Mount Tamborine

I'm doing wonderfully!

On Monday I travelled to my second homestay which is located on Mount Tamborine (1 hour south of Brisbane). It's a tropical rainforest!!From one side of the mountain you can see the Gold Coast and the other side the great interior of Australia.

The family I'm staying with includes Meg (the mom), Tea (pronounced te-a; age 11; girl), Romy (age 8; girl), Patrick (Meg's Dad; age 80) and Barbara (Meg's mom; age 75). Mark, Meg's husband, is in the US directing a movie (Meg is also in the film business but she does documentaries) and their son, Brodrick, is currently at boarding school on the coast but will be home this weekend (high school age). The grandparents have their own house, and Meg and the girls live in a 6 bedroom house with a fantastic view of the coast.

I live in my own cabin a little ways down the side of the mountain that also overlooks the coast...it's spectacular! I can't wait to post pictures (I'm currently using the library computer which is why I'm not posting frequently). Every morning I wake up to cockateals, kookaburras, and parrots. There are 100 avocado trees on the property, plus olive trees, coffee and tons of citrus. We also have ~30 chooks and a dog, Dan, that reminds me a lot of Ito except that Dan doesn't want to eat the chooks when they are let out of the pen (Ito likes to chase them). Patrick and I work together in the garden (he's is quite active for being 80 years old). We talk about soils, local birds, favorite foods, and life experiences.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here. This weekend I plan to explore the local waterfalls and watch some hanggliders jump of the side of the mountain!!