Wesley’s “Home”!!!

Wesley arrived in Brisbane this past Thursday, the 20^th of December. He missed his connecting flight from Sydney to Brisbane and had to catch the next flight, so he got to us 3 hours later than expected, and we didn’t know why. Having never been away from us so long before in his life, we were missing him pretty badly anyway, and pretty desperate for his arrival. As a result, when we did finally get him in our arms, Karen and I both burst into tears, and he called us crazy people.

He wants to pack as much as he can into his brief time here before he leaves again on the 10^th of January for his return to school at SNU for his final two semesters. On Thursday and Friday he did a lot of hiking through the part across the street from the house, seeing parrots and giant lizards and strange trees. On Saturday we went to Lamington National Forest in the Green Mountains. Tourists there feed the birds so much that they’ll come right up and land on you, hoping (usually with good reason) for food. We saw some wonderful panoramic vistas on the way up and down the mountain.

At the top of the mountain we hiked through a dense rainforest. One of the unique features of this particular rainforest is a treetop walk. A suspension footpath bridge takes you out to a point 15 or 20 metres above the ground. You’re actually walking around in the canopy of the trees, high above the forest floor. Then you come to an especially tall tree that has a metal ladder, surrounded by a wire cage to keep you from falling. You can climb it another 20 metres to a little platform at the very top of the tree, and look out across the whole rainforest, across ranges of mountains and valleys.

On the walk we saw a couple of wallabies, which are basically small kangaroos. Then on the drive home we saw a full-sized kangaroo bounding across an open field past horses and cows. All in all, Wesley had a thoroughly full day of uniquely Australian experiences.

Today, Christmas eve day, he saw 3 or 4 wallabies on his walk in the park across the street. Later today we’ll go to the beach, and then over to the home of Roland’s parents and his sister Kammy and her husband Kevin Crowther this evening for a short worship time singing carols and so forth, and apparently a meal.