International Arrivals

Whenever given the opportunity, I have always enjoyed people-watching in the airport’s international arrivals area. It’s entertaining. I like the multitude of languages and the fact that everyone is very happy. Often the people I see don’t know whether to shake hands, hug, or kiss the person they are meeting. I find this kind of awkwardness refreshing. It’s real.

A few weeks ago I sat and watched people arriving in Brisbane for about an hour while waiting for these two fine young ladies to clear customs.

We recently shared some of 'the QLD' with two of Kate's London-based (Ontario) friends. Tiff-n-Heather spent a busy three week holiday with us - the majority of their time spent laughing at anything and everything. For one of their highlights, our lovely guests took my lil’wifey on a three day sailing trip through some of the more island-filled coastline of Northern Queensland. In the back of this next picture (taken as they returned from the sailing trip) is the captain of their fine vessel, on the dock carrying a case of beer and demonstrating his masterful proficiency at the challenging sport of 'photo bombing'. I am told he was also a good sailor.
The girls chose a good time of the year to visit and spent much time in the sun and in the ocean. We took them to Moreton Island where they survived an hour of snorkeling in the shark water.


Here's Kate in action. Our friend Rob has invested in a great camera.

The girls also took a few surfing lessons in the shark water. Here are they are with their instructor fine tuning their techniques during a lesson.

And they all caught on to the surfing like pros. This is Heather in the pipeline... carving away.

Tiff and Heather also went bungee jumping from a bridge in Cairns - something I personally have no interest in trying. But I always appreciate the efforts of a talented sign maker.

Kate and I have now returned to a simpler rhythm for the next few months until our next visitors arrive. I am happy to say that this rhythm includes a fair bit of beach volleyball for us both lately. (Kate is getting awesome!) And for me it will also include some posts on this blog. The occasional interesting idea has come and gone in recent months before I have had a chance to write it down. Maybe I can change that in the weeks to come.

Today, let me leave you today with this thought: the Australia Zoo, not far from here, houses a lot of large hungry crocodiles and displays signs like this one illustrating proper use of their intricate two-fence system.

But when we went to the Zoo last week, I somehow missed the memo:

And here's one for those of you who might be confused or concerned:


Cheers.

And thank you for your visit ladies. I had an awesome time... an awesome time!