cheerios

As we walked through the local grocery store in nearby Gympie my mother suddenly attacked me from behind saying, "here, take your daughter and her cheerio." It sounds harmless enough, but a cheerio in Aussieland is not a small oaty cereal, but rather a cocktail weenie stuffed into kool-aid red casing. num num. Well, Ella thought so, but my mother wasn't too thrilled with the idea of Ella devouring a cold sausage over her shoulder. Oh the things we learn when we travel.

My mom is slowly losing the deer-in-headlights look about her, and warming up to the pace of life here. We're now at David's house, by the way, which is in the clouds, literally. David is Chris's dad who bought 66 acres in the sunshine coast hinterland along with a beautiful, though quirky house; an "American barn" which doesn't seem remotely American to me, the silly American in town; a pool, though it's mostly empty apart from the goannas; a pond, or dam as they call ponds here; a small gum tree plantation; and any number of native critters. The daily routine here involves checking the water level on the multiple tanks that catch rain-water, starting a fire inside for warmth, starting a fire outside for fun, taking a walk down the driveway which doubles as a rally car race track, taking a bath or shower after the trek back up, checking the water level again, walking up the 4-wheel drive track to the bush lemon tree and the peak of the property (I must admit the lemon tree might be more enticing to me), having a drink, having another shower, checking the water levels again, having another drink by the fire, and going to bed. My mom and Chris get a little antsy, but personally I love the view of the macadamia plantation below us, just beyond the clay stove on the deck. I don't mind just sitting there and staring out for hours on end, so I guess it works for me up here, at least while I'm on holiday.

***

Okay, we just ate dinner, hence the *** interlude. I've also had a couple gin and tonics and several glasses of superb Australian Shiraz, so things might start to get a little hazy at this point. In fact, instead of writing any more, I think I will simply leave you with a few choice pics from the last couple days up here in hinterland and hope you might feel a touch of the sublime life that is lived here.

the view from the front deck of "The Moore Hilton: Hinterland Abode" (the dark trees in the middle are the macadamia plantation belonging to one of his neighbors)

even the kangaroos are cheeky here

Chris got tired at the beach, but luckily Ella came to his rescue

Chris is being silly and telling me that actually that's not the beach, it's the river. Hello, the water there is still salty. We still ate fish and chips there. There are still scary animals everywhere! It's totally the beach. Doesn't he know anything about this place?