I am so horribly far behind on my blog, but am going to try to write some quick updates about what has been happening since last November! I’ve been living out of boxes and suitcases since then (for the past 6 months), so it is REALLY nice to be settled in with Brent at our new unit in Penrith, Australia.
My practical exams at the end of November last year went really well. Mom arrived in Australia on the day of my last exam and helped me move all my stuff from my apartment on campus to Penrith (50km west of the CBD).
We spent the next four days in Hobart, Tasmania touring around. We spent a day in Port Arthur, a day climbing Mount Wellington, and a day on a boat to the southern tip of Bruny Island in the Southern Ocean. We saw lots of seals, visited a sheep farm, toured around Hobart, and saw some spectacular views along the Tasmanian coast. We also had time for some nice seafood dinners at the harbour in Hobart.
Half-way up Mount Wellington.
Bruny Island Cruise into the Southern Ocean.
Post-cruise on Bruny Island.
Port Arthur, Tasmania.
Southeastern coastline of Tasmania.
Our view of the harbour from our hotel room.
We had a day or two back in Sydney before heading back to Canada at the end of our Tasmanian adventure, so we ended up going for a tour of the Opera house, for a kangaroo steak dinner in Darling Harbour with mom and some off my classmates, and even had a chance to go and see the Whitlams (my favourite Australian band) play in Newtown.
The rest of the month of December was a bit of a blur. Christmas time, visiting family and friends, and wedding planning made for a very busy month. Our only bit of down-time was probably our weekend away at the “Engaged Encounter Weekend” in Mississauga. Brent and I weren’t expecting much of it- but were forced to do it if we wanted to be married in the Catholic Church. It ended up being a GREAT weekend tho… we met lots of people, got some good advice and got to spend some together.
Luckily, the guys I was renting from left me their car, which made it pretty convenient to go into the city and visit with friends on the weekends. Janice, Amy and I also had a chance to see the famous annual Mardis Gras Parade held in March. I’ve never been to the Gay Pride Parade in Toronto, but I imagine that it’d be much the same. One of our dentistry friends has an apartment across from Hyde Park which overlooks the parade route, so we were also able to avoid the crowds! It was actually a pretty neat parade, and I was glad I got to see it at least once during my time here.
School was also pretty interesting for those two months. I was doing my Critical Care Rotation (which consisted of 4 weeks in emergency, 2 weeks in anesthetics and 2 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit). Because of my living situation, I ended up spending as much time as possible at the hospital (even including some weekends in the air-conditioned common room working on our wedding photo album). Needless to say, I was VERY happy for the rotation to be over and to get back to Ontario for my Family Medicine Rotations.
We thought we’d post a few pictures on here, but there are lots more on facebook or on our picasa website: 
As for our honeymoon....It was just perfect! It was 5 days full of horseback riding, dog sledding, cross country skiing in Algonquin park, snowmobiling and snowshoeing! The resort was absolutely amazing. Four course dinners, breakfast in bed, chocolate wraps and massages (all included)! We also had free on-demand movies, our own outdoor hot tub, a fire place and a steam room in our bathroom. We can’t wait to go back there for some of our anniversaries. :)
