22 May

After waddling back to our hotel, we got a good night's sleep and drove on the next day. We stopped for lunch in Lancelin at a very windy spot on the beach on our way to our next stop at Geraldton. Some of our sights from the drive: wildlife crossing signs, we saw roos and emus, but not echidna. Leaning trees, they all do this from the prevailing wind, but this one has a sign. Sunset in Gero...our hotel was right up from the beach as you can see. We got another amazing view of sunset over the water.

Scarborough Beach

So on the 21st after the wedding we drove 1/3 of the way to Carnarvon. We stayed on Scarborough Beach on the north side of Perth, in a hotel called the Rendezvous. Jessie and Justin had a view room on the 4th floor, and as we got there right before sunset we spent a lot of time admiring it. Most of the rooms in this hotel have some kind of a view, it is the tallest thing on the beach! Such a pretty sunset! Not too bad of a trek for that day either, the traffic was bad in Perth but the drive was only about 4 hours. That night we went for dinner at a really great Chinese restaurant. We ate too much and admired all the live seafood in tanks next to us. It is more fun to write this post as Justin is sitting next to me to help fill in the blanks: how long a drive was it, what did we eat again, where did we stop? How fun is that?!! As most of you know the Aussie relations are now here in Alaska to celebrate their wedding with us too :)We had their blow-out AK reception with my whole family on Saturday. It was amazing and we all had a great time! More pictures of that day to follow, when we get them from the photographer :)

20 May 2012

I found one good pic! I'm sure there will be more later, but this is a good one taken by a friend of Justin's family.

J&J's wedding

The wedding day preparations started early for us with the hair and makeup ladies arriving at 7am. A really nice lady set Jessie and I's long hair in hot rollers (I have a great pic of the two of us that way, but I think Jessie might kill me for posting it) then moved onto the two moms hair-dos. In the meantime a mother/daughter team arrived to do our airbrush makeup. The four of us spent about 2 hours in a mix of spraying makeup, curling, pinning, eye shadowing and sipping coffee. Then it was time to get dressed...for those of you familiar with wedding gowns, it is no fast process. Jessie's gown is laced up the back from mid hip to her upper back, it takes about 30 minutes to lace it all together and get all the under-panel arranged before she is stuck in it for the duration! Luckily it isn't too uncomfortable, or heavy and has a short train. I don't have very many pics of the wedding, it's kind of hard to take them when you are in it! Dad took this one for me, but I forgot to turn the flash on...I will borrow some from other people and post some more at a later date. :) I should mention, I made the fur shrug Jessie is wearing. She really wanted to wear something really Alaskan on her wedding day. I originally looked for one to buy, but there wasn't anything just right I could find or commission to have made in town. So I bought some rabbit furs and stumbled my way through. It was scary to get started but after I began the project went along smoothly. It was no big drama to take it to AU through customs as it is a tanned fur. And as you can see the color was just right an it fit her like a dream! My pretty bouquet! This was my place at the table, our place markers were chocolate guns marked with our names. Each place also had a menu for the evening, (I chose the braised pork belly in curry sauce) and a sprig of the Singapore orchids. The wedding went off without a single problem, the ceremony was beautiful, short and sweet. The staff at Clairault did an excellent job with the service and the food was to die for! After the wedding all the wedding party and immediate family went back to Abbys Retreat (the guest house we were staying at) for some more relaxed partying. The dress clothes were ditched in favor of track pants and t-shirts, a fire was lit in the big fireplace, drinks were passed around and snags (sausages) were grilled for a late supper. All in all, it was a perfect day. :)

May 19

We started out the day before the wedding by packing up and checking out of our hotel, Jessie booked a giant guest house as base of operations for most all of the family in town for the wedding. (It was also close to the wedding venue.) The first hiccup in the wedding plans happened Saturday morning also. Jessie and I walked to the florist where she had ordered the bridal party arrangements to pick them up, the shop was just opening and the harried guy at the desk discovered they had lost her order! Luckily Jessie is not a bridezilla, the people in the shop were able to scramble and make up some beautiful flowers for pick up the next morning. Next up, onto Clairault for a little rehearsal. As you can see, it is a beautiful venue for a wedding. The grounds in front of the tasting room are beautifully manicured, and the indoors is nicely decorated. Sorry, no pictures of inside, the wedding was planned for the lawn in front of the deck area, so we didn't go inside much that day. After that we got a short break from wedding madness, Jessie booked a nail salon for us to get a little pampering before the pre-wedding mixer in the evening. Aunt Terry and Justin's mom, Heather just got a manicure, but Jessie and I went for the full mani-pedi. Such a nice way to recharge for the next day. :) We got to meet most of the friends/family in town for the wedding that evening at a bar/grill in town and then had an early to bed. Wedding day tomorrow!

May 18

Day 4 for us was spent still in Marget River at Jessie's 'hen's day', aka bachelorette party. Jessie booked a tour company to take us around to some of the wineries, cheese houses, fruit orchards, coffee roasters and chocolate places in the region. Including an excellent lunch at an upscale pizza place. Too fun! We were met by several friends and co-workers in town for the wedding for an all girls food and drink tour for most of the day. Jessie had custom t-shirts printed, they say Mother of the groom (Justin's mom, Heather), Chief bridesmaid, all the way from Fairbanks, AK, Bride and Mother of the bride (Jessie's mom, Terry) And the backs say Jessie's getting married! May 20, 2012 with a picture of the Singapore orchids that they used to decorate the wedding. This is at a berry farm, we tasted about 25 different jams, sauces, chutneys etc. and some berry ports. One of Jessie's friends, Penny brought her some typical bride-wear for the occasion. Behind the tasting room, they had an emu in an enclosure with some chickens and geese. Crazy looking giant birds! We had lunch at The Hay Shed, very tasty bread and dips, pizza, and salad. This region really reminded my of where we used to live in California, so many vineyards everywhere along with dairy cattle. The climate is much more moderate also, the Aussies were all chilly, but we felt pretty good. A really nice way to get to know some of the other ladies in Jessie's life, and a nice mild party that suited her perfectly. That evening we got to meet some of the other friends and family in town for the wedding and had some impromptu Thai food for supper, nothing amazing, but warm and filling :)

Perth

After a quick peek at the highlights of Sydney, Jessie and I left early the next morning for Perth. I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxed it was to fly domestic in Australia. We had great customer service from the Quantas folks and security was a breeze after traveling in the US. The flight is not too long after our long trek the day before, only about 5 hours.

Jessie booked a beautiful hotel for us with a view of the Perth skyline across the Swan River. Which was a good thing for me, I didn't listen to the advice of my pharmacist cousin and the jet lag and massive time difference really caught up with me. After plying me with orange juice, I was tucked up in bed to take a nap while Jessie did some wedding errands and picked up up some snacks for dinner.

With a view like this from our balcony, it is hard to think you are missing out on seeing Perth by chilling in your hotel room! We had a nice relaxing night watching TV, nibbling cheese and fruit and oohing over Jessie's beautiful wedding clothes. An excellent way to ride out a crash day, if you ask me!

The next day we were back at it early, we met Aunt Terry at the airport to pick up Justin, flying in from Carnarvon, and my folks, who spent an extra day in Sydney. Then we all caravaned on the 4 hour drive down to the Margaret River wine region for the wedding. http://www.margaretriver.com/ This picture was taken after we met up with Justin's mom, Heather and her partner Andy. Jessie and Justin made us reservations at Must wine bar.

http://www.must.com.au/MMRfolder/index.html If you have a napkin handy for the drool, check out some of the amazing things on their menu. The plate above was a shared entree (appetizer) with Mom and Dad. Head cheeses, potted meats, pickles and tapenade. Amazing!! Almost everyone had their dry-aged beef, but I couldn't resist the roasted rabbit gnocchi. A great kick-off to the wedding weekend!

Day one: Sydney

After flying for entirely too long, we left Fairbanks at 8:30 am on May 13th and arrived at 6:30 am on May 15th in Sydney. We decided we should hit the ground running to try to get onto the local time as soon as possible. As I said, our hotel was in the rocks so we walked to the opera house and got a good view of the Sydney bridge. Also in this pic one of the many ferries in Sydney harbor, not the one we took, but similar.

Then we walked into the city for some amazing dim-sum. We even tried chicken feet! Very tasty, but a little gelatinous and bony.

After lunch we decided to take a ferry across the bay to Manley Beach. The ride was a nice 30 minute sit down, and for the most part nice and calm. And we got to dip our toes in the South Pacific!

After the ride back on the ferry and a glorious view of the Opera House at sunset, we went to a historic pub near our hotel for some Aussie beers and wines and some funny varieties of pizza. Even some with kangaroo! They weren't too bad, but then we are kind of pizza snobs :) and anytime you try to pretty up rustic game meat it is usually only okay.

An excellent start to our AU adventure!

I'm baaaaaaack!

Just a teaser of the great pictures I have from my awesome down under adventure! The flights are long but worth every second of sitting in a cramped airplane seat to stand up in my cousin Jessie's wedding. And we got to see some amazing things in Australia too!

So this is the beginning: We flew from Fairbanks to Seattle then on to Los Angeles. From there on a giant Qantas plane to Sydney, a 13 hour flight! Were we were met by Jessie, and after a quick clean up onto some serious sight seeing.

The hotel Jessie picked for us is in the historic rocks district in Sydney, just about a block up form the Circular Quay, where the Opera House and Sydney bridge are. How cool is that? We touched the Sydney Opera House! We were all tired and jet-lagged but you just feel so surreal. Like maybe you walked into a postcard. :) Lots more tomorrow, and probably the rest of this week! Kyle says to tell you I have about 600 pictures of my own, not counting the 1500 Mom and Dad took and the wedding ones that are trickling in...don't worry, I won't post alllll of them!