Level 5 Water Restrictions

Queensland is still experiencing lovely weather with record high temperatures. It's been beautiful for going for walks, riding bikes and playing tennis. Even though we are heading into winter, there seems to be little sign of it. The evenings have cooled off a bit and the pool is now too cold for me to swim in. Still no sign of rain. Other parts of Australia had some rain, but not here.

We have now moved to Level 5 Water Restrictions. It has never been implemented before, so the exact rules are a bit hazy. The idea is you get 140 litres of water per person per day. If a bucket holds about 10 litres, think about 14 buckets of water lined up. That's your shower, your toilet flush, your clothes washer, your coooking water, your pool topper-upper. You are only allowed to top up your pool if you have 3 out of 4 water saving devices installed: low flush toilets, low flow shower heads, water saving washing machine and a pool cover. Our landlords have not provided a pool cover, but we have the other 3 things. Without a pool cover, we lose about 1000 litres of water a week in evaporation. You can fill your pool or water outside plants with a bucket a few hours a week depending on if your house number is odd or even. You can water your plants outside anytime with grey water you have collected. Again, our landlords haven't installed a rainwater tank, so we don't have much grey water. We have started using a bucket at the bottom of the shower to collect water while we wait for the hot water to come through. The rainwater tanks - there is a waiting list of up to 6 months to get one. Plus, there has just not been any rain to fill them.

The upshot of all this is everything is very very dry. All of Brisbane looks brown and parched. Many of our flowers are just about dead and the hedges are showing stress. Even large trees are starting to die. Brisbane is said to be completely without any water within 18 months. The council has started working on a water recycling plant and a water pipe line. We have started monitoring our water use each week - our family project. First week, we were 168 litres per person. The next week we were down to 148. That was including topping up our pool. Also, the second week, I caught my gardener watering the plants with my water and it wasn't the right time of day! I was sure all my neighbors were muttering under the breaths staring out their windows. I went to tell him to stop and he said he could do it anytime because he was a gardener. What hope is there Queensland is going to cut back on water if people run around watering all the time with phony excuses? The truth is that it will be very difficult to track down "water cheats" and it will be interesting to see where it all ends.

Sydney

Sydney was a great trip, but I want to avoid doing a travel monologue. Too boring even for me. I'll try and tell you the highlights. The funniest part of the whole trip was the ride to and from the airport. We decided to get an airport shuttle service to the hotel. After being slightly deceived by the person at the counter, we bought our tickets. We head to the pick up point to be loaded in like cattle for the ride 8 km into the city. The driver must have stopped off at every hotel in Sydney before reaching ours. The trip on the shuttle bus was longer than our flight from Brisbane. I was fuming that I had been conned into buying a round trip ticket! The thought of doing the trip in reverse was too much. I was also worried that we had just seen every square inch of Sydney. We had arranged a private tour guide to drive us around the next day to show us the sights, but surely we had already seen everything on the circuitous route from the airport. What could be left?

The next day, our guide Victor drove us to see the main tourist attractions (again) in Sydney and all around various neighborhoods. We went out to Bondi Beach (which we hadn't seen on the shuttle bus) and looked at the houses with a 10 million dollar view. It was a pleasant way to spend the day and it gave us a good picture of Sydney and the surrounding areas.

We scheduled a tour of the Opera House. My parents were disappointed there was not an opera performance while we were there, but we enjoyed looking around. The building itself is impressive and looks much different up close then I imagined. The roof is made up of millions of small tiles. For some reason, it always seemed smoother in the pictures. Elliott and Tim went on the walking tour that included 200+ stairs, while the rest of us opted for the elevator tour. It was fun to compare stories afterward. The staff loves the fact they treat everyone equally - no one is to be seated after the performance has started and everyone must queue for their own drinks. Even the sitting Prime Ministers of Australia!

For Elliott, perhaps the best part of the trip was the hotel. We had an interesting room where you could open a screen that let you see into the bathroom from the bedroom. We had many hours of speculating...Why would someone want such a good view of the toilet? The hotel had a nice gym that Elliott really enjoyed. Oh yes, and a bathrobe. Compared to a tour of the Opera House, I think the hotel made a more lasting impression.

I'll close with the return trip to the airport. We debated scrapping the pre-paid ticket and just taking a cab, but decided to see what would happen. In a relaxed frame of mind, we prepared ourselves for another hour and a half trip. We were picked up in a smaller van this time. As we got in we noticed the passengers already in the van looked a bit shaken. Tim started to close his window, but the driver insisted on fresh air. At this point, the driver took off like a rocket. From the back seat, I could see my parents being buffeted by the force of the wind. It was like pulling G forces! The lady in a seat next to mine insisted Elliott wear his seat belt - she was fearing for her life as her seat was not equiped with a belt. We arrived unscathed at the airport and were uncerimoniously dropped off any old where. Mom and Dad stumbled from the van...You should have seen their hair! It was like they had been in a wind tunnel. You couldn't make it stand up like that with any amount of hair gel. The kind woman passenger took pity on us and told us how to find Qantas. Luckily, Tim was able to get us into the Qantas Lounge and we were able to calm our nerves at the bar and buffet.

Finally! Something to Write About!

Well, I was starting to get worried. I have been reading about the death of the Blog. Blogs are now officially "out". Skeletons of abandoned blogs litter the internet. Would my blog become another one of the statistics? Was I another self-important blow hard who had finally run out of things to say? It was starting to look like Yes - but thank goodness we've found something to write about!

My parents have arrived to liven things up here. They had a fairly tiring trip - door-to-door it was something like 36 hours. We spent the first week of their visit here in Brisbane as they adjusted to the time change. We did some of the usual outings - Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and the Botanic Gardens. One nice day, we took the City Cat boat into town and had lunch at the new Modern Museum of Art. Lee and Dick have persuaded Elliott to play Bridge. I hate to admit Grandad and Elliott make a pretty good team and Lee and I haven't managed to take them yet. We are reading up on Australia. I have Dad working on "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes, while I have tackled "The Mayne Inheritance" which is about a founding family in Brisbane. Brisbane, being what it is.....this true story is described as "a gothic tale of murder, madness, and scandal across the generations". Good stuff!

We just spent Easter weekend in Noosa up on the Sunshine Coast. The beach was fantastic with some great waves for body boarding. We didn't feel up to trying our hand at surfing, but there were lots of surfers too. Our hotel was on Hastings Street so we could walk down the main drag of fancy shops or head up to the National Park. We did see a Koala snoozing in a tree - I think he was placed there for the tourists. It was too perfect! Tim managed to see dolphins swimming at the beach, but the rest of us were still tucked up in bed.

We are home for today to recover and do our wash. Tomorrow we head to Sydney. So, dear readers, or reader if I only have one left, you will have at least one more blog!

The Homework Grind

Sadly, not much excitement here to report. We have entered into the business end of the school term and have a lot of homework. Notice I use the word "we"... Elliott is now in Year 8, having skipped Year 7. The work load has dramatically increased from Year 6 and it now has become a family effort to see the term long projects pulled together. Last year, there was one major project to present at the end of the term. This year, each subject has one. I have had to turn over the supervision of Maths and Science to Tim, as both subjects have already gone beyond me. I will soldier on with English, Social Studies and Christian Studies. Well, I'm sure Christian Studies will be beyond me as well; it looks like Elliott will be on his own for that one! So our weekends have been spent doing projects and going to cricket.

The newspapers have been full of some political intrigue about a former Western Australian Premier turned lobbiest. Anyone who has lunch with the man is having to resign and John Howard is trying to smear the new Labour Leader. But, really, I can't muster up much enthusiam for the story. It seems tame compared to the intrigue with Scooter Libby and the FBI wire-tapping. If you had to get rid of everyone in Washington who had a meal with a lobbiest, there wouldn't be anyone left to run the country.

The real talk around is still the water shortage. Last weekend, there was talk of a cyclone coming that would solve all our problems. However, this never came to pass. We've had a few showers for the past few weeks, but not much in the dam. The dam is down to 19% now and Level 5 water restrictions will start next month. Everyone I know is getting the rain water tank installed and the hot topic is how long the waiting list is. Queenslanders are getting upset now the newspaper has pointed out most of the water in the dam is going to provide power for New South Wales. It will bad enough to have water rationing, but it will be unendurable to live without the power to run the air conditioner!

Cricket Coma

I'm not sure we will ever be able to move back to the US. I fear we are too far gone now. Yesterday, Elliott had his first Cricket Match. We, of course, have followed a bit of cricket now and again - living in England for so long and now here - you can't really help it. But to actually attend! And to stay from start to finish!

The cricket match was held in some park about an hour's drive from our house. Brisbane is larger than it seems sometimes. I get in my little routine and drive around within a 10 mile radius of my house and I forget there is a whole nother world out there. Kids have to be there for 12 noon for 1:00 start. Thank goodness it has been rainy and overcast, otherwise we all would have had heat stroke.

By, 2:20 in the afternoon, I had drifted into a cricket induced coma. Brutal! Someone said something about it being like baseball on valium. Soooo slow! I'm sure some fast bowling watching Australia play could be exciting, but Boys Under-13s cricket....well, I'll let you imagine. We endured 4 hours of this torture before the game was finshed. Two glasses of wine were needed to recover after the game. However, I'm thinking if I had two before the game, it could be more beneficial.

Lastly, a brief note about an exciting cultural evening of sorts. Last week, both Tim and Elliott went off and left me on my own. Tim went to Adelaide and Elliott went to camp with school for a few days. I made arrangements to go out with a friend one night and she arranged tickets to see our favorite author Bill Bryson give a reading from his new book "The Thunderbolt Kid." I will give him a plug for "In a Sunburned Country" one more time if you want to hear of his travels to Australia. His new book is about growing up in Iowa and sounds nostalgic for days gone by. I have been concentrating on Australian books lately though, so won't put that one at the top of my list. One I would recommend is "A Town like Alice" by Nevil Shute which is about World War Two and development of the outback after the war. I read another "important" book called "Benang" by Kim Scott about the White Australia Policy and the breeding out of Aboriginal race. That was so dreadful and depressing and made all the worse since it was based on real events. Don't read that unless you have alot of mental fortitude.

Still naive after 18 years of marriage...

Tim has been enjoying his bike riding so much over the past year that he wanted to share this wonderful activity with Elliott and me. Well, we have done this once or twice in the past and quickly realized we were out of our depths with Tim and his bike riding. Somehow, during our month away, we had forgotten just how hard mountain bike riding can be here and we let ourselves get talked into a little outing.

We set off to some "fire roads" in Brisbane Forest. These are widish unpaved roads that have been made for emergency vehicles and also serve as a fire break during controlled burns or forest fires. Tim said there might be a few places we'd have to push our bikes, but it wouldn't be too bad. As we were driving out, he mentioned this was the way to Mountain Nebo. Perhaps it would be just a slight uphill incline the whole way... Elliott and I grumbled just a bit going up these steep hills, followed by precipitous decents. As we approached one particularly daunting hill, Tim said "This one reminds me of the Tour de France at the L'Alpe D'Huez!" Sadly, at that point, we had to park our bikes at the side of the road and walk the last little bit to see the view. I have got to remember - no riding unless it is a paved little pathway on the beachfront or the riverfront!

Still the front page news here is water. Northern Queensland is flooded at the moment, but Brisbane is still so dry. The State Premier Peter Beattie has done a fabulous political flip flop and is now saying we will have to have recycled water. This had been put to the voters and the voters said no, but the reality is there is no water. Elliott said it seemed just like a parent - giving kids a choice, but making them do something else after all. Why bother asking in the first place? Interesting wildlife sightings have been happening due to the lack of water - new creatures are coming out in Brisbane. First, scorpians have been sighted and now funnel web spiders have moved further into the suburbs. I am hoping they don't find a way to our house, as I have enough on my plate with redback spiders, cockroaches and ants.

Health Check, January 26, 2007

We have had a quiet few weeks here - getting back into the time zone and getting geared up for school to start on Monday. Elliott went to a daily swim camp last week and started guitar lessons. We went to the the Brisbane Planetarium and learned about the night sky in Australia. It was interesting to see how much astronomers have learned in the past 30 years since my school day visits to the Planetarium.

Since we don't have too much excitement, I have to resort to telling you my medical adventures. When we were in the US, I found out I had a Vitamin D deficiency. I could not believe that because Queensland is the sunniest place in the world and I play so much tennis outside. But I guess my obsessive use of sunscreen may save me from skin cancer, but it is now causing other problems! The upshot is I had to go for a blood test yesterday to follow this up. When I arrived at the Pathology lab, I had to wait outside for a few minutes while the ladies finished cleaning up. It turns out the cleaner was also the receptionist. Then it became obvious that the cleaner/receptionist was also the blood technician.

It seemed to me very Australian that one person should do all those jobs. Just because you have had some medical training, don't think you are above mopping the floors and taking out the trash! Don't get "up yourself", you tall poppy. The other interesting thing was there was no privacy for the patient. The door was left open and I was left to hear about the man's Warfarin dose and the woman's operation. The door was only closed when a patient fainted and hit the floor. At that point, there was a flurry of activity and the door finally shut. I will have to go and do this again in another 4 weeks, so I hope it goes a bit more smoothly next time.

The whole medical issue in a foreign country raises some issues. In England, we qualified for the National Health Service and did not have any out of pocket expense for medical care. In Australia, there is access to free health care - but we don't qualify. So having a minor medical issue is going to be a slight inconvience to figure out insurance and deductables and all that. Someone we know is going in for surgery on Tuesday, and that is even more difficult as the cash needs to paid up front. It does make me appreciate the old National Health Service or even having an HMO.

Back in Brisbane January 12, 2007

We have returned to Brisbane after being in the US for a month. Now, that was a bloggable trip! We went to St. Louis, Indianapolis and then to Tucson. It was great to see so many people in our family and also so many friends. I really felt I needed to see everyone after feeling so far away this year.

Some highlights of our trip were seeing the Gees Bend Quilting Exhibit in Indy, the Chihuly Glass Exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. It was great to act like tourists this trip and see a lot of museums and exhibitions.

Also, we really enjoyed the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. After Elliott's term long project on Lincoln last year, it was good to see how much we had learned!

In Tucson, we enjoyed seeing our piece of "desert scrub land" that we purchased last year. After exploring it with Laura and Dave, we have learned to call it "succulent desert" instead. It is a fabulous piece of land with lots of cactus and a nice view of the mountains. It was fun to dream of projects for the place and make plans for a future home. However, all of it seems rather far away in the future. Tim and Elliott have decided they really like Australia and don't seem to be in any hurry to return to the US.

After a gruelling 13.5 hour flight from Los Angeles, we arrived back in Brisbane. It is nice to back in our own beds and in our own house, but we will miss all the family and friends we have left behind. We have some jet-lag, but there is no rest for the weary here. Quickly, we went to work for you and planned our first outing: The Crocodile Hunter's Australian Zoo. The zoo is about and hour and half from our house up towards the Blue Mountains. We saw the crocodile show and wandered around the zoo. The show seemed a bit tamer than I would have expected. I guess I thought the show would be a bit crazier with Steve Irwin's reputation, but it is a very slick presentation. The show finishes right at noon and you exit into the food court. Fun day out with friends, but a pretty expensive day. We will probably continue to be happy visiting our local Lone Pine Sanctuary which is much smaller, but much more low key. We stopped by there today between 4 and 5 pm. The nocturnal animals were just getting started and it was full of activity. We saw some cute baby koalas! I'll try and master posting pictures and really get this thing going properly - but I think that sounds familiar...

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Thanksgiving in Australia

Last Thursday was American Thanksgiving. Because Tim had work and Elliott had school, there wasn't alot of time to have a big celebration on the day. But on Sunday, we got together with the other Boeing Families here and had a good time. We decided against doing a traditional dinner for a couple of reasons. The first was not many of us have an oven big enough to cook a huge turkey. The second reason was it is too darn hot to be cooking much of anything. One of the gals ordered a smoked turkey from the butcher for a small fortune and we all brought something to share.

We met up at Southbank, the man-made pool/beach in downtown Brisbane. Someone came early and secured a lovely table in the shade. Without shade, we all would have melted by 11:00 am if not before. The park is the favorite venue for all the Austalian holidays and long weekends. On Sunday it was crowded with people gathered to beat the heat and watch the cricket on large screen TVs in the grounds. It was a nice celebration, if a little un-orthodox.

The cricket could be a whole nother blog! The Ashes has begun. For all you American readers, this is HUGE! England vs. Australia in a grudge match. Last year, England won at home. This year, the Australians are determined to get the ashes back. The first 5 day test ended today in Brisbane. England was sadly trounced. Tim and Elliott have quickly shifted loyalties to the Aussies, but I'm a bit more ambivilant. England still seem a sentimental favorite for me. I tried to get tickets and even joined "The Australian Cricket Family", but didn't have any luck. Tickets became available for today's session, but by this point, England was so far behind, there didn't seem much point. The fifth day lasted a mere hour and a half.

There is something soothing about listening to cricket on the radio. It is like listening to a foreign language program where you understand every third word. There is talk of mid-wicket, off stump, golden ducks and googlies. The write up in the paper takes an hour to decipher: "Bully-boy Pieterson, given a life on 12, didn't last much longer before McGrath jagged a delivery back into his back pad and he was given out leg before." And there are pages and pages of this! The scary thing is we now lived in Cricket playing countries long enough, I am almost understanding it. Elliott is playing again at school and helps with some of the trickier points.

Well, this is it before Christmas I'd say. Elliott's school has broken up for the holidays. We are off to the States in a few weeks. I am looking forward to it. It really will be unbearably hot in the next month and I won't be sorry to miss it. My tennis has been winding down now and won't re-start till late February or March because it will be too hot to play. I'll try to send out Christmas cards, but don't feel too inspired at the moment. I saw Christmas decorations with snowmen, but snow seems very far away as we lounge in the pool. I hope I find the inspiration to continue in the new year. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all and thanks for sticking with me for a whole year of drivel!

Election Results

Well, absolutely nothing happening here I'm afraid. Makes for a very poor blog. Tim is now away again for the third week in a row. This time he is down in Melbourne. He lost his wedding band just before he left and I'm hoping that isn't some subconscious clue....

Elliott and I have been having a pretty quiet time of it. Today he is home sick from school with a cold. The delivery boy from Pizza Hut now calls me by name.

I guess the highlight of the last few weeks was following the U. S. election progress. Through a friend of a friend, I heard about a Demorcrats Abroad group that is here in Brisbane. There are 65 or so people in the group. I went on Wednesday afternoon to watch the election results come in. They seemed like a nice group of people. Several of them are retired people that have lived outside the US for 30 years. It was inspiring to see people who had been away so long, yet still interested in the politcal process. I felt very guilty that I hadn't bothered to get an absentee ballot, especially since Missouri seemed to have a close Senate race. I couldn't really use the excuse I have been away a long time when these people have been gone twice as long.

Not too much longer and we will be heading back to the US for Christmas. We leave in less than a month. Our Christmas card routine will make me reflect over the past year and see what've done in the 12 month period. Lots of changes to be sure.

We suffer for our art!

Last weekend, we decided we needed a "bloggable event." One exciting event happened: the kettle blew the circuit and then the garage door opener almost caught fire. This was indeed a thrill, but the garage door mechanism was only smoking. Had there been flames....that might have been enough. But when it all fizzled out, we decided we had to go out and search for more blog material.

In 1824, 50 settlers came up from Sydney to live in the Redcliffe Peninsula (about 35 km north of Brisbane). This was meant to be a harsh settlement for incorrigible convicts. It never became self-supporting as the government had hoped. The convict labor wasn't motivated enough despite brutal treatment- not to mention the fact they were given no tools to work with. It must have been pretty hard to farm with no draft animals and no ploughs. After a few years, the settlement failed and moved to present day Brisbane. The town of Redcliffe is now a pleasant enough seaside town with a memorial to the first settlers. The tourist information center does seem rather vague on why the town failed in the first place.

We took our bikes and rode across the Hornibrook Highway - a toll road over Moreton Bay completed in 1934 to link Redcliffe and Brisbane. I'm sorry we forgot the camera, because it was absolutely hilarious. There is a sign saying "Take Care - Bridge Not in Good Repair." The fence on either side of the road was full of gaping holes. The pavement was full of holes. You could see through to the swirling ocean below, teeming with electric blue Blubber Jelly Fish. Rickety barriers blocked off sections that were especially precarious. Despite the danger, the bridge was full of families fishing, people walking and cycling. Little kids and dogs were running around with no fear. Raised in a family full of lawyers, all I could think of was potential litigation.

This all sounds exciting and fun as I write about it, but really it was fairly torturous. Elliott was saying "Can we go home yet?" every 10 minutes. The ride back from the bridge to the car involved a headwind so strong I still have an ear ache. It is unsure whether we will ever venture out again - is it worth it? This coming weekend, we were thinking of going up to the Sunshine Coast. However, the reality of homework may interfere. Elliott has a novel to produce in the next 10 days. Tim is off again for a few days, so we'll have to wait and see what we feel up to when he gets back.

The Nine Month Dip

Been a quiet few weeks here without much news to report. Tim is now home after almost two weeks away. He was very anxious to come home because he had a new bike being built for himself. It is a new type of mountain bike - the 29 inch wheel or some such. I believe he has been taking pictures of the bike and even created his own mini blog on some bike geek web site. I will have to check with him to link for you, or get him to help me with the photos. So he has been consumed by this for the past week or so - very exciting!

Elliott is back to school. His class went to some Indy Car race day on the Gold Coast yesterday. Not much information came back with him, except there were lots of ladies wearing skimpy shorts and very revealing tops. I presume they were there to decorate the cars. He has a day off next Monday. I'm pretty sure this term will be a total write off as it only has about 5 weeks left till they break at Christmas.

I have been feeling pretty sorry for myself here - even though my life can't get much easier. With all my tennis playing, I've had to get some physio on my shoulder and now my back seems to have gone. Hit 40 this year, and it all seems to be crashing in on me!

One of my very good friends here has decided they probably won't be staying in Australia too much longer. For many reasons, they may move within 6-9 months. This news really sent me down in the dumps, even though it may never happen and is in the future anyway. But all their reasons for moving are all reasons I am struggling to really settle here and it all comes to the surface. So I think this is my 9 month dip - I hope it passes. Tim seems quite happy here and Elliott just doesn't want to move again. I am looking forward to our trip to the US in December. I can't remember feeling this much in need of homeleave in a very long time. I am now reading a book called "A Fair Go For All" about American - Australian relations. I am hoping to pick up a few tips on how to relate to these Aussies. Will post next blog about the book and all the things I hope to learn!

Pet Sitting

Well, after our bird watching weekend, we felt ready to take in a bird for a pet. Some friends of ours have an Eclectus Parrot and they were going out of town for a few days and they needed a pet-sitter. As Tim was going to be in Los Angeles all week, Elliott and I thought how fun it would be to have a little friend to liven up our school holiday week.

Our friends came towing a trialer with an enormous cage. It took several trips to bring in all the accoutrements: toys, food, seeds. As we were deciding where to put the cage, the woman comments "You should be sure to wipe off the wall if you see anything on it. Elmo tends to clean his beak and he flings a bit of food now and then." Then she mutters quietly under her breath, "....in a 2 metre radius." Yikes! 2 metre radius!

In the morning, the bird receives Passion fruit, grapes, strawberries, kiwi, and baby corn, snow pea pods and some exotic fruit I've never seen before. In the evening, it's more of the same, but add a bit of sweet corn and some peas. Imagine that food being flung in 2 metre radius. Quickly, Elliott and I moved the sofa to the corner of the room. Elliott then decided his comics wouldn't be safe and we had to move the coffee table over too. So we were left with a giant bird cage in the center of the living room - surrounded by 2 metres of newspapers in each direction. The rest of the furniture crowded to one side.

The mess and food flinging was one thing - the "chirping" quite another. At 5 am, the bird started talking to keep the neighborhood birds company. At times, the little chirp was cute. He can even say hello ever so sweetly. Othertimes, it was like a shriek that pierces the ear drum.

After 3 days and 2 nights, our friends returned to pick up Elmo. If they were surprized how neurotic I was to move the sofa, they were nice enough not to comment. There was a slight moment of panic as we tried to transfer him to his travel cage - he flew off in the house and smashed himself into a window. Luckily, he was not harmed. We loaded the car all up and waved good bye to Elmo with a big sigh of relief. But after a little while, Elliott and I looked at each other and said it seemed too quiet with him gone.

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....