Just a little recap for any new readers to my blog. I have been traveling for 4 weeks and writing about my adventures with my beautiful wife. Our first week was in Hawaii. The second week was spent in Sydney, Australia. You can go back to read my earlier notes. Now, this is our 2nd week in Australia where we spent the whole week with relatives in and around Brisbane. Though I have never met these relatives from my wife’s side, I feel a very close connection to their whole family through a book I read before this trip. The true story of a heart breaking loss of a child and the community strength of the whole Northern Territory plus all of Australia is written in this book called the “The Lost Boy” by Robert Wainwright. I will not try to cover the story here but encourage you to read this book to learn more about the heart of Australia.
Before I get into my 2nd week, I think it should help you Americans to know some common words not easily understood. Here is a brief list.
1. Piddle means to urinate so replace with “muck around”.
2. Tire is heard as “tar”.
3. Bible is heard as “barber”.
4. Pearl is heard as “pill”.
5. Meat is heard as “mick”.
So do not piddle in a person’s shed as they may hit you with a tar or a barber and say what a pill mick head you shella.
Also, concession is not snacks instead it means benefits for old age pensioners.
We landed in Brisbane and immediately felt at home. We met children and grand children as if they were our own. We took family photos overlooking Brisbane and Mt Coot-tha then traveled to their home in Caloundra. Currimundi is a suberb of Caloundra as I understand where we saw beautiful beaches with nice walks along the beach for shops and restaraunts. What a beautiful drive along the Sunshine Coast! We met my wife’s aunt and heard stories of old. New stories were added to our memory bank. The next two days we had more walks along the beaches, walked in a protected rain forrest, sampled local cheeses, viewed McCarthy’s Lookout to see the Blackall Range and the Glass House Mountains, and Gerrard’s Lookout. What a great time to be with family seeing sights we would not have seen otherwise!
The next day we spent all day at Steve Irwin’s zoo. Most people know Steve in the USA for his daring stunts with crocodiles but visiting the Australia Zoo home of the Crocodile Hunter was awesome. I wish I could show my grandchildren the passion for his dreams. It is a first class exhibition of God’s unique creatures. I encourage the reader to research yourself.
Back at our home away from home in Caloundra, we continued to share our family stories with more children and grand children. We swam, ate some awesome meals, fished for crabs and actually caught a few for the barbie.
The weekend was spent more of the same and Church included. This brings me to another observation about the Auzzies. Their Christian faith journey is strong. We witnessed our family’s personal health struggles and their refusal to believe in man’s prognosis over faith in God and His miracles.
The next day we headed back to Sydney for a cruise down to Melbourne, Tasmania, then back to Wollongong and Sydney.
The memories we made with our Brisbane family will last a lifetime and hopefully will be past on to the next generations in these words and pictures.
T