Being salary-dependent and knowing that we might be able to live in Australia only another year or two, Kristi and I take every opportunity to experience its various parts. And varied this country is, in its plant life, its critters, and its geography.
Like most people here, we had four days off for Easter weekend and we took advantage of every waking moment, leaving our driveway at 7:15 a.m. Friday and returning at 8 p.m. Monday.
Our plan was to visit national parks in the Granite Belt about three hours southwest of Brisbane in the vicinity of Stanthorpe, but by the time we got home, we’d also hiked in parts of Washpool National Park and the Main Range National Park.
And get this: we visited New England and drove from one side of Texas to the other. That’s what we’ll be writing about to friends and family, and it’s true.
We were on the New England Highway from Warwick, QLD, to Glen Innes in New South Wales, and, being as close as 60 or 70 miles from a town we’d heard so much about, we couldn’t resist adding in a trip to Texas, Queensland, population 900.
It was one quiet place on Easter Monday, but now we can say we’ve been there!
Not only that, but, thanks to an amateur Japanese astronomer named Aiji, we’ve finally been introduced to the Southern Cross, the cluster of stars on the Aussie flag.
I’ll have more to say soon about the people, places, and things we saw during this glorious holiday, but for now, I want to note that a mystery, for us, has been cleared up.
Years ago when we were living in Oklahoma, Kristi and I were a bit puzzled by how often some friends of ours took day-long or overnight trips on weekends to (in our view) fairly ordinary destinations in Oklahoma and adjacent states.
Now we understand. One of these friends, Monica, is Columbian. The other, her husband Michael, is German. They were seeking Green Cards and they were far from certain they would get them. (Eventually, they did.)
Knowing their time in the United States might be short, Monica and Michael took every opportunity to see what they could, and that practice intensified when they added Camilo to their family.
Now we’re in their situation, permanent residents, yes, but not citizens. Two years from now we could be… who knows?
What we saw this past weekend would be pretty ordinary to our Aussie neighbors and few of them would drive a hundred kilometers or two out of the way to visit Texas, QLD.
Knowing our time may be short and being lucky enough to have fuel and a good car, we jumped at the chance and saw some beautiful country on the way there. We’re glad we did.
The word “knowing” in that sentence makes all the difference. We’d be different if we felt sure of many years here, but we know we can’t have such certainty.
Not that our neighbors can, really. Not that you can, wherever you live. Are there places you want to visit? Then maybe you should make some plans and go. As the title song from the musical “Cabaret” says about life, “it isn’t that long a stay.”
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