Guess who's back from Australia?

OK, I was not only in Australia, as we stopped for a day in Singapore when we were coming back. And I had a week long holiday in Kokkola, too. I didn't bother reading Message Forum while in Australia or Kokkola, so it's been a month since the last time I was here.

And a lot of things seems to have happened. The last message I had read was on page eleven! I can't believe it! I think I won't have time to read all these messages.

A lot of things happened to me, also. The things that I remember best are:

1) Our taxi trip from Singapore airport to our hotel. The driver seemed to be on drugs or something. He was shaking and sweating all the time. And he drove really fast. The taxis in Singapore seem to have a beeper that makes noise when you are speeding. This driver's beeper only stopped beeping on one occasion: we hit the traffic lights. The light changed to yellow, and the poor guy floored the brake pedal. The road was very slippery due to rain, and naturally, the car did not stop but started sliding. We hit a traffic lights pole, which fell down. The driver just backed a bit and continued to our hotel.

2) Christmas in Abergowrie, near Ingham, in northern Queensland. Our hosts, the Finnish family of Kangas, were very kind and it was a very happy event for us all. Mr. Hannu Kangas moved from Finland to Australia with his parents as a little kid, some decades ago. We had a dinner with Finnish, Australian and Italian food at Christmas Eve and early the next morning we drove some 50 km to church in Ingham.

3) New Year's Eve in Brisbane. I have never seen that many people in one place (except in TV). And the fireworks. Augh. I still don't know if it was a dream. It was so good. The city of Brisbane is, also, very beautiful.

4) The lookout in Mt. Isa. There's that place on a hill in Mt. Isa where you can see the whole town. It's not big, but it's very beautiful when all the lights are on, especially with the lights of the Mine forming the background.

Juho