Australian Parking

I went over to a friend's place a few months back and I parked my car on the street.  She immediately asked me why I had not parked on her lawn.  Ummm, what?  As she asked it our other friend pulled up, hopped the curb kerb and parked her Toyota Highlander Kluger on the lawn.  I was blown away!

In Ottawa if you parked on someone's lawn they'd likely be all "somebody hold my earrings" and then have to go back out and re-mow the concentric circles in to their lawn once your car was gone.

It was shockingly easy to find photographic evidence of this phenomenon as I went about town with this blog post in my head.

I've spoken with Mudgee residents (this is my sample size) about this and they have indignantly told me that sometimes there is nowhere else to park!  What are they to do??  Like I'm the one asking a foolish question here.

So I suddenly found myself wondering with a start if our exchange family was in Canada parking willy nilly on people's lawns.  I most certainly never thought to clearly explain to them that doing so would be not only frowned upon, but also make them subject to a parking ticket.

So while we are here, we act like the locals.  Wanda already knew what to do!

A Swim Day in Bathurst

So yesterday I got this text.  It would seem that Joan couldn't find anyone else to hang out with missed me terribly and was looking to catch up. For those readers who did not get an A+ in Australian geography, that is a significant drive!

  This Canadian is willing to go long distances for promises of a sauna and hot tub.  

They far exceeded my expectations.  I swam for 20 minutes and then rewarded myself with multiple tours through BOTH the dry and steam sauna, with intermittent cold showers and dips in the hot tub Scandinavian style.

There are no photos of me in a bathing suit.

The only way to convince me to leave was to promise me food.  I love food and heat in equal measure.  We had a lovely lunch and then walked across the street to the Salvation Army to buy a garlic press.  There were four partial garlic presses.  All missing the mesh that is required to actually press garlic... We managed to piece one complete unit together.  We paid $1 for it and went to leave.

 On our way out someone brought two awesome bar stools in to donate them.  I exclaimed "I want those!!!" And the guy said "take them, they're yours". Awesome. So we pack them up in the truck.
  Then the guy from the store comes out and asked if we've paid for them yet.  Ummm, pardon?  Oh crap!

So I run back in the store and offer them money, but they won't take it from me.  So we head off with our red hot bar stools, pass the sobriety test:
  and call it a successful day trip.

Can't wait to do it again!

Dave went to use the garlic press on tonight's dinner. Unfortunately it broke after one clove. Booooo garlic press!

An IKEA Commercial and a Hike

Saturday morning is a time that Monkey seems to find his way to my bed and I seem to get breakfast served to me and we seem to get a slow start to the day.  I like Saturdays when we are not travelling.

This morning I was looking up flight prices from Sydney to Christchurch as part of the exit strategy (again). 

Lo and behold the price had dropped from yesterday BY HALF. Suddenly I'm all "START THE CAR". I booked those puppies and we are off!!

Finally we rolled out of bed, but only because the main room gets all the sun and was warmer ;)

We got an invite to head to Castle Rocks for a hike.  Considering how the rest of the day was looking, we jumped on it.  

Here's Liz and Monkey at the top of the rocks.

The view was incredible!

 The boys had a great time.  I have new suspicions that bigC might be part mountain goat.  He was scampering up the sheer rock faces like they were flat ground. 

Everyone should sleep well tonight!

 Did I mention that Liz brought iced cakes? Boston buns she called them.  The boys think Liz is amazing!!

I happen to already know that she is!

We Are Actually Returning to Canada, and Other Stuff

We pulled the trigger today.  We are booked on flights leaving New Zealand on January 15 and landing in Canada also on January 15 (the date line is a funny thing!).

It was a weird feeling hitting the button to book the flights.  On the one hand, with the exception of deportation, there is no inexpensive way home.  So pressing that button is expensive. Uggg, so expensive.

It was a surprisingly emotional moment as well.  We live in a kind of suspended animation this year. So returning home is awesome as we are heading back to everyone and everything that we know. To life. To normal...everything.  So awesome.  

In the same push of a button we are planning to leave our life here.  A life we are loving and people we've connected with.  A life that we know that we will never return to.  So life in Ottawa will be there when we get back, but this life will be gone.  So there is a mourning that happens once the button is pushed.  Like somehow if I don't push it I can delay the inevitable.  Hold on to this life a bit longer.

There are still 37.5 bottles of wine in this house, so no one is going anywhere yet!!!

This is what the house looks like today.  The short one is in the playroom toying with the laws of physics.

 The tall one is in the great room learning to juggle. Toying with physics appears to be the theme.

What else would you do on a Friday evening? Dave and I are off to the local wine bar with some friends.

Thank You Powers that Be

The universe clearly follows the WB family blog.  After yesterdays post about the weather the powers that be responded with a gorgeous sunny day.  Firstly the rain stopped in the middle of the night, I noticed the sun coming up in the middle of boot camp (rather than after it-the days are getting longer!), it was 20 degrees inside the house and the sun shone most of the afternoon. This meant that Petey and I could go about our afternoon basking in the sun.  He napped as dogs are prone to doing and I researched flights home.

What this really means is that there will be hot water for showers in the morning.  Oh the simple pleasures!

Yes mom, we are coming home this January.  Nothing is booked yet, but it would appear that we will travel around NZ from December 18-January 15.  If the powers that be could see fit to make that January day sunny and 20 degrees I sure would appreciate it!

For now I am cuddled in a warm bed with a young man who intends to morph from the age that airlines would consider him (for the purposes of determining fare prices) to be a "child" to the age where he is considered an "adult" just in time for the long international flight home.

The sun today brightened all of our spirits. Even though some of the warmth faded with the sun,  we didn't bother to light the fire.  We stayed very Australian and just didn't bother.  I want and need to believe that spring is almost upon us.

One more day until the weekend!!!

Winter in Mudgee

Someone told me tonight that there are two weeks left of winter.  I don't know if that is true, but I am clinging to that hope like a drowning person clings to a life raft.  Dave has been told that we have made it through the worst of the winter.  Oh we hope so.

You see, before we came over here we arrogantly thought that a "winter" temperature of 7 degrees during the day and "as cold as -3" overnight was child's play. I mean, let's face it.  We are Canadians.

 

We tell anyone who will listen that we drink beer and fish in the ice and can handle the cold. We have a worldwide reputation for being tough as nails.  I have to say that this Canadian now sees the huge difference between a 7 degree day in Canada and a 7 degree day in Australia.  The main point of discussion being THAT THE AUSTRALIANS DON'T BOTHER TO HEAT THEIR HOUSES.  I was told this before I came and I will admit that I didn't understand it either.  

So go to your cottage, up by the lake for Thanksgiving this year.  Go on.  Now spend 3 months there.  No heat.  The windows providing absolutely no protection against the wind because they don't seal properly.  Go on.  Tell me you love it.  Tell me that you are prepared to decide between having your bare feet on the freezing cold tile floor or your poor defenseless backside against the toilet seat made of ice.  Two choices.  Neither one good.

On that 7 degree day a Canadian will look out of the window of their house, heated (very energy efficiently I might add) to somewhere between 19-24 degrees. You know, whatever temperature they FEEL LIKE HEATING IT TO.  They will think that it looks lovely outside.  If they are me they will open the window for an hour or so to catch the spring air.  Then they will close it up and go back to the climate controlled environs.  They will think they are tough.

Aussies are tough.  It gets down to 7 degrees and they dislike it.  Like really, really dislike it.  Despite the technology having existed for decades, they can't be bothered to do anything to fix the situation.  Now THAT is tough.  Honestly though, what do you expect from a nation of people who get hot when it hits 40 degrees and head to the beach.  A beach on water filled with crocodiles, great white sharks and jellyfish that will make you pray for death.  Just to prove that point Mick Fanning, an Australian, got in to a tangle with a shark this past weekend and KICKED IT'S ASS.

So Australians are tough as nails. Canadians are fortunate to enjoy the luxuries that we do in Canadian extremes.

*This post was typed from the couch, in front of a roaring fire while in a sleeping bag.

A Quiet Weekend in Mudgee

After a busy holiday we planned to stay in Mudgee for the weekend. It is a good thing that we had not made alternative plans as we were trapped here anyhow!  There was quite a bit of snow in the mountains and they closed the roads.  Such a thing only really affected us in that the mail didn't move and neither did the grocery store trucks.

We were not expecting any special mail and were able to do without the items that the grocery store ran out of.  So all in all, not a huge deal.  On Saturday Monkey and I spent the day in bed reading.  He got up at 3 to have a shower (best to do that while the sun is shinning so that the hot water will be replenished) and hten in to clean pajamas for the evening. I rolled out around 4 to get dressed for my date out with Dave.

Sunday was a sleep in morning, church and then I went for a run and coffee with friends while Dave and the boys hosted some friends.

It was nice not to have much on the go.

First timers down under

Long time readers of this blog will know that the WB family come from a long line of blood donators.  I would like a quick segway here to profess how very profoundly I miss the peanut butter Pirate cookies that used to be an option when you donated.  Hold on while I wipe the drool off of my chin.  Yeah, those were the good old days!

Anyhow, Mudgee isn't big enough to have a permanent clinic, but the mobile clinic swings in to town every twelve weeks.  Another aside to comment that Australia takes LESS blood but makes you wait longer between donations.

Dave and I booked in, got pre-screened and made it through!!  We are technically first time donors and are even getting issued with fancy new cards!  Dave took the easy way out and just showed up, acted like a mature adult and gave blood. 

He actually admitted that it was donation 115 or something like that and compliantly answered all of the questions and wasn't a pain.

 Not this girl.  They had to give me all of the "first time donor", "be nice to me I gave blood today" and all that jazz stickers (I think it is actually number 40 or something for me in real life).  They did the full procedure for a first time donor! They even treated me extra kindly and kept asking if I was okay and such.  They brought me a beverage right in my donation chair at the end and everything.  Hey, procedure is procedure and who am I to want to get anyone in to trouble??

I'm wearing my spartan shirts as there is a "friendly" competition amongst the Spartan racers from different states to see which state can donate the most blood.

While they were no Pirate cookies upon completion of our donations they did give out MARS BARS and KIT KAT BARS.  Not one tiny one either my friends, handfuls of them!!  My blood sugar will be elevated for weeks to come!!

How exactly did we get here?

Today it is July 15th.

I know, it seems as though I am stating the obvious.

The significance of this date, however,  is that we got on an airplane 6 months ago today.

We will get on another airplane in 6 months to go back to Ottawa (*editor's note: I'm not calling it 'home' since here on Mudgee is current home. 'home' has lost its permanency on this adventure. It really is wherever the 4 of us are. I never truly understood that until we lived it).

To look back on the first 6 months,  it has already been amazing and life changing. 

We will forever travel differently and more often.

We have all grown,  both individuallu and together,  and become significantly more flexible.

We have surfed (check).

We have snorkled the Great Barrier Reef (check).

We have been from Hobart to Cairns - in a variety of sizes of vehicles on the ground - covering 2800 km.

We have put our feet into the oceans, our heads in the clouds and slept by the side of the road. 

We've been to prison (in Port Arthur), to the opera (house in Syndey) and seen street art in Melbourne. 

We have avoided the coldest February in more than a century...only to encounter heaps of Aussies that had driven hours to see the snow that fell here in New South Wales. 

We've been to an Aussie Rules Football game and had meat pies and licorice tea all in the same day.

But truly, even though we blog daily, so much of it is indescribable. 

And there are still 6 amazing months to come.

A Change in Plans

We came to Australia with no real plans for the trips and such that we would take while we were here.  To be honest, it was a pretty major undertaking just packing up the house, getting visas and getting ourselves over here.  So we have been planning some and flying by the seat of our pants some.

We chatted on these pages a while ago about perhaps visiting Asia on the third school break holiday.  Well it turns out that September is the rainy season and for that and other reasons, we have pretty much decided to wait until 2017ish to visit Asia.  Over Christmas maybe?

So the new plan is to head to the Northern Terrotory for the third break.  Never mind that Dave and I have already planned a weekend away at Uluru (Ayer's Rock) in the NT the first weekend in September.  This country is enormous and there is no risk that we'll double back on ourselves by mistake, trust me!

It is HOT in the NT.  All of Australia has signs like this:

But most of Australia doesn't actually use all of the little sections.  NT does.  What part of the NT are we aiming for?  Darwin of course!  That happy red dot right at the top!

 While nothing is booked yet, we are investigating multi day 4x4 style camping tours that would see us out with a group for 3-5 days to explore the massive National Parks and the Australian Outback. The rest of the time we'll hang out in Darwin and maybe Broome.  There will not be a campervan, the trains from Sydney are already all booked (and would cost more than $10k for the family anyhow) and there is no way that we could dive without dying.  This will definitely be a trip for flying.

A Pupil Free Day in Mudgee

The Monday after a school break holiday seems to always be a "pupil free day".  So Dave goes to work to learn about teaching and the boys and I get to hang out (Dave is busy killing a giant spider behind me.  I'm just going to ignore that and type).  

Early this morning (so like 9:30) I look up and these two foxes are strolling through the backyard! They were very surprised to see me in the window and took off as I started to take photos.  These foxes have a giant target on their sides and a ransom on their heads.  I won't tell the animal loving readers what will happen when they stumble in to the live trap that has been set locally, but it will end for the foxes about as well as it has been ending up for the local chickens...

The boys and I made breakfast brunch.  They both wanted different things and I offered to supervise them as they made what they were after.

 I could pretend that I didn't take these photos of kids in their jammies well after 10am, but I totally did.  The keen eyed reader will note that both boys are wearing "gramma jammas".  She bought Monkey's and made BigC's.  They feel that she is hugging them whenever they wear them.

We finally got dressed around 1...30...ish and then made some muffins to share with friends who came over in the afternoon.

It was a lovely, relaxing day.

Queensland Vacation-the (safe) Journey Home

We enjoyed the nice warm weather in tropical Queensland. In fact, it is possible that I threatened repeatedly not to get on this morning's flight.  The hot weather notwithstanding, the flight was a horrific 6:10 take off. Shudder.

The weather back in New South Wales has been deteriorating for a few days now and we've been watching with concern.

There are calls of snow all across the east coast, including parts of the north that never get snow.  The discussion amongst the Aussies was downright adorable.  People saying things like "when and where is the snow likely to hit? It is a 24 hour drive to Brisbane but I want to show my kids the snow". So cute!

So we got on the plane knowing that we might not make it all the way to Mudgee. The alarms went off at 4:45, the taxi came at 5 and we were on the flight in good time.

 I turned my phone back on in Sydney and received this from a friend:

This was what we've been concerned about. The road from Mudgee to Sydney is not an enjoyable drive on a good day. The Blue Mountains are high, the climbs and descents are steep and windy and there are only two lanes for most of it.  Once you add snow to that mix, the fun really starts!  Not only do they not salt/sand the roads, the cars don't have snow tires tyres.  At least this road has mobile phone reception for most of it.

We made the decision not to stay in Sydney and we hopped on the train.  It comes once an hour and is a very pleasant journey.  The traffic and snow started as we neared our station.  We snapped a selfie of the snow so that we were not the only ones not doing so.

Dave went to go pick up the car from the random house that it was parked at (THAT story is another blog post) and we hit the road.  Thankfully this traffic was heading the other way.

Not sure if they were all just trying to get to Sydney, or if they were coming to see the snow?  Snow isn't actually all that uncommon in this part of Australia.

 This was really the worst of what we encountered.  I drove since I have 20 years of driving a manual transmission in the snow under my belt.  To be fair, I learned to drive on a manual transmission Toyota Camry...so this was pretty familiar for me.

We took it slow and got home safely.  We are now rugged up (dressed warmly and under blankets) by the fire with tea.  Hopefully the "alpine conditions" as they are apparently called, wont last long!

Queensland Vacation Day 15-Cairns Botanical Gardens

I will start this post off with a disclaimer: we are well in to our second bottle of wine as I type this.  I see a high probability that I will make some errors in the typing and not notice.  So know that right off the bat!

Today we I was super slow to get out the door.  Honestly,  it was noon before I actually managed to get myself off of the porch towards the door.  The weather was iffy so we spent the day at the botanical gardens.  

 Once again, we took full advantage of Australia's electric BBQs for lunch.  The boys wanted cheese melted in to their sandwiches.  BigC came up with the idea to accomplish this by using the BBQs. I'm not going to lie.  After a billion days in a row of eating sandwiches I am pretty much COMPLETELY over them as well.

 Oh look, photo op:

 So, in true WB fashion we found a dangerous bushwalk to go on.  Stinging tree? Check. Crazy dangerous snakes? Check.  Mosquitoes with dengue fever? Check.  Stripper pole? Sad trombone.

 Look, look, look!  It's US in front of a great view (in this case the ocean)!

 Hey look, we brought the kids!

 Here's the route. The conservation of the botanical gardens is more of an afterthought in the planning of the city of Cairns, so it is pretty much right in the middle of stuff.

 We were tempted to do the longer route, but the warning said that it wasn't safe to start after 2pm and it was 2:30 when we were reading the sign.  We still considered it, but the track was pretty steep as you can see here behind Monkey.

 We came home and after a quiet relaxing early evening (during which we took care of the first bottle of wine), I started in on dinner.

It was much like at home when the dog stares at me while I cook, except this time it was my hungry children staring at me (note the "art" over Monkey's left shoulder). Soon enough, they were finally fed.  We ate dinner around the pole and there were no leftovers. I'm pretty sure that Monkey is intent on growing another few cms before this trip is done.

 

Queensland Vacation Day 14-Cairns

Last night we all slept the sleep of the dead.  Everyone got at least 10 straight hours of sleep.  Don't get me wrong, we liked the camper van,  but none of us slept soundly.  Real beds were awesome!

Upon waking the host of the home let us know that she awoke in the middle of the night to discover Monkey standing in her room having flipped her light on.  He then walked down the hall to the front door, turned the key in the deadbolt and walked right out in to the (quiet residential) street.  She coralled him to the bathroom and then back to bed.  He's never done anything like that before!  I suppose he was disoriented from all the different sleeping arrangements.

When we arrived at the house we were warned of two things:

1-the local creeks, the ones we've already walked over a few times, have crocodiles in them.  Only small ones though, so apparently I should feel safer.

2-if we don't leave the toilet seat down the tree frogs will hop in to the toilet.  This is not a big deal.  What is a VERY, VERY BIG DEAL is that the pythons will follow the frogs in to the toilets.

The fact that the house was "artsy" was mentioned. The fact that there is a shiny silver stripper pole on the back patio was not mentioned. We've come to figure out that out host teaches pole dancing classes.  It's really too bad that we'll only be here for 3 days or maybe Dave could have figured out how to swing around it upside down.  We'll never know I guess.

We got up this morning, had breakfast around the pole and then walked to our pick up spot (over the creek) for the day's adventure. We've spent the day doing the Kuranda scenic skyrail (a word my Canadian phone autocorrected to "syrup") and Kuranda Scenic Railway.  Fun Aussie trip trivia: we have now taken a train in every Australian state we've been in.

Monkey was here a few weeks ago with grandma, but did the trip in reverse (train then gondola) so even he is getting a different experience.

So here we are in the gondola

 Pretty views:

First sighting of the train from the gondola.  You can imagine that BigC was counting down the minutes from that moment forward until when he could be on the train.

 The boys hamming it up at one of the stops.  The gondola stops three times to see absolutely amazing rainforest.  Look, look, look we were in a gondola: So the gondola takes you to this really cute town.  We hung out with this guy!

 After a couple of hours walking through Kuranda we caught our 3:30 train back down the mountain. It was a feat of engineering marvel yaddy, yadda and all that jazz....

Awww, so cute!!

 

Outtakes: