Back to School

The girls started their first day of year 6 today! Of course in preparation we spent Sunday and Monday at the theme parks. Sunday was a day full of dolphins, sea lions, penguins, and rays at sea world. We saw the sea lions and dolphins show,and road up front on our favourite sea ride:

Jet Rescue. It was a blast!

Monday was spent at Wet N`Wild where we spent most of the day waiting in lines on the boiling hot cement. I must say that the highlight of my day was Wet n`Wild`s newest ride: The Aqua Loop. (http://wetnwild.myfun.com.au/en/Attractions/Rides/AquaLoop.aspx) The Aqua Loop is a water slide that starts off with you free falling through the clear tube then takes you through a full 360 degree loop. When you are at the top the lifeguards help you into a clear pod. Then an eerie female voice counts down "three, two, one", th

e floor drops from underneath you and then you soil yourself. Haha ok, maybe not but it was scary as! Of course, I`d do it again!

Now that I have weekdays free, I'm unsure as to what to do with my time. I have signed up to do child care for Mom's Morning Out at the church I've been attending. I would be doing that every second Thursday. I haven't heard any news from the lady in charge yet, so I hope that it works out. Other than that I may be looking after Declan on Tuesdays. I've been starting a bit of a job search mainly childcare, cleaning or waitressing, so hopefully I find something soon so I don't get too bored (and make a bit of extra $ for traveling).

As for tomorrow: IT'S AUSTRALIA DAY! (January 26th) We'll be taking out Steve's boat, and enjoying the sun and sea! Then we'll spend the evening with Monique's family having a birthday BBQ for Monique's nephew and sister in-law.

So... in case you forgot (in which case I hope that for you own good you didn't) it's my birthday this Saturday! I'll be leaving Thursday afternoon to go up to Cairns for the weekend! The weather looks good so far, so hopefully I'll spend the weekend exploring the Great Barrier Reef and dodging crocks on the beach.

OMG! Oprah's big secret!!!! ...

I wish I was Oprah's half sister!!!!!!

And I hope everyone has been watching Oprah's Australian special! It's been a pretty huge deal around here.

Queensland floods 2011

As you may have heard there is serious flooding here in Queensland. If you haven`t well then check it out it`s pretty darn bad. I spent half of my trip in Sydney trying to get updates on the situation in Brisbane. By the time Friday came around the airport (thankfully) was still open and I was able to make it back to Brisbane without any troubles. I arrived in Brissy only a few hours after the river crested and thankfully the water was a whole meter lower than predicted. We spent the day driving around and scoping out a street in Kenmore that needed some serious cleanup. Steve and I went out the next day (Saturday) to help with cleanup. We took the water semi and all the hoses. We left the house at 4:30am and got there by 5:30 am. Steve spent the first few hours hosing off the road to prevent anymore mud from being tracked into the homes, while I used a 5000 ppi pressure washer to clean out the bottom level of a home. The homes down that street are all two levels and they were only flooded one the first level. After I had cleaned out the home Steve disinfected it chlorine. We spent a major part of the afternoon hosing out the underbelly of a home right on the river. After a 12 hour day of non-stop work we had hosed out 3 homes, the road, and disinfected 4 homes.

The work was very difficult, but it was good to be a part of the clean up. I could really feel the Aussie spirit as volunteers came from all over to help, and people brought us sandwiches, treats, and drinks. Please keep the people of Queensland in your thoughts and prayers as they clean up and rebuild.

As for our home, it`s completely fine. Capalaba has been untouched which has been a real

blessing.

As an extra: my rav4 broke down today after delivering water hoses to the flooded Rocklea Markets so I spent my morning waiting for a tow truck to arrive. The badly damaged areas are overridden with traffic trying to get in and out with volunteers, trucks and supplies, therefore making the traffic jams insane.

My week in Sydney

While the girls spent two weeks at their mother`s I hopped on a train and made my way down to Sydney. During my 13 hours on the Country Link train from Brisbane to Sydney I met a group of New Zealanders, saw the beautiful Aussie countryside and saw a trampoline set up on a hill at a 40 degree angle (quite odd).

(performers at the Sydney Festival)

Once in Sydney I saw all the sights: Bondi Beach, the Opera house, New South Wales Art Gallery, the Harbor Bridge, the Sydney Markets

, China Town, and last but not least the Olympic Park.

I was also able to explore a few suburbs where I was staying (Waverton, Lidcombe, Ashfield, and New Town). My

favourite of these was Newtown. It was filled with Thai restaurants, 2nd hand book shops, hippy boutiques, and even a bike library!

Lucky for me I arrived in Sydney in time for the kick off of the Sydney Festival. I was able to take in a few free concerts and enjoy downtown city. I even scored a few freebies from my bank ANZ who was sponsoring the event.

(View of the Opera House from the bridge)

That was my trip to Sydney in a nut shell. Hopefully I`ll get a chance to go back again yet during my travels!

(Kangaroo Pizza)

what`s new...

Last week was flurry of post Christmas shopping, playing with Christmas gifts and rain. The girls, Declan and I spent the lone sunny/hot day on the beach at Wynnum. It was great because they have a giant pool filled with sand and sea water, so it`s like swimming in the ocean, but without the dangers of waves, currents and wild life (great for the kids!). I had two evenings out as well, where I managed to make a few more Aussie friends. It was nice to see a bit more of Brisbane and spend time with people my age.

We spent New Years Eve at South Bank in Brisbane. We went for the 8:30 fireworks which were beautiful but apparently the midnight ones kick the early one`s butt. I`m pretty sure I was in bed and asleep by 10:00. Then I was rudely awoken by the loud bang of fireworks at midnight! What I party pooper I am eh? Oh well, next year I'll do better, I promise.

The girls left on New Years Day to spend two weeks with their mother. After two hours without the girls I found myself quite bored and unsure what to do, so i dyed my hair. This week has been nice and relaxed so far. I`ve done some house cleaning and yard work, swam in the pool, read The Lost Symbol, watched 2 foreign films (The Edukators and Jeux D'enfants) I recommend both. I`ve also gotten to spend more time than usual with Declan which has been a blast!

As for this comming week without the girls: I`m off to Sydney!!!

I`ll be sure to write about my adventures there as soon as I return to my home in Capalaba.

And the picture... yes it is a BBQ set to make beer bird. There's no better way to cook a chicken then to but a beer up its bum.

Ta-ta for now!