Merry Christmas From Down Under

Our kids arrived yesterday after a long flight from the States, via Sydney. They were greeted by a customs official, who, hearing they were headed to Cairns, in northern Queensland, said, "Aw -- you've got rains for a week, stuck under grey skies for a week." After the 3 hour flight to Cairns (this is a big country), we picked them up under, yes, grey skies and cascading rain.

On arrival, as faithful readers may recall, we first unloaded all the U.S.-acquired supplies for the boat, notably a replenishment of our declining supplies of the powdered drink mix Crystal Light, my primary food group. Thanks Kate! David schlepped the essential boat supplies.

The weather -- notably the accompanying wind -- prevented us from sailing to a local island for Christmas, but we had a wonderful time at the dock preparing and eating a tasty Christmas eve Middle Eastern dinner of lamb, eggplant, and chicken kabobs. The rain continued all night, and after a Christmas morning breakfast and gift sharing, we set off to the mountains that surround this coastal city, hoping to see some of the spectacular waterfalls at full strength.

We made it about 5 km inland before being stopped by a road crew, who informed us that there was 15 feet of water overflowing the road up ahead. The roads here are few and far between, and it would have been a 100 km roundabout to get to the other side of the flood -- so we turned around, headed north, and made it to Kurunda, site of the famous Barrons River Gorge, a massive falls whose incoming roads were free of floods.

A spectacular sight, made all the nicer by the clearing of the skies. We returned to Cairns, spent some time picnicking at the freshwater, manmade lagoon that adjoins the harbor here, and are now settling in to a Christmas dinner of scallops, shrimp, and a "bug" salad, "bugs" being the local name for a small lobster that is quite the rage here in Oz.

Merry Christmas to all!