G’day, Mate

The Groshes and I have had a restful and adventurous week at a homey, scenery-surrounded lodge in Cairns, Australia. The stay has been great for getting over jet leg. Besides resting, we’ve gone somewhere almost everyday this week.

Tuesday 11/17/15 – We flew to Los Angeles, California and met one of Aunt Sylvia’s high school classmates, Holly, who took us to an aquarium. This is me petting a sting ray.

Later that evening, we flew to Brisbane, Australia… with FIRST CLASS seats thanks to the Groshes and their daughter, Sarah, making special arrangements. Thank you, Sarah! The highlight for me was to be on the second floor of the airport during the long wait before the flight, filling up on cheese cubes, veggies, and pineapple juice, all the while relaxing in a one-person-couch. The complementary shower was definitely a plus, too.

Wednesday was skipped altogether because of the time change.
Thursday, we arrived at Cairns, Australia and settled into our lodge rooms.
Friday, we went grocery shopping at Coles. Carts here are not limited to rolling forward and backward; they can also roll side to side, which at first is cool, but is soon difficult to control unless you have good tread on your footwear. Instead of escalators, the grocery/mall has travelators like in The Jetsons, and the carts have grooves on the wheels so they don’t slide when riding up or down. I saw a man in a wheelchair also ride down the travelator.

Friday, we went to a man-made beach near a beach.
Saturday, we went to a real beach. :]

Sunday, we had church with just the three of us, then worked on a couple puzzles.
Monday, Uncle Andy and I took a dart to the zoo. What they lacked in size (the Dallas zoo is much larger), they made up for in exotic animals.

Much of Tuesday and today (Wednesday), Uncle Andy made several phone calls to sort out our delayed flight to Lae, Papua New Guinea. After complications and being on hold for who knows how many hours and prayers and patience we are back on schedule. Yay! Excellent news. We leave before the sun comes out to fly to Port Moresby, PNG, then fly at 11:00a to Lae, PNG, and from there we will drive (four hours?) to Ukarumpa, PNG, our final destination.

This evening, we went to a night market. Most stores here in Australia close around six or eight o’clock. The night outing was a fun way to end our time in Aussie town. I even got to play a didgeridoo!

More pictures from the week! — As if there isn’t an ample supply already : D

Kangaroo leather and kangaroo jerkey

Scenery near the lodge

Wallaby, crocodile, birds, and cameleon

My room… house minus stove

Did you know?

• Aussie’s trashcans are labeled “rubbish”
• Bathroom signs are labeled “toilet”
  • They think it is impolite to ask to use their bath

Good on ya, Mate, for reading my post and travelin’ with me. Let’s do it again sometime, why don’t ya? Always did like picture books. See you in a bitsy. Aight now, cheerio.