Eskimo Slumber Party

Kate and John have been working diligently on an igloo in the back yard--made possible by the continuation of winter's snowy blast. They finished the igloo yesterday and, although it was snowing and blowing hard, they decided to sleep in it last night.
Here are Danny, John and Kate, all snug in their sleeping bags and ready for lights out! They put down a tarp and foam pads and woke up warm and dry. Quite cozy.
Elizabeth waxing artistic with Paint
A study in Cranberry Juice

John's New Mullet

Today was haircut day for John and Danny. John's hair had gotten quite long, and rather than losing the entire mop, he decided to enter the stylish world of mulletdom. What do you think?
Handsome Boy
Sweet Blonde

The Blizzard of 2007

It has been snowing and blowing for a couple of days with temperatures in the single digits F and wind chills in the minus double digits. It is now Sunday morning; church is cancelled due to bad roads, predicted high of 3 degrees F and 15-20 mph winds. We are planning a family worship service after breakfast. What fun!!

Driveway Snow Piles Higher than the Mailbox
Roof Snow Drifts on Mrs. Caulkins' House
Mr. Heron Blowing the Driveway
Backyard Snowboarding Hill
Lots of Snow on the Deck

Australian Holiday - From Cairns Home - 3 Nov 2006

Brian upheld his perfect record of timely wakeup calls at 4:30 AM. We showered, finished packing, had some breakfast, sadly said goodbye to Sarah, and headed for the airport and our 6:50 AM flight to Sydney. Brian dropped us off at the international terminal where we said our farewell. This was hard, but eased by the knowledge that Brian and Sarah will be back in the States for Christmas.

It took us 36 hours to make our way from Cairns to Sydney to Los Angeles to Indianapolis to Detroit to Grand Rapids: 25 hours flying time and 11 hours in airports. Our flight out of Sydney was late due to a labor dispute (the ground crew wouldn’t deliver the 747 to the gate), and we thought we would miss our flight out of LAX. However, we collected our bags, hoofed it from the international terminal to the Northwest departure terminal, and cleared check in and security with about five minutes to spare.

We arrived in Grand Rapids at 12:30 AM (about an hour late) and Steve picked us up. It was great to get home again, where Tom, Suz, Steve, Kate, John, Danny and Liz had survived our two week absence with no problem. We were very grateful for God’s care of us and our kids as we enjoyed this wonderful trip.

Recovery from jet lag and travel fatigue was not easy, but as I (Dan) write this on December 3, 2006, we are about back to normal.

Thanks to Brian and Sarah for being such excellent hosts. Seeing Australia was great, but sharing it with them made it pure delight.

Australian Holiday - Great Barrier Reef - 2 Nov 2006

We rolled out of bed early on Dan and Rhonda’s last day in Australia, very excited about spending the day at the Great Barrier Reef! After a quick breakfast in our apartment we headed up the winding coastal highway (poor Sarah) for Port Douglas and arrived at the marina before 8 AM. We found the Poseidon, a 75 ft catamaran that tours the reef daily, and got settled in. On the 90 minute trip to the first reef site, Sarah and Rhonda went through the snorkeling orientation while Brian and Dan took the introductory scuba diving course. The scuba training emphasized equalizing body cavity pressures (mouth, lungs and ear) with increasing water pressure as you descend. The Eustachian tubes can be a bugger to keep clear, and differential pressure across the ear drum is particularly painful.

Brian Starts the Descent

We visited three sites on the reef. At the first, Brian and Dan scuba dived while Sarah and Rhonda snorkeled; at the second we all snorkeled together; and at the third Brian and Dan scuba dived, Rhonda snorkeled, and Sarah stayed on the Poseidon, bravely fighting off sea sickness by nibbling crackers. We were amazed as we lowered our masks into the water and entered the marine world, with its profusion of shapes and colors of coral and fish. The Great Barrier Reef is actually made up of thousands of individual reefs, where the coral has grown to the surface. The sites we visited were along the perimeter of these reefs, where cliffs of coral descend 10 or 15 meters to beds of white sand, which is actually made up coral broken to bits by storms. The dive sites were on the outer reef near the brink of the continental shelf, where the ocean depths plunge to many thousands of feet. The introductory scuba dives were escorted, with three or four divers per instructor, and marine biologists accompanied the snorkelers, explaining the wonders of the reef features and creatures. A six-foot shark swam below Rhonda, but the rest of us did not see any large creatures.

Rhonda and a Sea Cucumber

Clown Fish

Dan in the Deep

Big Clam

A woman on our tour broke her upper arm while stepping off the Poseidon’s rear platform into the water. Before long, a helicopter appeared, landing on a floating helipad anchored about ¼ mile from our dive site. The crew took her to the helipad in a motorized raft, and she was soon off to the Cairns hospital. The crew handled the situation very smoothly with little or no disturbance to the other passengers.

The Poseidon crew served us a fine lunch between the second and third dives and had snacks and drinks available throughout the day. We slathered up with sun screen at the beginning of the day, but missed a few spots such as the back of Rhonda’s and Sarah’s legs and Dan’s chest. The sun has lots of power that close to the equator.

After returning to Port Douglas, we drove back to the Roydon for showers, then to Cairns for great Chinese food at the Golden Boat. We returned to the apartment after supper, where Dan and Rhonda packed up and we all applied aloe vera to our sunburned places – then to bed in preparation for Dan and Rhonda’s early departure.

Australian Holiday - Rain Forest Tour & Cairns Waterfront - 1 Nov 2006

We breakfasted on cereal and toast at the apartment, then drove to Caravonica (between Trinity Beach and Cairns) to catch the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway at 10 AM. The cableway trip from Caravonica to Kuranda took about two hours, including stops at Red Peak and Barron Falls Stations. The gondola gave us great views of the rainforest canopy, which supports ferns, orchids and a fascinating array of fruits and flowers living in the tree tops. At Red Peak Station, wooden walkways allow a close-up view of the rainforest under the canopy and the ranger explained the trees, plants and animals living there.
At the Barron Falls Station, we walked to three different lookouts providing views of the Barron River gorge and falls.
We ate lunch and shopped in Kuranda for a couple of hours (looked at about 3,000 T-shirts and bought some more souvenirs), then took the Kuranda Scenic Railway back to Cairns. The railway skirts the southern rim of the Barron River gorge, which widens to a valley as it approaches Cairns, providing spectacular views along the way.

From the train station we took a bus to retrieve the car in Carvonica and drove back to Cairns for a tour of the city. We parked by the public pool on the waterfront, a kind of man-made lagoon, and walked out on the wharf to view the yachts docked at the Marlin Marina. Brian, as a naval architect, appreciated several specimens, especially the Kokomo, a 170 foot fast cruising sloop launched just over a year ago. Very sweet!
We drove back to Trinity Beach and had an excellent Italian dinner at L’unico, with children at nearby tables providing entertainment; then back to the Roydon for a few more rounds of Greed before bed.

Australian Holiday - Adelaide to Cairns - 31 Oct 2006

Brian woke us at 3:45 AM and we showered, finished packing, said farewell to 9 John Street and headed for the airport. Brian and Sarah flew Virgin Blue by way of Melbourne while Dan and Rhonda were on Qantas through Sydney. We checked our luggage, passed through security, bought some breakfast sandwiches, said farewell, and headed for our departure gates.

We arrived about noon at the Cairns domestic terminal, where Brian and Sarah were waiting patiently. Cairns is a tourist hot spot with a busy airport, so it took a while to collect our bags and pick up the rental car, which turned out to be the same Ford Falcon model as Brian and Sarah’s with black, rather than silver, exterior. We drove about 15 minutes north from Cairns to Trinity Beach (Dan’s first time driving on the left – quite exciting for all), where we located the Roydon Beachfront Holiday Apartments and checked in. The second floor apartment was very nice; two bedrooms, two baths, a full kitchen, large living and dining room and a balcony with a view of the ocean. The rooms were furnished with wicker furniture giving them a tropical look.

Roydon Holiday Apartments
Dining & Living Room at the Roydon
After settling in, we spent the afternoon at the pool, enjoying sunshine and 85F, but trying to avoid getting sunburned. The pool area was partially covered with a huge nylon canopy stretched horizontally about 20 feet overhead, which made it easy to move in and out of the sun. The water in the pool was cool but comfortable.

We did some grocery shopping and then had steak and lobster for supper at Trinity Beach Grill, a short walk from the Roydon. After eating, we walked the esplanade to the south end of Trinity Beach and back. As we walked, we noticed what we thought were large birds darting about just above the palm trees but, looking more carefully, saw that they were large fruit bats. Their wing spans looked to be three feet or more. We were not bothered by bugs, so we figured the bats (also called Spectacled Flying Foxes) were doing their job well.

Back at the apartment we played the dice game, Greed, until bedtime. Dan and Rhonda are finally over jet lag enough to stay awake past 10 PM.

More Victor Harbor - The Bluff from Granite Island
Granite Island from the Bluff

Australian Holiday - Victor Harbor - 30 Oct 2006

After breakfast we returned to Adelaide’s Rundle Street Mall to do some souvenir shopping before heading for Victor Harbor. It was, once again, a beautiful day as we drove the 85 kilometers south across rolling hills and coastal countryside. In Victor Harbor, we visited a tourist information office, then walked the causeway to Granite Island. A horse-drawn taxi runs from the mainland to the Island, but we opted for exercise. We greatly enjoyed the Island’s perimeter trail, with stunning views of the Harbor, the coastline and the ocean.

We drove about five kilometers east to the highly-recommended Port Elliot Bakery for a late lunch of meat pies, cheese and vegetable pasties, apple turnovers and baked custard. We sat at the picnic tables outside, dug in, and were not disappointed. Hungry as we were, the delectable fare disappeared quickly. We headed back to Victor Harbor, full and happy, for a hike up The Bluff.

Sarah opted to stay in the car while Brian, Dan and Rhonda hiked the steep trail to the top of the bluff. We were rewarded with gorgeous views of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks below and the coast stretching north toward Victor Harbor and southwest toward Newland Head Conservation Park.
We stopped at a rocky beach below the bluff where Rhonda waded in the salty water and nearly got her pants wet as a big wave rolled up further than expected.
We drove back toward Adelaide, made Glenelg Beach just in time to watch a beautiful sunset over the ocean, and returned to Brian and Sarah’s house after dark to pack our things in preparation for tomorrow’s trip to Cairns.

Australian Holiday - Climb Mt. Lofty - 29 Oct 2006

This morning we packed picnic lunches and water bottles and headed out for a hike up Mount Lofty. We started at a park on the edge of town featuring a beautiful waterfall and pond.
The trail up the mountain, about five kilometers (three miles) long and a climb of 2,000 feet, was paved with asphalt for about half the way, then gravel. Brian was very patient with his pregnant wife and aged parents; we took it fairly easy. The weather was beautiful; starting out cool and winding up warm. At the end of the climb we were glad we had braved the cool morning by putting on shorts. As we passed other hikers, the usual greeting was, “Hello. How ya goin’?” The view from the top was gorgeous, looking west over all of Adelaide and its suburbs to the sea. After cooling off and eating lunch, we made the trek back down the mountain, which was less taxing, but more painful for Dan’s sore knee (fell on the ice last winter). Brian found a nice walking stick, which helped greatly.

We arrived back home with just enough time to get ready for the 5 PM service at Holy Trinity Church, which featured great music and a good sermon by seminary student David Brown on Matthew 6:19-34. After the service, Brian introduced us to the 5 PM associate pastor, Craig Broman and the church rector, Paul Harrington. We enjoyed talking with them and easily sensed their love for the Lord and his people. We are so glad Brian and Sarah have joined such a fine congregation in Adelaide.

We picked up supper at a Wok in a Box noodle bar (Asian fast food) and brought it back to Brian and Sarah’s house to eat. We were bushed after the hike and our beds felt very nice.

Australian Holiday - Warawong Wildlife Sanctuary - 28 Oct 2006

Saturday Morning Dan and Brian headed to Rundle Street Mall in the CBD after breakfast. This is not an enclosed mall, but a street closed to traffic and dedicated to shopping, people watching, and teenage loitering. Brian wanted a camera bag to house both his Nikon 35 mm film camera and HP digital along with his lenses for the Nikon. They found just the thing.

We headed back to the hills for an afternoon at the Warawong Wildlife Sanctuary, founded 35 years ago by a farmer who turned his dairy farm into a home for endangered Australian wildlife. We started our tour with the Birds of Prey show. The presenter was great, introducing us to a kookaburra named Jack, a barn owl, a falcon and a wedge-tailed eagle. Throughout the presentation a couple of magpies harassed the birds of prey, until the keeper finally lured them into a cage using meaty tidbits and shut them up to protect them from the eagle. The birds were quite amazing. The barn owl hovered silently overhead and the falcon flew about snatching bits of meat tossed into the air. The eagle was our favorite; not what we would call beautiful, but extremely powerful and very majestic. He ate a rabbit carcass while sitting on the keeper’s hand, chewing it up bones and all. He was very affectionate toward his keeper, who said that eagles, once tamed, become one-man birds. An eagle’s vision compares to a human’s like a 10 mega pixel digital camera compares to a 4 mega pixel.
Wedge Tail Eagle - One Bad DudeLoving Couple
After the bird show we toured the rest of the sanctuary. First, we petted the kangaroos, who were lounging on a grassy slope. Brian and Sarah said kangaroos are lazy, which they did nothing to disprove. They look quite comfortable lounging around; almost human in their posture and expression.

Next was the platypus pond. We really wanted to see one. The sign said to be very quiet and watch for bubble trails in the water. We waited for a while, then spotted bubbles 20 or 30 meters across the pond. We waited patiently and silently, cameras poised, for 10 or 15 minutes as the creature slowly but surely moved in our direction. Finally, it came close enough so we could get a good look. It was not a platypus, but a big turtle. Quite disappointed, we moved on. Further along the trail we spotted bandicoots and wallabies (miniature kangaroos), one wallaby posing nicely for pictures with a Joey in her pouch.
We returned to the Adelaide CBD for supper at Good Life Modern Organic Pizza – Brian and Sarah’s favorite. We feasted on garlic and olive breads and three pizzas: Margarita (tomatoes and basil); free-range chicken with baby potatoes, garlic, rosemary and parmesan slices; and Barossa Valley double smoked bacon with pineapple and Australian Swiss. So good!

Australian Holiday - Adelaide Botanic Garden & The Big BBQ - 27 Oct 2006

We slept in this morning; beginning to feel as though we are truly on vacation. Sarah took us to town for lunch at Taste, Etc. and a tour of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. We spent a while looking for a place to park, which places are rather curious in Australia. You must pay for nearly all public parking. There are no parking meters, but signs are posted showing the maximum time you can park in a given area. Once parked, you walk up or down the row to a ticket machine; put in enough coins to cover the time you want to park (the machines give no change), and put the printed receipt on the passenger side dash. It seems an efficient system. The costs are reasonable, but you need to keep a stash of coins handy at all times. For lunch, Rhonda ordered a classic Caesar salad, which included anchovies. Dan sampled a few but Rhonda carefully removed them.

The Botanic Gardens, established in 1855, are beautiful!! They are laid out in a more ordered fashion that the Mount Lofty Gardens, which have a more natural look. Some of the trees are huge!! There were palms, mangrove, fig, bamboo and many others. We saw a living fossil, the Wollemi Pine, which was thought to be extinct until 1994, when a ranger in Wollemi National Park, New South Wales, discovered one growing in a deep gorge. Subsequent research found 100 adult trees growing in a single canyon in this wild and rugged area only 150 kilometers from Sydney. You can now buy one of your own!
The rose garden was exquisite; roses seem to be the favored flower in Adelaide – you see them in almost every yard, along roads and in public spaces. At the Botanic Garden, they grow as bushes, climbing trellises and arbors, and as little rose trees. They come in all sizes and colors. We especially liked the orange/coral ones, which were brilliant.
After the Garden we went back home to get ready for the BBQ (known in Australia as a barbie), which Brian and Sarah threw so we could meet their friends and co-workers. Dan helped Brian sweep the patio, pick up Joe and Megan’s grill (we would need two), and set up chairs. Sarah and Rhonda put together fruit pizza, potato salad, and veggies and dip.

About 40 people turned out; it was great to put faces with the names we had heard. That is quite a few people to fit into a small back yard, but fit they did with no problem. The crowd helped us keep warm as the evening temperatures dropped to about 50 Fahrenheit. Brian grilled boneless chicken thighs, kielbasa, kangaroo steaks, and 4 kilograms (about 9 pounds) of minced beef as hamburgers. Australians are not big on pickles or ketchup; they prefer mayo, mustard, onions and tomatoes on their burgers. People brought their own beverages, and the conversation, food and drink were all delightful.

Australian Holiday - Central Market Day - 26 Oct 2006

We woke up at the usual time; 5:30 AM for Dan and 7 AM for Rhonda, and read before breakfast. Brian and Sarah’s friend, Brigit, and her sweet son, JJ, visited us this morning. Brigit and her husband, John (Brian’s co-worker), plan a trip to Kangaroo Island this weekend, so they will miss the BBQ Friday night. It was nice to meet them after seeing pictures of JJ on Brian and Sarah’s web log.

We drove to Brian and Sarah’s church, Holy Trinity (see www.trinityadelaide.org.au), where Sarah met with music director Mark Peterson about the planned “Carols in the City” Christmas program while Dan and Rhonda toured the historic building. Holy Trinity was founded, along with the city of Adelaide, in 1836. The stone building is beautiful; the interior woodwork and ceiling structure are amazing. Since its beginning, the church has maintained a strong testimony to the saving power of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

From Holy Trinity Church, we went to the Central Market in the CBD to pick up food for Friday’s BBQ. The Central Market, located under a 1,000 car parking ramp, and adjacent Market Arcade and Market Plaza house about 250 shops in a very outdoorsy and festive atmosphere. Rhonda was impressed with the beautiful fruits and vegetables – luscious greens! The cheese and butcher shops had great variety; whole rabbits, all kinds of lamb, minced (as opposed to ground) beef, pork, chicken, and so forth.

After Brian came home from work he and Rhonda took a walk around the neighborhood, snapping pictures of interesting houses, cars and vegetation, while Sarah and Dan napped.