Our time in Singapore was short.  We spent 2 nights at a friend of a friend's place before flying to Darwin, Australia.  The city/country of Singapore is clean thanks to the strict rules followed by most citizens.  Karen was reminded, while eating her sandwich, by a policeman in the train station that she wasn't allowed to eat there...  The weather is supposed to be the same all year round - warm and humid, overcast skies with daily short showers and of course periods of sunshine.  The seasons are divided into "wet" and "dry".  

 

We flew to Darwin late in the evening on May 14th.  The customs regulations were very strict so we did not bring any food items with us.  They had to check our tent because of the earth still remaining on the tent poles.  In Darwin the weather was very warm and sunny so we were lucky to have been here in the late "fall".  The sun shines all year round in this part of Australia.  People are very friendly here and usually very willing to help out.  

 

We stayed with a Bahá'í friend for a few days where we were able to start Ruhi Book 6.  She lived very close to the ocean which we visited one evening at sunset.  After hearing stories of crocodiles and reading warnings informing us that we were approaching the end of the jelly fish danger period, we were not to keen on doing any swimming.  

 

From Darwin we hitchhiked to Brisbane in 3 1/2 days, that was about 3500 km!!  Rides were very slow at the start, but we were lucky enough to find someone driving to Brisbane early on and they were willing to take us with them.  During one of these nights we paid for a camping site (with hot water, shower and gas stove cooking facilities), the other two nights we camped out in the bush.  Regarding kangaroos... unfortunately we saw more dead ones on the roads than live ones.  They come near the roads in the evenings ready to jump across in front of traffic, causing a threat not only to their life, but also to the life of the driver in the vehicle!  Also spotted along the way were a couple of snakes, emus and peacocks.  

 

We made it to Brisbane in the late afternoon and managed to find a place to camp for the night.  The next day we were fortunate enough to have met Christine at the Bahá'í Center of Learning of Brisbane who offered to host us during our stay in the area.  We also met with Fereshteh who was to be our tutor for helping us to work on finishing Ruhi Book 6 in her spare moments throughout the day.  We would like to thank you both for all of your generosity and hospitality!  Thank you also to the all the other people who we met throughout the week for all of your help and warmth.

 

Brisbane is a big Australian city, relatively clean, hilly and sunny!  We borrowed a couple of bikes from friends so we were able to get around the city mostly by bike and foot.  Fortunately the hills in the area were forcing us to get some great exercise. The weather was perfect... equivalent to an Indian summer in Canada!  When it rained, it was mostly during the evenings.  Some of the houses we visited are not sealed allowing a steady supply of fresh air in at all times of the year.  June 1st was the first day of their winter.    

 

On the 2nd of June, guess where we left to? Hé hé!