The joey at the jym part 2

Jilly the joey is now 9 months old and quite a regular at the gym.  Next week she is changing carers and will live about an hour from here with a mob of other rescued joeys.  For a year or so she'll live  in an enclosed large property, and then will be released to the wild. We'll miss her cute face! Yesterday she looked quite stylish trying on some lime green plastic crocs owned by a 4 year old.

We have been on two wheels a bit lately, as Tom scored a great bike for a great price a few weeks ago. We have ridden to the gym (5 miles) exactly once...and have lots of excuses for not doing it more.  Sunday, leaving our eldest at home, we pedaled on down  the lane a bit to a lunch spot. Melissa has a pretty clear condition for coming along: she's keen to ride if we are going to end up at someplace fun, preferably with food.

Spring is just around the corner (well a long corner, the whole month of August) and I have officially been forewarned of a seasonal  danger of biking  during September....Magpies!! It is breeding season and the males will swoop and attack people without warning. Reportedly they go for bike helmets, so some have taken to wearing very odd looking helmets with plastic spikes all over to keep their heads safe. I guess the pecks can really hurt.....

Ok so obviously I didn't take this picture but we did see one of these critters the other day. It's a blue tongued lizard and they are fairly common 'round these parts. Kinda like a fat snake with legs, they are about as long as my laptop. Lovely color of blue, isn't it? They are not poisonous but creatures resembling snakes do make a person jump a bit.


I can't wait to see what's going to bloom during spring, as the winter flowers around here are spectacular. These are the best and brightest from around the 'hood. A trumpet creeper, a poinsettia (huge!) a wattle tree (what we call a mimosa) and a queensland icon, the banksia.

The moth larvae in the pot outside have multiplied, sometimes we see as many as five of them crawling around on top of the dirt. A friend saw them recently and tells me they are not actually witchety grubs, but  some other kind of larvae. Whatever moth or butterfly that will  emerge from these is going to be an insect to be reckoned with. These guys are as big as a travel size bottle of shampoo.

Right here I intended to post more pictures but blogger had other ideas. So till next time, thanks for staying tuned and as always, I love hearing from you. My inbox is always open!!

1 Raymond + 3 Bradshaws+ 4 Perretts = FUN

One of the best things about living here is having folks come visit. Our guests arrived later than expected due to delays in San Francisco, which meant we had time to clean the house a little more, twiddle our fingers, and make a killer loaf of bread. Hugs all around at the Maroochydore airport later that afternoon!! We explored the sunshine coast for the first 6 days then headed to Fiji for 5 nights/4 days. As expected, we packed in as much as possible. Here's the breakdown, by the numbers:

15 different pointe shoes tried on by Melissa before finding the perfect fit.

14 total dives between Scott, Cindy, Stephanie and Tom, plus 6 tanks between Connor and Eli following their introductory course and pool time. We compared sightings of moray eels, octopus, reef sharks, rays, green turtles, and thousands of brilliant colored fish and corals.                    

13 or so guests at our 4th of July Party, but we had hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad  for 30 (the extra was packaged up as party favors.)

12 hikes more or less, including the Noosa Coastal track,  to the top of Mt. Coolum, and to and fro on the island of Malololalai where our lovely bure sat facing the ocean.  Scott, Cindy and I walked across at low tide to another Fijian island  on our last day to have a look at a rural school, and a chat with the inspiring, progressive, phenomenal principal. He is changing the lives of 168 kids with his work ethic and high expectations. No lazing about for these kids!

11 items at least on the buffet table in addition to the whole roasted pig on a spit complete with an apple in it's mouth. I personally declined the offer of a piece of crackling. (roasted skin)

10 minutes was about all the boys got on the wake board before a screw pulled out and they were back on the beach. The complaining stopped when they had milkshakes in their hands.

9 times 10 koalas at the koala sanctuary, in addition to the hundreds of lorikeets and dozens of kangaroos available for petting. We couldn't let Jaycee go home without being cozy with a marsupial.

8 (or more) groans from  kids( mostly Eli) as we took a drive in the van to do some sightseeing in the sunshine coast hinterland,including the Yandina  farmer's market, Eumundi craft market, and Kenilworth cheese factory. Big smiles as we watched our teenagers go for giggles at the playgrounds.

7 poker guys came over to our house in Yaroomba when the gals headed to Brizzy on the train...which we almost missed, as we arrived at the station at 7:01 and  the train departed at 7:05

6  testosterone driven activities undertaken by Connor and Eli:  pummeling each other, wrestling, extending horizontally from a pole, running up a waist high rock wall, sleeping until  after lunch when possible, and shoveling copious amounts of food into their mouths several times a day.

5 big ones would have been a good catch on the deep sea fishing trip undertaken by Scott, Cindy, and Tom, but instead they just had a long boat ride 

4  of us toasting with excellent Australian Shiraz to Scott and Cindy's 19th wedding anniversary at Ba Viga restaurant in Mooloolaba. Also 4 kids hanging out, gossiping, playing scrabble, swimming, and ditching the adults whenever possible.

3 hours or so Melissa and I were up on Tuesday night in Fiji as she had the flu (details omitted)  

2 thrilled and beautiful girls after getting  la-ti-da facials in  Brizzy in honor of Mel's passage into teenage hood

1 fabulous trip with the Bradshaws and Jaycee; we all looked forward to it and now it is all memories and pictures, sigh. As of this week our oz adventure is half over. We are sad and happy, missing our friends, but not the fog and Tom is REALLY not missing the stress of the office. In three weeks Tom's sister Jill and her beau Angel are coming to see us .... no doubt we'll make the most of it!