And now I interrupt my usual ramblings on about things that happened way more than a month ago to bring you the latest news :-). Mmmm actually it was :-( and then :-| (my "I don't really handle blood that well" face).
To set the scene - we eventually managed to secure an evening with our friends C&W (who helped me find my car!) - 4 months after having dinner at their house! They have 4 children, of which 3 have life threatening conditions, so they spend a heck of a lot of their time in Melbourne at the Childrens Hospital (one of the best, if not THE best in the country - they moved here from NSW to be closer to the hospital). Anyway - the reason it took 4 months to get together for a meal and some good conversation is: if we could make it, one of their kids was sick, or one of ours was sick (and it is better to not expose their kids to germs if not necessary), and if they could make it, we weren't available. You get the picture, I'm sure :-).
So after already postponing from the previous Saturday (Geoff had some flu bug), this last Saturday arrives, we go to the Pakenham Show for Mieke's first Irish Dancing Display, after that we pop in at our local Safeway (Aussie Woollies) for some veg and meat for a yummie potjie, come home, I sit and prepare for playing keyboard during Sunday morning's worship session, and Geoff is in the garage (his 2nd favourite place!). Next thing (this is now 10 minutes before our guests are scheduled to arrive) he comes walking in and says something in the line of "Love, I had a bit of an accident" in the same tone of voice as he would say "it is raining outside"...... !!!! After some interrogation (by me of course, who else), which had a bit of an urgent nature as he was holding his leg and his hand was a bit more bloody than when you just cut yourself shaving (this is where my face went to :-( and then to :-| ), I got the story... Turns out that he cut himself on his upper leg just above his knee with the brand new Stanley knife (for the other girls out there - that is one of those carpet knife thingie-mebobs) which slipped as he was cutting through some hard plastic in a tool box. And as we don't have super glue in the house (don't even ask!!!), please will I drive him to ER so that he can get stitches.
I gave the kids instructions to phone me as soon as our guests arrive, and off we went to the local hospital ER (about 6 mins away). When you get there you have to report to one window (where they can quickly assess the damage to decide whether you should be seen to immediately or not, I guess), and then to the 'admin window' where you flash your Medicare card (government medical cover card) and give your details. While giving his details to the lady, a nurse came out and quickly dressed the wound so that he wouldn't bleed all over the place (OK, I am exaggerating I bit here, it didn't bleed THAT much, but it was too much for comfort for me, and would have run down his leg as it still had not stopped bleeding.. eeeek). And then we sat down in the very clean and neat and tidy waiting room for our turn. I just have to add here that this waiting room has a TV (that is working!), padded chairs and a vending machine (also working!)! Pretty much the same condition as a semi-private hospital ER waiting room back in good ol' SA, but it didn't cost us a cent.
In the meantime C phoned to let me know that W was running late from his last job, so I explained the situation, and assured her that we were definitely not postponing again, and that we would hopefully be home before they would get there. A quick phone call home got Mieke to start peeling the potatoes and carrots so long so that Geoff could get his potjie going as soon as we got home. And then about half an hour later it was Geoff's turn, he got his 2 stitches (and the doctor confirmed that it didn't look like he cut into the muscle as it was quite deep) and some anti-biotics, and we were on our way home. (At this point I was told in no uncertain terms to hand over the car keys, as he was not an invalid, and he didn't need his one hand to keep the wound closed! Men! :-)) So all in all, from when we left home to driving back into our driveway it was 1 and a half hours. (We have subsequently been told that we were 'lucky', as it is very normal to wait 4 to 5 hours! But for now I will just pretend I didn't hear them and be very impressed with our first ER experience in Aus. And hopefully our last for a very long time, preferably for always!)
So, in the end our evening turned out great, Geoff's leg was a bit sore, but he coped well, we ate an hour later than we planned, which was not the end of the world, the kids had a ball of a time, and we had a great evening socialising with the couple that went out of their way to make our introduction to Australia so much easier even though we only met them after we arrived here, and we only managed to fit in one social visit until this weekend!
On that note - it is the small things that make all the difference in your first week or two - they invited us for a home cooked meal when we were getting sick of take-aways in the Motel, they helped me to find a decent car (which meant W driving as far as 2 hours from his house to inspect cars for me!), C introduced me to the homeschooling group that I am now part of, and generally they just gave us some good pointers of what is what, what we could expect from Aussies socially, and what one should rather not do or say when you are the new family on the block :-).
Oh - and Gian added to the dictionary! They went into the garage while we were away to see what happened (I only had time to tell them that daddy cut himself and that I was taking him to the hospital for stitches, so they were very worried!) - saw the Stanley knife lying on the floor where Geoff just dropped it, and Gian promptly stated that this was the 'hurterer' as daddy never leaves his tools lying on the ground in his garage. Which has always been true, I guess, even though his garage was uhm - shall we say 'very busy'? :-) To those of you who had the priviledge of experiencing Geoff's half (and front and side bits on my side) of the garage in Waterfall I can only say - you will not believe your eyes when you see his half of the garage here :-).
And that is me for tonight. Will do some more catching up posting next time.....
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Jan and Feb 2010, and some South Africans
Jan and Feb was not VERY eventful (compared to Dec I would say), but it was quite busy nonetheless...
On the 13th of Jan I took the kids to an orthodontist in Traralgon (45 mins from our place, in an easterly direction), and even though I was warned that orthodontics are expensive in Aus, I still almost had the fits. To complete the treatment for Mieke and Gian is going to cost us more than double it would have cost in South Africa. Eina pyn (for my Aussie friends - a direct translation would be: ouch pain). And that is not all - medicare pays for nothing, and even if you take out additional health insurance, the annual payments will be more than what you can claim for orthodontics. So I drove home with my mind racing circles around our monthly budget. How on earth would we manage to pay for this!?
Well, I have managed to juggle the budget this way and that way, I postponed some other payments, swopped some stuff around to be paid later, and managed to pay the orthodontist instalments that have been due so far. Plenty more to come, and it just means that the budget is a lot tighter than we thought it would be, and that I have to be rigid in keeping track of every cent that is spent each month in order to make sure that we don't overspend on the yummy stuff you can stock your fridge and freezer with! :-)
SOME SOUTH AFRICAN FRIENDS
During the 3rd week of Jan a new lady friend (ex-South African!, married to an Aussie) from church decided to take 'pity' on me and the kids, and decided that we should go do something 'fun' together. We ended up visiting Powerworks for a tour, which included a drive around the inside of an active coal mine, and then a guided tour inside the power plant wearing hard hats, hearing protection, the works.
At this time we also met another SA couple who have been in the area (in Drouin) about 3 months longer than us, and we had a great time socialising with them over dinner!
TECHNOLOGY AND SCHOOL
I was also still unpacking (yeah, can you believe it!), and getting our laptops and desktops onto a network so that the kids can download email piggybacking on my entire (duh!) 1Gb USB mobile internet connection. By now we have realised that the wonderful benefit of fast ADSL and about 20Gb per month in Aus was not to be, as Telstra (equivalent to Telkom) did not cater for the number of houses to be built in our area in their infrastructure. No port, no ADSL. Very frustrating for us, as the mobile (cell phone) networks are not the greatest in terms of reliability - and you lose signal usually when you need it most, like in the middle of a skype conversation to someone in SA! :-(
Oh - before I go on to tell you about our first Australia Day, I have to mention this: With the start of school coming closer and closer, I was very aware that we really needed a decent desk and computer stand for the kids - as our very classy diningroom table (white camping table and 4 chairs at $59 from Bunnings!) was not going to be adequate. So one morning I woke up, and decided to pray for God's provision. Asked God for a desk, bundled the kids into my car - and off we went. I was planning on working through all the opshops (opportunity shops, like charity shops) and second hand stores in search of this desk or table. And God provided. We walked into the first opshop, namely Vinnies (the opshop closest to us), and there it was! A HUGE desk plus a matching PC stand, in very very good condition, for $20 each. I was SO excited, paid there and then, and then had to organise for someone to drop it off at our house. Things were coming together - our school room was starting to happen! Yippee.
OUR FIRST AUSTRALIA DAY
26 January 2010 was our first Australia Day. It was arranged on the Sunday to all meet in the car park at church, and then we would drive to Bunyip State Forest together, where we would have a picnic at one of the picnic areas. We arrived at church on the Monday morning at 10am, all 4 of us sporting at least one Aussie flag tattoo somewhere on our bodies (Mieke's idea, she bought them and we all had to have one!),
with our 4 bikes on the bike rack on the back of my car, and our little Australian flag duct taped to my car's bull-bar. What we didn't realise was that the picnic was going to double up as an opportunity for the boys (uhm, I mean men) to also do some 4-wheel driving, which is obviously not desirable with a bike rack and 4 bikes on the back of your 4x4, so in the end I stayed at the picnic site with 3 other ladies, watching everyone's stuff, and Geoff and the children went on their 4x4 adventure into the state forest in someone else's vehicle.
All in all the day was great (apart from fighting off a zillion flies and even some March flies - they sting like crazy, but are quite slow, so you can usually swat it while it is still deciding to actually sting you - that is if you know that it is getting ready for a meal somewhere on your exposed body!). Lots of eating, chatting, and generally just lounging around.
What amazed me was: here you are in the middle of nowhere, with a long drop loo in the forest, and 3 rangers arrive with bug spray and loo paper, and they make sure the toilet is decent and has toilet paper in it. Just when you think you've seen it all :-).
After the picnic we all went to the home of one of the couples, who live just inside the edge of the forest, for a cuppa. Their house and land was on the route of the devastating Black Saturday fires of last year, and it was amazing to see how their shed was burnt to rubble, all their trees were burnt (the apples were toasted), but their tractor and their house (apart from one of the posts of their verandah) were miraculously saved from the flames. Some more chatting and visiting, looked at photos of the aftermath of the fires, had some more coffee, and got home just in time to feed kids and get them to bed. Another great day.
SOME MORE SOUTH AFRICANS
At the end of the following week we met another young couple from South Africa who landed the first week of February. I got into contact with them through the forum of South Africans in or on their way to Aus, and we invited them for dinner - also to lend them our little bar fridge until their container arrives. They live in Traralgon (where the orthodontist is, remember), and we hope to see some more of them somewhere along the line.
SOME OTHER HAPPENINGS IN FEB
Geoff eventually got his company car, we eventually got our PR visas evidenced in our passports, Mieke started with Irish Dancing lessons again (that is now in Pakenham, 35 mins drive from our house, so what's new), and we went to the Ficifolia Festival in Drouin. But more about that next time...
On the 13th of Jan I took the kids to an orthodontist in Traralgon (45 mins from our place, in an easterly direction), and even though I was warned that orthodontics are expensive in Aus, I still almost had the fits. To complete the treatment for Mieke and Gian is going to cost us more than double it would have cost in South Africa. Eina pyn (for my Aussie friends - a direct translation would be: ouch pain). And that is not all - medicare pays for nothing, and even if you take out additional health insurance, the annual payments will be more than what you can claim for orthodontics. So I drove home with my mind racing circles around our monthly budget. How on earth would we manage to pay for this!?
Well, I have managed to juggle the budget this way and that way, I postponed some other payments, swopped some stuff around to be paid later, and managed to pay the orthodontist instalments that have been due so far. Plenty more to come, and it just means that the budget is a lot tighter than we thought it would be, and that I have to be rigid in keeping track of every cent that is spent each month in order to make sure that we don't overspend on the yummy stuff you can stock your fridge and freezer with! :-)
SOME SOUTH AFRICAN FRIENDS
During the 3rd week of Jan a new lady friend (ex-South African!, married to an Aussie) from church decided to take 'pity' on me and the kids, and decided that we should go do something 'fun' together. We ended up visiting Powerworks for a tour, which included a drive around the inside of an active coal mine, and then a guided tour inside the power plant wearing hard hats, hearing protection, the works.
At this time we also met another SA couple who have been in the area (in Drouin) about 3 months longer than us, and we had a great time socialising with them over dinner!
TECHNOLOGY AND SCHOOL
I was also still unpacking (yeah, can you believe it!), and getting our laptops and desktops onto a network so that the kids can download email piggybacking on my entire (duh!) 1Gb USB mobile internet connection. By now we have realised that the wonderful benefit of fast ADSL and about 20Gb per month in Aus was not to be
Oh - before I go on to tell you about our first Australia Day, I have to mention this: With the start of school coming closer and closer, I was very aware that we really needed a decent desk and computer stand for the kids - as our very classy diningroom table (white camping table and 4 chairs at $59 from Bunnings!) was not going to be adequate. So one morning I woke up, and decided to pray for God's provision. Asked God for a desk, bundled the kids into my car - and off we went. I was planning on working through all the opshops (opportunity shops, like charity shops) and second hand stores in search of this desk or table. And God provided. We walked into the first opshop, namely Vinnies (the opshop closest to us), and there it was! A HUGE desk plus a matching PC stand, in very very good condition, for $20 each. I was SO excited, paid there and then, and then had to organise for someone to drop it off at our house. Things were coming together - our school room was starting to happen! Yippee.
OUR FIRST AUSTRALIA DAY
26 January 2010 was our first Australia Day. It was arranged on the Sunday to all meet in the car park at church, and then we would drive to Bunyip State Forest together, where we would have a picnic at one of the picnic areas. We arrived at church on the Monday morning at 10am, all 4 of us sporting at least one Aussie flag tattoo somewhere on our bodies (Mieke's idea, she bought them and we all had to have one!),
with our 4 bikes on the bike rack on the back of my car, and our little Australian flag duct taped to my car's bull-bar. What we didn't realise was that the picnic was going to double up as an opportunity for the boys (uhm, I mean men) to also do some 4-wheel driving, which is obviously not desirable with a bike rack and 4 bikes on the back of your 4x4, so in the end I stayed at the picnic site with 3 other ladies, watching everyone's stuff, and Geoff and the children went on their 4x4 adventure into the state forest in someone else's vehicle.
All in all the day was great (apart from fighting off a zillion flies and even some March flies - they sting like crazy, but are quite slow, so you can usually swat it while it is still deciding to actually sting you - that is if you know that it is getting ready for a meal somewhere on your exposed body!). Lots of eating, chatting, and generally just lounging around.
What amazed me was: here you are in the middle of nowhere, with a long drop loo in the forest, and 3 rangers arrive with bug spray and loo paper, and they make sure the toilet is decent and has toilet paper in it. Just when you think you've seen it all :-).
After the picnic we all went to the home of one of the couples, who live just inside the edge of the forest, for a cuppa. Their house and land was on the route of the devastating Black Saturday fires of last year, and it was amazing to see how their shed was burnt to rubble, all their trees were burnt (the apples were toasted), but their tractor and their house (apart from one of the posts of their verandah) were miraculously saved from the flames. Some more chatting and visiting, looked at photos of the aftermath of the fires, had some more coffee, and got home just in time to feed kids and get them to bed. Another great day.
SOME MORE SOUTH AFRICANS
At the end of the following week we met another young couple from South Africa who landed the first week of February. I got into contact with them through the forum of South Africans in or on their way to Aus, and we invited them for dinner - also to lend them our little bar fridge until their container arrives. They live in Traralgon (where the orthodontist is, remember), and we hope to see some more of them somewhere along the line.
SOME OTHER HAPPENINGS IN FEB
Geoff eventually got his company car, we eventually got our PR visas evidenced in our passports, Mieke started with Irish Dancing lessons again (that is now in Pakenham, 35 mins drive from our house, so what's new), and we went to the Ficifolia Festival in Drouin. But more about that next time...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Getting a container for her birthday was not really a huge hit
We started the year off by going to the Belgrave Christian Convention in Belgrave Heights on the 1st and the 2nd of January. A few people from church were camping at the convention, so we spent some time with them inbetween sessions - and all in all had a great time. And then all was back to normal - Geoff back to work, and we faced 2010.
Eventually Geoff got the call from the moving company - our container was ready to be delivered - on the 6th! Mieke's birthday. And almost exactly a month after it docked in Melbourne. We were relieved that there weren't any customs or quarantine issues at least, and I was really looking forward to having more than camping pots that just burn your food :-).
Mieke was not very impressed however, and did a bit of complaining about having to unpack her room on her birthday, and not being able to have a nice day etc etc. We tried to help her see the positive side - she would be getting all her stuff for her birthday! - but that didn't really work so well...
So we waited impatiently for the 6th, Mieke's birthday presents hidden where even a little curious brother would not find it, and eventually the day arrived. We were blessed with nice weather, so that was great! Can't be great to unload a container in the rain! Needless to say Mieke was very chuffed with at least her one present (a camera!), and promptly set off to pester Gian by taking photos of him, while he was protesting loudly.
To save the day, my dear friend K and some of her kids arrived with a huge dish of pasta for us for dinner, and a birthday cake for Mieke, candles and all.
And then the doorbell rang - our container was here! 3 friendly Aussie blokes with 2 trolleys to unpack the whole thing - including the piano that weighes probably round about 500kgs! I was quite concerned about the process to be followed to get that thing off the container, but 2 of the guys (yes 2!) managed to get it onto a trolley, and it was pushed down the ramp by one chap (a very steep ramp from the container on to the gravel next to our garage for that matter) while the other one used all his strength to keep the piano from flattening him before taking out our rental house fence or something! Needless to say my nerves took some testing!
So we went from an empty house and a full container, to an empty container and a house full of boxes in about 3 hours, and the HUGE job began.
Here I am with the list - it was my job to tick off the boxes as they were offloaded. Every last box accounted for, and happy to report that nothing was broken.
We were a bit worried when we saw that the container that arrived in our driveway was not the same one that left South Africa! They actually repacked the entire container into another one on this side - and we have heard stories that your stuff do get damaged during that process more so than while it is sailing on the open seas - but our heap of belongings came out unscathed. That was a relief.
And this is what Mieke's bedroom looked like. Happy to report that it has improved a bit since then - with some regular serious encouragement of course... :-).
It took us a few days to finally unpack most of the boxes (the last 4 or 5 in my bedroom lasted for about another month before I managed to deal with them as well). And then being moved from a humid Durban, combined with living in a container for 2 months, every single piece of clothes, linen and bedding had to be washed to get rid of the musty mouldy smell. Now THAT was a challenge. It took some serious 'talking to myself' time to cope with doing 4 to 5 loads of washing every day for almost 3 weeks! Imagine having to wash every single little thing in your house - from curtains to pillows, to socks, to shirts and table cloths. It was not fun. And to top it all, it was blazing hot most of the time, so my feet actually got a serious tan from standing under the clothes line every 2 hours during the day.
Well, I guess there is one good thing that came from that experience - now washing 2 loads every 2nd day is a breeeeeze! Even ironing is fine after that experience - and coping without Nonhlanhla is actually very do-able. Actually, any house chore is better than having a laundry that looks like it is the birth place of the washing for the entire town at any given moment during the day! :-)
But so all horrible things come to an end, the musty smells are gone, our worldly goods are all unpacked, and even our school stuff got sorted out in time for our first school day on the 3rd of February. Took us a month to get our whole house sorted, but it happened!
Next up...Some more happenings during Jan and Feb, and we met some other South Africans!!
Eventually Geoff got the call from the moving company - our container was ready to be delivered - on the 6th! Mieke's birthday. And almost exactly a month after it docked in Melbourne. We were relieved that there weren't any customs or quarantine issues at least, and I was really looking forward to having more than camping pots that just burn your food :-).
Mieke was not very impressed however, and did a bit of complaining about having to unpack her room on her birthday, and not being able to have a nice day etc etc. We tried to help her see the positive side - she would be getting all her stuff for her birthday! - but that didn't really work so well...
So we waited impatiently for the 6th, Mieke's birthday presents hidden where even a little curious brother would not find it, and eventually the day arrived. We were blessed with nice weather, so that was great! Can't be great to unload a container in the rain! Needless to say Mieke was very chuffed with at least her one present (a camera!), and promptly set off to pester Gian by taking photos of him, while he was protesting loudly.
To save the day, my dear friend K and some of her kids arrived with a huge dish of pasta for us for dinner, and a birthday cake for Mieke, candles and all. 
And then the doorbell rang - our container was here! 3 friendly Aussie blokes with 2 trolleys to unpack the whole thing - including the piano that weighes probably round about 500kgs! I was quite concerned about the process to be followed to get that thing off the container, but 2 of the guys (yes 2!) managed to get it onto a trolley, and it was pushed down the ramp by one chap (a very steep ramp from the container on to the gravel next to our garage for that matter) while the other one used all his strength to keep the piano from flattening him before taking out our rental house fence or something! Needless to say my nerves took some testing!
So we went from an empty house and a full container, to an empty container and a house full of boxes in about 3 hours, and the HUGE job began.
Here I am with the list - it was my job to tick off the boxes as they were offloaded. Every last box accounted for, and happy to report that nothing was broken.
We were a bit worried when we saw that the container that arrived in our driveway was not the same one that left South Africa! They actually repacked the entire container into another one on this side - and we have heard stories that your stuff do get damaged during that process more so than while it is sailing on the open seas - but our heap of belongings came out unscathed. That was a relief.
And this is what Mieke's bedroom looked like. Happy to report that it has improved a bit since then - with some regular serious encouragement of course... :-).
It took us a few days to finally unpack most of the boxes (the last 4 or 5 in my bedroom lasted for about another month before I managed to deal with them as well). And then being moved from a humid Durban, combined with living in a container for 2 months, every single piece of clothes, linen and bedding had to be washed to get rid of the musty mouldy smell. Now THAT was a challenge. It took some serious 'talking to myself' time to cope with doing 4 to 5 loads of washing every day for almost 3 weeks! Imagine having to wash every single little thing in your house - from curtains to pillows, to socks, to shirts and table cloths. It was not fun. And to top it all, it was blazing hot most of the time, so my feet actually got a serious tan from standing under the clothes line every 2 hours during the day.
Well, I guess there is one good thing that came from that experience - now washing 2 loads every 2nd day is a breeeeeze! Even ironing is fine after that experience - and coping without Nonhlanhla is actually very do-able. Actually, any house chore is better than having a laundry that looks like it is the birth place of the washing for the entire town at any given moment during the day! :-)
But so all horrible things come to an end, the musty smells are gone, our worldly goods are all unpacked, and even our school stuff got sorted out in time for our first school day on the 3rd of February. Took us a month to get our whole house sorted, but it happened!
Next up...Some more happenings during Jan and Feb, and we met some other South Africans!!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Our view so far on emigrating to Aus...
No photos or updates today on what we have been doing to keep ourselves busy. Rather I decided to write a few general thoughts about relocating ourselves and our kids to another country, was it easy, was it difficult, do we have regrets, don't we...???
This seems to be quite a controversial topic and I have come to realise that everyone will have their own experience of, and opinions about, 'emigration'. I have definitely read some very different opinions on the matter in the last few months! So this is going to be my personal experience and opinion, and I will throw in a bit that I have overheard Geoff tell family or friends on the phone.
Let me go back to September/October last year, just before we made the big decision to let go of our USA green cards and take up the offer of a job and full relocation to Victoria in Aus.
We did a LOT of research. It wasn't an easy decision - having to choose between a definite green card in the USA and only a possible job, and on the other side a definite job in Aus but only a possibility of permanent residence as we still had to apply (and knowing that our green cards would expire possibly before we knew whether we had PR in Aus!).
So I maxed out our 3Gb Telkom ADSL cap with google maps, google earth, google search engine, etc. We did searches on the different areas around Melbourne (before Geoff's new boss suggested that we come live here where we are now due to him having to work in 2 places that are about 700 kms apart!), cost of living, things to do, quality of life, you name it. I created budget spreadsheets in order to compare cost of living in Memphis to cost of living in Melbourne to cost of living in Durban to try and help us decide what would be the best for us as a family. In the end the general idea was that Aus would be a better option if you have children. We also weighed up the fact that Geoff would be expected to travel internationally for 50% of his time in the USA vs less than 30% travelling in Aus, and all local - so he would not regularly be away for 1 to 2 weeks at a time. (mmmm - We have, however, now since discovered that he is travelling way more than we expected, due to changes in circumstances, but at least it is not for 2 weeks at a time...)
And so we accepted the offer and started the process. I won't go into the boring details here of filling in application form on application form, running around for medicals and police clearance certificates, selling house, cars, finding homes for our animals, finding a rental home here, etc... All I can say is that if you ever thought that your life was hectic, wait until you want to uproot yourself and move to another country! Nevermind the actual moving - the lists of everything that we had to organise, cancel, do, etc., were as long as both our arms! In our last month in SA I walked around permanently with a notebook and pen in my hand - to immediately jot down anything that came to mind that I had to remember to do... because if I didn't, it would be off to the happy hunting grounds for lost thoughts in about 10 seconds flat! That was a life saver, and kept me sane (I think hahaha). I also had to keep a seperate reminder list for things Geoff had to do, as he had his hands full with handover at work, so I sent him reminder emails every so often.
And then our last few days arrived. An empty house, our last meeting at church, saying goodbye to our bestest friends (you know who you are!), and off we went all over to say goodbye to family in the Cape and in Jhb before we took off on Qantas on 4 November. One thing I remember about that time is that it was quite unreal. When I spoke about our plans during the last few weeks in SA, it almost felt like I was talking about someone else's life. Even in the plane somewhere over the ocean it still felt completely unreal, like I was going through the motions of someone else's life. Very interesting....
Landing in Sydney and doing customs etc is a bit hazy, think I was over tired, and I literally just followed Geoff's instructions with whatever we had to do, and wherever we had to go. By the time we landed in Melbourne that evening I was like a zombie and I seriously needed some beauty sleep! But it was great, I was looking forward to seeing what waited for me down the road.
Something that struck us the first evening as we were having dinner at the hotel where we stayed the first night was that we could have a long intelligent conversation with the restaurant cleaning staff at the hotel after our meal. We ended up chatting to them for quite a while, and left the restaurant with some good advice on which football team NOT to shout for :-). What a change!
That said ... when we left the hotel the next morning it was almost like I wasn't in a different country - perhaps just a nicer and better organised, clean city somewhere in South Africa! Apart from people not driving like maniacs, and the different accent, I didn't feel like I had just flown just about half way around the world, and was standing on a completely different continent.
And in some sense I still feel that way after 4 months. I find the people and parts of the life I live here to be so much like what I was used to. In a way it is almost like living in Port Elizabeth when I was in primary school. Yes, there are differences, it is cleaner, more organised, the public toilets at the parks are clean and there is actually loo paper in there!, I can take the children to a park without having to be on edge because there is no safety in numbers aspect, I can drive home at midnight all on my own on the freeway without any worries, etc etc. In fact, I got home tonight after attending homegroup (Geoff is away for work), and I left the car door wide open on our pavement, with Gian still in the car busy waking up, while I went and unlocked the front door, put my handbag down, etc - and then I went back out to fetch him.
Some other things that are different... Having to fill my car myself; reward cards at the supermarkets (the first time I was asked whether I had flybuys, I had no idea what this woman was saying, and whether I missed it because of the accent, so I just shook my head :-)); your doorbell ringing at 8.30 in the morning to find a friendly postman delivering your speedpost!; driving on the freeway with the same car behind you for 80kms, because almost nobody exceeds the speed limit - so if you start with him behind you, you will have him behind you until one of you turns off; having to get used to talk about tea instead of supper in order to minimise confusion when you invite friends for a meal; not necessarily having cell phone reception everywhere you go; having so many service providers for internet, home phone, gas and elec, etc that you don't know which one to choose!, etc. etc.
But that all said, I am glad to say that I have not at all experienced any culture shock. I have come to believe that it depends on where you live, your social context, how adaptable you are, and your own expectation of how others should or should not behave. Yes, I do find the teenagers that you encounter on the streets here quite awful most of the time, but the teenagers of friends we have made in the last 4 months are wonderful, decent kids. And then again - the teenagers that I have seen hanging around in the shopping malls in Durban over the last 3 years were also not the greatest.
For me Aussies are just like us (apart from the accent! still cannot even try to copy it!) - some of them are good parents and have decent kids, some not so good, with not so great kids (like absolutely everywhere), some take pride in their homes and gardens, others have different priorities or different standards - depends where you go (nothing different there either).
Now this is where Geoff would differ from me, as he is in the work environment everyday. He definitely experiences cultural differences in the work place, feels that it takes much longer here for decisions to be made (he is in a sales oriented field), or for customers to get to the point where they welcome you into their 'domain'. So all in all he does find that he is under quite a lot of work related stress, and that it is taking him much longer to settle into his position than it would have taken him in a similar environment in SA.
Social context... We have made some wonderful Aussie friends, yes they might do things a bit differently to the way we are used to (again, minimal - not much more than the difference between someone in Durban and someone who have always lived in Cape Town or the "platteland"!), but they are still great, and they open their hearts and homes to you very quickly. I have seen often enough on the net though that they don't like 'snobs', or 'when we's', so as long as you are not constantly including 'well, back home we do it THIS way' in your conversations, you are pretty much OK. I have found that my new Aussie friends have a genuine interest in life in SA, and they are usually quite flabbergasted when they hear about our 'way of life' we lived there.
Yes, we miss our friends back in KZN, and have good memories of our times together, but life goes on, and they will forever be part of our lives, even though we might only physically see them a few times again. But then again - who knows.... (hint hint, nudge nudge). And then of course Facebook and email are welcome tools to help you to stay in contact... Not as nice as having a 'kuier' on a Sunday after church, but once again in the bigger scheme of things you learn to adjust and you cherish the memories of fun times, and you look forward to all the new experiences that God has for you around the next corner.
What else... o yes, I want to say something about the dreaded shopping experience, as I have seen quite a few gripes about this in my search for stories. In my honest opinion, shopping here is great. You have such a big variety of things to choose from, you hardly ever see bruised fruit or veg in the supermarkets (I think I will be shocked out of my tree if I had to visit a local Spar or Pick'nPay tomorrow!), you get to choose from 4 or 5 different types of potatoes even (yes, potatoes for crying out loud - with a tag that tells you which one is better for roasting, and which for mash etc!) - and the brand thing is really not such a big issue. It is fairly obvious which brands are popular here, and you are quite safe to go with them. Yes, you might take a while to find the mayonaisse that tastes like your Nola or whatever, but in the bigger scheme of things that is really trivial to me. Compared to all the wonderful affordable stuff I can buy to stock my fridge and pantry, the few less obvious products are like a drop in the bucket. :-).
One warning though - the shopping trolleys are really as bad as they say - maybe worse :-) - but the positive side is - it keeps you fit, as you are forever having to counter the trolley's insistance to steer towards someone's ankles! :-) I moaned and complained the first few times I went shopping, and then realised that it is - yes - minor in the bigger scheme of things - and now I just walk like a crab like everyone else. No sweat!
Oh and don't forget, you have to push your empty trolley back to the trolley bay all by yourself :-). No car guards... I must admit that I do NOT miss the car guards that would pounce on you in every parking area in SA, although I still remember the friendly faces of the dilligent car guards that were always on duty in the first and last rows at the Spar Shopping Centre in Waterfall.....
Lots of other things I can write about - not having domestic workers being one (I HATE housework, but I actually enjoy having my house all to myself, believe it or not - and if you have a plan of action, and you don't leave the washing until it takes over the laundry, it is really not that bad after all!); the fact that you should not wear 'holy' socks when you go visit someone (because everyone takes off their shoes before they walk into someone's house - so that you won't step any dirt onto the host's clean floors!); being invited for morning tea, afternoon tea, tea (dinner), which is followed by supper (an after 'tea' snack, sometimes something sweet); shopping at opshops (charity shops) being the 'done thing' for everybody I've met so far; food allergies (have never met so many people with food allergies in my life!, and now have to think of everything one can prepare for 'tea' that doesn't need flour, milk, nuts...); etc. etc. etc.
My conclusion for tonight - So was it easy? I would not say so. Was it difficult? Nope - not that one either. It is a challenge, it is hectic, it can be very stressful (specially when you have to sell house and cars etc), but if you plan and prepare as much as you possibly can, it is definitely do-able. And it is worth it - a thousand times over. So no, we don't have any regrets. Sure we miss friends and family, but we are making more friends, and our lives will be richer because of that.
My personal take on Aussie land.... I enjoy the Aussies; love their sense of humour; Victoria is beautiful (I found a place that tops Clifton, Llundudno, Camps Bay, Strand AND Gordonsbay! Yup, you'd better believe it :-) ); I love the sense of 'freedom' I feel when I walk out our front door and there is no security door, no high walls and remote control gates - just open space and fresh air; the people at our church are great and have welcomed us with open arms; my very good Aussie friend that I met after being here for exactly 2 weeks is wonderful, feels like we have known each other for yonks; the children can go ride their bikes in the neighbourhood; there are SO many great places to go (and that is only around where we live); so all in all I am really chuffed to be one of the many South Africans that got the chance to start over again in this country.
And now I need to get some of that beauty sleep...
Til next time!
This seems to be quite a controversial topic and I have come to realise that everyone will have their own experience of, and opinions about, 'emigration'. I have definitely read some very different opinions on the matter in the last few months! So this is going to be my personal experience and opinion, and I will throw in a bit that I have overheard Geoff tell family or friends on the phone.
Let me go back to September/October last year, just before we made the big decision to let go of our USA green cards and take up the offer of a job and full relocation to Victoria in Aus.
We did a LOT of research. It wasn't an easy decision - having to choose between a definite green card in the USA and only a possible job, and on the other side a definite job in Aus but only a possibility of permanent residence as we still had to apply (and knowing that our green cards would expire possibly before we knew whether we had PR in Aus!).
So I maxed out our 3Gb Telkom ADSL cap with google maps, google earth, google search engine, etc. We did searches on the different areas around Melbourne (before Geoff's new boss suggested that we come live here where we are now due to him having to work in 2 places that are about 700 kms apart!), cost of living, things to do, quality of life, you name it. I created budget spreadsheets in order to compare cost of living in Memphis to cost of living in Melbourne to cost of living in Durban to try and help us decide what would be the best for us as a family. In the end the general idea was that Aus would be a better option if you have children. We also weighed up the fact that Geoff would be expected to travel internationally for 50% of his time in the USA vs less than 30% travelling in Aus, and all local - so he would not regularly be away for 1 to 2 weeks at a time. (mmmm - We have, however, now since discovered that he is travelling way more than we expected, due to changes in circumstances, but at least it is not for 2 weeks at a time...)
And so we accepted the offer and started the process. I won't go into the boring details here of filling in application form on application form, running around for medicals and police clearance certificates, selling house, cars, finding homes for our animals, finding a rental home here, etc... All I can say is that if you ever thought that your life was hectic, wait until you want to uproot yourself and move to another country! Nevermind the actual moving - the lists of everything that we had to organise, cancel, do, etc., were as long as both our arms! In our last month in SA I walked around permanently with a notebook and pen in my hand - to immediately jot down anything that came to mind that I had to remember to do... because if I didn't, it would be off to the happy hunting grounds for lost thoughts in about 10 seconds flat! That was a life saver, and kept me sane (I think hahaha). I also had to keep a seperate reminder list for things Geoff had to do, as he had his hands full with handover at work, so I sent him reminder emails every so often.
And then our last few days arrived. An empty house, our last meeting at church, saying goodbye to our bestest friends (you know who you are!), and off we went all over to say goodbye to family in the Cape and in Jhb before we took off on Qantas on 4 November. One thing I remember about that time is that it was quite unreal. When I spoke about our plans during the last few weeks in SA, it almost felt like I was talking about someone else's life. Even in the plane somewhere over the ocean it still felt completely unreal, like I was going through the motions of someone else's life. Very interesting....
Landing in Sydney and doing customs etc is a bit hazy, think I was over tired, and I literally just followed Geoff's instructions with whatever we had to do, and wherever we had to go. By the time we landed in Melbourne that evening I was like a zombie and I seriously needed some beauty sleep! But it was great, I was looking forward to seeing what waited for me down the road.
Something that struck us the first evening as we were having dinner at the hotel where we stayed the first night was that we could have a long intelligent conversation with the restaurant cleaning staff at the hotel after our meal. We ended up chatting to them for quite a while, and left the restaurant with some good advice on which football team NOT to shout for :-). What a change!
That said ... when we left the hotel the next morning it was almost like I wasn't in a different country - perhaps just a nicer and better organised, clean city somewhere in South Africa! Apart from people not driving like maniacs, and the different accent, I didn't feel like I had just flown just about half way around the world, and was standing on a completely different continent.
And in some sense I still feel that way after 4 months. I find the people and parts of the life I live here to be so much like what I was used to. In a way it is almost like living in Port Elizabeth when I was in primary school. Yes, there are differences, it is cleaner, more organised, the public toilets at the parks are clean and there is actually loo paper in there!, I can take the children to a park without having to be on edge because there is no safety in numbers aspect, I can drive home at midnight all on my own on the freeway without any worries, etc etc. In fact, I got home tonight after attending homegroup (Geoff is away for work), and I left the car door wide open on our pavement, with Gian still in the car busy waking up, while I went and unlocked the front door, put my handbag down, etc - and then I went back out to fetch him.
Some other things that are different... Having to fill my car myself; reward cards at the supermarkets (the first time I was asked whether I had flybuys, I had no idea what this woman was saying, and whether I missed it because of the accent, so I just shook my head :-)); your doorbell ringing at 8.30 in the morning to find a friendly postman delivering your speedpost!; driving on the freeway with the same car behind you for 80kms, because almost nobody exceeds the speed limit - so if you start with him behind you, you will have him behind you until one of you turns off; having to get used to talk about tea instead of supper in order to minimise confusion when you invite friends for a meal; not necessarily having cell phone reception everywhere you go; having so many service providers for internet, home phone, gas and elec, etc that you don't know which one to choose!, etc. etc.
But that all said, I am glad to say that I have not at all experienced any culture shock. I have come to believe that it depends on where you live, your social context, how adaptable you are, and your own expectation of how others should or should not behave. Yes, I do find the teenagers that you encounter on the streets here quite awful most of the time, but the teenagers of friends we have made in the last 4 months are wonderful, decent kids. And then again - the teenagers that I have seen hanging around in the shopping malls in Durban over the last 3 years were also not the greatest.
For me Aussies are just like us (apart from the accent! still cannot even try to copy it!) - some of them are good parents and have decent kids, some not so good, with not so great kids (like absolutely everywhere), some take pride in their homes and gardens, others have different priorities or different standards - depends where you go (nothing different there either).
Now this is where Geoff would differ from me, as he is in the work environment everyday. He definitely experiences cultural differences in the work place, feels that it takes much longer here for decisions to be made (he is in a sales oriented field), or for customers to get to the point where they welcome you into their 'domain'. So all in all he does find that he is under quite a lot of work related stress, and that it is taking him much longer to settle into his position than it would have taken him in a similar environment in SA.
Social context... We have made some wonderful Aussie friends, yes they might do things a bit differently to the way we are used to (again, minimal - not much more than the difference between someone in Durban and someone who have always lived in Cape Town or the "platteland"!), but they are still great, and they open their hearts and homes to you very quickly. I have seen often enough on the net though that they don't like 'snobs', or 'when we's', so as long as you are not constantly including 'well, back home we do it THIS way' in your conversations, you are pretty much OK. I have found that my new Aussie friends have a genuine interest in life in SA, and they are usually quite flabbergasted when they hear about our 'way of life' we lived there.
Yes, we miss our friends back in KZN, and have good memories of our times together, but life goes on, and they will forever be part of our lives, even though we might only physically see them a few times again. But then again - who knows.... (hint hint, nudge nudge). And then of course Facebook and email are welcome tools to help you to stay in contact... Not as nice as having a 'kuier' on a Sunday after church, but once again in the bigger scheme of things you learn to adjust and you cherish the memories of fun times, and you look forward to all the new experiences that God has for you around the next corner.
What else... o yes, I want to say something about the dreaded shopping experience, as I have seen quite a few gripes about this in my search for stories. In my honest opinion, shopping here is great. You have such a big variety of things to choose from, you hardly ever see bruised fruit or veg in the supermarkets (I think I will be shocked out of my tree if I had to visit a local Spar or Pick'nPay tomorrow!), you get to choose from 4 or 5 different types of potatoes even (yes, potatoes for crying out loud - with a tag that tells you which one is better for roasting, and which for mash etc!) - and the brand thing is really not such a big issue. It is fairly obvious which brands are popular here, and you are quite safe to go with them. Yes, you might take a while to find the mayonaisse that tastes like your Nola or whatever, but in the bigger scheme of things that is really trivial to me. Compared to all the wonderful affordable stuff I can buy to stock my fridge and pantry, the few less obvious products are like a drop in the bucket. :-).
One warning though - the shopping trolleys are really as bad as they say - maybe worse :-) - but the positive side is - it keeps you fit, as you are forever having to counter the trolley's insistance to steer towards someone's ankles! :-) I moaned and complained the first few times I went shopping, and then realised that it is - yes - minor in the bigger scheme of things - and now I just walk like a crab like everyone else. No sweat!
Oh and don't forget, you have to push your empty trolley back to the trolley bay all by yourself :-). No car guards... I must admit that I do NOT miss the car guards that would pounce on you in every parking area in SA, although I still remember the friendly faces of the dilligent car guards that were always on duty in the first and last rows at the Spar Shopping Centre in Waterfall.....
Lots of other things I can write about - not having domestic workers being one (I HATE housework, but I actually enjoy having my house all to myself, believe it or not - and if you have a plan of action, and you don't leave the washing until it takes over the laundry, it is really not that bad after all!); the fact that you should not wear 'holy' socks when you go visit someone (because everyone takes off their shoes before they walk into someone's house - so that you won't step any dirt onto the host's clean floors!); being invited for morning tea, afternoon tea, tea (dinner), which is followed by supper (an after 'tea' snack, sometimes something sweet); shopping at opshops (charity shops) being the 'done thing' for everybody I've met so far; food allergies (have never met so many people with food allergies in my life!, and now have to think of everything one can prepare for 'tea' that doesn't need flour, milk, nuts...); etc. etc. etc.
My conclusion for tonight - So was it easy? I would not say so. Was it difficult? Nope - not that one either. It is a challenge, it is hectic, it can be very stressful (specially when you have to sell house and cars etc), but if you plan and prepare as much as you possibly can, it is definitely do-able. And it is worth it - a thousand times over. So no, we don't have any regrets. Sure we miss friends and family, but we are making more friends, and our lives will be richer because of that.
My personal take on Aussie land.... I enjoy the Aussies; love their sense of humour; Victoria is beautiful (I found a place that tops Clifton, Llundudno, Camps Bay, Strand AND Gordonsbay! Yup, you'd better believe it :-) ); I love the sense of 'freedom' I feel when I walk out our front door and there is no security door, no high walls and remote control gates - just open space and fresh air; the people at our church are great and have welcomed us with open arms; my very good Aussie friend that I met after being here for exactly 2 weeks is wonderful, feels like we have known each other for yonks; the children can go ride their bikes in the neighbourhood; there are SO many great places to go (and that is only around where we live); so all in all I am really chuffed to be one of the many South Africans that got the chance to start over again in this country.
And now I need to get some of that beauty sleep...
Til next time!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Between Christmas and New Years...
THE 26TH
So on the 26th we decided that we now have this cycling thing all sorted, and headed for the Warragul Walk/Cycle track. But nevermind driving there with our bikes on the swiveling bike rack, I had this bright idea of cycling there from home!!! (Next time I get a bright idea like that, I think Geoff should lock me in the bathroom, only problem is our bathroom doors don't have locks on them.... darn...) Needless to say, by the time we actually got to the track, I was just about finished, had eaten most of my share of the Enerjelly Babies that we packed for the trip (for when we need energy haha), and I was convinced that I would not be able to get out of bed the next morning. Funny how you never notice how steep the uphills in your town are when you are driving your car!
The track itself is basically level, and really nice to cycle. It runs from the one end of town through to almost the other end, and you only do about 5-6 km if you do the entire track.
And then we had to head home. And if I thought the uphills going there were bad, I had another thing coming. We took a different route home (thought it would be better - ha!), just to be faced with a short monster of an uphill just after leaving the far end of the track. I couldn't even push my bike up the hill, let alone ride up, and to add insult to injury my dear husband pedals up, pushing my bike with his one hand :-(, then comes back down again and pedals all the way up a second time! I ended up helping Gian to push his bike up, and there and then I decided we would definitely drive to the track the next time. I won't go into the details of the last approx. 500m stretch of road just before we got home, let's just say Geoff made a u-turn at the top, and went down the hill at about 70km/h - and then promptly cycled back up again. I was just very happy to get home, and wobbled into the house for a much needed sit on a comfie couch. (Which was better than a bicycle seat the day after you went riding for the first time in years....)
NEW YEARS EVE
Our friends from church (where we spent Christmas evening) invited us to take a drive out to Toora with them on New Years Eve for the fireworks show there. They were actually going to be doing the pyrotechnics show there that evening, and asked us whether we wanted to join them there instead of driving through to Melbourne for the NYE show there. So we packed our picnic for 'tea' and set out on the 2 hour trip, following their car so that we didn't have to find the place on our own. It was a blazing hot day, so we were kitted out in shorts and t-shirts, hats, you name it.
It was a beautiful drive, through the Strzelecki Mountains (windy-windy - as in winding road - is an understatement), and we also stopped for a quick view of Wilsons Promontory in the distance on the way there.
The showground in Toora is quite small, seeing that it is really a very small town (the swerve for the chicken thing would apply there!), but they are not lacking in the flying and crawling insect department, and very soon we were back to doing the Australian wave thing in an effort to not eat fly flavoured chicken sandwiches! The mozzies and sand flies were also trying to get their share (of us though - unfortunately), so soon we all smelt like insect repellant, and if you weren't careful when licking your fingers, you chicken sandwich had a very distinct chemical taste :-). Just a pity the flies didn't really care much for the stink!
BUT - it was still fun. Loads of fun in fact! Specially for Geoff, who ended up helping with the setup of the firework display, and when it was time to set them off, he got to be in on the action - overalls, safety glasses and all. He didn't see anything of the display (as he was in the smoke and concentrating on blowing things up without losing a finger or something in the process), but he was all smiles afterwards and had an absolute ball of a time. And after fireworks displays, there is cleanup! We helped to pick up all the debris that was all over the place (now in a wind that all of a sudden started howling, so it was quite a rush to get it all done before the storm that was lurking in the distance hit there too), and then headed back home, going through the last bit of the Strzelecki Mountain pass when the clock struck midnight. Got home at about 12.30am, had a quick shower and crashed. What a great start to 2010.
Next up.... Mieke turns 12 and the container arrives on the same day !!!
So on the 26th we decided that we now have this cycling thing all sorted, and headed for the Warragul Walk/Cycle track. But nevermind driving there with our bikes on the swiveling bike rack, I had this bright idea of cycling there from home!!! (Next time I get a bright idea like that, I think Geoff should lock me in the bathroom, only problem is our bathroom doors don't have locks on them.... darn...) Needless to say, by the time we actually got to the track, I was just about finished, had eaten most of my share of the Enerjelly Babies that we packed for the trip (for when we need energy haha), and I was convinced that I would not be able to get out of bed the next morning. Funny how you never notice how steep the uphills in your town are when you are driving your car!
The track itself is basically level, and really nice to cycle. It runs from the one end of town through to almost the other end, and you only do about 5-6 km if you do the entire track.
And then we had to head home. And if I thought the uphills going there were bad, I had another thing coming. We took a different route home (thought it would be better - ha!), just to be faced with a short monster of an uphill just after leaving the far end of the track. I couldn't even push my bike up the hill, let alone ride up, and to add insult to injury my dear husband pedals up, pushing my bike with his one hand :-(, then comes back down again and pedals all the way up a second time! I ended up helping Gian to push his bike up, and there and then I decided we would definitely drive to the track the next time. I won't go into the details of the last approx. 500m stretch of road just before we got home, let's just say Geoff made a u-turn at the top, and went down the hill at about 70km/h - and then promptly cycled back up again. I was just very happy to get home, and wobbled into the house for a much needed sit on a comfie couch. (Which was better than a bicycle seat the day after you went riding for the first time in years....)
NEW YEARS EVE
Our friends from church (where we spent Christmas evening) invited us to take a drive out to Toora with them on New Years Eve for the fireworks show there. They were actually going to be doing the pyrotechnics show there that evening, and asked us whether we wanted to join them there instead of driving through to Melbourne for the NYE show there. So we packed our picnic for 'tea' and set out on the 2 hour trip, following their car so that we didn't have to find the place on our own. It was a blazing hot day, so we were kitted out in shorts and t-shirts, hats, you name it.
It was a beautiful drive, through the Strzelecki Mountains (windy-windy - as in winding road - is an understatement), and we also stopped for a quick view of Wilsons Promontory in the distance on the way there.
The showground in Toora is quite small, seeing that it is really a very small town (the swerve for the chicken thing would apply there!), but they are not lacking in the flying and crawling insect department, and very soon we were back to doing the Australian wave thing in an effort to not eat fly flavoured chicken sandwiches! The mozzies and sand flies were also trying to get their share (of us though - unfortunately), so soon we all smelt like insect repellant, and if you weren't careful when licking your fingers, you chicken sandwich had a very distinct chemical taste :-). Just a pity the flies didn't really care much for the stink!
BUT - it was still fun. Loads of fun in fact! Specially for Geoff, who ended up helping with the setup of the firework display, and when it was time to set them off, he got to be in on the action - overalls, safety glasses and all. He didn't see anything of the display (as he was in the smoke and concentrating on blowing things up without losing a finger or something in the process), but he was all smiles afterwards and had an absolute ball of a time. And after fireworks displays, there is cleanup! We helped to pick up all the debris that was all over the place (now in a wind that all of a sudden started howling, so it was quite a rush to get it all done before the storm that was lurking in the distance hit there too), and then headed back home, going through the last bit of the Strzelecki Mountain pass when the clock struck midnight. Got home at about 12.30am, had a quick shower and crashed. What a great start to 2010.
Next up.... Mieke turns 12 and the container arrives on the same day !!!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Our first Christmas in Aus!!
And the next we knew, it was Christmas Eve. The bikes were all assembled, each decorated with a piece of Christmas wrapping paper, and the kids and I sneaked 2 surprise presents for Geoff into the mix.
On Christmas morning we visited yet another a local church in our quest to find a spiritual home (and promptly decided that it would not be the one), came home, packed lunch, loaded our presents onto the new bike rack on the back of my car, and off we went, having decided to have a Christmas with a difference - we were going to do the Noojee Rail Trail! Fairly flat, and only about 4kms, so I would be able to cope without needing an ambulance.
We quickly discovered (after a few bends in the road, and me making sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me when I was sure I saw the bikes changing position on the back of the car!!) that our new bike rack had a bit of a flaw in that the weight of the bikes caused the whole bike rack to swivel on the tow bar! So when I turned this way, the bikes went that way, and when I turned that way - well the bikes did their own thing :-). I did not really fancy having our new bikes and tow bar land on the road behind us while we were doing 80km/h, so there we were in the middle of nowhere, next to the road doing the Australian wave while trying to figure out a way to secure the bike rack.
For the uninformed.... the Australian wave = waving your hand up and down and side to side, sometimes frantically, in front of your face to try and keep 3 flies from going into your mouth and 7 from going up your nose - not a pleasant experience! Mmm - just imagine eating your 'lekker braaivleis' out in the countryside somewhere - with about 10 flies trying to get you to eat fly flavoured chops, salad, broodjie, you name it :-). You would then be doing the Australian wave :-).
So Australian wave and all Geoff eventually secured the bike rack to the spare wheel by attaching the wheels of the bikes on the one side to the spare wheel on the same side with the cable we bought to lock the bikes. And 10 minutes later we were on the road again.
We eventually arrived in Noojee, and realised that the map we downloaded from the internet was not at all detailed enough, so we drove up and down in Noojee for a while (and almost decided to give up and go find another place to ride our bikes) before we eventually found the start of the trail. (We have now since bought a book on the rail trails - worth spending the money.)
And off we went...
The trail starts just off the main road that runs through Noojee to the next little (emphasis on little) town, and heads into the 'woods' to the Noojee Trestle Bridge seen below.
Rail trails are old railway tracks that were covered up or converted to be used as walk/bike trails. Hence the name rail trail.
One can turn off onto a dirt road before you get to Noojee, and then you can drive up to the Noojee Trestle Bridge and have a picnic there, or just go for a short walk.
After we had lunch (just after crossing the bridge), we headed back to the car, and then decided to drive in to see the bridge from the picnic area. Wow, quite a picture.
On our way home we stopped to take some photos of the views in the area, and Geoff saw this plaque on the ground.
It is really stunning out there, a camera does not do it justice.
And that was the Noojee Trail, but Christmas was not over yet.
We spent the evening with some friends from church who invited us for 'tea' - not wanting us to spend our first Christmas in Aus on our own. What a great family. We had a lovely evening, ate way too much, stayed way too late, and got home quite exhausted. :-)
So our Christmas Day with a difference was the first of many - not sure what we will get up to this year. Guess you will have to watch this space. For quite a while that is. :-)
Next up... between Christmas and New Years ..
On Christmas morning we visited yet another a local church in our quest to find a spiritual home (and promptly decided that it would not be the one), came home, packed lunch, loaded our presents onto the new bike rack on the back of my car, and off we went, having decided to have a Christmas with a difference - we were going to do the Noojee Rail Trail! Fairly flat, and only about 4kms, so I would be able to cope without needing an ambulance.
We quickly discovered (after a few bends in the road, and me making sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me when I was sure I saw the bikes changing position on the back of the car!!) that our new bike rack had a bit of a flaw in that the weight of the bikes caused the whole bike rack to swivel on the tow bar! So when I turned this way, the bikes went that way, and when I turned that way - well the bikes did their own thing :-). I did not really fancy having our new bikes and tow bar land on the road behind us while we were doing 80km/h, so there we were in the middle of nowhere, next to the road doing the Australian wave while trying to figure out a way to secure the bike rack.
For the uninformed.... the Australian wave = waving your hand up and down and side to side, sometimes frantically, in front of your face to try and keep 3 flies from going into your mouth and 7 from going up your nose - not a pleasant experience! Mmm - just imagine eating your 'lekker braaivleis' out in the countryside somewhere - with about 10 flies trying to get you to eat fly flavoured chops, salad, broodjie, you name it :-). You would then be doing the Australian wave :-).
So Australian wave and all Geoff eventually secured the bike rack to the spare wheel by attaching the wheels of the bikes on the one side to the spare wheel on the same side with the cable we bought to lock the bikes. And 10 minutes later we were on the road again.
We eventually arrived in Noojee, and realised that the map we downloaded from the internet was not at all detailed enough, so we drove up and down in Noojee for a while (and almost decided to give up and go find another place to ride our bikes) before we eventually found the start of the trail. (We have now since bought a book on the rail trails - worth spending the money.)
And off we went...
The trail starts just off the main road that runs through Noojee to the next little (emphasis on little) town, and heads into the 'woods' to the Noojee Trestle Bridge seen below.
Rail trails are old railway tracks that were covered up or converted to be used as walk/bike trails. Hence the name rail trail.
One can turn off onto a dirt road before you get to Noojee, and then you can drive up to the Noojee Trestle Bridge and have a picnic there, or just go for a short walk.
After we had lunch (just after crossing the bridge), we headed back to the car, and then decided to drive in to see the bridge from the picnic area. Wow, quite a picture.
On our way home we stopped to take some photos of the views in the area, and Geoff saw this plaque on the ground.
It is really stunning out there, a camera does not do it justice.
And that was the Noojee Trail, but Christmas was not over yet.
We spent the evening with some friends from church who invited us for 'tea' - not wanting us to spend our first Christmas in Aus on our own. What a great family. We had a lovely evening, ate way too much, stayed way too late, and got home quite exhausted. :-)
So our Christmas Day with a difference was the first of many - not sure what we will get up to this year. Guess you will have to watch this space. For quite a while that is. :-)
Next up... between Christmas and New Years ..
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