VanDijkTrack

After a period of very hot weather, it’s now becoming better for daytrips a bit further from home again. A trip through the Brisbane Forest brought us along Lake Wivenhoe, Esk and Lake Somerset. These lakes are created between the hills to save water and to generate electrical energy. Although designed by humans, it created a beautiful environment of water meeting the bush with also many recreational opportunities as well.

During this trip we found out that Nicole already reached a length of nearly 1 cactus.

The roads are quiet, straight and in corners with changing heights also dangerous.

Esk is a small village in the Brisbane valley, 80 km west of the city. The population is around 16,000 people spread over a large area. In Esk Europeans first settled in 1825. The Historical Homestead shows one of the older restored houses in this village.

Nicole is still doing her Tennis lessons and as you can see she already shows some impressive moves. She loves it.  After the Eater holidays also Jorick will start with tennis lessons.

Finally an example of the many different caterpillars in our garden.

Thanks for visiting our site.

J+A+N+J

We are already 1 year in Australia and this milestone is a nice moment for evaluation. It was an interesting year with many beautiful experiences and also many challenges. Coming here without knowing anybody made us realize and experience how important social relations are and how much you normally depend on others. On the other hand we also experienced that this made it a richer experience with many opportunities to learn about ourselves and our social life. It gave us also another view on daily life and culture in the Netherlands and Australia. A more detailed description of how we experience after 1 year living in Australia can be found on the following page: “evaluation Australia”

On a Sunday we went again to Boondall Wetlands Reserve for a walk. The salty environment creates an exceptional flora and fauna. In the Reserve many Indigenous art totems can be found which makes it even a more attractive to walk and look around. The pictures below show three of the many totems with their meaning.

Daily life goes on and so also the park parties. Jorick had a birthday party of a girlfriend in his class in a park. Ponies were organised for the kids to ride on. Also Nicole (being a girlfriend from her sister) was invited making it fun for both Jorick and Nicole. Nicole loves animals very much so she enjoyed it a lot as you can see.. The many parks are intensively used here for family meetings, parties, celebrations, etc.

Another day we went walking just a few kilometers from our home near the Lake Samson Vale. Already close to Brisbane you can walk for hours without meeting other people. This gives a real nature experience.

The 3rd picture above shows a spider in our garden. Many insects (and animals) have beautiful colors here.

That’s t for now. An update will follow sooner this time.

Cheers,

Jan, Anita, Nicole and Jorick