Good On Ya: The Australian Experience

Caution: Kangaroo Crossing!


Only in Australia: Warning! Do not swim in crocodile infested waters. This picture was taken near a small river on during Mai and I's morning run on our last day in Australia, March 27.

Initial Impressions
This trip to Australia was my second journey to the land "Down Under." The first time was 8 years ago, in the spring of 2000, also chaperoning an 8th grade class trip. I don't recall the country having made quite such an impression on me as it did this time.

The short version is that I love it; Babs and I both feel it would be nice to live there someday. Granted, Australia is a big country and we've only been to one part--tropical North Queensland. But what we've seen, we've loved.

I suppose it seems a no-brainer: Nice weather, great people, first world amenities in an exotic location, everyone speaks English. In many ways one would imagine that Australia would feel very similar to the United States--but it doesn't. I know this will sound really obvious and silly (especially to Australians) but while in Australia I was really struck by the reality that this really was a foreign country--a country with a different culture and customs from my own, the language not withstanding. (And really, the language is pretty different too). The result was that, at least at first, I felt a little apprehensive and uncertain (though not as downright scared as I was last time when we rented a van and I had to drive on the right side! I found the roundabouts especially challenging. More on them momentarily)). The following is an excerpt from my pen and paper journal, written on Sabbath, March 22, our second day in Cairns:

"I have the familiar sense of vulnerability that comes with traveling in another country--that sense that makes one extremely grateful for the kindess of hosts, hotel workers, drivers, and tour guides and more deeply wounded by their brusqueness or irritation. Strangely these feelings are heightened by being in an English-speaking country, perhaps because rudeness feels more personal when you don't have the excuse of the language barrier and kindness feels more genuine.

It's unfair to make broad judgements about 'the Australian people', especially after only one day here (though such judgements truthfully can never be made), but I can say that most the people I've met have been either extraordinarily friendly or unusually crotchety.

The accent is charming of course and the Australians--white ones and the dark-all seem to have a distinct appearance. Redder faces, paler skin, somewhat "British" features among white Australians and of course the distinct look of the Aborigines."

Despite that initial nervousness, overall, I felt welcome and safe while in Australia. I quickly came to feel at home.

Other People's Normal

One of my favorite things about traveling to other countries is getting a sense of how other people live; getting a feel for "other people's normal". I mean the usual tourist sights and experiences--the monuments, the museums, the must-see landmarks--they're great too. But I'm quite happy just wandering down a side street, meandering through a neighborhood, fascinated by the differences between their "normal" and mine, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in this place, in this culture, and have it be ordinary. I suppose I do understand those Japanese tourists who come to Saipan and gather around the most innocuous and mundane things to take enthusiastic pictures. I feel the same way when I visit another country and I felt that way in Australia.

So: A few things that will seem very boring and mundane to the Australian reader but that I found myself thoroughly fascinated and tickled by:

There's the obvious right-hand driving and driving on the left side of the road, but what really struck me was the roundabouts. These efficient versions of the intersection were everywhere in Australia, while on the other hand, I can't recall having seen even one 4-way stop sign (though I'm sure they were there). Let me further embarass myself by confessing that apparently I'm more ethnocentric and in the thrall of American exceptionalism than I thought, because I was genuinely surprised to find in Australia a system that was--gasp--better than what we have in America! The roundabout is just so sensible once you get the hang of it. Traffic in all directions basically keeps moving; there's a kind of elegance to the design of thing. Why don't we have this in the States, I wondered. And then, I remembered, Oh, yes, that's right. We Americans think we have the best way of doing of everything already. Most of us would probably rebel it having to change our accustomed manner of driving, even if the change might be an improvement. It's like the metric system--we like doing it our way, even though the change would actually be easier for us in the long run.


A typical roundabout. I got this picture off the web and I believe it was taken in Great Britain.



A right hand drive car.

I'm not sure if this is my imagination, but Australia just seemed a bit more health conscious than the United States. The stores were stocked with all kinds of whole-grain type products, but it was more than that. After all healthy eating is all the rage in the States right now, so shelves stocked with organic this and all-natural that isn't so unsual. No, I came to this conclusion through observation of more subtle differences. For example, on Friday evening, March 21, we took the kids to eat at a fast food joint across the street from our hotel, a place called Red Rooster. It had the usual fast food fare with an emphasis on chicken, but you could also by a piece of pumpkin. Not sugared-up pumpkin pie; a plain chunk of pumpkin still in it's skin. I was amazed that a greasy chicken outlet would carry such an item and equally amazed that people were likely to order it. (Pumpkin seems to be pretty popular in Australia too--while there I had a pumpkin and spinach lasagna, a savory [as opposed to a sweet] pumpkin pie, and a pumpkin and steak pie--pies little mini-pastries filled with meat and other ingredients are also very common in Australia).


The Red Rooster across the street from the Palm Royale Cairns.

Another example of this kind of comfort level with healthy eating was the cereal given to us every morning as part of our compliementary breakfast at our second lodging of the trip, the Bohemia Resort. Every day we got a bowl with a package of sturdy, whole grain, fiber-filled (and some might argue utterly tasteless) Weet-Bix. It's a literally a brick of solid health dropped into your bowl that you break apart with your spoon and in some cases, sweeten with a little sugar just to take the edge off all that healthiness. What struck me is that this was the default ceral--given to every patron of the hostel, and apparently the assumption was that everyone would eat it. Does anyone in the States buy Shredded Wheat (the closest thing we have to Weetbix in U.S)?


Weet Bix. Not the tastiest stuff in the world but packed with health. And made by Sanitarium, a company owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church!


One final observation of the "normal" in Australia--the language of course. Everybody loves an Aussie accent but I love the Aussie words just as much. From my pen and paper journal, Tuesday, March 25:

"And along the way there have been lots of impressions of Australia--a lot of new words or rather familiar words with unfamiliar meanings: "sunnies" [sunglasses], "swimmers"[swimsuit], "chemist" [pharmacy], "chips" [french fries], "crisps" [potato chips], "tomato sauce" [ketchup] and "How ya' goin'" [What's up] and "Good on ya, mate!" [Well done!] and many others."

Overall, I think it wouldn't be hard for the Australian "normal" to become my normal too.


Recognize this cereal? That's right, it's Kelloggs Raisan Bran! Apparently raisans are known as "sultanas" in Australia. I brought back two boxes of these from our trip.



Where We Stayed: A Tale of Two Pools

We stayed in two different places during our time in Australia and both had good-sized free form pools in a luxe tropical setting. Beyond that, the similarities ended and I think you'll be surprised by which place I'd recommend. Consider this my offical review of the places we stayed in Australia.

The pool at the Palm Royale Cairns. It was nice but they had a pool at Bohemia too and you could actually play pool there too!

The first place we stayed was the Palm Royale Cairns, which was conveniently located just two blocks from the Cairns SDA Church. Three nights at this hotel was included with our airfare package. It appeared to be rather nice mid-level hotel. The key word is "appeared." This hotel was all about appearance. It looks nice in glamorous photos on the web with it's massive pool, exotic landscaping, and vaguely Mediterranean architectural vibe. But if you looked closely, you'd see the mold creeping up the walls. If you went into the rooms you'd find them to be just average. The maid service was spotty at best. On at least one occasion we came back and it was clear that they really hadn't cleaned the room or the bathroom--just straigthened things up and replaced a few towels. I wasn't impressed. The staff was polite and basically friendly, but did little to assist us in our trip. One person at the main desk said she would look into some tour prices for us. She never got back to us. The staff rarely went out of their way for us. There was no complimentary breakfast, but they had a buffet every morning for the exorbitant price of $21AUD per person. But the worst part was the somewhat shady manner in which they changed money for us. In addition to making it clear that they could only change "a little" for us, they were unclear about how their exchange rate worked. And money changing was pretty vital for us. It was Easter weekend and Monday and Friday were both public holidays--Australians take their holidays seriously; nothing was open. From my paper and pen journal, Sabbath, March 22:

"I'm not particularly impressed with this hotel. Everything is brutally expensive and also I'm convinced that they either purposefully or unintentionally ripped me off on the money I exchanged at the front desk. They divided the exchange rate instead of multiplying so that we got slightly less than the $100 USD I exchanged rather than multiplying it so that we got slightly more. I checked rates and tried to show the ladies at the front desk, but they insisted that it had been done correctly and that their raters were 'higher.' at the hotel than elsewhere. I understand higher rates (it would have been a worse rate anyway had they done it corrctly) but purposefully misapplying the calculation rate seems a little sketchy to me."

The Palm Royale Cairns remained the only place in Australia where I actually ended up with less Australian money than U.S. money after an exchange.

The kids liked the pool and all, but my recommendation is to seek out somewhere other than the Palm Royale Cairns. In fact you might consider saving yourself a bundle and staying at the Bohemia Resort. Don't let the name fool you--it is a youth hostel complete with dorm-style rooms and a youthful clientele. But don't let the hostel designation fool you either. Bohemia is a fantastic place to stay.


Pool at the Bohemia Resort. That's Mai in the bottom right, cooling off after our morning run.

Another shot of the pool. You can just make out the rooms hidden behind the foliage.

How the boys spent every spare moment and every spare dollar, once we moved to the Bohemia.

Amy and the girls have breakfast on our last day in Australia, Thursday, March 27.

We moved over to the Bohemia on Sunday after laser tag and spent the rest of our week there. Granted the rooms were more spartan than the Palm Royale, but to be honest, not by much. We had to share bathrooms and showers with other guests, but they weren't quite community showers either. The shower rooms usually had only one shower head in them so you could go in and lock the door and have the shower all to yourself. For between $23 and $25 a night you got a clean and comfortable room to stay in, a complimentary light breakfast every morning (two slices of toast with butter and jam, the aforementioned Weetbix, and your choice of hot coffee or tea), a fully equipped kitchen to make food of your own if you desired, a good-sized free form pool to relax in, plenty of computers with high speed internet access for only $2 for 30 minutes, and free transportation into the heart of the tourist district all day long. The little Bohemia bus would make it's rounds every hour ferrying people between the Bohemia Resort and Bohemia Central, their property in the heart of Cairns. We found it easy to plan our shopping trips around the bus's hourly schedule and never had to bother with the hassle and expense of taxis. They also had a self-barbecue restaurant where you could get a slab of your favorite meat, a salad, and roll for only $9 and grill it up on their bank of gas grills. They also show a movie every night at poolside and have a couple of pool tables (on which our boys spent countless hours and countless dollar coins). Talk about bang for your buck!

But the best part of the Bohemia Resort was the people. You'd think a dirt-cheap place would have dirt-poor service, but the staff was wonderful! They were friendly, helpful, patient, and enthusiastic. I have to mention in particular a young Chinese woman who worked the front desk in the afternoons and evenings and who had the most charming Chinese-accented Australian accent. She was always patient with my many questions (even when I forgot what my questions were when I arrived at the front desk and had to stand there trying to remember what I wanted to ask while she waited for me)and she arranged all our tours efficiently and quickly. Thanks to her I was able to plan our Kuranda skyrail tour, the horseback riding, and the ATVs. I did not catch her name--I had planned to take a picture of her and get her name on our last day in Cairns but it so happend that it was her day off. This girl along with all the other staff were fantastic. I suggest, that unless you're getting a hotel stay as part of your ticket package, you forgoe the so-called three star hotel and stay at the Bohemia Resort youth hostel. You'll get a lot more, have a lot more fun, all for a fraction of the cost.

"We had General Lee, They Had General Grant": Lessons in Leadership Learned from Laser Tag

Our group after our laser tag session. David, our "General Lee", is in the picture. See the guy in blue with the baseball cap directly behind me? David is directly behind him.

Sunday, March 23, 2008, we headed out--with a little help from our friends--to play laser tag.

Perhaps it wasn't the most appropriate activity for Easter but it sure was fun.

It's a little odd the extent to which we enjoy the pretense of an activity that, were it real, would be terrifying and damaging even if one came away without any physical wounds. Nonetheless, there's something about sneaking in the forest playing at war that is undeniably fun. I'm sure someone could write a pyschological analysis of why this is--but I'll leave that to experts. I learned other lessons from our day of pretend warfare.

I've played laser tag once before, but never like this. The last time I played was indoors at a facility located in a nondescript Ohio strip mall. The laser guns were small and plastic, there were mazelike barriers to hide behind, and the occasional wisp of dry ice vapor in an attmept to create some atmosphere. Cairns Laser Tag, on the other hand, was a far more exciting experience. We had a sprawling outdoor course--they didn't need more than the occasional trench or camoflauge netting to create atmosphere; the unspoiled woods replete with muddy trails and an occasional misty rain were more than enough to set the martial mood. The guns were hefty metal weapons with a digital readout that reminded us of how much "ammo" we had left and how many "lives" we had. They made a satisfying gunshot-like report when we fired them. When an opponent's invisible laser beam hit the sensor on the front or back of the caps we were issued, the gun emitted a howl of pain and the digital read out spelled out the words "Ouch." When you ran out of "lives," the gun let out an agonized scream and you were out of the game. Which was okay because the 6 games we paid for ran about 15 minutes each, so it wasn't a long wait until you could get back in the action.

After an orientation, we chose up teams. The boys in our group eagerly clumped together, so it ended up being the adults and girls against the boys. We headed out into the forest for our first game. I hate to admitt it but I probably wouldn't last long in a real war. When the pressure is on, you find out what you've got--and what I had was a kind of slow motion paralaysis. I wasn't sure what to do or where to go and I ended up standing still too long, like a deer in headlights. Shots came from I knew not where. My gun howled with each incessant hit, until I was "dead" and trudged back to the orientation area to await the next game. The rest of my team didn't do much better. The boys wiped us out quickly. One of the few people we did manage to take out was the only person who could have helped us--a young man named David who was on our own team. He was out in front of the rest of us and he was quickly finished by confused "friendly fire."

David was a professional of sorts. He was there to play the same as us, but he really wasn't the same as us at all. He was an aficionado of laser tag, a regular at Cairns Laser Tag, and so familiar to the people who ran the joint that he was made a kind of unofficial assistant for the day--recharging our guns for us and giving advice. Advice, we didn't really listen to--at first.

I think David hoped to keep it low key, sit back and let us have fun. But after our pathetic showing in the first round, he spoke up a little more. He gathered us around--tried to give us some pointers. He spoke softly, reasonably, hoped we'd "get it." We didn't. The second game was another slaughter.

The third game, David was done fooling around. He stepped up, gave orders, roared commands once the game began--in short, he led. And we followed. And that made all the difference. We cleaned those boys out to the last man. They had no idea what hit them. David was our General Lee.


General Robert E. Lee

A little background for those of you who may not be U.S. History buffs: General Robert E. Lee was the key general for the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was perhaps one of the best generals in the entire conflict, and certainly one of the best in military history. He was a brilliant tactitian, an aggressive, bold strategist. He inspired and motivated his troops--they were willing to go anywhere, do anything for the man they affectionaly referred to as "Marse Lee." Under his leadership the South won battle after battle in the early years of the Civil War. In contrast, the North went through a string of slow-witted, overcautious, uninspired, and uninspiring generals. President Abraham Lincoln found himself constantly frustrated by the incompetence of his generals who were losing the war for him.

And this was the position the boys found themselves in during our third and fourth games. They played with all the aggressive energy typical of adolescent boys, but no amount of wanton shooting and masculine courage could compete with an organized army led by a confident leader. Under David's tutelage we learned to move quickly, to cover the gaps in our lines, to methodically hunt down our enemies and send them packing from the game.

And I imagine that game 5 might have been gone much the same way. . .

Except they finally got their General Grant.


General Ulysses S. Grant

Let's return to the history book for a moment. There was a certain Union general that was building a reputation in the Western theater of the Civil War. After several key victories, President Lincoln moved this general, Ulysses S. Grant, to the eastern front and placed him in charge of the Northern armies. A lot of folks looked down on General Grant. He didn't dress particularly well, he had failed at virtually everything he'd tried in civilian life, and he was rumored to be overly fond of the liquor bottle. But Lincoln didn't care about any of that--"I like this man. He fights", he said. He did. He fought and he led. Under his leadership, the North would eventually push on to victory and Lee would surrender to Grant in April of 1865, spelling the end of the Confederacy and the system of slavery that had caused the Civil War in the first place.

For game five, our instructor, an employee of Cairns Laser Tag joined the boys side. Even David knew we were in trouble. Like General Grant, this man could fight--and lead. David had finally met his match. Lee had met his Grant.

Needless to say we lost the fifth game. But it was fun and the lessons I learned from all our games stuck with me. So often in life I see people in leadership shirk from their responsibilities as leaders. They don't want to come on too strong, they don't want to be perceived as "bossy" or arrogant. They want to be "cool" and chilled out, not the one who calls the shots and shoulders the responsibility. Likewise, many of us think we don't need leaders. We don't like having someone telling us what to do, giving orders. We want to do things our own way.

But in laser tag, and in life, leadership matters. Some of us have the gift and/or the responsiblity of leadership. We need to exercise that leadership. As a teacher, I can't sit around hoping my students will learn--I need to be an example, set the tone and the pace. I need to lead.

That Sunday in the woods I was reminded that for great things to happen, leadership makes all the difference.

P.S. You might be wondering about game 6? That was a different type of game where we grouped into teams of four and the goal was to eliminate as many of the other four-person squads as possible. I was on a team with Pastor Anthony, one of the boys of the Cairns youth group, and. . .David. We did pretty well, and were one of the final teams to be knocked out. I was the last one on our squad to go down--taken out by Amy--someone who had learned the lessons David taught and applied them with devastating effectiveness.


Mai and Riki, armed to the teeth and ready for battle. Thanks to Mai for the pictures. She brought her camera out to the playing area and was able to get these photos.


Mai with our three girls and one of the girls from the Cairns SDA Youth group pose with their weapons after the game.

Amazing Love: Our Australian Angels

The Cairns Seventh-day Adventist Church


Our class poses with our new friends from the Cairns Seventh Seventh-day Adventist youth group at the table tennis stadium, Saturday night, March 22, 2008.

Our kind benefactors, Tom & Paula Nelio, Ken & Ruth Stewart, and Pastor Anthony



"Y" and "S" and "J" and Riki ride the wakes on our waterskiing outing courtesy of our new Australian friends. Monday, March 24, 2008.



Riki and I get ready to kneeboard!

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in. . ." Matthew 25:35

Jesus said that one of the identifying marks of those welcome in His kingdom is their treatment of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger. In that case, the good folks at the Cairns Seventh-day Adventist church surely hold places of honor in His kingdom. They fully reflected the spirit of love and generosity Jesus extolled.

I'm still amazed by the kindness shown to us by the members of the church in Cairns. I'm touched and humbled by their selfless service and generous care toward our group during our stay in Australia.

It all began Friday night when John Castleden, the head deacon of the Cairns SDA Church stopped by our hotel to make sure we were okay. Not five minutes after he left, the Cairns SDA Church youth leader, Tom Nelio and his son Grayson showed up bearing gifts--a crate of mangos and a huge sack of oranges. We were hungry and they gave us something to eat! We would be feeding--both literally and figuratively--on the generosity of Tom and his friends for the much of the rest of the week.


"M" embraces our bounty of fruit from Tom Nelio of the Cairns SDA Church.

On Sabbath we'd planned to walk to church from our hotel, as it was only a few blocks away. But again Tom turned up to ferry us over to the church in his car--this would be the first of several rides he and the other members would give us over the next few days--in many cases, driving us some considerable distances. I'm sure that "I needed a ride and you picked Me up" might have been included in the Lord's commendation!


Mai and the girls sing special music for the church service at the Cairns SDA Church.

Our boys and a new friend after church on Sabbath, March 22

We were fed once again by the church with a delicious potluck after services and then Saturday night, Tom and his team appeared again to take us down to the local table tennis stadium for an evening of fun, food, and fellowship. We were strangers and they invited us in. That Saturday night we got to know Tom's wife Paula,as well as Ken and Ruth Stewart a lovely Aussie/Kiwi (respectively) couple, and Pastor Anthony, the energetic associate pastor who works for the Lord but drives like the devil (much to the students' delight. They all wanted turns riding in his sporty, turbocharged, Honda Civic). The kids hit it off with the Nelio and Stewart kids as well as the other members of the church's small youth group. In short we all became fast friends, and when the evening came to an end, we were loathe to say goodbye. We ended up making plans to go waterskiing with them on Monday.


Table tennis on Saturday night at the table tennis stadium!


The Cairns youth group is fascinated by our plain green money (much as we were fascinated by their multi-sized, multi-hued currency). Saturday night, March 22.


But our Australian angels would come to our rescue before then. Sunday morning our plan was to play laser tag at an outdoor course just outside Cairns. However, it quickly became apparent that transportation was going to be a problem. The city buses didn't go out that far and two round trip taxis would costs at least $240! Car rentals for a single day would run about $170 for a van that would carry us all. In desperation I called up Ken Stewart, and he and his team saved the day for us. We paid for the some of the kids in the youth group to play laser tag with us and we all enjoyed a fun couple of hours in the forest shooting at each other. I was truly amazed by the generosity of Tom & Paula (who's car actually broke down while we were off playing and who spent much of their time the rest of the weekend trying to get it fixed), Ken & Ruth, Anthony, and another new friend we made that day, Wendy. Wendy's son and his friend joined us for the games while the adults sat and waited for us to finish. What a sacrifice of time on their part! Not only did they drive us all the way out there but they sat and waited for us (keeping Babs company--laser tag and unborn babies don't really go together) to finish playing. I'm sure they had plans that they put on hold just to help us out. For someone like myself who is so schedule-conscious and often stingy with my time, I was truly humbled by their gift of time.

Monday, we went waterskiing with the Cairns group as planned, with Tom, Ken, Anthony, Ruth, Paula, and Wendy driving us the hour and half to Lake Tinnarroo in the Tablelands. We had a great time flying across the water on the biscuit, kneeboard, and slalom ski behind Ken's boat. Once again our friends were the very picture of hospitality.

I try my hand (or should I say knee) at knee boarding. Very strenuous stuff!

On the drive back, I talked with Paula quite a bit and she shared with me about the various ministries they have to reach out topeople in need in the area. It was then I knew I had to come back to this warm and loving church. Only next time, I wanted to give back. Freely we've received, so now I want to freely give. My goal is to take REAL Christian Theater to Australia in 2009 to perform in and around Cairns and contribute to the ministry efforts of the Cairns SDA Church. So if God opens the doors, hopefully we will be back in Australia in a little more than a year working side by side with our Australian angels to share the love of God with the people there.

There is a praise and worship song that describes the "amazing love" Jesus had in laying down His life for each of us. One of the ways we as Christians respond to that precious gift of love is by laying down our own lives in service to one another. This is what the people of the Cairns SDA Church did for us and so, in their own small way, they reflected the amazing love of our Savior.

Good on ya, mates!

Tom and Paula, thanks for the fruit and the friendship! The spirit of Christ shone through in your kindness and hospitality to us. If you ever decide to come up to Saipan we'll be happy to return the favor!


Ken & Ruth, thanks so much for organizing the laser tag transportation and treating us to the fun day of waterskiing. I'll never forget your open and loving hearts! God bless you and your family.


Pastor Anthony, thanks for giving our kids the ride of their lives. I appreciate you coming by to check on us Thursday night before we left--I'm sorry we missed you. I wish you the best in your new ministry in Cairns and I hope we'll be able to work together next year.


Wendy, it was so nice getting to know you. Thanks for driving for us and being willing to squeeze us all in to get us home. I pray God richly rewarded you with extra study time in return for the precious time you shared with us.

Pastor Anthony's "cool car." The kids all fought over who got to ride with him. Riding shotgun with this fiery servant of the Lord was an adventure in of itself!

This is how our boys spent the vast majority of our day of waterskiing. I confess I was more than a little embarrassed by their blase attitude,especially as our hosts had gone out of their way to create this special day for us. Fortunately, Ruth Stewart was finally able to convince them to take a whirl on the biscuit, just before we packed up and headed for home. Of course, they had a great time.


The boys on the biscuits (finally!)

The girls and one of their new friends after a day of watersports.

Australia: The Journey Begins

Babs feeds a kangaroo.


The 8th grade class of 2008, on tour in Australia! I call this picture, taken on Sabbath, March 22 at church in Cairns, the "album cover photo" because the kids all look like members of a band on an album cover with their pensive faces, and cool demeanor.


Three girls, Three Kangaroos. Last time we came to Cairns with the 8th grade class of 2000 we were pretty much mobbed by hungry kangaroos at this zoo. This year, for whatever reason, they were much more chilled out. They weren't particularly hungry and when we would try to feed them, they'd take a few bites from the food in our hand, then turn away disdainfully. While last time, we emptied a bag of feed in a few minutes, this time we ended up throwing away the exra food.

Me, a wombat, and the wombat-keeper


A video of some very cute and very active koalas at the Cairns Tropical Zoo, taken on Friday, March 21, 2008.

We spent a wonderful, unforgettable week in Australia. For Babs and I, it was our second trip to North Queensland, and possibly our last trip as class sponsors (as in the years to come we'll have our own child to worry about and thus might be better off letting someone else take over who can devote themselves fully to the students on the trip). The kids were a charismatic, energetic bunch that eagerly embraced the adventures we had every day. We grew close as a group, and I think we were all a little sad when it came to an end and it was time to fly back to Saipan.

The People

The Girls: "S", "J" and "Koala." Defying gender stereotypes, these three were the more adventerous ones on the trip. While the boys preferred to hang out at the hotel or shop (one boy almost opted out of an activity because--I'm not making this up--he didn't want to get his shoes dirty!), the girls were eager to get out there and try out every new adventure they could. They didn't care too much for shopping.

The Boys: "T", "K", "M" and. . .

. . ."Ko". Last spring these boys went camping in the wilds of Saipan, this time their adventure took them to another country!

The Teachers: From Left to Right, Amy and Riki--who were not class sponsors but tagged along for the trip nonethelss, and ended up being a great help to us throughout our journey--and Mai, who stepped into the role of the third class sponsor after Missy's untimely departure. She did a great job. We couldn't have done it without you Mai!

Me, Babs and our unborn little one! This photo was taken at church in Cairns on Sabbath, March 22.

The Place

Tropical North Queensland Australia. This photo was taken on the skyrail heading up to Kuranda. Mai took this photo looking back on the coast with the Coral Sea in the distance. Somewhere beyond the horizon is the Great Barrier Reef!

Barron Falls. These spectacular falls in their full post-rainy season glory were photographed by Amy Foote on a stop on our skyrail journey up to the village of Kuranda.

Me on an ATV on our last day in Australia. This was about as close as we got to the outback in Australia; the drier, scrubbier tablelands of North Queensland. We signed up for a tour via ATV with Blazing Saddles, a working farm that hosts people for tours on horseback and ATV.


The Story To Come

We left Saipan on Thursday afternoon, March 20 and arrived in the vacation town of Cairns, in tropical North Queensland, Australia in the early morning hours of Friday, March 21. The flight was straight south, so we were still in the same time zone as Saipan. We left Australia exactly one week later in the early morning hours of Friday, March 28. So, to capture our Australia experience I'm going to post a new blog every day for the next week, a blog for each day of our time in Australia (thanks, Mai for the idea). Unlike my previous accounts of our class trips to Korea and Singapore, this will only be loosely connected to the chronology of events. I want to encourage you to read other blogs, and I know Mai is planning a day by day account of our trip, so I inivite you to read her blog over the next week, for an on the ground "you-are-there" account of what we did each day. I will be focusing on the broader aspects of our travels, with a different theme conciding with each day of our trip. Here's a brief summary of what we did on each day of the trip as well as a preview of what aspects of the trip I'll be writing about in the next week:


Friday, March 21, 2008-We go to the Cairns Tropical Zoo. This day is represented by this entry, the introduction and overview of the trip.


Sabbath, March 22, 2008--Church at the Cairns Seventh-day Adventist Church and Table tennis with our new friends that night. My entry "Amazing Love: Our Australian Angels" will detail the generous hearts of the lovely people who befriended us from the Adventist church in Cairns.


Sunday, March 23, 2008 (Easter Sunday)--Laser Tag. My entry will be entitled "We had General Lee, They Had General Grant: Lessons in Leadership Learned from Laser Tag"


Monday, March 24, 2008--Water Skiing with our new Australian friends. I'll chronicle this in my Sabbath entry so my entry will focus on "No Worries: The Australian Experience"



Tuesday, March 25, 2008--We visited the Tjapukai Cultural Park and then took the skyrail over the treetops of the rainforest up to the small village Kuranda, nestled in the jungle overlooking Cairns. I will write about "Humans, Nature, and Human Nature: The Aboriginal Experience".


Wednesday, March 26, 2008--Four students and three teachers go white water rafting, two students and one teacher go horseback riding, and one teacher and one student stay at the hostel and do nothing. Find out who and why in Wednesday's entry. I'll be writing about "Rafting".


Thursday, March 27, 2008--We go riding on ATV's in the outback. I'll be writing on "Running In Australia"


Ready to go then? Let the adventure begin!
(Picture taken in the tropical rainforest near Kuranda village)