“For I know the plans I have for you,” said the Lord…and once again we place our trust in God that He knows and has a plan for us. After much prayer and thought, we have made the decision to cut our time short here in Australia. What was to be our holiday home in June for a few weeks has become our return to the States. We have busily been spending the last few weeks selling off and giving away most of our “things” we have acquired while here to lighten our load. Hard to believe how much “stuff” you can accumulate over a years time!

But of course, knowing us, we are not going to just get on the plane and fly East. Oh no…that would be too easy (and boring!) Next Friday, Jeff will head to Adelaide to pick up a motorhome and we will load up, grab the kids from school and head off to see Australia! We will spend the next three weeks hitting the road and checking out the Pacific coastline. We plan to head towards Melbourne, over to Sydney, onto Brisbane with our final destination being Cairns, home of the Great Barrier Reef. While the last couple of weeks have been crazy (and a bit emotional) for us…we are hoping to cap off our time here with a truly memorable experience.

Plan on lots of updates here and on Facebook as we take you along with us on the last leg of our adventure here…and keep us in your prayers as we ready ourselves to head back your way!

Well folks, today/tomorrow (depending where you are in the world) roughly marks one year for us. We have had many adventures throughout the year, explored many new and interesting places, met wonderful people and learned about another area of our world in a way that only immersion allows.

Travels

As if the flight over the US and then the Pacific Ocean were not enough (2x West and 1x East), we have managed to see a lot of what South Australia has to offer.  Many folks ask us if we have made it to Sydney or Darwin or Perth…while Australia does have far fewer states than the US, size wise it is very close.  Just traveling within our own state in any direction can be an all-day drive!

So far we have made it North to the Outback including Coober Pedy,  South to Victor Harbor and the Yorke Peninsula, East to Naracoorte and Mt Gambier and lots of little day trips in between.

In 2012, we would like to explore the Western part of South Australia and possibly in Oct, we are hoping to go the Great Barrier Reef (which would be just above Lake Superior in this map – with us being in Houston on this map.)

School and Work and Other Activities

Max and Katharine continue to do well at Harvest Christian School.  Being in Year 2, this means that they are the “big kids” of the Jr Primary.  They have an absolutely wonderful teacher, who is also a friend of the family.  This is her first year teaching and her enthusiasm with the kids in awesome.  They have gone on several local field trips, the class is bursting with projects and just this evening she hosted a “stay up late night” where the kids could stay, play and eat until 7.

Both kids have enjoyed participating in Little Athletics, which is a community based track and field event that meets every Friday night.  Katharine is all about speed and jumping high, while Max can throw the shot put and discus so far!  The neat thing about this program is that every week the kids are competing against themselves.  Records are kept of their past performances and they are encouraged to try and get a new PB (personal best) each time they do an activity.  When they get three on a night, the next week they are acknowledged and get a treat at the canteen.   Little Aths will be wrapping up in another week and then it will be on to Field Hockey!

In addition to sports, both have started taking piano lessons.   Max continues to participate in the school’s Chess Club and Katharine was recently honored at an assembly for her kindness to others.  Both are doing well academically, Max being the analytical mathematician and Katharine able to read anything she gets her hands on.  Jeff and I are very proud of all of their achievements – scholastically, athletically and socially.

Jeff continues on at Wallaroo Hospital.  Over the course of the last year, he has had a chance to earn his licensure to do Radiography (he can take X-rays!), implemented a prescription formulary for the ER NP to use, streamlined several of the services offered, introduced new techniques and products and is working on a new charting system.  When not at the hospital, he is home working on his music.  He has a pretty slick music station set up and has come up with some “snazzy new jingles” (his words!)

As you might guess, I have managed to fill about every waking hour with some sort of activity.  In addition to my three days a week as a Student Support person at the kid’s school, I have recently enrolled in a yearlong Education Support Certificate course offered through the state training center.  It is primarily on-line with conferences throughout the year.  After Christmas this year I upgraded my embroidery machine and have stayed very busy making crafty little things for the craft co-op I am a member of.  I work in the shop one day a month and also serve as the Exhibit Coordinator for the adjoining art gallery.  This is an area I have no prior experience in but I have found very enjoyable.  I am also currently teaching the Year 3-5 Sunday School class at church and a Religious Education class once a term at the local public school.

As a family, we have recently began geocaching together.  For those of you unfamiliar…there is a great 2 minute video

It is a great activity in that we get out of the house, travel to new areas, solve the clues, do a little orienting and find the treasure while all working together.  Other than the cost of the GPS (and if you have a smart phone there are inexpensive apps you can use), it is good clean low cost fun!

We continue to feel blessed that we are able to be here and that God has seen fit to surround us with good people, safe travels and an abundance of opportunites.  Rest assurred, though, that not a day goes by that we do not think of our friends and family at home!  We thank you for keeping us in your prayers and look forward to seeing you all in less than 90 days (not that we are counting or anything…) 

Greetings all!

It has been a busy Summer/Christmas holiday season.  We have enjoyed our first summer since Aug of 2010 (we missed it last year as June/July/August is winter here!)  It has certainly been a little strange watching Christmas parades while wearing shorts and going for swims throughout January, but we are managing  .

While Christmas was nice, the highlight was a visit from my mom right after Christmas.  We were able to enjoy some sightseeing, visits with friends and celebrating the New Year together.   My poor dad recently had knee surgery, so unfortunately, he was unable to make the long flight.

The last few weeks have seen us getting ready to go back to school.  Max and Katharine are looking forward to Year 2 studies and I will continue working part time at their school as a Student Support Officer (sounds so official!).  Jeff has been busy at the hospital with all the tourists visiting the area.  I have lost count as to how many fish hooks and jelly fish stings he has tended to.

Hope you are all keeping warm.  Drink some hot cocoa and build a snowman for us!

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox

Since we first arrived in Australia, Jeff has over and over mentioned that we really need to go the the Outback.  I realize that like kangaroos, koalas and boomerangs, the Outback is rather synonymous with Australia and probably something not to be missed…but  I am really not a desert girl…nor does the idea of riding for many hours in the car with kids in the back seat appeal greatly to me…and then there is the whole “warning signs” prior to entering certain areas/roads…and lastly, dingoes that run wild and free!  Try as I might to offer alternative travel destinations, Jeff was set that this was where we should go during our time off for winter break.  He did offer the valid point that temperature was in our favor (it stays in the upper 90′s low 100′s in the summer) and that we could travel inexpensively since we could camp.

Now, I am sure somewhere along the line you have seen a picture of a 4×4 vehicle loaded up with gear and a rugged camping trailer getting ready to head out to the “bush”.  And believe me, it is a very common site here…we, however, do not possess a 4×4, nor a camper, or even sleeping bags!!  But, far be it from that to stop us.  So, we loaded up the car with our tent, bed comforters, fire wood, several bottles of water, hot pot, assorted snacks and an audio story for the kids to listen to and away we went.

We decided to spend our first night at Wilpena Pound.  During our drive, we passed through the Flinders Mountain Ranges.  Along the way there were numeous historical marker sites for us to stop, get out, stretch the legs and learn a little bit about the history of the area.  Our first stop was Kanyaka Historical Site.  In the late 1800′s it had been a large sheep station with many families sharing the homes and surrounding buildings.  As you can see in the pictures, all that was left now were the stone walls.  Throughout our travels heading north we would continue to see similar sites, some even whole cities, that eventually met with the same outcome – the severe droughts of the early 1900′s made farm life impossible and many just walked away never to return.

A little further up the road we came across the Yourambulla Caves.  These are caves that feature Aboriginal paintings and etchings.  The climb up the trails was wonderful and the cave drawings were interesting, but you had to wonder what in the world possessed these people to climb up SO high in the middle of nowhere to draw their hands and other markings on the walls.

To get to Wilpena Pound you have to go through the Flinders Ranges National Park.  Upon entering the park, we immediately started to see various types of roos and flocks of emus.  Wilpena Pound itself is a natural amphitheater of mountains – meaning basically a set of mountains that is shaped liked a bowl.  Arriving at the campgrounds, we found the ammenities to be very nice, set up camp and settled in for a relaxing evening around the fire.  Katharine even made a new friend from the neighboring campsite!  Since we did not have a lantern or camping chairs, once dark came, we all decided to call it a night.  Now, remember that it is winter here, and we were in the mountains…and we have no sleeping bags.  It got COLD (28 F)!  If you took your face out from under the covers your whole body froze…we were all wearing multiple layers, too!  After enduring a sleepless night of Katharine using my belly as a foot warmer and me not ever having my share of blankets, we were roused out of our tent by yelling in our site.   The park ranger was kindly shooing away some roos that were into our breakfast food!

Once we got up and thawed out, we checked out our Outback map, figured how far we would be driving and called to the  local hotel there to secure lodging (and heat!) for the night.  We ended up staying in Blinman, a very small town with basically a pub/hotel and a not much else.  The neat thing about this sort of set-up is that everyone who is staying there will come down for dinner at about the same time and you end up having wonderful conversations around a roaring fire afterwards.  We met a variety of people all ages from various areas that shared stories and experiences with their travels.  It was a really great way to end the evening.

We had decided that day 3 was going to be the bulk of driving and it would be the part that would actually take us into the Outback.  We made our way through the last bit of mountains, over the last bit of sealed roadway and drove on to the town of Maree.  It is at this point that the roads become “tracks” and there are signs posted which list their accessibility – ranging from OPEN, 4WD only and CLOSED.  Maree is the last spot to get gas, food and water before heading in any direction.  We had chosen to take the Oodnadatta Track which was 370 kms to our final destination of Coober Pedy.  In between these two areas there is one stop – William’s Creek, population 7.  The sign in Maree informed us that the path from there to William’s Creek was OPEN, however, it listed William’s Creek to Coober Pedy as 4WD only.  We were told that this was because it had rained a few days earlier and the road was a mess.  The problem this left us with was that we could venture on to Wm Creek, but if the road had not improved, we were literally stuck there.  We were not keen to head back the way we came, so in the spirit of adventure, forward we progressed.  William’s Creek was all that you would imagine a town of population 7 might be.  We did start to get a little concerned as we were the ONLY non 4×4 vehicle there and the vehicles coming in were covered in thick clay-like mud.  Morning came, the sign had not changed, but after speaking with the pub owner and a few phone calls we were assurred that the road was passable and we would make it.  Fingers crossed, away we went.

To be continued…

Just like the families with school aged children back home, we have been on vacation for the last few weeks here too.  Difference is, it is our winter break and we will start school again on July 27th.  For the first time, Max will get to take cupcakes to school on his birthday!

During the “holiday” we have had a chance to celebrate the 4th of July, do a staycation and travel a little further “outback”.

Here in Australia, July 4th is the day between July 3rd and July 5th and not much else.  We attempted to put our own Americana spin on it as best we could.  The kids put on their warmest red, white and blue clothes and we decided to travel down to Adelaide to do a little shopping (nothing is more American than good old fashioned consumerism) and then went to McDonald’s (this is the closest one to us – only an hour and thirty minutes away!)  On our way home, we stopped by this AWESOME park.  The park features giant slides in a fortress, a pirate ship beached on shore, spiral slides that went through the center of a hill and landing you in the middle of a maze, very long zip lines, oversized teeter totters and towering swingsets.  That evening we made a campfire, roasted some “pop dogs”, made sorta s’mores and enjoyed our sparklers.  Instead of fireworks, we enjoyed a beautiful rainbow the following day!

One of the nice things about living in a new area is that you can plan a pretty decent day trip in your own “backyard”.  The area we live in, known as the Copper Coast, is a fairly popular vacation destination, so we took advantage of that fact and played tourist later in the week.  We drove down the road to Moonta, site of the largest copper mining industry in the Southern Hemisphere in the late 1800′s.  There we enjoyed going through the museum and learning alot about the heritage of the area (many migrated here from Cornwall, England) and the mining industry that literally saved South Australia from financial disaster.  The day included a train ride through some of the sites, walks through the ruins, a visit to a candy shop and dinner at the only Mexican restaurant we have seen since being here.

Our visit to the Outback really deserves it’s own page, so I am going to work on sorting out the pics and plan on sharing that with you later this weekend.  This post is sort of short – the next one will be longer.  Plus, we are on our way out to see Cars 2 at the “Movie Theatre” this afternoon…each school holiday, a business comes in and converts the Town Hall into a theatre.  Again, this is the only theatre within an hour and half and only here 4 times a year, so a pretty big deal!  A friend of ours was surprised to hear that we had not been to the movies yet (I guess it is just the thing to do), so I better get going before people start to talk!

 

Here is a little walk through our house.  It is not terribly exciting as it is very beige, but we are slowly working on that.  I have been busy with some wallhangings, Jeff is painting and Katharine is filling her room up with art! 

I put comments under each picture, but if you see something interesting that I forgot to comment on, just let me know.

I know I know…I promised house pics…but really, which would you rather see?  Our rather plain house or the kids having fun on a Sunday afternoon?  For those of you who voted house…that will be posted tomorrow.  This is for those several sets of Grandparents who need their “fix”.  Enjoy!

(For you Facebookers, this is a repeat…thank goodness they are cute!)

I keep putting off writing as I am waiting for a real internet connection…but if I keep delaying, I will forget what we have been up to, so, I am finally writing!  Pictures will have to wait til later this week (hopefully via a DSL connection and not the pay as you go setup we currently have!)

It has been a busy and exciting few weeks.  Not alot in the way of travel, but more in the way of settle.  As you know, we have been cozy in our little “holiday shack” since we arrived.  While it has served us well in meeting our basic needs for shelter and food preparation, we really have outgrown it.  And, also, we are more than ready to finally feel a little more settled.  You know the way you feel if you are on a weeks vacation in a hotel…even though it’s where you sleep and shower and some of your stuff is there, you don’t get really settled in or feel like it’s your space.  That’s been us…

So…as of this last Wednesday we are now, finally, feeling a little more settled.  We made the big move up the street to our new home (no worries, it’s a rental).  It is a lovely 4 bedroom home with backyard, garage, kitchen, pantry, closets, bathrooms, bathtub, clothes dryer, dishwasher and SPACE!  It has come fully furnished, we just needed towels and bedding!  Moving day had to be about the quickest move in history…we literally had 4 carloads (it’s not a large car) and we were done.

We are so happy to be here that we didn’t even go anywhere this past weekend as is usual when Jeff has a weekend off.  I guess you would call it a staycation…it was just so nice to see the kids playing in their rooms, spread out, relax, cook yummy meals…ahhhh….

And then…Monday, the door bell rang and it was a delivery man.  Our “stuff” that we had shipped out on March 10 was finally here.  It was only 17 assorted boxes…but it was full of our stuff.  The kids had boxes of their toys, my sewing machines and fabrics (thank God since fabric here is $$$) Jeff’s medical reference books and our camping gear.  We had to laugh at some of the things we packed and talked about how knowing what we know now, we would have packed some things differently.  Katharine spent the evening dressing up in all of her various princess costumes and Max was in heaven playing with his big box of Legos.  I got busy making some throw pillows for the kids beds and Jeff finally had shoes and winter clothing (we didn’t think it would take quite this long to get to us!)

We are now focussed on making the space feel like our home and comfortable for our family.  Being a rental, it is very neutral – beige beige beige – and since we can’t paint, we are getting very creative in infusing color into the space.  This is not very hard to do in the bedrooms since we all got new colorful comforters (quilt covers actually, they use Duvets over here) and the bathrooms just need some towels and bath rugs.  I mentioned previously that we are going with a beach theme and I am loving the bright sunny primary colors throughout.  I have been working on a variety of embroidered wallhangings and have commissioned Jeff to do a series of paintings.  He is doing some “vintage” beach pictures that are turning out awesome.

The kids are excited about the prospect of having friends over.  In the small house, we didn’t have room to entertain (nor was there anything entertaining to do!) Katharine has a friend coming over on Thursday and I am sure that Max will be asking to have a friend over soon, too.

In addition to all of this, I applied for a part time position at the school, was hired and will start working on Thursday.  It is for two days as an SSO – Student Support Officer.  I will be helping out the teachers and students in the Middle and High School classes (wish me luck on Fridays when I am supposed to be in the Grade 11 Math class!)  The great thing about this job is that it allows me to work and have the same schedule as the kids.

I will have to admit that I have been very jeolous looking at everyone’s facebook summer fun photos and postings.  We are in the middle of winter here, and while very mild compared to Michigan standards (most adults have never seen snow), we have been experiencing Fall and Winter of some sort since September with no summer sun in sight until November.  Little things like going to the lake, visiting with neighbors, ice cream with friends and family, VBSs, day camps, lightning bugs,  even quick trips to MickeyDs are greatly missed.  You all be sure to pour yourselves a big icy drink, sit down, relax and enjoy a slice or two of summer for us!

Seems every area has it’s festival and The Copper Coast is no different.  The Copper Coast is comprised of Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta (for the Michigan folks, think Sturgis, White Pigeon and Centreville comprising one touristy area).  The Kernewek Lowender is the largest Cornish festival in the world and takes place here every odd year in May.  The aim of the  festival is to revive the traditions of the Cornish heritage of the Northern Yorke Peninsula.  Today, over 30,000 people flock to the Northern Yorke Peninsular to attend this cultural festival which is renowned for its many free events, street processions, church services and art and craft displays.

While there are events in each town over the course of the 6 days, each area has it’s one “highlight” day.  On Friday, Kadina hosted the “Furry Dance” (pronounced more like far-ee).  Katharine was lucky enough to be asked to join in the procession!  She was so excited!  All of the area schools work on the dance steps and then the girls and boys dress up in outfits that are similar to what they would have worn at the turn of the century.  The girls all had flower dresses with aprons and rings of flowers in their hair, while the boys wore caps, vests and trousers.  At the end of the parade is a fair area with rides, games and food booths.  The main staple food of the festival is the Cornish Pasty, and I did my part by eating one.  Following the Furry Dance parade and eating, girls from each school present traditional May Pole dances, with each featuring their school colors.  There were about 5 different dances they did with a variety of ribbon weavings on the pole.

Here is a short clip of Katharine in the parade.  Note that the music you hear went on over and over for about an hour all through town – I was humming it in my sleep I think!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h-WJBY2gNI

It is interesting to note that the pasty is a traditional Cornish meal primarily eaten by the miners.  The contents (potato, meat, carrots, onion and turnip) are wrapped into a pastry then folded so that there is a “handle” to eat it with.  The reason for the handle is that, the miners would hold the meal with as they ate it and then would throw that piece away, as their hands were covered in arsenic from mining.  That would probably explain why pasties are a popular food in the UP where copper mining also once took place.

On Saturday, we visited Moonta for their parade.  There were many floats, old cars and bands.  Most of the people were either dressed in old fashioned clothing or they wore the “colors” of the Cornish clan.  As the parade finished, everyone in town followed it to the Oval where the fair once again was set up.  On this particular day, there were family games people could sign up for.  You know me, I can’t pass up an opportunity to play games in front of complete strangers!  Katharine and I made a noble attempt in the Spoon Egg Race and I pushed Max and fast as I could in the wheel barrel race.  The kids were victorious in the Tug of War!  We all left with new water bottles, which are always handy.

I mentioned before that Sunday Mornings are not always as revered here as in the States and such was the case for festival.  At 10 AM, over 700 classic cars lined up in Wallaroo to do a parade around the area (over 2 hours through all 3 towns).  They all ended up at the Kadina Oval, where they were on display for the afternoon.  We went following church and enjoyed seeing all of the old Holdens, Fords, Dodges, Buicks, Chevies and other European cars.  Having been to many a car show with my parents,  it was very interesting to see the different versions of oldies.  If you are interested in seeing higlights, I have a 5 minute video on YouTube you can watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-12wqMU5_8   (please remember I am a VERY amateur videographer!)

In other news…Katharine has moved up to the First Grade which means she is in the same room as her brother.  She was needing a little more challenge than she was getting in her Reception class and thus far the move seems to be a great fit for her.

Max is enjoying Chess club.  Usually the kids have to be in Grade 3 to participate, but he is quite able to hold his own and has enjoyed learning some new strategies.  He also decided this week after watching his sister play field hockey that he would like to join in too.  I keep wondering which will be the first to get a tooth knocked out.

Jeff has been working 8 days straight…but will have 6 days off here soon (thank God!) He has experienced everything from slow days with only 3 patients to back to back heart attacks presenting where he is the one running the show.  He has also been running the Chemo clinic several days a week.  He is currently working on getting an approved formulary as he is still not allowed to prescribe meds, which is very restricting to his abilities to independantly function.

And me…I am keeping busy with some embroidery projects and making preperations for our move.  We will be moving into our newhome in 3 weeks.  I have chosen to embrace the fact that we live by the sea so am decorating the kids bath in sea creatures, another bath with beach theme and ours with nautical.  Max wants a pirate theme and Katharine is all about fairies.  I have started volunteering at the school as a Student Support Officer and am hoping to possibly get hired on for 2 days a week.  I have had the opportunity to have a “cuppa” with several of the ladies after we drop kids off from school and it has been nice to get to know the other moms better (and a chance to ask all those wierd “How do you or Where do you” questions I always seem to have!)

We think about our friends and family in “North America” often (that’s how the kids refer to home…I don’t know why.)  Y’all make sure and eat a hot dog and some potato salad for us over Memorial Day!

(Oh yeah – and if you just read this, please leave a comment – even if short – we just love to see who is following us and have some hello’s from home!)