The Wedding and the end - March 22 - 27

We loved every minute of our 31 days on the road here in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Special thanks to Mary's brother Gerard and sister-in-law Susie who let us use this home while we stayed. We felt like real farmers without any dirt, sweat, or hard work!

Our home in Nathalia

The last big event was the wedding of Mary's niece Rachael and her fiance Troy. It was a destination wedding right on the Murray River. (FYI Americans: The Murray is the Mississippi River of Australia.) We arrived the night before the wedding and I tried my best to stay out of the way of all the preparations, basically avoiding any work. Unfortunately, a very large backdrop that Troy built from local lumber had to be moved into place and desperate for help of any kind, I was called into service. After a lot of heaving and some swearing, the three blokes got the backdrop into place only to discover it was the wrong place. (Three guys heaving a huge and heavy backdrop on their own, without any supervision, who could have guessed we would be WRONG?) Eventually, one of the bridesmaids, Brie, lifted up half the huge lumber construction on her own and ordered us to "MOVE IT!" Which we obediently did.

The three blokes taking credit for the move - before

Three blokes - after

The wedding venue was beautiful.

That's the Murray River in the background

The bridal party taking pics

Mary was very excited that there was a "mob" of kangaroos wandering around the venue looking for photo ops.

Mary and the Roos

The next morning, Mary's brother, Bernie, took over the barbecue breakfast. I offered to give direction and advice and am proud to say that I enjoyed his cooking without lifting a single finger to help.

Bernie's famous pepper ring eggs

As it had been a long time since Mary was together with all of her sisters they took the opportunity for a pic and the next day had a sisters night out on the town. I can only imagine the decibel level of the "cackling" in the restaurant.

The six sisters

The 29-hour flight from Melbourne to Dayton including the ride to Lima was exhausting. I think we'll stop in Hawaii on the way home next time and maybe San Francisco. Five days after we returned the jet lag is just lifting. But our wonderful experiences of Australia and family left us with long term memories that more than made up for this short term inconvenience.

Can't wait for my next trip with this beauty.