)

What do you think?

It has a nice ring to it. Wear something you'd wear to a fancy-ish cocktail party. The wedding party and our families will be wearing suits and cocktail dresses. If you're a guy, you certainly don't have to wear a suit, just something nice. For the ladies, again a cocktail dress would be perfect. Nothing long (we're not that formal) but something festive and fun since it is the party of the year... in case you haven't heard.

OH and for the friday night shindig... it's in the backyard, it's from 5 -8, and it's pretty casual. We're dressing up a little, but we get to because we're the bride and groom.

Babysitting for Saturday night

We've talked to most of you with sweet little kiddies personally about childcare options for the wedding. If we haven't, the Colony Palms has recommended:

Celebrity Sitters
(760) 345-1741

However, we'd love to see all the kids at both the Friday night cocktail hour(s) and Sunday brunch!

Flight Suggestions

We've gotten a few questions about the best airport to use for travel to Palm Springs so we figured posting our knowledge here would be a good way to go!



Palm Springs

First choice would definitely be Palm Springs. Takes the rental car totally out of the equation and you will completely avoid all traffic coming from LA, Orange County, and San Diego. Plus it's a historic, mid-century building! The downside is it's a small regional airport with a more limited flight schedule.

We've checked online and noticed that there are a number of flights that fly to LAX first and then out to PSP. This (at first) may seem silly and you might think, well we'll just fly to LA, get a car and drive out! We can assure you that even with an hour or so layover, flying from LA to the desert is faster. Especially if you're planning to drive east anytime after 2 pm. 35 minutes in the air vs. up to 4 hours (yes, it's taken us this long before) on the 10, in traffic.

Ontario

A most excellent option! Flying in to Ontario means you land 60 miles east of LA and you skip most of the traffic you'll encounter getting through downtown and the east LA communities. It's still another 70 miles to Palm springs from Ontario, but most of these will be traffic-free. Unless you land in the late afternoon on Friday.