In 4 months it will be 2 years!

GUILTY AS CHARGED!

Ok, so I have been a tad busy :-).  Apologies to those who have been wondering what we've been up to (the non FB friends).  Life got hectic and then more hectic, and blogging was just not in my top priorities.

THE ELUSIVE MOVE-IN DATE

As you all know we are building a home, have been 'almost moving in' for the last 3 to 4 months, a very frustrating exercise, and yet again we have the prospect of moving in next weekend.  Our builder and now very good friend has had some issues with his partner which made the process a bit complicated, but our house is looking great, our bamboo floor is looking awesome, and we are very much looking forward to changing the house into our home.

Our rental contract expired in January, the landlord let us stay on until 18 June in the end, so we have been squatting with various families the last month and a bit.  We are hoping to move straight from our current abode (our pastor's house, they are on long service leave) into our house, so we have been praying very hard for this to happen. :)

THE LAST YEAR

Ok, I am not even going to try to catch up all the happenings of the last year.  But basically it has been made up of many trips to Pakenham for Mieke's Irish Dancing, many trips locally for Gian and Mieke's piano, drumming, singing and guitar lessons, and many trips to first our block and now our almost finished house.

Inbetween all that I have been working on some websites, which has kept me incredibly busy, but I have at least improved my expertise hugely, which has been great.

No trips this year yet, except for Geoff that has been galavanting internationally for work, as well as interstate, which was hectic to say the least.  He is now concentrating on a mill about 45 mins drive from home, which is awesome - great to have husband and dad home basically every night of the week, instead of 1 or 2 plus weekends!

Mieke's Irish has been improving a lot, to the point that she is now dancing in the Victoria State Championships next month, and then in the Australian National Team Championships beginning of October.  That will be in Gold Coast, so our first trip to Queensland is coming up!  I am very excited, as we are combining it with a bit of a holiday trip as well, our first real holiday as a family!  Can't wait.

Saw Minette (one of my best friends from high school) this year, which was great.  They live close to Sydney, and came to Melbourne for a weekend.

CHURCH

We are still attending Drouin Baptist Church, and are blessed out of our socks with the number of amazing friends we have made there, and through the church.  Geoff preached a few Sundays ago, which was great, he is a natural, and I am looking forward to hearing more sermons coming from him in the future.  Not sure what God wants us to do regarding that yet, so for now we are just networking and building lasting friendships with likeminded friends.

HOMESCHOOLING

Well, we are slowly but surely settling into a sort of routine, if you can settle into a routine living out of boxes and suitcases.  Must admit that I am looking forward to having their little school area all setup in our home.  Mieke has finally got to the point of catching up with her Maths (which was behind due to me insisting on her starting a few levels back to make up for some shoddy teaching while still at school), so that is great.  We had our moments when it was tears and tantrums about school work, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Once we are settled in our home I want to start scheduling in more practical learning experiences, outings, etc, which will be great for all of us.

HEALTH

Apart from the odd cough and sniffle here and there, and Geoff's high blood pressure mostly due to so much travelling and work related stress, we are A-OK.  God has really been good to us in so many ways, our health being one.  Oh - Gian did end up getting a filling (and an injection to go!), and we are back at the dentist on Monday for another one, but so far so good.  Mieke's orthodontic treatment worked wonders, would have been perfect teeth if it wasn't for the chip out of the front tooth from when she flipped the fold up chair into her tooth back in Waterfall.

AUSSIE LIFE

Well, that has just been great.  We are thoroughly enjoying the freedom to go for walks, sit in a park with 'slap chips' for lunch, going into Melbourne by train, and having the kids go for walks or bike rides in the neighbourhood.

We have met the most wonderful people, people who have opened their hearts and their homes to us (literally over the last month!), who challenge us in our faith, and who encourage us when needed.

We have an equal spread of ex-South African and Aussie friends, and thoroughly enjoy visiting with all of them.

OK - must admit that I miss the Durban weather when I have ice on my windscreen in the morning, but having central gas heating makes a huge difference so I am at least not frozen most of the time :-).  Geoff loves it, think he will do well in Antarctica too!

ALL FOR NOW

Think I should now concentrate on getting dinner ready for when Mieke and Geoff gets home from Pakenham.  He offered to take her to Irish for me, as the lesson is from 5.30 to 6.30, and if I do the trip he ends up having to cook, or we eat leftovers!  So tonight I am rewarding him with a beef roast with veggies!  Smells yum.

Until next time...

Mieke's 13th Birthday

Gian's 10th Birthday

Mary Ann (Geoff's sister) and our Aussie friends Warren and Cathy - on a trip to Churchill Island.

Minette and I

Sitting at the beach on Phillip Island - pretty isn't it!

Think I might have caught up eventually!!! :-)

This is certainly a year of firsts (for obvious reasons haha).  Our first Easter, and our first Belgrave Easter Convention!  We ended up camping at the convention - in our 6 man tent, on our blow-up mattrasses, in sleeping bags, the whole toot.  (Someone cancelled and we got a site, it is usually very difficult and one has to go on the waiting list about a year before the time to get a spot at the Easter Convention).

...Anyway - have to mention here that at least this time our blow up mattrasses didn't have us lying on the stony ground in the middle of an ice-cold night like our last Drakensberg camp escapade - the one where Bruce (Geoff's one brother) took us on a 'quick walk' that lasted about 4 hours up and down 2 mountains!!!  (Had to get this in here for some of the Nelson family - lest we forget what he did to us haha.)

But back to the present - we camped in what is known by our church friends as "Calway Corner", which is an area pre-booked for all the people from Drouin Baps (short for Baptist Church), where the Calways camp in the corner, and everyone else next to and in front of them.  We arrived on Thursday evening, set up tent, and then had loads of fun socialising with our new friends for the rest of the weekend.  But all good things do come to an end, and after a few preaching sessions and quite a few cuppas with our friends inbetween and afterwards until late at night, we packed up again on Monday afternoon, to leave after the afternoon session as Geoff had to leave for Mt Gambier again on the Tuesday morning.

 An early morning read before the first session....

Mieke took some pics, but I need to get them off her phone first, so I will publish this post without the pics - will add them at a later stage.

SAD NEWS

Some very very sad news was that Nonhlanhla, our domestic worker from Durban and friend, passed away during the week after Easter.  She had kidney failure (been diabetic most of her adult life), and unfortunately the public health system in SA failed her miserably.  Need I say more? :-(

GIAN's FIRST BIRTHDAY IN AUS!!!

And he turned 9 on the 10th of April.  He got quite a few calls from SA (thanks to everyone for making his day special by phoning, sending emails and FB messages).  He felt very spoilt, and told me with a huge smile that he is the one that has had the most phone calls in one day since we got here.  Which is true :-).  We got him a ripstik for his birthday (also known as a surfskate), and he has once again proven that he is a very fast learner.  He now starts at the top of our street (on the sidewalk of course), and 'skates' his way down to the other end past our house at quite a speed.  He is growing up so fast!

Anyway, friends from church (and their 2 boys round Gian's age) came over for afternoon tea and cake to help us celebrate his birthday.  And this is where the cake thing started!!!

MIEKE's FIRST FEISH

The next day Mieke danced in her first Feish (pronounced fesh).  Took quite a bit of organising, as Geoff and I played in the worship team on Sunday (they were short of musicians, so it was only us, the drummer and the leader with his guitar - so I couldn't give it a miss!), and Mieke had to be at the venue at 12.15.  Being over and hour's drive away, and church usually finishing at 11.45, I was definitely not going to make it.  So my dearest husband (he is just the best) got up at the crack of dawn to pass Mieke on to her dance instructor (who lives ever further away than we do) close to one of the offramps on to the freeway at 7am!  I left straight after church and got to the venue at about 1pm, just to find that they were running later than planned, and we would have been there in time for Mieke to dance!  Not great for Mieke, as she sat there the whole morning, and we could only leave after the results were announced, getting us home at 8.30pm only!  Was a very long day for her.  But she was very happy, she came 3rd and 4th in 2 of her 3 dances!

MY FIRST BIRTHDAY IN AUS

mmmm, getting bored with all our 'firsts' yet?  :-)  Better get used to it, coz there are still many more where these come from haha.

So I turned a whole 44 on the 15th.  And the cake thing continued.  With epidemic proportions! :-).  Started on the 14th already though, when Merron baked a cake for all the April birthday babies in our homegroup.  4 of us, incl Gian!  Then on Thursday Ann (our fireworks friends) spoilt me rotten by inviting me for a scrumpteous lunch and some more - you guessed it - cake!  A lemon cake, fresh out of the oven, talk about yum!  Friday evening the Youngs and their 2 boys were back again, and you will never guess what Janette brought with. :-).  Yup - a cake.  A HUGE one, that is.  Date and apple cake, called a Lumberjack cake.  I wonder why.......????!!    We fed them potjie (just about our only Aussie friends that had not yet been fed Geoff's potjie), and we generally ate way too much.  (So what's new!)

On Saturday we made an offer on some LAND - yup, 678sqm of Aussie dirt, called a block here, by the way.  With a fantastic view.  In the background (sorry, the day was very hazy, so you can hardly see them on the first photo of our view) are the Baw Baw Mountains!  In winter we will see the snow on the mountains!  Cool hey?  (Excuse the pun haha)

After making the offer (and taking a drive to our 'new block' to make sure we were sure about this), we popped in at Mike and Tania (our SA friends in Drouin - by the way, forgot to mention that the block we bought is also in Drouin!), just to find more..... yup - cake.  Tania's mom (who lives with them) baked the most yummy carrot cake, and again we ate.  Cake.

I know I am still under my birthday heading, because it all only ended on Saturday night when Rob and Michaela came over for a barbie (= barbeque = braai), bringing all the food and the most yummie salads.  And bless their souls - no more cake!  By now I did not want to see cake, let alone eat cake or even think about cake....

But I had a wonderful birthday - it lasted for 4 days! :-)  Now that is what I call a bargain and a half. :-)

D-DAY

Friday 23 April we signed the contracts for our piece of Aussie dirt, and paid our $500 holding deposit.  Officially the advert for this address now says "Under Contract" on realestate.com.au.  Yeah!!!

BALLARAT!!  Another FIRST!  (Don't tell me you didn't see that coming!)

Sunday after church we hit the road to Ballarat, about 2 hours and 20 mins from home, on the other side of Melbourne.  Remember Geoff's Aussie friend from the Church Bass Mailing list (they visited us in January somewhere, think I posted something about the visit here somewhere)?  They invited us to come stay, so we stayed with them on Sunday night.  We had a great evening, and eventually got to bed 1am on Monday morning!  And then at 11.00 we dragged ourselves off to Sovereign Hill, a 'historic' mining town replica, with a little 'river' where you can pan your own gold, the works!  Geoff was quickly hit with 'gold fever' :-), and him and the kids spent quite some time panning for gold.  (Yup, real gold!).  Our loot is now in 2 small bottles, to be added to when we go again.  I was too cold to be messing around in water with a pan (it was about 14 deg), so I decided I would find my gold in the little shop that sold all sorts of things - got myself a light blue scarf, just in time for the descent of Winter on our little town of Warragul.

And yes, Winter seems to have arrived in all its glory.  Overcast, rainy weather, but that is why we have central gas heating!  Sure it was invented just for me! :-)

And now we are off to band practice.  And I caught up.  Eventually :-).

Next time....  who knows, coz it must still happen!!!!  :-)

March in a nutshell

OUR FIRST WARRAGUL SHOW AND OUR FIRST STORM

Our first Warragul show happened over the first weekend of March.  Geoff volunteered again to go and help with the setting up of the fireworks display for our friends from church.  Mieke and Gian enjoyed the bumper cars and some other ride (Mieke) that would have me nauseous for at least a month, and then we joined the others to watch another amazing fireworks display.  Geoff decided this time to watch instead of setting off the fireworks like last time, and though he also thought it was quite spectacular, he decided that blowing things up was a lot more fun....  so guess what he will be doing next time :-).

We also had our first really stormy weather in Aus over this weekend.  It rained buckets, so much so that many friends had their driveways washed into the road or to the back of their houses (depending on the direction of the slope on their land), thunder, lightning, the whole lot!  A homeschooling friend from Traralgon had her living room flooded, so I guess we got off quite lightly seeing that only our al fresco area got a bit wet as it rained in onto the ceiling and the water ran along the ceiling to pour out against the house (luckily on the outside still)!

SCIENCE WORKS MUSEUM

That was quite nice.  It is quite a drive from our place to the science works museum, but it was worth it.  And not too expensive.  A little bit like the MTN Science Centres in SA, just about 6 times the size, and with a lot more on display and loads more to do.  There is also a planetarium and lightning show, but we gave that a miss to keep costs down, and we also ran out of time.

OUR 3RD ANNIVERSARY

Yup, it's been 3 years.  In some ways it feels like MUCH longer, and in other ways I almost cannot believe that it has already been 3 years.  Michaela (our one SA friend) came over to look after the kids and Geoff and I had a night out on the town (haha, what is that?).  OK - we went to the Warragul Thai Restaurant, and after that we strolled around in town, looking at land and houses for sale, etc.  After a stop at McD for coffee (for Geoff) and icecream (for me, but he decided to have some too) that we consumed very romantically at the Civic Park (ok, wasn't THAT romantically, but it was nice anyway) we head back home.  Was a really nice evening.  Only cost about 2 and a half times the amount it would have cost to have the same night out in SA, but who cares. :-)  It's been a great 3 years with my dear hubby, we have had way more ups than uphills (waaaaaaaay more), and we are still very much looking forward to our 50th anniversary. :-)

MIEKEs FIRST IRISH DANCING SHOW

On the 20th Mieke danced in her first public Irish Dancing performance at the Pakenham Show.  (Yup, this country likes having shows!)  She danced nicely, remembered all her steps and had a good time.  Afterwards we strolled around at the show, had some icecream (yup, again!), and looked at sheep and chickens and ducks and dogs and you name it. :)


This was also the same day that Geoff gave us our first experience of ER at Warragul hospital.  (See one of my previous posts.)

ANOTHER SHOW!

Last Sunday of March and yet another show!  This time it was Farm World at Lardner Park, quite close to Warragul.  We went with our friends from church (the fireworks friends!) and spent the whole afternoon walking around at the show.  It is basically an agricultural show, with loads of tools and equipment, so Geoff obviously had a ball.  And the kids had to try out the big tractors.

And that was March!  (I did say it would be in a nutshell :-).)

Some more ramblings on....

Phew, just when I think that I am catching up with our life here, life gets busy and another month sneaks up on me - and then I am way behind again!

Well, Geoff's company car (a Holden Captiva) turned out to be quite a good choice.  Comfie, and an easy fit for an adult couple in the middle 2 seats with the kids sitting in seats no 6 and 7 in the back.  (He has had the car for 2 months now, and he is very happy with it - and me too - I drive it now and then when I have to take Mieke to Irish over a weekend.  Nice sound system too :-). )

FICIFOLIA FESTIVAL IN DROUIN

That was quite festive.  About half the residents of the town make their way to the main road in Drouin, and hang around chatting to friends while waiting for the procession to make its way up the street.  There are various floats (OK, if you were at varsity in the 80s, forget the picture you now had in your mind! - no elaborate shapes and forms and nights of folding little flowers to then squish into wire mesh shapes) - basically just open flat bed trucks with people sitting on the back.  Schools and businesses use this procession to promote themselves, and the theme this year was sport. 

The whole affair takes about 45 mins and then everyone (and his dog) makes a move to the Drouin Civic Park for burgers (a patty on a slice of white bread) or a sausage sizzle (a sausage on a slice of white bread), and to stroll around for a look at the stalls that line the walking/bike track.  And again lots of time to catch up socially with your friends - we are the newbies, and ended up stopping every so often to chat to someone we know from church!  Living in a small town certainly has many advantages, this being one of them. :-)

There was even something for the kids - they ended up having a great bumper car ride! 

The queue was as long as anything, but they did not mind waiting at all.  And you guessed it - they had some friends from church to keep them company in the queue. :-)

The whole thing comes to an end with the free open air movie that is shown in the park at 8.30pm, but we decided that it would be better to get the kids to bed at a decent hour, so we gave it a miss.

BUGS

Well, as you probably know by now, Aus has more creepy crawlies than some other places (phew, and apparently NSW and Queensland are WAY worse than Victoria - needless to say I am even more chuffed that we live in Vic!!) - SO I decided to follow the advice given by the TV advert for Mortein Professional and declared war on the goggas.  Ended up spraying right around the house, around the windows and doors, etc - and I think it actually helped, as we have had very few spiders in the house since then.  Specially those fat Huntsman spiders, yuk!  Summer being over has also helped with the fly problem, so we don't have dead flies on our window sills (thanks to no name brand surface spray!) every morning anymore.  OK - if you leave the front door open for too long you will still have 3 or 4 normal sized flies taking a chance at an encounter with the fly swatter (this usually ends up being their destiny) - but none of those ugly huge flies that make SA flies look like muggies :-).  But then give me a fly anytime - as long as the spiders stay far away....!  (Or at least in the field across the road where Geoff dumps the ones he rescues before I get there with the surface spray!)

WILSONS PROMONTORY

mmm - what can I say, except that these Aussies do NOT exaggerate when they rave about Wilsons Prom.  I thought that it is quite ridiculous that a place could be so popular that you have to enter a 'ballot' to get a possible camping spot at Wilsons Prom over the Christmas holidays, but now I know why!  This place is absolutely gobsmacking beautiful!  R&M (our friends) camped there the weekend of 20 and 21 February so we decided to make the 2 hour trip there for the day on Saturday.  (We were going to camp there with them, but Geoff ended up having to go to NZ on the Sunday...)

Unfortunately I did not take any photos of the beach, but to give you an idea - take the best features of Clifton Beach, Llundudno Beach and Strand Beach, combine them, and then you will still be a bit short of how nice this place is.  We are determined to go camping there sometime, wanted to make it while it was still Summer, but there were just not enough weekends!  Tidal River is the place to go, it has a camping site with about 400 and something sites, the most stunning protected beach and a tidal river that is safe for children to play in.

An interesting experience was going to Squeaky Beach - a beach of pure white quartz sand.  When you walk on the beach it literally squeaks - needless to say we had loads of fun stomping around on the sand!  This is a photo taken during the walk down to the beach.

We stayed there until about 8pm and made our way back home so that Geoff could pack for his NZ trip.


FAMILY FELLOWSHIP TEAS

What a great idea!  Our church family gets together once a month for a fellowship tea (dinner/supper whatever, remember?) at someone's house or in a park if the weather permits.  We all take food and dessert to share and generally eat way too much!

So Geoff left for NZ the Sunday morning before church, the kids and I went to church, then we had a worship team lunch at the church, followed by the fellowship tea at someone's house.  I had a very nice time chatting with everyone, even though it would have been so much nicer if Geoff had been around as well, and generally had a good time around the dessert table as well... yum :-)

MARY-ANN's PLANNED VISIT AND BRUCE's SURPRISE VISIT!

M-A and Bruce arrived on the 26th (when Geoff got back from NZ).  What a surprise it was for him when he waited for M-A at arrivals only to have Bruce walk out with her as well.  We started the weekend off with a picnic at Inverloch beach (about an hour from our place) for tea,

and then went and did the Walhalla Train trip on Saturday.  (Click on the last picture to enlarge it and you will see 2 guys actually panning for gold in the little river!)

And that was pretty much it for what was left of February after my March 18 post.

Next up.... March in a nutshell...

Our first visit to the Emergency Room!!

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.....

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...

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!!

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!

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 !!!

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 ..

Our permanent residence visa trip to NZ!

First let me explain....

If you apply for your ENS PR (employee nomination scheme, in other words a company here gives you a job and then sponsors you for permanent residence) while you are still in SA (called off-shore), you need to be out of the country when the visa is 'awarded'. We applied for our work visa as well as the ENS PR while we were still in SA, so we had to leave the country for a few days so that our permanent residence visas could be finalised. As this formed part of our visa requirements, Geoff's work paid for all our flights, as well as accommodation in a hotel in Rotorua for 2 nights.

So... back in time we go again. Some more photies in this post for those of you who get bored reading too much stuff :-).

On Wed 16 Dec we got up bright and early, made sure we had our passports, and we hit the road to the airport. As it was a work day, we had to leave quite early in order to get to the aiport in time with rush hour traffic along the way. (They call one section of the freeway "Monash Parking Lot" because it gets to a standstill if anything out of the ordinary happens! Phew, some days homeschooling REALLY pays off - don't have to leave the house for my daily work!)

We landed in Auckland round about 5pm, rented a car, and drove to Rotorua - about 3 hours from Auckland. (Geoff also made some work appointments at two mills close to Rotorua, that is why we stayed there for Thu and Fri.)

So while Geoff was it work during the day, the kids and I painted the town red (apart from learning how to breathe sulphur air all the time - makes a rotten egg smell quite pleasant!).

On Thursday we visited Whakarewarewa Maori village.

Quick language lesson here - Wh is pronounce F in NZ - so I'll leave it to you to pronounce the name of the village with a straight face :-).

That was quite interesting. A few Maori families actually live in this village, you pay an entrance fee (and not cheap, but once in a lifetime is OK) to go into the village, and then you can go have a look at the thermal geysers, the boiling hot mud pool, a show put up by one of the families, shop in one of the 3 or 4 little Maori owned shops there, etc.

This is part of the family who did the 'show', they also live in the house that you see here.










Swimming or bathing in this pool would NOT be a good idea...










This hot water geyser spurts out boiling water most of the time.













We also spent some time driving around the lake and looking for the thermal hot spots, and then we went to the 'lake front' - I had a good book, and the kids played around in the park.




















On Friday afternoon after lunch with Geoff's NZ colleague we drove back to Auckland via Tauranga and then Maunganui where we stopped over for a quick windswept (hello Gordons Bay!) play on the beach for the kids. Geoff sat somewhere in the shade with his laptop working, and I had - you guessed it - my book.

We got to Auckland at about 7.30 pm, had supper at Victoria Park (in the wind, it was quite chilly) and was then met by Bridget, Holly, Amy and Chris for a walk up (and down) Franklin Street - well known for their Christmas lights every year.




























On the Saturday the children got to taboggan at Snow Planet for free (helps being from South Africa, and to never have seen snow before!!). They had a ball of a time, and only gave up when they were frozen! They weren't dressed appropriately, and had to borrow clothes and boots, and looked quite cute in the oversized clothes.

Gian after a successful ride...










Mieke and Gian - by now quite frozen :-).










After the unexpected Snow Planet visit we headed for North Head.

View of Auckland (Sky Tower in the middle there) from North Head.









Geoff and Larry having a go at taboganning down the hill on a piece of cardboard. Unfortunately the pieces of cardboard were waaaaaaaay too small, and they didn't get very far!


















































After North Head we headed for Auckland Domain Park where we had lunch and Geoff, Bridget and Mieke visited the museum. Gian, Larry and I opted for ice cream instead. :-)

Sunday morning we were off to the airport again, and we landed in Melbourne as Permanent Residents. What a feeling! We then drove straight to church (via a takeaway place to get something to eat) and joined in our first Christmas Carol evening church service in Australia as PRs!

And now I have some chores to do...

Our next trip back into time: Our first Christmas in Aus!!