At Opa and Oma's house

Opa and Oma's place
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We landed at the Launceston airport 6pm. The moment we stepped out of the plane you could smell that we were in Australia. The fragrance that hangs in the air is so different than Canada. It was very nice and warm, mid 20C.

It was great to see all my family again. My brother Chris had borrowed a big van from his work and brought us and all our luggage to my Mums house. Oma had been busy fitting us all in her house. Ian got to sleep in a tent trailer outside,Janelle,Nadine, Kynan and Eleni shared a room and Shanika slept with us.

View from the back deck. Typical Australian landscape.
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Oma keeps very busy cooking and cleaning for us. Opa keeps up his garden and all his beautiful flowers, fruit and vegetables.

Adrian's first priority was to find a vehicle for us all. He borrowed Oma's car and practised driving on the left side of the road. Traffic here is very aggressive and there are no straight roads anywhere!!! Launceston is a beautiful city and very hilly. The other thing that really stands out as far as traffic is concerned are the roundabouts. Australians have a roundabouts wherever Canadians would have 2 or 4 way stop signs.

In the back yard.
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On friday Feb 16 Inge came and we went to City Park. A beautiful park in the middle of Launceston which is famous for the monkeys. The kids played on the play ground had a train ride and played a game of outdoor chess. The park is full of beautiful trees, some very old oak trees shed their acorns and we taught the kids to whistle on the acorn caps. Adrian and I had our wedding pictures taken in this park, that was a long time ago!!

My sister Margaret came up from Hobart on saturday with her 2 youngest boys, Shaun and Jayson. It was good to see them again. Janelle and Nadine went swimming with their cousins at Windmill Hill pool, Margaret came back with pizza for supper, have you ever tried pizza with fried egg on it? Apparently the Aussies love their eggs on everything! On saturdaynight I went out for coffee with my 2 sisters, Inge and Margaret.

Bottle brush tree
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Sunday morning Bill came up with the other 3 boys, William, Scott and Kevin. Opa made his special scrambled eggs for breakfast. We all went to church to witness the baptism of Edward and Christine daughter Imogen Kendra. It was a very special service. We went to Princess Square for a picnic with the whole Borst clan, also to celebrate Adrian and Gerrit's birthdays.

On monday Oma went out and bought a birthday cake for Adrian and Ingrid and tante Gerrie came for coffee to help us eat it all.

Showering opa's doves
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Tuesdaynight Inge cooked chinese for us and the kids came face to face with their first jack-jumper- a huge ant that bites and really hurts. A lot of people are allergic to these insects. That was not the only creepy-crawly we saw today. When we came home we saw a huge Huntsman spider on the bathroom wall, these are not poisonous but they are not pretty to look at. The spider "attacked" the walking stick we used to kill it. Usually when these spiders show up it is a sign that rain is coming. We all checked our beds before we crawled into bed that night, and Opa found one under his pillow!!

In city park
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Ants are another pest here, leave some food out (or a dirty diaper) and the next day there will be a trail of ants leading up to it. Outside in the gardens we found many small lizards scurrying around.

Thursday Feb 22. We found a vehicle! Adrian came home with a 22 seater bus, enough room for all of us and some. It came with a big Huntsman!

The plan is to take some seats out and put cupboards in, and make it also a sleeping place for the 3 oldest.

Friday Feb 23. We needed to try out the bus and the new seating arrangements so we took a day to go to the beach in Devonport. The weather is still great and the water was nice too. The kids were surprised how salty the water was. We always camped here when I was living at home yet. Oma still has the caravan there. We had fish and chips on the beach, something traditionally Australian. I think they class tomato sauce (ketchup) as a vegetable.

Acorn whistles
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Saturday Feb 24. Oma and I spent the morning sewing curtains for the bus. We went to Ingrid and Colin's for a barbie (BarBQ). The kids were shown how Australians eat sausages(instead of hotdogs).. diagonally on a slice of bread with tomato sauce..