Bonita, Adriano & Olive!

What else do we blog about now except Olive???

2008-09-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Bonita & Olive on our way out for lunch on one of the first warm days of spring so we could go outside!

Olive sound asleep on Aunty Kim's lap......such an Anne Geddes pose!

This photo is for Catherina.....how good does the dress look on her! All the way from Ireland.....

This is the first photo we have of her gorgeous smile and what a winner it is!

I think we can tell where she get those lips from! This is couch time with Papa most evenings.

Olive helping Mama hang out the washing....that's not slave labour is it if she looks that happy....what else do you do with a baby when you simply have to hang out the washing????

This one is for Megan and Michael.....Thanks for the pressies....unfortunately I have the hat on her all the time cause she has a big head and it wont last long. As for the 'uggies', they are brilliant and everyone comments on how cute they are.... Thanks a million... xxx

Not a lot happening in the world of Porcaro Land except watching our Olive grow and she is doing it seriously fast! She is an absolute gem and doing all good things! Adrian is enjoying the working from home bit because he gets to change a few nappies, play on the floor and get loads of smiles every morning! Ah, the simple things in life..... Sorry to those who read this and are not in love with Olive as much as we are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Olive's date with the Tigers!!!! Grrr

2008-08-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

To say there is some pressure on Trent Cotchin to perform is an understatement...His number is already on little Olives
first Tigers jumper, thanks to Millsy's mum Barb! Cotch's signature on Olives footy jumper as well.

The boys at Tigerland were great, all seemed very impressed with our girl Olive.
Trent Cotchin with her newest and no.1 fan.
By the way I think he can play a bit! Better than a "good ordanary player" as Jack Dyer would say

Us in front of the legend himself Jack "Captain Blood" Dyer
Tezza Wallace the car salesman who is turning the tigers into a force for olives future supporting.
Brett Deledio not a bad talent, apparently the girls think is a bit cute as well.
Proud dad with my footy pal Olive.
Ritchie Bling Tambling, must say of all the boys he was a true gentleman and showed geniune interest in Olive.
Bonnie and Olive showing the Number.9 proud.

Anyway Olive slept through the whole trip to Tigerland, I think dad had a better day than she did. I am still a little bit happy with all the young fellas at Tigerland. Richo my personal favourite even signed my membership for a keep sake for Olive...
She will not get to see the great man run around. "There is nothing more tigerish than a tiger" quote Tom Haffy

Olive Update

2008-08-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Bonita & Olive after dinner! She's a happy girl then...

Olive busting a move for the camera...

Adrian and Olive in her first hand made Richmond Football jumper.....yes she already knows the pain of being a supporter!

We think Olive's hair resembles that of the Great King!

The cutest photo we have of her, just fresh out of the bath....scrumptious!

Our little Olive Ines is almost 6 weeks old.....
The last week has been spent indoors with the Porcaro family being quite sick and Olive giving her parents a bit of a scare with a sad cough and snot coming out everywhere and a temperature that nearly saw us off to Box Hill Hospital in the middle of the night..... as well as 3am projectile poo incidences! No-one has escaped unscathed, we are convinced she knows exactly what she is doing and waits until the nappy is off and BANG it's everywhere, including the unsuspecting nappy changer! She even diguises the projectile nature of it in a sneeze or cough!
It's fortunate that she is so cute that I just have to laugh and change clothes again!

Other than feeling like a zombie with breastfeeding brain, she is an absolute joy! every day she changes literally and grows before our eyes. She brings a tear to my eye everytime she practices the new skill of smiling....it's better than a million dollars...

As all parents will say, they are totally in LOVE but I can't help but add again........WE ARE IN LOVE!
I could really go on forever with little bits of information that describe how perfect she is, but I appreciate the level of love that everyone else has for her is not as paramount as ours so i'll just add some photos and you can see for yourself how perfect she really is!

Olive Ines Porcaro!

2008-07-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

Olive Ines Porcaro
Born 8th July 2008
Weighing 7pound 9 oz (3430 grams)
Length 49cm and Head Circumfrence 36cm
Well HERE SHE IS! The long awaited arrival of our first child and she is perfecto!
They say the way labour starts in the movies was all fake and NEVER happens like that! Well, im here to say that sometimes it actually does....my waters broke at home at 10.30pm in front of the fridge whilst trying to find an apple that i was craving...apparently this is to be expected for Cancerians - many over time have been born in the kitchen....she's already like us, she loves food! Anyway, I will spare all the bits in between, contractions, hospital negotiations, consultants etc and fast forward to 5.33pm the next day when she entered the world and into her fathers hands....it doesn't get anymore perfect than that! And, I will say proudly without any pain relief....by the time I was having those thoughts, it was all over!

She was also right on her 'due date' which apparently the chances of that happening are only 5%! I had the 'A' team supporting me - Annie our Doula, Ana the bestest friend you could ever get....she can't go anywhere now, she's seen and heard things that friends just shouldn't have too! and of course Adriano....Papa!

Today she is 9 days old and all i can say is that im not taking it for granted....she is sleeping and eating and putting on weight as required and i already look at her and think, please dont grow up, you are so cute this small! But in such a short time she is already changing so much.....

We are settling in and coming to realise that there really arn't enough hours in the day, my bottom lines at the moment are having a morning sleep and a shower! The rest is a bonus! Adrian has become cook, nappy changer, emotional support team and bath monitor! He really is in love and can't get enough of her, needless to say, we both are... how something so small is so perfect!

There's plenty of photographs....it's true..all parents are a bit crazy and it's photos, photos, and more photos!

Thanks for all the congrats and best wishes!!!!
Love to all
When 2 became 3....
Bonita, Adriano and Olive
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Photos (in no particular order):
A before photo taken a day or two before she arrived.
A photo of her a few hours after birth
A close up of her big head!
One with Ana
One with a few family admirers
One of her first bath, check out the grin on Adrian!!
One with me at "booby time"...looking slightly sleep deprived but feeling blissful! (Olive even has a milk moustache!)

Renovation & Growing A Baby Update!

2008-05-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
We are nearing the end of the renovations and only 7 weeks away from the 40 week mark of growing the baby.
Baby is doing well, other than a few fainting spells here and there and the occassional panic attack all is progrssing according to the text books! The nesting has kicked in and busting to relax and make house....

We it's almost been 3 months to the day since we moved in and Adrian has absolutely (almost) pulled off a home makeover in that time. Some walls gone, a new kitchen, 2 new bathrooms, plastering, painting,decking out back, garage doors, plumbing, etc etc...... He has become an expert at the art of negotioation....I think the middle east and Italy gave him a good head start.

The photos speak for themselves really....it's been busy but we have coped, luckily after backpacking for so long, we wern't used to creature comforts anyway. I finish work in 2 weeks and then bring on the nesting full time......

Hope this update finds you all well out there all over the place....

Maybe our next update will be with a lovely baby!

Love & Peace
Bonita & Adriano di Napoli
xxx

Ranovations & Growing A Baby!

2008-03-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

So the photos go like this....the one of Adrian standing next to 2 glass doors is the before shot of our lounge, kitchen (check out the orange, geen and yellow wallpaper and the orange tiles!!! and dining area and the rest are the during shots of pulling down 4 walls and installing a massive beam to hold up the front of the house! All very exciting...now its time to get the kitchen ordered, tiles blah blah blah, just the usual renovation stories!
And the ones of me are the 'during' the pregnancy photos....they were actually taken a few weeks ago now and since then im considerably bigger! One of course you need to turn your head sideways as Im not lying on the floor but standing!

Stay tuned!
xx

The Highlights Package!

2008-02-03T00:31:00.000-08:00

Today is the 8 month and 8 day highlights package. In no particular order, perhaps just in memory order, so the first one says alot! It also includes some lowlights as they too are a part of the big adventure!

Zia Ines' cooking! Every last mouthfull of it....
Returning to our roots - Adrian Italy and I Switzerland and Ireland, England etc.
Getting pregnant in Bormio and discovering so in Jerusalem! Should have seen the look on our faces!
Petra - Jordan! Magnificent...
Falling over in Alleppo, Syria and Bonita nearly breaking her chicken leg!
The French restaurant in Paris with Dora, Carolyn and Martin. Thanks Dora!
Staying at the Australian Embassy in Paris...what a view, what company and what food! Thanks Carolyn and Martin (and we suppose Dora, they are her friends!).
Moscow - The underground metro and the Red Square.
Our own Gaudi Tour in Barcelona - a dream come true and we relished every second of it!
The Gelati in San Gimignano, Italy. 19 flavours is what we got to.
Travelling with friends and family in foreign lands - Ana, Scott, Dora, Claudio, Kerri, Maria, Jeanetty, Helen, Catherina...Did we actually leave Australia? I think we have created some serious Attachment issues!
Syrian archaeology and the people!!! How nice are they!!!!
Middle Eastern food - a highlight for Adrian and low light for Bonita - the baby didnt like it at all!
Sleezy Turkish men....eeeeewwwww!
Wearing smelly clothes often, in fact all the time.....they never really get clean!
That plumbing smell!
Wet toilets given that most showers are over the toilet!
Wet or NO toilet paper! (guess we are going through a few low lights at the moment!)
Nudist beaches in Croatia...beautiful and so quiet! The best place to swim in that magnificent water.
The Hypogeum in Malta.
August Festa in Italia with Dora and the whole family.
Booking a Safari in East Africa, then cancelling it because babies dont like the high risk of Malaria.
Auswitchz - Poland and Krakow city.
The 48 hrs of living hell on the train into Budapest...........aaaaarrrgggghhh...still makes me ill thinking of that heat.
Aussie Backpackers in Turkey are a real lowlight!
Merryls cooking at the Shaban Guesthouse in Olympos, Turkey.
Smoking Shisha pipes and drinking mint tea.
Matera, Italy. Our fist night there with Ana & Scott on the balcony, the view, the drink and that Pizza! Absolute Bliss!
Buying Camper shoes
Hanging out in Tuscany several times over in all four seasons.
Live soccer game - Fiorentino vs Empoli in Florence.
Open air cinema in Dubrovnik Croatia - watching 'Namesake', the closing night film.
Live local soccer game in Benevento.
Shane MacGowan from the Pogues LIVE in Galway along with another one of our faves Mundy, singing one of our fave songs, July!
Unexpected trip to Ireland to hang out with Catherina and Helen...gotta love the Irish, to be sure, to be sure! Tanks a Million ladies!
The 'One Coffee and 2 cheese' story....refer to last blog entry - Hua Hin, Thailand
Having people visit us and then take all the crap we bought home for us in their excess baggage, whilst currently I think we sit at a comfortable 20kg each. Thanks!
Spending 8 months and 8 days with each other! eeewwww! and we still love each other too!

thailand could we do any less if we tried??

2008-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

Our dreamy Hut in Phi Phi Island.

I made it to "Stevens World" thailand...and blow me down with a feather duster, am i enjoying the tucker.....cheap as chips and tastes so good. Red curry hot ?? Hot as you can make it please, would you like some fresh chilli with that...I ask would "Steve" do this answer yes so i say yes please!!!

I am in love and do not want to leave.....

Most days go like this wake up late say 10.30 in our jungle hut naked of course shower, frog in shower lizard on window. Go down for breakfast freshly squeesed juices fresh bloody everything, even the coffee is good. Pineapple smoothies to watermelon all taste soooooooo good!

Then of to beach by about 12.30 swim lie around then lunchtime about 2.00. Found a local place here in Phi Phi lovely old lady runs the show....normally a noodle dish with seafood cost about 3 dollars, somme greens with chilli garlic and whatever else takes there fancy bloody beautiful. EAch day the meals change but alsways taste the best....

Back to beach ice polls a must and more water and some more swimming, more swimming read book drink water sun bake.....wonder home about 5ish shower to get all those bad sun screen feelings and sand of....air dry naked feeling all loose as a goose.

Wonder to the balcony of our jungle hut cost about 36 Aussie and thats expensive around here. Read somemore of book have another singha beer not bad beer these thais have.... wake bonnie up 1 hour later express that my hunger is killing me and she needs to eat for 2 people now so lets go.

7.30 back to same dodgy looking restaurant with great food, red curry hot seafood 4.00 aussie, greens to die for cold beer, soda water for the fine bonita, another round of those yummy spring rolls hand made by your grandmother, please bring the chilli dipping sauce out as well thanks. watch a bad b grade movie laugh lots fall guts. Thanks of for a walk around town.

Next stop fresh cooked roti with coconut and chocolate inside the best, this to cost an extreme 70cents. About now legs are weary i think home james must consider the lady with a baby, yeah right. Wonder back to hut frog still in the shower larry lizard no where to be seen hopefully he is not in the bed. Play some cards read a book just basically relax. Fall asleep about 11.30

Read above for how the next day goes just change the menu around maybe a green curry, a pad thai thai style, use your imagination....life is tough here in Phi Phi. see you soon. Oh sometimes we sneak a coconut shake in for good measure somewhere during the day.

Age and bonnie

hope you are green with envy or like me green with green curry seafood of course!!!!

Jeanetty on a Tuk Tuk had to add this to the blog.

A little Thai Story to finish....must read!

Of to the local bakery to get the Ralph Ladies there must have Tea and me Cappucino. I enter the bakery down stairs and as usual are greeted with a lovely smile and hello welcome...jeese I love Thai people. I proceed to order Two teas and a capp....then I sit down and wait a bag is placed on my table with my cappucino inside. The bakery is busy as usual and many customers are served, after about 20 minutes I wonder how my Teas are coming along?

I get up and go to the counter and ask ever so gently how my teas were coming along, my bakery friend smiles happily and responds that I have them. I show her my bag and she nods once again very proud, now I am a little confused to say the least!! I say no I asked for two teas and a cappucino, again she smiles and nods in agreement with me. All i can see in the bag is one take away cup of cappucino which by now is leuke warm, she looks at me I look at her and we have a stale mate. Then the penny drops i open up the bag and look deep into it and what is at the bottom of the bag two slices of cheese neatly wrapped in glad wrap. Two teas were in fact always two slices of cheese.....how dumb could i have been of course I wanted two cheeses not two teas... gotta love the lost in translation.

Thailand & Bonita's Birthday!!!

2008-01-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

Bonita's Birthday! 29 today and celebrated in very realxed fashion....
Hua Hin aka, German Retirement Village....swim at the beach, a swim in the hotel swimming pool, thai noodles at a stret corner at the night market, a spot of shopping and to top it off a cup of tea and a slice of chocolate fudge orange cake....my oh my, how things have changed!

Look who Adrian picked up at the beach....no it's not a lady boy, it's the beatiful Jeanetty stutting her stuff in her new bathers and the compulsory Thai Western style beach dress! Don't they look so happy together???

Just a beach bump photo for all out there who are dying to know, am I showing yet???

Adventures of JR Part 2 & Ciao Italia!

2008-01-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

Jeanetty in Italia.

Jeanettly has certainly ticked all the boxes on the must see sights of Italy. It was a jammed packed 2 weeks and it went super fast. A few of Mum's highlights

Archaelogical museum in Naples and the Pompeii artifacts, especially the Erotica section for a laugh...bloody Italians!

The Roman Forum ruins in Rome, she still can't believe how old things are!

The chaos of the traffic in Naples, it's sure to frighten anyone, especially a deaf woman who nearly has a heart attack everytime a Vespa screams by a few millimetres away.Our ability to make Jeanetty walk several kilometres a day! (our highlight, not hers!)
The food!

Not only did we give Jeanetty the round trip of Italy, it also meant our time to say Good-bye to all of our wonderful family in Italy, with a special mention for Zia Ines. In the last few days Adrian managed to put on 1 kilo just in eating...just trying to squeeze in the last of the best food in Italia and perhaps even the world. There is nothing like tucking into a home cooked meal made with love and Italian passion. We spent our time with Zia, kicking back in front of the fire and Adrian was able to spend a few extra days of one on one time with her whilst Mum and I were trooping around Roma. We also have farewell dinners with the families in Naples and Roma. Needless to say there were a few tears shed and whilst we sat on the plane as it lifted off Italian soil, "we'll be back". Not only do we have to bring the baby back to it's "roots", but when we went back to San Gimignano for our last best gelati in the world, they had closed up shop for the winter!!!!! So we definately have to come back for that!

We are now in Hua Hin, Thailand and we are loving the warm weather. It was such a joy to throw out winter clothes that I have been wearing for months and could almost walk their own way to the bin! Jeanetty flies home in a few days and us not long after that, but have no fear I think we still have a couple of blog entries left in us....there is the highlights summary package to come....

Love to all

Bonita e Adriano xxxxx

"The Adventures of Jeanetty Ralph"

2008-01-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Jeantty arrived on NYE into London and needless to say $ did not allow us the priveledge of staying in London for NYE so we got a car and headed to the English countryside. We saw Stonehenge and Mum still couldn't understand that it was 5000 years old!

We went to Amesbury to the Stone Circle, Windsor Castle and did a few obligatory Pub stops for a warm up and a vino and soda water!!! You can guess who was drinking what!

London - You all know the usual sights.....we ticked them all. Mum's highlights were of course anything Royal! Diana's controversial fountain was a hit despite the freezing winds.

At one point we had enough of travelling with the mother/ mother-in-law that we locked her in a good old fashioned english phone box....mum said it smelt like wee....oh how unusual!

All is grand....Mum's feet have copped a work out despite previous warnings, but i think she still can't comprehend that she is on the other part of the world, with different time zones, currencies, languages, cultures, buildings etc!

We have just arrived in Tuscany so in another week or so we will do another update on the "Adventures of Jeanetty Ralph"....stay tuned!

Bonita, Adrian, Baby J and Jeanetty

xx

P.S: Baby J is about 12cm long this week! What a star....

TANKS A MILLION!

2008-01-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Highlights package of 4 days in Ireland from Dec 26th to Dec 30th wiht our beautiful friends Catherina and Helen and their entourage of wondrful boyfriends and family!

Shane McGowan live in Galway!!!! Yes, it blody true! Catherina and Diarmuid busted a gut to drive us back to Galway in time and get tackets off the street to see the "yes he is still alive" Shane McGowan from the Pogues.....and yes he sunf Fairytale in New York and Rainy night in Soho....me thinks they are about the only songs he can remember these days....
Seeing Catherina and Helen again...strange isn't that you can have friends on the other side of thw world and have seen them 5 times in 5 years! Something special I say....and meeting their most spectacular boyfriends Connor and Diarmuid...Adrian and I give them both a big TICK! Well done girls!
The INCREDIBLE hospitality given to us by Helen and Catherina - driving (special mention to Diarmuid), food, tours of the beautiful (but hard to see at times) Irish country and seaside....
Having dinner together with Helen's mum Kay and borhter Brian (photos below)
Staying at Darmuid's Aunty's place in Fenit - Peggy! She let Adrian and I have free run of the kitchen so we could cook up a storm, then she let us sleep in a neighbours beautifully built brand new house across the road....hospitality plus, this woman is a star! She is the first Irish person we have met that admits that you dont need to pronounce the H with a TH word, its a waste so just the T will do! Tanks a million....tirty tree and a tird!
Connor's breakfast in the morning on the George Foreman grill - we are buying one!
The grand family reunion at the Ryan Lanty household for lunch! They are all the same, beautiful, super friendly and full of a million laughs.

Love to all in Ireland and it was brilliant.....you guys are the best...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Welcome to Egypt!

2007-12-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

If we hear "Welcome to Egypt", "Where do you come from?", "Please, let me show you something, its free to look" and "Can I ask you something, not business" one more time I think we will go insane!!! Adrian particularly like the one where they say to him, "Oooh, you have nice daughter????" Needless to say our patience has worn thin and Egypt is not a great place to end a trip in the Middle East. Its been wonderful of course, the monuments, temples, museum, weather and thats about it. The people have tested our patience but also of course created many laughs.

The highlight for us both has ben the Abu Simbal ruin in the south of Egypt, very near to the Sudan border. It was a hell trip getting there, our necks have still not recovered! Up at 3am for a 4am convoy departure (due to the tourist murders in 1997, all tourists must travel in deisgnated convoys and tourist trains). 3 hours in a cramped mini bus, 2 hours at the site, then the return trip home, all ending at about 2pm! Not happy Jan, but it was worth it. There are photos below which really don't do it any justice.

Stay tuned for our next update which we promise will have great photos!

Hope you are all staying sane out there in this Christmas mayhem....the one upside of being in a Muslim culture.....very little crazy xmas hype!

Bonita & Adriano

xxxx

What else but the Sphinx and the Pyramids!

Abu Simbal

Edfu Temple - near to Luxor

Our Feluca trip in Aswan at sunset

Adrian smoking his Chocolate & Banana Shisha in bliss!

Hatchepsut (Hot Chicken Soup) Temple, Luxor

After returning from our day trip to the Valley of the Kings etc, we arrived in our room at our Hotel to find a stranger in the bed! The housekeeper had totally cleaned our room, including floding all out clothes and putting them in the cupboards as well as leaving a suprise "Bed man" to welcome us back!

Only in Egypt!

Jordan to Israel & back to Jordan in a few days!

2007-12-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

Israel Photos L to R:

The Western 'Wailing' Wall, The stone where Jesus was purified after his crucifixtion and the Temple of the Rock in The Temple Mount.

So.....from Madaba in Jordan we headed into Israel. Our border crossing was tame compared to others we have met who were held for over 7 hours and interrogated - all because they had a Syrian visa in their passports. For some reson we escaped this treatment and were only held and questioned for about 45 mins.

Our time in Jerusalem was quite unforgettable. It was quite surreal to be actually in a place that millions of people in the world hold so dear and is the most disputed land....

I think our time there was overshadowed with all the tacky religious tourism and meeting quite a few people who were living in Jerusalem all becasue it was the only way they could be close to God??? That certainly didn't wash with us and I had heard of the Jerusalem phenomena and unfortunately we experienced more of that than anything else. It didnt help that most of the people staying in our hostel were of this kind!

Anyway....we are happy we went and it did provide us with a chance to eat some magnificaent food. We ate Thai, Italian, salads and boring old wholegrain crackers and museli with soy milk. We are happy to never see the sight of a Kebab again for the rest of our lives!

So back to Jordan we head and from the border, a trip straight down to Petra with a taxi tour down the Kings Highway. It got dark a bit too quickly but we did meet up with some other people we met in Syria, Jesse (aka Jude Law, aka Dodgy Jesse) and Yola.

Then PETRA! What a magnificanet place on Earth that it. If there is anywhere we would say you MUST see around this part of the world it would have to be the ancient city of Petra. We spent 3 FULL days there and that is a must. We walked for HOURS everyday, which included a hairy 6 or so KM walk back in the dark from the Monastery to the town through the sand, stairs, siq (narrow cave like walk way) and tombs.

Adrian and I have compared Petra to our experience of Macchu Picchu in Peru.

From Petra we did an overnight 4WD trip into the Wadi Rum desert. The photo of the Camel was taken in the desert. It was a rocky desert which made for a different experience compared to a sandy desert. Our guide was of course tipically touristy Bedouin, so was offering camels for Yola's hand in marriage and then struck up an inappropriate conversation with Adrian and I about Circumcision and how Camel's Milk makes men 'stronger' and 'last longer'!!!! It was Yola's birthday so we lay under the stars on the sand (with blankets of course) watching 27 shooting stars (one for each year) then off to bed.

So from Wadi Rum, we made our way across the border into Egypt. Our first stop was Dahab on the Red Sea. We have now been here 8 days and enjoyed doing absolutely nothing. The weather has been ok, a little windy but we did manage to go snorkeling twice. The coral and fish and magnificent. While here we also celebrated Adrian's 38th birthday. We have met so many people on this tourist route through the middle east and some of our favourites were able to join us for a seafood dinner to celebrate Adrian's birthday. It was mixed bunch. See Photo.

The restaurant staff were great and without any prompting, they cut the lights, put on crappy Happy Birthday music and the whole restaurant sang for him then Adrian had to get up and dance with all the staff....it was brilliant!

I think that's all for now, if you got this far, well done! We are heading to Cairo tonight then down the southern Egypt - Luxor and Aswan. Stay tuned for our next installment!

Love and Peace to all! Stay sane during this crazy time they call Christmas!!!

Petra Photos L to R:

The Monastery Building 49mtrs high x 43 mtrs wide!

The Monastery at Sunset.

The Treasury Building

Wadi Rum - Camel in the Desert!

Adrian's Birthday Dinner:

From left to right - Jesse (USA - dodgy guy met in Turkey), Alex (UK - windsurf instructor almost), Alex (Swiss - Photo-journalist met at the border of Syria\Turkey), Bonita (Austrlian Wife!), Adriano (Australian birthday boy), Trevor (Canadian - Computer Programmer), and Juan Carlos (Peruvian but lives in Glen Iris Melbourne - Engineer)......

Made in Bormio, Italy & discovered in Jerusalem, Israel!

2007-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Our Bambino Bambina at 3months check out the massive head!!!!

YES! You've got to see it to believe it!!!

On November 23rd we decided to do a pregnancy test and Bonita walked out of the bathroom speechless and said "Oh my god, there's 2 lines!"...

The first scan was taken that day and we were already 7 weeks and 6 days!

I thought I was feeling really sick for a long time because of the food poisoning in Syria, but boy was I wrong. Needless to say from Aleppo onwards I have no desire to eat Middle Eastern cuisine nor smell or even look at it....

Of course, this alters our travel plans (much to the delight of Ana, my Sister Kim and Adrian's mum Maria). As soon as I saw the heart beat on the ultra sound, it was confirmed that we would be cancelling our 21 day Safari in East Africa and heading back quite a bit earlier, otherwise i may have arrived in Australia ready to give birth!

We flew back to Rome from Cairo on the 18th Dec and will be spending Christmas with family. Today (20th) we had our 12 weeks scan and the doctor said the baby was PERFECT and BIG (5cm)! Adrian was so proud he was skipping down the street in Rome.... I think the baby was excited to be on TV because it had the hiccups and was wriggling like crazy! I was going to add the 12 weeks scan photo but due to pregnancy brain, I left the photo at Zia's and so cannot download it!!! This has been happening alot, I have misplaced about 6 sets of room keys in about 3 weeks, sometimes twice in one day!

It's been a very surreal experience dealing with hospitals and doctors in a couple of countries. The first Gyno we saw in Israel, just thought we were mad that we weren't going to get on the next plane home. He wasn't keen to give any advice about how to care for myself, he just wanted me to go home and deal with it! He really didn't know who he was talking to! The doctor here in Rome was lovely, but thinks we are tipically Australian and far too relaxed....quite the opposite to the Italian women apparently.

My mum (Jeanetty) was originally coming to visit us in London and Italy in Feb but has now changed her plans due to the bambino/a. She is now arriving in London on NYE! We are going to Ireland to catch up with some friends (Catherina and Helen) on the 26th Dec until the 31st when we will go back to London to meet Jeanetty. We are then taking my dear Jeanttey on a tour of Italy from Jan 6th until Jan 20th. The three of us are then flying to Bangkok and mum will head back on the 25th. Adrian and I are going to make the most of a last holiday for a while by being lazy on a beach somewhere in Thailand before coming home. So, all those people out there having parties, getting married etc, we can now accept invites again (that's if you still remember us!).

Our sweet baby will be making an entrance into this world, sometime in early July (6th ish and just in time for the increase in Government Baby Bonus, so we've been informed! ha ha, couldn't have planned it even if we tried!). This baby will have done some serious travel before even entering this world, it's list of countries and sights goes like this:

Italy: Nothern slopes, Naples, Santa Croce village, brilliant Italian cooking, Tuscany, Amalfi coast.
Russia: freezing Moscow and St Petersburg, toured the Hermitage museum, crap Russian food, crazy Moscow taxi driver!
Greece: Athens, the Acropolis
Turkey: Istanbul, ruins, ruins, ruins, ok food, a swim in the Meditteranean, sleezy men, Goreme.
Syria: Aleppo, Damascus, ruins, ruins, ruins, Palymra, been on the back of motorbike at 120km p/hr through the desert, good food in the beginning then a dodgy kebab then bang the morning sickness kicked in and there went any hope of enjoying food for the rest of the trip.
Jordan: A swim in the dead sea, ruins, ruins, ruins, the brilliant Petra, a 4WD trip into the Wadi Rum desert with a crazy Bedouin at the wheel.
Israel: The place of discovery! Jerusalem and the home of great religions.
Egypt: The great pyramids, Abu Simbal, a camel ride, a feluca on the Nile at sunset
Italy: The home land and THE BEST FOOD!
and not to forget, Ireland, England and Thailand!!!! Gee this kid gets around, no wonder its so active and got the hiccups!

Love to you all from the THREE of us!

xxxxxxxxxxx

Golan Heights War Zone!

2007-11-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Inside the Golan Hospital 2nd Floor

The Cinema camera & The Cinema

The Israeli and Syrian Border of Golan

This was our last excursion in Syria before departing for Jordan. What an experience it was. We guess that the photos speak pretty clearly! Overall Syria is an absolute highlight of our trip, hence the three blog entries for it. We are now sitting in a cafe in Jerusalem. Isreal is certainly another world away in this middle eastern culture. Modern, westernised and machine guns everywhere strapped to the backs of young men and women that look barely 18! How a country like this can think about peace when they have this ingrained culture amongst their young is beyond me. Our strangest sight has been of a group of young guys pulling up in front of us at a set of lights. They are dropping a friend off and he says good bye and motions for the driver to open the boot and what does he pull out...a machine gun, just Adrian would pull out his cricket gear on a Saturday morning!!!!! SCARY!!!!

We spent a few days in Jordan before crossing into Israel but are heading back tomorrow. We floated in the dead sea (400 mtrs below sea level), what a strange sensation that is! Incredibly salty......

Stay tuned for our next installment of our Jordan and Israel combination....xxxx

Syria - Part 2. The Safe Part!

2007-11-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

What room are we in now?

Crac de Chevalliers Castle - near Aleppo

Women from Iran mourning in the Great Mosque in Damascus
The Souq under construction - Damascus

Do we believe in Syria?

Our Swiss photo- journalist friend Alex and Adrian thumb wrestling over Tea in Damascus.

Palmya at Sunset!

Syria, a dangerous country & The Shooter at the cinema!

2007-11-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Day One!
Syria has proven to be the most dangeous country we have been to yet, and not because of what you are imagining...
First moments off the bus from Turkey (a 16 hours journey overnight - with border control taking their time and interrogated a fellow American traveller as to why he would come to Syria....). Now we arrive in Aleppo. We are greeted by 2 young men who are studying to be English Interpreters and desperate to help us on our way. We met 2 other backpackers on the bus, an American were-named Jude Law (Jesse - see below and you will know what i mean) and a Polish photo journalist. So off we start to walk to where the hotels are to find a room. We are getting the usual stares and Adrian is chatting away to the two boys etc etc.....in a flash Bonita is lying on her side in pain, wondering what the hell just happened. I look down and see my foot covered in mud and feeling rather numb. Adrian trying to lift me up and a crowd forming. Apparently whilst crossing the road i stepped from the gutter on to the road in straight into a mud filled pot hole whilst carrying 17kgs in my backpack and hitting the road. Hospitals, travel insurance, broken ankle, plaster, flight home all come flooding into my head! Cars had stopped, and people all around yelling out to get me to hospital etc etc. Finally i got up and hobbled to a nearby hotel, whilst Adrian was stuck carrying both our backpacks. Adrian is adament that I was attention seeking and really should have not thrown myself into the traffic. So needless to say i spent the rest of the day doing RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). The swelling has gone down after a few days and we have enjoyed Aleppo despite the rough start. So far the most dangerous experience i have had overseas! As for the boys practising their English, they didnt really speak much after that, they were in a bit of shock the poor things!

Then to top all that off, there was The Shooter in the cinema. Dont panic, the worst movie in the world, The Shooter! I cant even give it a review, it was horrendous but only cost us $2 to see it. In fact we would list it as a comedy because it really is a joke!

Syria so far (we have only been in Aleppo) has exceeded all expectations and is absolutely beautiful. We have seen ruins, dead cities, souqs etc and they are all marvelous, better than any other ruins we have ever seen. We are looking forward to Palmyra and beyond. We have a 15 day visa to stay and intend on using everyday of it. And to add to that, it is incredibly cheap! Huge meals for $3 for two, 2 shisha pipes, 6 teas, 2 large bottle of water and a game of backgammon for $4, a private taxi from 9.30am to 5.30pm covering about 400km - only $20....our sort of place!

The photos above are of a dead city about 150kms south of Aleppo. I hobbled well around the ruins!

The photos above are of the beautiful Qual et Salaam ruins just out of Aleppo...breathtaking!

Spice and nut man below the balcony from our hotel

Adrian always entertaining; at the Grand Mosque during prayer time, the kids were waiting for their parents. The other guy was once again practicing his English! Adrian showed the boys thumb wrestling and they were happy!

We have also discovered in Syria, it is dangerous to eat a Chicken Kebab from the Souq (market), its now a bread and water diet for us for a day or two!

Adrians favourite is Turkey! (but we just cant find any, only mince!)

2007-11-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

It started with Istanbul! What a city. So beautiful but not what we expected at all. In fact Turkey in general has been far more Westernised and swamped with Backpackers than we imagined. Needless to say we are on the common tourist trail, but hard to avoid really and it is the end of the peak season!!! Blue Mosque photo...beautiful!

The cheesy photo of Adrian and I was taken at Ephesus on the west coast near a town called Selcuk. Needless to say we were suprised the library was still standing! We have had fabulous weather. We really expected chills but instead we have actually been swimming in the Mediteranean Sea!
We are trying not to Ruin our experiences of Ruins! We have already seen quite a few here in Turkey and have many more to come in Syria, Jordan and Egypt!

The photo of the KamilKoc is the for good measure, go on say it out loud really fast a few times and you're sure to laugh. Especially if you are reading this at work and your boss is near by.....highly recommended.

The photo of the Poppy was taken at Gallipolli. What a surreal place that was.So many young lives lost and all for nothing as is with wars. It made us reflect on the current situation in this region of the Middle East and many corners of the globe that so many lives are being lost everyday for nothing. We are glad that we made it and glad that it wasn't on Anzac Day where it apparently gets overrun with Aussies and Kiwis having drinking competitions!!!

This one is for good measure. Whilst most out there would think its all cruisy being on holidays, (it actually is too and we are certainly not complaining), sometimes things just get the better of you, just like they do at your desk at work. We were at the Topaki Palace in Istanbul, and were really unispired by what we were seeing. Only because we were tired and emotional and this photo was taken at a point of delerium.....we decided to capture the whole lot and this photo is one of the nicer ones! We didnt want to overwhelm people with our hideous expressions!

Kapadokya> We are in Goreme as we write this.....what a landscape, a scene from Star Wars literally. We have left the sunny shores of Olympos on the Meditteranean Sea for the inland cold. Whilst its not snowing which is unusual for this time of year apparently, it is fresh..... We are here for a few more days and then on the dreaded 16 hour bus journey overnight from here to Aleppo in Syria... We will update more from there.....

Love to all
Bonita and Adrian
xxxx

From Russia with Love!

2007-10-19T03:57:00.000-07:00

Here it is, from Russia with love! We spent a marvelous 8 days, a few each ın St Petersburg and Moscow.
Needless to say we gave poor Maria (Adrians mum) a run for her money! She did it backpacking style gracefully! She even wore a day pack for the first time in her life. She had a backpack 101 lesson, and she was worried about how we carry 20 odd kilos! The highlight for all of us i think was certainly Moscow. A cıty of somewhere between 12 and 15 mıllıon (dont ask me how you lose 3 million people ın a population count???). The metro proved difficult to navigate wıth 9 million people using ıt a day and over 186 stations...as well as no signs in Englısh all Russian cyralic!!! Maria was a doll helping to count stations!
On average we worked out that we dıd about 20kms a day walking....
A couple of highlights!

Being in the Victory Garden then the Red Square of the fıst snow of the wınter. Needless to say ıf was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!! brrrr....
Seıng the embalmed body of Lenin (weird, but Adrian insisted!)
Lining up to see Lenin and going through our bags to make sure we got rıd of all items banned from taking, eg: camera, guns, large bags, glass etc. We didnt have a gun, but Maria nearly forgot that she had a hip flask of Vodka in her handbag! She really was getting into the whole Russia thing...drinking like the locals!
Getting the local mini bus to and from the aırport, Maria barely coping but fought through well!
Garlic topped churches were surreal to see in real life! The colours were phenomenal!
Wondering the Hermitage Museum and Gallery ın St Petersburg. Only 3 Million pieces of art to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maria convinced that the only reason we took her to Russia was so we could lose her ın the Metro underground. Whilst we tried, she hung on like a trooper.
The Metro tour ın Moscow was brilliant...a gallery all of its own!

The fırst photo ıs of Maria and Bonıta in front of St Basils Catherderal ın Moscow and the second is of Adriano and Maria in front of the Hermitage!!!!

A lifetime to get to Venice and walnuts!

2007-10-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

Fınally Zıa got to get to Venıce! We set off early one frosty mornıng from S.Croce for the 7 hour journey to Venıce wıth the oblıgatory BOX of food ın the boot..... When Zıa was ın Australıa a few years ago she was tellıng us that she had always wanted to vısıt the home of Saınt Anthony ın Padova and go to Venıce. She has lıved all her 78 years and has never been north. Not only had she not been north but as we were drıvıng we soon dıscovered that she had also never been to Florency or the Tuscan regıon. Well, we couln't have that now, so we decıded that we would break the trıp up wıth a stop off ın Sıena. Needless to say the ladıes loved ıt! That would make Sıena vısıt no. 3 for Bonıta.......and three massıve gelatıs as well.

Zıa acquıred about 16 souveneırs 1 for each person ın the vıllage and famıly
We then made our was up to Venıce and as the photo shows, we are grınnıng wıth excıtement at all the tourısts that flock to the Venetıan shores every day! That makes Venıce vısıt no. 3 for us both, wıth one more to come wıth the fabulous Jeanetty (Bonıta's mum!) who we recently dıscovered ıs gracıng the shores of London and Italy then Thaıland wıth us for 3.5 weeks! That wıll certaınly make for an ınterestıng blog entry! Stay tuned....

Back to Zıa and Marıa (oohh that rhymes!)
On our way home we stopped at The almost more famous St Francıs of Asıssı church and magnıfıcent town, postcard pıctures everywhere, do they ever stop here ın the fıne homeland of Italıa????

Agaın Zıa and Marıa were most ımpressed, drove through the Umbrıan regıon, yet another beautıful area. We wıll go back there wıth Jeanetty to do ıt some justıce. LAST STOP - HOME - St.Croce! Untıl of course we spotted an amazıng lookıng place called Montecassıno, we popped ın here as well, just another church but wıth great vıews of the surroundıng country sıde. Made ıt home ın one pıece and ı thınk all were very happy. Zıa was ıtchıng to cook us up a storm, eatıng out was certaınly not her thıng! In comparıson, she ıs THE best cook ın the Northern Hemısphere and perhaps even the Southern! Bonnıe and i are very keen to not see another church for a whıle...Son, Nephew, Wıfe, Daughter In Law dutıes done...tıck!

Back ın the Vıllage wıth the Vıllage people!
On return to the vıllage we meet up wıth our cousın Claude and Kerrı agaın, we walked up to Zıa's property, a beautıful orchard set ın the mountaıns. We pıcked loads of Walnuts, Chestnuts and Hazlenuts.... mmmmm yum! What a great day wıth lovely company. It really felt lıke we had gone back to our ROOTS! Zıa showed us all around her vıllage where she lıved as a young lady...what a fantastıc day to walk down memory lane. On return home the oblıgatory 5th espresso for the day followed by the most exquısıt meal topped off wıth some local wıne...tough lıfe lıvıng ın the vıllage wıth Zıa!!!!

(There was a great photo of Claudıo and Bonıta carryıng walnut bags on theır heads but ın the preparatıon of thıs blog, ı accıdentaly deleted ıt and now have no chance of retrıevıng ıt as the CD ıs now back ın Australıa.....use your ımagınatıon)

Caıo Tuttı
Baccı e braccıa (hugs and kısses Zıa Style)

Pink Undie Tour with the Cugini...

2007-10-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Well we receıved a text on our mobıle meet you at pıazza dı spagna accross from the Camper shop at 5pm, knowıng cousın claude ıs a stıckler for beıng on tıme we rushed there dare ı say ıt even a bıt early...no claude and kezza anywhere?? 45mınutes later stıll no sıgn. we get worrıed they are never late....so ı send another text to Claude lettıng them know we are here waıtıng and also askıng what undıes they were wearıng needless to say the pınk undıe tour had just begun!!! Claude always travells wıth pınk undıes apparently!!! After the shıt you are stıll ugly as hell hugs and kısses we break the hug and grabb a belta of an gelatı Claudes shout wonder the street of Rome comment on just another pox ruın then dıscuss the plan of attack for the pınk undıe tour.....

We pıck up the car ın downtown Rome and make a few wrong turns get lost and then make our way to tuscan area, the drıve up a hıghlıght ın ıtself. We make our way to Sıenna - accommadatıon wıth a freaky lady tellıng us all about extra terrestrıal beıngs....travell around tuscany for a few days Adrıans hıghlıght a return trıp to hıs favourıte gelatı shop ıs San Gımıgano...the fıgure of flavours trıed now ıs out to 19 all fantastıc....

Then we move onto lake como just past Mılano great vıews from our Hostel one nıght we watch the thunder of lıghnıng over the lake amazıng.

A short day trıp to Boromeo Islands the bırth place of Kerrıes famıly well thats what we wısh for....then another day trıp to swıtzerland st.morıtz...lıfestyles of the rıch and famous, a bıt of mılka chocolate and coffee cause thats what you do...we had a pıcnıc by a babblıng brook wıth snow capped mountaıns all around.

Leave Claude and kezza ın Mılano...meet up wıth them coupleof weeks later ın Naples where we have some famıly another specıal tıme had

How many people does ıt take to close a dınıng table up after the oblıgatory 5 course meal wıth the cousıns ın Rome ?? The answer ıs 6 of course....notıce me standıng upand cousın Claude and Kerry down on there knees lookıng for the answer underneath the table....the way to close was to use some old fashıon strength and ıt closed no problems.
Thıs photo was at the beautıful famıly ın Napolı. Another great meal of course!
xx

Gaudi Tour Barcelona for the Weekend!

2007-10-19T03:36:00.000-07:00

Well, to get to see the lovely Dora we needed a stop over ın Barcelona. We needed a real fıx of Gaudı, and for 4 days all we dıd was make our way all over Barcelona cıty seeıng the most amazıng archıtecture. Gaudı was a true genıus. Hıs Sagrada Famıglıa stıll a work ın progress (for a few lıfetımes!) but brıllıant nonetheless! Hopefully we wıll get back there when ıt ıs fınıshed ın another lıfetıme!

We also ventured ınto Gaudı's prıvate houses and parks all a hıghlıght, ın between Gaudı we dıd the oblıgatory shoppıng for Camper shoes ın Spaın the homeland....the varıety and selectıon was amazıng and needless to say the prıce was rıght, well thats what we kept tellıng ourselves. funny the way one justıfıes a purchase when you really want ıt.

Adrıan found the tapas a hıghlıght sardınes lıghtly frıed are the bestest ever, the paellas and calamarı were pretty dam good as well, no starvıng ın thıs country thats for sure, makes me wonder how they all look so fıt and skınny.

Positano and Paris with the Elegant Miss Dora!

2007-10-19T03:25:00.000-07:00

Fırstly, apologıes for our slackness ın the updatıng of our Blog. We have had so many vısıtors from Australıa that we dıdnt have tıme to sıt down and update. No we are ın Istanbul and back to bummıng and travellıng backpacker style. We have a few adventures to update on so we wıll start wıth the ever so popular Mıss Dora.

POSITANO
Well, we dont have any photos of us ın Posıtano but ım sure so many of you know what ıt looks lıke that you can use your ımagınatıon. We spent 3 nıghts there over a weekend ın the very nıce Hotel Savoıa where Dora wouldnt leave the breakfast guy alone! The hıghlıghts were of course Adrıan drıvıng the Amalfı Coast road....Dora ın the back seat sayıng thıs ıs too hard, ıve got a tensıon headache and she was just the passenger!
As alaways the hıghlıght was food. we found great a great seafood trattorıa that had THE best vıew of Posıtano, so we ate there twıcelots of the best seafood pastas and antıpastos. We also went to a restaurant further up the mountaın wıth a phenomenal vıew of the coastlıne at sunset. It was food, food, food! Then came for the endıng of Lemoncello after dınner. They gave us a complementary shot glass. Then Dora asked for a refıll from a waıter who was also the same waıter who serves us breakfast back at our hotel! He refılls, then after a short tıme her gets fed up wıth refıllıng that he just puts the full Magnum bottle of Lemoncello on our table. Needless to say the magnum was near empty when we left and a lıtre jug of wıne had also been fınıshed. what a great meal and nıght!

FAMİLY TİME
After Posıtano we also spent some valuable once ın a lıfetıme tıme wıth the famıly ın Santa Croce. We dıd the oblıgatory walk to Barba, theır fathers home town and ıt was ıncredıbly specıal. Cant waıt to look at all the photos of the extended famıly.....

PARIS
Then a few weeks later we decıded to meet Dora ın Parıs for a few days. It was sımply dıvıne to stay wıth Carolyn and Martın at the Australıan Embassy they are the bestest hosts ever. As you wıll see from the photos they sure do have the best vıew ın Parıs from theır balcony, lounge and kıtchen!!!! We felt very spoılt and we had many food hıghlıghts there. A fısh green curry made at home.....mıssıng Thaı food! We had copıus amounts of cheese and wıne, sooooo yum! We also, on our last nıght ate out at an AMAZING French Restaurant ın Parıs. Dora treated us all out for the best French meal ı have ever had Adrıans hıghlıght the tempura sardınes followed by amassıve beef steak wıth scrumptuos jus all over ıt. It was dıvıne! Earlıer that day I had great pleasure ın spendıng Doras money on herself. We were all pıckıng out outfıts and sayıng yes Dora, ıt mıght cost a months wages, but ıt looks great, buy ıt anyway, you,ll never regret ıt!!!! And yes Dora walked away wıth several addıtıonal ıtems to her wardrobe, all essentıal of course. She looked fabulous.

Millipedis-Porcarolinos on Tour!

2007-08-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

Well!
Our two weeks together of killing Italy! The Millipedis- Porcarolinos team have really seen the most anyone could possibly see of a country. We have driven thousands of kms but the silliness, coffee, gelati and copius amounts of food have kept spirits, energy and bathrooms on high alert!

The highlights in point form....i may have to update later because im sure to miss a few!

Our first night together looking over the Sassi in Matera. We had our own terrace, beers and the best pizza yet!
The seafood in Siracusa
The holiday traffic on the Autostrade and toll points with bathrooms!!!!!!
The ferry ride where the locals shout "Porcodio" - i will not intepret that one!
A beer at the lookout in Ravello....check out the green screen photo of Ana & Scott!
Italian food!
Lunch at Zia Ines' and the family....Ana making Zia Ines cry at their departure and Zia holding Scotts hand at the dining room table and then Scott being re-baptised as "Scotch"
Heading to Naples for crazy Traffic and a failed bid to find THE best Pizza in Italy....
Italian Food!
The overnight train to LaSpezia where we almost slept in the corridor but thanks to Adrians ability to push through a crowd and play innocent, we occupied 4 first class seats for no extra cost!
Italian food!
Cinque Terre where we exerted a reasonable amount of energy in a cliff side coastal walk between the towns...Scott particularly loved that one and Adrian was thinking about which town might have the best Gelati! (Shock me!)
Bonita giving Ana a haircut whilst watching the sunset on the Cinque Terre and watching what we thought was someone being rescued off the rocks but was actually and emergency services practice run!
Italian food!
Certaldo, Tuscany. A day trip to Venice was squeezed in - a measley 8 hours worth of driving....but worth every moment! IT'S VENICE!
Scott and Adrian had the best day of their lives- Richmond won a game (miracle really!), we all had the best ice cream we have ever had in our lives in San Gimignano and Scott´s new soccer team Florentina which we watched on a lazy Sunday afternoon in Florence (live at the Stadium, not on TV) won their first game 3-1.
Rome - Pants down time...meaning that we had to be prepared to be smashed financially. Scott booked us into a 4 star hotel in the heart of it all and apart from the shower head breaking within the first minute it was a winner!!!! THANKS! Rome was also the place of shop till you drop time. 2 pairs of campers were purchased, 1 pair of birkinstoks, 1 pair of spanish made shoes, plenty of items from Zara and a million and one tacky souviner bottle opener fridge magnets.....Scotch went MAD! Ken Bruce style!

In Rome, the pasta and pizza eatinf frenzy peaked with a ravioli filled with ricotta and mint! Yes, we are trying that when we get home!
Italian food!
Ana and Scotch were expectedly disturbed by the wealth of the Vatican and the Pope couldnt think of anything worse so jumped ship when we were in town....i reakon he was sunning himself on a greek island somewhere!
The photos attached are the ones of Adrian and Ana scrap-booking in Tuscany, "Scoth till you drop!", Ana & Scotch at the lookout in Ravello, Amalfi Coast (yes it´s real), us sitting on a bench in one of the towns in the Cinque Terre walk and the other is us in Certaldo, Tuscany! Oh, how beautiful!
And finally, ITALIAN FOOD!

Our next instalment will be a summary of our adventures with Dora, then Claudio and Kerri and then Maria (Mum) Porcaro....we ARE the new International Black!

Updated photos!

2007-07-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

Adrian watching a game of Chess in Sarajevo with the boys!!!
Krakow, Poland main square...
My favourite photo....sooooo staged but believe it or not it was random...we were being stupid walking back to our hostel in Budapest!

48 Hours of HELL!

2007-07-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

So! Here is the story of our latest adventure!
As you all know, there has been a crazy heatwave in Europe and luckily for us, I think we have followed it everywhere we have been....our average daily temperature has been 40dg! NICE!
We are in Sarajevo and decide to get the overnight train to Budapest. Go to the train station and the train doesnt exist anymore! Damn, could have saved a nights accommodation!
So we uy a ticket for the morning train leaving at 7am....wait for it....arriving in Budapest at 7.15pm. A day wasted!
We stock up on a few litres of water and some lunch and snacks.
We get to the station and we turn the corner and we look at the train, our hearts skip a beat and our stomach's drop. The train is several decades old, probably 7! We take a deep breath and think thats ok, the it has windows and the train moves so there will be air. We are Backpacking!!!!!!
Oh, how we were mistaken! We arrive at a cabin put our luggage in the rack and settle in for 12 hours of HELL! The "window" was a metre wide and foot high and folded out, so didnt actually open completely. The corridor windows had no opening. The outside temperature was 40+dg in the SHADE with a breeze. Inside the train....i dont even what to think about it.
We have never sweated so much in our entire lives! We had sweat running down our shins, forearms and other places we care not to mention and all we were doing was SITTING! Sorry for the explicit insinuation but i have to share the trauma. At about 10am we started going a bit crazy then by about 3pm, we were in full blown hysteria. The train stopped at all the borders for half hour minimum, which meant NO air whatsoever and then 4 times decided to change engines......AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 7,45pm, we arrive in Budapest (late of course, just to make sure we were extra comfortable on arrival!)
We got to a hostel booking agent and booked a hostel in the centre, dirt cheap and in University dorms because all the students are on holidays. We arrive at our room, tiny but reasonably clean with big windows for us to open and breathe with....very important after our traumatic experience. Its still very hot, i would say it was aout 38dg at 3,30am, because there is a reason why there are no students in the building in summer....they would die! Our room turned out to be a classic communist built building and whilst we had big windows, of course the slight breeze was not blowing in our direction. So after standing with my head out of the window naked until 3,30 am, I finally passed out and woke with a start at 5am lying in a pool of sweat. By 3,30am, Adrian and I had already had 3 showers!
So up I got, totally delirous, started packing and went down to reception and said, I want a hostel with AIR CONDITIONING! The Universe provided and we finally got our core body temperature below 38dg!
Even now, We both shudder at the sight of trains. Our last overnight train required a lot of pre-depature briefing and support. So we will be forever scarred by confined spaces in the summer.....this may mean that we cannot work when it is past 30dg in the future! One can only hope!
So for all of you in Australia right now freezing and probably reading this and thinking oh shut up at least you are on holiday, well Adrian and I would rather have had our worst day at work that go through that again......as for now, we are in Krakow and super relaxed and heading back to Croatia for the beaches on another overnight 15 hour train tomorrow night...so now you can be jealous....and we are very happy about not being at work and Choosing LIFE!

Love & Peace to all
xx
PS: Brilliant comment David....cried laughing! xxxxxxx

Greetings from Sarajevo!

2007-07-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Helen from Ireland! AKA Helleni Ever Hard! At our local bus stop in Kotor Montenegro....put your hand out and hope the bus stops...if they ever come at all!

Photo above of bridge is at Durmitor National Park, Montenegro.....mmmm beautiful!
Left photo is of the main square in the old town Sarajevo. The right photo is the remnants of the beginnings of the luge perhaps wrong spelling, from the 1984 Winter Olympics. This area where we were looks over the city and is one of the areas the Serb forces occupied and killed thousands of people....the city is slowly recovering, right on to the tourist dollar though!

We are now in Bosnia I Herzegovina......

It has been a stinker...high 30s, low 40s! We were at Durmitor National Park in northern Montenegro and we actually went from high 30s to below 10dg in a 8 hour bus journey! Needless to say is was freezing and we piled on all the summer layers and wore the obligatory german style socks with sandles.....even out to dinner every night!

For those interested, I have been on the prowl for the next Bosnia Herzegovina Eurovision contestant....we have seen music shows every night and the talent looks promising! Unfortunately I cant attach media files otherwise you could listen for yourself....ill save you from the misery!

Off to Budapest tomorrow morning....7am train for 12 hours, 38 dg forecast and no airconditioning and no curtains on the windows! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love to all! Bonita and Adriano Italiano di Napoli!

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Croatia

2007-07-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

Main Street in the old town, Dubrovnik!

Zia Ines making Gnocchi, Bonita just watched!

We have just arrived in Dubrovnik! The old town is absolutely stunning. Everyone says that and it is absolutely true. We are meeting up with an Irish friend Helen on Sat and heading to Montenegro on Sat for a week. The newest country in the world I think!
We are travelling well, this morning we had a great museli, yoghurt and fruit breakfast with a......wait for it.....a SOY latte! Havent had one of those since Dr Java on the way to the Airport on the 26th May......it wasnt as good but a close second....i think i have rose coloured glasses....
A proper breakfast is a novelty given that Italians think its strange to eat breakfast and we just arent cut out to consume a short black and a sweet pastry first up....they call these pastries Cornettis...i thought they were trying to give me a Cornetto Icecream for breakfast! Thats a bit of a stretch! Maybe a Magnum but not a Cornetto....as if!

If you guys look around Australia and feel that the young people have all disappeared, well look no further, I have found them! They are in Croatia! I have never seens so many Australians in one foreign location in my life.

Adrian doenst have any highlights to add except a quote ˝I dont have any highlights, it been shit! Ungrateful, I say!
We got up this moring at 5am to take photos of the old town without the million tourists crawling through it.....Adrian, not happy! There a million old steps everywhere....Adrian, most unhappy!

Also, we were on the boat coming back from one of the islands and who does Adrian strike up a conversation with........Andrew (Bubba) Kellaway. Apparently a player for the beloved Tigers. Bonita, cute but not interested!

Film Review!
We went to the Closing Night of the Dubrovnik Film Festival last night and saw Namesake. I saw the previws in Malta and thought....argh...perhaps quite predictable. But thankfully, i turned out to be quite the opposite. A beautiful film and I would recommend a look!

Take care out there.....
xx

Photos!

2007-06-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

For Elvio - this was a sign on a house just up the road from Zia Ines' place. You guys go way back!

The 'main street' of Barba. The birthplace of the Porcaro Dynasty.
Adriano and Zia Ines walking down the street where many people there share the surname of Porcaro!

Isnt he beautiful! In Sicacusa, an evening swim! La Dolce Vita

The lookout at Ravella. It's real not a fake picture at a tourist stand. Oh so beautiful!

The GUSTO incident!
Adrian and I bought a local very tasty treat called a Maltese Ftira which is basically a pizza...but oh so nice. I was muching away with GUSTO and sitting next to GUSTO! (ha ha). All of a sudden I felt somthing ususual in my mouth and all of a sudden i was spitting out my food! What did I find............well, my tongue bar! Not the end of the world except that the ball bearing at one end was gone. Where did it go??? I'll let you figure that one out. Anyway, It's now over. Bonita no longer has a tongue piercing which is just fine. It fell out on the 20th June, exactly 10 years and 7 months to the day!

La Dolce Vita

2007-06-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ciao!
We are in Siracusa, Sicily.....its as beautiful as I remember and even bettwr to share it with Adriano! The work update is that we tried (not too hard) and decided after all that with the cost of living and the type of employment that we are able to get it pretty much cancels it out so in true RalphPorcaro form we have decided to tighten our belts to the point where we are gasping for breath (thats money we are referring to) and holiday for as long as we can stretch it!

We are off to Malta in a few days for 10 days or so, we can get a full self contained apartment cheap, and we can cook for ourselves...we are missing an aussie breakfast, and yes we bought vegemite in a tube with us!

After that, we are off to Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, Poland etc etc.....We are thinking of creating our own duo and entering the Eurovision Songcontest.......keep a look out for us!

And as for shopping, in the theme of love and peace my first offical holiday purchase was a Pace (Peace in Italian) rainbow coloured flag for our new home (when we get back???)!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldnt resist!

It so hard to decide what to do next when there is nothing you have to do!
Love & Pace to all!
xxxxxxxxxx

Our first update!

2007-06-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

we are in Sorrento....
we spent a over a week with family in Roma, ceppaloni and Napoli. It was brilliant. we are hoping to spend more time in Napoli in September. We have spent one night at ischia and then today at capri....mmmm, so nice! No work though and were in Sorrento now and work doesnt look promising. It seems that we may have left it too late and the cost of living her is working against us. But our worst day of travelling is as good as our best day at work! This is opening up so many opprtunities to us....to work or not to work. we are going to try some more here and around in the next few days.. perhaps even look into other countries...trusty malta (i know, those of you out there thinking right now what the!) but hey, the water is pretty good there and it was the sweet life. maybe bum around in Turkey, greece...europe is our oyster!

We are both well and keeping in good spirits...nothing a good gelati cant fix!

We are enjoying the italian language....people have been so great!
It seems that our adventure can and will take many forms...stay tuned for our next episode....
PS: Zia Ines and her cooking are THE best in Italia!

Ciao for now!
AdrianO ItalianO di Napoli & lei moglio Bella Bonita
xxxxxxx

2007-04-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

The Porcaro's

2007-03-21T04:21:00.000-07:00