Time to Settle in

Well, my mom left early this morning, and it is starting to sink in that I am hear for awhile. It was so nice having my mom here to help the kids and I settle in. It has also been good company to have had someone to drink tea with and be surprised by the new wildlife while my husband works away at his studies. Last night there was a big frog hanging out on the window and at least one pair of parrots have moved into a tree in the yard. The sound of magpies is also becoming all too familiar, but for now it is still exotic rather than annoying.

The last few days have been spent exploring where my feet can take me. Once we returned the rental car, we took to exploring parks and paths nearby. We are almost right next to the Ross River, which has quite a length of paved path next to the river and a number of parks along the way. It is great for pushing a stroller along and a perfect place to walk with a toddler who isn't quite road savvy yet. We also checked out the botanical gardens yesterday as this was something mom had wanted to do before she left and it was finally cool enough to walk that far. The kids were most interested in the turtles that we could see from a little bridge. I'm pretty sure these were the same 'creepy turtles' that we had seen at the Billabong sanctuary and it was a little less disturbing when viewing them from a bridge. We will have to return there with bits of bread, and I really should try to find out what kind they are.

We have also been settling into our yard, and the kids enjoy being able to go outside so much. Heat rash on the two youngest isn't all that pleasent, but hopefully we will all adapt. I am just thankful it is fall rather than summer here! We also had a castle building adventure as we put the cardboard from our furniture to good use and enjoyed having a garage for the first time! Since we don't have a car, the space is perfect for out of the sun play time!

While we are getting used to our environment, my heart is still heavy as I think of all we have left behind. I feel extremely blessed by family and friends who have been working hard to finish getting stuff out of our old house and taking the many details I left undone because I just didn't have time in the midst of being a mom and student. Today with mom gone, the dull ache is setting in of being so far from all those I hold so close to my heart. Hard to believe that is almost May already, and that staff training and camp promo for Ryerson will be happening this weekend. Strange to be so far away as the camp season begins to unfold. I just keep trusting that this is where God wants us and that it will get easier.

I'm including some photos of the castle and made my first attempt at sharing a video from the Billibong Sanctuary.

Beaches, Crocodiles and Rainy Rainforests

This first week in tropical Townsville has been spent playing tourist. This is partly because my mom has been with us and will return home soon, and partly because we have a van rented for the week and are trying to make the most of it. There will be time soon enough to work on settling in...perhaps that will be next week.

Our first full day we explored the towns official beach front called 'The Strand'. This is a 2 km strip, that has a souped up splash pad, playgrounds every couple of hundred metres, roped off and stinger (jelly fish) free beach areas as well as a rock pool area at the end that is a pool type area where water is pumped in and out of the ocean but there is no risk of undertow or waterlife and was wonderful for our little crew. The only mistake we made was parking at one end and realizing too late that the rock pool was at the other end. The paved strip will be perfect for strollers, rollerblades and jogging. There are lots of birds to be seen, but we learned to watch our heads because the larger ones would throw fruit from the trees; something that my oldest innitally took the blame for as my husband was convinced he was the one throwing it! While we explored the rock pool that first day, today we returned (my mom and I now with bathing suits thanks to the return of our luggage) to truly swim in the ocean and play on the beach. My oldest made friends instantly and enjoyed playing in the waves. As my friend had suggested, sandcastle building toys are certainly the best way to attract friends under the age of 8!

Earlier this week we also explored 'The Billibong Sanctuary'. This was a delightful place for the kids. Small kangaroos and ducks are hanging around throughout the park and buying a bag of food from the front ensures that they will come over for a visit. Later in the day we also realized that putting some of the grain on the foot rest of the stroller would ensure that our youngest was included in the adventure. She particularly enjoyed petting the kangaroos and grabbing fur and ears in her sticky little fingers. The kangaroos didn't seem to mind at all as long as they were being fed. We were also highly entertained by the turtles that were easily lured out of the water by our lunch bread bits. It quickly became a scene with horror film possibility as what seemed like all the turtles from the large pond began swimming toward us, their black little heads bobbing in the water. As the shore near our feet began to boil with turtle heads, we stepped away from the shore only to have them creep out of the water in search of more food! I never dreamed that turtles would climb so high on my list of 'creepy' animals.

We learned some fantastic things about other animals as well. My oldest got to hold two lizards at once, one in his hands and one on his head! He was delighted to pose for photos. One of these lizards defends itself by confusing it's prey: it's head and rear end look the same! It uses the head-butt defence.

Not too be outdone, the Wambat goes with a complete butt defence. Apparently after making a quick sprint get away, it will return to it's burrow. If it's persuer has not relented, and sticks it's head in after the wambat, the wambat will crush the animals skull by pushing it's butt up against the top of the burrow. Deadliest butt out there apparently! We also got to see and feed the extremely endangered Cassowary and take a gander at some lazy Koalas. (Not Koala bears for all you Canadians...just Koala. Next to the accent, calling them bears is the quickest give away that you aren't a local!)

Finally, the hilight of the day was watching the crocodile feeding. Our guide was particularly entertaining as the Crocs were being pretty lazy and took some significant enticing to get them to eat. My favourite statistic was that apparently more Auzzies are killed by coke machines than crocs per year. He had some other interesting statistics about things that were more likely to kill you than crocodiles, and in the end I left worrying much less about crocodiles and much more about coke machines.

In spite of all the incredible information and new sights, the kids were still most excited about the relatively small, on site swimming pool. We again revealed our tourist tendencies as we found the temperature fantastic for swimming...but were the only ones who seemed to feel this way! It was the perfect close to the day for the little ones, and quite refreshing for us as well!

Yesterday we ventured out of town toward Paluma Village with the hopes of getting some bird watching accomplished. We stopped to swim at the base of a waterfall. While we have all had the opportunity to swim in rivers before, this was the first time we got to swim in a rainforest river! It was refreshing and exhilirating and the sights were breathtaking! There was a banana tree along the shore, and wild turkeys running around. I also met a lovely girl from the YWAM team that was also cooling off in the river.

We continued on from this spot, up the narrow and winding road toward the village and the hiking trails we were hoping to explore. Unfortunately it started raining and continued for the rest of the day. We were on the look out for wild Cassowaries, but without success. We decided to walk the Rainforest trail in spite of the pouring rain. I carried my youngest in our kid backpack, so she had the best rain shield. She cooed with delight through the whole hike. She loved sticking her hands out to feel the water and took everything in. We didn't see many birds, but the sound of the rain in the dense and aged forest was intense and and exhilerating. I'm not much for plants, but the vegetation was certainly impressive. My oldest enjoyed the walk, but my husband ended up carrying our 2 year old for most of the hike.

After this little endeavour, my husband and the kids settled into the van and enjoyed inventing super hero type characters and storylines, while my mom and I checked out Paluma Pottery. We met the potter, Len Cook, who was a friendly gentlemen who had created some beautiful work. I only wish I had more money to buy some of it to add some character to our functional white dishes that we currently have. I was lamenting having had to surrender so many of the wonderfully ecclectic and sentimental items that had added character to my house back home and my mom generously bought me a fantastic blue mug to work toward building a new mug collection. She felt that the mugs were a little to small for Canadian sized coffee tastes, so settled on a small jug for herself with the intent of using it as a mug. ( We have both discovered that Australians in general likely consume a great deal less coffee than we do. Oh Tim Horton's, how I miss you already! ) Visiting the potter's studio was a rich experience as the display room was connected to his workspace and we had the opportunity to see him at work shaping pots. He then explained how the patterns were formed and the many glazes that were used in making each piece. The pieces were in the potters hands for between 6 to 12 steps depending on the colour and intricacy. It made me think of how God led Jeremiah down to the potter's house for a little object lesson, and was yet again a good lesson for me. I am struggling to let God reshape me, reshape my family's life. Though I am sure this is where we are supposed to be, I'm still struggling to surrender in the midst of it.

So here we are, exploring this new space, with the opportunity to stand in awe of new sights. My heart is still tired, because of how much it took to get here, but each new day is part of the adventure and I'm hoping that I will able to embrace this part of the journey more fully soon.

A New Home Sweet Home

Welcome to my blog! This will be my way of keeping all my friends and family, and anyone interested, up to date on the new adventure our family is undertaking by moving to Townsville Australia!

The back story will come out later, but for now I wanted to share about our first 5 days here in tropical Australia.

The kids and I joined my husband Monday after a number of months apart. The oldest two were delighted to see their dad, while our 10 mth old wasn't so sure about it. She has since warmed up once again to her dad, thanks to his insistent attention and his fantastic ability to play dad even in the moments she didn't yet recognize him as such.

The flight here was a bit of an adventure. Our flight out of Toronto was delayed by an hour and half, which significantly cut into the 2 hrs we had scheduled for transferring planes. Thankfully, on the Toronto end, we had many friends at the airport entertaining and caring for the kids so that by they weren't already crazy by the time we got on the plane. We all felt very loved and supported as we said good bye to our life in Canada and said tearful good byes at the gate. The first leg of the journey was perhaps the roughest as the plane was full and the kids had trouble getting to sleep. Our 2 yr old kept insisting he wanted to go home, which elicited mixed emotions from me, even though all he really wanted was his bed. We flew into LA and transferred without a moment to spare. The gate we needed was right beside where we got off, and they called us to bord immediately. Special treat bags that my sister in law made for the kids were the perfect thing to help them settle into a new plane at 2 in the morning and after some munching on candy and playing with their new little toys, they settled down for a good sleep. My youngest stayed awake through the wonderful dinner they served and then I was able to pop her in the bassinet and we all managed to get a number of hours of sleep before it was time for breakfast.

At our next transfer in Brisbane we were to collect our luggage to go through customs, but only 2 out of 9 pieces arrived so we had to go and report it all lost. The kids were melting down in the customs line, so I gave them all chocolate (as any desperate mother would) and managed to calm them down temporarily. After we went through the xray portion of the check, we looked back to see a glove clad official cautiously approaching a brown blob on the floor behind us. My mom noticed this first, and reassured the official that it was only chocolate. I felt badly that I hadn't noticed to clean it up already, but also had to chuckle at how easily it could have been something else! Again we made our gate as they were boarding, and although slightly stressful, it was a blessing that we didn't have to entertain the kids in an airport!

The house my husband has found for us to rent is great. It is within biking distance to the University and walking distance to the school my oldest will likely be attending. To help the kids enjoy the new place, he had hidden chocolate and little toys around the place for a belated Easter egg hunt. Nothing endears children to a new space more quickly than chocolate and toys and the adventure of finding them! The remainder of the day was spent shopping for enough clothes for the next day or two as we had already gone through what I had in my carry on.

I will post more on this week's adventures, but for now, here is my first shot at blogging...feel free to let me know what else you'd like to hear about!