Saturday 29th

The week has flown by. Several of my friends are overseas at present and those that are not seem to be planning trips away somewhere interesting. I've had emails from Rebecca in Portland OR, Kay in Turkey, Di and Torquil in Western Australia, Peter and Bernadette last night describing their upcoming two months driving through western NSW to South Australia, then next year their 3 month sojourn through Europe in their new motor home that they bought this week in Britain. Oh, they'll stop off in South Africa on their way home and leave their motor home in Europe for the following year's 3 month holiday. Me? Well, the prospect of 7 months living up on the Sunshine Coast seems very nice, but still, it is quite suburban compared to the other places mentioned.

This evening the designer/builder comes with the contract for the new house. Building will start in January. It should all be done by June in time for Rene's sister's visit (sometime around September) when there'll be a wedding arranged. I already have some work in Caboolture next year, both in the primary and secondary Catholic schools, so that will reduce travelling times. I hope to get the remainder of my hours in north Brisbane.

If anyone knows of a you beaut site that deals with colour selections, please let me know. Rene and I have to decide soon (no urgency about it though) on an interior and exterior colour scheme for the house. No easy task. I tend to be with these things a bit like in a restaurant - the longer the waitperson takes to take my order, the more often I change my mind on the menu selections. I'm happy to nail it all in one sitting after lots of consultation then leave it alone until it is finished.

Refugees? What Refugees?

Click here to find an article from today's New York Times on refugees from Iraq. I teach one of these families. Interesting viewpoint.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/opinion/27cohen.html?ex=1348632000&en=e3283ca8ba8b34ce&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

House plan finalised

OK, maybe not finalised, but certainly sufficient to enable a contract to be signed this Saturday. We saw the whole drawings (elevations etc) for the first time today and I have to say I'm excited. It certainly won't be an architectural marvel, but it will sit very nicely on the site and internally it will fulfill every one of our requirements. I'll post the plans here next week. We also met both of our new neighbours today and they seems to be very nice people indeed. While we chatted the birds were flying around in the shade of the trees, a few people were walking along the creek bank and all in all I feel like we've moved in already. Sadly, it won't be until June next year, but given the way this year has flown by, it won't take all that long to pass.

Thursday 27th September

Today I received an email from a friend who lost his son to a 17 month long illness last week. Such a sad loss of a wonderful person. It again focuses me on making the most of every day and appreciating the life I have been fortunate enough to have. I sincerely hope you are making the most of every day and every opportunity to be fulfilled.

New House Design

Yesterday Rene and I met with the designer of our new home. The plans look wonderful, but I'm a bit biased since it is essentially what I planned already. Two storeys, three bedrooms plus study, three bathrooms, large deck at the front on the top floor, kitchen and living room at the front on top. It has over 80 sqm of gallery space on the ground floor plus a workroom and a double garage. Exterior will be weatherboard, the roof Colourbond metal roofing, integrated ducted air conditioning, solar hot water....the list goes on. Very exciting. Approval should be through before Christmas and the builder can start in January, but the finish time is around June. At the moment it is well below our budget but we have yet to add stone benchtops and a two pack kitchen etc etc. Still, it is quoted with timber floors upstairs for the living areas plus study, carpet in the bedrooms and tiles on the ground floor. The whole house has 9ft ceilings on both levels, and the living area's ceiling rises along with the scissor framed roof. I think it'll look brilliant.

Moved!

Yes, the first part of the move from our lovely town house is completed. We moved last Wednesday with our temporary residence being Upper Mount Gravatt on the south side of Brisbane. Our friend Kay has left for Turkey, Italy and Eastern Europe for two months, so whilst she is away we are invading her home. It is now Sunday afternoon and we are now almost completely settled in, even to the point of having the net up and running. My American friend Kit lives at Kay's house and has graciously accepted the 'invasion', and his liver has already been given a serious workout. When his partner Polly returns from her long trip to the US there'll be four of us at Stanhope Street. It's really lovely to have such nice friends.

On Thursday night, after cleaning the house and doing a myriad of last minute things, we met four friends at a restaurant in Albion called 'Bespoke'. We were running late, tired, and above all not brilliantly dressed for such a smart restaurant, but other than last minute ironing and a traffic jam, we arrived at the place ready to be thoroughly spoiled, and we certainly were. The food was outstanding (three courses times six people, enough opportunities to get something wrong). Everyone enjoyed each course, we loved the service and above all the balance between smartness and informality (when Aussies get it right, they get it SOOO right!). From my entree of yellow fin tuna plate with the fish prepared three ways, through to the bouillabaisse served in an interestingly new way (seafood piled upon a caviar blini) and to top it off a dessert combining rhubarb and strawberry - well, this very tired bloke went to bed that night extremely satisfied. Recently we entertained a couple of visiting Dutch friends to a dinner at a fabulous restaurant only to find a series of highs and lows during the evening (food-wise). Bespoke got everything right, and I mean everything. We'll be back. http://restaurantbespoke.com.au/

Back at Last

This post has been tidied up a little since the weekend but is still a little less than perfect. Only a couple of the first set of photos enlarge when you click on them, but should you wish a high quality enlargement, just send a note and it will be done. This dry river bed below is the Todd River in Alice Springs. Last January it was in flood. It must be an awesome sight in a land of countless awesome sites.

G'day everyone. After a lapse due to travelling and packing and preparing to move house, another post is upon you from Owen. Rene got back from Alice Springs last Tuesday, I had returned 8 days prior.

It was a stunning trip - one I was dreading because the roads we were travelling over were some of the worst in the country. We successfully drove the Nissan Patrol over 2000 km in one week, travelling down from Darwin to Katherine, then west towards the W.A. border, then down towards Lajamanu, a truly remote Aboriginal community. The Nissan had a 3L turbo diesel engine with a 96L tank plus a sub tank holding 48L therefore the range was quite good on a tank (and a half). The most expensive diesel was A$2.10/L (in Brisbane today it was $1.18).

We continued on after buying art towards Tanami driving on the western side of the Tanami Desert. We turned east towards Alice Springs (still 655km to go) and camped the night in our car. Rabbit Flat is Australia's most remote road house and only has bush camping facilities. A couple from Victoria befriended us and we shared hot tea and light and lots of conversation. To say the full moon and the stars were stunning would be an understatement. The word 'awesome' is a trifle overused these days, but this Central Australian sky was all of that.

After an early morning start we arrived at Yuendemu (more Warlpiri people) and visited the art centre. The drive to Alice Springs allowed us to travel beside the McDonnell Ranges for some 170km or so. The landscape and colour in the Centre is astounding, and I hope Rene's pictures capture a little of it.

Once in Alice Springs I had a couple of nights before flying back to Brisbane (and work) but Rene stayed on for the Desert Mob art show and also to drive to a couple more communities to buy art.

Now we are moving out this Wednesday and living in Mt Gravatt (Brisbane) until our apartment is finished on the Sunshine Coast towards the middle of November. We have met today with a designer/builder who has come up with exactly the concept we're looking for to build ASAP on our land in Nundah (Brisbane). More details later, but for now I must finish this post and get to bed. One whole day of packing left for me, but Rene has three. Exciting, exhausting and exhilarating life may be, but a bit of calm over the vacation period in a week's time will be eagerly anticipated.

The pictures are in no particular order as of yet. I'll tidy up this later when I have time. Click on them to see them larger, especially the landscapes.

I'm Back...

Yes, I survived the Outback. We drove some 1800km of which nearly 1000 was on dirt, some of it extremely rough. The country is absolutely stunning and I promise to tell more soon, but not tonight. I've been back at work just two days but I'm really very tired. Last week was incredibly exciting and fascinating, but it requires some considerable time to do it justice, and that's just not what I have at present. What with the trip plus planning on leaving the house and packing up within 16 days, I've enough on my plate right now. Just spoke to Rene back in Alice Springs who had just returned from his fourth remote community and he said everything was very successful - bought lots of art - he's now returned the 4WD with some 2500km added to the odometer. This is a mighty big country.