Home from Oz

Well, we are now home from Australia, and after sleeping for 16 hours, I hope that I will be able to return to functioning normally. What a shock to come home to a driveway full of snow after the hottish temps and humidity of Oz. This is the completion of my abstract start that I posted last week. I left it as a thank you gift for our wonderful hosts John and Maggie. I think it conveys some of the sights, sounds and flower colours I experienced, but as I look at it now I am astounded that there is not a drop of green in it, when all of Australia is covered in green.
Go figure!

Life in Cairns, Oz

Wow, is this country ever beautiful! This is Milla Milla Falls (not the right spelling, but I don't have my map with me at the internet place). It was a part of a waterfall circuit that we drove up in the Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns. This falls comes from the rainforest, and you can swim at the pool underneath -we didn't because it was cool in the rainforest, so we didn't feel the need to get further cooled off.
This is Dave and I on board the Santa Maria as we were getting ready to do our 6th (?) snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is stunning -I never imagined it in my wildest dreams. Swimming with a huge variety and size of technicolour fish surrounded with corals in almost every imaginable colour. I did buy a throwaway underwater camera, but won't get those photos back until much later. Our dive instructor did have an underwater digital and we are getting a CD of those photos so will be able to post some of those later. I hope that I will be able to remember all that I have seen -but I am anxious to get back into my studio to respond to all that we have seen on this trip.
Being jealous is OK!

More Oz

There are a family of 5 Kookaburra's living in John's backyard, that he feeds with ground Kangaroo meat each evening. They are really nice birds, but they are like our roosters -they announce the rising of the sun -except that they make the greatest racket I have ever heard -does not sound like laughing to me!
These are Lorakeets. There are a million of these here, but I took these photos at the Currumbin Wildlife Zoo where we spent the day yesterday. They hardly ever stay still in nature, but at the zoo they have Lorakeet feeding times, where you hold a tin pan with some nectar in it and they swoop down out of the trees to feast. They gather in the trees around the beaches at sunset and they all sing at once -thousands of them. Unbelievable!
This is Currumbin beach, which is the beach closest to John and Maggie's home. I snapped this at the end of yesterday after the zoo. You can see Gold Coast in the distance -the home of Surfer's Paradise, and a million tourists! We watched a surfing competition in the morning, but the tide was out and it was windy, which apparently makes the waves difficult for surfing. It is all so much harder than it looks. We also saw kite surfers -now there is an extreme sport!
We are flying to Cairns in the north this afternoon, where 'the rainforest meets the reef'. We will spend 2 nights/3 days aboard this lovely sailboat sailing out to several reefs, where we will snorkel and dive -I know, it's tough to take!! We will also do some hiking in the rainforest in the Daintree. I should have lots of great photos to share when we get back. I am thinking about my Calgary buddies who just had a spring dump of snow -wish you were here!
See you next week.

On the Gold Coast

Lest you think I have left art behind, yesterday I had an art attack after seeing some wonderful art at the Tweed River Art Gallery. When we came back from our tour, Maggie and I set up our paints and painted on her deck until the sun set. I will post my start tomorrow when it is light enough to take a photo. They have very different art supplies here than they do at home in Alberta, so it took some getting used to. Isn't this a wonderful place to create from? There are a huge variety of song birds chirping/calling/screeching from the forest that is behind the pool, from green, yellow and red Lorakeets to large white Kookaburas (which John feeds with raw kangaroo meat). Truly a piece of paradise!

Today we did a driving tour into the mountains behind where John and Maggie live. This is Springbrook National Park. The tallest peak is Mount Warning -an old volcano. It is really strange to have the usual view of the mountains from mountaintop heights and look way down into valleys -I am used to seeing them from the valley level at home. Not to mention that they are often covered in rainforest, with spectacular waterfalls cascading down the sheer cliffs. It was truly breathtaking.

Enjoy!

Hello from the Gold Coast, Australia

Just to prove that we really have arrived! This is wonderful Sydney harbour taken from a hike around the headlands on the North Shore of the bay. We took a bus tour of the city one day, which include the most beautiful free botanical gardens I have ever seen. Those Sydney -ites are sure lucky people. After a try at surfing (boy were we sore the next day!) we flew to visit our friends John and Maggie on the Gold Coast. Stay tuned for more pics from there.
Enjoy~