Waves and Wine

Last Friday Jonathan had to travel north of Sydney for a job. We decided to make a weekend of it and stay on the coast. There is a beach about 2 hours north of Sydney on Anna Bay that is just amazing. It is called "the largest moving coastal sand mass in the southern hemisphere." And let me tell you... it's amazing. I thought the Sleeping Bear dunes were something... they are tiny compared to this beach. It just goes on forever. Pretty amazing.

The tide was coming in this morning as we walked on the beach. Makes you feel pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

After we spent the morning on the coast, we drove west to the Hunter Valley. Known for it's vineyards, the Hunter Valley is a beautiful inland valley home to many dairies, wineries, cheese factories and b&b's. Similar to Napa, it's a beautiful place, full of rolling hills and gorgeous scenery.

The Hunter put on a brilliant display of it's autumn colours and charmed us with it's sunshine and fresh air. We had a chance to do lots of taste testing and driving and photo taking. We decided we definitely have to go back and take some of the local cooking classes offered. How fun to learn to make fresh pasta in this very Italy-like place.

Just as the day was ending and we were headed home, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a herd of kangaroos hanging out in a roadside vineyard. I couldn't get close enough for a good photo... but I promise you it was pretty cool. They just stood there and stared at me before casually hopping further down the rows. Camera shy, I suppose.

Winter in Summer

Well, it's full on winter here now. Cold and rainy and dark. Seems bizarre to think that it is June. June has always been a month of sunshine and gardens and going to the beach. A month of bbqs and ice cream and bare feet. Not so in Australia. Here in Sydney, it's a month of warm jackets, socks and rain. LOTS of rain. It's supposed to rain for the next 3 months... and that is apparently good news here. Weird.
Other than the weather, life goes on as usual here for us. Jonathan is still travelling quite a bit. Which is becoming a little more frustrating, as the weather gets bad. He spends a lot of time waiting for delayed flights. On the bright side, we are racking up the domestic airmiles, so we'll soon get a nice weekend away out of it. Maybe we'll head down to Adelaide and swim with sharks?!
My job situation is still not great. Not much to do, which is hindered by the downturn in the market recently. Starting to feel the shockwaves from the troubled US market and the results of 13 interest rate hikes here just in the past 24 months. Not to mention the fact that petrol is now almost $7 per gallon here and food prices are nearing record highs, as they are worldwide. So... obviously real estate is an interesting business to be in these days. However, I had a great offer this week from a smaller local company who has less overhead and is looking for an all round manager for their 5 person office. I will most likely be making the move, even though I will be sad to leave the fun office I am in now. I have made some good friends there, and change is always hard. But, I feel that they will have to downsize eventually anyway, so it's probably best to move on now.
Other than that, things are good here in Oz. We are really enjoying living a simpler life. I don't know if I ever want to go back to having 2 cars and a lengthy commute. And I am really not sure we will ever want to go back to rural/suburban life again. We might be true "city slickers" after this! (sorry, Mom!) We have decided to stay in the apartment we are in now. It's been good for the most part, and unless something major changes, we'll most likely be here for awhile.

Sure would be nice to hear from friends and family back home. Seems a little like we dropped off the face of the earth lately. Word to the wise folks - skype. It's free, easy, and well, free. So sign up and give us a call. Or email. Email is always good too.

And one last thing... (warning. the following may be offensive to some viewers.) I just have to add a big whoop! and a Go Obama! Just because I can. LOL

At long last

Finally, the dishwasher is fixed. It only took 3 months and me nagging them daily. I am so glad to have it back. My kitchen finally feels clean again. Very good news.

Six Months

Hard to believe it's been 6 months since Jonathan arrived in Australia. And I've been here 4 months now. Sometimes it feels like forever, and other days it feels as if we are just off the boat. There are so many things I love about Australia. I love how much sunshine there is here. Sometimes it seems like it's sunny every day. But winter is on it's way and that may change.

I love that everything you could ever need is just a short walk away. The grocery store, the fruit market, the library, everything. I love not having a car or having to worry about the price of gas ($5.54 USD per gallon). We are enjoying the opportunity to explore new places and try new things. We have learned so much about Australia that we never knew. And... we've learned a whole new language! Those of you who think Aussies speak English have never had a convo with an Aussie! LOL

Other days it's hard to be so far from friends and family. As easy as it is to forget we are on the other side of the world, we are reminded how out of the loop we are each time we call "home." Sure would be nice to hear from you all more often! We are just a phone call away... and Skype is free!

Currently, we are planning a trip back to North America in late July and early August. It will most likely be a 2 week trip with a few days in both hometowns (the Soo and Grand Rapids), as well as a few days in Toronto. We'd love to see you all and will post an itinerary once it is final.

Looks like the apartment hunt is on the back burner for awhile. We couldn't find anything we liked more than where we are now, so we decided to stay here for awhile. The dishwasher still hasn't been fixed, but I suppose I am used to it by now. Whatever.

Jonathan is still travelling quite a bit for work. Seems that he is at the airport at least a couple days a week lately. My job isn't going as well. While it's close to home and has great workmates... it's just not challenging enough. I am not one for sitting around and doing nothing. So, I have been looking for another position again. No drama, just want to do something that feels a bit more meaningful.

Oh! And a quick bit of good news... we found a local restaurant supply place that apparently sells Mexican products, including corn tortillas! So, we'll have to check that out. We are SO missing Mexican food. It just does NOT exist here. Weird.

The Three Sisters

Spent an amazing Saturday in the Blue Mountains recently. Located about 2 hours northwest of Sydney, the mountains are sacred Aboriginal lands, and recognized as a National Park. And what an amazing view. Brilliant blue in hue, and covered with eucalyptus trees. The spell of eucalyptus oil is everywhere. While the area is a major tourist destination, it still feels very wild and natural. There are amazing bushwalks and hiking trails... but don't head in unprepared, you can get lost out there for days.

The photo above is a view of the public lookout called Echo Point. It's an amazing vantage point and allows almost a 360 degree view of the area.

This rock formation is called the Three Sisters. About a hundred steps carved into the side of the mountains leads to the first 'sister' on the left. Another 700 steps further and you are at the valley floor. I managed to make it the first 100 steps, but that was enough for me... and we still had to climb back up. Definitely not a view for the faint of heart. One wrong step and it's a straight drop. Eek.

The legend of the Three Sisters is an old Aboriginal folk tale. Apparently, they were 3 beautiful young women who fell in love with 3 handsome brothers from another tribe. But because the tribes were forbidden to inter-marry, the entered into a horrible battle. A local shaman turned the sisters to stone to keep them from harm during the battle. Sadly, the shaman died in the battle, and to this day, the sisters remain stone.

Australia truly is a beautiful country. So much history.

Tourists

A couple of weekends ago we decided to be tourists and visit Wildlife World and The Sydney Aquarium. As these are both located smack dab in the heart of Sydney, we thought they would be totally cheesy tourist traps, but they ended up being really cool and we had a great time. Thought I'd share a few pictures from the day. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

At a party...

This is a commercial for a bank here. I think it's hilarious. Not sure what that says about me... Enjoy!

That would make my dad nuts.

I have vivid childhood memories of my father's reaction to bare feet. He used to hate it when we would run around in the great outdoors without shoes on. As an adult, I can understand his concerns... we lived on a farm and there were all manner of things you could step on or that could step on you. It was just dangerous and stupid to run around barefoot.

But, as a kid, there is nothing better in the summertime than running around barefoot. I admit, to this day, I hate wearing socks, and I refuse to wear them unless it's COLD. I'd much rather throw on a pair of flip flops and tough out the cold weather as long as possible.

Here, it's easily warm enough to wear flip flops a good 9 months of the year, if not longer. And you could probably get along just fine without even owning a pair of socks. But, it's the craziest thing here... people go barefoot... everywhere! On the bus. On the train. On the city sidewalks. In the supermarket. In the library. I am not kidding. I have seen people (both children and adults!) barefoot in each and every one of those places.

Today I am standing in the lobby of my office and I look out to see 3 guys walking by without shoes on. Just walking down the street. It's chilly here today. And raining. And these guys are wearing shorts, hoodies, and no shoes. Just strolling down the sidewalk. And I thought to myself "now THAT would make my dad nuts."

Potato, Potahto

We finally bought a television today. We are back amoungst the ranks of those who are overinformed. We are telling ourselves it's ok to spend 7 straight hours in front of the television... after all, we are just catching up after not having one for 3 months. And, it's winter, so it's ok. Riiight. Whatever.

Like herding turtles

And life continues. I feel like I am in a black hole as far as communication goes lately, so many apologies to those of you suffering from blog withdrawal. Just realised I have lived here for 3 months now and no one has called us from "home," not once, and that is a bit of a depressing thought.

We have been apartment hunting. Sigh. I don't know if you recall Jonathan's frustration during his first round of apartment hunting... but I can assure you that it.is.not.fun. Hard to believe that our 6 month lease is up already, but it is. So, we have been considering moving. Which, I must stress to you is no easy decision.

We have had some maintenance issues with our current property manager. We have been 5 months without heat or air conditioning, and over 2 months without a working dishwasher. We cannot seem to get them to fix these items, and it's a bit of a pain to constantly be wondering if or when it's going to happen. Not to mention, it's a bit of pain to keep paying rent each month when they aren't being fixed. And since we are now heading into winter without heat... well, we are considering a move.

So, here is how apartment hunting in Oz works. You go onto the website www.domain.com.au. You search by suburb for the areas you want. You narrow it down to the price range you can afford, and then you spend about an hour writing down or printing out all the remaining properties the fit your criteria. Then you call each and every agent and get the OFI (Open For Inspection) time. Which is a 15 minute period on a random day... usually Saturday. Then you fill out an application for each property. EACH one.

Then, you get up early on a Saturday, dress to impress, and race around like a crazy person to each of these 15 minute OFI sessions. Here's where it gets fun. Since you are not the only one looking for an apartment like this, you get to stand in line at each OFI with about 50 of your nearest and dearest rivals and then you ALL traipse through the apartment at once, trying to decide if you like it. It doesn't really matter if you like it though, since you only have the opportunity to get into about 10 or 12 each Saturday (and that is if you have a car!) - you basically have to apply to ALL of them. Whether you like them or not. And so you drop off an appplication and speed off to the next OFI.

If you DO like it, and you might even want to live there, you have to bid at least $20 over the listed price... which is PER WEEK, by the way, for those of you who actually looked at the website. No, those lovely 1 bedders listed for $500... those are not monthly rates. They are weekly. Heh.

Anyway, so after you have run all over kingdom come trying to view a dozen properties in a span of 3 hours, you sit back and wait. And sometime in the next week, you may or may not get a call telling you that your application has been selected and you are the lucky new tenant with a hideous purple bathroom, shared laundry, dodgy neighbours and (if you are really lucky) a balcony.

We saw 10 apartments today. I hated them all. I am exhausted.