04.25.10

The good news is that we celebrated our first Australian holiday today. Anzac day. Just like our memorial day really. Because it's on a Sunday though, everyone will get the day off on Monday. They call it a public holiday. The bad news is that because everything is closed today and tomorrow, we will have to wait until Tuesday to get our phone and banking situation figured out.
Speaking of phones...Verizon told us they operated in Australia and to just wait until we got there to figure out our plan. They also said that using the internet via our smart phones would be the best way to keep in touch with everyone. IDIOTS! They do not service Australia. Our phones won't as so much pick up a dust mite worth of a network. We have no idea what we are going to do yet. It's just really annoying.
Well, today Jen and Len took us into downtown Melbourne...well not actually downtown but into town. We visited St.Kilda beach, which was a lot like Venice beach. Vendors lined the road and there was a longggggggg bike path along the shore. The water and sand were dark and rough (beautiful though) just like in LA. We walked down the pier and had some coffee at a little café kiosk. John and I noticed some big kites in the sky along the way, and I figured it was kite boarding but didn't notice anyone in the water. We decided to just walk down and see for ourselves! Sure enough there were at least 15 kite boarders. We had always wanted to do this but you have to be in an area with lots of wind and space. I don't think there is but maybe one or two locations in the entire USA where you can kite board. So needless to say, we were beyond excited to take our first lesson!
They give you a much smaller version of the actual kite and simply show you how to get the kite in the air and how to control it. I was amazed at how powerful it was. I was leaning back quite a bit with the kite holding me up and at times, it would even yank me across the sand. It was so much fun just doing that; I can only imagine what it would be like with the giant size kite! You just practice in the sand at first and both John and I did really well! We are hoping to go back to finish the rest of the classes and to get our butts on the water! It was beyond amazing though!
The entire time at St.Kilda, the clouds were moving at a quick pace. One second it's sunny, the next it's cloudy, the next it's rainy and then sunny and warm again! I have never seen so many bright and full rainbows in my life. There had to be 5 or 6 rainbows that day! I was so amazed by it. There is something so surreal about seeing a full colored rainbow in the sky. I guess it would be like if you saw a real unicorn or something. You read of them so often in fairy tales and they are always apart of this mystical, fantasy world...so every time I see a rainbow, I guess I just feel like I am apart of that magical world. It's just special for me and it's all crazy and beautiful at the same time. God truly is amazing!