Snakes , Chocolate, and Convicts

So about the snakes: Maybe you have heard that 20 of the 23 most poisonous snakes in the world are here in our adopted country. This fact occurred to me the other day as I was traipsing through this most gorgeous National Park called Kondalilla Falls. When in the presence of lush rainforest one does not always stare at the path so I gasped a little as a lovely brown snake slithered by in front of me.(For the rest of my hike I did considerably more staring at the ground ahead.)When I got home Google and I had an informative one-sided relationship and I was able to bring up a species list for the park,which did not mention THE brown snake, which is in fact venomous.The list was also is preceded by a disclaimer of course about this list not being necessarily complete. Further research about snakes in our area came up with the name of our local "snake catcher" should a deadly one turn up in your laundry room. Melissa saw a venomous snake on the sidewalk at school last week and apparently quite a commotion was raised. Goannas the size of infants are regularly seen as school as well. Most recently a Goanna attempted drag away a student's school bag but in the end just chewed the corner off.

Several National Parks are nearby and I have to hand in to the Australians these parks are a delight to visit. Each graffiti-less one is outfitted with a picnic area complete with flush toilets in good repair, non-potable running water, maps and information. And the walking tracks!!!(or in U.S.A. speak, trails) So lovely and well constructed and visitor friendly. Many of the beaches are patrolled, have showers and are accessible with well marked paths. And the library!! The library is open 54 hours every week!!! Yeah! Another noticeable difference is the Australians believe in public restrooms. They are just about everyplace you might think you want one. Don't get me wrong,I love America, but I'm just saying.........

Chocolate: I have recently discovered my favorite chocolate bar right here in Coloom! Here it is in a reclining pose pre-consumption. This is very exciting as far too many people around here prefer that plastic-y stuff called milk chocolate. I will refrain from further derogatory comments in case anyone out there actually likes it. Heaps of dairy milk Cadburry bars everywhere, and now in many shapes like eggs and bunnies as well. I haven't come across any egg-dying kits but in many other ways the holiday seems to be celebrated here in much the same fashion. Posted signs indicate the fish n' chips place nearby is planning a big day next Friday. We are planning to celebrate by making the short trip to the Australia Zoo to visit the ghost of Steve Irwin, the crocs, and more poisonous snakes.

Convicts: No, I haven't met any but I am reading "The Fatal Shore" the story of the founding of Australia by Robert Hughes. If you are in the mood for a brutal tale of deprivation replete with leg irons and flogging then by all means rush out immediately to get this book in your hands. For almost 100 years England *transported* more than 160,000 criminals to the distant southern continent because America wouldn't take them anymore. The First Fleet set ground in Botany Bay in 1788 with hundreds of passengers wholly unskilled to begin a colony. No doubt colonists throughout time endured enormous hardships but I believe in most other cases at least the majority of them chose to be colonists........

That's it for now. We have family arriving tomorrow, School holidays begin Thursday, and Tom will land back in Oz Friday. Thanks for staying tuned!

first day of Autumn

We are coming to the end of the first term of school for the chillins'. March 31st is the last day but the report cards were mailed yesterday. Apparently these reports reflect "industry and effort" and are progress reports; they don't actually count. The end of the semester is June 25 and those will be the grades that go down in the history books...

The educational system here is different.(duh) Some of you have been kind listeners as I have whined and groaned as it appeared from our perspective the first month or so to be review and quite light on the homework. In fact some of the curriculum is review-ancient history for example. As we progress along we are all learning about some philosophical differences that in the long run will be quite positive I think.

Between them, counting preschool and this school, they have been to nine schools so far! So here at number nine, in a nutshell the kids are responsible for more of there own learning. Small weekly, daily, 10 point or credit/no credit assignments are almost non-existent. Instead in the entire five month semester there are only a few large projects/papers/tests. Sounds like college...? More that one mum has told me this system of public education seems to correlate to students faring better at *Uni* than private school kids, who apparently get more hand-holding. So we anxiously await the post today to see how their teachers graded them so far for effort. Teachers do periodically check homework and progress on projects and the kids have both had a couple of tests so far. I am guessing their grades here will be quite similar to home.

Last weekend in Brizzy was heaps of fun, all enjoyed the stand-up comedian despite a few references to Aussie celebs and what not. Happily, it was not too raunchy for Melissa. We took a turn on a 200 foot Ferris wheel, rode the citycat ferry up and down the river, visited a koala sanctuary, and did a bus tour of the city. BK (before kids) my plan was to birth children who would be excited about visiting museums but our kids did not read the plan. So when I announced we were going to the modern art museum,they groaned BUT ended thinking it was very cool and a good time was had by all. Ditto with the science museum next door. More groaning when we sat down for Turkish food and here again they helped themselves to seconds and said hey this is good!

Melissa spotted a couple of kangaroos on the way to the bus stop the other day, so check that off the list for all of us. At the koala sanctuary there were dozens of 'roos hanging out looking quite bored with the humans wandering about. Another highlight of this place was the lorikeet feeding. At the appointed time the sky filled with them when the food was put out. Also on display were a couple of hundred Japanese tourists. They looked to be high school age kids, all decked out in uniforms, including exactly the same shoes! These kids were wearing uniforms to tour Australia!! We had heard there were lots of Japanese in oz but had not seen groups of them yet. We are headed to the Australia zoo in a few weeks so perhaps more large groups will be spotted. They tour here so much many of the high schools(including Coolum)offer Japanese language courses for those seeking work in the hospitality industry.

Weather note: Cyclone Ului is headed to the coast this weekend, but this is an enormous state and we are in the south eastern corner. Queensland is more than 4 times the size of California but has about one tenth of the population! The cyclone is slated to hit the area around the Great Barrier Reef, which is a good 10 hours north of here. So we won't have any first had experience with a cyclone this time around. We have had rain most every day for the last month, our hot summer days are over it seems. We've had about 24 inches so far this year, compared to only 14 this time last year. March 2nd was the wettest on record, 6 inches. 142mm sounds more impressive though. Eli still body boards every chance he gets, but a shorty wetsuit is now on his ever lengthening list of wants/needs.

Blessings and warm wishes to the Raymond family. LuAnn is now free from pain and suffering. although my heart breaks open daily with sadness of her passing, I am inspired to strengthen all my relationships because loving each other is what people are on this planet to do. I am so thankful for miraculous instantaneous electronic communication, which has enabled us to keep in touch with so many of you by phone, email, facebook, skype,and even the ol' snail mail occasionally! One quarter of our time here is over, which I have mixed feeling about. It has gone so fast(drats!) but then again it is only 10 months until we are home (yeah!)

Current Thoughts

It's been awhile since I have written......my thoughts have been with my dear friend LuAnn who has been battling a very nasty cancer for the last year. Early this morning, in the presence of her caring family, she passed away. She was truly held in a cradle of love and compassion. She was a graceful, courageous woman, an incredible mom, and a considerate friend. I am blessed to have been a part of her life.

To be living so far away as she lived her last few months was difficult. But this was a decision I made with my family, as challenging as it was. For our family this was the right time to take advantage of this opportunity. I wish I could have been there but we don't get everything we want.... losing someone is sad but a reminder to enjoy all the time we have on this planet, as it is finite.

We are looking forward to having our good friends the Bradshaws come over to visit us in late June, when our kids have a two week break. The Bradshaws are bringing Melissa's good friend Jaycee with them, Mark and LuAnn's daughter. We are planning a trip up the coast of Queensland up near the Great Barrier Reef, to do some snorkeling and diving and perhaps some sailing(that will be with a hired captain....none of us are capable helmsmen!)

We also have other visitors scheduled; in two weeks my parents and niece are arriving and we are taking a trip to the Hunter Valley, a wine growing region near Sydney.

Tom will be just arriving back in Oz when they get here, after his planned trip home to do our taxes,(thank you!) check in on that jewelry business, and play a few scrabble games with Scott. He has been limited to online games here(ongoing, continuous, and never ending). Did I mention he plays a lot?

Tom's Swiss friend Rob and his son Fabian(Tom met Rob sailing in the South Pacific 33 years ago!) were here earlier this week. They are avid kite boarders but unfortunately there was no wind the days of their visit to the Sunshine Coast. So we did some body boarding and touring around.

Joan and Steve are coming in early May and have rented a contraption called a "Hippie Camper" complete with these words emblazoned on the side, accompanied by with some very pretty flower-power daisies. Also, our good friends Sean and Dianne are coming in September (they are temporarily on job assignment down in Los Angeles). We have a guest room and plenty of space so if you find yourself itching to check out life Down Under, heed the call!

Here in Oz-land, our most recent unusual experience came packaged as Back To School night for Year 8 parents. It started typically enough, with the principal introducing himself and saying this year's kids are a particularly good group of students. (I am sure this line in repeated at the beginning of every year in every school in the world). This was followed by two events that are not your typical American fare: after the "barbie" was fired up and we were served "sausages" (exactly like a hot dog) placed diagonal in a slice of square white sandwich bread, folded. The big choice for condiments were: BBQ sauce or tomato sauce(ketchup). As an added bonus, we were permitted help ourselves to a cup of tea or instant coffee. This was the entire menu. No soy burgers or salad here.....

After going to some classrooms and meeting teachers, all the attendees (parents and students) were brought to the multi-purpose room. It isn't really a room, but a concrete slab with a roof. The P.E. Teacher then instructed us all in the steps to two different folk dances!!. We worked up quite a sweat in this humidity. I would have rather spent this time meeting a few more teachers instead, but nobody asked my opinion....

This weekend we are off to *Brizzy* for some stand-up comedy, sight seeing, kayaking on the Brisbane river (if it is not too rainy), and some big city excitement.

Any and all comments are welcome, and if you are curious about a particular aspect of Ozzie life, let us know. I am learning and loving life, missing my amazing friends, and REALLY wishing these gale force winds would stop!!

Marching on

 
Melissa doin' her thing..... she is in the school band which seems a little odd but reportedly she and the other violinist are playing the flute part!
She is also learning to play the piano in her music class. Eli is learning how to impress girls with his American accent. Well, we've all got to be good at something I guess..

We survived the tsunami warning as did everyone on the home front it sounds like. Staring long and hard at the smooth calm sea at the appointed hour from our deck, no gigantic waves were spotted. It was an intermittently sunny day so we headed to the beach as we often do on the weekend, after heated debate regarding the foolishness of such an act. Our favorite surfing beach did in fact have a sign stating that it was closed but hundreds of others also failed to heed the warning. So we frolicked and jumped about and Tom found himself vertical on the surfboard for some long seconds...I haven't tried it yet but I am getting better at catchin' waves on the body board.

If you are imagining us lazing by the pool, strolling on the beach,or otherwise working on our tans, or fishing, you can put those visions to rest. It is STORMY!!!!! Constant deluge since Sunday night along with winds. Not exactly cold, but much cooler than before.Prior the precipitous precipitation pounding us it was about 110% humidity (or is that my hot flashes??) It's supposed to rain for days. It is extremely lush and green around here and we are in the wet season so.....average annual rainfall is about 1200 mm which I thought sounded like heaps o' water but it's only 47 inches, kinda like Arcata.

Here's some lists I've made:

In Arcata, not Australia:
1. medical marijuana dispensaries
2. laundromats
3. hitchhikers/panhandlers
4. tie-die clothing
5. Mexican food restaurants


In Australia, not Arcata
1. Bundaburg ginger beer (yum)
2. heaps of plastic water bottles-no BPA fears here
3. hill's hoists (the ubiquitous Australian clothes line)
4. two dollar coins
5. excellent Thai food, even by Tom's standards



Mapelton National park is not so far from here and from Tom's prior trips here he remembered some beautiful waterfalls. So off we went in search of them. We found the park but it was not long before the kids were going to be home, so we opted for a short hike. It was indeed a nice stroll, but Tom was convinced it was a loop that was taking us back to the car. I didn't think so, and I turned back. 45 minutes later he finally appeared. Good thing, I had no phone, keys to the car....I did however acquire some complementary mozzie bites while I was waiting.

I watched part of a rugby game on T.V. today. I had never actually seen this game before and I will show my true colors and admit the sound was off. Those of you who have seen this immensely violent muddy game already know this but I was astounded to see one player actually pick up a team mate around the thighs and lift him into the air! Also, they tackled each other (including pulling on clothing) without the benefit of any padding, although a couple of lucky guys did have mouth guards (who decides which ones get to keep their teeth??) The strangest part was this huddle thing where everybody on both teams was in a group headlock position. The ball was in there somewhere and this was followed by a massive dog-pile.

Left me feeling so warm and fuzzy that Eli plays soccer instead.

We have added another album to our picassa website, this one featuring some local tropical flowers.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TOMARCATA