Joneses take on the Outback

Once everyone woke up back in Brisbane, Andrew and Eliza had just one week left to explore Australia. They sat down with the guidebook and figured out a trip for themselves that would maximize their chances of seeing the native wildlife. (Larger pictures are from Eliza and Andrew. Smaller ones are mine.)

They borrowed the Laser and headed east towards the Darling Downs, a large farming region. They had their sights set on Girraween National Park, an area full of granite boulders that promised good bushwalking and campgrounds "which teem with wildlife," according to the guidebook. It's also a popular spot for rock climbing, which Eliza and Andrew sort of accidentally participated in.

Photo of accidental rock climbing. We were told this was much steeper than it appears and they scrambled to the top only to discover a more reasonable track 'round the other side. Apparently this is a common mistake.

They camped there two nights and saw plenty of wallabies, kangaroos and possibly (probably?) even wallaroos on their daily bushwalks.

Their campsite.

Roo and Joey

On the way home, they stopped in the unofficial capital city of Darling Downs, the cutely-named Toowoomba, known for its manicured lawns and nice botanical gardens.

Toowoomba's Japanese garden

They arrived home with the Laser in one piece and still running. We weren't worried about the drivers (reports were that Andrew cottoned on pretty quick to driving on the opposite side). They drove more kms on their adventure than we had since we bought her, so we were quite glad to hear she handled the roadtrip like a champ.

The Laser out getting some fresh air.

Becky and Lindsay touched down in their spaceship on Saturday. Before they arrived, Nate treated Eliza and Andrew to their second commando workout in the backyard. Nate's workout includes lot of lunges, pull-ups from the guava tree and weightlifting bricks.

hold it...hold it...

I picked up Bek and Linds Saturday afternoon...

This is how I found them at the drop-off location. They were enjoying some Aussie brew.

...and we had an afternoon of barefoot bowls (basically barefoot lawn bowling). We were given instructions by a local club member, nicknamed Croc, who took time out from the competition taking place on the green next to us to show us how to do it.

Croc's bowling lesson. He was very helpful and friendly.

Lots of discussions about distance and scoring.

Later that night the crew (minus me and Rox) headed up the road to The Gabba to catch an Australian Rules Football game.

Nate, Andrew, Eliza and Lindsay

Lindsay flew home the next morning. After she left, we decided we didn't get enough bowling the day before, so spent another full afternoon perfecting our bowls.

Monday was Eliza and Andrew's last full day in the country, so after a slow morning, we went to the Mt. Coot-ha Botanical Garden to stroll around. It was a beautiful day and the Garden was full of Water Dragons! They surprised us at every turn and Eliza surprised one when she tried to take his picture.

Water dragon. They're so cool.

Joneses inside the dome in the garden.

We were on the other side of the river, so we decided to surprise Nate in his lab before heading home.

Surprise!

Eliza and Andrew flew out the next morning and didn't arrive home for another 25+ hours. We were quite sad to see them leave and I think maybe they were sad when they got off the plane in New York in the middle of a heatwave. We were so happy to have them with us for so long. So great for Roxy to spend so much time with her aunty and uncle. Come back soon!

Eliza and Rox sharing tea.

More quality snuggle time.

Uncle Jonesman enjoying baby duty.

Coming up - Becky's week with us!

Mussels from Brussels

Mussels and beer - Nate's perfect meal

With Eddie and Lisa in town, we finally had a reason to go back to the Belgian Beer Cafe in downtown Brisbane. We had a jaunt through South Bank and watched the dragon races before getting on the ferry to cross the river to the restaurant.

Eddie using their fancy new camera to capture the dragon boat race on the Brisbane River

Taking Roxy on her first boat ride (she slept through it!)

Roxy's milk-drunk face.

Nate's mussels-drunk face (father-daughter resemblance, no?)

(latter two pictures taken from Eddie and Lisa's camera)

The next day we took a short trip to the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens just outside of town. After a windy bus ride there, we had a great lunch (and not so great milkshake) at the cafe and wandered around for a bit.

Har har - prickly Americans

Lovebirds on their way to live with real Birds of Paradise in Papua New Guinea

Nate showing the Little Macho Chili plant who's boss

Breastfeeding at Mt. Coot-tha? Check!

Watching the cockatoos causing a ruckus around the Japanese Garden

Yesterday (Thursday), we saw Eddie and Lisa off as they begin their new life in Papua New Guinea. They will be fighting the good fight for a couple of years (at least) at a malaria research laboratory in Madang (on the northern coast of the island). It's pretty exciting to have them in the same time zone again, even if they're two plane trips away! We're hoping to visit them at some point in the future - waiting to hear if the snorkeling is worth the price of admission (i.e. getting malaria).

Eddie and Lisa with everything they packed for the next two years

Next up for a visit from my mom! She gets here on Sunday to meet her youngest grandchild in person and to celebrate said grandchild's 2-month birthday! Needless to say, Roxy's pretty excited to meet her Nana.

We've got a short break after my mom leaves before we get to see our graduate advisors Peter and Penny. They're in Canberra on sabbatical and will be here for a short visit with colleagues and to take in a rugby game.

Not too long after that, newlyweds Andy and Darshana come a'calling! They're coping with the recession by taking a month-long vacation to Australia and Thailand. I like the way they think. They get here mid-March, just as we're getting into autumn.

We're loving all of these visitors, so plan your trip! The Australian dollar has tanked against the American dollar - bad for us, good for you! Now that we're on the other side of summer and jellyfish season is ending, it's the ideal time to visit Queensland!

we're here!

Sorry it's been so long with an update. Things moved pretty quickly once we got visa approval. Let me see if I can sum up the past couple of weeks...

We moved out of our apartment and in with Tara. She was so wonderful to give up her bedroom for a week! Thanks Tara!

After the movers showed up on Friday the 10th, we stayed with Eddie and Lisa (and their rascally kitties) for two nights. The movers took our mattress, so we needed to crash on their futon.

Then we went to my sister Becky's in Palo Alto for Sunday night to watch football and hang out with our kitties one last time. My parents came up from Kingsburg on Monday to have a bon voyage lunch and give us a few more hugs.

We got on the plane Monday night and landed in Oz Wednesday morning. Nate's boss Shaun was there to pick us up at the Brisbane Airport. After a quick stop off at Nate's new office (to drop off about 200 microscope slides), Shaun dropped us off at our temporary digs.

Our temp. apartment is within walking distance of an enormous mall (the public library is a floor above a gym) where we got cell phones, set up a bank account and went grocery shopping at Woolworths (not at all like the U.S. Woolworths). That first night there was a fantastic storm. We turned down the lights and watched the lightning from the balcony.

Thursday through Saturday we spent getting acquainted with our new city! We rode around on the public train for a while, trying to figure out the best place to get our apartment. We looked at a couple of places, but neither of them seemed quite right, so the search continues.

[While walking through a park on Saturday, Nate was dive-bombed by a magpie! It left a gash on his scalp and we quickened our pace to get out of there. I thought the bird was going for Nate's shiny new glasses, but we learned that it's mating season and that's just what the magpies do! We'll be sure to carry a tennis racket the next time we go for any park walks...]

Yesterday (Sunday) we were invited up for lunch and a bush walk by a new colleague of Nate's - Carrie. She lives up in the hills west of town in a spectacular little house with an amazing view of the city. She and her partner, Jon, have two kitties ('hairy beasts' as Carrie referred to them), a pen full of 'chooks' (chickens) and three or four pens full of guinea pigs (they sell them to the vet store in town). I held a couple of two week old babies and we heard the whole tribe oinking and squeaking ('cuy! cuy!') at dinnertime.

It was great to take a day off from walking around the city to walk around the bush. Carrie and Jon are great and were so gracious to host us. Carrie is a British expat and Jon has lived in this area for nearly his whole life. They answered a lot of our questions and offered advice and suggestions about places to live and visit and contacts for doctors and hospitals for the impending arrival of the baby.

We finished up the night by driving up to Mt. Coot-tha for ice cream and to watch the sun set. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Nate went into work this morning and I trekked over to the public library (not the one in the mall - the nice big new one in Brisbane CBD) to use the free internet.

Australia is kind of like bizarro America. Things look pretty similar, but they're not quite the same. Burger King is called Hungry Jack's and a value meal costs $7. They are constantly showing reruns of Two and a Half Men and the only American news we get is Fox News.

That's all for now. Got to get on finding a place to live so we can set up our little nest. I promise to update more frequently (and with pictures). Thanks for all of the calls and visits in our last couple of weeks in the States!