Happy New Year!

The weather was unusually hot on New Year's Eve. The high was 40C, or 105F. And we don't have air conditioning in our rental house. We had an appointment to view an apartment a little after noon. The trains and buses were air conditioned on the way there and back. But then what to do to get out of the heat? Maybe beach? Beach would be in the middle of the heat, with no escape possible. Maybe shopping? Blah. We decided just to go back to our rental house, even without air con (that's how they shorten it here). We closed all the blinds and pointed the three fans at ourselves and baked in the heat watching TV. Australian news. Year in review. When the temperature began to decline ever so slightly around 6:30pm, we had had enough. We left all the windows open, and caught the bus to the train to the city center.

Family fireworks were scheduled to go off at 9:30pm. Before then, there were carnival games, live music, and a movie in the park. We found a place under a eucalyptus tree to watch the movie, with relatively tree-free views in the direction we guessed the fireworks would be. In the shade, the weather was actually very pleasant by the time we arrived.

As dusk fell, the rainbow lorikeets began to fly home. One went in and out of a hole in the tree just above us.

We also saw some pairs of cockatoos flying in the distance. And then as the sky began to darken, large groups of seagull-sized fruit bats flew across the sky just overhead, off to find food for the night.

The fireworks started promptly at 9:30, and we did have a nice view. But photos of fireworks don't work on my phone. You know what they looked like, though. Imagine as well some background music consisting of a mix of kookaburra calls and a didgeridoo, at least at the beginning. It was pretty awesome.

We contemplated briefly staying for the midnight fireworks, but it wasn't clear whether or not we could get home, since our air-conditioner-free rental lies out in the depths of the suburbs where the buses stop before 11pm, and a night bus only comes once an hour. So we braved the masses of families returning home by train after the family fireworks. Here is a picture of the huge groups trying to access the trains.

And here is a photo I took on the train. Standing room only. And these were the people who were not staying for midnight.

At midnight, we could hear the fireworks from our rental house. We watched them on TV. Wished everyone a happy new year, and went to bed.

Awoke to pleasant 25C, 77F temperatures for New Year's Day.

We rested and slept all morning. And then for fun in the afternoon, we went to the beach.

It took an hour to get there by bus, because we're out in suburb wasteland and everything is running on holiday schedule. But still, just an hour by bus? Awesome. And we get to live in this city.

The water was nice, until Jonathan scraped his side a little too hard on the sand while body surfing. The wind coming off the bay was a little too cold. So we stayed just over an hour, and then caught the buses back. Showered. Ate dinner. Getting ready for bed now.

In all, a very nice New Year's Eve, New Year's Day combo.

Before we close this post, I'd like to list some resolutions for the new year. I learned many years ago that the best kinds of resolutions are those you already know you are guaranteed to follow. So here goes.

1. (Social) I will make new friends. Maybe I will make new friends where I live, or maybe where I work, or maybe where my son goes to school. Since I'm starting life over in a whole new geographic location, I'm sure to make new friends somewhere.
2. (Physical) I will exercise either by walking or biking to work, depending on where we end up living. Walking to the train station then riding to work from there also counts.
3. (Mental) I will write and publish research papers for work. I will learn all about the Australian higher education system for fun and entertainment.
4. (Emotional) I will cry sometimes. But not too much because it will give me a headache.
5. (Spiritual) I will go to church, and pray for help with resolutions 1 and 3. Mostly 3. Also 4 when 3 isn't going well.

Those should be enough resolutions to keep me going another year.

Best wishes to you, too, for 2016!