'Had Just Settled Down for a Long Summer's Nap

Happy Holidays 2007. I hope this annual holiday e-mail finds you well. This is the first ever Mid-summer edition! So far, my time in Australia has been great. I really like it here. Aside from being in Melbourne and not New York, I guess it’s strange how similar this letter feels to the past ones. There’s been some ultimate and some travel and lots of work. See below:

I still work for Accenture. It’ll be 10 years in June. How can that be! Time flies. The chance came up early this year for me to work in Melbourne for a while. I pounced on the opportunity. Melbourne’s a great city with good parks, museums, bike lanes, bars and restaurants. I’ve enjoyed being a spectator at sports common here like Aussie Rules Football, Rugby and Cricket.

As soon as I got to Melbourne in February, I fell in with a great Women’s ultimate team, Team Box. We won our regional tournament in Tasmania and finished up second at the National Championship in April. Here’s the team (I’m far right of the back row) and me getting a medal at the ceremony:

I also got to train with the Australian National Team at a camp in Sydney in July. That was an incredible experience.

There are really cool animals here in Australia: Wombats, Galahs, Flying Foxes, Wallabies and of course Koalas. Those of you who know how I feel about stuffed animals will understand how excited I was when this photo was taken:
That was topped by this moment at a Koala sanctuary north of Sydney, which is maybe the pinnacle of my life so far. Can you see how Sally the Koala is reaching out to me? She wanted to come home with me, but I had to break her little heart and explain that there are no animals allowed in corporate housing.

My parents came to visit in October with my Aunt Vicki and Uncle John. I showed them my favorite parts of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road and the Yarra Wine Valley. Everyone had a nice time. Here’s Dad, John, Mom and Vicki in front of the Queen Victoria Market:
For their visit, I drove the mini-van on the left side of the road (with minimal coaching from my parents) to see kangaroo covered golf courses, surfers, koalas, light houses, rain forests and beautiful rock formations. I’m becoming quite the tour guide so be sure to let me know if you’re in Australia in the next couple of months and I’ll show you around.

Here’s my Mom and I on the ‘Great Ocean Road’ in front of a few of the remaining “12” apostles. As you can see, it was quite windy.

I’ve had the chance to go camping twice this year in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here’s me at Wilson’s Promontory with girls from Team Box (4th from left):
That’s about it. Look forward to next year’s letter when I’ll tell you about this year’s Christmas trip to Cambodia and Thailand. If you can’t wait that long, be sure to check in on me at http://courtneyspondence.blogspot.com/ . Happy New Year!

~Courtney