At first it didn’t seem like there was anything worth writing about. But I know a lot of people are waiting to know how things are going for Cheryl and I on our trip to Australia. Actually just getting here has been a big relief after all the preparation it took to make it. We left our place at 6 AM on your Monday and after a stop in Seattle we got to LAX at 4:00 in the afternoon. We went out to dinner with Cheryl’s cousin Linda Kells, and left LA after midnight. Qantas was a good airline for us. We did get a seat next to a food service island that was good for extra snacks but bad for cold air from the coolers making it hard to sleep. We had an empty seat between us that helped. The in-flight movies were current. We watched Little Miss Sunshine and Cheryl watched Volver. There were also some good documentaries about Australia. I managed to sleep fairly well, Cheryl less so. We set down in Brisbane about 10:30 AM their time. It was almost 40 hours travel time by the time Larry Geno finished driving us up here.

If you are reading this off my website, we have managed to get back to Coffee Online, a fair dinkum Internet Café in Toowoomba. We are staying a few days with our old friends, Larry and Barbara Geno in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, about two hours into the interior of Australia. Toowoomba is a sizable town of about 150,000. This part of Queensland is suffering from a long drought. There has been some rain lately and since we arrived, but the ground is so dry, it will take torrents to soak it up again. Last night (March 1^st over here) there was a lightning storm over the nearby hills but only a little rain here. The temperatures have been hot during the day. Most people get up early to work outside and then come out again late. The animals do too.

Alright since I brought up animals, something Oz is known for, no, we have not seen a kangaroo or a wallaby yet. Reportedly they do come out and feed in the evening and early morning. We are sleeping in a little pop-up trailer and there was an animal that made noise outside the first night. It sounded like a loud coffee percolator. They say it was probably an opossum. This suburb is made up of 5 acre and bigger "executive estates". There are horses and reportedly cattle in two that adjoin this property. Some of the houses are very substantial. Many of the trees are 200 years old, a type of eucalyptus called "blood wood". Most trees here are some variety of what we would call eucalyptus, the Aussies call them "gums".

The loudest sounds are from birds. The loudest of them are sulfur-crested cockatoos. The magpies here have several wonderful calls. I’ll try to record them. There are parrots and lorakeets in the trees. A fruit bat with a 3 foot wingspan flew over last night. They are becoming endangered. They are related more closely to primates than to other bats.

We stopped at a fruit stand on our way from the airport to the Geno’s and bought a tray of mangos. Papayas, passion fruit, lychees, lili-pilies and many other fruits are in season. Gala apples, pears and peaches are also ripe, and several kinds of grapes. So we have been eating a lot of fresh fruit. Nothing officially organic, there are some organic foods here but very expensive. We did cook on the "barbie" last night. I cooked some steaks and zucchini.

We have been doing a lot of arranging to drive one of their vehicles around the country. It is a 2002 Nissan Patrol, a big SUV with both compressed natural gas and petrol as fuels. We will tow this little fold-down tent-trailer to camp in (it’s an Australian made A-Van). The SUV gets good mileage but barely fits on these narrow Aussie roads. We have been learning to drive on the left side of the road, getting insurance and a few other essentials. We plan to take a test run to Bunya National Park Sunday or Monday. Lammington National Park will wait for a few more days. I hope to meet with some fossickers (Australian Rock Hounds) next Tuesday. I’ll report back after that.

Hi, Cheryl here…I read through what Joe wrote and it seems pretty complete. I’ve been keeping a journal with more (probably unnecessary) details that don’t need to be put in here.

The one important message I have is that for some reason I haven’t been able to access my e mail. So, if you want to send me anything put my name in the subject line and use Joe’s Wildblue address. Not a great situation, that, but will attempt the "No worries" attitude "mates"!

Before we returned here to this Internet Café in Toowoomba, we followed the Geno’s (driving our loaner SUV…man, does it seem big!) in to the local fairgrounds buildings to a HUGE used book sale fund raiser for a group called Lifeline. Bought a few books in the "Australiana" aisle to pack around with us. We’ll borrow some of the Geno’s books (like the bird fieldguide). The feathered creatures here sure are a raucous bunch, but helps confirm our location Downunder! Still looking forward to sighting our first marsupial. But seeing a passion fruit trellised crop on our local walk was fun, too.

So…Gooday Mates from your sojourners on the other side of the planet!