ahoy portland!

Hokay so! we went to portland on wednesday! yay! We had a really fantastic time with the Mibuses, even though our stay was pretty short. We left Melbourne around 9:00 am and took the train to Bacchus Marsh where Jessica (who is now an inhabitant of this city) picked us up and drove us the rest of the way to Portland, and we all arrived around 3:30. That night was super cool. We went to the beach in Bridgewater (apparently famous) and went swimming in the waves with Stuie! It was a good time! It definitely satisfied my craving to go to a beach! Anyway, the water was so nice and it was around +25 out so we were happy campers. Then we went home for some tea (supper) and after a couple beers (Stuie calls me 2 can Lisa) we decided it would be a good idea to teach me to drive a manual! YAY! well, it sort of worked.. We went in a big farm truck and drove around on the paddock (they love how i say "paddock" by the way for some reason..) and the objective was not to spill jessica's wine (why did she bring it anyway? haha) anyway, i only spilled her wine twice, and more importantly, i only stalled twice. ayyyy! we also watched stuart show off his dirt biking skills on the track he built. and I admit, he's pretty impressive on a bike. Let's see what else...I think that's all we did that night.

We woke up pretty early on thursday to drive with Jessica to Mount Gambier (which is in South Australia) because she had an appointment. While she was busy getting having a practice run on her makeup for her wedding, Jean Michel and I wandered around town, and we saw the sunken gardens, which was really beautiful. It was a garden that descends into the ground and at the bottom, there's this huge cave and it's amazing. When jessica was done, we went out for a scrumptious lunch and then took a drive to Blue Lake, which is, literally, a very blue lake. It's incredible! The area of Mount Gambier is a volcanic area and blue lake was formed after there was an eruption and it formed a crater. I don't remember why the water is so blue though. After that, we all headed home (about an hour drive) and we cooked supper together. Jessica made Jambalaya with Jean Michel and I made fattoush salad (look it up. it's delicious!) That night, they taught me to play "500", a super awesome fun card game. (Parents of Jean Michel: I heard you would be happy to know that I learned this game!) Anyway, the important thing is that my team won. :)

The next morning...oy. we got up at 6:30 to go for a polar bear swim. This involves us, swimming in the southern ocean at 7:00 in the morning. Neither of us know how we got talked into this. Anyway, it woke us up to say the least! holy guacamole. They SAID it gets warmer after 5 minutes in the water, but it really didn't. we got out after ten minutes of water-treading, teeth-chattering fun. Jean Michel's lips we blue, literally! I was scared for a few minutes. Well, it's good that we got out when we did! Anyway, it took us until 2:00 that afternoon to get warm again. At least it was a beautiful morning and we saw the sunrise and now we can say we did it! Later, we went to town and wandered around a bit while Jessica visited her grandparents. Then we went home and helped Sue cook dinner, and finished off with a game of scrabble. Oh I forgot to mention the legendary game of 500 that we played that night as well, this time with Martin and I on a team, and we kicked the other team's asses. Sorry, just thought I would mention. not important.

We left on Saturday, and took the 4ish hour train ride home. Since we got back, we have been stocking up our groceries (all we had was one egg and some rice when we got back) and getting some sleep. Oh! yesterday we spent the afternoon with Shannon and Libby and Tom and Kevin (who is the last member of team canada to arrive! woo hoo!) and we went to a latino music festival on lygon street, we drank some beers, got some pizza and hung out. it was a swell time.

That's all I have for you! I will write again (As always) when i have more exciting news from oz!

Miss you lots!!!! really!

love

Lisa and Jean Michel!

written by  jeanmichelisa on November 16, 2008 from Portland, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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