Skiing at Falls Creek - Yay!!!!

Well, we're back in Brisbane, back at the grindstone again, but for a brief few days we were having the time of our lives!

We flew down to Melbourne before the sun peeped over the horizon on Wednesday last week. It was a public holiday in Brisbane, since the Ecca was on (ie. the Brisbane Fair) - yes, yes, we will use any excuse for a holiday, that is very true!

So, from Melbourne we caught a bus to Mount Beauty where we stayed for 4 nights (see picture above left). Here is a photo of us in downtown Mount Beauty (above right) - almost a village actually, less than 2000 people live here. It was in fact very beautiful, as the name suggests, and the drive from Melbourne was picturesque with green fields, snow topped mountains in the background, and trees dotting the hills.

On Thursday, we caught another bus up the hill to Falls Creek ski resort. It was only about 45 minutes on the road, and a very pretty if somewhat sickening ride. Ski fields in Australia are very different to the USA, with snow gums everywhere, less snow and less people. Also, the altitude is much lower in general than the fields in Colorado or Utah etc, and of course being Australia it is more expensive too! Here is a picture of the ski slopes.

We had a great time skiing, and then caught the bus home to Mount Beauty again in the evening. The next day, we went back up to Falls Creek, and this time stayed for dinner. Both days ended in rain - which was a bit miserable to ski in, especially since I still had bronchitis - but it was only at the very end of the day, and so we finished up early and went inside to warm up with chips and drinks.

As you can see from the photo on the left, it was quite foggy at times on the slopes, which made it difficult to see where you were going. There are actually a lot of people all around me in the photo, but you can't see any of them...

We had a fantastic time, and didn't have any crashes or falls, so we were happy with that!

By the end of the three days of skiing, I was swooshing pretty fast down the slopes. It's been a year and a half since we last skiied - that was in Canada. We definitely missed Canada, but Falls Creek was fun too.

Saturday was a beautiful, clear day, and then we headed back to Brisbane on Sunday. We had quite a long layover in the Melbourne airport, but thankfully I was able to use my corporate Qantas club membership to get us into the lounge, so we were able to lounge on couches, eat, drink, watch TV, read magazines and generally enjoy some lazy time before catching our flight.

Here is a photo of us at the top of one of the black diamond slopes... I'm not a huge fan of skiing black diamonds, but a did a few of them and managed to stay on my feet so I was pretty happy with that.

Of course, black diamonds in Australia aren't really the same thing as in the US, Canada or Europe. But I'll take it!

It was really nice just to have some time to ourselves, as we've both been so busy lately with work and buying land etc. Since getting back we've hardly seen each other again, so it was definitely good to have a break.

Here is a photo of Eric hiding in some snowgums...

Another photo: at the pub after a long day of skiing!

Trek for treatment

One of the things that our church is heavily involved in is raising money for and participating in mission work overseas. On Saturday Eric, Aussie and I did the 'Trek for Treatment' which was a 13 km hike through the Brookfield Hills to raise money for the Leprosy Foundation of Australia to buy X-Ray equipment for a hospital in Nepal.










It was a beautiful day, a little chilly at first, but nice once we warmed up from the walk. It was quite a difficult hike, up and down hills the whole way, and I'm pretty sore and sorry now, but it was definitely worth it. Aussie was in his element of course, and didn't even get worn out by the end of the hike, even though he probaby goes about 10 times further than we do, as he runs back and forward the and side to side the entire way on his 20 foot leash. He did some great work pulling me up a couple of hills!







We loved being outside, and wished that we could have been camping. It's been a while since we have been camping - the last time was in Italy. Our weekends have been so busy that we haven't had an opportunity, but we're hoping to go in Spring after our trip to India.

















We're very excited at the moment, and little anxious because we settle on our block of land in Kenmore this week. Here is a photo of the land:


It's a small block, but we're actually glad of that because it will mean less yard work, and with the terrible drought that Queensland has been going through for the past 7+ years there isn't any spare water to keep a large garden going, so it's better to have a small yard. Also, it's directly across the road from a cute park, so we'll use that as our backyard without having to maintain it!



The block is in a fantastic location. It is literally within eyesight of the church, so Eric will be able to walk to work. This will be so great for him, because he often has late night meetings - and once we move to our new home he will be able to pop home for dinner. Also we won't have to buy a second car which will save us a lot of money. Here is a view of the street that it's on - Palm St.

Kenmore is such a nice, leafy suburb. It's really well established, with shops, cafes, restaurants, and several schools. Everything we could want within reasonable walking distance. We're very blessed to have found a block of land there within our price range (well sort of!) - there isn't much land available in Kenmore these days, we may have snagged the last block! The only thing is that it will be quite a long process to get it built as there is a real estate boom on in Australia and all of the builders and tradespeople are extremely busy and very difficult to book. We're hoping to get it done within 8-9 months... and in the mean time we have to pay rent and a mortgage!

I won't tell you how much the land is costing us, because you'd probably have a coronary, let's just say that the land is costing us quite a bit more than a very nice house in Atlanta would have cost. Then we have to build on it.... Oh well, we're trusting God through the whole process, 'cause He's looked after us so far. Here is a view of the cute park across the road from our block, and up the hill towards the church.









Here are some pictures of other houses on the street. It's a very modern, funky look - Dad is designing our house, and I think it will be great. Two stories, with 5 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. We can't wait until it's built and we can move in - then we won't be moving again for a very long time, and you will all have to visit us!











Au revoir!

Byron Bay

Yesterday, Eric and I went with Abi, Luke & Elijah to Byron Bay - the eastern-most point of Australia. It is a beautiful town, near where I grew up. It used to be quite laid back - mostly hippies trying to escape the rat-race - but unfortunately not anymore. It now attracts all of the stressed out yuppies from the major cities looking for a new lifestyle or a quick weekend pick-me-up, but they bring their entrepreneurship and stress with them rather than leaving it behind these days.

Still, Byron is a great place to spend a day, and we had a lovely relaxing time together. It was Elijah's first day-trip (other than to the grandparents'), and he did really well.

Our first stop, was at the Balcony, a lovely cafe where we sipped chai/lattes and enjoyed the ambience. Then off to see the famous lighthouse. This old lighthouse was set up to warn ships that land (ie the island of Australia) was close and is purposely in line with Mount Warning, which was named by Captain Cook because it was his first indication of the eastern shoreline of Australia. I grew up at the base of Mount Warning, which is actually a plug in an ancient volcano. You can see it in the background of the photo below (the pointy peak).

You can also see the mountain range surrounding Mount Warning - a very lush, green, beautiful area generally, although it is winter now so everything's a bit dry.

We were hoping to see some whales, as we did a couple of weeks ago at Hastings Point, but didn't have any luck this time. It was a very windy day, and generally you can spot whales by the white water they generate when coming to the surface or blowing water out of their blow-hole. Instead, we saw thousands of white-caps caused by the wind, and so even if whales were right in front of us, we would not have known unless they jumped out of the water. Oh well, no matter - we still had a lovely day.After wandering around the lighthouse for a while, enjoying the view, we decided to walk down a small path to a rocky headland in front of us. It was quite a long way down, but a beautiful walk through some native Australian trees and shrubs, and past a large rock cliff with waves crashing rhythmically against it. We got some good photographs, even one of a rainbow over the cliff!

In the photo below of Abi and I, you can see some tiny rocks in the background behind my head. These are know as 'Julian Rocks' - and there is a bit of an urban legend that has developed about these rocks. As with all urban legends, the story is based in truth, but I am not sure how much it has been embellished over the years.

I remember first hearing the story when I was in highschool - it was in the news headlines. A young couple had just gotten married and were on their honeymoon in Byron Bay. They decided to go scuba diving, as many others had before them, at Julian Rocks. Enjoying the gorgeous marine life and the beautiful day they failed to notice a large shark approaching until it was too late. The shark headed straight for the woman, and at the last possible moment, her new husband pushed her out of the way and was swallowed whole by the immense shark. Like I said - not sure what has been embellished, but I do remember hearing about it when it happened!


We had lunch on the beach in front of the town of Byron Bay. The others had meat pies, and I had fish and chips - yum!

Of course we were surrounded by seagulls, crying 'mine! mine! mine!' the entire time.

It was a pretty cold and windy day, but there were still a brave few swimming in the ocean - in fact I believe it was probably warmer in the water than out of it (that's the beauty of the Pacific ocean)!

After lunch, we looked at clothes, art, nick naks etc in the many boutiques that line the streets of Byron Bay. I would love to go back there some time with a wad of cash - maybe in my next life as a millionaire! Just kidding...

Then, we had a coffee at another cute cafe, before heading off to Mum and Dad's.

Yet another social engagement for us to go to - and we love it! To celebrate my brother Marty's 27th birthday, we had a surprise birthday dinner for him at Montezuma's Mexican restaurant. The food was mediocre and the service was appalling, but the company was great.

Dad was too sick with the flu to go, and Fiona and family couldn't make it. So it was just Eric, myself, Nathan, Marty, Caris, Brynn and Naomi (Caris' brother and his wife). Then back to Marty's place for marble mud cake and yet another coffee.

What a day!

Going to the footy

Last night Eric and I went to see the Brisbane Lions play the Melbourne Demons at the Gabba. AFL (Australian Football League) is yet another style of football, that is completely different from other football games. There is a lot of running, jumping, and kicking of the ball in the air to be caught, on a circular field.

To get the to game, we drove part of the way to Southbank, and then caught a free shuttle bus over to the Gabba. The 'Gabba' is a stadium in Woollangabba - one of the many indigenous names you'll hear in Australia that are difficult for visitors to pronounce. It's only about 10 minutes from our house, but parking there would have been a nightmare.

Before the game, we bought food and drinks. Here's a photo of Eric standing in line to get us a typical Australian meal - fish and chips. I've included shot of the menu too.

The Lions won by something like 40 points. It was a great game. Here are a couple of shots of the field.

Whale watching

I thought I would start this blog after reading a friend’s blog recently, so that we could stay in touch with family and friends who are scattered all over the world. It seems like the best way to keep you all up to date and to include photos in our correspondence as well.

Eric and I recently relocated to Australia to start a new life together, after living in Atlanta GA for 6 years (for me, a lifetime for Eric). We’re now living in Brisbane, and everything is really starting to come together for
us in an amazing way. God is truly looking after all of our needs.

Yesterday (7 July 07), we went whale watching for the first time in our lives. We actually didn’t intend to, it just turned out that way. We slept in and then set off for the Gold Coast to do some fishing south of Tweed Heads. Along the way, we picked up my brother Marty, and he suggested that we go to Hastings Point to fish. So, we bought some bait and then got some yummy fish, calamari, prawns and chips (done the Australian way - wrapped in butchers paper all jumbled up together), and headed to Hastings Point. It was only about 1.5 hours from Brisbane and truly a beautiful location.



When we got there it was lunch time, so we pulled out the picnic blanket and sat up on the headland to eat our meal. Absolutely scrumptious, perfect warm winter weather and what a spectacular view!

During lunch, Marty pointed out some spray in the distance, near the horizon, that he said was a whale clearing it’s blow-hole, but we couldn’t really see anything as it was so far away. After lunch, Marty and Eric climbed down the rocks in front of the headland to see whether they would do some rock-fishing or not, and decided not to. As we were making our way back to the car to relocate to another fishing spot, we saw a small crowd of people on the other side of the headland. We looked out into the ocean where they appeared to be looking, and saw a whale jump into the air, landing on it’s back sending spray skyward. We couldn’t believe it - Eric and I have never seen whales before, and have always wanted to. We raced over to the other side of the headland and stood to watch the beautiful hump-back jump every minute or so for the next 15 minutes. He or she appeared to be playing, and enjoying the beautiful weather just like we were. Hump back whales were endangered 20 years ago, but after several years of protection against hunting, they are now a regular sight off Australia’s east coast - however, I have been living in the USA and so haven’t had the pleasure of seeing them, as they were so scarce when I was growing up here that it was very rare to sight one.



After watching the whale for a while, we realised that the whale we’d seen spraying in the distance earlier was actually two more whales, and they were coming into shore to join the first whale. Eric and Marty left to find a place to fish, and I continued to watch the whale jumping, as it began to move north. Before long, it was moving around the headland with the other two whales close behind. Not jumping any longer, it came within 100 yards of us, and I could clearly see their brown backs sliding through the water. I have some video footage of them posted on my MySpace site (myspace.com/aussieinatl ).






After the whales had moved past the group of surfers, and into the distance, I made my way down the beach to where Eric and Marty were fishing, beside a bridge.


I lay down to read for a while, and then joined in the fishing. We caught bream, whiting, flathead, and something else we didn’t recognise. There were plenty of fish sitting in the creek in front of us, and they kept taking our bait before we could reel the hook back in again. There was also a pelican who kept us company.

After that, Eric and I went for a walk on the beach together. The wonderful thing about many Australian beaches is that they are long, white, and generally pretty lonely places. There were a few other people around since it was the school holidays and a Saturday, but not many.

After leaving the beach, we had dinner with Marty, Caris, Nathan, Mum, Dad, Nanna, Aunty Marg and Uncle Chris to celebrate Nanna’s 85th birthday. Wow, 85 years! That’s pretty good. Then, after a wonderful day, we finally drove home.