Hello all,
Yes, it’s been a few weeks since our last update and we apologize. It seems this thing called life sort of got in the way.
Since our last update we have experienced multiple festivals specifically the Teneriffe, and Medieval festivals. The Teneriffe celebrates the wool industry here in Queensland Australia. The festival is only a couple of years old. The Medieval Festival is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and is one of the largest in the world. Not sure of the numbers but I believe more than 100,000 attended last year. In the 2 days we went I could say that number is probably about right. There was a lot of people and it was large. There was so much to do and see that in 2 days we barely got it all in. It was amazing, Matt enjoyed it so much he wants to join one of the local reenactment groups.
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We had a visitor from the US for 2 weeks, a friend of Tori’s from back on Kwaj came from San Diego to visit. During her visit we took the opportunity to go on a whale watching trip, travel up to Noosa National Park and Eumundi Markets, and do a little travelling out west.
There are the usual events that take place during the normal work week with school, work, appts, etc. Of course this was slightly added to with Matt pulling a muscle or ligament in his back and I had a couple of flare-ups with the back issues that seemed to have been silent during the past few years. And let us not for get Lizzie (11) and Tori’s (15) birthdays, and Matts who will turn 14 next week.
Winter here has been great. We have struggled to find ways of dealing with the daytime temps of around 70 degrees or warmer and the nighttime temps of around 45-50. There have been a few days where it was somewhat chilly but they could be counted on one hand. It is very interesting to walk around the city and see one individual bundled up as if were sub-zero and the person walking right behind them in an outfit made for summer. It is just fascinating. The conversations regarding the winter temperatures are just as intriguing as well. Oh well, I guess if we stay for a couple of years we would be just like that as well. Oh wait, Cathy was like that on our ways to work bundled up and talking about how cold it was outside. She said she is becoming acclimated.
During the winter months the lack of rain is very evident. I believe we have seen less than a half an inch of rain during the last 8 to 10 weeks. Everything is beginning to show the effects and numerous wildfires have started up in and around Brisbane. It seems this area is quite notorious for the dry weather during the winter months. We would like to see rain, but not in the manner as we saw last summer.
Life here in Australia is becoming more normalized. We took note that it had been awhile since we last took off and did anything major. The weekends are becoming full and each of the kids seem to be heading off in different directions. Tori and Matt are finding quite a few friends and are now going on picnics, camping excursions, shopping trips, etc which is great. Lizzie has here own but due to the age most of the visits are regulated to the house. But that will soon change in the near future.
Okay, enough for now. Along with the pictures attached our hope is to get many of the other pictures over onto the website for everyone to view.
We hope that this update has found everyone well and in good spirits. Please continue to be safe, healthy and most of all smile.
From Australia
Joel and the rest of the Madore Gang
