I’ve got an Aussie break coming up – leaving on Friday to fly to Sydney, then Canberra, and then a road trip down to Jindabyne, the service town for the snowy mountains of Australia. Yes, you read that right. There ARE snowy mountains in Australia. I can’t wait.

Most importantly, this is the first time I have ever spent any length of time with Aussie girl cousin, since we used to visit family in our childhood. Then, they lived here in New Zealand, and we saw a bit of them as the photos below show:

Since then, life has taken us on very different paths, and she has lived with her husband near Brisbane, Australia for decades. There was a brief visit in the late 80s, overnight, but nothing since until various family funerals brought us together again. It was at the last one that we considered how much we got on, and she generously offered to have my sister and I come visit. Helen has been already and now it is my turn. Yip yip. This was us in February, walking along Piha beach after Mum’s funeral:

And so – expect to see some photos of snow, and mountains, and the red dirt of Australia, in the coming week or two. I’ll blog from there, and take y’all along for the ride, as much as data and wifi allow.

Why ‘Cousin Catch Up Part I’? Because in October, there will be an even bigger Cousin Girlie Catch Up, when all four of the girl cousins in this Jeffries photo meet up for over a week in Pennsylvania, and then the jaws will really flap. THAT will be a first for us too.