Update from the Sunshine Coast

Wow, I thought I'd have all sorts of time during our Spring Break to write in this blog, but not so! I did put more pictures on my picasa album. It's nearly 11 p.m. and we leave at 6 a.m. tomorrow for our next adventure. Last week we were camping at Lamington National Park at O'Reilly's. We learned so many interesting things about rain forests, glow worms, brush turkeys, marsupial carnivore mice and so on. I will try to write more later. We got a heavy storm one day, but otherwise we had awesome weather. Several of the students were sick with colds so that was a bummer. What a gorgeous place though!

Then we met Tore and Patricia in Brisbane on Friday and headed north about an hour to the Sunshine Coast. We're living it up right here at a time share. We've enjoyed the pool and the deck, kayaks and the tennis court and game room. Even more fun was the fishing. Erik bought 2 fishing poles and they fished off the dock numerous times, usually 3 times a day. We had an amazing meal of Bream which they caught. We'll take the poles on to Heron Island.

We also enjoyed a market and the Australia Zoo and especially each other's company. We got to have dinner with Ulla and 3 other Scandinavians. They cooked tuna, sand crab and other amazing things for a lovely evening. Ulla was our cook for Aboriginal camp and will be with us next week too. Yeah!

I must sleep, but wanted to say a quick "HI". We are well. Won't have internet for the next two weeks.

Carla

Last few days in Brisbane

Hi,

It's been raining off and on for the last few days, partly because of cyclone Hamish a few hours north of here. We will be on the Sunshine Coast on March 20th, but by then it should be long gone. We're hoping it doesn't rain on Friday night as we're taking all of the LC students to a Rugby game. Should be fun.

Erik had a great visit in Adelaide with Palmer's, Pappa and Patricia and the boys and I had fun at the Gold Coast. It's a very built up part of Australia with lots of great beaches, skyscrapers, hotels, theme parks and tourists. But we enjoyed it all. We stayed in a nice Marriott within 1/2 a block from the ocean. We were on the 15th of 35 floors. It cost about $65 US. The boys loved playing tennis -on the 5th floor court. They played 3 different times during the day we were there for free. We had sunshine on Sunday when we arrived and we enjoyed the beach at Surfers Paradise. The boys said the waves were huge, so they had fun boogie and body boarding. That night we ate at Hard Rock Cafe and the boys played for 2 hours at a huge video arcade, complete with bowling, bumper cars and mini golf. I'm reading an adventure series called "The Ranger's Apprentice" by an Australian so I was happy to read while they played!

Monday we headed to White Water World. It's perhaps a little smaller than Wet n Wild, but had lots of great rides. I liked it best, but the boys voted for Wet n Wild. Ryan was launching himself on the Blue Ringed Octopus ride and pushed too far, too fast and hit his chin on the water slide. He split it enough that they paid for a taxi to take us to the clinic. The dr sutured it with human glue and steri strips and we were back playing within an hour. Impressive. A fun day-and even though it was cloudy all day, it didn't start to rain until we were almost home. Yeah.

This week we're busy with math, grading, packing, sorting, shopping, more math, and attending the student's presentations. Sunday morning we head out for Lamington Plateau and safari style tents. We'll be with Rob again and learning about rain forests, collecting bugs and mammals and getting up really early to look for birds. It'll be very interesting and fun to be all back together again.

After that week it is Spring Break, which we'll spend on the Sunshine Coast with Pappa and Patricia. Ryan will have his 12 birthday then and we're really looking forward to our visit. The boys will be thrilled to be right on the ocean. No hour long bus rides to get to the surf. Not sure when we'll have internet again, probably in a week. All for now,

Carla

March in Brisbane

March started out very warm. The first day of March is officially autumn here. They don't call it fall because the leaves don't fall off of the trees here! However, it didn't feel like fall or autumn. It was the warmest day they'd had all summer, 35 degrees Celcius, 95 F. We were again thankful for air conditioning in our apartment. Sunday, March 1st we attended church at the Brisbane congregation again. Erik, Ryan and I sang several rounds, which was fun. We had a potluck after church, complete with a pavlova that Todd Houston brought! After church, Bryn, Ryan, Erik and Shane went to a Rugby game. They enjoyed that very much and the Brisbane Reds won.

Saturday, the day before, we got up early and headed via train down to Beenleigh to meet up with our new friend, Jim Ireland. He, his son, Andrew, and granddaughter, Hannah, took us out on their boat to N. Stradbroke Island again. It felt like a different trip from the weekend before when we took the ferry over. This time we went for about 30 minutes down the Logan River, passed a few islands and we were there, no time on open water. We stopped at two spots along the island. The first stop had about a foot wide beach and then a steep sand dune with very fine sand of many colors. We went up and down the dune and swam in the water. Then we went a little further along the island and stopped at another spot with about 3 feet of beach. We had the place to ourselves for our chook(chicken) and bread roll picnic, until 2 goannas came along. We had fun watching them and feeding them scraps. All of a sudden they started fighting, or dancing. They were going at it for over 30 minutes. It was very interesting to watch. They paid no attention to us watching them.

As we headed back, Jim and Andrew showed the boys how to kneeboard and do tricks and then Jim skiied barefoot. He was amazing. Then Bryn and Ryan got to kneeboard, which they learned easily and loved. It was a Saturday in summer, with no wind at all and there was hardly anyone on the water. Since school's back in session most people are busy with school and sports, I guess. It was a perfect day for us. When we got back to Brisbane we headed over to Shane and Luke's homestay home for some swimming in their pool and ping pong/around the world fun. It was great to meet their family.

Brisbane isn't quite as close to the ocean as Sydney so the beaches aren't as accessible, but Tuesday we went to a beach on the river. It's a gorgeous place to relax and cool off. It's like several huge pools, but with sand on the bottom of the pool and sand along the edge so it feels like you're at the beach. That was enjoyable. Brisbane really is a gorgeous city.

Wednesday, we took the boys to Wet n Wild, supposedly Australia's best water theme park. It's about an hour away by train and since we were there on a weekday, the park wasn't busy at all. We loved it and went on many crazy and amazing water rides. What a fun day. On Monday, Bryn, Ryan and I will go to White water world, the other big water park. Then we'll be able to compare and decide which one we think is best!

Friday, the LC students all turned in their papers from their research projects and had their last official lecture. So we invited them over to our place to see the apartment and celebrate. We had Rice Bubbles Treats and other goodies and then went to our park for some climbing and cricket. It was a fun afternoon. Next week the students have 2 tests and also present their research. For the rest of the trip, they will be learning via field study and research at Lamington Plateau, Carnarvon Gorge and Heron Island. That will be interesting, I'm sure. GED sure does a great job with this program, giving us so many varieties of learning opportunities.

Today, Erik headed out early to the airport and flew to Adelaide. He said they didn't even ask for his ID, or make him take his shoes off and Aunty Daphne, Pappa and Patricia met him at the gate. Nice. Also, the price of tickets for domestic travel is quite cheap. I think his ticket was about $70 and he flew quite a ways, about as far as San Francisco or further, from Portland. Tore and Patricia just arrived in Australia a few days ago and are visiting family friends. Erik hasn't seen Aunty Daphne and her kids since he was 12. He'll be able to be there until Monday night.

While he's there, the boys and I are heading to Surfer's Paradise for a night. Tomorrow we'll play in the ocean and then we'll head to White Water World on Monday. Fun!

I hope you like the new layout for my Blog. I changed it, thanks to my nephew Travis' advice. I don't want it to be "boring". I may even figure out how to add photos.

All for now,

Carla