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(last updated October 2006)

We live on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. We are about 1 hour north of Brisbane.  With a population of about 1.6 Million, Brisbane is the 3^rd largest city in Australia (there are only 5 real cities). Our village of Buderim is just a “wide spot in the road” with a population of about 15,000. If you superimposed the continent of Australia over the 48 United States, you would find Oz is about 94% the same size as USA. Brisbane would lie about where South Carolina is (but at a latitude much closer to the equator, of course). The weather is subtropical, similar to Miami or San Diego. We have no heater or air conditioner in our house and we really don't need them. Unlike Florida, we never get hurricanes. The seasons are “upside down” compared to Northern Hemisphere—when USA or Europe has summer, we have winter and visa versa. Typical day-time high in winter is about 65-75° F (about 19-24° C) and lows are 50-65° F (16-19° C). In summer, we may get a few days in the 90’s (mid 30’s C) but not often. Evenings in summers range from 65-75° F (19-24° C).

We live about 5-10 minutes from Mooloolaba beach. The Mooloolah River creates a major fishing port. The largest commercial tuna and sword fishing fleet in Australia harbours here. Most are my customers from the Gloweez business. Maroochydore is about 10 minutes away. The Glass House Mountains are 10-15 miles inland. They were named by Captain Cook (famous British sea captain). Did you know that the infamous Captain Bligh (famous for Mutiny on the Bounty) was Cook’s lieutenant? Bligh finished up his career as one of the early governors of Australia?

We think anyone would like it here. It is very quiet, laid-back, and clean. I am not much of a beach person, but the beaches are world class so if you are, you will love our beaches. I love trees. This place is dense with beautiful sub-tropical rainforest and all the wildlife that rainforests sustain. Of course Australia is famous for its unusual animals. In our front yard we often watch wild kangaroos grazing (like watching small, funny-looking deer) and we also have water dragons (huge lizards) and many types of colourful parrots and other birds. It is a paradise--especially the trees and flowers. Click here to see photos of our house and yard (with kangaroos).

Here are some photos of the local area. They are all taken within a few minutes of our house: sunshine-coast/views/sc016; sunshine-coast/views/sc015; sunshine-coast/views/sc011; The Sunshine Coast is also the home of Steve Irwin the internationally famous Crocodile Hunter who recently died in a freak accident with a sting ray. (See the Croc Hunter website: www.crocodilehunter.com.au). Here is another link to some Sunshine Coast photos: www.australianexplorer.com/sunshine_coast.

Our land is about 1.5 acres (0.56 hectares) and we are surrounded by beautiful subtropical rain forest. The children walk less than 1 km (half mile) to a very fine private school. Click on any of the following names to jump to that child's personal page: Jessika (age 18 in March 2007) plays piano and sings in the choir. She will graduate in November 2006. Stephanie (will be 15 in Dec 2006) plays piano and cello. Richard (age 11 in September 2006) plays cello in the orchestra. He also plays guitar and drums. All are doing well in school and we all love our new life in Australia. Yuko teaches at the local national university (Sunshine Coast University) and Bil is working on a Master’s Degree in Accounting. The university is only a few minutes from our house.

We don’t expect to move again for at least 10 years or more. We are very lucky to live in such a nice place.