Queensland, Australia

Flat Jake just finished visiting the home of Leonie Gittins in Queensland. She sent six pictures so far and has more coming. I will post them as soon as I get them.

This is Leonie's story of FJ's visit:

Flat Jake reporting here from Queensland . I have had such a busy day.

First I had a good look around this place - a funny house - it is an A-frame. The bottom floor is for the garage and the sewing room, the next floor up is the kitchen, bathroom lounge room and a couple of bedrooms and there are more bedrooms up on the top floor. You can see the Pacific Ocean from the front verandah. There used to be 5 kids live here but they all grew up. I did get to play with the cat - he has blue eyes and his name is Cami.

Early this morning we did some quilting on a quilt for someone who lost their home in the Victorian bushfires last month. I liked the quilt with crocodiles on it best. Victoria is another state and is about a thousand miles away from here.

Then we went out into the garden and picked some tomatoes and chokos and pumpkins. I played hide and seek in the vines. Chokos are easy to grow here but they don't have much flavour unless you pick them young and put them in a stir fry. Pumpkins make yummy soup and you would not bevieve how good pumpkin scones are. It is pretty warm here all year round and most things grow all the time.

The people in this house have never seen snow falling. Of course it gets pretty hot in summer but only some days as summer is the rainy season. Winter days are beautiful, usually about 25 degrees celcius (you can find out what that is in Farenheight) and the nights rarely go below 10 degrees C. It does get a fair bit colder if you go inland a few more miles, and they get heavy frosts which kill all the gardens.

You can see me in the paw-paw tree and a banana bush but the fruit was not ripe enough to eat.

We had to go about 40 miles to the patchwork shop down at Maroochydore which is at the beach (look for it on a map) I looked at all the fabric and met some ladies having a sewing lesson. Leonie used to work at this shop and she knows all the ladies there.

ON the way to the patchwork shop we called in to the Big Pineapple. It has just been put on the heritage list so it can't ever be pulled down. There are stairs up inside it and you can see people up on the top of it - it is really big. We saw some pineapples in the shop and some more growing outside. Did you see the windmill - did you know they were invented in Australia? The wind blows the sails around and that works a pump which pumps water up from a well in the ground below.

The little train used to take sugar cane to the sugar mill, but now it takes visitors for a ride around the farm.

We saw lots of animals there. The white bird is a sulphur crested cockatoo and he said "hello" to me! The yellow dog is a dingo, a native dog. Farmers don't like them because they kill farm animals and sometime attack children. They never can be fully trained. They don't bark but we heard them howling - a bit scarey.

I was glad all the snakes were in cages - see the snake skin I am sitting on? Snakes shed their skin each year. Some of the most poisonous snakes in the world live in Australia. The lizzards are funny aren't they!

Isn't the wallaby pretty! Wallabies are smaller versions of kangaroos - there are lots of different types. The tawny frogmouth owls looked so sad. They sit perfectly still and are hard to see - they look just like a broken branch. I liked the little chickens best. Here a chicken is a baby, grown up ones are called chooks, or hens and roosters.

It was hot when we finished looking at the animals so we went back up the hill to the restaurant and bought a pineapple sundae - doesn't it look yummy! lots of chopped sweet pineapple, cream and lots of macadamia nut icecream on top. That is Leonie sitting behind it and she ate it all up!

We went down to the beach for a while and saw the lifesavers rescue boat. See the red and yellow flags? You have to swim between them because that is where the lifesavers watch and they choose the safest spot. Lots of visitors get drowned because they don't know about the dangerous rips in the surf and they swim in unsafe areas. Sometimes there are sharks in the waters here and the lifesavers tell everyone to get out of the water fast.

On the way back to Nambour we saw some sugar cane growing near the road. It is about 12 feet high.

We stopped to look at a few houses because they are different here in Queensland. People build them high off the ground so they can check for termites (like millions of little ants) that eat timber houses. Also under the house is a good place to park your car and store stuff. Houses here never have basements. The kitchen and bedrooms are all upstairs. Many houses have big verandahs around them - it is a cool place to sleep when it is hot, a space for little kids to play when it rains and somewhere to have a BBQ and just sit outside and relax.

We shopped in the big Woolworths supermarket - we saw yummy Easter Eggs and some oranges that were grown in America. Oranges are out of season here just now.

After we came home we went to the Kondalilla National Park, just down the road from Leonie's house. We went on a long walk through some tall trees and saw a little waterfall. I sat on a young strangler fig tree - it grows from a seed droped by bird onto another tree where it starts to grow. It's roots reach down to the ground and it eventually strangles the original tree.

The one I am sitting on grew on a dead tree stump. They can get really enormous - and because the original tree dies and rots away they are hollow at the bottom and a man could sleep inside one. We did not see any animals here because they are shy or only come out at night. We did hear lots of birds, including a cat bird. It sounds just like a baby or a cat crying.

I have about 60 photos of me here but I am including only a few to start with.

Well, Grandma Sandi, I think I have seen everything here so I am looking forward to my next holiday - so where do I go next?

love from Flat Jake

Well, Flat Jake.......you're off to Germany!

Flat Jake in Australia March 8 - March 27, '09

Well, Flat Jake finally made it to Australia. And, here is his adventure so far:

Flat Jake started his adventures February 3 by traveling with his grandma’s friend, Mr. Erv Schmidt, to Hawaii for Mr. Schmidt’s month-long Hawaii vacation. Mr. Schmidt was really suppose to get Flat Jake on his way once they reached the Big Island, but he didn’t leave until Mr. Schmidt left. So, he got a late start on his travels, but he sure enjoyed Hawaii. Mr. Schmidt mailed him on to Australia on March 3, when he was flying home to St. Louis.

Flat Jake arrived in Australia and got busy visiting the Browning Family on the farm at Agery, Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The Browning family crops approx 3000acres with wheat, barley, peas, canola, lentils & oats each year. They also raise some sheep primarily to sell the lambs and also make some money on the wool. They are mainly merino crossbreds.

The Browning family consists of Paul & Tracey & three children, Emma nearly 16 yrs, Nicholas 13yrs & Sarah 10yrs old. Both Nicholas & Sarah attend Harvest Christian School in Kadina and catch a school bus everyday out in front of our house. Emma stays and boards in Adelaide (which is South Australia’s capital city) and attends a school down there in preparation for university.

The first photo of Flat Jake is in Sarah’s Yr 5 classroom. Sarah’s school is a multi-denominational Christian school, and they have lovely small class sizes! Some of these children are keen to write some notes to regular Jake, & Mrs. Browning will post them off (mail them) once she gets them. FJ is also taking a look in our front office at our wonderful triptych quilt that Mrs Browning designed & lots of mums assisted to make over a 12 month period for the school. After this, he had a good look at one of our school buses that transport some of our children over 120km (about 75 miles – 1 kilometer = .621371191 miles) one way to come to school each day. Luckily, Sarah & Nicholas only have 40min each trip on the bus as they lives only 26km (about 16 miles) from Kadina & school.

Next, whilst Nicholas was at his guitar lesson after school, Sarah & FJ went down to the “jetty” in Wallaroo. A “jetty” is “Australian” for what we call a pier here in the states. And a pier is like a bridge to “nowhere.” The “jetty” in the pictures can take trucks, people, etc., to get to the ships that pull up alongside to be loaded with grain from the silos. (Also, you can see the jetty and the silo’s in Mrs. Browning’s triptych* quilt if you look close.) Mostly recreational fishermen are on there. There is also a fenced area closer to shore that is used for the local swimming pool. It is fenced for safety for the swimmers with all the boats & equipment that is also in this area.

You can see the big silos in the background which is where the Brownings deliver all their grain. Wallaroo is a major port that big ships come into to be loaded with grain. They then sail to lots of countries to deliver the grain to people for food & production of other things. The Brownings are lucky that they are not too far from the port to deliver their grain in their own big semi trucks each year.

Not too far from the jetty & silos there is a really beautiful beach that we can drive down onto to go swimming & playing. Last weekend this beach had thousands of people there having a big Beach Day Out festival with fun rides, volleyball games, & cricket games to raise money for the “Make-a-Wish Foundation” for kids. Flat Jake has his “swimmers” on with Sarah, but it was a little cold today for a swim.

We had to get home quickly after this as Paul (the Dad) had to be driven home from Kadina to collect one of our tractors that we use for spraying our fields. We left a vehicle at a property near Kadina so that he could get home after dark later. Flat Jake is inspecting this tractor & even tried to drive it!! Nicholas is supervising in the seat and explaining all the little silos that you can see as they hold all the different types of grain that we use to seed our crops. We are currently just controlling any weeds that are trying to grow & waiting for some opening rains so that we can sow our crops for this year. They are usually sown around April and May and grow over our winter through to September. Winter in Australia is when summer is in St. Louis. Harvest time can start as early as October after we cut & make hay as well. Then we are finished in December when our summer starts. Yes, summer starts in December “down under” in Australia.

After this, Sarah & Nicholas went playing in their haystacks behind their house. Sarah’s cat, GUS, is a ginger cat that is never far behind Sarah ever. He even sees her off on the bus every morning and is there to greet her and Nicholas when they get home at night. He was down there too to say hello to Flat Jake. The Brownings make the big round bales of hay to keep for feeding the sheep in the summertime when there is no feed in the fields as well as some small rectangle bales that are easy to sell and transport to gardens & horse lovers.

Nicholas loves riding his bike and his motorbike as well. Flat Jake got close up whilst Nicholas was going over one of his home made jumps behind his house. Inside Sarah decided to teach FJ how to play the organ. You can see where she has made it easier with the names of the notes! Lastly FJ got to jump around whilst Nicholas was practicing on his electric guitar! He did look funny in those strings whilst Nicholas was playing.

Now Flat Jake is going for another long trip – over 2300km (1,426 miles) north of here to Queensland. It is a lot warmer up there as well.

* I asked Tracey to explain her beautiful triptych quilt creation further. This was her reply:

Our School Community! This 3 part textile mural was designed by me to be displayed in our new administration building, to represent our history & foresight in creating a Christian run & controlled school in our local town. The first panel is representing the different backgrounds our school community is drawn on. Agriculture with cropping, animals, fishing industry, mining industry, olives and farm house & yard. The silos, railway line and a motorcross track! The second panel focuses on our school logo & motto. Our heritage is detailed in accurate reproductions of local buildings and festivals (Maypole at our Kernewek Lowender-Cornish Festival). Also our school oval extends to this panel showing the variety of sports that are represented & our 'house' colours and names. The final third panel is our school and subjects that are covered. The children are dressed in our school uniforms and our pride & joy, the school bus is also featured. The 3 dimensional tree & leaves are representative of God's arms sheltering our school & children. We even have ants & ladybugs on the trunk of the tree, along with many 3 dimensional gum leaves. This quilt was achieved in one year of hard work from a great number of mums who participated! Many had not even had any experience in creating patchwork, but were willing to be involved & learn.

Thank you, Tracey Browning, and your family for hosting Flat Jake!! He had such fun visiting with all of you and learning so much of your country, community, home, businesses, and school plus even playing on the beach.

Please check out my webshots for the pics of his adventures. If I've done something incorrectly, please let me know so that I can correct what I've done. I'm new to this, ya know.

Flat Jake just left Hawaii on 03/03/09

I was told that Flat Jake was sent on his way to Tracey Browning in Australia as of yesterday from Hawaii. So, he's in the US mail, and starting his travels now! Boy, he got a slow start.

As soon as I get the Hawaii pics, I'll post them on Facebook and in my webshots album. Then, as he travels, I'll be posting his pics as I get them in email from his host family.

Also, upon his arrival, please email me so that I know he's arrived safely, and I can tell you what needs to be done (if I haven't all ready). And, of course, first and foremost, you're to have fun w/him, and he'll learn so much from all of you. You're all just the BEST for participating!! Thank you! My Jake and his class is soooo excited.

Please let me know if you have any ideas, hints, or questions for me as he travels. I just want to make his travels available to everyone who is having fun following him. Thanks!