Drinking tea....eating scones....

I have quite the enviable life, don't I? As I sit here drinking a nice cuppa Darjeeling tea accompanied by a fresh chocolate scone from the bakery down the street I am thinking exactly that!!! The sun is shining brightly today and it is around 74 degrees outside right now and beautiful!!! Makes up for the gloomy rainy day of yesterday where I walked in the rain with no umbrella (and I doubt I shipped one..) to the grocery store to get milk and oj and stuff for dinner!!!

Chris is off to the Herbert Region today, found his bluetooth earpiece which he was stressed about yesterday morning right where he had put it in his briefcase!!! I think he is a little over organized or something. I walked up to the realty office to put in our application but of course I needed Chris' driver's license to complete it and he kind of needed to have that with him today so once he can get there with that they will start processing it. The problem is that he may not be able to get there until Saturday but oh well---that is life. It will all work out.

I decided to do a little bit of Flinders Mall when I walked back---when they talk of a mall it is not quite the same as our concept in the States. A mall is a street that they have blocked off and closed up to traffic where there are shops, restaurants, etc. down both sides with a common area in the middle where they have seating, fountains, even a stage where they hold events. I found a newspaper stand that had cards so I got one for Chris for our 26th anniversary (tomorrow!!!) and ventured on to look at clothing, etc. I am not sure I have their sizes figured out----I seem to take a size larger than in the US which DOES NOT make me happy! I did find a skirt for quite inexpensive so I got that. I also went to the Salvo store (Salvation Army!!) and found some books and some coasters which we kept saying we needed here in the apt for cheap cheap cheap!!! Not much else there but at least I can keep stocked up on reading material. The lady there was very nice, helpful and engaged me in conversation which of course was because I guess I look so non-Australian!!! The funny thing that happened at the clothing store was a little older lady came up and asked me if I knew if they had changing rooms---now that was the blind leading the blind. She then proceeded to joke with me that if they didn't she would just find a spot in the back and slip her pants on and if there were any pervs around they could have at her!! And maybe she would find a partner! I told her that might work but it might not be the kind of partner she wanted and she just laughed.

They have a big information booth in the middle of the mall so I stopped there and Iris gave me a couple of maps and even a packet for new residents so now I have all the phone numbers and info I will need for when we do get into a house which will be great. She was quite helpful and said she had just helped a lady from Canada and i told her we were kind of from southern Canada....that is Chris' line. They like Canadians more than Americans and the Canadians hate it if you mistake them for a US person I guess. Funny stuff you learn.

Tonight if Chris gets home early enough we may head back out to look at furniture since this is the one night that places stay open later than 5 or 6 pm. We will see how tired he is. He has been running on not a lot of sleep---neither of us have slept very well here but last night was better. Not as noisy outside I guess.

So that is the excitement from here! I know I am holding you all on the edge of your seats!!! More soon!

A Rainy Day in Townsville

G'day!!! It is a rainy dreary morning in Townsville---I think it rained a good part of the night which makes everything look great but is not good for the cane crushing......and since our lives revolve around cane crushing now or the inability to do cane crushing when it needs to be done we don't like the rain today!!! Chris just left for the southern mills after a fruitless search for his bluetooth hands free headset for his phone. I do not remember seeing it on the counter where he keeps all his "stuff" and he insists that is where it was. I did organize some stuff here yesterday but I would have left that alone. My suspicion is that he left it in one of the billion of places that he has been in the last couple of days but that does not help at all. They are very strict about using hands free if you are driving so I guess he won't be making many calls on his trip there and back today. He was a little bit in a tizzy or as much as Chris gets in a tizzy!!

So I guess today I will wait for the rain to stop to go out since I don't even have an umbrella---guess that should go on the list that is ever growing!!! I also have lost a pair of shoes that I was positive I packed so i think I have to pull everything out today and search all the nooks and crannies, suitcases, bags, etc. When we checked in in Detroit my own suitcase was over 70 pounds so I was cramming stuff in Chris' duffle and I have a feeling that they might be lurking around in there or at least I hope so!!! They are a favorite pair!

Yesterday Lorrae came and got me and we went to her house for lunch and conversation and tea. We don't seem to run out of things to talk about that is for sure!! We talked a lot about the words that they say differently than Americans and how the language is changing a lot here because of all the American tv and influences. Last night I saw advertised Australian Idol so I guess that is universal! We had a nice couple of hours--she is taking such good care of me!!! One of her friends who works in the mill in the Laboratory (one of those words that we say differently) is coming up on Friday so she wants me to meet her so that will be another person to meet!!! The kids went back to school yesterday so she went to pick them up and they came in in their school uniforms complete with the floppy hats which are a required part of the uniform and they looked very Australian!!

I think that Chris is trying to plan a nice weekend for us since it is our 26th anniversary on Friday----he has a mill (maybe 2--can't remember now) in an area near the Whitsundays Islands and Airlie Beach so we are going to go there on Sunday and I wlll hang out at the hotel on Monday while he works. He was there in March when we flew down and said it was beautiful. We went out to dinner with a couple that lives there last week so we might get together with them while we are there outside of the work thing--we will see. Anywho---it will be nice to have a change from being here for a couple of nights.

Well the day looks like it might clear off a bit out there so I had better get a shower and get my day started!!! More later!!!

Just chilling!!!

Here I am relaxing with a cup of "real" coffee....well except they don't have those cool Coffee Mate creamers that I have come to love in the US...enjoying the view off my little apt balcony of the marina and harbor of the Ross River. What a life I have right now!!! I am sooooo blessed I can not believe it!!! But once we get into a house I will have a lot of work to do to get it in shape I think so I had better enjoy this life of leisure now while I can!!!

Yesterday I walked to the realtor's office and got our applications for the rental of the house so we will be filling those out, getting together our documentation that we exist (everything here is based on a point system of having a total of 100 points to verify you are who you say you are) which would be passports, birth certificates, pay stubs, etc. I also have to figure out how we put the deposit down---I assume we just give them cash since we have a savings account with a debit / ATM card and I don't think they even use checks here or I sure haven't seen anything about that. Guess I should read my bank info a little bit today!! That might help!!! If I can figure it out!!!

Chris had a good day yesterday--I think he is getting into the groove of things but it is definitely a huge responsibility and they are really counting on him to make some changes and move things along that need to be moved along. I have to learn to let him have some down time when he gets back at night and not start "yammering" at him right away. I have always missed this part of the new job because I usually moved well after he started a job so I was not around for the "intense" part and believe me--this is intense. I don't know how he is learning a new culture, new industry, new job, new names and all that he is doing but he seems to be doing it well from what I can see. The CEO and one of the finance guys are flew in last night for their 5 year strategy meetings this week so we got elected to eat dinner with them which was fine---no problem but I must say I was a little nervous about it. They walked from their hotel a couple streets over the bridge and we met them and took them to the one restaurant that we like here that is open on Mondays. A lot of them are closed on Mondays. We had a nice meal and conversation and I think they just kind of want to make sure we are making the transition okay. I think everyone worries about the Americans!!! But the dinner was nice and we had good conversations along with work talk which I am learning more about sugar than I thought I could ever know!!!

Just checked our account and the good news is that Chris got paid! Once they get his tax file number filed he will get more in the bank ---they kind of take a big chunk out of your money here to say the least until you get established with a number which should take about a month. Now we have to make sure that our renters in the States wire their money into our States account on the 15th so I will have to check that tomorrow to make sure it got in. I am sure I am forgetting something---I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps some of our mail that is going to Mason City is not getting forwarded but I hope I am wrong. I tried to get everything changed over to the South Dakota address but most of the stuff that Terri is forwarding to us is the stuff I had already changed addresses on so.......maybe the rest is just junk that isn't forwarded anyway. But I ramble on....

Not sure what I will get into today--it looks like it might rain today which would be odd. It is in the 70's and humid and our little Aaron is freezing in Melbourne---said it was 40 when he woke up. He only has a little thin sheet and cover on his bed and needs a blanket so hopefully he will get that today. I guess they do have space heaters in the apts so he can use that but I think he should have come over in summer and not winter!!! He is not used to the cold that they have in Melbourne. What a difference in where we are and where he is!!

I guess I have bored you all enough so I will quit for this morning!!!! More tomorrow!

Saunders Beach house

The first pictures are views from the back porch of the house---it has a really nice eating area, plenty of room for the bbq and the beach as you can see is just past the fence. The next views are of the back of the house and then the front---kind of hard to get pictures. I have included a few pictures of the inside---didn't take as many as I thought I had, of course, but it gives you the general idea of the layout. We will see if this one works out!!!

Sunday

We both feel like we have put a full day in today already and it is only 1:30 pm!!! Time for a nap!!! We got up early---we were able to talk to Dad and then I called my sister and chatted for a little bit- Mother was there so I could talk to her too for a few minutes before we headed out. Of course I called right at dinner time (sorry) but I was on a time crunch and it was kind of then or never. And of course I messed up the Skype thing and muted it...dumb!!! But we managed to talk a little bit and it makes it better if you feel like you can talk to the folks back home!

We left for Saunders Beach and met the realtor, Angela, at the house I had found online. It is right on the beach, beautiful views, fairly decent kitchen and bathrooms and it will be good for us to have a place we can relax in and not be right on top of other houses. The houses are fairly close but with all the foilage you don't see the neighbors I don't think. We shall see. We had pretty much decided no city life and this will be a great place to be outside most of the time enjoying the beach and the views. Sounds like the owner wants to sell but the market is bad so he is renting to recoup some money so it might be an option down the road to buy if we like it and want to buy. We shall see! It needs some cleaning, of course, and it is definitley more of a beach retreat but what it lacks in character it makes up for in the views!!! I think the process is kind of a lengthy one to get the application put in and all that so I am going to go to the office tomorrow and pick up the application so we can get working on it. It is partially furnished which works for us right now and we can buy and add to and work something out with the owner---sounds like he is a pretty agreeable guy so hopefully that will hold true. Down side--no AC so we will have to talk to him about that possibility--there is a window unit in the back bedroom and ceiling fans throughout but i have a feeling in the summer months it might be pretty hot. So we will see what can be worked out. It is hard to tell how much breeze you will get without having lived there. But I feel good about it----I can spruce it up and make it home and there was a lot more storage there than in other places so that is good!

We left and went to the mall to try to get someone to look at why my phone wouldn't let me get on the internet on my laptop and found a very helpful young IT geek at one of the phone stores who told us what we were not doing right and then it was very simple so I can use my phone as a modem and get on line without having to have another internet service. Chris did all the research on this and got it all figured out so I trust him. And at least now we both have cell phones so we can call each other!!

We found the Big W which is kind of like a Walmart or Kmart and I think for housewares I can get all the basic starter stuff there without much problem. They use the whole duvet system here---the quilt covers that you stuff your comforter into --so I am checking out all of those!!! And they have Correlle and Pyrex though the Pyrex is really expensive compared to the US because it is coming from the US. A lasagna pan was about $25 AU. So I am just going to have to figure out what we need and add it bit by bit----thank goodness Chris negotiated a nice amount of money to be used for household items but it will go pretty fast by the time we buy furniture and white goods. And we will be getting a few items for the company house---just probably a bed, table and chairs for the veranda and a small fridge and microwave and maybe a couch....not sure. We haven't gotten it all planned out quite yet.

Just got an email from Aaron and he is in Melbourne. He said his apt was crappy so i am not sure what that means. He said some of the students got into really nice housing and his is awful so he is going to talk to "the people" and see what the deal is. Hopefully they can figure something out. he is already feeling the pinch of the internet usage restrictions......said he can't Skype because it will take too much. I think it is going to KILL him!!!

Well I need to get something to eat so i will close and post a few pictures of the house we looked at today. We may try to go to church tonight---they have a service at 6 we may try to see if we can make it to that if we aren't too tired!!!! It has been a long weekend!

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now when I say VICTORY what I mean is that we found a coffee maker!!!! I know in the big scheme of things it isn't that big of a deal but it really is!!! We got on the road this morning fairly early after talking via phone to Micah and via computer (Skype) with the Marshalls including Snickerdoodle who even waved goodbye to us!!! Being able to see each other makes a huge difference and we were so happy to be able to hook up with them. We need to set up more of a schedule to be able to chat with everyone but when you have to figure the 14 hour difference it makes things a little bit more complicated.

We set out for Domain Central which is this huge shopping plaza with a bunch of furniture, white goods, and electronic stores in it and started going through them. The first one was where we found the coffee makers and we ended up getting 2 of them because we will most likely be in 2 different places. The price was right---she gave us a deal and i think that is what you do, especially if you are buying a quantity of items. We spent the whole day there----went from store to store trying to figure out price ranges and what we would like. The girl in the one bedding store was very helpful-----showed us all about the beds (Micah could have given her a run for her money though) and explained the springs, etc. I just got caught up in the "joey pocket spring" idea which was kind of a spring within a spring. Anyway, we tested out a bunch of mattresses and found one that was reasonably priced that we liked so we will see when we decide on a place what we end up with. Whew. It was exhausting. Then we looked at furniture and found that they have teak and mahogany for really really inexpensive compared to the US so we may end up with those types of woods in our decor. Then on to talk to the man about washers and dryers----we probably spent an hour learning about them!!! They have a lot more front loaders which are more economical and water savers. Then they have the combo washer/dryer things which take a looooooonnnnnggggg time to run loads in. Then there were condensing dryers which don't put out the heat that the other dryers do so that your house stays cooler.....which is an issue in the tropics. Most people hang their clothes outside but I don't think you can get away without a dryer....so it was all very very confusing but this guy helped a lot to help me understand.

So we were tired after the day of walking from shop to shop but at least we got some ideas and I think we entertained some folks with our questions!!! They aren't used to Americans obviously. We headed to the mall to see if we could get my cell phone or mobile as they call them (Mo byle) . The one I wanted they did not have but I got a Nokia that will work as a modem for my computer .......if we could only get it to work. Chris came back and spent 2 hours trying to get it to work and was unsuccessful. he called Telstra and got no satisfaction so I think we are going to take my laptop and my phone into the store tomorrow and let them figure it out!!! He was getting pretty mad at the whole situation!!!

Aaron should be about halfway to Melbourne by now----I am nervous for him but I am so glad he has Tom to travel with him. They will be fine I am sure. And Micah is in North Carolina picking up my car so everyone is busy!!!

It is getting noisy outside---but then it is Saturday night!!! This is kind of a lame blog but i am tired and our food just got delivered. Oh--I did cook a meal here last night!!! Finally got some stuff to cook and it was nice to eat here so I am going to try to figure out some more things I can cook with the limited stuff I have here. It is better than eating out all the time though we do usually do breakfast and lunch in. Okay---I am really rambling now.....talk to you soon!

It's Friday!

I I I I guess it has been a few days since I last "blogged" and I didn't realize it. I think the jet lag has hit me in week 2 of the adventure as I have just been dragging the past couple of days. Not quite sure why but hopefully it will go away pretty soon. I have been walking and walking and exploring the areas that I can walk to. There is a lot to see. I have spent a lot of time looking in and around the shops on Flinders mall --when they talk about a mall here it is not a mall like we have which is a closed in building. It is a street which they close to traffic and have a middle section where you can sit, hang out, talk, etc. lined with shops and restaurants on either side. It took me awhile to figure that out. They do have "malls" as we know them but they call them shopping centers I guess.
I am about ready to give up on the coffee machine and get a french press. I know that it really shouldn't make a difference how I make my coffee but you know you get used to what you are used to!!! Lorrae took me to a really nice kitchen store which had tons of french presses and ones that you use on the stove top but noooooo electric type ones at all. They suggested maybe Kmart (and I think I detected a little bit of disdain in their voice.....Maybe I dreamed it) so we will have to see if that works. If not I may have to just get a french press and be done with it. You wouldn't think this would be such a big thing for me but it is!!! And they really dont' drink coffee like we do anyway---most of it is espresso and strong. I guess American coffee is probably not the way to drink it!!!
So Lorrae took me to the grocery store yesterday and I got some tips on practical things like laundry soap, what brands are good, etc. The thing that I still can't get over is that small size of everything! In America you have the mega size--influences of Sam's and Costco I guess---and here it is all very small packages of things. I think they must go to the store every other day but then after looking at their pantries and general lack of storage area that makes sense. I think I have too much of my mother in me of buying ahead when it is on sale, etc. to be able to move past that!!! I will definitely have to adapt!
We also went to a couple of kitchen stores and a very nice furniture store---pretty pricey but very nice stuff and very nice owner. I think Lorrae and Mark have given them a lot of business. The other thing they do is curtains/draperies/upholstery so it will be a great resource if / when we need that kind of stuff. We ate lunch at a great little place and then she brought me back to the apt. I keep telling her she doesn't have to "look after" me but she is so gracious and I am probably a bit of a curiosity to her!!
When we were driving around there is construction everywhere in Townsville---it is growing really fast and roads are closed off everywhere. Those orange construction cones are called witches hats here and there were a lot of them that we encountered yesterday.,
Aaron leaves today for Melbourne so we are hoping to catch him and call him on Skype before he leaves---I need to double check his flight times. I have to do a little rigging on my computer to use Skype since I don't have the built in camera and microphone so we usually use Chris' but it works great to be able to talk to folks. I need to get more of my family on it!! The boys and Colleen and Chris' dad are good at it so it isn't that hard to learn how to use it!
Chris is going to another one of the mills this morning and then coming back to get me so we can look at this beach house together. We are just going to meet the realtor there so that will be good. Then we can go from there and shop or whatever!
There is a beautiful sunrise this morning and it is a little chilly out---looks like only around 49 degrees right now but it will get up to 71 degrees as the day goes on so that won't be bad. After all---it is winter here!! I do think Aaron is going to be a little bit chilly where he is going to be so he has to pack a lot more warmer stuff!!!