The Final Countdown

The clock is ticking as we are starting to see the beginning of the end of our time here in Australia. It's full on summer here - darn hot during the day with the smell of jasmine in the evening air which is really quite intoxicating. I mention that: a) because it's true, especially when you're eating at a restaurant that is open (we like to refer to it as "dining al fresco") and b) there's a freakin' cold snap going on at home and this is my chance to rub it in a little!

Nancy and I took the City Cat to the South Bank on Saturday and did a bit of exploring again. One interesting feature of this area, which was home to the 1988 World Exposition, is the large man-made beach - which looks pretty cool in the middle of the cityscape. This is actually a chlorinated pool but is designed to look like a real tropical beach. We didn't bring our suits but Nancy is threatening to "head to the beach" frequently while I'm back in North America - probably freezing (I'm going to be back in Orlando for a conference and then on to Montreal (via Boston) - departing this Sunday). There are plenty of great restaurants at South Bank and a fair representation of tourist destinations / traps if you take a quick hop over to the Queen Street area.

It's definitely cruise ship season here. We had the P&O Pacific Princess ship in on Saturday (as normal), then the Star Cruises "Superstar Gemini" on Sunday and then a Japanese ship that came in this morning which is staying until tomorrow evening. Too much traffic! I would think that if someone were looking to buy a "home" and looked at this apartment, they had better love the cruise ships off their balcony or this isn't the place for them! We do have one of the "Queen" ships - the Victoria - headed here the on the 26th of February, which will generate a bunch of people coming to Portside to see it when it docks. It's part of a 106 day trip around the world - yikes!

I'll keep this part short but I have finally reached a long anticipated milestone - my first 1,000 miles since I acquired my Nike+ "gadget" for my iPod Nano. I hit my 1,000th kilometer last year but it took me about 17 months to log the miles (or 1,602 kilometers) - something that is sort of incredible to me. I won't bore you with "it's equivalent to the distance from Muskegon to..." stories but I'm going to see if I can get my next 1,000 in a shorter period of time.


Last, and probably least, I find "The Soup" to be quite a funny show and it keeps me up to date on the strange things that populate U.S. television. Since this post is entitled "The Final Countdown", I thought this YouTube clip was appropriate to end with. Please keep those comments and /or e-mail notes coming - we're not home yet!

Wow - What A Difference A Week Makes!

Nancy and I are (finally) safely back "Downunder" - after a fairly interesting commute from the U.S. to Australia. Mine was a pretty normal flying experience (I even had an upgrade from Chicago to L.A. and some empty seats to lay down in coming across to Brisbane) whereas Nancy got the "extra day in L.A. delay and lost luggage extravaganza" treatment via Auckland, New Zealand - then to Brisbane. She was a bit worse for the wear when she finally turned up but has recovered nicely in the few days back.

It's hard to believe that we have gone from the Michigan winter to the Brisbane summer in such a short time - it kind of shocks the system! However, knowing that our time here is ticking away, I finally made the commitment to do some of the "tourist" things I had been putting off - starting on Saturday with the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. One of my staff (Syd Burton) and his family volunteered to be our local tour guides and met us there to show us around and I got to hug a koala, feed an emu (they're a big bird and rather intimidating) and pet a few kangaroos. Nancy had been there with Bethany when she visited but it was a really cool experience and a beautiful day to be out. After a few hours at Lone Pine, we enjoyed dinner at the Burton family home with a few other people from work and I ended up in a battle-to-the-death with Syd's son Brad (nearly 15 years old) singing Nirvana's "Nevermind" on the Playstation "Singstar" game (I won!!).

Today (Sunday) was a beautiful day as well. We had a great time at church, followed by some home cooked Indian food with the family of one of my employees, followed by a sunset over the Brisbane river that was pretty spectacular. All of this brought me to an interesting thought about "here" versus "there". While we were back in Muskegon, often the conversation turned to "are you glad to be coming home?" and the answer was certainly an enthusiastic "Yes"! But sometimes when we spoke about the good things we have been able to experience here and the really special people we have been able to meet, we felt like we might sound a bit disloyal in the process. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth because the friends and family "back home" represent a lot of history and investment in those relationships; something that we place a very great value in. At the same time, we have been able to start a few very meaningful relationships here that we hope will be cultivated in the years ahead - despite the distance.

Nancy and I have been talking a lot about our tendency (O.K., mainly MY tendency), to look ahead to the future at the expense of living in "real time" today. This assignment in Australia has taught us (O.K., I'm beginning to learn) that this is really a great way to screw up the good things that God gives us because it's difficult to be thankful for the things you don't really experience. Being able to actually "be there" and enjoy the experiences and people we have down here does not diminish the value of those same things back home. Hopefully, it teaches us (O.K. - teaches me) to be better stewards of them when we return this spring. And you need to hold me to that! Until next time...

Check out the Lorikeet feeding video below (10 MB - sort of large if you don't have Broadband) - it's Nancy and Syd's daughter Janie providing nourishment to the hungry beggars! Turn down the volume as they're pretty loud!