I just got back from Brisbane this morning. Naomi and I spent the night at our friend LJ's, and hit the road at 04:45 to drop off the dogs and get her to work on time. I took a taxi from Maroochydoore (where she works) to Mooloolaba (where I'm staying) to save her time. It's all good.

Went and had a nap when I got to the hostel and have been taking it easy today. It's chilly and overcast and I'm not hugely motivated to partake in anything involving water. I'm slowly turning into a giant pansy. Oh well, another winter working outside will thicken up the blood again, and I'll be back to my tough, grumpy self. That is assuming that I come back to Canada to live. I can handle this warm winter thing. Very nice.

We got to Brizzy Friday and I got rained out for my rock climbing (again). Made it all the way to the bottom of the wall with the ropes down and everything. Then the sky opened up and we got a good soaking. This Friday coming up is my last shot at it. I'm really hoping I get to do it, but if not I'll give my ticket to Holly. She really wants to rock climb the Point, so at least my cash won't go to waste. Naome and I had a great time visit with Holly at her B-Day. Really glad I got to chat with her again. Nice talking to someone about back home who knows what you're on about.

Holly is Australian (Brizzy native in fact) but she has spent a couple of summers out at Eden (that's where we met). She knows the people I know and it's just nice to have that connection. I've been COMPLETELY isolated since March, and that's not going to change anytime soon. So yah, nice to have some sort of point of reference with someone.

Naomi and I headed for Willow Bank (Brisbane Skydive Centre) Saturday morning. They had the sky van up from the south and a bunch of our mates were wanting to jump from the Box. Naomi wasn't jumping, and I still had tickets for Toogs, so we just hung out a bit. I've jumped from sky vans before, so not doing it was no big for me. Though I have to admit that you can do some very cool exits from the Box. One of my personal favs is the W.E. Coyote exit. You know when W.E. goes running off a cliff and his legs keep going until he realizes what's in the works, looks down, waves bye-bye and then drops off screen? Well that is a blast! Run out the back of the van, and just keep running until you come off the hill and end up on your back. It's harder than it sounds, but man is it funny. I'll have to get someone to get video next trip to Eloy.

We stuck around Willow Bank for a little while then headed for Toogoolawah. I burned up 2 of my 3 remaining tickets and cashed in the last one. Pulled off a beautiful cross wind landing Sunday (not going to get into the technical of all that) and we headed back for Brisbane. Stopped in at one of her best friends for a couple of hours and had a great visit. Richo is a great guy and I enjoyed meeting him. Then we headed back to LJ's and spent the night there. We watched some movies on TV, cooked chicken fajitas, and went to bed early. You have no idea how much I have missed good mexican food. Austral asia is loaded with fantastic asian and sea food. No Mexican what so ever. I was ready to get physically emotional for a burrito, any burrito. Yo Quiero Taco Bell!

Out at Toogs, I met Chris Gay (Mr. CRW). He's a world famous skydiver with the CRW competitions and an old friend of Lyal's. It was great chatting with him for a few minutes. Super nice guy! You know it's so cool to meet someone who is really great in their discipline. They are always the ones who are the most humble. I asked one of the guys doing the CRW how the course was going and he made a point of letting me know that he wasn't on a course, he had been doing CRW for years. That cracked me up. He's a great guy too, but it's just so funny that they can't just say "yah, she be right". Where as the guys that are truly great don't feel the need to justify themselves. I find that so refreshing and something to aspire to. Chris also singed off my cross wind landing, that was Some Cool! I've collected some great signatures in my log book. Chris Gay, Doug Fourth, Lyal Waddell (as well as all the Plaid Jackets and Tropical Fish), a bunch of guys from Arizona Airspeed... the list goes on, and will hopefully continue. Call me a nerd, but I think it's pretty awesome.

Don't really know what else to say... I'm headed for Germany on June second, that's only 9 more sleeps. My time in Australia is pretty much burnt. Where did it go? I still have a list as long as my arm that I haven't even gotten to. Three months is not enough. I guess I'll just have to come back.

Lisa Freitag
Silent River Kung Fu, Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia