A little culture

El Castillo, Chichen Itza

The Market

Group of a Thousand Columns

Mayan ruins in Tulum (by the beach!)

In order to make us feel like better people (and 'cause we were actually interested) we did leave the beach a couple of times while we were in Mexico in order to take a look at a couple of Mayan ruins. The first one that we visited was Chichen Itza, a large Mayan city near the modern city of Valladolid. The most impressive feature is the large pyramid-like structure called El Castillo, but since you can't climb that, Lily had more fun mounting The Market and mucking about in the Group of a Thousand Columns.

We also trotted along to the ruins at Tulum, which were particularly cool for being right on the ocean (they were built on cliffs that look out over the Caribbean sea and there is a perfect little white sand beach right in the middle of 'town'. So cool!) It certainly made for a picturesque setting.

We only spent about an hour & a half at each site so as not to make it boring or exhausting for Lil' and, honestly, that was nice for us too. They are seriously impressive, but after traipsing about in the hot sun for that long I was happy to walk away with my fairly superficial impressions. I'm shallow like that.

Beach life

Evening by the sea in Isa Mujeres

Dancing with a dolphin. (She got a kiss too!)

The view from our cabana in Tulum

Punta Allen in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

After the brilliance that was this holiday (now sadly departed) we have decided that all of our family holidays with small people will be on the beach. Right on the beach. But preferably somewhere that does not require 22 hours in the air to get to...

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Exhaustion and sickness fading fast. Sunshine, warm turquoise waters, sand and really big juices taking over. This feels like a real holiday.

A surreal week

It's been a long, strange week and it isn't quite over yet.

First, I said goodbye to my baby and Paul at the airport (which broke my heart) and jumped on a plane to the US.

Then I flew for far far too long and spent far too much time in airports and horrible, demeaning security clearance queues.

Then I finally arrived (36 hours later) in Syracuse, NY for a conference on the Right to Water (the subject of my thesis).

The conference itself was great. The other presenters were not only really lovely, interesting people, but their presentations were stimulating and challenging and gave me heaps to think about as I finish off my thesis.

However, I was a complete mess. I didn't really sleep on the plane (for the first time ever) and then I managed not to sleep during my overnight lay-over in Chicago (due to a combination of jet lag and feeling Lily's absence like a hole in my heart), and so by the time I arrived in Syracuse I was utterly exhausted. I was the kind of exhausted (and dehydrated, I think) that made my eyes stay bloodshot for three days straight, my skin redden and prickle and my nose bleed continuously. It was quite unpleasant.

Despite this, I am glad that I went - particularly because it gave me the chance to catch up with a very special, friend from high school (I attended high school in the US for a time). She took me to a vegan cafe and we talked and talked and talked late into the night (while I inhaled protein, after having been fed on carbs & zucchini for two days straight). I love those friends where it doesn't matter how long it has been since you last saw them, you can talk to each other as though you were just picking up a conversation from the day before. The only sad part about it was that I then had to leave and digest the fact that her and I live so very very far apart.

Anyway, now I am in LA. I have finally had some sleep, but now I have a nasty head cold (hardly surprising really). I'm waiting for Paul and Lily to arrive. They were due in this morning, but their flight was delayed out of Sydney for 8 hours (poor loves) and so they won't be here until this evening. No doubt they will be utterly exhausted and so I plan to spend today resting up so that I can do everything possible to help them to recover once they get here.

Oh, I can't wait to see them. I want to crush them both with snuggles!

Quick catch up

Argh, where is the time going? I can't keep up with life at the moment. But I did want to just stop by and post a quick catch up - a little list of the most significant things going on for us right now.

• I'm pregnant. Yep, odd declaration for a bullet point I know, but life's been a bit like that at the moment.

• I am flying to the US on Sunday to attend a conference on the Right to Water... without Lily. Ahhh! I am a little sad about this and anxious about how it will go, but I think she'll be fine. She's gotten so big recently.

• The following Thursday P and Lily are flying to the US to meet up with me and then we are all flying to Mexico! Yay!

• We'll be in Mexico for three weeks and plan to do lots of beachy stuff and a bit of cultural stuff too - like visiting some Mayan ruins etc... Most significant of all (as far as Lily is concerned), we are also planning to swim with dolphins.

• I am massively behind schedule with my PhD due to 3 months of severe nausea and vomiting. Yes, I was lucky enough to get hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness) and it wasn't very conducive to thesis writing...

• I am a little bit stressed right now...

I hope that you are all going really well and plan to be back some time soon with some more interesting stuff and maybe some photos of faraway places.

Gunlom, Kakadu

While we were up in the NT visiting Mum and her partner, we went camping in Kakadu National Park. Specifically, we camped at Gunlom, after staying overnight at the Mary River Roadhouse.



I cannot recommend Gunlom highly enough. It was simply stunning. The camp ground itself is lovely - full of beautiful gums and pandanus. However, the real highlight is the access to two amazing swimming spots.






The closest swimming spot is a large waterhole, surrounded by high cliffs and fed by a large waterfall. You just have to wander about 100 metres from the campground - along a shady tree-lined path - to access this one. The water is emerald green from a distancec, and crystal clear up close. You enter the water from a small sandy beach and find that it is full of beautiful fish that will swim all around you. (There are also some fresh water crocodiles, but they, mercifully, kept their distance.)*




If you decide to climb the steep hillside near the camp for about 45 minutes then you will reach the top of the waterfall. Here there are a series of cascading waterholes, the last of which is called the 'infinity pool' because the edge just disapears into the horizon. Once again you enter the water from a small sandy beach and then you have your pick of little pools of water that seem to represent an ever changing array of greens and blues, depending on the light. It really is something special.



After all of this climbing and swimming, you can return to the campsite and warm up the cool evening with a camp fire. (All while pretending that your headlamp is a camera.)


Bliss.

*Parks staff clear the area of the more dangerous saltwater crocs prior to tourist season and then continue to monitor it throughout the season. Of course, one may still decide to pay a visit and so you do have to swim here at your own risk... Apparently the crocs can't get into the upper waterholes though.

Easter

We had a lovely Easter long weekend. My mother and her partner came down to stay with us and spent the weekend on 'operation front yard blitz' - clearing the burnt stuff out of the front garden in readiness for some new veggie patches. It looks a little bare now, but it's nice to have all the dead stuff gone and exciting to think of the future veggie beds.

We also had a picnic out at the Cotter with P's family (and I got to use my new favourite picnic food containers - aren't they cute?). Lily had a ball going on 'adventures' along the river with her cousins (and aunts, uncles & grandparents). She also got a new Easter book that she loves.

Lily barely consumed any chocolate over the weekend. This surprised me a little. I had expected her to be a little more interested (not that I'm sorry that she isn't!).

Mum and her partner may be moving back to Canberra in a few months. This would be great, except for the fact that we would have to move out of their house...

Lily turned 25 months old yesterday, which means that I am late with my letter.

Lily has started falling asleep earlier in the evenings (due to the end of daylight saving) and I'm loving the extra time for reading, doing and uninterrupted conversation. She is also getting up earlier and generally this has also been a good thing too. Mornings have become more relaxed and enjoyable.

Autumn is well and truly upon us and it is glorious. The light is beautiful. The weather is perfect for being outdoors in the day and snuggling up with blankets and tea at night. And the colours of all the deciduous trees are just stunning.

We are heading up to Sydney in the morning to spent time with my Dad and his partner, and to celebrate Dad's birthday. I plan to make him a very rich chocolate cake. Yum.

I hope that you had a lovely long weekend.

Constantly in motion

We went camping at the coast over the weekend (it was a long weekend here in Canberra). We had a lovely time. Lily thought that sleeping in a tent was fabulous and she had cousins and other children to play with all the time. Essentially: she was in heaven.

Sadly the weather was not really 'coast-y' - although I should be honest here and admit that it does tend to be overcast and drizzley whenever I go to the South Coast in summer. I seem to have that effect.

Anyway, despite the clouds and cold wild (and the trampolines, playground, cousins & pool competing for our time), we took Lily to the beach for a play. I am so glad that we did. From the minute our feet hit the sand she was in constant motion. It was a joy to watch.

To give you a feel for the 'Lily-whirlwind', here are some of the (many many many) photos that we took.

Goodbye Port Vila

It's been fun.

Hideaway Island