5 humans, 1 world, lots of adventures!

For decades, my oma and opa (my dad's mum and dad - from Holland, hence the terms) owned a small home (with an outhouse for a loooonnnnggg time) in Calliope, Queensland, Australia. I have a lot of fond memories: playing in the back woods, petting the horses in the paddock next to them, walking the short ways down the road to the Calliope River to play and fish, playing chess there, making croquettes with my (blind) grandmother, sitting with her guide dog, Chad, going to "downtown" Calliope with Chad and Oma and being amazed at how he followed commands like "Chad, take me to the butcher" and "Chad, take me to the bank." Oma and Opa moved out of that house a long time ago (maybe 20 years ago), and both have since died. But G and I have visited the house every time we've been in Calliope, this time is no exception. While we didn't bother the owners this time, we did stop to take some photos of the girls outside "Rain Lover" (named a...

This afternoon's adventure was a trip to Horizons Kangaroo Sanctuary (https://horizonskangaroosanctuary.wordpress.com/home/kangaroo-experience/). The couple running the place (off their own property) have been raising orphaned joeys for about 16 years. They have raised over 200 of them. The majority of them are brought to the sanctuary after the mom is killed in a car accident, but he was telling stories of Dan, rescued from a river dam, and others. They have no cages or fences, and the kangaroos are all released into the wild. But because they're all bottle fed and raised at the sanctuary, they stick nearby. And, of course, come in for daily sweet potato snacks. The man did say that often they won't see a kangaroo for over a year before he or she comes back. And he knew them all by sight. It was a tremendously lovely experience, and the girls loved being able to feed and pet (and hug!) the kangaroos.

We flew on a TINY plane from Lady Elliot Island to Bundaberg, then rented a car and drove to the town of Agnes Water. It, and the Town of 1770, are right next to each other, maybe 5 km away. They seem to just combine for most everything. Today we headed out to a regional park to explore the peninsular that heads due north. From the end of the peninsular, one can watch the sunrise and the sunset. The ocean is on one side and a bay is on the other. It was a beautiful, blustery place that we loved! We also crossed paths with another large lizard, so the conversation immediately went back to Lucy, in Exmouth, and how she is different from this lizard.

We had a cyclone affecting the island weather the entire time we were there. Tropical Cyclone OMA (which is fitting since "Oma" is what I used to call my Dutch-Born, Aussie-emigrated grandmother who lived right near the island for many many years) was about 700 kilometers away from Lady Elliot but boy oh boy did we feel her presence. The wind howled, especially at night, hitting 40+ knots during the day and much more at night. The waves were brutal and the western side of the island - the part with the incredible coral reefs and the big marine animals (manta rays, etc.) were closed until the morning we left (don't worry, G and I went snorkeling but my god the current was still strong and we had to work hard to get back to shore). I digress. The second-to-last day, the weather was a little better. The Lagoon was still choppy, but after a glass bottom boat ride (they had been cancelled the entire time, too, but opened up that day), S decided she was ready to snorkel ag...

It's turtle nesting season on Lady Elliot. Green turtles and Loggerhead turtles nest, but Hawksbill turtles also feed on the reef (and a 4th, but the name is escaping me). We saw mama turtles everywhere and also hatchlings (photos of that to come once I get them off the go pro). We had ZERO cell reception for the 5 days we were there. It was quite glorious!