Mood:  happy

Kimberly found an add in the paper for the Holder Archery Club.  Apparently, every first and third Sunday of the month, they hold an Archery clinic for beginner (read:  first time) firers, to sort of expose them to a few hours of introductory archery lessons and have some fun. 

It sounded like fun to us, and Jacoby has been a sort of archery kick lately.  I still don’t know why.

We went!  We had to haggle with the guy to let Jacoby participate (we didn’t make reservations), but in the end, they signed him up and started fitting him with the appropriate long bow, guards, and such.  Jacoby then looked back at me and said, “Aren’t you going to shoot?”  The guy said he could probably “squeeze me in,” so I signed the forms, paid the money (cheap), and then joined Jacoby.  Kimberly was the photographer for the day.

I’ve shot before, so there wasn’t much in it for me, other than an hour or so of target practice, which I don’t get often, and I’m a little embarrassed to say how much fun I had shooting the balloons the guy kept putting on our target, all of about 25-meters.   Really a good time...

Jacoby had a ball, and finally got to send some arrows “down range” which, like I said, he’s been talking about for some time, now.  As soon as we were done, he asked if he could come back the next week.  I said sure, but “Only if mom signs up, too.” 

I’ll be the photographer, the day after tomorrow...

Posted by kisajaja at 9:44 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 26 September 2008 9:51 PM MEST

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Actually, as I was writing this, Kimberly wrote to Sabrina and summed it all up pretty well!  So, stealing shamelessly from a private e-mail sent to Sabrina by her mother, here you go:

“This weekend we went to Floriade. Each year Canberra picks a theme - this year's theme is Australian movie legends. Then they haul a bunch of dirt into Commonwealth Park and make large garden patches where previously there was nothing. In the gardens they plant a bunch of different kinds of flowers to represent something from their theme. The problem with all this is that the flower beds are flat and massive (probably 50 feet x 50 feet or more) so unless you happen to be freakishly tall, walking by on a pair of stilts, or flying your helicopter over the park, you have no idea what the picture is they are trying to convey. They have little signs with drawings of what it's supposed to look like, but honestly it could look like just about anything and no one would ever know. That being said there were a lot of flowers in bright vivid colors and it was rather pretty.

Well summerized, indeed!  Except we also had lava-hot spring rolls and a few dim sums at the church festival...It’s all about the food to me...

Posted by kisajaja at 6:25 AM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 20 September 2008 6:36 AM MEST

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Mood:  mischievious

Peter skis.  I ski.  Jo and Kimberly can ski, but don’t really like to.  Jacoby snowboards.

What I’m getting at is this...Peter and I went skiing and left everyone else at home.  It sounds mean when I say it like that, but that’s what we did.  Jacoby didn’t come because he would have been expensive, and I don’t know much about the slopes here in Australia.  In hindsight, it was a good thing, because some of the slopes were pretty rough.  –More on that later.

Peter and I registered for a one-day ski trip, organized by Murray Bus Lines.  We were to board the Murray’s bus at something like 5:30 in the morning, they would take us to Threadbo (the same place we hiked up Mount Kosciuszko, only with more snow) for the day, and then the bus would get us home in time for dinner.  All equipment rentals were included, so we didn’t have to have our own stuff.

It was a great day at the slopes!  We made several runs throughout the day. The lines were a little crazy at the chairlifts, and we had some equipment problems with the rental ski boots, but all in all, it turned out just fine.  There were more runs than we had energy for, so that’s good!

The slopes are different here in Australia then they would be in the states.  For instance, when you get on a chairlift, there is no run-map to tell you what you’re going to find at the top.  It was my first time there, so I had no idea what we were getting into most of the time.  The second thing is that while the runs were labelled at the top of the mountain, there was no guarantee that the Green Circle (easy) trail you were following down the mountain a few hundred meters wouldn’t end at a point where the only remaining options to get down the mountain were all Black Diamond (Expert) runs.  Neither of us had been skiing in quite some time, so when this happened (a few times, actually), we did the best we could to make a controlled descent without getting too banged up in the process.  We eventually found a couple of good runs for our ability level, sort of in the middle of the mountain, but that was towards the end of the day, and the only way to get to them was to accept the expert slopes at the top,  and the time delay that was necessary to get down and not damage ourselves.  We also ended up on one long run that was seriously snow challenged.  It was a muddy mess, but we made it!

All in all, it was a good day!  Neither of us was comfortable enough to take a camera, so no pictures...Sorry...Go back and look at the other pictures and add more white stuff and less green stuff. 

It was fun to hit the mountains just once in Australia.

Posted by kisajaja at 6:56 AM MEST

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Mood:  happy

Okay, so I haven’t blogged in a little while.  While several things have happened in the last few weeks, not much of it is fun, sharable news.

For example, Sabrina went home, in order to get ready for her sophomore year at Shippensburg University.  An event, to be sure, but not fun to share.  She stayed pretty much her entire summer enduring the Canberra winter, which is not good by Australia standards, but not really all that bad...

I went to Puckapunyul , spelled something like that, for a week in order to run some battlefield simulations (wargames).  It was school work, but it was fun and not a bad trip.  I am going back there next week for another simulation.

We had a few smallish events that were fun that I’ll mention.  The first was that went to the Indian Independence Day at the Multicultural Centre.  It was pretty good with dancing, music, and food.  We left before the speeches... J  We also went up to the Mount Stromlo Observatory the other night.  They had set up several telescopes to view the Southern Hemisphere stars. That was actually pretty neat, since it was a crystal clear night.

Then we found a small restaurant that is very similar to Chipotle in Virginia.  We’ve gone there a few times in the last week, and probably again tomorrow.  The place is called Zambreros.

Tomorrow is the Indonesian Independence Day being celebrated at their embassy, so we’ll go check that out.  We’ll go to the Thai one, as well, but that’s not until September.

So, what event has happened that I found suitable for sharing?  We got our RFO (Request for Orders) and I now know where we will go next, after Australia.  Here’s the story...

About a month ago, I got an e-mail from my assignment officer who reminded me that I was due to move in December.  Roger that.  Got it.  While he said he didn’t know what jobs were available, he would let us know soon and that we should start thinking about preferences.  I replied to his message by saying, “I don’t suppose you know if you’ll have anything in Japan?”  He replied by saying, “Yes!  As a matter of fact, I do.  No promises, but I’ll keep you in mind...”

Then time went by.

About a week ago, I got another message that said “hey, folks, here’s the jobs list.  Rank these jobs in order of your preference and return it to me.”  I read the list.  No Japan.  I wrote back to confirm.  He confirmed, no Japan.  Apparently the guy in the job decided to stay. 

Okay, well, maybe next time.  We ranked the jobs with my top 2 being Hawaii and Italy.

Two days later, I find out that We didn’t get Hawaii or Italy, but instead, would be spending our next three years in balmy Anchorage, Alaska.  –Or at least Kimberly and Jacoby would.  I’d be going back to Iraq as a SIGO for the 4^th Bde, 25^th ID (Airborne).  Okay...Not bad, could be worse.

Two days later, we find out that I will NOT be going to Alaska.  Apparently I couldn’t get there in time for their unit MRE (rehearsals, taking place in November), so they had to take someone else.  My new choices were Colorado Springs, Colorado, or Ft Hood, Texas.

I replied, “Great!  Either one would be fantastic! I’ll take Colorado!”  We’ve been to Ft Hood, Texas.

Next day, I get an e-mail, “Okay, you want Colorado, but based on the needs of the Army, I may have to send you to 173^rd Airborne BCT (SETAF).”

I wrote immediately, “That’s Italy!  That’s my second choice from the beginning!  I’ll take it!”

Three days later, it was confirmed.  We’re going to Vicenza, Italy, about an hour west of Venice.  We report on 22 February, or before.  Before I get there, I have to complete the S6 (SIGO) school in Georgia.  It takes five weeks, starting 5 January, so it looks like the end-of-Australia leave will be shortened to accommodate that.  Then it’s back to Italy, this time to live for a while.

It’s a great unit with a proud history and I’m glad to have the opportunity to be a part of it!

-But we will be overseas, again.  Let the teeth gnashing begin.  Like Australia, I’ll do my best to ensure we have a guest room waiting!

Posted by kisajaja at 12:30 PM MEST

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Mood:  happy

The next day, we did something that I thought was a great deal of fun.  You may wonder about this one, so let me explain.  There is a place near Dubbo called Parkes.  There is nothing there.  Really, the whole place is a sheep paddock and a road that takes you somewhere else.  However there is one unique thing worth seeing there.  There is a large Radio Telescope in Parkes that was featured in a funny Australian movie called The Dish.  If you’ve seen it, and I’m guessing you haven’t, then you know the story, but for the rest...

According to the movie, at the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Parkes had the largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere.  As such, it was NASA’s primary communications site when Apollo  was out of range of California.  It was the ONLY one in the southern hemisphere large enough to receive a television signal from the moon.  As it turns out, it was the Parkes dish that received the video feed from Neil Armstrong’s first steps, which was then broadcast live all over the world.

So we went to see it.

For the record, Parkes is really there, they really have a radio telescope, it really participated in the Apollo missions (and continues to support NASA today), and it really is featured in the movie. 

You should really see that movie....

Posted by kisajaja at 8:15 AM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 2 August 2008 8:20 AM MEST

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Mood:  happy

G’day, all!  How ya’ goin’?

Once again, I admit freely that pictures taken of zoo animals do not count.  That being said, we went to Dubbo’s Western Plains Zoo with Peter and Jo last weekend.  Well, to be honest, Peter and Jo set the whole thing up, including the cabin we stayed in, so basically WE went with THEM.  

What a cool zoo!

To start with, it is a bit of a drive to get to Dubbo.  It’s five hours north of Canberra, further west than Sydney.  It’s another of the few land-locked cities in Australia, and there is really nothing there except the zoo.  That being said, it’s a big “conference town” for the business world in Australia due to its “strategic” location.  That means it has a lot of hotels/motels, but really nothing else.

The zoo is something of a mix between a normal zoo and a safari.  All of the animals are in habitats, but there are few that have gates/walls/cages.  Most of the animals are corralled by natural means, such as non-swimming animals being on a small island.  That sort of thing.  The zoo grounds are HUGE, and all of the animals had plenty of space, that I could tell.  It was so large that visitors are encouraged to drive tot he habitat they want to see, park, and then spend as much time as they want, and then drive to the next bit they want to see.  As it turns out, Peter and I rented golf carts for the day and cruised the zoo in those.

Again, zoo pictures are cheating, but this is the first echidna we'd seen here, and the bird was wild, not caged.  The meercat was cute, so we posted it anyway...  :)

All thanks to Peter and Jo!

Posted by kisajaja at 8:05 AM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 2 August 2008 8:14 AM MEST

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Once back in Sydney, we picked up our luggage (bulging with our purchases), found the car, and headed to our hotel for the night.  The plan was to spend the night and then hit “Paddy’s Markets” the next morning.  We got to hotel at around 10:00pm (the flight was delayed a bit), but that didn’t matter.  We got checked in, got to sleep, and hit the markets in the morning.

Great market!  One of the funny things about it is that we could tell immediately that we were back in Sydney based on prices.  That being said, they had EVERYTHING and we got some more stuff.

World Youth Day 08 is going on right now, and the Pope is in Sydney, so the place is overrun with “pilgrims” there for that.  Everything is a little crowed right now, but it was still a fun day. 

After shopping, we came home to unpack and to get some rest.  We go back to Sydney on Sunday for hockey.  Jacoby has a double-header...

Posted by kisajaja at 8:28 AM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 19 July 2008 8:30 AM MEST

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Our last full day in Cairns we spent out at Kuranda.  Again, it was another small town with some fantastic markets.  We went through every gallery, shop, and vendors table, buying cloths, looking at opals, seeing what other things these people make and then sale.

Kuranda has a really neat place called “Batreach.”  It’s just a lady, and I guess her husband, that took in an injured bat a while back and rehabilitated it back to health.  Then another.  Then another.  Today, they have their own license and outdoor living areas set up to care for all kinds of bats, big and small.  The lady called them all by name, which the bats responded to, held them, brought them over for pictures, fed them, whatever.  She was totally at home with them, and they with her.  She told us all about several of them, including the ones that have been released already, but keep coming back for whatever reason, sleeping outside the cages, but still amongst the other bats. 

Also in Kuranda is a small “zoo” called the Koala Gardens, where we saw wallabies (Sabrina’s first time to feed and pet them), snakes, crocodile, and, of course, Koalas.  We all got to hold “Cheebi” the koala for photos. 

Posted by kisajaja at 8:16 AM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 19 July 2008 8:27 AM MEST

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The next morning was our trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  We went out to Green Island as part of a ½ day package we got because it seemed like plenty of time.  We got to the Island, got all of our gear assembled, and snorkled for about 30 minutes before it was our time to ride on the semi-submersible on a guided tour of the reef.   We spent roughly ½ hour seeing the reef and wildlife (fish, turtles, even a stingray, and TONS of corral and plant life).  After the semi-submersible, we raced back to our snorkling spot (after buying a disposable underwater camera) and snorkled for another ½ hour before it was time to leave. 

Posted by kisajaja at 8:09 AM MEST

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The next day we got up at the usual time (read:  early) and headed out for day full of waterfalls. 

Beautiful waterfalls.  Every one of them was fantastic. 

Also on this day, was something we didn’t intend.  Passing through the small town of Yungaburra, we saw a platform labelled, “Platypus viewing.”  There were a couple of people there, and it was next to a wood shop we wanted to look through, so we decided to stop and see what this was all about.  The young couple there said that the platypus was there and was coming up every minute or so, so we sat and watched.  Sure enough, we saw him up close and personal, several times, took several pictures, and thought it was great!  Platypus in the wild.  He was funny!

Later on, at one of the waterfalls, we saw a couple of people standing at the base.  They had been swimming in the splash pool when the lady realized that “something” was in the water with them.  Fearing that it was a small crocodile (indicating that LARGER crocodiles could also be about), they swam back to the rocks a short distance away.  Looking back into the water for a few minutes, they realized it was another Platypus.  This was miles away from our first platypus sighting of the day, but we looked around.  Less than a minute or two later, there her was.  A small, but unmistakable platypus swimming around in the waterfall splash pool.  Jacoby went wading into the water, just so he could say he went “swimming with the platypi.”  Not a bad idea, I suppose.  How many people can say they did that??!?  Roughly the same number of people that have seen two platypi in the same day from two different locations, both “in the wild” I would guess...

Posted by kisajaja at 7:52 AM MEST

Updated: Saturday, 19 July 2008 8:09 AM MEST

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