In the months before we left Colorado, I'd put the Manly Beach Live Cam in a small window on the corner of my computer screen and watch the sunrise.  Depending on the time of year, it would be somewhere between 11am and 3pm in Colorado.  Yesterday morning, Glen and I woke up at 5:30am and ran to Manly to catch the sunrise in person.  Even though it was too cloudy for a sunrise, it was great to be there.  I was always happy to watch cloudy Manly mornings from my desk in Breckenridge and was just as happy to see it for myself.
   

An American girl down under

The past few days have been spent taking care of details such as new phone plans (unlimited texting and free calls to the US!) a tax file number for me, banking, healthcare and other details.  Not too exciting, but it feels good to have these things taken care of. 

I'm starting to feel comfortable in Australia.  I've been running a lot and Glen joins me most mornings. 

Glen and I have been walking to the beach and catching up with friends and family.  Unlike past trips we've taken to Australia, it's nice to relax and know we're not on a limited number of days.  We will be in Sydney for another three days and on Sunday, we'll be flying to Hamilton Island to spend four days celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday.  Glen and I have not booked a return ticket back to Sydney and plan to spend the next few weeks exploring Queensland and finding our way back to Sydney. 

As I write this, it's 5pm on Thursday.  I'm sitting on my mother-in-law's balcony and there are kids having cricket practice in the park across the street.  Glen and I are going to meet my father-in-law for dinner.  At this point in time, life feels different and relaxing and I couldn't be happier.  I'll post more from the road.  Here are a few pictures of what I've been seeing:

Aren't these flowers amazing?  Not sure if they're called 'pig face' or 'pink face' because I have trouble understanding people and you can only say "what?" so many times before you're annoying.

On our way to Curl Curl beach.

Other than a handful of surfers, not many people on Curly beach today...maybe Australians aren't as excited as I am to be on the beach on the first day of September...or maybe they're working.