I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a great New Year. Australia has been fantastic. I will be sad to leave. Each time I've gone on to a new location, I've been ready, but not this time.

I've spent a lot of time with my cousins here. My Dad's close cousin, Walter Teeland, from Alaska married an Australian woman, Elizabeth. I have been hanging with them and their kids, Alexandra and Dave. We've had a great time just hanging out at a great beach town called Noosa Heads, about 2 hours north of Brisbane. Dave and I go surfing almost every day. The water is so warm. Australian beach culture is the best. I spent a week here just after S. Africa and now the last weeks of December.

We spent Christmas with the Morris clan, about 25 people, and had a great cold dinner. All the same stuff we have in the U.S. ( ham, turkey, etc. ), but cold . . . because it is hot!!! here. We've been hanging with the Morris's all week, meeting for drinks and going out. We also spent X-Mas going to the beach before and after dinner. I've seen a lot of Koalas as well. Noosa sits next to a headlands that is a national park and a Koala sanctuary. Each time I walk to the beach I look in the gum trees. I've spotted a few and other times I just spot the people standing there looking up into a tree.

In between stays at Noosa I spent 11 days at a great surf/hippie/backpackers town called Byron Bay. I stayed at a youth hostel and simply surfed every chance I got. The waves were not great, but it was so great to get out in the water every day, sometimes 3 times a day. Beautiful water and coastline there. Lot's of girls surf there and they surf in bikinis. That might sound shallow, but hey, it was part of Byron's charm, I have to admit.

Have a great New Year. I'm off to New Zealand on the 1st . . at 4 am.