VanDijkTrack

February was hot. The heat kept us from doing many activities. Just a simple walk during the day gets you totally wet from sweating. On average it is several degrees above 30 degrees Celsius and humidity is high as usual for a subtropical area. There were also some warnings to be careful because snakes were very active and present in large numbers. 

However, it is always good to have a BBQ, so we had several “barbies” with others at their or our home. To be honest not many people here are quick with letting you in their private environment. Several migrants told us that the Australians are very nice, but it stops at the front door. Nevertheless we have met many people and some of them we consider already as our friends.

The school holidays have ended at the end of January so the children had to go to school again. Both Jorick and Nicole were looking forward to start in their new class. Nicole is now going to year 2 (primary) and Jorick to the preparatory year. After two weeks they got used to the new rhythm and sometimes preferred to stay at home. Nicole continued her tennis lessons and started guitar lessons. Both Jorick and Nicole continued swimming lessons. Jorick had already two show&tell presentations. One about a favorite toy (Lianne the giraffe) and one about a favorite photo (his birthday party in Bosch en Duin with candles on the cake).

Also for Anita and Jan the normal daily life continued again. Anita started to work in a new project from Geriatrics/General Medicine to help develop a new service called Home Based Acute (Hospital) Care. Besides his consultancy work Jan started an MBA in the UK to refresh his knowledge and to get it formally recognized with a certificate as well.

After we bought a large trampoline already half a year ago we decided to create a playground in the bush garden. However first we had to remove many trees and to flatten an area with a machine (bobcat). This plan was delayed by a broken chainsaw and other activities. Anyhow this finally happened so now the kids have their trampoline and the swing. Perhaps we will also extend the area with a sitting area and a BBQ.

In the evenings suddenly crowds of Flying Foxes showed up. It seemed that several trees have blossoms they like to eat. Besides already all loud noises in the evening these foxes added another flavor.

Visiting the Samford Historical Museum we saw how the first settlers here started their community. 150 years ago the land was sold and in 1872 the first school was build. Al lot of old equipment some houses and a school are shown with some explanation on things developed.

It’s a bit weird that differences between summer and winter are limited. Nevertheless different animals show up during the year depending on the time of the year. During a party at the Sweeney Reserve some parrots showed up.

Also Grass Hopper are everywhere and sometimes real big ones show up like this one on the car. And of course they like a good concert as well.

The breeding season of the Brush Turkey is over and we didn’t see any chuckling. Though the Lace Monitors had a good time eating all the eggs that were laid inside. To end the game we have decided to clean up the messy mound also  being a breeding stove for many insects as well. So here we go.

Kind regards from us all.

These weeks of the year, we have been busy with “children activities”.

After Nicole and Jorick have put the red balloon, found in Alma Zoo, in their shoe, they got some presents and finally Sinterklaas didn’t forget them.

On 30 November Sinterklaas visited Brisbane for a few hours at the Dutch Club.  Already earlier we have visited the Dutch club for “Koninginnefeest” (Queen’s Birthday) and with Easter (with hidden eggs). Both Jorick and Nicole got a present from the Dutch Saint.

On Saturday morning the 6th of December we heard on the Sinterklaas journal that the Boat with packages had returned to Sinterklaas. Soon after that Nicole found the “De Zak van Sinterklaas” (the bag from Sinterklaas) in front of the main entrance, so they were very exited. They were very happy with the presents like the diving equiment, the Insect Catcher and SuperMan suit.

Schools in Australia are now getting closed for the long summer holidays that have started. The closing took place with some celebrations and ceremonies with the presentation of certificates being part of it. The children like it to have 7 weeks off and we have already planned several things to do. 

Again we went to the Queensland State Library where the children love to do creative art, followed by a visit to the Queensland Museum.

Already long before Christmas there are many Christmas Carols events each weekend. From Genesis/BrayPark a Christmas Carols event was organized at the local Warner shopping center with songs and several events (playgrounds, jumping castle, face painting, 4WD info, etc. Nicole participated in the choir and had been practicing for weeks. Songs as “Jingle Bell”, “Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer”, “We wish you a merry Christmas”, … were part of the program. Finally when the main program was started, it had to be closed down after half an hour due to extreme tropical thunderstorms and lightnings. It was a pity.

Last Sunday (14th of December) we have been setting up our Christmas tree. It was bizarre to do this with the air-conditioning on and an outside temperature of 34 degrees. It’s our Dutch Christmas Tree so we are lucky that it still didn’t melt down. Perhaps we should forget all about a white Christmas this year.

Dear all, We wish you all a Merry Christmas with many blessings.

Jan, Anita, Nicole and Jorick.

Remark: The 20 November post has been added recently. Please scroll down in case you missed it.