A comment about the beach in Australia

We decided that it would be nice to spend a day at the beach while we were in Australia.

We got to the beach in our swimwear and towel in hand. The water was beautiful, the sand was really nice, but we noticed there wasn't a single person in the water.

I of course seeing a nice beach go run to at least put my feet in the water, because it's so clear that if there is anything there you can see it. Then down the beach comes running this life guard telling us not to get in the water.

If you look at the sign you can see the reason no one was in the water was that there was a crocodile in the area. We actually saw him but he was too far away to get a picture but still too close for comfortable swimming.

Therefore we decided that it would be best to just enjoy the beautiful scenery

We took a stroll down the beach area.

There were nice palm trees and sand and water, it was really a gorgeous beach

ThanksGiving!

So this year we spent thanksgiving here in Nigeria. Ed and Donna were so sweet to invite a lot of people to their home for a lovely dinner


Chatting before dinner. Suzanne made key lime pie and green bean casserole.



The guys

The ladies, all dressed in fall colors.

SPAN Dance production

The dance group SPAN (Society of the Preforming Arts Nigeria) (where Suzanne has been teaching Jazz and Ballet classes) put on a production the other night.

Here is the Lady that runs the place, with some of the preformers on stage.

Dave of course was concerned with the food

Any and Reza came to the prefomance as well. (Ed and Donna came as well but I didn't get thier picture)

Suzanne even got in on the act, her students did a Jazz piece, and she joined them for a couple minutes. It was kind of dark for the pictures to come out well, but they did a really great dance.

Marine Corps Birthday Ball

We got invited to go the the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, there was a nice ceremony, dinner, and dancing.



The Marines with the cake. From what we could tell there were about 8 marines stationed here in Lagos.



There was some dancing at the party.



Getting a picture with one of the Marines here.



We got all dressed up. I think we looked pretty good!



The ladies in their beautiful dresses.

Weekend get together back in Nigeria

Our friends had a little get together down by the pool. Amy made really good food, and we had a great time



look at all the food!



here's the girls looking cute as always.



Us looking good



Some of the guys having a good time



Everybody waiting on the meat to finish cooking.



some fun in the pool.



We played some cards



It was late so not much background shows up but nice anyway



another of Suzanne and Amy!!!

Rainforrest

We took a scenic train ride into the rain forest. It had a very old time feel to it.



on the dock waiting for the train.



One of the scenic views from the train



There were some nice waterfalls along the way.



A walkway to the village once we got off the train.



Welcome to the little village.



The local aborigine with their show of preservation of their culture



Some views from the gondola rides across the rain forest



A view of the river below.

Desert and Mountain

We Spent an evening up in the mountains, and then a couple of days in the desert.

They call this peak the three sister, can you make out the three points, again another story about yada yada yada...

I picture out the gondola, I guess most of the picture is covered with a reflection off the glass, oh well it was still a nice pic.

This was their version of the Grand Canyon. It wasn't quite as large but it was still pretty amazing. One of the striking differences is their canyon has many more trees then the Grand Canyon.

Dave of course needs to climb things.

We had a nice dinner at the hotel in the mountains.

There is a nice red dirt desert in the middle of the continent.

How cute is this girl!

Here is another picture of Ayers Rock as the sun is coming up. It was early but we had some coffee so we were OK, it really was a lovely scene and surely worth getting up for.

Lots of animals and plants

While in Australia we went to several wildlife preserves. They have some really incredible animals there.

Here is a lizard a lot like the one I used to have as a pet.

Koalas just hanging out.

We were allowed to feed the wallabies

And what do you have for me???

This guy is just relaxing pretty good.

This was a wierd looking bird.

This was the state flower of New South Wales, they told us all about it but you know how much of that kind of stuff sticks...

They had some really nice plants.

There were Eucalyptus trees all over the place.