Sparkling Adventures

While we’re been waiting for someone to buy our house, we’ve discovered that we have a large amount of time on our hands with little to do. Given that we plan to move to a remote rural area, we decided to use some of our free days to explore this metropolis while we’re still here.

Today, our first stop was the Logan Art Gallery. Seriously underwhelming, it only had two exhibition main rooms, and we visited on a day when one of those rooms was closed because the staff were setting up a new exhibit. So apart from a few mythology-themed paintings hanging around the main foyer and a cryptic painting called Three Well-known Australians, the only artwork to admire was by Robyn Olsen. Her landscape paintings really needed a bigger space to do them justice, because when you got up close to the canvas, you lost perspective.

Brioni is trying on a pair of paper shoes. The shoes were made by other children in a workshop hosted by the art gallery.

I encouraged the girls to look around the gallery, but there wasn't much there. The scarcity of exhibits was disappointing. Certainly the children's space was not used efficiently, and it looked as if it was set up more for workshops rather than showcasing art that would speak to a child.

After the fizzer of a gallery, we decided to walk around a bit and see if there was anything else worth investigating.

Outside the gallery, a baobab tree is constructed from recycled tractor seats and other farm implements.

Aisha liked this little frog perched on the side of the baobab tree sculpture.

One of the buildings was covered with great panels of mirrored glass. If you put your nose up the glass, apparently you could see into the offices. (I was too embarrassed to try it!)

Here I am, reflected in the glass panes. To get around, we used the stroller with the little Strolli Rider attached. Calista rode on the rider most of the time, but occasionally the older girls got a turn.

This sphere was made of ballot boxes and entitled "Democracy".

We stopped to talk to some people outside a building. There were groups of Africans, and we casually greeted some when walking by and easily got talking.

We met Anwar and Namad as they waited outside the PCYC for their English class to begin. Both are from Sudan. Anwar has been in the country for one month, and Namad has been here six months.

We visited a nearby nature reserve for a picnic lunch, and also met some interesting people there.

After our picnic lunch, we talked to this crazy old man. He's been coming to the local park and feeding the birds for about three years. The birds even recognise his car and peck on the windows when he comes within their territory.

To end our outing, we stopped off at Ikea for some lunch, and the older girls had a play in Smaland. Here we met a talkative Kiwi named Mike who told us his life story in about twenty minutes. It was quite a random introduction — I had simply asked him about his T-shirt which read “Get real banana peel”.

It’s exciting to see that by going out of our comfort zone, we can easily start conversations with strangers. Many people are happy to talk, and as we continue to do this, we pray Father will use us to introduce Him to them.