May 28th, Saturday Mooloolaba

Heidi and Tom on a beach at sunrise

Gene, Shane and Tom taking a nice long beach walk

A nice deserted winter beach

This morning I got up early early early! At 5AM Tom, Gene, Shane and I left the house to drive an hour and a half to Mooloolaba, north on the Sunshine Coast. Gene and Shane were in a 10K race up there and we decided to join them and see the coast at the same time. We drove in the dark but saw some Austrialian stars...Tom had an app on his ipod that told us what we were seeing.  We started early but the scenery once we were there was worth it. While Shane and Gene were racing Tom and I sat on the beach and just basked in the sunshine. It was cool, I was glad to have a jacket but it was wonderful! The beach we put our lawn chairs on was really pretty, black rocks with the surf gently crashing on them. It reminded me of Hawaii in the early morning. I loved watching the sun come up and the pink sky over the ocean. I walked around a little and collected some seashells. We didn't have long before we had to join up with Gene and Shane but I'm glad we were able to enjoy such a peaceful place. Once their race was over we drove to another beach and walked a good mile on that one. It was beautiful sand...great for walking on. Off in the distance we could see large container ships that Gene said were a result of a dock strike in Australia that was ending and ships were waiting to come in. The morning was over all too soon and we were  headed home by 10:30. We were all so tired after such an early start. Once we got back to the house I had to take a little nap. Tom took Anthony and the boys out to lunch for fish and chips and I caught the train into Brisbane. I wanted to check out the area they call South Bank. I had to switch trains once but it was all really easy and only took about 20 minutes. I was in the part of Brisbane near the big ferris wheel. It's acrosss the river from the part of the city we have already visited. They had lots of little restaurants there and even a craft fair. I treated myself to a late lunch at a little cafe and enjoyed reading my book and sipping a cup of Australian coffee (my first one). There was a sign on the table that said "don't feed the ibis". These large white birds with very long black beaks were wandering around from table to table looking for scraps. I couldn't help remembering a book or short story from high school called The Scarlet Ibis...well, now I know what one looks like!  For about 2-3 hours I walked around, and enjoyed looking at the craft fair and just people watching.  It's amazing, here I am in a totally different continent ...they speak English and so many things are similar...how similar little children and teens are no matter where you are. We really are all part of the same human race when you see it this way. 5PM saw me starting the 30 minute journey back to the house. It was nice to have some alone time. I really like this city, everyone I talked to was so friendly and helpful.  Even at tthe train station when I was looking at the map to get back someone that works for the light rail asked if I needed any help. When I left the final train station  I met up with Tom (he was walking this way) so we walked back to the house together.

Back at the house we watched a movie I AM FOUR -sci fiction, don't waste your time, it's predictable but a good escape for a few hours. Amy made a great Shepards Pie for dinner. We certainly are eating good! At 7PM the family had about 20 people over for a progressive dinner, they had dessert. A lot of these people I met at their church last Sunday. Such nice people. I enjoyed talking to a few of them in depth, but I really had to concentrate to understand them sometimes. We're watching American Idol now but I am getting tired after such a early start to the day. Tomorrow morning early Amy's brother and family are arriving from Alaska so we had to switch up our sleeping arangments to make room for everyone. I am sleeping in Brennen's room and he got kicked out to the livingroom couch. :) Pictures tomorrow...too tired tonight!