The first day of winter!

We woke this morning to the news that the young whale calf - named Dhadhum (young one) by the Kombumerri aboriginal elders - had been buried in the presence of tribe members on South Stradbroke Island. The elders had requested that Queensland Parks and Wildlife take the whale to the island for a traditional ceremony - as the Kombumerri people are the traditional hunters and gatherers in this area, they said they have cultural obligations to treat the whale with respect as their name meant "salt water people". In my books, a fitting and special farewell to this gentle youngster. June 1, also marks the official start of winter in Oz, and on the Gold Coast the commencement of the whale watching season as they migrate north. We are thinking we may just go across to Sea World tomorrow if time allows and the weather is good. It will make a great change from this househunting caper. We leave the Gold Coast this Friday morning and go up to the Glass House Mountains for a few days - everything is booked out here as it is a long weekend - Queen's Birthday. Will leave my car at Auntie Beryl's for a few days, she has 2 car spaces at her Apartment. Today after meeting with our lawyer and real estate agent, we celebrated the start of winter with a delightful pasta lunch at a sidewalk cafe in Broadbeach - excellent food and service on a glorious Queensland winter's day. Followed up by some supermarket shopping at the Oasis mall - Frank was enthralled with this life size bronze statue of the Man from Snowy River (one of our favourite OZ movies) in the mall.