Where are they actually

In the truest sense: On the other side of the world

4 months ago we arrived in Australia after a 2-day flight and several layovers at various airports. To be more precise, we arrived in Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. And when we came out of the airport, Shell was already waiting for us. But it wasn't just Shell, there was also a wall of heat that almost knocked us off our feet. And as if that wasn't enough of a challenge for the start of our adventure, the airline had to surprise us by making our luggage disappear (or at least not arrive in Brisbane). What can you do. Too tired to get upset, we just slouched over to the information desk and reported our missing luggage. Thankfully, we are old pros in the travel business. So, the first stop in Australia was at K-Mart (a kind of Australian C&A) where we bought ourselves a small replacement wardrobe.

As the day had just begun here in Australia, Shell immediately took us to one of the many amazing beaches along the Sunshine Coast. Wow wow wow...what can we say...as if we have an Australian travel brochure right in front of our eyes. Sun, beach, fit, bronzed surfer bodies and us in the middle of it all. The noble European winter paleness of our skin immediately gave us away as tourists. Honestly, Australians themselves are very cautious when it comes to sun exposure. Most people wear long-sleeved swim shirts and hats when they are at the beach. In fact, many Australians we met surf even into old age and are active on the beach.

But because we were expected at the Chenrezig Institute, we made our way there from here. After we were greeted, we were shown where we will be living for the next while and we moved into our room in the Family Center.

....Interruption of a few weeks....

So much more has happened since then, and we are now in the midst of preparations for a big event here at the Chenrezig Institute. The Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the FPMT organization, is coming to visit for a week and there's still so much to prepare.

We have really immersed ourselves in the daily life of the center and time is flying by. Perhaps at this point, just this much: we are enjoying all the stress and excitement and having fun being able to participate in such great things. We are learning so much on so many different levels. We will probably need a few weeks after we leave here to sort it all out.

Now we mainly wanted to make an entry in our travel blog so that you know where we actually are and what beautiful things we are doing here.

Sending you all lots of love and hugs!

Until next time,

Julchen and Danielo