September 4, 2015

It has been too long since I updated my blog.  I just realized it has been 4 months which have flown past.  We had a real cold snap in July that lasted a couple of weeks.  Since then the weather has been pretty good.  I was afraid the cold snap would last through my families visit but we had really nice weather.  The sun was out everyday they were here and rained the afternoon they left. 

Denise, Zane, Ky, Gabi, Kiera, Brett, Meredith and Paige all came on the same flight that arrived on Wednesday the 29th of July.  I was able to spend the two weeks they were here with them.  The missionaries in the Mission Office covered for me and I am really grateful for them.  Meredith had rented a house here in Brisbane that slept 10 people so we had plenty of room. 

We spent 4 days visiting numerous sites in the city of Brisbane and Brisbane area.  We visited the  Brisbane Botanical Gardens, walked along the Brisbane River, visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, climbed the Story Bridge, visited the Town Hall Museum, walked through Southbank, drove north to Mary Cairnscross Reserve in the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands.

 Ky and Gabi with their friend at the Lone Pine Koala Sactuary

Denise with her friend. 

Gabi, Ky, Denise, Zane and Kiera with their Koala friend. 

Brett, Paige and Meredith with their Koala friend.

We got up, close and personal with the kangaroos.  Everyone had a fabulous time feeding the kangaroos and wallabies.  There was a mom with her Joey in her pouch and all you could see was the back legs and tail.  We had pictures with the Koala Bears.  Paige held the Koala with Brett and Meredith in the picture.  Denise held the Koala for their family picture.  After the pictures we enjoyed the Koala presentation.  Also visited the Platypus presentation and Tasmanian Devils feeding.  We spent some time walking through the reserve and enjoyed all the amazing Australian animals before the Sheep Dog Show and shearing of a sheep exhibition.  Last but not least was the feeding of the Laurakeets.  Everyone had a turn holding the feeding containers.  We were surrounded by the beautiful but noisy parrots.
 

 Story Bridge Climb - Brisbane City Center and Brisbane River in the background.  This is the highest point on the bridge.

Our next adventure was climbing the Story Bridge. The Story Bridge here in Brisbane is one of three bridges in the world that you can legally climb.  I have wanted to climb it ever since I arrived here.  Everyone but Denise was up for the climb.  The entire experience is two hours.  You are given a special jump suit, harness and lanyard for your glasses.   You are not allowed to take anything up on the bridge with you as a safety factor.  It would not be good to lose something that would fall onto the traffic going across the bridge.  You have to walk along a grated walkway to get to the bridge.  This part of the climb bothered me when I looked down onto the street once on the bridge I was good.  The climb consists of a long climb to the highest point of the bridge down to the middle of the bridge which is the middle of the Brisbane River across the bridge to the other side back up to the highest point then back down to the start.  All the way we were attached to the bridge by our harness.  The tour guide was really good and gave us a lot of history about the River and Brisbane.  Everyone had a great climb.  The guide was good about giving us rest times as we climbed.  I would encourage you to climb a bridge if you have one in your area which allows it.  I do know the second bridge is in Sydney but don’t know where the third bridge is.  Tick that off my bucket list.

Mary Cairncross Reserve is about an hours drive north of Brisbane.  It is a rainforest reserve.  It is the fourth time I have been there and have never been disappointed.  It is an easy walk through the rainforest.  We saw a number of Pademelon (small wallabies) along the walk.  The trees and their root systems are magnificent. We saw fruit bats hanging in the trees, and were serenaded by the birds - the Kookaburras were really loud, the Whip Bird (their calls sound like a bull whip) were letting us know they were there too.  After our tour of the rainforest we drove to Maleny and had lunch.  The drive was spectacular as you drive the ridge of the mountain and have a spectacular view of both sides.  There were a couple of view points where we stopped to view the marvelous valleys.






On Monday August 3 we all headed North our final destination Airlie Beach.  Airlie Beach is about halfway between Brisbane and Cairns.   A full day of driving and we arrived at the Capricorn Caves where we toured the caves and spent the night in some really nice cabins.   Each cabin could sleep 4 or 5 people.  They had a full kitchen, lounge with TV and two bedrooms.  I was impressed that they were so nice.  The caves are about an hour west of Rockhampton. The tour of the caves was good, the guide gave us a lot of history about the caves and a great description of the inside of the cave.  The fern in the picture only grows in a very few places in the world and here in the cave is one of those places.



The caves were discovered by the sons of a man who lived nearby.  Here is the story of the discovery.  A man who lived near them had two sons.  The horses got loose so the boys were sent to fetch them.  As boys do they became distracted chasing brush turkeys through the woods.  One disappeared and the boys found it had gone into the caves.  They immediately ran to tell their father who came with a rope.  He tied it to a tree and went into the cave to explore with only a candle.  He left the matches outside because of the moisture in the cave from the bat Guano(pooh) which was over a meter deep.  Each time his candle went out he had to return to the entrance to relight it.  He crawled thru all the bat guano (pooh) to explore the caves.  He realized he had a great find and made a claim on the land.  Before it was grated a government official had to survey the land to determine there was nothing of value on it.  He made sure that the surveyor came on a very hot day and started him at the far end of the property before he reached the caves and that sis exactly what happened.  In the early 1900's people from all around came to see the caves dressed in their finery to go through the bat guano.  The owner finally let miners come in to remove the guano for fertilizer.  So no guano(pooh) now, only hard rock.        

It was really dark so we were able to see the Australian sky in all is glory.  It was spectacular with the milky way right above us. We also saw the Southern Cross on the horizon.







Another long day in the car through the beautiful countryside of Queensland.  We drove through forest, sugar cane fields, hills and valleys.  We saw a few kangaroos along the way more on the road than in the fields.  They are like deer and come out in the evening and night to feed, venture onto the road and get hit by the cars and trucks.  We arrived at Airlie Beach house  about 3PM.  The house overlooked the bay and was about 4 blocks from town.  We walked down to the beach and picked up shells.  There is a beautiful park all along the bay with a wadding pool for children.  The town was about six blocks long with a variety of stores and restaurants.   Denise made reservations for the next day for the Great Barrier Reef Adventure on the Cruise Whitsunday.









The boat departed for our Great Barrier Reef Adventure at 8:00 AM.  The cruise included a stop at Hamilton Island to pick up passengers, morning tea of fruit and biscuits, buffet lunch, afternoon tea of muffins on the return.   The boat took us to a pontoon that was anchored at one of the reefs.

Brett and Meredith signed up for a scuba dive.  The rest of us went snorkeling.  I went with Paige.  We had hoped to take the submersible first but were too late for the first run so got our wet suits and changed then picked up our flippers and snorkel gear.  Paige brought her own snorkel which closes up when it goes under water.  Sure wish I had one.  I swallowed salt water at least twice once when I put my head too far down and once from the wave action.  The was a swell of about a foot.  The reef was beautiful and I saw a few fish but we were not in very long.  I made the mistake of using a noodle instead of a life jacket.  I could have stayed in longer with a life jacket.  Paige is like a fish in the water.  The water did not seem all that cold when we got in but we were all cold when we got out for lunch.  No one went back in once we were out.  We did take the submersible and had a good look at the reef after lunch.  Just before we were to start back I saw a big sea turtle swimming next to the pontoon.  I called my Brett over and we got some good pictures of him.  It was a really rough ride back.  We were all glad to be on firm ground.

 Roped off area was snorkeling area.  Ropes were for resting.








Denise, Kiera and Paige soaking up the sun.

A friendly Sea Turtle














Sunset at Airlie Beach on our return from our Great Barrier Reef Adventure.














Four Kookaburras in the tree at the trail head.







Friday August 7 we headed back to Brisbane.  Denise and family were planning on visiting Eungella National Park to see the platypus. We also went to Eungella National Park to see the platypus.  We stood on the bridge and watched the platypus in the river.  They were amazing.  They are much smaller than I thought.  We were told that they close their eyes and ears underwater.  They swing their heads back and forth to find their food with whiskers (feelers) on their bills.  Brett, Meredith, Paige and I stopped at French Hatton Gorge before going to the bridge.  We hiked 2.8 kilometers to the first falls.  It was all uphill.  Brett, Mer and Paige walked 410 M further to the creek crossing.  I returned to the car and enjoyed the walk back down.  Going down was a much easier walk.

The Waterfall we hiked to. 






The uphill trail to the waterfall.

 

I made it with Brett, Meredith and Paige.  It was a beautiful waterfall.  A hiker who came after us swam to the waterfall and immediately got out.  It was really cold.

Platypus in the river.

Our destination for the night was Mackay.  We had made no plans with Denise’s family .  Just before we arrived Denise called to ask if we had left some tennis shoes in Airlie Beach.   During the call Meredith found out we were staying at the same motel.  They waited for us and we went to dinner together. 


The next morning we both packed our cars and continued our journey.  We went to Oscar’s for brekky.  As we were sitting there who should arrive but Denise and her family.  Who would have guessed we would pick the same restaurant for brekky. 
                               
We split up at this point and we went to the Mackay Marina to see the horse races on the beach.  Lots of people dressed in their finest with their fasinators on their heads.  Little kids all dressed up as well.  We watched three races.  The most entertaining was the ponies.  We left Mackay about 1PM heading for Gladstone.  We arrived about 7PM.  We saw a number of live kangaroos on our drive.

Our next stop was  Rainbow Beach.  It is a cute little town on the beach.  We drove down to the end of the peninsula where the ferries load up to go to Frazier Island.  We had a nice afternoon walking on the beach and through the  Mangrove trees.  As we were on the beach three pelicans came up onto the beach.  Here they are them marching down the beach.  They were so close.  I have never seen them up so close.

Monday August 10, 2015 I went to work.  Brett, Meredith and Paige went to Costco to purchase lollies (candy) to take home.  They also bought salads and lamb chops for a family dinner.  In the afternoon they rented paddle boards and paddled up the river.  Brett was set on paddling under the Story Bridge so he could say he had been on top of it, driven over it and paddled under it.  They had a great time.

Denise and her family arrived just before 6:00 PM.  Brett helped me cook the lamb on the BBQ out by the pool.  We had a lovely dinner.  For dessert we had a Mango Passion Fruit cake to celbrate Brett’s  Happy Birthday, Denise and Zane’s Anniversary  and Ky’s graduation with a degree in Economics.  When my back was turned they placed a huge chocolate cake on the bar with a birthday card for me as my birthday was the day after they left.

The last day they were here I took the day off to go to the Stradbroke Island with the Clark family.  I was suppose to follow Zane because he had the GPS but I lost him.  Kiera was with me.  I had a general idea of where I was to go but we had taken the no toll route through the city.  It took me a while but I finally found the Old Cleveland Road which was the road I needed.  It took us directly to the ferry landing where the rest of the family was waiting and hoping we would make it in time for the 10:55 ferry. 

We even had to wait for the ferry.  It was a pleasant ferry ride over and the bus was waiting for us to take us to Lookout Point on the North East side of the island.  We walked the path around the south and north gorges.  We saw whales spouting, a good number of dolphins and the girls were able to sun bath on the beach. 

Wednesday morning we all went to the airport for their flight home.  I went back to work to greet the new missionaries coming in that day.   Everyone arrived home safely and I am back to my routine taking care of the flats in Queensland. 

It was wonderful to spend time with my kids here in Australia.  The Australians are very nice and helpful and they made our trip enjoyable.

Spring has arrived and the weather is warming up.  Before I know it it will be time to get on a plane and head back to Washington.  Two Single Senior Sisters have been called to replace us.  They are scheduled to arrive on December 27.  My companion is leaving on the 24th as she is taking a tour of Tasmania and her visa expires on December 30.  My visa is good until June so I am staying to help train the sisters and get them settled.  I my take a bus tour of  New Zealand.  I don’t think I will be back here again so need to take advantage while here.

It has been a marvelous experience here in Australia and I am so grateful I could share a part of it with my family.  It will be time to move on before I know it.  Time flies when life is good.......

Winter in Australia

July 15, 2015

The days and weeks are just flying by.  I cannot believe it has been two months since I posted anything to the blog. I was in the Juneau Airport when I posted my last blog.  I flew to Seattle, rented a car and drove to Poulsbo to see Brett, Meredith and Paige.  It was a very short visit as I left Seattle the afternoon of May 14th, flew to Los Angles to catch the 11:15 flight on New Zealand air for the 13 hour flight to Aukland, New Zealand.  I had a 2 hour lay over before catching a flight to Brisbane.  I can now say I have been to New Zealand although all I saw was the airport.   I arrived in Brisbane on Saturday, May 16 at 11:15 AM. 

Sister Parsons picked me up at the airport.  The Assistants to the President had told her they needed to talk with me about transfers because they were returning home on Monday and new Assistants would be called to work with the Mission President.   We went to the Mission Office so they could update me on flats that would be vacated and new flats that would be needed.

I had thought the transfers had happened while I was in Alaska but they were the week I returned to the Mission Office.  So I did not miss the fun of welcoming the new missionaries into the Australia Brisbane Mission. 

Lamb on the Barbee

May 23, 2015 Sister Parsons and I went to the Paniyiri Greek Festival held at Musgrave Park. It was the 39th year for the festival.  There were many food booths sponsored by a number of Greek churchs throughout the Brisbane area.  There were a number of activities: food, dance, wine, music, cultural lectures, eating competitions, plate smashing, church displays, Zorba traditional Greek cooking demos, fireworks and more.  We attended several cooking demos and then bought our lunch of Greek food at one of the many booths selling food.  The picture is of a lamb being roasted at one of the booths.  When we first arrived there were a lot of people roaming around the park but when we came out of the food demos the park was a sea of people.  It was hard to move from one place to another.  It is a very popular festival.  I had not idea there were so many people of Greek heritage in Brisbane.

 



 Here are two pictures of the beautiful sunsets we get here in Brisbane.  I thought the clouds were very Interesting in the one to the left.













This one is a bit dark but it was a beautiful sunset.









On May 30th we took another trip to Bribie Island to check out things for my family to do when they come this month.  Bribie is the only island that has a bridge to it.  We found a company that has kayaks, stand up paddle boards, segways, and bikes for hire.  We drove across the island to have a picnic lunch and ran across a senior couple who were there with their son and daughter-in-law.  We enjoyed visiting with them, sitting on the beach and reading.  The sky divers were out landing just down the beach from us.  It was a very relaxing afternoon. 

A senior couple from St. George are serving here in Brisbane.  They sing in the Southern Heritage Choir in St. George.  They proposed beginning a choir here in Brisbane.  It was approved by the Stake Presidents so Sister Gill went to the US to talk with the choir and learn just how it functioned.  She returned and began soliciting singers from the church and community.  This began in April and in June they performed on two weekend and gave amazing performances.  They are called the Voices of Brisbane.  They are scheduled to perfom again in October.  Sister Gill is the conductor and has an amazing ability to pull the best out of each choir member.  You can see the love she has for music as she conducts.  Watching her and listening to the choir is a joy. 

June 23rd was the beginning of the Australia Brisbane Mission Tour by Elder Pearson, President of the Asia Pacific Area.  All the missionaries from Northern Queensland were flown to Brisbane for the Tuesday meeting.  The Senior Missionaries had dinner with Elder Pearson and his wife at the Mission home.  The seniors in Brisbane prepared soup, salad and desert for the meal.  Everyone had a great time and enjoyed getting to know Elder Pearson and his wife.  Ten years  ago Elder Pearson was the Mission President for the Washington Federal Way Mission and was over the missionaries in Poulsbo, Wa.  It was great to talk with them about Washington.  They loved it there but now they are living in Auckland, New Zealand. 

3rd Zone Meeting

Elder Pearson and his wife spoke at two more meetings with the missionaries here in Brisbane.  He and his wife are very motivational and knowledgeable speakers.  They know the Gospel, love the Lord and care about all of our Heavenly Father’s children.  They had great council for all the missionaries.  The pictures are of all those who attended each of the three meetings.   President and Sister Henderson are in he center of each picture and Elder and Sister Pearson are to the right of them as you look at the picture.





So this brings us up to the 4th of July.  Elder & Sister Mickelsen, Sister Parsons and myself wanted to do something for the 4th of July.  We invited all the other seniors in Brisbane to join us if they liked.  They all were happy to join us.  We decided to go to a small island just off the coast called Coochiemudlo Island.  It is a small island with a little over 400 homes and under a thousand residents.  There are no schools on the island.  The children take the ferry to Brisbane (Victory Point) every day to school at no cost.  Many residents keep a car on the Brisbane side instead of paying for it everyday.  The island is small enough you can walk around it.  Lt. Mathew Flinder RN was the first European to set foot on Coochiemudlo Island. He landed his sloop, the Norfolk, on the 19th of July 1799. It had been known to generations of Aborginal families as Kuych Mudlo, the place where they obtained red ochre stones used as body decoration and as red pigment for shields and skin.   Every year they celebrate Flinders Day with a parade and craft fair that is well attended by mainlanders.

Seniors on Coochiemudlo Island

Walk thru Wetlands

Seniors as we gathered on Choociemudlo Island on the 4th of July.














Some of you will recognize this name as a company in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Flower along trail

                                                                                                       



                              
 A beautiful flower along the trail.  It seems to us that flowers  bloom here every month of the year.   Sister Parsons has been affected by allergies since we arrived.  We are very observant of any new bloom.                                                                                        
  

Believe this is a tribute to a Aboriginal

We came across this memorial on our walk in the wetlands.

Strange Fungus on TreE

We had lunch at the Red Rock café then walked part-way around the island.  On our walk we met a local resident who gave us a lot of history and was very interesting.  She was on her way to crash a beach picnic.  The island has some very interesting trees, flowers and a nice beach all the way around.

We arrived home after dark so Elder and Sister Mickelsen, Sister Parsons and I lit off sparklers to celebrate our countries birthday.  It was a perfect end of the 4th of July. 

4th of July Seniors in Brisbane, QLD, Australia

From left to right: Elder & Sister Mickelsen, Elder & Sister Madsen, Elder & Sister Johnson, Elder & Sister Richins, Elder & Sister Mizakawa, and Sister Parsons.

Mackay Family heading for Church

Father with Tripletts

I had to share these pictures of a family in Mackay.  We should have no excuse for not getting to church.  This family is a great example for all of us.  All children are six and under.

























My family arrives in 14 days.  I am so excited to have them here.  We are going to have a great time.  You will see and hear about the time together in the next blog.

I hope you enjoy the journey in this blog...... 

Suprises of Life.....

May 4, 2015

So much has happened since my last post......  We have had new missionaries come into the mission, we have taken a trip up to the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands with Elder and Sister Mickelsen and I am currently in Alaska helping my daughter who had major back surgery for a herniated disk.  I will be returning to Australia in another week or so.....

Moolooaba Beach

The last comment on the previous blog was about the trip to inspect a couple of flats the mission was closing.  One was about an hour north of our residence.  After we inspected it we drove over to Moolooaba on the coast.  There we found a beautiful long beach.  We took a long walk in and out of the water.

 

Beach Dancers

Along the way we came across a group of people dancing on the beach.  They appeared to be having a great time.  I was tempted to join in.  Then we came across a sand Giant taking a nap on the beach.  The beach also has a wonderful boardwalk with many restaurants, clothing shops, souvenior shops, ice cream shops, etc.  It was too late to do much shopping as everything closes down at 5 or 5:30 on Saturdays except the restaurants who open at 5:30 or six.  It was an amazing beach that we want to revisit.  Much more family friendly than the Gold Coast Strip to the South.

Giant Sand Man

No Spring in My Legs

Amazing Companion

 On April 18th Sister Parsons and I took Elder and Sister Mickelson to the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands.  They had never been up to see the Glass Mountains, or Mary Cairnscross Reserve (rain forest).  We drove to Melany first and toured the Botanical Garden (Sister Parsons and I had not visited it before) We saw some amazing plants and flowers plus a beautiful view of the Glass Mountains.  The big purple chair is supposedly the largest chair in Australia and they are in the process of building an even bigger chair.  This garden is privately owned and operated and they have done an amazing job.

Lilly Tomlin Double

Pond

Amazing Plant

Ginny Hens

 Next we went to find the Melany creamery which was suppose to have wonderful soft serve ice cream.  They did have ice cream in cups which was really expensive but no cones which is what we were looking for.  Our next stop was the Cheese factory where we were able to taste a number of unusual cheeses.  I found one I really liked called Tuscan.  It is really delicious hope it is still good when I get back.  There menu said they had milk shakes so we ordered four milk shakes to our amazement they were flavored milk which had been beaten in a blender.  Could not identify any ice cream in any of them.  Great disappointment.....

Elder & Sister Mickelsen

 Our next stop was the Mary Cairscross Reserve.  It was my third visit and each one gets better.  Part of the trail was closed because the huge fig tree is in danger of falling and they are trying to figure out a way to protect it and keep it upright.  It will be a shame if they cannot save it because it is hundreds of years old.  Because of this we walked a different part of the path than I had before.  We met some people on the trail who told us there were a number of Pattimelons up the trail.  They are a part of the kangaroo family.  The smallest and have red ears.  We were on the lookout and saw several along the trail and next to the trail.  As we rounded a corner I saw one standing in the middle of the trail and there was a baby beside it.  Mom took off and it took a minute for the baby to follow.  We almost got a picture of it but not quite.  He stopped just off the trail so we got to see him up close but he did not stick around.  He hopped over and climbed into Mom’s pouch.  How amazing was that to watch...... We were really disappointed we did not get his picture.  I was able to get a couple of pictures of one along the side of the trail.  He is really hard to see but he is in the center of the picture.  He is looking to the right......

Patemelon

 The Monday following Easter Sunday is called Smyngus Dingus in Poland.  We decided to bring a little of Poland to Australia and surprise our Office Missionaries.  In Poland it means water day.  You never know when someone might come after you with water in any container.  We forgot to buy balloons so used sandwich baggies filled with water.  Our intention was not to hit them but just throw water in their direction.  They were surprised and some joined in as missionaries came to the office.  Senior missionaries can have fun.......

Smyngus Dingus - a bit of Poland in Australia

Denise hurt her back in March and the last week in April had surgery for a herniated disk.  The surgery went well and she is recovering but I was not staying in Australia while my daughter had major surgery.  I left Brisbane at 10:50 AM on Saturday April 25th arriving at Los Angeles at 6:30 AM on Saturday April 25th.  Denise had arranged a flight from LAX to Juneau for me.  I had about a 5 hour layover in Los Angeles.  I had frozen the whole flight so was hoping to warm up in Los Angeles but no such luck.  It was a cloudy cold day.  I arrived in Seattle in time to get a bowl of Ivar’s Clam Chowder before the flight to Juneau.  It was soooooo good and helped warm me up.

My granddaughter, Kiera was coming home from BYU and we flew to Juneau on the same flight.  It was great to catch up with her.

Classic Queenslander

I have wanted to share the Queenslander homes with you for some time.  This distinctive tradition originated with rough timber huts of early settlement and developed into the multi-gabled bungalows of the 1930s. Buildings continued until, and were adapted after, the Second World War.  The most typical early twentieth century Queensland house is characterised by:

    timber construction with corrugated-iron roof;
    highset on timber stumps;
    single-skin cladding for partitions and sometimes external walls;
    verandahs front and/or back, and sometimes the sides;
    decorative features to screen the sun or ventilate the interior; and
    a garden setting with a picket fence, palm trees and tropical fruit trees.

There are many styles of the famous 'Queenslander', but they share a distinct construction style, internal spaces, furnishing, and gardens. They are now valued as a key element of Queensland heritage and conservation and renovation of Queenslanders is widespread.  I understand they were originally built up off the ground to help keep them cool with the air circulation under the house.  There are so many examples of the Queenslander in and around Brisbane as well as throughout Queensland.  I love the looks of them and the iron work is beautiful around the windows and porches. 

Australia Landscape

While I have been gone I understand Queensland has had some terrible rain with flash floods.   I am glad I missed it but am sorry for those who have been affected by the bad weather.

To close out this blog here are three pictures of Alaska:  the Mendenhall Glacier with the Mendenhall Lake in the foreground,  Mendenhall Lake with icebergs from the glacier, and a creek that runs into Mendenhall Lake.  The beaver have damed the creek so it has backed up and killed the trees.

Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Lake Icebergs

Duck Creek 

I will be forever grateful to the Area Presidency, my Mission President and the Lord for the opportunity to come to Alaska and help my daughter.  I know the Lord loves me, my family and all his children and he does bless us everyday.

PS:  I am sitting in the Juneau Alaska airport awaiting my flight to Seattle.  It is the beginning of the long trek back Down Under.   Denise is doing very well and will recover fully.  She just needs to take it easy for the next four to six weeks, no bending, twisting or picking up heavy items.   How very grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us and our needs....

May the Lord bless each of You........ Until the next Blog from sunny Brisbane......