How Did This Happen?

Take a look at how tall Benji is now. I know it didn't happen overnight but it sure seems like it did! It's strange being the shortest person in the family.

20 Years

Last night was Ben's Service Award Dinner to recognise his 20 years of service to Bechtel. We taxied to Augustine's on George Street. Benji joined us but Kelsey was busy with other things. It was a lovely evening even if I did have trouble staying awake. It's a shame I'm ready for bed by 8:30 every night. But, anyway, very nice things were said about my wonderful husband and he deserved all of it and more.

Finally, a car

Coming up on April 17th, we will have lived here for 2 years. During that time, we've rented a car occasionally but other than that have depended on ferries, buses and trains. A couple of days before the big flood, we were thinking maybe it might time to get a car. After the flood, we were sure we wanted one. So, we did it! We bought a 2003 Honda CRV. I'll try to post photos later. I'm not sure what to name her.....I'm trying to get a feel for her personality so I'll have to let you know what I come up with;-)

Gold Coast/Surfer's Paradise

I drove straight from the campground to the Nerang train station to pick up the rest of my family. Off we went to Surfer's Paradise for the weekend. We checked in early to find that the hotel was not exactly what we were expecting but that's okay. Not the end of the world and at least we had a view of the beach. Kelsey and I had a successful shopping trip and Ben and Benji had a blast in the arcade. Playing in the ocean, some half way decent restaurants, and a hot spa (the first one I've been in here in Australia!!!) gave us a relaxing weekend and some nice family time.

Apparently, I brought a little friend with me from the campground. When I put on my swimsuit at the hotel, I felt something scurrying against my thigh. I would like to point out that I kept my screams contained. Everyone should be proud of me. The damn thing was huge. Like a baby huntsman or something with very furry legs. Ben was my hero when he threw it over the balcony.

Surfer's Paradise is a nice place to visit but is very touristy and loud. There were people drunk in the streets in the middle of the night and, well, drunk people aren't usually very quiet. These were no exception. At some point, I was awoken by what sounded like drag racing. I felt like I needed to do something to protect us from those cars....we were on the 16th floor so we were safe but you know what adrenalin can do to ya. Next time I think I want to visit a nice quiet beach

Camping at Bigriggen-Days 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Nothing like a stinking hot day to make you appreciate your .40 cents/4 minutes worth of water in the shower each evening. And an evening breeze.

Many more families arrived on our third day. Benji enjoyed having more people there and was soon tubing down the rapids. It was great to see friends we hadn't seen in a while.

Leanne had me drive her car to the pick up point for the hikers. Turns out I CAN drive a manual transmission car here even with the gearshift on the wrong side of the car. I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself. Gotta take my kudos where I can, right?

Unbelievably, there's a damn fish in the swimming hole that bites hard enough to draw blood. Just when I think I've asked every question possible, I find out something like this. Everyone assured me it doesn't hurt much but I suspect that Australians are made of tougher stuff than the average person, especially if I'm that average person.

On the fourth night, I found a little spider on my mattress in the tent. I nearly crapped my pants. Probably harmless but how would I know? Needless to say, the little fella went to meet his maker. No memorial service is planned.

Sing along by the campfire was fun. Benji was totally in his element and it made me happy to see him enjoying himself so much.

Casey saw a yellow-faced whip snake. So glad it was him and not me. I would have been terrified. When he told me about it, I thought he was joking since it had such an unusual name.

On the fifth day, I finally went swimming. Everyone assured me that the fish bites were only happening in one area. The theory was that it was an eel tailed catfish and they are territorial so as long as we stay out of their territory, they will leave us alone. By this day, Benji was ready to leave so he gets a ride the next day with Casey.

Leanne and I saw a red bellied black snake. Luckily we were in the car. But, I was pleased to see that it was so easy to identify. I've been assured they are not aggressive. Small comfort.

My last day there was spent moving from shady spot to shady spot chatting with my friends. Sometime during the night a possum decided to use the area behind my tent for a toilet. OMG, what a stench. I don't have words to describe it.

Camping at Bigriggen-Day 2

Day 2 found me awake at 5am scrambling to get to the toilet. OMG, it was a long walk. On the walk back though we saw 5 wallabies (I assume...it's not like I'm Australian or anything so I could be wrong). Being American, we thought this was pretty darn cool.

Breakfast was bacon, egg and cheese on an english muffin. My favourite camp breakfast. I figured I'd better get organised so I started sorting everything while it was still cool out. Leanne had given me a brand new sharp as a razor knife and don't you know, the first thing it cut was my finger! OUCH! She had gone out for a hike and there I was at the campsite by myself wondering if the sight of my own finger dripping a disgusting amount of blood was going to make me pass out. Thankfully, I didn't. I scrambled around trying to find the band-aids I knew I'd brought but, of course, I couldn't find them because I wasn't organised YET. I borrowed a band-aid from Suzanne and since she had small children, the bandages were yellow with red and blue balloons. I told her that oddly enough, they did make my boo boo feel better!

Wound bandaged, I sat down and had a nice cup of dandelion tea and wished the toilet was closer. (This wishing the toilet was closer is gonna be a theme, trust me.)

After nearly two years of living here, I still couldn't believe my luck. I mean, there I was sitting in a Australian campground, listening to birds that I couldn't name, looking at trees I can only vaguely identify, sipping tea and enjoying a cool breeze. I'm not sure I could even stand it if my life got any better!

I managed to cut another finger later in the day. I have no idea how. I wasn't even near a knife.

Benji and I spent some time playing a trivia game and then he went off to the kiosk to buy some marshmallows since I had totally forgotten to buy that camp necessity. Oops. Then he went off to gather some firewood, singing songs and generally just being his normal happy self.

I was ready for bed by 8pm but Benji invited me to sit by the campfire with him. That's certainly an invitation I can't refuse.

Camping at Bigriggen-Day 1

Shameful number of posts last year. I can do better! Really, I can!

Last week, Benji and I went camping with our homeschooling group at Bigriggen. Gotta love that name. On the way, I saw a place called "Ugly Gully". Nothing particularly ugly about it but what do I know? Anyway, we had a great time listening to podcasts and chatting. It was about a 2 hour drive from our home passing thru Beaudesert and Rathdowney. No traffic and beautiful scenery. Driving into the campground brought us face to face with a herd of cattle. We stopped to stare at them like we'd never seen cows before and they stared at us like they'd never laid eyes on humans. Since we were early, we checked in and had a picnic under a tree. We reviewed the rules, of which there were plenty.

The strangest one being "No Whips". I tried to imagine how often that had been a problem. We shared our picnic with a cute little bird until it started to rain. Leanne and her family arrived soon after the shower was over.

Setting up camp was hot work but we had it finished quite quickly. That night, the possums came to visit. My gosh, they are menace. Cute but so bold! Every night we had to possum proof the camp and Benji made up a song about being on "Possum Patrol".