Recent Visitors

Just a couple of weeks ago, we got to put our spacious new house (and our water heater) to the test with three people visiting at the same time! My aunt Jean flew in from California for a quick, one-week visit, and our friends from Davis, Tara and Dani, were in town at the same time. 

Jean arrived mid-week and was eager to check out some of the Australian wildlife. We first visited the Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary and got up close and personal with a few grazing wallabies and the recuperating koalas. The next day we decided to check out the Queensland Museum near the city to check out the preserved animals that we probably wouldn't see in the wild. That afternoon, we took a hike around Mt. Gravatt, which is a little forest park just a few minutes' drive from our house.

On Saturday, we left Roxy and Nate at home and drove down to Springbrook National Park. We haven't been there since my sister Becky visited a year ago, and it's just as gorgeous as ever! We did the hike to Natural Arch and then drove over to a new section for a spectacular hike to a few waterfalls.

Natural Bridge

Jean beside a waterfall in Springbrook. Should be a great swimming hole come summertime (it was a bit chilly during this visit).

From the trail behind the same waterfall. Definitely want to see it after a storm.

That night we had delicious pizza in Mt. Tamborine and drove home well after Roxy had gone to sleep. 

Tara and Dani arrived back from Papua New Guinea the next day without their luggage (it was lost on their flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby), but with high spirits! 

Nate went to work and the rest of us crammed into the car and drove up to the Sunshine Coast hinterland for a visit to the Australia Zoo, which should be called The Crocodile Hunter's Theme Park, because Steve Irwin was EVERYWHERE (yet somehow I managed not to get a single picture of him)!

Waiting for the show at the Crocseum.

Dani looking a bit nervous with the 'roo.

Super photogenic Tara seems much more relaxed.

Rox practicing her haka face at our 'roo. Check out the size of my belly! Amazing!

Dani and Tara beneath the display that shows how high a kangaroo can jump - see the feet suspended from the ceiling above them?

I'm not the biggest fan of zoos, but The Australia Zoo isn't too bad. There was an emphasis on conservation, they don't use disposable plates (cookery) or silverware (cutlery) in their Food Court, and they even have a big gift shop that sells wares made by Australians in Australia from Australian materials. But, a zoo is a zoo, and the animals were in cages and pens. They had imported elephants and tigers putting on shows and lines out the door to get a $20 picture taken with a bored carpet python. 

Our next adventure was to North Stradbroke to spend the night and wake up to do some whale watching. During my sister's visit at the same time last year, the whales were jumping out of the ocean like popcorn and I was really hoping that would happen again.

We woke up to a cold and rainy day and because we didn't all fit in our car (4 adults + 1 toddler = not enough seats in the Laser), we had to take the train to bus to ferry to bus to get to the hostel on the island. Not so much fun in pouring down rain.

Our hostel was nice and clean and 3 km from town. We took a cab into town for dinner and settled in back at the hostel for a night of movie viewing (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Jurassic Park - classics!). 

It rained all night, but cleared up when the sun came up. The guy at the front desk warned us that whales don't really like storms and we probably wouldn't see many. Unfortunately, he was right. On the bright side, North Straddie is a gorgeous place to visit and we spent the morning checking out the crashing waves and managed to spot a couple of whales.

Walking into town.

Playing in the puddles and waiting for whales to surface.

Napping on our hike around the island.

Jean and me with the whale-less Pacific in the background.

Back at home: Coloring on a rainy day with Aunt Jean

Jean had to fly home the next day, so Dani and Tara took advantage of some downtime and read those addictive books from the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy. Roxy loved loved loved hanging out with the big girls and nestled herself right in with them on the couch. (I think she was reading a book about colors.)

Get comfy!

Dani and Tara had to leave a couple of days later and we had a great time reminiscing about grad school and catching up on the past 2-3 years. 

Happy to report that our full house is a happy house. Jean was a trooper and slept on the couch cushions for a couple of nights in our empty 3rd (!) bedroom and Tara and Dani shared the futon, even when they didn't have to. Nate's big pot of Mulligatawny Stew was a hit with everyone (although I'm sure my Asian-inspired pumpkin stew would have been just as popular).

we're here!

Sorry it's been so long with an update. Things moved pretty quickly once we got visa approval. Let me see if I can sum up the past couple of weeks...

We moved out of our apartment and in with Tara. She was so wonderful to give up her bedroom for a week! Thanks Tara!

After the movers showed up on Friday the 10th, we stayed with Eddie and Lisa (and their rascally kitties) for two nights. The movers took our mattress, so we needed to crash on their futon.

Then we went to my sister Becky's in Palo Alto for Sunday night to watch football and hang out with our kitties one last time. My parents came up from Kingsburg on Monday to have a bon voyage lunch and give us a few more hugs.

We got on the plane Monday night and landed in Oz Wednesday morning. Nate's boss Shaun was there to pick us up at the Brisbane Airport. After a quick stop off at Nate's new office (to drop off about 200 microscope slides), Shaun dropped us off at our temporary digs.

Our temp. apartment is within walking distance of an enormous mall (the public library is a floor above a gym) where we got cell phones, set up a bank account and went grocery shopping at Woolworths (not at all like the U.S. Woolworths). That first night there was a fantastic storm. We turned down the lights and watched the lightning from the balcony.

Thursday through Saturday we spent getting acquainted with our new city! We rode around on the public train for a while, trying to figure out the best place to get our apartment. We looked at a couple of places, but neither of them seemed quite right, so the search continues.

[While walking through a park on Saturday, Nate was dive-bombed by a magpie! It left a gash on his scalp and we quickened our pace to get out of there. I thought the bird was going for Nate's shiny new glasses, but we learned that it's mating season and that's just what the magpies do! We'll be sure to carry a tennis racket the next time we go for any park walks...]

Yesterday (Sunday) we were invited up for lunch and a bush walk by a new colleague of Nate's - Carrie. She lives up in the hills west of town in a spectacular little house with an amazing view of the city. She and her partner, Jon, have two kitties ('hairy beasts' as Carrie referred to them), a pen full of 'chooks' (chickens) and three or four pens full of guinea pigs (they sell them to the vet store in town). I held a couple of two week old babies and we heard the whole tribe oinking and squeaking ('cuy! cuy!') at dinnertime.

It was great to take a day off from walking around the city to walk around the bush. Carrie and Jon are great and were so gracious to host us. Carrie is a British expat and Jon has lived in this area for nearly his whole life. They answered a lot of our questions and offered advice and suggestions about places to live and visit and contacts for doctors and hospitals for the impending arrival of the baby.

We finished up the night by driving up to Mt. Coot-tha for ice cream and to watch the sun set. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Nate went into work this morning and I trekked over to the public library (not the one in the mall - the nice big new one in Brisbane CBD) to use the free internet.

Australia is kind of like bizarro America. Things look pretty similar, but they're not quite the same. Burger King is called Hungry Jack's and a value meal costs $7. They are constantly showing reruns of Two and a Half Men and the only American news we get is Fox News.

That's all for now. Got to get on finding a place to live so we can set up our little nest. I promise to update more frequently (and with pictures). Thanks for all of the calls and visits in our last couple of weeks in the States!

moving date scheduled!

Just heard from the movers! They are coming to pick up our things on October 10!!!

We will buy our plane tickets tonight or tomorrow -- probably leaving on Monday the 13th because our bed will be on its way to Brisbane. Nate's boss here has organized a going away party for the 11th (bocce ball and picnicking at a nice winery) and I guess we'll probably stay with my sister Becky that next night so she can take us to the airport.

Nate's employers are arranging temporary living arrangements for us when we get there! Yes! One less thing to worry about!

(In case you were wondering, the move into Tara's place went off without a hitch. The old apartment has been cleaned and prettied up and now I just have to do one final sort through our things before my mom visits this weekend.)

more good news

Nate spoke with his new boss today. After hearing that our visa should be approved within the next couple of weeks, he told Nate that we should contact the movers and after we schedule a meeting time with them, we should book our plane tickets!!

Although this entire process has caused a lot of stress and tears, it looks like we will be getting there just a couple of weeks later than we first thought. Keep those fingers crossed!

This weekend we are moving out of our apartment and in with our friend Tara until we leave (new tenants are moving in Oct. 1). We are also moving the kitties to my sister Becky's apartment in Palo Alto. :( I'm not looking forward to that. How will Nate keep his arms warm when he's working on the computer if we don't have the cats?

Nate with Lou, who is waiting patiently for love.