Australia

Loving the pumpkins!

Halloween ended up being quite a bit of fun around here. We definitely were not used to going out trick or treating when it is 95 degrees - we are usually barely able to stay warm on an Idaho Halloween! But before we get into much more, I will write a bit about the first part of our week.

Hilary was going to have the kids take the day off from school on Halloween, but since our final shipment of household goods came a bit unexpectedly on Monday, we opted to take Monday and Tuesday off instead so we could get a little better organized. So, to the dismay of the kids, school was in session on Wednesday, Halloween morning. I was able to take off of work to help unpack on Monday and Tuesday, so that was good. By Wednesday morning, we mostly had the school area tidied up enough for school the next morning. Hilary had been teaching at the kitchen table, so everything had to be moved and set up in our new school room.

There are a few pieces of furniture that we are going to give back/exchange, but other than that I think we are pretty settled and have gotten most everything put in a place. We've crammed every nook and cranny. It is hard to move from a 2400 sq. ft. house to a 1300 sq. ft. house even though we don't have half of our stuff! That sounds horribly American, doesn't it? We (especially the kids) have noticed that it is MUCH harder to keep the house and bedrooms clean when there is so many things to play with!

We ordered the kids' Halloween costumes several weeks ago, then about one week before Halloween, we received a second delivery of the same costumes again! I checked my credit card and we had also been billed twice. So I called the company and they told me that they had a computer glitch that day and it accidentally sent the costumes out again and charged again. They were very good, and we got an email a couple of days later from the CEO saying they were sorry and that the charge would be removed. I called back and told them thanks, but we still have the extra costumes. So far we haven't heard back, so not sure how that will go...

Beaux was a "sweetheart skeleton girl" with a light-up heart on her shirt. Jax was Wolverine and Jones was a sheriff skelebones. Wolverine is the only known character. We went out at about 6:30 to take some pictures and then headed out for some trick or treating. There were a ton of kids out on our street, so the kids just kind of got in a pack (with the adults trailing) and went down the street that way. There were probably 15-20 kids, we only knew two of them! The Australian folk would typically have their candy and be sitting in a lawn chair at the end of the drive. That made it real easy. There are a lot of gates here, and Hilary and I are still trying to understand "gate etiquette" - it can be a bit awkward. The kids seemed to tire quickly, due to the heat, so we got a lot less candy than we would have in the states, so that is good. We got home around 8:00, so started handing out our candy then. I am sure it was gone by 8:30! There were more and more kids as the night wore on!

I guess this is one of the few places in Australia where Halloween is so big, due in part to the large American influence. But the Australian kids love it!

Australians often say "How are you going?" which usually makes us do a double-take. We are expecting "How are you doing?" or "How is it going?" so we are taken aback when we get an apparent mix-up.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Trent

P.S. - for those of you with a weak constitution when it comes to bugs, there is a picture of a Black House Spider I found on our house one night at the end of this post. It is about the size of a 50 cent piece. They are venomous (probably similar to a Black Widow). So don't scroll all the way down if you don't want to see it!

Moving paper pile

Box Pile

Pumpkin carving

Beaux and her pumpkin

Trick or Treators

Candy Time!!

Venomous Black House Spider - fitting for Halloween!

Kids with "Fourbys" on John Hayes 4x4 track

Trephina

Last weekend we tootled over to Trephina Gorge and John Hayes Rock Hole, Monday we received our final shipment of household goods and Wednesday was Halloween. I was able to take off of work to help unpack on Monday and Tuesday, and we have been at it most of the week. It is mostly done, but it has been a challenge to fit all of our junk in this small house.

Trephina from above

Saturday we went to a birthday party for a girl (Emily) across the street who just turned 8. It has been a busy week!

Trephina with Marty on cliff

Trephina Gorge was very awesome. It is hard to believe how many interesting things are so close. The Gorge itself isn't substantial in size compared to gorges in the states, but very unique with some great scenery. We went with several folks from work again, a couple of them went with us to Ruby Gap last month.

Kids on upper portion of Trephina trail

There were also a couple of new faces, including a couple of little girls with their family who actually live across the street from us - the same family that the kids went to the birthday party for yesterday. The drive to Trephina is about an hour, mostly paved with some gravel. Once we turned off the main road to get to Trephina, there is another turn off to get to John Hayes Rock Hole. This road was for high-clearance 4x4 vehicles only, although one of the guys that went with us drove his motorcycle in. He has a BMW that is one of those on road/off road bikes. He did dump it once and one of the other guys had to help him lift it. I guess the bike weighs about 500lbs!
We all went to Trephina Gorge first and did a hike and got some good pictures. The kids played in the sandy riverbed and we just did a leisurely walk through the gorge. The first part is actually kind of scary with the kids. The trail takes you up to the top of the gorge along the edge and then back down into the gorge. After that we headed over to the Ghost Gum, which is supposed to be the largest known Ghost Gum tree in central Australia. Not sure how they know... Then we headed to John Hayes Rock Hole where we ate lunch and then started a new hike. We brought our propane camp stove to cook hot dogs for dinner, but our neighbors only brought hot dogs and weren't hanging around for dinner, so we decided to eat hot dogs for lunch too. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring matches because I was thinking our camp stove is self igniting, but it isn't. So we had fun over the next 20 minutes using car lighters, phone book paper, diesel, dry grass and tissues trying to get the propane stove lit. We FINALLY got it going. I made a "note to self" to add matches to our supplies list.

John Hayes Rock Hole was amazing, and definitely the best part of the day. The hiking trail goes up on top of the mountain and then you walk back down to the parking area via a small gorge. I believe it is John Hayes creek that flows through the gorge (when there is water), but the gorge is narrow and basically is made up of great slabs of stone that step down through the gorge. When the water flows, there are hundreds of waterfalls down to where the parking area is. Right before the parking lot (carpark in Australia), there is the "rock hole" which is about a 75 foot sheer drop into a big rock "bowl" and then another 50 foot drop from there to the last two "holes". Both the bowl and last two holes still had water in them. Obviously the trail goes back up out of the gorge at the end because there would be no way to navigate the cliffs without climbing gear. In one area, we caught a nasty smell and came across a dead kangaroo. We theorized that maybe it fell into the gorge or was bitten by a snake, but obviously don't know for sure.

After the rock hole, we went back to Trephina Gorge and everyone else headed back to town. On the way back to Trephina, we saw a Perentie lizard (about 4' long) at one of the river crossings. We stopped and got out and it let us get very close and just sat there while we took pictures. We were probably about 5 feet away from it. Jax and Hilary stayed in the car, but Jones, Beaux and I got out. We hiked around for another hour and the kids did some rock climbing - they love that. Then we headed home and at our dinner in the car on the way back. We saw another Perentie lizard on the way home that was a bit larger the the first one (about 5' long), just sitting in the road. We only stopped so we wouldn't squash it, but didn't get out for that one.

It was a good weekend all in all. It was only about 87 degrees on Saturday, which is nice and cool. Today was 105 degrees. I will probably write again very soon and fill you in on Halloween, including some pics.

Take care and enjoy the pics,

Trent