Queensland

In my last post I was threatening to go to Noosa for a well deserved 4 night holiday with the family. I am proud to say that we indeed did make the trip. It was not without drama as a police officer in Sydney was not impressed that my car registration was 7 days overdue, however we made it to our destination (and back). Of course all you get for 4 nights in Noosa is the realization that 4 months would be much better. Noosa is a coastal town (like almost all in Australia, Canberra excepted) and a tourist haven. The beaches are spectacular, the shopping is dangerous, the golf is overpriced and the natural wonders in the National Parks are astounding. As with everything in Australia, its not close, about 2 hours North of Brisbane and far enough off the beaten path but certainly well worth the trip.

Brisbane and everything North along the coast belongs to the province of Queensland. Having finally reached out beyond the Australian Capital Territory and the area know as New South Wales I finally felt that I had started to see Australia. I was interested in what people in Queensland were like. It seems that every second person you meet in Sydney or Canberra is from somewhere else but Queenslanders are well...they're...different. How so you ask, its hard to say...just...different. They seem to use grunts for conversation or at least that's about all that I can make out. It's a bit like Newfoundlanders in Canada. Everything is a masked riddle and they never say 3 words if one would do. It's like the waiter we had at Jack's steakhouse. A great guy, who seated us, took our orders, attended to our tables, pointed out the toilets (rest rooms for those not as bold as Australian's) and he did it all by only using one unintelligible word. I think it was "shwaggah" - not quite sure. Then there was the cruise boat driver that took the microphone and began a personal conversation with every other boat captain sailing on the harbour. There was a lot of "Ah, a rower, that's the way to save fuel, good on ya mate", I think he understood that no one outside of the confines of our little vessel could hear a word he was saying. I guess if you spend a lifetime sailing the exact same route you have to be able to entertain yourself. Perhaps the people could be summed up best by the shuttle driver on the way back to the area that decided since we were his only customers that he would personally give us a tour of the Coast. The 20 minute ride back to the Maroochydore airport became a 45 minute journey through the heart of the sunshine coast with scenic vistas and places of interest for the next time we return. His pride was evident. I have to tell you it won't be long before we are back.

School starts up Monday, and I am looking forward to my third term in office. I feel that our school resolved a number of issues in Term 2 and we have a good plan moving forward. By the end of Third term we will have left Winter (such as it is) and I understand the spring in Canberra is great.