And......we're back!

The circle is once again unbroken, as all the Jardines (and one Sweeney) are under one roof. Laura, Edie and Sarah made the long trip from Bangor without incident, arriving on Friday. Since then we've been catching up on sleep and trying to get Edie back in the groove. Laura will bring you up to date on her trip to Canada before too long, but for now, I'll give you an update on my travels.

I spent three weeks in the bush during August, starting with ten days in Kowanyama and finishing in some new country for me, the Flinders River in northwest Queensland. The Kowanyama trip was great. We stayed at a guest house that is owned by the local council which meant we didn't have to camp. Camping is fun but it has its downside (for example, lack of showers and no electricity to power freezers that keep our samples from getting ruined). Plus by staying in town we were able to spend time with Viv (the manager of the Kowanyama natural resource office) and his wife, so we got plenty of fish and crocodile stories. Viv also took us to one of his favorite spots close to town, a waterhole where he camped when he first arrived in the community 30 years ago. We sat at this waterhole for almost two hours watching birds. There was a slight breeze blowing and the coolness of the late day was setting in, which made it a very comfortable (and its fair to say almost spiritual) experience. Definitely one of the nicest places I've seen in Australia.


At the site, we were treated to an aerial display by some rainbow bee eaters, one of Australia's most brilliantly colored birds. They do loop de loops as they chase after insects over the water. Even though I am the worst wildlife photographer of all time, I was still able to get a decent shot.


Later on in the trip we came across a bower. These are structures built by male bower birds. They consist of a nest-like assemblage of sticks and twigs with an avenue of eye catching items out front. The birds basically explore the forest looking for shiny or brightly colored items with which to attract the ladies.


The result is modern art - some might say it looks like a trash heap. This one had mostly aluminium foil and bottle caps. A colleague of mine recently lost an ocular lens (a small magnifying glass) while he was out in the field and a few months later it turned up in a bower! Yet another of Australia's interesting creatures.

From Kowanyama it was off to Normanton to meet Steve and Dominic to do work on the Flinders. Normanton is home of the statue of Krys, the largest crocodile ever measured (8.63 meters, shot in 1957). The statue is apparently estimated from Krys' actual dimensions. But many of us are skeptical (and frightened) that a croc could get this big. Judge it for yourself - the 2nd photo has my boot included for scale.



The Flinders flows through true savannah country, with very few trees except those that grow close to the river. The River itself is brown and muddy with steep banks, so it is not the most pleasant place to work.


However, there were plenty of interesting creatures turning up in our nets, including a small freshwater crocodile (pictured below).



This guy was not happy about being in the net. He was about a meter long and not too dangerous. Nevertheless, we happily released him without any handling and he dashed off into the water. This species of croc is very timid, it's rare to get that close to them.

We also managed to catch a sawfish in our nets. In the spirit of the unusual hybrid species of Australia, this one takes the cake. It's basically a ray with a big saw for a nose. It slashes back and forth to wound its prey and then goes back and collects it. We took some video of us releasing it back to the water but unfortunately I don't have access to it at the moment. You'll see it in due time.

On the way back to Brisbane we stopped at a few outback towns, including Winton, the home of the Waltzing Matilda museum.
Apparently the song (which is now Australia's unofficial national anthem) was first performed at a local pub in the town. Winton is also in dinosaur country, as evidenced by the rubbish bins.

All in all it was a fun trip, and I returned to Brisbane in plenty of time to get things ready at home for the arrival of my girls. It's good to have everyone back together again.

Oh and congratulations to brother Jay and new sister-in-law Michelle, who recently tied the knot in Hawaii!

And the cheese stands alone

The cheese would be me, as Laura and Edie left today for their journey to Canada. And in case you're wondering, being alone here ain't all it's cracked up to be. So much for the return to bachelorhood. The house feels empty, there's no giggling baby, and I made too much for supper tonight without the other 1.5 appetites to help out. And it's only been 8 hours.

We parted ways at the new international terminal at Brisbane airport, as she and Edie were flying to LA with Qantas. Departing travelers leave their families at the top of a set of stairs and walk down to clear customs and go through security. The people who have seen them off can then get another glimpse of them from the upper floor through large windows overlooking the departure gates (same as Moncton airport if you've been there). So after saying our goodbyes, rather than leave straightaway I decided to check if I could see them going. So I hustled over to the window but realized I may have missed them go by since people traveling with infants often get sent to the front of the queue.

Ten minutes passed and no sign of them. I was convinced that I had missed them but since the plane was boarding in 15 minutes I figured I would wait until it left, just to be sure there were no delays or anything. Another 15 minutes of scanning for them and by now boarding had begun. I tried to imagine what they were up to, perhaps already on the plane, readying for the 14 hour flight. Yet a small part of me was thinking that maybe they still weren't there. After all, the Sweeney genes code for lateness - not outright lateness - but more like cut-it-closeness like no Jardine possesses. And sure enough, with about 10 minutes left to board, she appeared, a bag slung over each shoulder and Edie strapped into the Baby Bjorn on her front. They were in enough of a hurry that they didn't look up and see me there.

Watching her walk away today reminded me that she is my hero. Ever since she fought through that difficult labor, almost a year ago now, and pushed Edie out like a champion, I've been in complete admiration of her. And it doesn't stop there. There's the way she's given up her short-term career goals to stay home and raise Edie, and doing it so far away from her family who she cares about so much. And now this crazy cross-planet journey with a squirmy 11-month old. Right now, they are somewhere over the Pacific, hopefully catching some zzz's after a good supper. They still have 16 hours to go (via Philadelphia and Bangor), so if you're the praying type, send one up for her and Miss Edie. If you're the wishing type, we'll take all the shooting stars, birthday candles, and wishbones that you've got.

The payoff? A month at home with two eager sets of grandparents and other family members and friends. That's followed by Edie's Aunt Sarah making the return trip with them and staying here for a month. More visitors! It should be great.

In the meantime I've got three weeks of field work scheduled up north. I'm trying to get as much done as I can while I they're away. It'll be fun and it'll be warm, but I'll still be looking forward to the return of my girls.

We like Australia this week

G’day friends!

My how my tune has changed since last week. I kind of came to a realization lately that since we're here now and since it's a very cool thing to be living where we are, I'm going to try to be more positive about it all. Jenn's comment about Austrian bacon last week was helpful. Thanks!

Not too much action this week to speak of. It’s still cold and we’re still happy and healthy. We’re getting lots and lots of hiking in, which is so incredibly cool. The more we’re out the more I think that if you don’t come and visit us while we’re here, you’re missing out on so much! For one, Edie is just changing everyday and she’s such a funny child, and for two, nature here is just so very different than what we were used to at home. For instance, the other day I had Edie on my back on a hike in yet another koala sanctuary and was keeping my head up to see if I could spot any sleepy koalas when I heard a thump-thump-thump sound. I looked up to see a wallaby (very similar to a kangaroo, about my height) speeding towards us obviously unaware that we were in its path. It stopped short about 10m away and froze. The wallaby and I both stood frozen for probably 5 minutes and then I quietly kept on the trail. I can now tell my grandkids that I stared down a wallaby! Unfortunately Edie was asleep on my back at that point so she didn’t get to enjoy the action, so she can’t boast the same. She’s already enjoyed many a wallaby encounter though…We’re so glad that she has and I think that she’s quite happy too.

We were ambitious this week. It’s the middle of strawberry season here and they’re cheap, cheap, cheap, so we bought a huge box of them at the market in order to freeze some and also to make our own jam. I vaguely remember jam making at our home when I was a kid, and also at my grandmothers. My memories are far more pleasant than what we experienced. It wasn’t all bad, we have ended up with some lovely jam, the bad was more like the boiling pot of sticky sweetness splattering all over the kitchen, the multiple burns I incurred and the fear that it’ll all be spoiled if we did it incorrectly, oh, and the infant at our feet taking it all in. It was a whole lot of work! In the end, we’ve now got lots of yummy jam but aren’t quite sure that buying homemade jam at the market for 2.50 a bottle isn’t a better deal. I’m a big, big fan of making our own food from scratch, Edie and Tim accommodate this very well. I like knowing what went in to what we’re eating, I love to cook and bake, and I like to know that actual hands prepared the food we eat and not a machine, so the idea of making our own jam was promising…After our jam making episode though, I think that I can settle with trusting someone else to do the work for us for now. We’ve got 6 more jars to get through anyway, so it’ll be some time before we have to cross the jam buying bridge. Maybe it’s like labour, when mothers forget the agony and end up churning out more and more kids (where we would churn out more and more jam, if you follow)…We’ll see I guess*.

Tomorrow arvo (Aussie-speak for afternoon) we are going to take in the Street Soccer National Championships being held here in Brisbane. We’ve talked about this program before, when the world championships were being held in Melbourne last year. To refresh, the street soccer program is based on using sport to change people’s lives, the particular target group being the homeless and marginalized in Australia (the program is also run in scads of other countries). So, the street soccer program here is run by the Big Issue Australia, and they organize weekly training, camps, tournaments, national championships and the annual international championships. For a lot of the target group, street soccer has become a needed stability in otherwise very unstable lives. We’re pumped to check out the action tomorrow. We’ll tell you all about it next week.

So…It’s now Monday morning and I haven’t posted this blog yet. Works out well because now I can give you the lowdown on the street soccer which we saw yesterday. First off, our idea of what street soccer looked like was way off. We were imagining people from the streets playing soccer on a pitch like regular soccer is played on. This isn’t the case. Street soccer is to regular soccer what 3-on-3 basketball is to regular basketball, it’s a cut down, more intense version of the more standard game, probably made more cool by the fact that you can play it anywhere (hence, the street). If we’d really thought long and hard about it, if you were really playing soccer in the streets, you’d have a lot less room than if you were playing on an open field. Right.

Either way. The courts were set up on an open field in Southbank, which is the main sports and recreational area within the city of Brisbane. You’ll see them in the pictures, but in order to provide walls which you can play off of (like you would encounter if you were playing soccer in an enclosed urban area), they had air-castle like enclosures. It was a pretty interesting set-up. The teams played 3 people plus a goalie on each side and the games consisted of two 15 minute halves. Both men and women played together. I absolutely loved watching the games. First off, the Queensland team was fun to watch anyway, they were skilled AND they were nice. And it was so fun to listen to the banter from the sidelines…Lots of trash talking from the guy standing next to us who was rooting for Western Australia (WA). It was also fun to see people’s quirks come out in their playing (the same could probably be said for what it’s like to watch me play soccer). I loved that the goalie from WA wore a bike helmet.
All in all for me, it was an awesome event to encounter. I hid it well, but I got really emotional watching (I can’t really explain why, it just happens sometimes…). Much to my dismay, ever since I became a mother the tear ducts have become much more leaky. My mom cries when she hears marching bands or sees horses in a parade, I think I’ve come by my unexplained tears quite honestly.

Yesterday also became the first day that Edie resisted all sleep…That’s not entirely true, but jolly close enough…She had a 30 minute nap while eating at 5pm and that’s it. Not cool. It’s getting near impossible to get her to shut her eyes during the day. Rather scary for her parents who would like to shut their eyes more. She’s also got her top teeth coming through, poor darling. At the very least, she’s pleasant even though she’s had no sleep, let’s cross our fingers that this never changes. For the most part it’s a blast having her awake. Edie also made me chase her for the first time today. She loves picking up leaves off of the lawn and eating them, I usually can just pull them out of her mouth when I catch her and we move on. Today when I noticed that she had a leaf in her hand, she met my eye and then turned and bolted (as fast as a crawling infant can bolt). The cheeky little thing! I think we've crossed a big threshold today. Yikes!

It’s two weeks before Edie and I get home. I can hardly believe it. If you want to catch up with us let me know in advance and we’ll see what we can work out. As for now, the plan is to be in NB for most of the month with my family, with a week or so in NS. Sounds nice and simple. Problem is that I want to see EVERYBODY! A month is such a short time really…

Enjoy the catch-up on pictures. Love to all. Laura

*Please note, this is NOT an indication that there’s another baby for us in the near future. Don’t read into it too much, it was just an appropriate analogy. If it helps you to get a timeline in your head of our family progress, I’ll be making jam way before I’ll be popping out another wee one (hopefully I won’t be eating my words on this one).