On the Road Again...

After a long 6-hour train ride and a hopper tram to the suburb of Meadowbrook, we have made it to the south end of Queensland. We are situated about 30 minutes south of Brisbane in a very nice town. Suzy and Mark (the house-sitting owners) along with their dog, Jack, have a great home and neighborhood. Jack is a very sweet and well-trained English Cocker Spaniel and lives a very structured life. We get up with him at 6:30am for breakfast then take him on a 1-hour walk at 7am. In the evenings, we take him to the dog park for some socialization, then dinner at 6pm. We are very impressed with his training which Suzy has put a lot of time into. When we are walking and are about to cross the street, he sits and waits for our OK to go. And when we get home and walk through the front door, he waits (usually) until everyone else goes in before he does. It's so cute!

I have really enjoyed walking through the parks here. They are very well kept and full of ponds, birds and even a koala! I haven't spotted it yet, but I'm hoping to soon. The river flows along one side and there's a miniature horse in one of the pastures. It has a very country-like feeling. I'll take some pictures soon to post.

Before Suzy and Mark left, they took us to the Hyperdome which is a huge mall area. We got some groceries, but had to turn down any major shopping. We somehow accumulated a few things in Tannum and can't afford to buy anything more, nor do we have the luggage space!

Yesterday we walked to the golf course (about 30 minutes each way) and Zach did a bit of putting. The course seems pretty nice and is very decently priced, so I think I'll know where to find Zach this next week! He's planning on going to a clinic tonight to get some tips from the local pro.

Today (Friday), we're taking the bus back to the Hyperdome to meet up with friends of Zach's family. Long story short - Grammy & Papa stayed with the parents in Brisbane when they were here in February and have stayed in good contact. We are meeting his son and wife who are close to our age. They own a health food store at the mall and actually live pretty close to Meadowbrook, so we'll probably do a dinner in the city with them next week.

We're having a great time exploring this new area...and will update more in a few days!