A pic or two

Bart drove  us to a wonderful neighborhood where he had seen lots of little roos.  We searched and finally found our first little guy.  By the way, do you know what they call kangaroos that have been hit by a car?  Wasaroo!  Sorry, that's pretty desparate but it's getting pretty late.  Incredibly we also saw a fat koala curled up in this tree.  They actually publish a little Koala Sightings newspaper to help keep track of where they are and aren't showing up.  Don't you love that beautiful home?  It's called a Queenslander.  Very typical of homes built in a country type setting.  Our neighborhood is more of a contemporary style.  Lots of colored corrugated steel with random windows of all shapes and sizes.  I like that, too but if I were building it would definitely be a Queenslander.

Surprise trip

Sorry to be gone so long.  For my large reading audience, all three of you, let me explain.  It went like this.  Bart had a business trip to the outback planned.  I was supposed to take him to meet the others driving out only, oops, he was late so we decided to go with him!  After 5 crazy minutes of grabbing what you thought you might need for doing who knows what at who knows where, we were off.!!

What a difference in scenery along the way.  Here in Redland Bay it's obviously coastal so think breezes off the ocean and lots of palm trees, thick vegetation along the roadside, meadows sparsley filled with Eaucalyptus trees.  Naturally, sites for ethanol plants are off in the middle of nowhere, which, turns out to be somewhere after all.  We drove 4 hours west to drier and higher ground.  The sky was a huge universe filled with rolling clouds.  There were fields and fields of sorghum and corn and a green leafy mystery crop.  Some of it was hilly.   Seeing it for the first time was all magical.  Even the whining in the back seat didn't bother me.  

I wish could give you the flavor of it all.  My photo ops leave a bit to be desired.  I promise to do better for the next time.  It was a great trip.  

Our farthest stop was in a little town called Miles to see a potential site with a potential customer interested in building a fuel grade ethanol plant next to a power plant.  Somehow it's a symbiotic relationship with the ethanol plant using water resulting from the power plant's process.  I am not sure what it, the power plant, gets in return.  Maybe free gas?  Hee, hee.

It was hot.  We went along on the truck with the rest of the guys but only lasted till our skin began to charbroil.  Then we went looking at ants to distract ourselves until Bart was finished.  We ended up staying in this darling hotel eating chocolate (me, can you believe they make a chocolate bar with brownie inside as well as a wonderful bar with different filling in each square?!!) and watching old movies on the one movie channel available.  If you have a chance to see The Last Starfighter again.  Please miss it.

The next day we stopped in Dalby, a name I have been hearing for the past 10 months.  Finally the place has a face!  It's a cute town and the planned plant is  a small one.  Right now it's just people in hard hats and flourescent orange vests scurrying around what looks like a foundation while others meet in air conditioned trailers to work out the kinks and deal with lenders.  Soon it will be a plant processing ethanol  at about 20 million gallons a day.  Cool.

There is an American woman named Julie who is married to Kevin, a South African and also working on the project, who is living in Dalby.  Their family has been in Australia for more than 5 months now.   They have two little boys, 5 and 7.  Michael and Jonathon.   Bart has wanted me to meet her for awhile now.  She is a lovely woman and next time I go to see her I'll take her picture for you.  They met in Malowi Africa and have lived in many different countries and states, including about 6 months in Williamsburg, VA.  I look forward to getting to know her better and meeting her boys.  R and J were just that age when we were in Russia.  Has it been that long?  Anyways, I am sure she'll have lots to teach me even though she is 1 1/2 hours away.

Next stop was Toowoomba.  A wonderful city at the top of wide flat mountain range.  That makes no sense but that's exactly what it was.  The drive from the bottom of the valley takes a good 10 minutes and seemingly takes you straight up 2000 feet.  From  there it was mostly flat with a few small hills in the distance.  At the bottom of the range is a town called Withco where we stopped for traditional lunch of meat pies and delicious deserts.  I think I am still full from that.

O.K. time for bed.  More to blab about later.  One last thing that I hesitate to share.  It's gross.  Are you ready?  I mean, don't let this stop you from buying your plane tickets to visit us.  You promise?  Cockroaches.  Not many, but enough to turn my stomach and make me think twice about walking into the kitchen in the dark.  The first "visitor" walked right up my foot while I was at the sink.  We just found two in the box of donuts I cleverly had hidden in the oven.  Needless to say we are not thrilled with the company.  Those buggars are fast!  Blahhhkkkk, and the sound of their little feet on the cardboard.  EWWWWWW!

My love to all.  Don't have roach-mares tonight!

  

Wallabies and a Koala

Bart hauled us off to look for kangaroos in a nearby neighborhood.  Sure enough we saw close to 10 wallabies!  Two of them were laying like dogs in front of someone's hedge.  Jeremy tried to catch them but they go from lazing around to disappearing in the blink of an eye.  Then Bart found a koala sitting in another person's eucalyptus tree!  It was adorable.  They sit in the L shape that the branch makes with the trunk.  With their little chins tucked to chest it's almost impossible to make them out.  What a fun treat.  So now we can't wait to show all of the rest of you!  So get your tickets.  Qantas is having great deals until the end of February.  The time is restricted but that's o.k. the weather here will be good till June.

As soon as I find the CD for my camera, (O.K., technically it's Bart's from Christmas) I'll get some pictures from the day.  

Tomorrow will be all about getting the kids signed up for school.  The next door neighbor, Leanne, has her kids in private school but it's pretty expensive and the boys aren't at all interested.  The uniforms and stricter teachers (that's according to a very reliable source, Jeremy's buddy Heth) are a big no, no in their book.

The pool is working out wonderfully.  Let's put it this way, I haven't heard the sounds of tv, xbox or even the psp for 2 whole days.  Now it's the pool and some computer program where you write you own sheet music.  Now if we can just get them being nice to each other, we'll be set.

Whew, the melatonin is setting in.  We slept through the night till nearly 7 am so I have high hopes for the same tonight.  Another benefit of the pool is how tired it makes you.

For all the Girls on The Go, congratulations on your continued meetings.  Keep it up.  I fully plan to join you one day in the not too distant future.  And I know, I know...don't show up till 8am.  No problem!  We'll have lots to catch up on.  Gee, we could do at least 10 miles with so much to chat about.  Don't you think?  By the way, I had my first Aussie run this morning.  8:30 am was way too late.  The breeze was up but this sun(not that it's different than yours) is way strong for this immigrant!  I barely made 30 minutes.

Love to all,

Kelli

This is Bennett! 10 months old, 25 pounds. He was born with Tranversal of the Great Artery and had open heart surgery at 5 days old. Now he's happy and huge. His big bright blue eyes paired with a smile that melts your heart make him hard to resist. He is the first child of my little sister Liz. They timed their visit to coincide with our stay but left two days before us, and, like I'll repeat again in the next blog, we miss them so much. You'll be meeting all of the family at some point. Lucky you!

Ready for take off

Well, tomorrow is the big day. It's two hours to LAX. We'll board at midnight and arrive 16 hours later in Brisbane. So simple and yet, there's an underlying current of stress agitating my system. I am on high alert.

What am I forgetting? Will it all fit? Is the Visa accurate and acceptable or will they deny us entry and send us back? How much time should we allow for travel to the airport? Where will the boys go to school? What grade will they be in? Should we go with a state school or a private school? Where are the stores? How much do groceries cost? Is the internet going to work? Ahhh, the voices in my head are getting out of control! Whew, best not to allow those many thoughts to formulate. Just pray the important stuff gets through. Let the rest sift.

It's been a quiet Sunday of church, packing, gniochi making, organizing taxes, digging holes in the backyard(boys) and now, more packing. The house seems so quiet without my sister and her baby Bennett. I'll see if I can find a picture of him to upload. He's sooo delicious!

It is absolutely right to be here with my family. There have been some great discussions, not all of them pretty, but all of them pretty important. I am re-learning how the people closest to us are our best teachers.

Stay tuned for the story of "The Incredible Departure". It's a whopper. You might not believe it, but it's verifiable and besides that, would I lie? Exaggerate maybe, but not lie!

Here's the hymn that's running through my simple head: "Come, come ye saints no toil or labor fear, but with joy wend your way. Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares from us to drive; do this and joy your hearts will swell - All is well! All is well!

Late Night In the Desert

It's late. I am tired but just for Tami, I am speaking out of the darkness to say "Hi".

We have traveled, shopped for Christmas, wrapped Christmas, unwrapped Christmas and cleaned it up. The road has taken us as far north as Idaho Falls, where we painted, tiled, cleaned, recovered from illness (me), watched lots of movies and played video games (Guess who?), visited with friends, and rediscovered the useless junk we pay $35/month to store, and now south, to the small town of Joshua Tree where we ride dirt bikes and 4 wheelers (Riley and Jeremy), eat and lay around talking with family, recover from an odd out-of-the-blue and as heavy as a wet blanket depression (me), do hair, and play with baby Bennett.

It's crazy. One day my hands are death gripped on the rental car steering wheel praying to survive Utah and Idaho's dark icy roads and relentless snowflakes, the next I am nonchalantly cruising So. Cal. old highway 62 where my biggest concern is my Dad's occasional aggresive tailgating. You may know the technique. He wants to pass so he pulls within inches of the car ahead of him whilst looking backwards through the rearview mirror at the car to the left, then, surges around the poor soul who had the audacity to drive slower. Come to think of it, it sixes. Ice, Dad. Hmm?

At least the passports are all in order and in my possesion, the visas are underway and tickets have been purchased for Australia. We are only 6 days later than originally planned! Bart has occupied the new house and after a long frustrating battle with the electric company's brick wall customer service, has power. He also has internet through a neighbor's set up that works, "sorta", as long as his garage door is open. We are quickly seeing that life in a foreign country, regardless of what we had imagined, is going to have a glitch or two! Hey, the way I see it, better stories!

Well, this blogging is going to be addictive. If it could only replace chocolate!

G'night.

My policy it going to be no rereading of the entire blog to check for errors. So there.