Did you know?

In Australia:

all eggs are brown

all cheddar cheese is white

take out food is called "take away"

there is no one cent coin, so obviously is rounded up or down to the nearest five cents.

The coins are 5, 10, 20 ,50, 1 dollar and 2 dollars - your wallet can get really heavy!

the paper money is different colors - very cool!

movie tickets costs $15 apiece! You choose your seat or they assign you one and you have to sit in that seat. Our first time at the movies, we did not know this and sat in someone else's seat and he was not happy with us!

there is no frozen juice concentrate here; most fruit juice is a liquid called "cordial" that is concentrated.

cannot find semi-sweet chocolate chips

electricity is insanely expensive!!

cell phones are called "mobiles"

bathrooms are called toilets

it is one of the few countries in the world that eats their national symbol. We've seen Emu jerky and yes, you can buy kangaroo meat at the grocery store. I have only seen it "minced" or ground up. We have yet to try some.

all school children in private or public (state) schools are required to wear uniforms, complete with hats, and each schools' uniform is different. These cute little girls are my next door neighbors in their sports day and regular uniform, and the little boys are my friend Jen's sons - different school.

High school female students must either wear their hair pulled back or up in a bun. Grade 11 or 12 boys are required to wear ties. Girls' uniforms are dresses or skirts & blouses.

The Mall shops close at 5pm every night except for Thursday when they stay open until 9pm. Grocery stores close between 7 -8pm. That has taken some real getting used too!

Pharmacies are called "Chemist" and Doctor offices are called "surgery".

French fries or "chips" are dipped in meat gravy rather than ketsup. (which is called 'tomato sauce' and really is just plain tomato sauce.)

Sales tax is built into the price of everything: what price you see marked is exactly what you pay. That general sales tax (GST) is 10%!

Jello is called 'jelly' and is a dessert not a salad! A favorite is to put jelly over a scoop of ice cream.

In case you haven't heard....

Yes, the rumors you may have heard are true. Roy's company is transferring him again so we're moving back to the US next month. Got one of those phone calls: "I've got good news and bad news - the good news is we've still got a job. The bad news - it's in Houston, Texas". (no offense to our friends in Texas.)
So we're very sad to be leaving Australia alot sooner than we had expected -there is so much more of this beautiful country that we wanted to see and we've made some wonderful friends here. We'll just have to come back!

We're looking forward to being closer to our grandkids though. :)
Needless to say, the next 4 weeks are going to be crazy!

Another book recommendation

I just wanted to pass along the name of another great book I just finished reading.

3 Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

The work that Greg has done to build schools in Pakistan and now Afghanistan is so inspiring and courageous, it often brings me to tears.
To learn more about Greg, the book, and his Central Asia Institute, visit these websites; they tell the story better than I can.

www.threecupsoftea.com

www.ikat.org

gregmortenson.blogspot.com

caivideos.blogspot.com

Suffice it to say, I loved this book! It has moved near the top of my 10 most favorite books list.
God bless you Greg Mortenson, literally.

Gladstone

This last weekend I zipped up to spend the weekend with Roy in Gladstone (or as the Aussies pronounce it "Glad-stun"); you might remember he's been working up there for the past several months. Gladstone is 550 km (344 miles) north of us here in "Brissy" on the coast - a 6 hour drive or 1 hour flight. For a new adventure I took the "Tilt Train", which also took about 6 hours. I was informed by my exasperated taxi driver, it's called the Tilt train because it goes so fast, it "tilts" around the turns. At one time we were speeding along about 155km/hr. (~97 miles/hr). It was a very pleasant, relaxing ride.

Gladstone is a small city with a population of about 30,000; much, much smaller than Brisbane. It owes it existence to it's deep water harbor where very large ships can be loaded with coal for example.

On Sat. on our way to the beach towns of Yeppoon and Emu Park, we drove north past the larger town of Rockhampton or as the locals affectionately call it, "Rocky" - now you don't see a welcome sign like that everyday! That is one big cow!

More wonderful road signs! (but we didn't see any.)

This "Singing Ship" had hollow pipes and when the wind whistled through them, it made the coolest, eeriest sound! Fantastic views too! Those are islands off in the distance.

On Sunday after attending the Gladstone Branch's Sacrament meeting, we drove almost 2 hours South to another beach town -1770, so called because the revered James Cook of the Royal Navy landed there, guess when?

Like most Woodward adventures we did have rain, but lucky for us, it came at night so we enjoyed sunny, kinda warm days. It is wintertime here after all but with daytime temps around 22*C (mid 70's F) it feels great to us.

Roy also found 2 new birds so you know it was a really good weekend.

Bon Voyage Alex

Alex left Brisbane this last Wednesday to begin summer term at BYU Provo next week. Needless to say, the house is very quiet as I write this. Thank goodness for my good pal Rio to keep me company.

We really worried before we left Wisconsin last June if pulling him out of his Senior year in American High school was the right thing to do but I think I can safely say, he's had a great year here. We're very proud of him for finishing his Senior year through BYU Independent Study; he learned self discipline and that home school can be a bit lonely at times. He tells us that watching Law and Order and West Wing reruns helped him pass Government. yikes! Roy and I would also like to acknowledge if we haven't already, what a huge help he has been in this whole adventure, and I'm afraid to think how we will manage without him next time. We've appreciated his muscles, hard work and electronic know-how. Pretty sad when you have to write down the directions how to switch between the DVD player and the TV.

Not to mention, he's a pretty fun guy to have around. But it hasn't been all work and no play - he's enjoyed zipping around Brisbane on our little Vespa which he named Tug. (remember we name all our vehicles).








So we will miss you Favorite Son, love you very much and look forward to hearing of your very own new adventures. Stay tuned!

Birthday Weekend Fun

This holiday weekend we are celebrating not one birthday but two!

Tomorrow is almost a national holiday - well, in at least seven out of the eight States in Auz - Western Australia had be different, don't ask me why! (they will have theirs on Sept 8th). Anyway, tomorrow is Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrated birthday. Now for the crazy part - her real birthday is April 21st, so you might be asking yourself, as I have been, why in the world are we celebrating in June if her birthday is really in April?! And the really crazy thing is I have been asking many of our Aussie friends for several days that very same question - and their answer? They don't know either! I kid you not. It's been great fun. The most common answer is they already have a holiday in April - Easter. ( the Monday after Easter is a day off work). May is Labor Day - at least in Queensland, so why not do it in June? Sure, we need a day off that month!

You might also be asking yourself, why is Australia celebrating the Queen of England's birthday? And since I have smart friends and family, you remember that Auz is one of the 16 independent states that she is still the Queen Regnant of. Short version - she is the Queen of Australia. What I really find amusing is that her birthday, real or celebrated, in her own mother country of Great Britain is NOT a holiday. I have this on cross-my-heart truth from several immigrated Brits. Back to the hypothesis that the Aussies love any excuse for a holiday and a day off work.

Actually I did some homework and found out that this all started back in 1788 when the Aussies decided to celebrate King George III birthday which was June 4th and the tradition of celebrating whichever Monarch's BD in June must have stuck.

Ok, whose other birthday is it?

The State of Queensland!

(where we live)

Yesterday marks the 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's formal approval of separation from New South Wales (the adjoining State south of us), and self-government as a colony. The early settlers, while successful in their bid to end rule from Sydney, however did not get all their own way. They wanted to name the colony Cooksland after Captain James Cook who had sailed north along its coastline the previous century. Queen Victoria preferred Queensland and had her way.
(naturally!)

Since games are a birthday tradition, let's play "So you want to be a Hundred-aire, the Queensland version".

**$1 question:

Queensland is the ______ largest state is Australia.

A - second or B - third

Final answer: second, as in HUGE! 668,207 sq miles

**$5 question:

The official color of Queensland is:

A - orange, B - blue, C - maroon.

Final answer: maroon

**$10 question:

The regional animal is a:

A - kangaroo, B - platypus, C - koala

Final answer: koala

**$20 question:

The official bird emblem is a:

A - kookaburra, B - brolga, C - Australian magpie (like Norman, who is still around, by the way).

Final answer: the brolga

It is the only species of crane native to Australia and is found along the Queensland coast.

$50 question:

The floral emblem is the:

A - Cookstown orchid, B - frangipani, C - any yellow rose

Final answer: the Cookstown orchid

Ok, are you bored to death?

one more question -

The Hundred dollar question:

The Queensland motto, "Audax at Fidelis" means:

A - meet you tonight at the Pub, B - throw a prawn on the Barbie, C - Bold but Faithful, D - A, B & C

Final answer: Bold but Faithful

As you can probably tell, we are falling in love with our (temporarily) adopted homeland.

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE!!!!

(and the correct response is: OY,OY, OY!!!)

First day of Winter Down Under

Today was the first unofficial day of winter here in Australia.  The temperature was about 20*C (68*F), sunny with a few clouds.  Not bad, huh?  We are not complaining, especially since the cool temps brings no more mozzies!  (mosquitoes). Our Aussie friends on the other hand are really starting to complain of the cold and digging out their winter coats.  

Look what Rio and I found blooming on this fine winter day? Yes, that is a very large beautiful red and pink Poinsettia!  They grow in yards here as sometimes large bushes.  I still can't get over seeing them that big!

Alex will leave in 2.5 weeks to attend Summer term at BYU in Provo, Utah; lots to do before then!   We were very proud last night as Alex was ordained to the office of an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood by Roy; several friends from our Ward here stood in the circle - it was a special night. Thought you might like to see Roy and Alex as a new Deacon in 2003 and last night as a new Elder. Did Dad shrink?