February's nearly gone!

Hi all,

I can't believe that February is nearly gone. As of tomorrow we've been on this adventure for 2 months. We've sure done many wonderful things. We continue to enjoy Brisbane. It rains often, not every day though. And it usually only rains for 30 minutes or so. Several days have been pretty humid, but the temperature is usually in the 80's. The river, rain and size of the city make us think of Portland.

Last weekend we went to N Stradbroke Island, or Straddy. It was a 1 hour ferry ride to it. It's the 2nd largest sand island in the world. Fraser Island is the first. We met a new member of GED who will be with us on our field trips. His name is Rob Elvish, a man full of information, makes learning so interesting. We learned sand island ecology and about mangrove trees. We saw wildlife, plus a perched lake, a window lake, sand dunes of various ages and the rocky outcrop that started the whole island many many years ago. I've written some comments on my photos with more specifics: http://picasaweb.google.com/carlanilsen

We came back Monday afternoon from Straddy. The boys went and played several hours of cricket in New Farm Park while I did laundry and took a nap!

Tuesday night we saw a play called "White Earth". It's based on a book written by an Australian. It was intense, but good.

Wednesday, several of the students decided to go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We decided to tag along. It was well worth it! There are over 130 koalas there and lots of other Australian wildlife. We got to hold a koala-Hazel was her name! Such fun. We also got to wander among and feed the kangaroo and wallabies. The emus wanted some food too. They are kind of freaky though. We all had an awesome day!

Erik's working late tonight. The students turned in their research paper rough drafts so he's making comments.
We'll attend church this Sunday and sing for the service. Ken R. will be there so it'll be great to see him.

Must get to sleep! Hope all's well with you around the globe.

Carla