Having Fun in Oz

It's been a quiet week in Raby Bay....

Raby Bay, where nephew Al and his family live, is about 25 kms east of Brisbane, and their home is on a wide canal that leads out into Moreton Bay. I sat outside yesterday afternoon for 1/2 hour and saw silver gulls, a little pied cormorant, a little black cormorant, a masked lapwing, and a white-bellied sea eagle! And this morning there was a Brahminy kite flying right in front of us with a big fish dangling from its claws--what a sight! Yesterday evening we went out shark fishing with Al and little Will. No sharks were caught, but it was beautiful to be out on the water as the sun was setting and then to see the stars come out, and find Orion and the Southern Cross.

Earlier this week we went to a local art gallery that was showing selected art from The Australia Art Bank--it's a neat concept, the gov't has a bank of 9000 pieces of Australian art, which are used in Australian embassies and Australian companies around the world and also for local exhibitions. We also went to a nature center, saw koalas, several new birds, indigenous plants and trees. Very lovely.

Today we pick up our rental car and tomorrow we head north for the Great Barrier Reef and other sights.