Dear Yuan,

Thank you so much for the T-shirt that you organised for me and your wonderful speech at my farewell dinner. You will see how we are thriving in the letter I have copied below for you. 

Have a great year (Chinese and western versions!).  Liz 

February 2011

Dear friends and family,

Thanks to everyone who was worried about our safety during cyclone Yasi. Our daughter, Nicole and Joel made sure that we were the best-sheltered ‘first-timers’ in Cairns. The town was lucky - masses of stripped palm fronds, fallen trees and torrential thunder at the tail end. Our street flowed like a river next day. I joined the neighbours at a street party taking photos. No structural damage, just green swimming pools and the sound of the neighbours’ generators over three days without power

We came to Cairns for Christmas-New Year and to get the house better prepared for retirement. The December farewell events in Melbourne by VU Council and staff were amazing events and it has been something of a revelation to me (Liz) to realise how much they have helped to ease the transition. Thanks so much to all of you in Melbourne who made this happen!

We have now embarked on our new life-after-work.  The house and garden at Yorkeys Knob have been neglected so we have been busy, busy being gardeners and house renovators. The tropical undergrowth is been tidied up and the spiders and cane toads terrorised. The grass grows overnight. The bathroom needs a makeover etc etc. Our household goods from Melbourne arrived only a few days before Yasi. They were delayed in Brisbane by the massive floods in the southeast of Queensland. We are still unpacking boxes and sorting what to store. On evenings, we eat by the pool, listening to the kookaburras sing, the cockatoos feasting on palmnuts and bats on their evening sky run.

We have had a fantastic time. Out on the reef over the first weeks, sometimes in our own boat and sometimes on the tourist boats. It can be blue-skyed, searing heat on a placid sea on the reef as we fish - while the coastal ranges are being drenched. We are now qualified open ocean scuba divers having done 7-8 dives wandering among the fish, coral, turtles, barracuda and reef sharks. 

We are both fitter and trimmer. The outdoor life was interrupted a bit when Frank had another bout of labyrinthitis (inner ear virus) - severe vertigo, loss of balance and uncontrollable vomiting. An ambulance ride and 6 hours in emergency and he was back out. He has recovered really quickly.

We leave for NZ from February 16 with plans to walk the Milford track and then on to the USA and Canada to see the Grand Canyon and Ciaran graduate with a Ph.D in Engineering in water hydrology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. He hopes to get an academic job in the US. A big moment for all of us. We will be back in Cairns for the dry season six months in about May-June. Look forward to hearing from you.

Love and best wishes, Liz and Frank