Up to Mach 20

Well, well, well, it’s been a while! The weeks have seemed to go by so quickly! I have finally reached a level of comfort here. It’s hard to explain, but when I first arrived everything felt a little…off balance. But, things are much better now. The spontaneous laughter is back and so is my confidence level. I don’t have to check every-other-word (and can now tease back when the Frenchman at work tells us we’re only American and he is a superior race). The last two weeks have been anything but boring. It’s been a roller coaster at work, one great adventure weekend and several eventful evenings out on the town.

Work is super dependent on the weather here…and of course they have had record breaking rains this whole season and record breaking rains the week after we got here (ESPECIALLY up north near our project area). The rain doesn’t seem to soak in, or run off, or evaporate quickly. It just puddles and floods everything. I am told that the first meter or so of the ground is mostly clay and at the first sign of a rain, the roads become impassable. After the last rains, it was estimated that the ground would take 4 weeks to dry up, but…THAT was before a cyclone (southern hemisphere version of a hurricane) was reported off the coast. It’s predicted to hit up north at the project area…bringing more rain. So, with the roads being impassable and the environmental concerns associated with muddy ground and heavy equipment, we are on standby. At first, there was enough work to keep us busy in the office, but now with further delays there is less and less to do. I have been asked to be available for a job based out of the Perth office next week at a mine near the town of Newman in Western Australia. It is forcast to be 40 degrees C for the whole week. YIKES! That’s HOT! I am excited for the opportunity despite the heat, both to be doing something and getting to go to Western Australia. It was one of those places that I really wanted to go, but because of time and distance I didn’t think I’d make it. I should find out next week if it will really happen.

This weekend, the decision was made to stick around town and chill, get organized, settle into our new living arrangement (cute little furnished two bedroom apartment), and finally go to church again. Wonderful!
Last weekend Ali and I struck out towards the coast and an area called Fingal Head, south of the Gold Coast. Beautiful….and WINDY! We had to put our car in front of our tent to ease some of the gusts. Since the beach was rather uncomfortable with all the wind, we decided to go for a drive down to Byron Bay, which was only about 45 minutes south. It was an excellent decision. We ate lunch, got gelato, walked the shops, and visited the lighthouse at the most easterly edge of Australia.
The lighthouse was my favorite. It had a gorgeous walk that extended almost to the very edge of the rocky outcrop where it joined the sea. The waves thundered against the rocks and the dolphins played in the surf. Raw and awesome.
We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to camp and made an amazing meal of grilled veggies and steak on the bbq. (Photos of the weekend are posted via the link on the right side of the page…and for those of you with facebook accounts, I have posted a video of the waves at Byron Bay).