Jacaranda (thirty years ago today)

I once associated the bloom of jacaranda trees with the coming of exams for university students. On the onset of Spring, purple Jacaranda flowers appear on the normally leafy green trees and cover the lawns of the Great Court of the University of Queensland.



But now I associate Jacaranda trees with the arrival of the Bui family in Australia by way of South Vietnam - thirty years ago, today. My parents every Spring speak of driving down Coronation Drive for the first time and marvelling at the purple that covered the trees along the riverbank.



I often think about how different my life would be if my family did not arrive as refugees after the war. We're lucky to have carved out the life we have right now. It makes you want to make the most of what you have for all the risks that your family have taken for you to be here.



All photos taken around the Bui family household.

Whitsundays/1770 Road Trip

On the day after boxing day the family went for a big drive up the Queensland coast for the first time. This was the first time we've ever gone up north despite living here for all of my life!





The drive was filled with some great scenery - cow-filled farmland, lush fruit-land and heaps of little beachside towns.



The Town of 1770 lookout.



Gray's Bay, Bowen



We visited Bowen - which has set itself as the place where Nicole and Hugh spent 6 weeks filming 'Australia' as well as being the mango capital of the country. It's a really lovely place though, and I think if I ever want to spend a week or so at a few quiet beaches I would be heading back here.



We also got to spend some time at the cleanest and loveliest beach I've ever been to - Whitehaven Beach located in the Whitsunday Islands. The sand felt so perfect under foot and the beach just felt pretty and untouched.

All in all a really great time, and despite the drive being 1200km each way, I wouldn't have it any other way.

oh...Happy New Year everyone!