A Few Ramblings

Close up of the cactus flower

At our house in Kunghur we have two large cactus plants. I have no idea what type of cactus they are, but find it very strange that they grow right next to rainforest plants! One evening recently I was on the front porch and noticed the cactus had produced many flowers and they only opened up at night. It was a treat to see the blossoms, but they only lasted about one week before they all fell off.

Smaller cactus outside the front door in October, and below the same cactus in bloom in December

The cows continue to entertain us daily as they hang out in the pasture that surrounds our house. At times there are 40-50 cows grazing, dozing, or just watching us inside our fence and house. It is not uncommon to sit on the toilet and notice there is a cow watching you! The calves are our favorites. The mother cows and calves are closely bonded and they take turns taking care of the calves as they form a "nursery". One or two mothers stay with the calves while the rest are nearby grazing. It is very sad to hear and see the emotional pain they go through when they are taken away (?to McDonalds?)

Front gate onlookers

They love hanging out at our front gate.

One small "nursery"

Another one..

Happy New Year's 2009

We celebrated New Year's in Bollywood style this year at a lovely private party up in the hills, overlooking the local mountains. We had a great night of delicious, fresh homemade Indian food and delightful encounters with new and "old" friends.

After several nights behind the clouds, the full, "blue" moon popped out five minutes before midnight and shone her gorgeous light on all of us.

Blessings to each and every one of you and may you have a fantastic, healthy and happy 2010!

Aussie Dishwasher!

Hmm..... Susan wanted a dishwasher, but this was the best I could do! Pray for heavy rains when you have dirty dishes :) .

Ten Days in Oz With Kari!

When airfares dipped into an affordable range last spring, my niece Kari and I picked a time for her to visit the Land of Oz. Kari is in nursing school in Washington state and her free time is very limited, but she had a 10-day window right before Christmas. I was so excited to have Kari come and visit us!

The first 4 days Kari was here we went camping at Byron Bay. Susan's dear friend Monique spends the same week in Byron every year with her kids. This was Susan's third year with them, and Kari and I were invited to join. We had a great time suntanning, swimming, eating, walking, talking, visiting beautiful beaches and partaking in a little partying, too.

With Jonah's death and Kari's mother's death (my sister) just 11 months apart, Kari and I have taken each other on. It is a nice gift to have Kari in my life.

OK, some photos...

We spent one evening at the local pub in Uki to give Kari an authentic Aussie pub experience. We had a great time introducing her to some friends, drinking, and as much as I hate to admit it, doing a little dancing once the inhibitions were released with a few beers. Pool shark Susan held onto the table until she was too tired to beat anyone else!

Kari, our friend Gary and new friend Nick outside the Uki pub.

Susan and Kari enjoying (to say the least!) 80s music. (You had to be there!)

Stokers Siding friend Sonja, Susan and Melonie at the pub

The next day we visited the village of Nimbin, not far from us. Still a bit of a social experiment in the open use of marijuana, although there are police who patrol the town and things are changing there. Interesting place to visit for the morning!

Well, on the way home from Nimbin, we stopped at the local veggie market for eggs and ended up staying as there was a great tribal reggae band playing at the cafe next door. We eventually made it home three hours later!

Then on to Australian Zoo on the Sunshine Coast. The zoo is owned and run by Steve Irwin's family. It's a wonderful zoo even if you don't like zoos. The animals are the priority there and they have two workers for every animal!

Kari trying to escape the big hungry salty on the way out of the zoo. (There were many kids waiting, but the adults had to take a turn, too!)

Me and a roo... so very soft (the roo is soft)!

Our feet got really sore, so we resorted to taking the tram. YEA! We were a happy trio.

Now back to the beach! Susan and myself at Flat Rock, just south of Byron Bay. It has beautiful tide pools.

Kari talking to a "hottie surfer dude" on the beach at Tallows.

Beautiful Kari in the tide pools at Flat Rock.

The trio -- Susan, Kari and myself at Tallows. We cannot show you our topless photos, of course!

We have many more photos and stories, but just know I cannot wait until Kari returns and I know she feels the same. Who knows, maybe once she has her RN license she could work here, too?

Hot Days

Early December brought the heat of hell upon us! We live in a gorgeous location, but the house sits in a little bit of a depression and the breeze is blocked frequently. So when the temperature climbed into the 40s Celsius (104 Farenheit!) we really started to melt.

On one day, the temperature outside reached 48 degrees (118.4 F) and it was 40 inside! We spent the days wearing wet sarongs and putting our heads inside the freezer. Yes, it's true! We even spent part of one day sitting in the car with the air conditioner running!

It was unfortunate timing when Susan developed a cold and started running a fever. I drove to Tweed Heads and bought a portable aircon for the bedroom. What a difference it made. (And yes, Susan did get better.) The heat and humidity were finally broken by huge rains. Yea! The beginning of the wet season was finally here! We'd had no rain for nearly 8 weeks and the lawn and plants were dying. We were so excited to see the rain as our water supply had reached critically low levels and we had no water for any plants. Domestic queens that we are, we celebrated by doing tons of laundry!