Adventures part 2

January 25, 2009
I know I know it has been a long time since my first adventure update, but we have been really busy and stressed out. We moved into the student lodge next to Quintin’s school and I can say that it’s better but not quite where I want to spend the remainder of our time in Australia. We luckily have most of the place to ourselves but not for long, students will be coming in here by the truck loads next week. So you can see why we have been in a rush to find a home.
Two weeks of searching and no luck so far. We have come close twice to getting a furnished place but than the owner backs out when they get our pet info. We could get something easily if we weren’t so intent on bringing our animals but they are our children and they are the three most well-behaved animals I couldn’t imagine getting rid of them, they are so worth the problems finding a house and the money that shipping them will cost. Gosh I miss them.
We have been able to do a bit of sight seeing. We drove up one of the itty bitty mountains to a Rainforest town called Kuranda. Driving up I was recuperating from a really nasty bonk on the head, I had been watching where I was stepping while I was on the phone with my mom and ran smack into an air-conditioning unit. Quintin heard the bonk clear across the parking lot. Luckily I didn’t yell out obscenities because I was on the phone with my mom. Anyway, I got ice on it and with a nasty headache we drove up to Kuranda. This town is so beautiful but dang noisy, the bugs are so loud with their buzzing and chirping and what not. We walked up this little path and saw this beautiful waterfall called the Barren Falls. Then Quintin really wanted to take me on a little walk through the rainforest. I told him no way, it was too dark in there and I hate the bugs around here. They are like regular bugs on steroids. I decided I needed to be supportive since this rainforest is why we came here, so through the woods we went. As we were walking through the trees we saw these little chicks of a scrub turkey and I calmed down a bit after all the chicks were really cute! Further on down the path we saw a foot long Skink (lizard) and he was fairly cute and harmless. As I was telling Quintin that I wanted to head back I felt this pinch on my foot! Looking down I see a leech on my foot. I started to freak out and I picked it off of my foot just to have it clamp onto my finger. Yelling “Quintin get it off! Get it off!” I was flapping my hand around a million miles an hour and the leech finally flung off of my hand.
We have been renting a car for about a week and a half. We tried the bus thing for about 2-3 days but that required a lot of walking, in the heat and the humidity. I was afraid I was getting dehydrated so having a little dorky trash car has been nice to drive around. Yesterday we actually bought a car! It will be ready for us on Tuesday to pick up. It is a Commodore Holden (I know, I didn’t know what it was either) It has great tires and wheels on it and pretty low mileage (for a 98) It will be good for 3 years and it was the cheapest that we could find without getting a total dump of a car.
Tomorrow is Australia day, it is kind-of like our 4th of July so everything is closed tomorrow. I am excited though because the ward is having a swim party tomorrow and I need to feel included in something. The church here is a small branch but the people are so friendly and the youth of the ward are just amazing people. I hope to get a lot of friends soon, hopefully neighbors and friends in the ward. If only we could find a house. If only we didn’t love Tag so much this would be a lot easier to find a place and less expensive but for those who have met Tag, how could you not bring him along?
So we have a big check marked off, buying a car, but now we still need to find a house, possibly all new furniture and jobs. Please keep us in your prayers, I will keep you in mine! Love Holly