Year's High Tide

As a few of you know, it's been rainy recently. The tide has also been creeping steadily up and yesterday was the highest tide of the year on Tuesday. Usually the water is 4-5 m away from the grassy embankment, but on Tuesday the water was touching the grass. As you can see, the water was right up to the stick that measures how high the sea is (though it was probably only 1 - 2" high on the post itself). It was really cool to see. But don't worry - our house is up a nice little hill so the water would have to be meters and meters higher before it came close to flooding our house (though the window lets in enough water, soaking our floor everytime there is a bit of rain).

As an additional note: The winds are so high today (Thursday) that it has forced the water even closer to the shore/higher than it was on the highest tide of the year - it looked crazy this morning when we were eating breakfast!

Mystery Craters!

Last Saturday, Phil and I took a 20 min drive down to see the Mystery Craters located outside of Gin Gin.

According to the internet they are:
"Australia's most baffling phenomenon, believed to be at least 25 millions years old, this rock formation continues to baffle the world. Mystery Craters are a unique, fascination and interesting geological phenomenon as they are a series of craters in various sizes which have been discovered in a group on a rock formation which in itself is a puzzle".

For those who like kitchy, cheesy tourist attractions, this one is for you. It had a small enclosure with the craters which were actually pretty cool. You can see Phil standing on the tower that overlooks the pools. It's essentially a block of weird rock that a farmer found in his field and decided to make into a local attraction. The Mystery Craters also hosts a fibreglass T-Rex (which is 65 million years ago, according to their voice recording, so it has nothing to do with the craters), an exhibition of gem stones and an old shed with old farming equipment, mostly old lawnmowers. It had an old boat, slowly rotting away on the property and you could get anything from an aged tea towel to a tacky anklet in the musty gift shop. I love random museums and the like so I was totally satisfied with my Mysery Craters experience. It was wonderful and took up about 1.5 hrs of our Saturday, well worth the $5/pp entrance fee.

Bargara - Update

Originally when we moved into our little apartment, we wanted to get a land line phone. However, after some consultation with the phone company, we found out that it was going to be over $200 so we opted to buy a cell phone. The upside is that if there are any emergencies, people can get ahold of us when we're traveling. The downside is that you can't really call long distance from a cell phone because the costs are prohibitive. Anyway, whenever Phil or I want to make a call, we mosey on down to the phone box which is just a few houses down (very convinient). Now, for those of you who have gotten a call from me, you know that I cannot often talk more than an hour because of the heat in the phonebox. For some reason, the people who installed the payphone decided that it would be a good idea to make it face the afternoon sun. So, if I call anytime after about 1:00 pm, the sun is shining right inside and there is no way to avoid the heat - there is only about a 3" strip of shade against the right side of the box, where I wedge myself. I took these pictures to document my incredible sweatiness after chatting for about an hour in 32 degree heat (and, yes, I know I look goofy).

Things in Bargara are good. Phil is enjoying work as much as possible and we're in the midst of planning our trip around Australia. We've been poking around the car lots trying to find a nice 4wd, but so far no luck. We've also been checking out camping stores, but there isn't a great selection of tents, or not tents that you would want to spend 7 months in at any rate. We're going to head up to Brisbane in a few weeks to see what they have around there and enjoy a nice weekend at the same time.

It has been incredibly windy lately. A week or so ago, you could look out the window and see a very calm sea with a few small waves breaking on the beach. This week has been incredible - the ocean is very tumultuous with huge rows of waves crashing onto shore. It looks great, and the breeze that accompanies them helps to cool the house down, but it means that we can't go swimming or diving. Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures a few days ago and while I know they don't look that incredible, they are in person.

I hope everybody is great and I wish you were all here with me, out of the cold (especially those in Calgary - -26 degrees?!?)

Hummock Viewpoint

Hey everybody! I thought I had already posted this, so sorry for the delay. About two weeks ago, Phil decided to take me on a "Mystery Tour" to a place that he had wanted to visit for awhile. We got all packed up - with our hats, sunnies and sunscreen - and ended up a Hummock Lookout, which in all honesty is only about 8 km from Bargara. It was really pretty, though. We took a 5 min walk up the hill and got some great views of the sugarcane that grows all around there. You could even see the ocean from where we were from. All in all, I think it was a very nice surprise for a Sunday.

Mordecai and Mr. Jedly

Phil and I had a good weekend - went out to a beach called Woodgate. The best part of this is that I drove the whole way there! It took over an hour to get there (though only 20 mins to get home by a different road) and it was very good practice. We went to Woodgate to check out a nice bit of beach, which was nice, and to see some 'roos which we never did get to see. I suspect we'll be out there again to look at the snake house and the winery that is out that way.

The other news is sock monter related. Here is a picture of our two newest creations - Mordecai (long ear, red eyes and made by the ever-talented Phil) and Mr. Jedly who I put together last week and of whom I am very proud. Also of note in the picture is the new guitar Phil got for me as a surprise yesterday - I am soo happy and excited. Since I am still more or less unemployed, and thus very bored, I am thrilled to have something more to do in the days. Phil borrowed a guitar for me last time I was in Australia and I got to practice a little bit but now I can rub my fingers raw on this lovely red one. I will keep you posted as to my progress, which is bound to be rather slow but lots of fun.