Update from down undah

February 18, 2009

How you goin? I am loving Australia! We finally got the internet figured out and up and running so my life is much happier. All of our furniture is here and set up. I must say that we did a dang good job with it, our place is stylin. (pics will be coming soon) .

We have had a couple other adventures. We went up into the “mountain” area to a place called Kuranda. A man met us there that was going to sell us his mattress and led us to his home in the true outback. His name was Jeff and his little girl was named Hely. This guy was totally hardcore Australian. He had a 45 acre lot that he lived on with his family, horses, 3 huge dogs and his mom lived in a trailer on the lot as well. This guy was tan, sweaty, had only one lung and swore ALOT but he was the nicest man and showed Quintin around his land as I went to talk to his mother. She was just the opposite of her son, such a charming lady that offered me tea and spoke to me about literature. The little girl, Hely came with me and her g-ma gave her a spoonful of vegemite. Just the smell made me gag. I went to join Quintin and Jeff, while Hely walked with me. She looked at me and calmly said “Watch out for red backs we’ve got a lot of them round here” I freaked out in my head, red backs are one of the two most venomous spiders in Australia!! So I urged Quintin with my eyes and maybe a poke in the back to leave and leave now!! Just as we were saying goodbye I asked Jeff if he had had a chest tube with the removal of his lung and he had but then he told me the story about when he got home after surgery. He had slept on his side and woke up with a ton of fluid in his chest. So what did he do? He took a garden hose and a pair of scissors and put in his own chest tube!! I told you that this guy was hardcore. Needless to say Quintin had an instant friend and I’m sure that we will be talking to him often.

Almost everyone we meet is so friendly and invites us for tea. We always said no thank you for obvious reasons but then someone told us that tea means dinner! We kicked ourselves and promised to not turn down tea anymore. We have been invited by a couple of couples in the branch to dinner and we have really had fun with them. I have given a talk already and the next week Quintin gave a talk and taught priesthood. We still don’t have callings but we are definitely planting ourselves firmly in this branch.

Our IMAC come in the mail the other day and when we went to pick it up I saw it and yelled “There it is there is my baby!” I’m sure the postal worker thought I was insane but it was such a joy because all of my 7000 + pictures, 14,000 + songs and some DvD’s are were back with me. If I almost cried when my computer came, I will be a total mess when my animals come.
For the next week after getting my (our) computer we were on the phone with our Internet Provider, and the modem people trying to figure out why our internet didn’t work. After about 4-5 calls everyday with these people the internet miraculously turned on, So this is why you all have not been blessed by my blogs for 2 weeks.

This week has been orientation week for Quintin at JCU (James Cook University) I went with him the first day, mostly so I could smuggle myself into the library to use the internet. There were these 3 performance artists that went around the campus dressed and acting like sharks. They made me feel awkward. One sat next to Quintin and after we figured out that they didn’t talk Quintin did his usual dance (the sprinkler) and the shark joined him. Then when I was in the very quiet library talking to my nephew David on face book I realized that the shark people were behind me. It freaked me out a little which turned into laughter. I made the very quiet library not so quiet with my smokers laugh. I was still on the internet when a tour group came in and Quintin was in the group so I sidled up next to him and joined the library tour.
So I’m sitting here on my new couch, typing away on the laptop and watching TV with Quintin. I can truly say that I’m at home now, It took a long 6 weeks to feel this way but I like our new digs. All we need now is our animals and they will be here in April, then I will feel somewhat complete.

Any questions? Ask me in a comment or on face book and I will answer you to the best of my ability.

Love you all, Holly