I have left the beautiful weather in Bear Lake to chase one
of my major bucket list items. That was
to return to Australia with Doreen.
My dad met my mother near the end of WWII when the ship he
was on was damaged and had to go the Sydney for repairs. During that time, he met my mother, Avril at
a dance. He left and went back to Utah
after the war. They continued to
correspond and a year later he went back to Australia and married my mom. She came from a family of ten children and
her friends and went to the “States”.
Talk about culture shock. All her
family and friends were in Australia and she was trying to learn how to exist
in Utah. She came back to Australia 10
years later with the family. I returned
to Australia when Audrey graduated for high school we both went back for few
weeks, in 1997. Doreen stayed home but I
have always wanted to share my Australia family with her. My mother’s family was gone so I wanted to
visit cousins and see more of the country.
She finally agreed so we booked the trip last summer.
We flew to Brisbane in Queensland to visit Davo and
Julie. They live about 70 miles inland
in a rural area known as Laidley. There
are no public water systems and everyone collects rainwater off the roof into
tanks. I know, insects, bird poo, algae,
etc. but it not like that. The water is
sweet and pure with a capful of Clorax every six months. I haven’t driven because I would be in a
wreck instantly. Right hand drive, wrong
side of the road and going like hell.
They drive little Toyota, Subaru, Nissan trucks with aluminum flat beds
that they call UTE’S. I have yet to see
a full-size US truck. All the semi’s have
triple axels and buses swarm everywhere.
Off Davo’s deck wallabies come up every night, bush turkeys and all
kinds if beautiful birds. I was all
entertaining.
We are now in Sydney on the coast in Mona Vale, a high-end
neighborhood. Surfing, golf courses and
cars, boats, trailers and everything else parked along the narrow street. The most bizarre thing. They stay there for months and never
move. It makes driving difficult. You are required to vote in Australia so
Trump is a topic of discussion. The
urban area is sophisticated but there are countless ocean bays, national
preserves, beaches and a sense of security everywhere. The people are friendly and interested in you
and it is truly a pleasant society. We
are heading to the outback next week and then to a cruise around New Zealand
for two weeks.
Now I can just hear some of you saying, what a lucky
bloke. I wish I could do that and get
out of this miserable weather. Well you
can. Work for 45 years, make secure
investments, keep yourself healthy and visualize and plan your future. You will be here before you know it.
KEEP YOUR FEET DRY
