Australia Fair...

I landed in London at 5.30am this morning after a lumpy, bumpy looooong flight....so happy to be back, to see Paul, to cuddle Alice. But so very sad to leave those 4 beloveds behind. It's something that may be difficult to understand if you haven't experienced it firsthand....but I've lived with the peculiar pain of having a split heart for almost 12 years. Far from getting easier, it worsens with every visit. It used to be just Esther that I missed so terribly. Then came the babies...and it was awful to leave them, but at least it was just me feeling bereft when they were tiny. Now they are older, it's just dreadful. We all love each other so...have such amazing times together...and parting again is like a little death. It sounds melodramatic I know...but 12,500 miles is such a very long way. Still, I am so fortunate to be able to visit. My Mum's aunt emigrated to New Zealand just after WW2 with her young family...and was never seen again by those left in England. Just a letter every month. So I'm lucky - I do know this.

Australia is such a beautiful country. It's colours, to me, are blue & pink & gold...with a particular green splashed in too. Here are a few pictures to begin to show you what I mean...

This is the beach that is 5 minutes from Esther's home...

The rockpools were warm as bathwater...

The sand was so hot that I had to stand in the water!

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter who died so tragically a few years ago lived nearby...& this commemorative statue of him and his children (with the obligatory 'croc'!) stands on the headland overlooking that gorgeous beach...

These were taken on the unexpected serendipity of a rainforest walk that my oldest nephew discovered for us in the hill town of Maleny...

Lorikeets gathered, brightly coloured & always in big groups, in the trees...

and we searched in vain for the duck-billed platypus that lives in the river...

on Valentine's Day, Esther & I and her youngest son went for a walk at Point Cartwright...we walked alomg the coastal path to the lighthouse. In the centre of the photo above is the message we saw that day, trailing from the back of a small plane....it read 'Kirstie, will you marry me again? Love Jason' - how romantic! It flew around for about 15 minutes and we so hoped to see Kirstie!! We didn't...but I hope that she saw her husband's grand gesture of love!

On the rocks at the lighthouse...

33c is 91f for all of you who work that way! Pretty ordinary temperatures for Central Queensland in summer....

The children found a very creative way of recycling their father's old work boots!

In Esther's front garden...

It's almost 6pm as I write. I am determined to stay up until 9.30...it's the only way to get my poor, disrupted body clock back on track! I have been busy all day...walking Alice on the hill (it felt so good after 30 hours in cramped plane seats!)....doing laundry...sorting post...and meeting my youngest sister & her darling son William at the local pool to catch up on the last 3 weeks. Tonight, Paul and I will share a glass of wine and our first meal together in almost a month. The birds are singing an early spring song. In my garden, there are purple & yellow crocuses blooming and the bees have started to collect pollen again. The church clock is mended at last and the bells ring out every quarter hour, a sound I've missed so much.

There is so much to look forward to, and it feels very good to be home.

But still, in my head I see bright hard sunshine & hear humming crickets & exotic whooping birds calling. I see the golden, flossy heads of three children I love as though they were my own and hear their laughter. And I see my darling sister's wide, warm smile and feel her arms around me, as they were such a short time ago.

It will take a little while for me to fully be home I think...

There will be more from my trip soon...so much to share with you! Thanks for the lovely comments on my recent posts too....it means a great deal to know you're there! xo