Gender Differences at Dinner Time

The kids we're told that it was dinner time.  The boys grabbed their grub and headed for the couch.  They were quickly told that they could not eat on the furniture.  This is the result: I laughed pretty hard when I saw the girls all sitting at the table while the boys were glued to the TV.

My Women's Studies teachers may have had some flawed theories.

Australia Some 8 Months In

So we landed January 18 in Sydney.  It is now August 29.  So I will loosely say that we have been here for 7.5 months.  I now drive on the proper side of the road with stunning regularity.  I still get confused about it when I am on my bike.  I typically use the indicators rather than the windshield wipers when I intend to.  Not always.  I do need to think about it before turning the indicators on.

I say things like stuff it, no worries, how are you going and heaps among others.  Overall, I would say that we are acclimating.

I can not sort out the money!  The $5 note is purple and the $10 note is blue.

 In Canada it is the reverse.  So I either hand someone too much money and get unexpected change, or I don't hand them enough and I expect change.  At this point I just need to look at the actual number on the bill as I know that I can't trust my brain to work it out for itself.

Some Roxy Love Here in Australia!

One of the hardest parts of this exchange has been having to leave our sweet Roxy at home for the year.  We have missed her tremendously.  Today a package arrived in the mail from Roxy and her carer Carla.

I waited until the boys got home from school and we opened it together.

When I first washed Monkey's scout blanket here in Mudgee he was straight up furious with me.  It would seem that my laundering removed Roxy's fur from the blanket.

Carla send him some swatches of fabric that Roxy has been lying on for a few months. They are COVERED in fur.  He is over the moon as you can see from this blurry picture of him waving the bag of fur all around!

 Monkey has been sleeping with the fur and even brought it in to school to show his class.  It was a huge hit!

Carla also sent us some fun Canadian souvenirs including a beach ball, some lanterns and some stickers.

Thank you so much Carla!!!

A Year Abroad Leads to Minimalism-some potential tmi, you've been warned

I now think that once a year we should be forced to pack up our most treasured possessions and that we would keep only those things.  As we have journeyed abroad this year we have also flirted with the Minimalism movement.  Not the "we don't need a couch" type.  More the "have to live our lives out of one suitcase that weighs no more than 23kg each" type.  We live in a fully furnished home.  We have a well stocked set of cutlery, dishes and cooking implements.  We own a car, there are kids toys and games in the playroom.  We are not doing without.

We are living in someone else's house and are not authorized to make decorating decisions or consider renovations.  When you live like that you have time to think about that which is truly important to you and that which you can do without.  It turns out that far more things are not required than I would have told you at this same time last year as I packed up a full house of STUFF.  We have pulled a few games off of the shelves, many more need to be dusted more than they get played with.  We recently took a few boxes of unused toys out of the playroom and put them in storage.  We now only have the regularly enjoyed items in that room, and there is more space to play with them.

We can comfortably live with someone else's things and don't really miss most of what we have left behind at our house.  When you are living in a known temporary situation you don't invest much money in things that won't be in your life for long.  We have purchased one frying pan*, gym weights, a foam roller, a yoga mat and a garlic press**.  We have acquired two bar stools and are long term borrowing a hair dryer. It goes without saying that we have purchased food, petrol and other consumables.

We are enjoying the freedom that comes from living happily and comfortably with what we have without worrying about the next item that we want.  We plan trips and experiences with our money.  We drink excellent local wines that we will never see again.  We are living "minimally".  My PJ pants are what can best be described as "air conditioned", some of our "base layer items" are losing elasticity. Some of our clothes are showing wear. Some clothing items have been picked up at the local thrift store and are going to just barely make it to their intended end point. Some of the kid's PJs are a reminder of how much they have grown-if you were to use the amount of ankle and wrists that are passed the cuffs. My jeans don't have a top button (I brought them like that).  We don't care.  A lot of these items came here with the full intention that they would never see Canadian soil again.  We intend to travel out of here with as few items as possible.

We have packed a bag of items to go home with my dad in a couple of weeks (18kg so far).  We don't think that we will miss these items.  The last month of our trip will be spend carting all of our possessions around New Zealand in a Toyota Carolla***, if I don't want to have to drag it around an entire nation then I want it gone now!!

I think that we will live differently when we get back.  We have long been careful with our finances, but we have steadily filled our house and lives with stuff.  We don't want to do that anymore.  We spent a lot of time clearing things out before we left and we intend to continue once we get back.  This year abroad has been an incredible opportunity for reflection on what is really important.

The countdown: 40 bottles of wine left spread over 15 weeks.  The math has gone from 2 bottles per week to 3 (we found an awesome case of red a couple of weeks ago that just couldn't stay at the cellar door).  I am still not the slightest bit worried that we can make this happen.

*my mom actually bought the frying pan
**it broke after the first use
***or equivalent as determined by the car hire company

Mudgee Running Festival

Every year Mudge hosts a running festival that offers 5, 10, 21.1 and 42.2km distances.  A number of locals tried to convince me to run the half marathon. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to do so.  I would have needed a few more obstacles and a whole lot fewer hills!

I registered for the much more sensible 10k distance and set up to run it with my friend Liz.  The 10k race was set up as a double loop of the 5k race.

The course was nice and safe for kids to run and there were heaps of water stations.  They mentioned jelly beans as well but I stayed away since I have a sore throat. We were able to accomplish all of the run on footpaths and using pedestrian underpasses.

 The course doubled back on itself frequently enough that my three fans were able to wave to us 4 separate times as we ran by.  Hence the shockingly large number of photos from today's event.

There were lots of high fives along the course and the rain held off for the most part.  We ran directly through my favourite part of Mudgee, the one where the venous brown snakes are so prolific that even the Australians have found it necessary to put up a warning sign. *shudder*

Despite my attempts to convince Liz that completing the 5k seemed more than sufficient to prove our point for the day, we soldiered on and completed both laps in their entirety.

Liz set a personal best and I was thrilled to run with her for that.  She'll need to find a different running partner next year when she does her first half marathon!

 This race medal will be one of my favorites,  not just because of the awesome memories that it represents, but also that it's the only one that I have with a spelling mistake* on it.

*limited edition collectible

A proper bushwalk - as written by Dave

Today,  after dropping Monkey off for Scout camp at 8:30, we had the pleasure of going to two different wineries. First up was Logan Wineries.

It features a beautiful sunroom that overlooks the luscious hillsides. There is ambiance and modern furniture as well as a lineup of over 20 wines. The wines were good,  though none came home with us.
The second winery was Skimstone winery. It is a small, dark shack on the side of the road with some patio furniture outside. The view is adequate. The wines were good,  though none made the trip home.
We feel that we may have found our favourite Mudgee wines and now have about 20 weeks in which to consume the 40 or so bottles that we own.
Challenge accepted.
After we recovered from me stalling the car in the middle of the highway and recovered from me driving into oncoming traffic (editors note: most of my wines were tasted and then poured out), we headed for a Bushwalk at my head teacher's place.
Joined by his dogs,  which BigC was overjoyed were coming with us so that he could throw sticks for them to chase,  we were off into the wilderness. After climbing a small fence,  we hiked mostly uphill into the bush.

 It was beautiful and the running commentary was very helpful. Here is BigC next to a grass tree that grows about 1cm per year (in a good year). We estimated that it is between 300 and 700 years old. BigC was very intrigued by the bike trails and jumps that the head teacher's sons had constructed over the years. Upon our return home,  he was off to the driveway to build his own ramps and jumps.
Needless to say,  we all went to bed quickly and ideally got a rock solid night's sleep.

Cadbury

Months ago, while in Tasmania, we stopped at the Cadbury factory and picked up chocolate for Grandpa.  He shared it for dessert tonight. BigC decided that he would be Australian and eat double coated Tim Tams instead.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

All too soon we were on our way home.  Of course, we had to make one last stop at Starbucks before heading off.

We took the train back to the Blue Mountains. Then drove Wanda home.

It was great to be "home" after a really busy week.

This one.  At the end of the table, older gentleman, started discussing math is the vaguest of possible terms. All I heard was (and I'm not even making it up) it you have 8 warbles and 12 fluxes....

He was trying to explain why it is important to use units when solving problems.  This is what our side of the table looked like.

Mommy and BigC Day

Grandpa and Monkey spent the morning climbing the Harbour Bridge.  BigC and I hit Starbucks for a cookie and then the Powerhouse Museum for a victory lap.  His kid LOVES that museum.

He found an electric train that can be easily driven.  I found a couch that I could sit on and see him driving the train from.  I call that a win win.

 

The boys had a great time climbing the bridge.  I picked up a couple of bottles of white and there was one in our Air BnB flat that was left for us to consume.  I thought that it was delicious.  He thought that it was junk.

More for me I suppose!!

Mommy and Monkey Morning

Grandpa and Big spent their morning at the Powerhouse Museum so Monkey and I walked down to Circular Quay (about 3km from our accommodation).  We had a lovely walk and chat.

At his request we checked out the Museum of Modern Art.  He was fascinated!  Here he is interacting with a giant art exhibit.  Ask him about it, he'd love to explain it to you.

In the evening he and I hit up the Rocks I'm Free tour. We got to see all around the Rocks area and learn the history of the area.  It was first inhabited by the original convict settlers.  As you can imagine, when you put that many convicts together in a confined area there will be trouble!

We went up to Observatory Hill after the sun went down and we're rewarded with this amazing view.  This is a truly beautiful city and I feel really fortunate to be so close to it this year.

Day One in Sydney

The Australians would be absolutely horrified, but our first stop was Starbucks.  We sat int he second level of a lovely Starbucks on George Street and discussed the architecture of the surrounding buildings. It's been so long since I've been in a Starbucks (February) that it took me a full five minutes to even remember my usual order.  Grandpa has promised to take me back to the one on Hunt Club road when I return to Canadian soil.

We joined up with the I'm Free Sudney tour at 10:30 and proceeded to walk to all of the fun spots between town hall and the Rocks.  It's possible that I had not fully explained the fitness requirements to my dad before we set out.  He hit 10,000 steps by the end of the tour and 18,000 for the day over all.  I suspect we will all sleep very soundly tonight!

The boys, but especially Big C stuck to the guide like glue. She did a fantastic job and we are looking forward to joining the I'm Free evening Rocks tour before we leave.  It is all about the original convict settlers of the area.  Promises of ghost and goal stories have me eagerly looking forward to it!

We got to see all of the sights and make sure that Grandpa got to see them too.

Tomorrow Big C will be taking Grandpa to see the Powerhouse Museum. This museum is similar to the former Science and Technology museum in Ottawa.  It is full of trains, space stuff and more things to blow Grandpa's mind.  Big C has been waiting since February to show this place to Grandpa and the anticipation is palpable around here tonight!

So We're in Syndey

I managed to take exactly zero photos of our journey here.

Grandpa, the kids and I hopped in the car this morning and drove to Blackheath, caught the train to Central Station in Sydney and then walked to the place we hired through airbnb. We are staying on Reservoir street close to the CBD (central business district).

Monkey and I then went for a walk up to Lululemon (near the Rocks) and then to the grocery store to collect provisions.

Grandpa and I got far enough in to a bottle of wine that we opted to just hang out at the apartment for the evening.

Tomorrow we plan to do an iamfree tour of Sydney.

Engineering

I went to have a shower and I came back to discover this:

I'm not entirely sure what the starting point of this was.

The end result was a fort in the yard out of random string and some tarpaulins.

Once that was done the three tallest people headed out for a small 4 cellar door wine tour.

We managed to get photos of three of the four places.

For some reason I have a history of not grabbing a photo of the last cellar door on the wine tours.

I did grab this photo of the wine bottle at the 4th cellar door. I'm not sure if Nuyanne still follows the blog, but this label made me think of her.

We found these two bottles in the "random" bin at Pieter Van Gent for $5 each.  They will either be delicious or a great addition to gravy.