Xmas in the Outback is Kinda Weird

I have to admit it's weird being in 106 degree heat on December 8. It just does not feel like Christmas. We do have a decorated tree (we brought our fake one), our creche has been set up and our stockings have been hung by the chimney with care. But instead of reindeer, we have kangaroos.

Rudolph the red-nosed ... kangaroo?

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Greg's cardinal is on the top! Reminds us of Virginia.

Creche is from my nana. The lizard gives it a nice 'Alice' touch. I don't think Jesus would mind.

Katie arrives on Saturday, then Megan the following Thursday. It will feel a lot more like Christmas when we are together. Then all four of us head to New Zealand for two weeks of cooler temps, glacier hiking, bungy jumping, helicopter rides, canyon jet, seafood, water, and green vistas.

Critter update! It's cicada season. They have been singing their song up in the trees all over Alice.

'Super M,' the mighty cicada!

Meet Paolo, our polka-dotted kitchen ledge lizard. He kept me company while I was COOKING DINNER. (yep, I'm still cooking!). Paolo hung out on our ledge for about an hour and a half. He nicely stayed outside while I was inside. I like that in a reptile. The consensus is that he is a baby perentie.

Paolo, the polka-dotted perentie, aka: our kitchen ledge lizard.

Giving Thanks

We enjoyed not one, but two Thanksgiving celebrations in Australia! A group of American expats gathered the Saturday before Thanksgiving at a rustic resort called Glen Helen, which is about an hour outside of Alice Springs. More than 40 of us celebrated a traditional Thanksgiving meal of roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin and pecan pie, outside on a patio overlooking the Glen Helen Gorge. We had a lot of fun.

Glen Helen Gorge on a hot, sunny day

Obligatory self portrait - we were the only people there!

One could go swimming, but I'm sorta squeamish.

Real Thanksgiving food!

Check out the view. Pretty cool.

So many cute kids.

This little guy is so good. Never cries.

mmmmm Ice Cream!

Our friends, the Wilkinson family, adopted us for Thanksgiving day to enjoy a wonderful meal with their family. I brought my camera, but didn't take any pics ... dang it. Rebecca, Ken and their five kids treated us to turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, red cabbage, and three pies, followed by games. And baseball. The older Wilkinson boys are on a baseball team, which had a game that night. There are only enough kids to make up two teams, so the same two teams play each other over and over! It was a nice night for baseball.

It's hard being so far from family and friends, especially during the holidays. We are very grateful that our girls were taken care of back home and that we were able to pause and give thanks for the many blessings that we have, including this fabulous opportunity to live overseas and experience a totally different way of life.

We're also grateful that my Uncle Gene discovered a talent for painting later in life. About a week ago we received a huge package all the way from Florida with THREE original Eugene Kusek paintings, including one customized piece that means the world to us.

Three paintings from my Uncle Eugene Kusek!

We brought this wonderful painting of our home in Virginia with us here. What makes it so special is that it was a wedding gift from our next door neighbor, Harris Miller, who painted it. He is so talented! You can see more of his work here: http://www.harrismillerart.com/. 

An original Harris Miller painting of our home in Virginia.

Critters, critters and more critters

So many critters abound here in The Alice. Check out the bearded dragon in our back yard (I named him Darel - which means 'blue sky'):

That's not my hand, but it helps give perspective so you can see how big he is

I like the beardies and the lizards - they are good to have in your yard because they eat the bad things.

We discovered another toilet frog in our powder room the day before we hosted our first big dinner. We debated whether or not to leave him in there and see who would notice ... but decided it would be best to transfer him outside where he could be with his friends.

He's so cute! But does not belong in our toilet.

I didn't stop to take a picture of this other beauty that made its appearance in our living room one evening. Greg 'took care of it.' I didn't ask any questions. It was about 3-4 centimeters long and looked like this:

NOT CUTE

Spiders are plentiful and I'm not generally too freaked out by them. That said, I hope to never see a Huntsman, but a number of people here have had them in and around their houses. It's so big, it looks like a crab. Supposedly harmless to humans.

Not my hand! Also NOT CUTE.

Enough of the creatures! Onto more hiking. Last weekend we ventured a bit outside of town to Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm.

Water! Haven't seen this in a while.

Greg is such a rebel!

We also saw a great concert at Desert Park.

Such a pretty setting for an outdoor concert!

We hosted our first dinner party last weekend and more than 26 people came! The weather was beautiful so everyone hung out on our patio. I was too busy to take pictures! Greg made his crowd pleasing beer/garlic chicken. I made a big bowl of cabbage/ramen noodle slaw, doctored up baked beans in the crock pot, as well as homemade blondies.

Evidence that I'm still cooking!

Appropriate shoes. I was wearing them. Once.

I have an innate knack for wearing clothes or shoes that are not quite right for the occasion. Well, I'm happy to report that I wore appropriate shoes and hat for a recent hike to Telegraph Station. 

Appropriate hiking shoes, hiking socks and sun hat. You can't see it, but I was also slathered in sunscreen.

I am eternally grateful for our family Sherpa who hauls all manner of items so I don't have to bring an inappropriate bag of some sort.

Stolp Family Sherpa.

Our destination was the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, which marks the original site of the first European settlement in Alice Springs. We had a couple of interesting sights on our way to our destination.

The Todd Tavern, which has a drive-thru bottle shop (booze store) on the side.

It's springtime here and we have seen lots of these pretty purple blossoms on some trees.

The mighty Todd River! It's dry 95% of the time.

The popular myth is that if you see the river flow three times, you'll never leave the Alice. We have not yet seen it flow.

The Todd River is an ephemeral river in the southern Northern Territory, central Australia. The origins of the Todd River begin in the MacDonnell Ranges, where it flows past the Telegraph Station, almost through the center of Alice Springs, through Heavitree Gap at the southern end of Alice Springs and continuing on for some distance, passing through the western part of the Simpson Desert, as it becomes a tributary of the Hale River, and eventually flowing into Lake Eyre in South Australia. The indigenous Arrernte people know this river as Lhere Mparntwe (pronounced ler-ra m-barn-twa). The Todd is in a very arid part of Australia and has zero to very low flow during 95% of the year. When it does flow, it carries a heavy sediment load picked up from the grazing land around the Bond Springs homestead which lends its waters a milky chocolate colour and renders them completely opaque.

So, onto our destination -- Telegraph Station. The Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve preserves the original stone buildings of The Telegraph Station, which have been restored with furnishings and artifacts from the early 1900s. Set against the magnificent MacDonnell Ranges, the reserve is also a popular place for a walk, picnic and watching wildlife.

The Alice Springs Telegraph Station is the best preserved of the 12 stations along the Overland Telegraph Line, which was established in 1872 to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide.The reserve marks the original site of the Alice Springs settlement, which took its name after the waterhole a short distance to the east of the station. The Station operated for 60 years, then served as a school for Aboriginal children.

It was a nice hike - about an hour each way. We are planning to do lots more hikes while we're here -- exploring all over the Larapinta Trail, which is kind of like the Appalachian Trail back home.

Sign marking more trails that we can take from Telegraph Station.

Oh - and we ran into a kangaroo! Just hanging out. So cool!

So, the next day was the base Halloween party, complete with a Haunted House, face painting, hot dogs, and a costume contest! Greg was one of the judges. Tough job - there were so many great costumes. My Aussie friend Emma came with us and enjoyed our American traditions.

The judges took their job seriously!

Koala bear.

Cutest owl ever.

They should get married and make whatever a koala and an owl would make - it will be adorable.

Brave Emma! I'll get my turn soon.

Halloween night was a blast! My friend Darlene shipped us a boatload of good, American candy, which only lasted about 90 minutes. While it's not really an Aussie thing, we had heaps of both American and Aussie kids come through. And they were all so polite - please and thank you from all of them. We were very impressed. We were too busy with the hordes of kids to take any pictures.

I'm now using VPN Authority so I can better connect back home - it re-routes my server through the U.S.