The heater has been turned on!

Throughout the day the constantly see things, hear of things, or Brett and I chat about things and I think, Oh, I better remember that to post for people to read. And then of course we don’t get internet for a few days or I forget what I was thinking. It has become a little overwhelming thinking about blogging about everything we see or do because honestly we cannot do 99% of the stuff justice. However, hopefully we will be getting internet more often because Brett’s online class has started and he is going to need more access. That is good news for us and you guys out there!
Let me see if I can get you some information about our trips and excursions lately! We are currently at a small caravan park in the Atherton Tablelands. We are located at a lake right out of Yunngaburra called Lake Eacham and it is beautiful. We drove through Mailla Mailla yesterday specifically to go to the Mangialla Dairy to try their free samples of cheese and yoghurt. It tasted so good that we bought a small tub of peaches and cream greek style yoghurt and snacked on it while driving through what we think must be the most beautiful countryside in all of Australia. There are were miles after miles of rolling farmlands that are so green the cows look like they have smiles on their faces. Not to mention we have seen three waterfalls and we actually needed the heater on to warm us up while the cool mountain air is blasting us in the faces because our windows are down. I don’t think we have driven with our windows up for more than a few seconds. Those few seconds were out of pure desperation because a freak wind storm was blowing dust and sugar cane into our van. We are on our way to Yunnaburra today as well Mareeba for a few very exciting things. We plan to view platapode in the Peterson River outside of Yunngaburra as well as the great curtain fig tree. It is said to be 500 years old! However our main destination is the Coffee Works Plantation in Mareeba. Erica, for once seriously please be jealous! For a small fee you can take a visit through the coffee history museum and after there is unlimited tastings of their 21 coffees, 2 liquors, 12 chocolates and 4 teas!!! We will probably make that lunch. I will admit the free tastings of coffee and chocolate are luring me in but also because it is the largest coffee plantation in Australia and 70% of the coffee made here is from Cairns Highlands aka the Atherton Tablelands! There is going to be an awesome afternoon.
Here’s more from our most recent days. We stayed Saturday night in the Paluma National Park and planned to see Jourama Falls however after one evening and morning of billions of mosquitoes we, or more just me, decided that we were getting the heck out of there and forgoing seeing the falls. After a trip like that Brett vows to never take me camping again. I don’t blame him and I agree with him. I don’t camp well… enough said. Sorry folks. However, there was one highlight from the trip. We met a really nice couple from Western Australia who were also from Seattle. Random. The wife was raised in Seattle and Everett and moved back to Australia when she finished high school. Her husband, while being from here, went back to the states for their wedding and has been back a few times since. It was really fun to make that connection. They even knew and had been to Gig Harbor! They are doing the same things we are just for longer. We met up with them on Sunday in Mission Beach again and had a nice chat and walk through town. They are both really sweet. From there we stayed Monday night here at Lake Eacham and tonight is unplanned. To you the days may seem off but they are to us as well so bear with us. We literally cannot even tell you what the date is or what day of the week it is usually. We must really be in Oz.
Just for those of you who don’t know Brett’s sister, Michelle, had her baby Saturday morning at 445am. Of course, typical Mich style it went perfectly. She was admitted to the hospital around 2am and had her quickly thereafter. The emails we are getting seem to say that all went perfectly and they are both happy and healthy! Please update us as they sort life out together and I will try pass on as much info! Her name is Olivia Rose Van Someren and she was 6lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. I saw a couple pictures and I have to saw the Dutch/Italian mix seems to produce similar children because from what I could tell she looked a lot like Gavin.
Please email me with specific questions if you have them and I will try to be better about posting. We miss you and all and we love you.