Where has the time gone???

I do sooooo apologize for the fact that I have not written in over 3 months. Time has a way of getting away from me sometimes but I think most people are in the same boat that I am in. I have been very busy running Sarah to school which takes 2 hours out of my day now that we have moved and silly me did not want to switch schools in the middle of the year. Maybe I should have re-thunk that if had to do it over but the school year is almost over now so I suppose it is petrol under the bridge.

Other things that have been going on is my baby Rose is walking now. That is taking lots of my time too because I have to watch her closer than ever and make sure she is not getting into trouble. She loves going outside with her older sisters and that means that I have to follow her and make sure she does not muck around with bugs like redbacks, which we seem to have all over the yard even with spraying.

We survived the spring with very little problem with hayfever too. Few sniffles but that is normal for spring in our home.

We also went to the Red Bull Air Race this past weekend which was held her in beautiful Perth and what a great show that was. We have been watching it on tv for the past 3 years and always loved seeing the Perth race. I will tell you it is much better in person. We thought we may not be able to make it though after we had looked forward to it for 2 years. Saturday we got up, ate our brekkie, packed up the car. lunch, drinks, kids, got in the car and realized that we had locked the keys in the house. Well, I did. I thought that Rob had the keys and he only had my car keys and not the house key. ***EXPLETIVE Here***. So called a locksmith and found one that was fairly cheap for an after hours call. $110. But decided to scrap the race for Saturday because it was well after 12 when we got in the house.

Then Sunday we got up and Sarah was complaining of a bad tummy ache and had a mild fever. NOOOOOOO!!!! By 10 am though she was running around playing like nobodies business. So retook her temp and back to normal. Decided we should try it at least but thought that there would be no way we would probably find a good place to park. Packed everything up again in half the time after our dry run the day before, got to CBD by noon. found a place to park about 6 blocks away from the river shoreline where the race was, got there, set up our little spot under a tree and watched a wild show. And for those who like the race and have followed it at all, Hannes Arche won the championship by 1 point but came in third at the race. Now Sarah wants to be pilot. I figure she will change her mind many times before she is 25 but that is the fun part of being a kid.

Also, we are quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary here in Perth and I have not regretted being here at all. I have a few blue days where I miss people at home and certain comfort items like Butterfingers and Tacos but all in all, life here is better. And the kids love it. I think that Sarah is adjusting although she does mention certain items of hers that we had to give away from time to time. That will lessen as time passes and she builds a collection here.

Well, need to run and make sure kids are ok outside. Will write soon, Cheers mi amigos!

My baby is 1

Well, been awhile again since I last posted. Just seems that I have so little time to sit and write like I would like to. Few new things going on around here though so thought I would update a few.

As you know, we have moved to a new home in the northern suburbs of Perth. Little place called Sinagra that is so new that when you tell people they look at you sideways. I love it here. Very close to the bush national forest. We get a beautiful view of the sunrise over our back fence facing the hills and no houses behind us so no obstructed views. I know I keep promising pics but will put some us sometime. The kids love it up here too. They seem to have a new lease on life with all the space in the house and the backyard. We are still renting but closer to buying each passing day.

Rob has a new hobbie, brewing beer. AS anyone that lives in WA will attest, the cost of beer is out of this world, being around $15for a 6 pack of the cheap brew so there are lots of home brewers out there. We just bottled our first lot of a summer beer and it has to rest for a good month til we can break it open but taste very good at the early stage. We have a large vat on the counter of our version of Guiness too that will be bottled in the next few days too. Can't wait to try that one as that is me favorite beer.

My baby girl is no longer a baby anymore. She had her 1st birthday on the 7th and had a blast. Since we were moving we held off on partying until the past weekend and she had a blast. Got right into the present opening and cake eating like a champ. She is still only crawling but has finally began to pull herself up on the furniture. I am kind of dreading her walking but this is inevitable. The latest thing with the others is that Zoe has a very minor case of chicken pox. She only had one vaccine so her immunity was very little and has little pox on the inside of her leg. Now we will see if buby gets them and worst of all, me as I have never had them as I know of. *fingers crossed*

Well, loyal readers, off to make pizza for dinner. The pic of the roos was taken on a evening ride down the back 40. Not really, but it was taken about 5 KM from our house at dusk as we were out riding and enjoying the view on a dirt road. There were abotu 10 of them just crazing and chilling but those 2 posed for us.

Love ya, mean it ...

Just some randon photos

Photobucket Album

Just passing the time

I feel like I am getting yet another cold. This will be my third one this season. I have chills and muscle aches. I am so over this winter.
To make matters worse, I have a 5 year old that is home on winter break that wants to go and do all the time. I feel very guilty that I do not feel like going places with her. I will try and make it up to her another day though. But not today.
To pass the time while I feel bad, I have started knitting again thanks to a girlfriend of mine here. I have knitted 4 scarves and a shawl. Now my 5 year old wants a beanie to wear on the cold days. I will get started on that today I think seeing as how I really don't feel like going out. Maybe she will be happy seeing me making something for her.
That is all I have to say today. *cough*

AQWA

We took the kids yesterday to the Aquarium of Western Australia. What a nice place. I love going to aquariums and have been to quite a few in the states including The Baltimore Aquarium and Chattanooga. This one is small but they have this one tank that is the tunnel tank. I could have stayed in this tank for hours. We actually road the conveyor belt around it 4 times and was there during feeding time. it is a glass tunnel that goes through the tank and there are sharks, stingrays and sea turtles swimming all around you. The kids loved this, including Rose who was fascinated with all the moving creatures. There is a nice little touch tank too for the kids to get soaked in so that would be a nice thing to play at on a warm day.

I would recommend going but it is a bit pricey if you are taking a tribe like us.

Ass for gas

You know that gas is high when brothels start handing out gas vouchers.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Nevada brothel is trying to stimulate business by offering free petrol.
Clients of the Shady Lady Ranch will get a $50 (25 pound) petrol voucher if they fork out $300 (152 pounds) -- worth about one hour's worth of services -- at the brothel in Beatty, Nevada, 130 miles (209 km) northwest of Las Vegas.
Owner James Davis said he already has had to order another $1,000 set of petrol vouchers because the first $1,000 were spent in one week.
"It's rocking along. We're doing quite well. June and July historically are not big months," said Davis, who is co-owner of the brothel along with his wife Bobbi, in a telephone interview.
The $50 rebate would roughly cover the cost of a round trip drive from Las Vegas to the ranch.
Davis said business at the ranch, which has been operating for 16 years, generally slows in the early summer. He said the brothel regularly offers specials to lure clients and his wife came up with the petrol vouchers for this month.
U.S. petrol prices hit a record $4.08 a gallon last week, up 38 percent from a year ago.
Brothels, illegal in most U.S. states, are legal in parts of Nevada..
(Reporting by Matthew Robinson, editing by Michelle Nichols and Philip Barbara)

What next, free beer with gas???

A brief intermission

Today it is going to be a nice warm day here in Perth, just a brief glimpse of the spring that is months away but I am going to take advantage of what warmth that mother nature gives us. We are going to go to the park and play and watch birds and eat. As I sit here plan our outing though, what I want to wear is probably not the best. I wanted to wear my thongs (aka flip flops) but have not had a pedicure in at least a month so the remnants of the red polish on my toes look like scabs and anyone with toddlers knows that as soon as you pull out the nail polish, they come to investigate and poke and get polish everywhere. My cropped black pants are also out because my poor legs have not been mowed in at least a week. So that is out too. Or I could say who cares and just go Au natural and make no excuses. Probably not.
Well, lunch beckons me to come and make it. Stay tuned for more reports.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Sorry loyal readers it has been a while since my last post. I have been fighting one type of pestulance after another it seems over the past few months. Maybe it is because I now have a child in public school or maybe because along with my new and exotic country also comes new and exotic viruses to attack my poor body. In the past month I have had 2 respiratory viruses, a sinusits, a bronchitis and about 3 bouts of digestive disorders which I will not go into details but I am sure you get the picture. I never thought that so much sickness could be in one house in such a short period of time but we have all had fevers for days and coughing still goes on every night.
On an up note, we have had a very productive month in getting established here. The girls have matching beds thanks to Ikea that they love. Bright red with a dog and a cat on it. Zoe has an ocean theme quilt and sheets, Sarah has zoo animals or Noggin animals as she calls them because they look like cartoon animals on Noggin.
We have found a new custom that a is here in Australia too. Christmas in July. It is not just a saying here. It is for real. People have on their fur coats, scarves, mittens, hats and have Christmas parties. Even the shops and retail outlets get into it of course and have toys stacked to the rafters. So we have had an early visit from Santa/Dad here at the Rat house. And what did he bring? Why many things. For the girls there is a ride on Thomas the Train, a huge Dora dollhouse with 50 accessories for me to step on in the middle of the night and a leapfrog learning play center for the baby. For Mr and Mrs Clause, a Rancilio espresso machine and coffee grinder/doser. We have been using a french press or plunger as they say here for the entire time here. This has been hard to do after having a Francis Francis in the states but now we can have the real deal again. So I can have my afternoon Mama crack again.
Best of all, MAMA GOT A CAR!!! Yes, I have now got a passion red 2007 Holden Commodore. For those in the states, google it. Those here in Australia, you know what it is. I love it and it is big enough to carry 2 car seats and a booster seat. it is perfect for me and easier to park than an suv. Pictures will come as soon as I take them but with the rain and the sickness, I have not had a chance to take any. So just use your imagination and see me blur past you in a red car.
I am being chased off the computer now by a pushy 2 year old that wants to watch Teletubbies so til next time, take care.

What you need

We have been here in this beautiful country for 6 months now and so much has changed in our lives that I want to take a minute to talk about.
When we left our home in the US, we sold all of the things that we had horded over the past 40 years of our lives. I had fallen into the misconception as many people do that these were things that we "needed" to survive. We sold our big screen plasma tv, oak antique bedroom suite, children's bedroom furniture, dishes, appliances, clothes, clothes and more clothes. We had a membership to the many price clubs so we could "save" money buying in bulk. We had 4 trash cans that we filled up twice over a week with 3 small children and 2 pets. We left our country with 9 suitcases. 9 suitcases and that was all.
In these suitcases were the things that we knew we could not replace here. Pictures of family and friends left behind. Small momentos from our past that little meaning to anyone but us. A suitcase full of christmas ornaments that we had collected and wanted to keep to hand down and adorn our tree here in the new country. 2 Lionel trains again that would be under our christmas tree as they had been when we were kids ourselves. 1 suitcase of toys that the girls picked out themselves. And the rest were clothes and a computer.
Since we have been here I am surprised at what little bit we have replaced. We have a small 10 inch t.v. that a friend gave us so that we can watch the 5 channels that you get free here in Australia. A sofa and 2 chairs that the same friend gave us so that we could have a place to plant our rumps to watch the beautiful t.v. A dining room table that has entertained many friends. This we picked up used from the Quokka, a local trading paper. A few toys that we bought at yardsales and were given to the kids as presents. A bed for all. Dishes. A Kenwood mixer so that I can make my cakes and decorate them the way that I love to do. 2 space heaters and a Webber kettle grill that we picked up off the curb and have made the best smoked ribs I have had in monthes. Our rubbish has gone from 4+ cans a week to 1 bin because we waste so little. Mainly because the cost of food is higher and we do not have the cost clubs that was supposed to be saving us money.
We have no video games. We have no dvd player. We have no cable. We have no home phone. And we are doing better for this. We were so wastefull. The first few months were rough and even our oldest daughter will say occasionally that she misses her toys but then I remind her that if we were back in the US, she would not have a park outside her door that she could play on. She would not have been able to play in the ocean. She would not have seen the colorful sunsets that we have here and she would not be able to pet kangaroos at the parks. Then she is happy and does not miss her old things as much.
There are days that I do cry still over the lost items but not as often as it was. I know that I will have a car again one day (yes, I still do not have a car but that is ok.) I do not buy as much because the shops close early so you can't go shopping out of boredom. And my nails and hair look better than they have in years because I am eating so much healthier foods.
What we need to survive is so little. What we want is usually a lot more than what we need. I don't think we will go back to the way we were.
6 months and loving it.

More on the weather

I know, I talk a lot about the weather here but weather is something that I have always been fascinated with. I use to stay glued to the t.v. as a child and watch the weather when a snow storm was coming. Usually because I wanted to get out of school but still. Then when the Weather Channel came along, I was hooked. I would watch any storm, anytime. And I loved Jim Cantorie. So when I got here, I was in for a rude wake up call. The weather here is, well, a bit boring. Even the weather forcasts are boring. The weather is described as "Fine", "Showers" ( which may be typhoons but called "showers", and once I saw it described as "uncomfortable" because the heat was to be 44C that day (114F). I know, I need to stop whinging about it and get use to the fact that there really is NO weather here on the west coast but I ran across this on you tube( God bless you tube) and nearly wet myself laughing. If the weather forcast was really done like this, I think everyone would love it.
*Warning* The "F" bomb is dropped many times in this clip but it is funny. All my Ozzie readers will get a laugh I am sure.
Cheers!

So this is how the other half lives?

No, not the rich. Just people in the southern hemisphere. It is getting closer to winter here in Oz and it is really pretty surreal for me. First, living in a very arid climate, winter is the rainy season so it is strange for me to see things come alive and bloom in the winter time. Also it is really not that cold. At night it gets down to 6 C/42 F. That is not too bad when you have heat but since I live in the land of denial ("It does not get cold here"), very few houses have heat. Luckily we have a lovely fireplace so we can add our fair share of pollution to the air. And we do every night. It is also odd to me to plant a garden in the winter time and have it produce vegetables.
The days have gotten to be very short with the sun coming up at 7ish and setting at 5:30. Pretty early. If I want my clothes to dry now I had better have them on the line by 9 am or it probably won't be happening today. These short days do very little to help people with seasonal depression. And it is not even technically winter yet.
Well, that is all I have to say for today.
Rambling thought~ Rose now has 6 teeth! In 2 weeks! Wow. Go Rose!

What's going on

It has been a busy few weeks since I wrote last. We are in fall, which is still odd for me being it is April and had my daughter's first birthday party here in Oz. She was 5 on the 24th and funny thing was the weather was exactly the same as it is in April in Va. Sunny then showers and cooler at night. Preparing for the birthday party was a helluva lot harder here though than it was in VA. For starters, we only had Saturdays and Thursday nights to shop for all the supplies for the party. That is the trading hours here, Mon thru Friday 8-5 except Thursday when stores are open til 8 and Saturday 8-5. What a JOKE! I think we drove more on Saturday than we have the whole time here because you can not go to just one store and buy all you need. No, no. That would be too easy. So we ran from one shop on one side of town and worked our way to the other end of town. In 9 hours we made 7 stops in about as many suburbs. we finished our grand shopping day at 4:58pm. The only real rant I have tho is we drove about 15 km to go to the Toys R Us and as soon as I walked in the door to run in and grab the toy I wanted to get for Sarah, the power went OUT! We left and planned on running to the mall next to it and the lights were out in the WHOLE DAMN AREA! So we had to fight all this traffic with no stoplights and head all the way back down south to hit our area and try and find some substitutes to her birthday present.

She had a great birthday and played with many of friends. And lucky for me the birthday cake I made with very few tools turned out a success. I am just glad that we have a few months to recover from the birthday party til the next one in August. This one will be simpler and hopefully I will have a car by then so that I can run errands during the week.

Tomorrow Sarah ends her long 2 week "fall" break and heads back to school. And I survived!!!

Why I never became a journalist

Journalism is not a glamours job. This is why I never wanted to be a journalist. But it sure makes for a good laugh. Enjoy.

Oh Lord won't you buy me ...

I am having a very whingie day today. Actually for the past few weeks I have been feeling blue. I am not really homesick but just feel sad. I can not quiet put my finger on the feeling I have. It is this empty dark feeling in my heart. I try and keep a smile on my face for everyone around me but it can be hard somedays to do that.
We have been here for almost 5 months and still we are setting up house. I am having some serious sticker shock at the price of getting all the little things in our house that I took for granted in the past. Little things that I miss like a cheese grater, cookie sheets, cake pans (and I had lots of cake pans), my KA mixer, skillets of various sizes, a cd player and radio, etc. The thing I miss the most is a car though. I have been a very independant and mobile person since I was 16. I have driven thousands of miles by meyself and never thought twice about it. Now, it is a challenge to go anywhere. Not having a car here in Perth is like missing your leg. And also using city transit with 3 kids under 5 is nearly impossible. I am sure it IS possible but I have not been brave enough to attempt it. Getting a double stroller on a bus is got to be a feat in itself. So now that Sarah is on her fall/spring break, we have very little to do except sit here at home and I try to think of crafts to entertain her and her sisters for t he next two weeks. This pisses me off like you would not believe! It pisses me off that I can not go to the library or to the craft store with them. It pisses me off that we can't go to the beach on the pretty days. It pisses me off to be so dependent on others to take me places (which others mainly means my hubby when he gets home from work). It pisses me off that shops close at 5!!! Am I homesick? No. I am just sick of BEING AT HOME!!! Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz... Hell, a moped at this point would be nice.
Enough whinging.

Easter report... just a bit late

Easter came and went here in Perth and the kids had a great time. Unlike in the states, Easter is almost as big as Christmas here. The grocery stores are LOADED with tons of Cadbury and Lindt chocolate eggs. And instead of just having 1 day for a holiday, they take 4! Everything shut down on Friday for the obscervence of good Friday. Obviously no seperation of Church and State going on here... And most places did not get rolling again until The Tuesday following Easter. They take off Easter Monday which totally confused Rob for some reason. He kept thinking Easter was on Monday until I told him it was just another reason for the Ozzies to take off to recover from all the BBQ's on Sunday.

They also have the Easter Bilby here. And in our house, the Bilby came on Friday night and left lollies. The kids thought that was grand. I have more to say but not enough time right now. Enjoy!

A little general Information

I was just reading an email from a friend of mine back in Virginia and she said something that really struck and I feel I need to just take a minute to inform some of my readers a little bit about my new hometown of Perth. She said she was not sure how big it was. I think this is the general consensus. This is not bad at all but many people think Perth is like the bush country. They know Sydney and Melbourne and many cities on the East Coast but know very little about the West coast so, time to have a little tutorial on what I know about Perth.


First off, It sits on the Indian Ocean in the southwest of the coast. The population of Western Australia, the state in which Perth is located roughly 2 million and 1.5 million of these folks live in the metropolis of Perth. 1.5 million. This makes it the third largest city in Australia and about the size as Philedelphia. It is spread over 752 sq miles. People here speak English as the primary language but there are over 250 nationalities that call Perth their home. Perth has some of the most beautiful beaches in all of Australia and Scarborough Beach has the best white sand surfing in the world. It was also voted the cleanest beach in Australia. It is home to the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University,University of Notre Dame and Curtain University of Technology to mention a few. Fremantle Harbor is the port city of WA and is located 19 km south of Perth. It is the largest port in WA and second only to Sydney Harbor.


Although we live in a drought, the average rainfall in Perth is greater than London England.


The number one industry in WA is mining. Since 2000 the population of Perth has grown by almost 50%. This is due to the influx of migrants working in the mining industry. With this influx of migrants, the economy has boomed as well.


There are a large number of national parks here, zoos and a huge aquarium.

If you want to learn more about Perth, here are a few good links.

City Of Perth

Today is my Birthday!!!

I know, who cares really but I DO! It is my first birthday in Australia and I am totally enjoying it. One of my girlfriends brought me a yummy strawberry torte to eat and we are having spaghetti for dinner. The real celebration will be this weekend with a tru Ozzie BBQ with me mates.
It has been a while since I have blogged and I do apologize but since S. has started school, I have been flat out like a lizard drinking. She goes to school 5 days a week full time and is taking intramural sports in the afternoon one day a week to see if she likes cricket or footie best. My daughter the Ozzie. She even came home and corrected me on how to properly say her teachers name ( No Mom, her name is not Ms. Barnes, it is Ms "Baah-nz".) Pardon me.
We have also started furnishing our home all thanks to the new Ikea here in Perth. And this is a HUGE deal around here. Not only is it the largest Ikea in the Southern Hemisphere, it has totally changed traffic patterns around where we live. The community paper has had nothing but negative things in it about the new Ikea BEFORE it was open like how large the sign is, how much dust they have been stirring up, etc. I can't wait to see what the locals have to say about all the un wanted traffic it has brought into the area. Bloody Hell people.
Anyway, we now have a new bed, a new "cot" for R. (crib for American readers) and soon 2 new beds for S and Z. We also have a new fridge and Table and chair thanks to the Quokka (local paper). But the big thing is the Weber kettle grill that we rescued from curb day. Curb day is when all the people around here put out their large items for what we use to call the junk pick up but here it is far from junk. This grill is fine. Hardly any rust. It helps to hit the really rich neighborhoods too. We have also found a shop vac, an industrial grade grill for a kitchen that even came with a tutorial from the nice mate that lived in the house that was disposing of this item. We are going to convert it into an outside grill. We also found a large eveporative cooling fan for inside too that we use in the bedroom. I love curb day but I have usually have 2 things going through my mind as we ride around looking at the "junk". 1) The theme song from "Sanford and Son" and 2) Monty Python. "Bring out your dead" "I'm not dead yet. I'm feeling much better".
Well, I am off to enjoy my spaghetti dinner. Yummm.

Edit*

After dinner, we loaded up the kids and took a trip to Trigg beach to catch the final voyage of the QE2 as she was leaving Fremantle boat harbor. What a sight. This was a wonderful birthday!

Yanchep Park, Two Rocks

Photobucket Album

Sunset in Perth

Photobucket Album

Australia Day in Perth

Photobucket Album

Just take a minute to watch this.

I was watching Oprah today, one of the few times I have gotten to since being here but I caught this incredible show. Here is one person speaking on there today. Watch it.

Perth Meet up

Photobucket Album

Pics of Rose

Photobucket Album

Random thoughts

Hey Everyone, I’m back!!! I know it seems like it has been a long time but trust me, a lot has been going on in our new life. Here are updates and some random thoughts on my new homeland.
· We are getting settled into our new home and it is starting to feel like home thanks to the kindness of our friends. My dear friend Shylady and the crazy bearded one ( you know I love ya) donated 2 chairs and a sofa, a tv and a vcr to our lovely home. We love the sofa and it is a great place to kick back on days that are so hot that we can’t go out til after the sun goes down. We have a futon mattress to sleep on and the kids have an air mattress. Of course Sarah thinks the mattress is a trampoline.
· Christmas day never quite felt like Christmas to me. We put up a tree and pulled out all of our ornaments that we trucked over with us. We set up the Polar Express around the tree and read it on Christmas Eve. But 40 C is much different than 40 F. On the day after Christmas, Boxing Day as it is known here, we were living smack dab in the middle of the hottest city on the planet. Literally. The temp that day reached 43.something which is about 111 F. So let me tell you, when someone tells you it is not bad because there is know humidity, I say this, if you stick your head in a convection oven, it is still HOT. Nuff said.
· Ants. Ants. Ants. I have never seen this many ants in my life. I am getting use to waking up and having them on my pillow though. I have started calling them the housekeeper because they will clean up any crumb that they find. Very cheap labor and luckily they don’t bite the employer, me.
· Evaporative cooling. I have many mixed emotions on this way of cooling a house. It is very efficient. And it works very well as long as it is not a day that is over 35C but if it is over 35, forget it. Then it is like pouring gasoline on a fire. For those that do not know what evaporative cooling is, google it.
· The Doctor. I love the Doctor. No, not a medical doctor but this wonderful “breeze” (if you can call 20+ knots a breeze) that comes in off the Indian ocean, usually in the evenings, and drops the temp about 10 degrees in minutes. The way that our house sets, it comes right in our veranda and gets trapped. Very nice. But I think come winter, I will be cussing the doctor.
· The Indian Ocean. I have never seen such a beautiful ocean and such beautiful
Beaches in my life. The sunsets are like something out of a painting. The sun and the ocean create so many effects together and I could watch it everynight of my life and NEVER get tired of it. I can not put into words the way it makes me feel inside but I have seen sunsets over mountains, desserts, beaches and oceans and nothing compares.
· Black Flies. Hate them. Blow flies. Hate them. Flies up my nose and in my eyes. Hate it. Nuff said.
· Mossies. Hate them. I have 23 mossie bites on me from when I went to a picnic yesterday in the day time. Even my husband who never gets bit has mossie bites (Mossie= Mosquito). But my husband still says they are worse on the Eastern Shore of VA than here. I trust his word on this and do not want to give up a pint of my precious blood to find out.
· Now a word from our sponsors~ Foods and products that you only get in Australia that we love. We love TimTams. Traditional chocolate TimTams. We love the marshmallows. Vanilla and raspberry. We love Cadbury. Lots and lots of Cadbury. We love WA Bananas. We love Kirks passion fruit soda and lemon mash. We love chicken salt. We love chicken chips. We love chicken crackers. We love Mia bread. We love that almonds and cashews are so cheap. We love the cheeses and yoghurt here. (Especially honey yoghurt). We love Chooks chicken. We love Tassie Salmon and blue fin tuna. We love Jesters meat pies. We love sunscreen by the GALLON people! We love red Australian wine. We love VB.
· Things that I miss~ my friends. I miss cheap beer. All be it the beer is better here but you have to pay the price. I miss snow. There I said it. Not lots of snow but I do miss snow. Snow is one thing that I always loved and I know I will never see it here. I miss Krispy Kreme. That is about it.
· Drinking in Australia is a big pass time. I am not a huge drinker but I do like my spirits from time to time but since being here I have had more beer and wine than I have had since my college days! I feel like there is always a good reason to drink. And it is so easy to get. There is a bottle shop on every corner and all you do is drive up, tell them what you want and give them the money. They go get it for you and carry it to you and you drive away. We are not talking about a Brew Threw, we are talking about big time here. 2 lanes at most of them and any beer, wine or liquor you can think of. But again, not cheap.
· Some things are just odd to me. It is odd that many super markets keep eggs on the shelf and not refrigerated. It is odd to me that there are parks EVERYWHERE. It is odd to see kangaroos and emus running wild. It is odd to see the lorikeets, ring necks, Galas and cockatoos flying everywhere. It is not really odd but amusing to listen to ravens talking. It is odd that we live in the second largest city in Australia but everything closes at 5 or 6 every night except one. It is odd not to get mail on Saturdays. It is odd to watch free uncensored TV and to see movies entirely uncut on FREE TV! It is odd to watch Bob the Builder and he has an Aussie accent. It is odd to see kids in pubs. It is odd to see the world stop for a cricket match and for that to be the top story (see India vs. Australia). Cricket is odd. It is odd not to have any heat in your house.

Sorry to have gone on for so long but this is just a few things that have been going through my head over the past few weeks. I am sure as we get settled in, I will have more thoughts. I am not whinging or complaining about life here at all. If anything, I love it. I feel at home. Finally. And I love my new Aussie family.
And on that note, G’day mates.