Bird Watching in Lamington National Park

As we headed up the mountain road to O'Reilly's Guesthouse in Lamington National Park, I wasn't that impressed. The scenery wasn't as spectacular as the Colorado Rockies or the Alps. Then we started seeing smoke ahead in the distance. The area is so dry there have been many brush fires. As we drove on, the hillsides were black with charred grass. The mountain road started to wind more and more; the drops off the side were begining to make me think of Apache Trail in Arizona. Flames licked the side of the road. At one point, the smoke from the brush fires obscured our vision so much, we couldn't see the road. Great, if we lived to the guest house, we wouldn't be able to stay because it would be so smokey. Just when we almost gave up hope, we drove into a new area of rain forest. The area became densely poplulated with trees and there was no fire. Finally at the top of the mountain, we came to O'Reilly's Guesthouse.

For hardy souls, there is camping up there also. But we chose O'Reilly's. It is famous because it has been family owned and operated for almost 75 years. They run the hotel and also various guided tours and walks and activities. Bird watchers from all over the world come to Lamington National Park. I wanted a guided bird walk so I could tell you blog readers what we actually saw this time.

Well, we saw them all. It was a good time of year for the Bower Bird. We saw both the Satin Bower Bird and the Regent Bower Bird. I was looking for this bird near our house in another blog, but this time I'm sure I saw them and I even have the pictures. The male birds build the "bower" or nest looking thing and decorate it with various items. The Regent Bower uses shiny things and shells, but the Satin Bower uses blue items. We came across one bower decorated with blue plastic bits like milk tops and blue feathers from the Crimson Rosella Parrot. The male also brings food to his bower because he has to wait around a lot. First, he has to wait and strut around for passing females and secondly, he has to protect his bower from other males that will vandalize his work. It was amazing to see in action.

Other birds we saw: Brush -turkey, Crimson Rosella Parrot, King-Parrot, Superb Fairy-wren, Red-browed finch, Brown Cuckoo Dove, various wrens, Lewin's Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Green Catbird.....I could go on. One other bird that lives there is the Albert's Lyrebird. This is always talked about as "the elusive Lyrebird." The male looks like a sort of peacock and June and July are the best months here to spot him. He builds a sort of platform from vines and dances and the platform and fans his tail and does a song and dance. We saw a video about it and it looks like something to go back and try to see! However, we are almost certain we saw a female Lyre Bird run across our path on a rainforest walk at 6:30 am. one morning.

Well, this post could go on and on. Just brief note about other wildlife - we saw some little kangaroo things called pademelons hopping about. A moonlight walk brought us to a Glow Worm colony. The stars were fantastic - never seen so many in the sky. The sunsets were spectacular. Even Elliott, with his pre-teen sneering self, enjoyed the trip despite himself. He enjoyed hand feeding the birds and seeing a mullet headed skink (wierd lizard thing). We couldn't get him out of bed for the 6:30 am walk in the rain forest, but we did come across our first Funnel Web Spider web sighting. We came across a guide jiggling a small stick near the web, trying to entice the spider to come out. Luckily for me, it didn't. I'm happy to let that spider remain on our "Didn't actually see List" because it's bite is fatal without anti-venom.

This trip may have been the coolest thing I have ever done. We debated this on the way down the mountain: Bahamas, LaBrea Tar Pits, Grand Canyon...I really enjoyed seeing all the different wildlife. So many spectular birds. If any of you come to visit, you may want to look into this as one of your stops.

Squatter - The Board Game

Spurred on by recent requests, I got out the camera again. I was determined to take some more photos and try again to post them on the blog. On Monday, I played tennis at the University of Queensland. It is such a lovely setting. After a few rains, the sky seemed so blue and the trees were out in beautiful pink flowers. However, I didn't realize till now, the camera was set in Black and White. I am destined to take lousy pictures! Anyway, I'm sure it wouldn't capture the lovely tropical greenery along the river. There is a new bridge going across the Brisbane River. That really could be the subject of another blog- how few bridges there are in the city and how the river divides the city geographically and also psychologically. But another day perhaps...

While I was playing tennis, an Australian lady said something like "Well, it's not like we are playing for sheep stations is it?" This expression comes from a classic board game called Squatter. This game was created in 1952 and seems like an Aussie version of Monopoly, except instead of buying property, you are buying sheep.

You start out with a bit of money and a few sheep. The idea is to improve your pastures and buy more sheep. Ulitimately, you end up with all your many sheep in irrigated pastures. However, we have never seen a more depressing game in all our lives! As you go around the board, you land on squares such as: Sheep Dipping, Drench Sheep for Worms, Footrot Treatment, Shearing Costs, Taxes, Vaccinate for Pulpey Kidney. And those are just the standard ones...You really want to avoid Local Drought and Bore Dries Up. Even the Tucker Bag (Community Chest) is full of tales of woe: Fire destroys Haystack and Outbuildings, Injured by Tractor and Blowfly Attack. A family decision was taken - we had to eliminate the card that said Stud Ram Dies. It was just too sad to allow that; we decided our stud ram would just be incapacited for 1 round of the board instead.

It would be funny if it weren't so sad! I just finished a book called "The Road from Coorain" written by Jill Ker Conway. She grew up on a sheep station during a fierce drought in the 1940s or so. The book is extremely well written, but incredibly depressing. By the end of the tale, she leaves Australia to study in America. I believe she goes on to become the president of Smith College. The book is worth a read. Between that book and the board game Squatter, I feel I have a better understanding of the Australian psyche! No wonder why people are so hard. You have to be here to survive!

We are off for the weekend to a National Park for some bird watching. This time I hope to have some guides to point out what it is we are seeing - and of course more photos.

Election Day in Queensland

This week all the news has been about the death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. The newspapers have devoted pages and pages each day to his life and the circumstances of his death. The kids at Elliott's school had a khaki dress day on Friday to raise money for Irwin's charity. They worked in the rainforest to raise awareness of conservation issues. Irwin was such a popular figure in Australia, and even more loved here in Queensland. This sad event pushed all the news of the Queensland elections to the inside pages of the news.

On Saturday, September 9, the vote was held in Queensland. The Labor government with Peter Beattie at the helm won a fourth term. Some interesting differences that I noticed here were: 1) No term restrictions 2) Polling places can be churches and 3) Voting is compulsary. Everyone must vote - you can vote in person or by mail. It all seemed very low key to me. We never watch TV, so maybe I missed most of it. There is no set date for the election. The party in power must call it within a certain amount of time, but it can be any time. It was 2 1/2 years since the last election and the Beattie government could have had up to 4 years between elections. So, they seem to call the election and campaign and vote all within a fairly short space of time.

There are several main areas that really need to be addressed here - water and healthcare being the two main issues. They are starting to meet tomorrow about Level 4 water restrictions. It is raining today and we have had a few days of rain, but I've read the dam the serves our area is only at 22% capacity. I've had a few days of tennis canceled with the rain and one day we were blown off the court with high winds.

We have encountered one more form of dangerous wildlife here in Brisbane. A friend from tennis knows two dogs that were killed by Brown snakes last week. But our closest personal encounter is with the Magpies! The birds are nesting now and get quite protective of their eggs. Tim was attacked while on his bike, but was luckily wearing his helmet. The signs in the local park recommend wearing a hat and carrying an umbrella to beat the birds when they swoop down. Even magpies are scary in Australia!

Riverfestival

Well, we have had yet another celebration here in Brisbane. This week is Riverfestival - a week long celebration of the Brisbane River. As if we haven't had enough celebrations, this one lasts 10 days. One major difference is there seems to be no public holiday to go with this festival. We rode our bikes downtown along the river to Southbank to check out all the action. Last night we went up to Mt. Cootha to check out the city wide fireworks demonstration. It was set to music on a local radio station - starting with "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp. Tim and I thought we were in some wierd time warp. Two F-111 fighter planes did some "dump and burn" at the start and finish of the show. Pretty impressive! I am hoping to check out some of the art exhibits that go along with the festival.

Last weekend we were invited to Tim's work for a tour. We had to read a leaflet and sign to say we would comply - no photos, no trade secrets, no improper footwear. Bizarely, there was a paragraph saying we agreed to good personal hygene. I did inquire as to what that meant, but the woman was rather vague in her response. Do I need to shower more? Have clean hair? Wear deoderant? Not urinate in public places? I had no idea and still have no idea what they had in mind when they wrote that. Anyway, it was good for Elliott to see what Tim actually does for a living. It seems like Tim talks on the phone and types on his laptop. It is good for Elliott to understand that is only a small part of things and there is an interesting product coming out of it all.

We are in the midst of Abe Lincoln - the Board Game today. A term's long project based on the life of Abe Lincoln. Both Tim and I are experts now; I'm not sure what Elliott has learned. We have done cross-word puzzles, speeches, and now the Board Game. Tim and I are hoping for High Standard for all our hard work!

Lastly, we have had rain this week! Several days worth! It has been thrilling. Not sure if it is enough to stop the more severe water restrictions, but we can hope.

The Ekka - August 20, 2006

We have had yet another Public Holiday here in Queensland. Last Wednesday, all of the state had a day off so everyone could attend "The Ekka." This is a big state fair that was orignally an agricultural show - The Exposition. Because the Australians seem to shorten everything - afternoon = arvo, Brisbane = Brissy, the Exposition is now called "The Ekka." The fair lasts for 10 days now, but "The People's Day" falls mid-week. Sadly, Tim did not have the day off because he was on the phone with people from the States. I recruited a few other North Americans to go check out the show. A Canadian boy that goes to Elliott's school and his father came to make up a family of four ticket. Another Boeing wife, Deb, came along as well. She also has a blog and we decided that this Ekka would provide us with good material if nothing else.

We started out taking the train into town. I thought we might need some of those people that push people onto the train in the Toyko rush hour, but we managed to sqeeze ourselves on. Over 500,000 attend the Ekka and it seemed like they were all there on the People's Day. I did have an idea of what to expect - the same sort of deal as the Indiana State Fair. As the train drew up to the grounds, the sights and smells were pretty much as I remembered: lots of neon lights, dangerous looking rides and the odor of manure mixed with fried foods.

We wandered around checking out a few farm animals - cows, sheep, emus and pigs. I felt a bit bad because the cow looked so cute, but there was a sign displaying cuts of meat on the pen. We spent quite some time in the chicken house. Elliott and his buddy lasted about 10 minutes in the quilt show. We couldn't delay any longer - it was time for "The Show Bag Pavillion." The biggest hall at the fair is dedicated to the most disgusting display of consumerism I have ever seen. And I have seen some doozies.

First of all, I should give some background. A few weeks ago in the paper, there was a Show Bag guide. It had not a list of program events - like sheep dog trials or pony cart races - but a list of every show bag that would be sold. A Show Bag is like a party bag that kids get at the end of a birthday party, but full of rubbish. There are 2 $ bags with a few candies. There are 5 $ bags with little toys. There are 12 $ bags. Up to 60 $ bags. On and on, row after row. Endless stalls of rubbish. And it's packed! Kids and adults have examined the show bag guide in minute detail. Elliott chose The Ultimate Magic Bag for 12 $. It included: itching powder, card trick, scary mask, a farting pen, a brain flosser, and of course, how could I forget, fake vomit.

After we staggered out of the Show Bag Pavillion, we caught our breath watching sheep herding for a few minutes. Then off to the Midway for the rides. By this point, it was pretty hot and the lines were long. The kids managed one or two rides and we were all ready to head home. The line at the train station was the worst of them all. Luckily, my husband for the day was able to put in a call to his real life wife and she came and rescued us in the car. We were never so happy to see someone in all our lives. She was more than happy to pick us up because she didn't have to go to the Ekka in the first place!

So for you dear readers - we went to the Ekka. None of my Australian friends would go - too crowded, too hot, too expensive, too many corn dogs. But we rallied for this blog. If there is a single person that reads this to the end, please e-mail me. I am losing the will to blog and need to know at least one person has read this.

Thanks, Susan

Suburban Snake!

Yes! The day has arrived! My first Aussie suburban snake sighting! I was walking around the neighborhood with a friend this morning and spotted a snake! We were on the sidewalk and just to my left was a low hedge. Sticking out of the hedge, was a snake! It looked like a creeping vine sticking out, and it would have brushed up against my leg had I not noticed it. Of course, I saw it and ran shrieking into the street. Luckily, there was no car coming. I can imagine the headline: Stupid American Woman Hit by Car as She Runs from Harmless Tree Snake. Well, we think it was a tree snake. It was about a meter long and probably an inch or two in diameter.

It was funny to see a snake today, because yesterday, my tennis pals were telling me all about it. Apparently, snake season will soon be upon us. Spring is coming and the snakes will start appearing. 1) Clear all vegetation away from the house. 2) Check the pool before diving in. 3) Check the pool skimmer. They may look dead, but they aren't. Also, never chop a snake in two. It only makes them angry. First, break it's back with the blunt egde of shovel. Then, you cut it's head off. (Yeah, right, I'll do that...) At one place where I play, they killed 5 Deadly Brown Snakes in one day. I have decided not to chase the balls into the undergrowth - I'd rather buy a new set of balls.

Still no photos, because I am so hopeless. Maybe soon. Next week, there is a public holiday for the State Agricultural Show. I think I may be brave enough to face it - there are no lengths I won't go to just to get material for my readers.

Elliott is away tonight at Choir Camp. You can imagine he is thrilled at the prospect. I think it will be fun for him to get to know the kids a bit better. I am officially an embarassment to him - I made a huge faux-pas today. As we were driving to school, we passed his friend and I waved to him! How embarassing for Elliott - his mother waving away enthusiastically. He shrunk down in the seat and hoped no one would know I was his mother. I guess it only gets worse from here!

The Lost Hour - July 31, 2006

We have just returned home from the wierdest event ever. Tonight, Elliott was required to go to school and sing in the choir. The kids did a few songs, but the main event was a handbell concert. Oh my goodness. The Carilloneers from Claremont United Church of Christ in Claremont, CA have come all the way to Brisbane to participate in the International Festival of Handbell Ringers. By making the kids come and sing, the group is guaranteed an audience - otherwise I'm sure no one would actually turn up.

It was the most tortuous evening we have ever spent. As Tim so aptly put it, "That's an hour of my life I'll never get back." We were confronted with a dozen enthusiastic bell ringers - think Salvation Army Christmas bell ringers run amock - performing tunes such as Somewhere over the Rainbow and Yankee Doodle Dandy. After an hour, the audience was literally in a slack jawed stupor. When the conductor announced they were doing an encore, a gasp resounded thru the building. Luckily, the encore was a rendition of Waltzing Matilda. The song brought about the first signs of life in the crowd - even the naughty 12 year old boys sitting in front of us started to sing along to the tune. I think Waltzing Matilda should be the national anthem. We are very grateful the International Handbell Ringers Festival will not return to Australia for 12 more years. I think it will take us that long to recover.

Our other noteworthy, or not so noteworthy event, was a trip out to Toowoomba. The town of Toowoomba is in the Darling Downs, and is about 150 km west of Brisbane. We happened to go out on the day the town was holding a referendum about using recycled wastewater as drinking water. Opponants of the idea were calling Toowoomba "Poo-woomba". I guess enough of these negative campaigns influenced people and the vote was NO to using re-cycled waste in the drinking supply. We had a spot of rain in Brisbane last week, but inland is even drier. The future of water supply and management will be very interesting to follow in the next few years as there is still no sign of the crisis resolving. I guess I bring the water up a lot in the blog, but is an important topic of discussion whenever people get together.

Still having problems with the photos, but will try again to sort those out....one day....

We live in Australia!

Well, finally it has happened. We feel like we live here. It has taken almost 8 months, but we are now settled into our routines. Sophie has gone back to St. Louis after her month long visit here. We had such a nice time exploring new places in Australia and Brisbane too. When we returned from Melbourne, this just about felt like home. Now Elliott is back to school and I am into my routine of volunteering at school and playing a lot of tennis. I was telling my dad how good I was going to become - but his response was "It's just more time to practice what you are doing wrong." Tim is still swamped at work with a varied schedule, but is doing ok.

The hardest thing over the past few months has been the time change with the rest of the world as we know it. We watched the World Cup Football at all hours of the night. We would get up for a match that started at 2:00 am or 4:00 am. Wimbledon was sadly missed as the coverage started at 11:00 pm and went thru the night. This was the first Wimbledon in quite sometime I didn't waste two weeks in front of the t.v. The past month has been the Tour de France. Everyone who knows Tim is aware what a fan he is. Coverage of that starts at 10:00 and goes thru till about 1:30 am. or 2:00 am. L'Alpe D'Huez - can't miss it! So, Tim has been burning the candle at both ends - staying up till 2:00 am and then getting up for 5:00 am phone calls. Maybe by next year, this will seem normal.

But, now we feel we live here - "blog-able events" seem harder to find. So if anyone is actually still reading this - I apologize! Today, we went to Brisbane Forest Park about 25 km West of our house. It is reported there are some interesting birds there like the Bower Bird. I heard about this bird from a friend who is a keen bird watcher. Apparently, the male bird is like an architect and builds this big nest and decorates it like a groovy bachelor pad to attract a mate. The bird struts around and ...well you know where this is going. So, we head out to the park. It is very dry, and the water level of the lake is very low. We are on constant alert for the brown snake - the secondly most deadly of all snakes - that happens to live in our neighborhood. We see a few birds, but sadly I can't tell what the heck they are. Did we see a female bower bird? Did we see a Fruit Dove? Did we see a Black Cockatiel? Who would know? I took a few pictures to compare to the bird book, but of course, the bird is a blur flying off in the distance. I'm hopeless. I had high hopes for being a good blogger, impressing you with all this detail, but really, I can't do it. I guess all I can say is we went for a walk in the Bush and we saw something that wasn't a penguin.

Melbourne - Culture City!

Last week, we spent the week down in Melbourne. Note: pronounced "Mel - bun" It was strange to think we were flying South, yet needed to bring warm clothes. Seems backwards here! So, we rummaged around and finally found the coats and scarves we haven't needed for 6 months now and packed ourselves up. When we moved over to Australia, we could have chosen to live in Melbourne or Brisbane, so it was going to be interesting to compare the two cities.

We stayed in "Southbank", just over the Yarra River from Flinders Street Station. Melbourne seems divided up into various neighborhoods with shops and cafes everywhere. They really enjoy their public spaces and have all kinds of statues and places to stroll around. And Museums! We spent the week going to various museums and exhibitions: Australian art, Picasso's War Years, Leonardo Da Vinci's machines. There was alot to choose from. We strolled around the Botanical Gardens and went up in the Statue of Rememberance. It was also funny to see Captain Cook's Cottage transported from England and a Mock Tudor Village.

Elliott did pretty well schlepping from one thing to the next. He did need most of one day to just laze around in the hotel room - Culture Overload! We both missed our computer game, but it is good to go without for 5 days! Today at home, Elliott is enjoying his last day before "Back to School." He is refusing to leave the house as he wants to make the most of it.

Melbourne seems like a very European city. I can see why English people would really enjoy it. It seems much more cosmopolitan than Brisbane. However, I did have my winter coat on most of the time. We think that we would have lived well outside the city in a suburb. So would suburban life be that much different whether you are in Melbourne or Brisbane? Hard to say, but probably much the same. Brisbane does have the fantastic weather going for it for sure.

I seemed to have technologically regressed and am struggling with the camera downloads. I'll try and do photos sometime soon.

The Rainforest

The other exciting part about visiting Northern Queensland is visiting the Rainforest. At our local wildlife sanctuary, I caught site of this bizarre bird - the cassowary. It is a flightless bird that looks a bit like an emu that lives in the rainforest. It is vital to the eco system because it is the only thing that helps to spread 80 different plants and trees. The seeds from the plants pass thru this bird and the cassowary breaks down the seeds and fertilizes them at the same time. Without this bird, the whole rain forest will be altered forever. So, I really wanted to see this crazy bird in the wild. Sadly, this was not to be. But, I have heard tales of it attacking people, so it's probably just as well. This leaves another reason to go back up North. Must see one!

However, there was no shortage of other interesting wildlife. We took a tour from Cairns up to the Daintree National Park. We had a great guide who knew so much about the area and the plants and animals. He even licked the hind end of a green ant to demonstate the ants medicinal properties. Vitamin C! Elliott has had some green ant bites and wasn't keen to try that. In the Daintree area, they have classified much area to be another World Heritage Site. A lot of the area was cleared for logging and farming, but they have now realized the importance of the area. The Australian Government is trying to help buy back land and enlarge the area even more.

We took a walk thru Mossman Gorge and had a boat trip on the Daintree River. The boat ride really was the highlight for me. We saw several crocodiles in the wild - swimming and sunning themselves on the bank. There were tree snakes and even an amythestine python hanging on the branches of the trees. This was so cool because they really were just out there - not in a zoo. There were night herons which feed on croc eggs, 2 kinds of kingfishers and the ever present sulpher crested cockatiel.

We also took a trip to a crocodile farm. They now raise crocs for meat and also for their skins, and of course for the tourists. This was not as good as seeing them in the wild, but interesting to learn more about them. I have a new found respect for the croc for sure. The salt water crocs have not evolved in thousands of years, because they are already a superb killing machine. They are extremely well suited to their environment. They can slow their heart rate down to 5 beats a minute while resting and waiting for prey. They can hold their breath underwater for hours. They only have to eat once a year - yes, once a year - without losing any energy. Their brain is the size of a walnut, but they can stalk their prey. If you fill your bucket from the river at the same time every day, they will know it and be waiting for you. Luckily, they only get a human once every two years or so. I'm surprized it's not more - they are spectacular animals to see in action.

One last note on our trip for those who would like to visit North Queensland in a gentle fashion. We went out to Green Island one day. This is what I call "North Queensland Lite." It is an island a 45 minute boatride from Cairns. You can snorkel right off the beach with some little coral. There is a short little Glass Bottom Boat Tour and an underwater viewing area. A little boardwalk takes you through a rainforest area with lots of signs to read. And lastly, there is a crocodile/fish zoo where you can see all the animals in a very controlled experience. This was a fun day with very little stress. However, you get to see it all, but it's on a very small scale.

So that concludes my thoughts on that trip. We are hanging out here in Brisbane for the rest of this week. Then on Monday, we head to Melbourne. I really need to be able to publish links for you to see the parks and stuff. I'll try to make that a project.

The Great Barrier Reef

We just got back from our trip to North Queensland. We flew up to Cairns, pronounced "cans" on Wednesday with JetStar - Australia's version of Southwest. Let me just say here, everyone who is interested in coming to Australia must read Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country." This is our Bible - he has done it all and tells about it in such a funny way. If you want to read about the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest, please read his book. Bill Bryson is just so much funnier than I am. I'll dedicate this first blog to the reef and come back and post on the rainforest in a day or two.

First of all, for any squeemish men, look away now. As all women know, it is a law of nature to get your period at the most inconvenient time. Because I usually get my period every time we go on vacation, I was very worried about it this time. Bill Bryson doesn't cover this. Here you are - you know two things 1) this is an opportunity of a lifetime to swim at the Great Barrier Reef and 2) sharks attack when they smell blood. I could just imagine the head lines "Tourist mauled by shark!" Is this the kind of question you can ask the skipper of the boat? Still, I don't know the answer to this question because I actually didn't have my period...but I still worry because surely next time we visit I will.

OK - it's safe reading for everyone. We chose to go out on the reef with a tour operator "Down Under Dive" that seemed to be a compromise sort of option. The boat left directly from Cairns and went out an hour and half, as opposed to taking a bus for an hour to Port Douglas and going out 2 hours from there. We would visit 2 spots on the reef. Our boat came with the option of a glass bottom boat tour, but not the platform at the reef. We thought that would be sufficient for our first trip out.

When we arrived at the terminal, we were warned of "Rough Seas." Wind was at 23 knots - whatever that means. I was told that over 20 was considered rough. The glass bottom boat would not run in rough weather. So this means all day on the boat. I start having flashbacks to a ferry crossing to France where I threw up for 6 hours. I beg Tim to reconsider, but he is determined we are all going.

Armed with Dramamine and Ginger Tablets, we start off. What is amazing about the Great Barrier Reef is the sheer magnitude of it all. It is made up of many many sections of reef, stretching 2000 km long and 80 km wide. We snorkelled at two spots on the reef, but really we saw only a minute portion of it. I will say this for our friends, Linda and Michael, Cat Cay in the Bahamas is still probably the best snorkeling we have ever seen so far. Where we were, we saw a lot of evidence of coral bleaching due to the higher temperatures of the ocean. Also, the starfish called The Crown of Thorns has damaged large sections of the Reef. This starfish can grow up to 21 legs and its stomach actually comes out of its body, attaches itself to the coral and sucks out the nutrients. We would definately like to go back to different areas of the reef to see what is around further out. We did see amazing tropical fish, turtles, anemones, and sea biscuits. Tim saw a reef shark, which thankfully, I missed.

We all got in the water - Sophie, Elliott and I all had wetsuits. I mentioned the warm temperature of the ocean, but it felt pretty cold to us! The first place we stopped was fairly choppy and the swells were about 1.5 metres. I have to give Sophie and Elliott a gold star for being so adventurous. The second place we stopped was a bit more sheltered in a reef lagoon of sorts, so there were fewer waves. They did end up running the glass bottom boat so we had a look around without being buffeted by the sea.

We then headed back to shore. Those who had the sea legs for it could sit inside, enjoy a glass of wine and some live musical entertainment. For the rest of us, it was another dose of dramamine and a white knuckle ride on the outside deck. All in all, it was a good trip. We are already planning our next visit and what we will do. There is so much to see up there in North Queensland - two World Heritage Sites in the Great Barrier Reef and the Rainforest. My next blog I will talk about the Rainforest, which I enjoyed even more than the reef. My apologies about the spelling in here. It is early in the morning and the last time I used spellcheck I lost the whole post.

Birthday Weekend

Saturday, we celebrated Elliott's 11th birthday. Elliott took 10 friends to Laser Force where they ran around and shot each other with laser guns and played arcade games. Great fun was had by all - Tim and another Dad enjoyed it as much as the kids I think. It was lucky to have chosen an indoor activity as it rained all afternoon. This was the first real rain we have seen in months, but it was not enough to stave off the next level of water restrictions that came in force this week.

Sunday was Tim's birthday. We had a quieter day then with a nice walk on Mount Coot-tha's Aboriginal Art Trial. Tim and I both turned 40 this year - quite the milestones! On one of our walks over the weekend, we saw Rainbow Lorikeets, Sulpher Crested Cockatiels, and even some Galah Birds. The Galah Birds look like a pigeon, but have a fantastic red chest.

Monday, everyone had the day off in order to celebrate the Queen of England's Birthday. In Australia, this provides another opportunity to skive off work and makes for a nice long weekend. It is funny how the Queen of England's birthday is a day off here, but not in England. Any excuse for a party! Monday also happened to be Lee Deer's Birthday! Perhaps not so widely celebrated in Australia, but an important event nonetheless.

Tim's mom, Sophie, has arrived in town. We went into the city today and walked around. The Botanical Gardens was interesting to see, but it is looking rather sad without enough rain. The plants can only be watered by carting around recycled water from the storm drains. Many beds have been destroyed and plowed under as the plants have died. I already have gotten shin splints from trying to keep up with Sophie. I should have been in training for all the upcoming activity this month! Promise of more interesting blogs in the future as we start our travels around Australia. Next stop - Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

The Heat is On! June 4, 2006

Winter has finally arrived in Brisbane. Last week, it got down to 3 degrees Celcius in the night. Luckily, we have the luxury of central heating in our house. Tim came down saying how cold he was..."We must turn on some heat!"...but he was still wearing a pair of shorts. The mornings and evenings are quite cool, but the days are still spectacular - clear skies and 20 degrees. Perfect tennis weather.

We have had several get-togethers here over the past two weeks. We must be the only people in Australia without a barbeque grill. The parties were advertised as Barbequeless BBQs. People seemed very happy to come even though we didn't cook out in the Australian tradition. Everyone crammed in the kitchen as usual, but I made people go and sit on our new sofa just to make Tim see it was money well spent. No one commented on our decor or lack of it. The only thing that caused much talk and amazement was the fact that we had bananas in our house.

When North Queensland was hit with a dreadful hurricane a few months back, 90% of the banana crop of Australia was destoyed. The supermarkets have of course taken full advantage of this and have jacked up the prices accordingly. Bananas are now $9.99 (Australian) a kilo. Our guests were impressed I would throw my money around in such a fashion! Really, to be honest, I can't remember what bananas cost before the hurricane. And to be even more honest, I don't even know what an Australian dollar is worth. And even worse is I don't know what a kilo is in terms of pounds. I may be the only person in Australia without a grill and who is still buying bananas.

Last weekend I took Elliott and a friend to the Science Centre in Southbank. They had a great time there. I'm sure they got more exercise there than they would have at a park. Elliott threw a ball to see how fast it flew - he did this so many times, he was sore for days afterward. There was an exhibit that measured how fast you could run that they did a million times. I loved the fact that the museum had several exhibits that required a sick bucket! One spinning chair made people dizzy and then some bizarre walkway resulted in severe vertigo. Strategic trash cans were dotted around in case of vomiting. Now that's a good museum!

Sorry no photos this post. I'll try and remember to take some pictures of something interesting this next week.

This weekend, we went to the Brookfield Show. It started out as an agricultural show and has adapted over the past 50 years. The suburbs have now spread all the way out to what was once "country." The show grounds are only about 5 minutes drive further West from our neighborhood. I was reminded very much of the Indiana State Fair, but on a much smaller scale. There was the home economics section - with winning jams and cakes. There was some show jumping and a quilt show. The shortened Shakespeare programme went down like a lead balloon, with people milling about and talking during the performance. The highlight was the Freestyle Moto Cross where 2 guys rode their motorbikes up the huge ramp and did death defying feats before landing on the ramp. It was so popular, we got to see 2 shows in the few hours we were there. The poor horses trying to jump in the background - you can just imagine the racket! For Elliott, the fireworks weren't as cool as the Dodge-em Cars. It was his first time to have a go on the fair ground ride. Of course, all I could think of was the bleeding from the brain that could result from such a dangerous activity. Luckily, he seems to have survived unscathed.

Brisbane is a town that is divided by a river. There are only about 5 bridges that cross at various points which is one reason Brisbane traffic can get so busy. We took our bikes to a Bike Path that runs near our neighborhood and rode all the way into Brisbane. We crossed the River at South Bank over the Victoria Bridge and discovered the Nepalese Pagoda that was built for some Expo. Then we rode on and crossed over the Goodwill Bridge and headed back out West. We rode over 20 km on the bike path. We had to take the bikes in the car to our nearest park because the neighborhood is so hilly, we couldn't have made it home again after 20 km!

The Australian Tuck Shop - May 16, 2006

The whole culture of Australia seems so much more informal than it was in England. We have noticed how many people never wear shoes. Flip Flops, or thongs as they are called here, are considered formal wear. We noticed this again at a choir performance at the school chapel last weekend. (Elliott has been forced to participate in the Middle School Choir.) Tim asked if he could wear shorts, but I quickly said "NO!" But upon arrival at the concert, we ran into one of Elliott's teachers who was wearing denim shorts and sandals.

This casual atmosphere is also present for school lunches. At his previous schools, Elliott was expected to sit at a table with other students and sometimes with a staff member. However, here, lunch is one giant free for all. There is no canteen/cafeteria. Kids bring their lunch and eat at a picnic table or while wandering around. If you don't bring your lunch, you can buy something from the school Tuck Shop. This is not like the little shop I was used to from before. In England, the tuck shop sold candy and a few snacks. Here, the tuck shop is a big business that provides everything from sandwiches, sushi, nooodles, hot dogs, crisps, ice cream, drinks, fruit plates, vegetable dips...and more. The school relies on parents (ok, let's face it...mostly mums) to provide the labor force. I also have to say the school does a good job at providing healthy food. All the food must follow guidelines about fat, salt and sugar content and portion size.

Anyway, I had worked the ice cream counter at the Middle School a few times in the past. Can I please have a Fruit Tube and a packet of crisps? Now, that I could handle. Two orderly lines - kids ordering one or two items. Last week, I had to work in the senior school tuck shop. Oh my! There were about 35 big kids all pressed up against the window pointing and saying "No that one...The smaller one...The red one!" These kids were ordering about 5 items at once and changing their minds and expecting me to find the items and add it up in my head. Well, after a few minutes, I had to go find the lady who runs the shop and tell her I couldn't do it! She looked slightly bemused and said "You'll be fine." But I was insistent, no, indeed I really couldn't do it. She did come over to help at that point. Luckily, after about 10 minutes with the two of us on the window, it did calm down.

So, here I am in Austalia for just a few short months and already making a name for myself at Elliott's school. I became the American Lady who almost freaked out and had to go home from Tuck Shop! At Elliott's schools in England, I thought it was strange how parents weren't encouraged to volunteer. Now I look back on those days with fond memories.

The rest of stuff is every day life sort of happenings. We bought a new sofa - so now every room in the house is funished. We've changed newspapers - had to go for the national paper, The Australian. The Brisbane paper had a front page story of a Football player who tested positive for drugs. Front page news maybe, but perhaps just a small mention on the front page, even half a page. But for the Brisbane paper, it was the only story - the entire front page - not even weather got a mention. After just a few days of the national paper, I already feel more connected to the rest of the world! It's been fun to see the British and American scandals. The photo is from our walk last Sunday up to Look Out Point at Mount Coot-tha. There are lovely views to the city, but my photography doesn't do it justice.

Apoligies for Operator Error

Sorry - I just realized I hadn't posted my last post properly. I got confused between save draft and publish I guess. I lost one somewhere - so I started saving post as draft obsessively, but then forgot to actually publish it. So, please go back and read Anzac Day, then the Fall Day one. With me, you just never know what you'll be getting!

Fall in Brisbane - May 6, 2006

The other day I had to laugh as I looked at the weather forecast. Every day: 25 degress C and sunny. (For those of you who work in Farenheit, I think that's about 77 degrees.) It has been absolutely glorious. It's perfect for bike riding, walking and tennis. The only drawback is we are seriously lacking water in the dams and it looks like the water restrictions will ratchet up a notch soon. At the moment, we aren't noticing the water restrictions too much. You can only use your hose on assigned days at certain hours and you can't wash your car or hose down your patio.

We have had yet another holiday with May Day. Elliott is loving these 4 day school weeks. We took our bikes out to the Eastern side of Brisbane and went on a lovely ride between Wynnum and Manly. They have a bike/walking path that goes thru wetlands and by the coast. There are beautiful views of Moreton Bay and the islands off the coast. We saw an interesting road sign of a manatee. It looks like ones we've seen for Kangaroo Crossing and Koala Crossing. I think the manatees go under the bridge, not go over the road, but who knows with these Australian animals. We think we should start a gallery of wierd animal roadsigns and see how many different ones we can come up with.

We also rode along the river in Brisbane. There are miles of cycle paths that are heavily used. In fact, there are traffic jams along the route in the morning because so many people commute into town on their bikes. We rode out to the "floating walkway" - a section of the path that juts out over the river. It was very fun and we stopped at the Botanical Garden in town for lunch on the way home. We have many more areas to explore and would like to cross the Story Bridge on our next venture.

We spent one day on Bribie Island. It is one of the few islands that has a bridge across from the mainland. It makes an easy trip because you don't have to worry about the ferry schedules and all that. The beach there was very nice and quiet. It is a good place to bring kids and have a picnic because the surf was very calm. We probably would have liked a bit bigger waves, but it's hard to find a happy medium!

This should be the last update on the house. After much back and forth with the landlord and the real estate agent, we will be staying in the house. (I think...) The pool is looking ok and the fence is just about right. The windows and screens are to be fixed to a minimum standard. The rest we just have to learn to live with. We have pushed the landlord to some sort of breakdown - we aren't sure if it's emotional or financial. So, I expect two more days of waiting in for the repair men and then it should be over. Now if I could only get Tim to buy some furniture....

Anzac Day

Yesterday, was Anzac Day. It is a combination of Veterans Day and Fourth of July. If you've seen Gallipolli with Mel Gibson...that's what it's about. In WWI, the Australian and NewZealand Army Corp was sent to take the beach in Gallipoli - now Turkey. It was a very bloody and protracted battle that ended in defeat for the Anzac Troops. They say that this event forged a national identity for Australia as a nation, as opposed to just being part of Great Britain. During a service at our local memorial, there was a lot said about the values that this day still inspires: pride in being an Australian, courage in the face of impossible odds, the importance of "mateship". It was a very moving ceremony.

Bird watching: this week the update is on birds...We went on a picnic at New Farm Park in Brisbane over the weekend. It is the site where the convicts grew produce in the old days. Today it is a lovely riverside park with some spectacular fig trees. Some crows started getting riled up and chasing something around - it turned out to be a wedgetail eagle. The eagle got itself stuck in the tree. After a while of hanging upside down, it fell out of the tree and almost landed on my head. Of course, I was running away - so luckily it just hit our cooler. Someone in the party had the presence of mind to wrap it up in a picnic blanket and call the rescue people. The happy news is that the rescue people did arrive and will take care of it and re-release the bird when it can fly again. The rescue people couldn't believe it was a wedgetail as they don't usually come into the city.

Other bird sighting: Tim took Elliott and me off the Mt. Coutha for a little bike riding "in the bush." It was a hideous event....just a little further, around this corner, etc. Elliott had realized what we went down we'd have to come back up, but I thought surely there would be some loop and we would arrive back home without having to go up hill. Anyway, after a little cursing and a lot of pushing, we were almost home when we saw a beautiful rainbow lorikeet in a tree. It made the whole ride worth the trip.

Lastly, news on the house front. Window guy came today and put big red pieces of tape on every window that needs fixing. Those match my yellow post it notes to mark the ripped screens. It's very colorul now, if not fully functional. The owners come tomorrow to have a look around. Tim will luckily be home to handle that. We hope the owners are able to shed some light on the section of fence that went missing sometime between 10 pm and 6 am one night. Is it the builder? Is he going to fix it? Is he mad and going to keep it? Did a kid take it? We have no idea. We have been swimming in the pool now. The pump is broken so we aren't too sure just how clean the pool is...but what the heck. It has cooled off to 24 degrees, so we want to get as much use out of it as we can before "winter" sets in.

And that's how you eat sand....April 19, 2006

We spent Easter weekend at Tangalooma - it is a large sand island off the coast of Brisbane. The island started out as a little bit of lava and grew into an island from all the sand that blew off the coast of the mainland. We needed a bit of a break, but as Tim's been on the road so much, we wanted someplace pretty close. The island is only about an hour ferry ride away.

There is not too much on the island. It is 98% National Park. The other 2% is the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort. If I am very advanced, I may be able to post a link. (hmm...guess I'm not quite that advanced...) It was either stay at the resort or camp in the wilds with the mosquitos and the brown snakes - not much choice. As a guest of the resort, you can feed wild dolphin. Dolphins started to come to the docks to eat the leftover bait the fishermen would throw out at the end of the day. The dolphins really are wild, so there are a million rules to follow. No touching, no petting, no sunscreen wearing. The dolphins are fed only 10% of their food needs, so they still retain all their hunting/fishing instincts. It was pretty cool to see them so up close - I have to admit I really wanted to pet one! We also saw the dolphins swimming around where we snorkeled. They have sunk about half a dozen ships to create a small craft docking area off the coast of the island. There were very cool fish to see and some interesting coral. (The Bahamas are still pretty hard to beat...but it was very cool!)

Our other exciting excursion was to go sand toboganing in the Great Sandy Desert. Australia hasn't caught on the to American way about health and safety...basically, you sled down the giant sand dune head first on a bitty piece of plywood. I had to do it just to prove I wasn't a total chicken. As I launched myself off down the mountain, Elliott heard the guide say "And that's how you eat sand!" I found twice down was plenty; Tim and Elliott made it 7 times.

Other news: we have stopped paying rent on our house in the hopes that they will actually finish off what needs doing. We'll see. The builder showed up to cart away his tools after I threatened to throw them out in the street. Needless to say, he didn't actually finish any of the work he said he'd do before he left. We did have the electrician in and he changed the light fixture - sorry to all those that voted to keep the cherubs. And just FYI, everyone who voted wanted us to keep the hideous thing.

Critter update: only new item in the house was a little gecko. Very cute and not too scary, but pretty hard to catch. Elliott wanted to keep it in his room. I've heard that at first you think one is cute, but soon it turns into a whole community of geckos and they are pretty noisy.

Not much else to post. Really enjoyed the weekend away. Now we are back to the reality of work, school and land lord issues!

Tim puts the hammer down - April 09, 2006

Tim came home after almost two weeks in Melbourne to find the house and garden in the same state he left it. No, not just because I was on line gaming...it was the workmen...I swear. The pool and wall are still a mess and most of the jobs inside still need doing. Tim called the real estate agent and said "Fix it all by Easter or we're moving out!" It's not like him to be so stressed, but enough is enough I guess. I don't think he means it really, but he won't buy any more funiture just in case we really do move.

For all the complaints about customer service in the UK, it's not much different here. The main difference is people in Australia are nice to you while they are not doing what you want. Everyone seems very friendly and helpful and asks you how your day is going. After a lovely conversation, you go away and a while later you realize you still didn't get what you wanted. Another thing I've noticed about Australian men (and this may be a wild generalization) is that they love to talk to one another. They don't particularly want to chat with me, but with each other, they never seem to shut up. Just shooting the breeze. It does seem very matey and bloke-ish. This may be Queensland more than Australia, but it still seems pretty sexist. Tim having a tantrum has stirred the pot much more than I ever could.

Lucky for us, IKEA is not only on the way to the beach, but also close by a state park called Daisy Hill. We stopped by IKEA to pick up the rest of our desk and went and saw some Aussie critters in their natural habitat. Saw a koala in the tree and lots of wallabies hanging around trying to mooch some food from a family picnic. There were some very huge spider webs (mayby 3m. across) with golden orb spiders (non-venomous) and some Kokoburas. I'll try and spare you more wallabie pictures, but it was very cool to see them in their natural habitat and not in a zoo. We took some photos of the spiders, but I'll have to look again and see if it'll show up. We need to go back and go on a proper hike there - it was really lovely.

Easter is coming up and we are going away for the weekend. Hope to have more interesting nature tales to post next week.