Election Fever

The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, has finally made it official. He called a General Election to be held on Novemeber 26. After months of phony campaigning, the real campaign has started. In Australia, the pre-election build up is only 6 weeks. It is somewhat different to the US because the party leaders are already chosen - Australians are spared "The Primaries". There are a few smaller parties, but mainly the opposition to John Howard and his Liberal Party is Kevin Rudd in the Labor Party. So far, the polls suggest Rudd will win, but no one is willing to write of Howard because he is an experienced and wily politician.

It is heading into spring here and we have been lucky enough to have a bit of rain. I have been lazy about going into my gym at the University of Queensland because it has been so gorgeous outside I haven't wanted to go indoors to walk on the treadmill. The Jacaranda trees are in bloom now and they are absolutely spectacular. The other day I took my camera with me on my walk around the campus to take some photos of the birds and the trees. It was funny to realize I wasn't the only one with this idea - several other people were out taking snaps. A picture of UQ even ended up in the national paper, "The Australian". I read that the rumor is once the Jacaranda trees come into bloom, it is too late to start studying for your exams. Also, if a Jacaranda blossom falls on your head, you will fail your exams. So, students walk under the trees using their books as a hat.

Tim just got back from a week in the UK. Sadly, he was in Portsmouth and wasn't able to make the time to get to Cheltenham to see our friends there. I was also trying to get him to go see our old dog Holly. Even after 2 years, I still miss that ridiculous dog. I am debating getting up at 4 am tomorrow to watch England play for the Rugby World Cup. I'm not sure why I feel the need, because I don't believe I watched the last one while I did live there. Feeling sentimental I guess!

Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It is just off the coast of Australia and is 120 km long by 15 km wide. It is a World Heritage site. It has very diverse vegetation and also interesting wildlife. We packed up our snorkels and swim kit and headed off for the 3 hour drive up the coast.

I finally decided to read the guidebook on the journey up. Hmm...Deadly Dingoes - In 2001, a 9 year old was eaten by a dingo on the island. Always walk in pairs, never feed the dingoes, maintain eye contact. Next bit in the book said, "Swimming in the sea is deadly." Sounding less appealing by the moment. Between the strong undertoe and the sharks, never go in the ocean. So much for our snorkels. But at that point, it was too late to turn back.

We had signed up for a whale watching day. I had visions of being sick for 3 hours and not seeing a whale. I have heard some stories - one man was so ill he lost his dentures as he threw up overboard. Armed with ginger tablets, we set off. The day was perfectly calm and sunny. Because we were on the Western side of the island, it is quite sheltered. The Humpback whales that migrate to Antartica stop in the bay with their young. The use the time at Fraser Island to relax and teach their calves some tricks - like tail flapping, pectoral slapping and also breaching. The whales uses these noises to communicate with other whales, but also they seem to do them just because it's fun. The breaching was spectacular - the whale launches most of her body out of the water and then comes crashing down. Also, we saw a wonderful display where a mother was tail slapping. After a few minutes, the baby was giving it a go. Then the two of them tail slapped together for several minutes. It was a great day out and no sea sickness!

The other spectacular wildlife on the island however, remained elusive. When we went out for a night walk, we didn't see a thing for about an hour and a half. A snail was the most interesting - I missed seeing a cane toad (quick - pass me a shovel...) But finally we did see a Sugar Glider that leapt from one tree to another in full flight. That is a very strange little creature that has webbing between the front and back legs - so it can "fly" up to 120 metres. We never did see a dingo, but that's probably just as well.

One of pictures I will post show's Elliott swimming in one of the lakes on the island. The lakes are very clear and even more important - safe to swim in. It was a bit chilly and windy, so only a few people braved

getting in. We went on a tour of the island. I was glad we did because the driving looked a bit nerve wracking. You need a 4 wheel drive and the sand tracks are very rough. I would have been biting my nails all day had Tim been driving, and I didn't fancy the idea of shovelling out a bogged car. There was some lovely section of beach driving where you can drive along the beach for about 65 km. There are no rules about which side of the beach to be on - just look out for sunbathers!

First Annual Green Bridge Run

Earlier this month, we signed up to do a run to celebrate the new "Green Bridge" that opened at University of Queensland this year. I think I have mentioned the bridge before, but in case I didn't - it is a bridge that goes over the Brisbane River joining part of the city and UQ. It isn't really the color green, but it's green in the sense only buses, bikes and pedestrians can use it.

There was the choice of an 8 km run or a 4 km run. I thought 4 km would be plenty for us all as I had asked some friends to join us and they have a 5 year old. Tim and Elliott were up to the challenge and set off at a torrid pace. I don't seem to be much of a runner anymore - feeling a bit too old these days. So I walked with my friend and her son. It was a lovely spring morning and the course was a beautiful loop along the river and over the bridge.

Tim and Elliott both managed to finish 4th place in their age groups. I sqeaked in just ahead of a very old golden retriever with hip dysplasia. UQ then had an open day where everyone could use the facilities for free. It is a lovely place in a fantastic setting. We went for a swim. Elliott talked Tim into going on the bouncy slide in the pool. It was funny to watch adults trying to manage it. The lifeguard said adults are always trying to "help" the little ones and end up wiping out. We are already looking forward to the 2nd annual run!

Politics and Comedy

Australia has just finished hosting the APEC summit. I think that means Asian Pacific Economic Conference or some such. It seems to be like a G8 meeting, but focusing on this region. Australia spent 250 million dollars on security for the event. A giant steel wall was erected around the Central Business District of Sydney to make sure the protesters wouldn't cause too much trouble. Most presidents and premiers arrived on various commercial airlines with little fanfare. However, George Bush's arrival was much more elaborate. Air Force One with all the trimmings, the armored car, the snipers on the roof tops. There was a huge to - do about his safety.

The APEC summit had George Bush a little on the back foot because he is very unpopular about Iraq here. Also, he was a bit defensive about the role of China in the region. As the US has focused on Iraq, China has gone from strength to strength. The Chinese signed a 45 billion dollar deal with Australia for Liquified Natural Gas and have now become the largest trading partner of Australia.

But the funniest event was when a famous comedian dressed up as Osama Bin Laden and managed to get thru 2 checkpoints and arrive within 10 metres of Bush's Hotel. There is a show called "The Chaser's War on Everything." It is a mixture of politics and silly antics - a cross between Dom Jolly and The Daily Show. The guys put together a motorcade of Black SUV's with Canadian flags on them and bluffed their way into the secure zone. When they had almost arrived at Bush's hotel, they had to get out of the car because someone finally realized the guy was dressed up as Osama Bin Laden. The whole episode was rather hilarious and made a mockery of the 250 million dollar security system. You can view the whole thing on You Tube - of course. I think the guys are lucky a zealous Secret Security agent didn't kill them.

Also in the news, our state of Queensland will have a new Premier. The current one, Peter Beattie, is stepping down. There will be a new one in his place - for the first time there will be a female premier here, Anna Bligh.

Not much new on personal level. Tim was away alot during the past month. Elliott and I have been holding the fort. One more week of school term before a little break.

The Weather

Since our last trip, there has been little to report in the way of news. Elliott is still busy at school, but is thankful the 6 am Cross Country practices have finished for the season. Tim has a few busy weeks of travel ahead of him. As for me, plodding along as usual. I do have some work coming my way with some quilting. A woman I play tennis with needs help putting together a quilt top she is making for her daughter's wedding. It will be nice to get my hand in again after this long dry spell.

And that transitions us in nicely to today's topic - the weather. It has been sooo dry here. Week after week of gorgeous sunshine. Lovely for tennis, but the dams are seriously drying up. The dam that provides us with water is now at 15% capacity. It is at the point people are discussing at what level the water will be unsafe to drink. We are down to the sludge at the bottom of the tank. A few days, the clouds would gather and it almost looked as if it could rain, but nothing happened. However, this week, we finally have seen some rain. A light gentle rain over a few days, but it is better than nothing. It is enough to push back Level 6 water restrictions, but not for long. So far, the rain has been enough to give Brisbane water for an additional 5 days.

The picture I'm posting is of our new pool cover. It's a bit of an eyesore, but everyone has to have one now. Our pool has suffered in the rain if you can believe it. The outlet for the pool pump has taken in water and blew all the power in the house. (This kind of mechanical emergency only happens when Tim is away of course...) We hope an electrician will arrive sometime before summer.

That's it for now - sorry so boring! We have a little trip planned for Mid - September so I am looking forward to that. Something to blog!

The Red Centre

While we were camping in Kakadu, some interesting political developments were taking place. John Howard declared the Aboriginal lands in the Northern Territories in a State of Emergency. He used his federal powers to take back control of the Aboriginal lands - that would be like George Bush taking back all the Indian Reservations I suppose. Some Aboriginal communities have been in a state of crises with domestic violence and child abuse fueled by drug and alcohol. John Howard had decided to seize control of the areas and declare all the communities would no longer be able to sell alcohol or pornography. Also, military troops would be sent in to keep public order and ensure the safety and welfare of the children. Some communities had already been "dry", but that seemed to drive people into nearby towns looking for alcohol. This had led to problems in towns like Darwin and especially in Alice Springs.

On the second leg of our trip, we headed to "The Red Centre." Alice Springs is the jumping off point for all the tourists in the area to see Ayers Rock - now known as Uluru. I wasn't expecting much of Alice Springs after reading Bill Bryson's book and the things I had read in the papers. It was uncomfortable to see a lot of Aboriginal people milling about on the street in front of the liquor store and also to see some of the make-shift camps people have set up around the town. However, there were a lot of interesting things to do and see in Alice and I would have liked to stay longer. We did manage to see the Desert Museum, but we could have spent a lot more time there. The highlight for Elliott would have been the camel ride. Camels were brought over to Australia to help build the railroads thru the desert. If we go again in future, I would like to stop by the Telegraph Museum.

But the real highlights of the trip was the scenery. We loaded back into the car for the 4 hour drive from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon. Well, there wasn't much scenery on the trip out - miles and miles of nothing in the desert. Red dirt and the occasional camel carcass. We did a walk around the rim of Kings Canyon and the scenery was fantastic. The rocks have been whittled away to make honeycomb sort of shapes. I hope I have a picture that will show it in detail.

Next day- off to see the Olgas. The Olgas are slightly smaller rock formations just past Ayers Rock. There is a spectacular walk thru the rocks called The Valley of the Winds. Sadly there was only one toilet place within 30 miles of this beautiful scenery. This brings me to the interesting topic of toilets. I have a new appreciation of water conservation here in Brisbane as we have reached level 6 water restrictions. (Blog to follow I'm sure...) But up in the Northern Territory there were a lot of waterless toilets - a sort of pit toilet. Oh my goodness. Some were so foul, there was just no going in. And I won't go into too much detail, just remember, if you ever see the truck at the rest stop cleaning out the toilets....DON'T STOP! But the Olgas were fantastic.

Last day was spent at Uluru, the world's largest monolith. The sandstone monolith is 348 metres high. It is a spectacular sight jutting out of the landscape. We did walk 10 km all the way around it, as well as going up it. You can go up the rock by holding on to a chain that is about knee height. It was a little scary and I did chicken out after a while. People do fall off and die each year or some people have a heart attack while puffing their way up. For Elliott and Tim, this was probably the best day of the entire trip.

We enjoyed the whole experience very, very much. We are so glad Linda, Michael and Amanda could come. To have someone to share the experience with made it so much more fun. We are hoping to do the Kimberly Region and the Bungle Bungles next year. We are now looking for another set of intrepid travellers to join us as our friends don't see themselves getting back to Australia as soon as next year. Any takers?

Camping in the Northern Territory

We have just returned from our first camping trip ever. Our friends Linda, Michael and Amanda arrived from St. Louis and we all headed up to Darwin to see the sights. At first glance, Darwin doesn't have too much to offer. We spent a hot dusty afternoon walking around and saw some unused oil storage tanks from WWII. Not such a great start to our trip, but luckily it was all uphill from there!

We were picked up from our hotel by Alan from Sacred Safaries. He was to be our chauffeur, cook and guide for the next five days. It seems a bit extravagent to hire a guide, but with two families travelling together it seemed to be a good idea. The driving distances in the NT are rather long and sometimes the roads are impassable because of floods. We don't own any camping gear so we would have had to rent two camper vans to fit us all in. It just seemed more relaxing to all go in one car and have a guide. We were all really glad we did have Alan - he knows alot about the area and took us to some wonderful places we wouldn't have found on our own.

On our first day, we went to Lichfield National Park. We visited several waterfall sights and did some swimming. We walked thru monsoon vineforest to the top of Wangi Falls. It was all very exciting as the places were just being opened up for the first time of the season. This is the dry season now. The flooding that occurs in the wet season brings the saltwater crocodiles into many areas around the Northern Territory; they have even been seen on the Esplanade in Darwin itself! So as the water recededes in the dry season, the saltwater crocs have to be trapped and moved so tourists like us don't meet an untimely end. Over a period of a few weeks, the rangers scout around and round up any stray "salties." I didn't exactly feel reassured...they leave the freshwater crocs around because those are relatively harmless.

On our second day, we went to Katherine Gorge and took out some canoes. It was a little bit cool and a little rainy which is unheard of in the dry season. We were scheduled for 4 hours on the canoe. I was quite worried when our guide left to set up our camp - How was I to survive 4 hours in a canoe? Surely, I would be ready to go in an hour at most! We paddled down the river trying to spot the freshwater crocs without much luck. We stopped at the end of the first gorge and saw some aboriginal rock art. They have no idea how old some of the art is - it is estimated to be between 10,000 and 30,000 years old in some places. By the time we paddled back up the river, we had seen a few small crocs and a little turtle. I was amazed to see we had spent 4 hours on the river.

The next several days were spent in Kakadu National Park. This was an amazing place. It is now owned by Aboriginal people, who lease it back to the government. The park is run with joint management between a council and the government. I don't want to get to much like we did this, then that, then that - but this could be one of the best trips we've ever had. A sunrise cruise on the Yellow River had the most spectacular bird life (and crocs!). A walk up to Barramundi Falls led us to the most amazing rock pool for a swim. Ubirr Rock had impressive Aboriginal rock art and fantasic views. We all really enjoyed the trip and we all agree having Alan to organize us all was the best thing we had done!

For those of you who ever get to Darwin, skip the Oil Tanks and head for the Museum of Darwin. That proved to be a pleasant way to spend the morning. We got to see the now stuffed "Sweetheart" the Saltie that terrorized Darwin for many years. Also, there is a room where you can hear the sounds of Cyclone Tracy that flattened Darwin in 1972. The next part of our trip was going to be the 6 of us on our own. We were headed to Alice Springs to discover the Red Centre! But, this will have to be another blog as I'm running out of steam.

When It Rains, It Pours!!

How exciting! Not one, but two bloggable events! Today, we are having a "Rain Event." It started last night about 7:30 - a steady downpour. And here it is almost 24 hours later and it is still raining! On the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Brisbane Radio Station, all the callers were ringing in with the amount of rainfall in their area. 42 mils, 68 mils...whatever that means exactly who knows? I haven't heard if any rain is falling in the dam, but everyone is hoping!

We have been keeping track of our water usage over the last month. Over a four week period, we were at 144 Litres per person per day. This is pretty close to the goal of 140 litres. We could make it more easily if we never had to fill our pool. It is interesting to notice how it varies with how much washing you do - did you wash all the bedding and all the towels? the extra load of bath mats? It all adds up rather quickly.

As interesting as the rain is, we had a little adventure last weekend. Tim signed himself up for a mountain bike Marathon. We drove to Southeastern Queensland to Kooralbyn Resort. The scenery on the way wasn't that lovely. An abbatoir, a sawmill. There was a burnt out shell of a car winched up on the branch of a tree. We couldn't figure that one out - was it a warning? was it modern art? was it rubbish? But the resort was nice - our room had cable TV (finally the French Open Tennis!) and it had an X-box. The hotel was full of male cyclists and a convention of lady scrapbookers. I've never stayed in a quieter hotel. I think everyone was tucked up in bed by 9 pm.

The race was 65 km. And from the looks of the map, most of it was uphill. The climbs had names like The Wall and Breathless. The descents had names like Kamakazi and The Slide. The worst section was The Marbles - huge bolders that everyone had to carry their bikes over. Tim had serious leg cramps and was totally locked up after 30 km. But he soldiered on and finished in just over 4 hours. This was great because he was hoping to finish in under 5 hours. Well Done Tim! We were very proud of him. 3 days later and his calves are still killing him, so he hasn't signed up for another one yet. I'm sure the memory of the pain will fade and he'll do it again! We'll keep you posted!

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!