New Beginnings

It is hard to believe that we have been in Australia for three months already - a quarter of our time whittled away. A lot has happened since we stepped off that plane into a warm summer night in Brisbane. We arrived weary after almost 24 hours of travel but excited for the adventure that lay ahead. Although Brisbane is similar to being in any city in Canada, there were some things we did have to adjust to. The Queensland accent can be very strong and there have been lots of funny moments when interacting with the locals where neither of us has any idea what the other is saying (even though we are both speaking english!). Cars drive on the other side of the road - habits are hard to break and we really have had to train ourselves to look in the opposite direction than we are used to. When we first arrived the heat felt intense and wonderful at the same time - daytime temperatures were easily reaching 35-37 degrees with 80% humidity thrown in.

Now we have become acclimatized and have settled into a new life with a different set of rhythms and daily routines. Gemma and Ruben have done an amazing job of settling into their new school - Junction Park State School. The school has a lot of history in this area as it has been around since 1888. It also has a very multicultural mix of kids - some of the countries they come from are Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Afghanistan,Vietnam, Korea, and Thailand. The experiences at the school are rich and the kids are making some wonderful friends. Dave, as many of you already know, is at an all girls Catholic school and is surrounded by mostly female coworkers. He is loving life as they keep his day in line and throw him the latest tidbits of gossip while offering to get him a cup of tea. The students love teasing him about the way he speaks and ask him to say 'water' or other such funny sounding words.

It is fun to be in a city again. Brisbane is the perfect sized city for us - it is between the size of Victoria and Vancouver. Luckily we are close to the bus line that takes us right to 'the city' or downtown as we call it. There are some fabulous museums and galleries to explore and they all offer free kids exhibits and activities. We have also visited a great area called South Bank several times - it has a big outdoor pool and beach area (they trucked in sand to make the beach) - and it runs along the Brisbane River. There are many cafes, shops, biking and walking paths and a big weekend craft market in this area. The picture below is looking towards the City from South Bank, and the one below that is Gemma swimming in the pool at South Bank.



While life in the city is exciting what we really enjoy is getting to the beach on the weekends. Brisbane is well positioned because we have two coastlines of beach a short distance away - the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The Gold Coast is much more built up and populated, while the Sunshine Coast has maintained a lot of its natural beauty and is known to be more low-key.


We have spent most of our time heading down to the Gold Coast (it is about an hour away) - there are a lot of different beaches and surfing areas to choose from. Dave and the kids have tried surfing and have had some success getting up on the board! It looks easier than it really is. I, of course, love taking pictures and always have my camera on hand. The picture to the right is looking towards Surfers Paradise - a very built up resort area.

Also on the weekends we enjoy going for hikes up into the rain forest areas. There are quite a few parks about an half-an-hour to hour away from the beaches. On these walks we are forever keeping a keen eye out for 'animals in the wild'. This is Ruben's main goal - to see animals in the wild and not just in sanctuary settings. They are not as easily found or numerous as I (we) had been led to believe prior to our arrival! But we still have lots of fun looking.

With every day we feel so lucky to be having this experience and are really embracing every moment because we know the year is going to fly by.

Until next time,
Heather, Dave, Gemma and Ruben