We left the cousins this morning in Queensland to fly down to Canberra. What did we leave behind us? This weekend has been a lot of fun – and just overall a lot. We have a lot of cousins and they were all in full force during Gregory’s 50th birthday celebration. The only one missing from the Lukes’ clan was my cousin Michael – whom I haven’t seen since 1982. I’ve actually decided that he may not exist… I don’t remember meeting him even when I was five.
The weekend at Burleigh Heads included an afternoon of swimming at the beach (the Pacific Ocean), a rousing game of Cranium between three generations and lots of wine and bourbon, and an outing to a natural bridge at a nearby state park.
Sunday night brought us all to a mock-awards ceremony and some birthday cake for Gregory. Each person in the family group of 22 was awarded their own special award. Alexandra won a joint award with her cousin, Nikita, for being the cleanest campers. I guess the fact that they took multiple hour-long showers was noticed by the adults – especially as Queensland is trying to deal with drought conditions.
I was excited to win a box of chamomile tea – it was an appropriate gift for “camper who most enjoys alone time.”
Did I mention that there were 8 children, all under the age of ten?
Leaving Burleigh Heads this morning, we went into Brisbane for a bit with the girls – my cousins Marianne and Suzanne, their daughters, Regina and Nikita, my aunt, Dianne – and my cousin, Gregory, and his wife, Chelle. We walked along South Bank – which is a beautiful section that the city created after the 1988 World Expo that took place in Brisbane, upon that site. It’s really lovely.
As we begin our last week in Australia, we’re missing those cousins already – but looking forward to exploring Canberra and spending time with my Uncle Lou.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment