Back in Australia, Photos from USA and Argentina

Hello! We're back from our epic 6-week trip. Sorry for the lack of posts - we were enjoying our holidays, and didn't get around to blogging very much.

To recap, our 6-week itinerary was:
Sydney > Tulsa > Houston > Austin > Houston > Argentina > Portland > San Francisco > Sydney.

The USA portion of the trip was part work trip for Matthew, part visiting friends and family, including the adorable niece and nephew.

The Argentina part was a vacation with our friends, Laurel and Andy. We drank lots of red wine and ate heaps of beef - Buenos Aires 3 days; Puerto Iguazu/Iguazu Falls day and a half; Mendoza 5 days (including organized wine tours of the Luján de Cuyo and Uco Valley); back in Buenos Aires 5 days, including a day trip to historic Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.


It took me ages to get all our pics uploaded, and after all that, I got too tired to edit them all down. So, apologies that there are hundreds of photos, but if you'd like to have a look, here you go:

Buenos Aires photos


Puerto Iguazu, Argentina photos


Mendoza, Argentina photos


Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay photos


USA photos

The Americas! (Part VI)

A and I spent the day in Austin with The New (but not as new as T.N.N.) Niece.  The drive from Houston was fun and we (A and me) always get into good conversations as the miles roll by.

First stop after arrival was lunch at Chuy's Tex-Mex.  This meal filled a psychic void I didn't know existed.

After lunch was a decent coffee from Flipnotics (which I get confused with Frippertronics - totally different)

We spent the afternoon with The Niece - she's an absolute joy to be around. T.N.'s poppa arrived home and after quick deliberation we went out for BBQ. We ate until it hurt. Literally.

A nice Aussie shiraz on the back porch rounded out the evening.

The Americas! (Part V)

I did my part to improve the US economy by shopping!

Guitar stuff from Guitar Center, a new pair of shoes, bits and bobs from REI. (It only took going to four stores to find 1 pair of size 9.5 black Converse All-Star low tops!)

Afterwards, dinner with grandma and a beer with an old high school friend. Truly, a lovely day.

Houston's sprawl continues unabated. Strip malls, huge 12-lane highways, traffic. It's surreal to be in a place that is familiar and yet you can't remember how to get from place to place.

The Americas! (Part IV)

Monday - travel day. We did the 8 hour drive from Tulsa to Houston with D&D.

Before hitting the road I had some x-rays taken of a small bone spur on my right tibia. (Diagnosis: benign.)

Overheard by Amanda in the clinic's waiting room:

(To be read in an Oklahoman accent)

Old Lady 1: "I tell you, computers are the devil. They got your whole life on there. Except when you want them to."
Old Lady 2: "mmm hmmm. I expect you're right."

Items spotted:

• Longhorn steer
• Camels
• Heaps of extra-denominational churches (e.g. Christ Bible Church of the Savior)
• Religious bumper stickers
• Intense thunderstorms
• Flooding in Paris, TX.  (I have finally been to Paris, France and Paris, TX)
• HUGE lightning strikes
• Natural gas wells
• Buzzards
• A hawk
• Horses
• Ponies (!)
• Cattle
• Wild hog traps for sale
• Goats
• Big box stores (so many...)

An exchange I had with the woman running an antique store in Canton, TX (pop. 5,100) at which we stopped along the way:

Me: "Do you know if there is anything like a Starbucks* in town?"

Her: "Oh gosh, we don't have anything fancy like that here!"

* Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Americas! (Part III)

Sunday was another lazy day hanging out T.N.N. and the family. We had lunch at L's in-laws house and re-acquainted ourselves with their extended family. There was a brief and frenetic easter egg hunt, finger sandwiches, presents for the weeuns, heaps of food. The day was concluded with some wine and Top Gun. Whatever happened to Kelly McGillis anyway?

The Americas! Part II

Saturday was spent hanging out at L's house with the family, alternately holding The New Nephew and chewing the fat. Tulsa isn't without charm but it's been storming* on and off since our arrival and haven't seen very much of it.

T.N.N. is about as mellow as they come, just spending his time sleeping and looking cute. I've been told that he looks like L (and thus, me) and that's pretty awesome.

We've also got to spend time getting to know L's in-laws and they are lovely people.

*Golf ball sized hail!

The Americas! Part I (The Beginining)

Day 1 was full of travel: 12.5 hours SYD > LAX, 4 hour layover in LAX then 2.5 hours to TUL.

After landing, T. picked us up from the airport and whisked us straight to L's place to see the new nephew. He's as cute as a button and did nothing but sleep during our (short) visit.

We crashed out at 23:30 and managed to get 6.5 hours of sleep, which is about as good as can be expected.