Queensland is for Lovers!

We do love our new home, but some things boggle the mind beyond culture shock.

I just saw this story on the news and had to share it with you -

Four high-risk prisoners, including an accused murderer and armed robber, spent hours roaming unsupervised across a jail rooftop yesterday.The prisoners, on remand at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, spent the afternoon sunning themselves, smoking cigarettes and skylarking for television helicopter crews from the corrugated iron roof in the exercise yard of the prison, in Brisbane's outer west. They broke away from a group of eight prisoners who were walking unsupervised to a medical centre in the prison at about 12.30pm.

See the rest of this article & photos at http://www.news.com.au /couriermail/story/0 ,23739,21145399-3102,00 .html

What kills me is rather than getting them down, the prision officers were giving them footballs, cigarettes, water, etc. I just don't get it?

.. And by 2009, we will be drinking toliet water.. er, I meant effluent. Tasty effluent!

But, even so, QUEENSLAND IS FOR LOVERS!!

Effluent, Tasty Effluent

That's my new word for today. There is a big debate here in Queensland about the fact that the government wants to add recycled sewage to the drinking water, or effluent as it's called. It's not exactly a palatable idea, but necessary in these dry times in this area. Still, I don't know if I can get my head around drinking it.

Things are going well, Jon is finishing up a stint of nights at the hospital tomorrow evening and then he will enjoy a week off. I got a brief reprieve from starting work because my visa had to be processed through the main HR department in Sydney and we all know how hard it is to get in touch with DIMIA! It's a blessing in disguise though; there is actually a lot to be done in preparation for Friday. It's time to stop living in transition.

We are very excited to move into our new home. There are several other doctors and their wives or girlfriends living in the complex & we will have a plethora of neighbors in a really social environment. The property is absolutely beautiful, we will post pictures as soon as we have the chance!

This is our new home:



Today, I drove down to Brisbane to go to the Factory Outlets for linens and other odds and ends that we need for the new place. Talk about amazing prices!

My anticipated start date is Wednesday of next week, which will allow Jon and I to join some other expats at a pub in Northern Brisbane to watch the SuperBowl on Monday. Although, I am more excited about the commercials! Budweisers & wings at 9:00am! It all seems a little dysfunctional, but I suppose the SuperBowl is a reason to drink before noon?

Jon and I are also on the road to being motor vehicle owners! There are dealer car auctions down in Brisbane that you can hire a broker to take you down to and help you bid on a car. It is a good situation for us, since neither of us know anything about auto mechanics or Australian automobile makes, and they check it out to make sure it is in "A1 condition," as the dealer told us!

Things are certainly coming together!

Australian Princess - The Finale

We get five channels here in Nam-BORING, so I got sucked into reality TV.

Tonight, Jon and I are rooting for Kylie Booby to win Australian Princess.

Check out her blog at : http://www .australianprincess.com .au/default.aspx?page =kyliebooby&ID=6g

And she won!!! Yay!

Happy Australia Day!

As I sit down to write to you this evening, the tree outside of our dining room window is full of parrots; I have never seen anything like it. Jonathan and I thought it would be fun to put a bird feeder in the tree in our backyard and wow, are they are flocking to it! They are absolutely beautiful with every color in the rainbow on their little bodies. We took a picture, but it doesn't begin to describe how pretty the whole scene actually is.



That aside, we have good news on our front today: I accepted a position at a subsidiary of the Federal Publishing.

Jonathan is celebrating Australia Day (January 25th) by working all night at the hospital. His first day back on nights after a very relaxing week doing a whole lot of nothing. We spent lazy Sunday in Mooloolaba have an brunch al fresco on The Esplanade and took a long walk on the beach.



Wednesday, we drove down to Ferny Grove to meet up with Ian & Jan Cowling at their home to retrieve some of the packages that we sent over before we left. The visit was lovely, but far too short as the Cowlings were rushing off to catch a flight Stateside. We've planned a longer visit for when they return and the rest of our belongings arrive.

It was decided that the scenic road back to Nambour was out best bet and that we should drive through Redcliffe to check out the area where we could have lived. Both of us had the same resounding feeling of thank goodness we chose The Sunshine Coast! It was not an area that we would have wanted to live at all and we have heard nothing good about Redcliffe Hospital, so it just reaffirms our feeling that we made a good choice!



We finished our day at The Ginger Factory for a quick walk through their gardens and a viewing of their annual flower show. It was absolutely beautiful! Of course, we had to take some plants home! We picked out two gorgeous tropical flowering ginger plants & while we were shopping a PR representative for the Ginger Factory took some photos to be used in future promotional materials & adverts. Mr. Spielberg, I'm ready for my closeup!

Since Jon is working tomorrow, I am not sure what my first Australia Day will hold. I was thinking I might venture down to Brisbane to check out the celebrations down in South Bank, but we will see what the day holds. Maybe I'll try some of the new Vegemite flavoured ice cream that they are introducing for sale tomorrow? Probably not.

Mountain Magic

Well, our trip to Sydney didn't pan out, but we had a great weekend anyway!

Jon and I decided to head into the Blackall Range & Glass House Mountains to explore what lies to our west. So, we set off in our rental car and drove along the Glass House Mountains Tourist Drive (now Steve Irwin Way) for an afternoon in the Australian countryside or hinterland as its known here.

The "travel guide-esque" description of where we went:

The Glasshouse Mountains are volcanic crags along the coastal plain that were first discovered by Captain Cook. The story goes that upon seeing the unusual shapes of the moutains he was reminded of the glass factories back home.

However, the mountains are deeply seeded in the life of the Gubbi Gubbi Aboriginal peoples. According to Aboriginal legend, the Glasshouse Mountains are a family of mountain spirits including father Tiborgaran (the father of all tribes) mother Beerwah, and Coonowrin, the eldest son. As the lore goes, Tiborgaran was anticipating a flood and became fearful for this family's safety. He called on his eldest son to look after his wife, while he assisted the other children. As he ushered his other children to safety, he looked behind only to find his wife abandoned. Coorowrin had fled. Tiborgaran picked up his nulla nulla (club) and struck his son in anger, dislocating his neck and leaving him permanently disfigured. When the flood waters retreated, his brothers & sisters made fun of him relentlessly for his odd look and he sought forgiveness from his father. Tibogaran wept tears of dispair and begged his son to explain how he could abandon his mother. He then told his son that although his mother appeared large enough to take care of herself, it was because she was pregnant. Then, the whole family cried and created the streams that lead to the sea. Tibogaran, then, turned his back on his son for all eternity.

Today, as we saw it (and the well placed national park placard explained,) Mt. Tiborgaran faces out the sea with his "back" to Mt. Coorowin, which as you will see from our pictures has a rather unusual shape. As for Beerwah, as the legend goes, she's still pregnant. Can you imagine?? Thank goodness mountain aren't real people!

After a short stint of exploring the Glasshouse Moutains National Park, we decided that this area deserved much further backpacking, climbing & time. So, we tabled it for another day and continued onto the Blackall Range Tourist Drive through the towns of Maleny & Montville. Both are rather artisty communities with lovely rows of shops filled with hand-crafted goods & uniquely Australian wares. We just stopped quickly and picked up two more beautiful tropical plants for the new unit. I'm sure we will spend much more time in the shops, wineries & restaurants as time permits.

Our final destination was Kondalilla National Park to vist the Kondalilla Falls, which is supposed to be a beautiful 90 meter waterfall set on a backdrop of subtropical rainforest. However, the word of the day in Queensland is DROUGHT, so that falls were less than impressive. It was more like the Kondalilla trickle. On the upside, it was a short hike out the the "falls" and on an extremely well maintained path. The rainforest foliage was quite a sight as well! At the end of the path, there was a large rockpool where many families had gathered to go swimming. Although the signage warned against it, the kids were all jumping from the rocks above (up to about 30 feet high) into the mountain pool below. Jon thought it looked to good not to try and had a great time.

We returned home just in time to get cleaned up for a small barbie at one of the other doctor's home in Bli Bli. It turned out to be an intimate gathering with our host & hostess from the UK, a young woman doctor from Aberdeen and her boyfriend, an Aussie couple & ourselves.

I was informed at this gathering that the Huntsman spider (see previous blog entry) will chase you. Although, the teller of the story did mention that this has only happened to her when she has come home from the pub. Still, not good. Phil, our kind new Aussie friend, has offered to loan me his copy of "Australian Creatures That Can Kill You," and take me pesticide shopping! Yay!
We had a great time and hopefully the next time we all get together it will be at our beachfront unit at Surfair!! Move in day is February 2nd!

Signing off from the melonoma capital of the world, good night.

Week 3: Top Ten

Time again for the top ten things we have learned in Australia this week....

1. Beets are an key component in Australian burgers. We both have bitten into a burger or two expecting them not to be there, but every time, without fail, they are. We have asked numerous times what the Aussie obsession with beets is due to, but we have not gotten an acceptable answer to date. Beets truly only belong in Mum's Beetroot Salad on Swedish Christmas on Christmas Eve.

2. The next time you go into a restaurant in the U.S., please pocket as many complimentary packets of whatever sauce you choose on our behalf. We have found that every Fish N Chips shop charges for sauce packets! Tomato sauce, vinegar, BBQ sauce - $0.25 AUD a piece. While it is not a large sum, it is just a little bit irritating to sit down for a meal and have to go wait in line again to purchase a small package of tomato sauce to have with your chips.

3. Our bookstore, BIG W. Our clothing store, BIG W. Our electronics retailer, BIG W. Our greenhouse, BIG W. Our housewares store, BIG W. BIG W, which I am assuming based on the logo typeface & store layout is an extension of the evil empire of Sam Walton, a.k.a. WAL-MART, is the only game in town. At least in Nambour.

4. Possums are mean. REALLY mean. We have known that if you venture out into our backyard post-10pm, you are in the possum's domain. There is a little creature that skurries across the back fence of our yard every evening. However, one night while Jon is at work and I was staying up till all hours of the night to phone back to the U.S., Mr. Possum decides to jump off of his post on the fence and fight. He's hissing, squeaking and squealing so much that although I was more than triple his size, I was scared. For the remainder of the night, the furthest I made it outside was to stick my head and arm outside to smoke a cigarette, while a very annoyed possum squalked from the fence. I figured that if worse came to worse, I should be able to shut the door before he got to close? I was hoping. Does anyone know how fast possums are??

5. "Loo With a View" is the best name for a public beachfront bathhouse ever. It's just that simple. Kudos to Mooloolaba, Queensland. But it doesn't smell any better than any public beachfront bathhouse. EVER.

6. WARNING ANYONE OF THE MALE PERSUASION SKIP #6. Ladies, feel my pain; let's talk tampons. Applicators are a luxury here. If you want to pay double & them some for your feminine products, then you can have applicators. But in eco-conscious Oz, they just don't exist in an economical form. On the plus side, they come in cute little 16-packs that look like mini-cigarette packs in great designs. Also, it's not like the Jersey Shore where when you are shell hunting the majority of the "wildlife" that you find are tampon applicators, six pack rings & bottle caps, so that's a plus....

7. In the U.S. you are bombarded with adverts for Direct T.V. that boast 300+ channels of viewing pleasure. Here, we have standard TV that is a whopping 5 channels and we can upgrade to Select T.V. that heralds 20 channels Australia wide. Holy shit, what WOULD we do with 15 channels that are all cricket all the time?

8. Jon and I were watching the news the other night and they were showing this segment on a family that was caught shooting cane toads out of a potato gun clear across their property and probably the next seven shires. The RSPCA was outraged at the mistreatment of these animals and proclaimed, "This incident must have happened in North Queensland because they are just a bunch of rednecks up there." Well, we laughed our asses off at that fabulous statement; you couldn't get away with saying that about Kentucky on U.S. television.

9. Queensland is whole-heartedly celebrating 100 years of the lifesaver. Major kudos to these mainly volunteer organizations that keep us safe during our summer beach holidays! However, S&J have one small comment to make: There are thousands of kilometers of beaches in Queensland and somehow the lifesavers manager to put up their red & yellow flags 10 meters apart sporadically along each beach basically corralling 1,000 of people into a very small area. I really can't enjoy my swim when while floating with the waves making my arm brush the privates of some Portuguese tourist! In all seriousness, the individuals that have guarded the beaches of Queensland are amaznig. Day after day, they put others before themselves for the greater good. Some of the guys we have seen highlighted on tele are over 60+ years old. Their selflessness should be rewarded on a daily basis.

10. Our friends outside of Oz, google blue-bottles. They are real pain in the arse. Nasty jellies that blow in with the tides that pack a real punch. Swimming has never been so hazardous to a couple of Yanks. But, aren't you jealous of where we are swimming?!?

We found a place to live!

Jon has been working nights & I have been ill will a nasty stomach flu, but there is a bit of good news to report: We received word from our real estate agent that our application was approved for the property at Surfair Beach Resort in Marcoola. The beaches in Marcoola are some of the best on the Sunshine Coast & the resort is quite lovely with all of the amenities of a perfect holiday resort.

We have a unit with two separate entrances off the main entrance, one that leads to the living room, dining room, kitchen (with all brand new stainless steel appliances,) bedroom & ensuite bathroom. The second door leads to a self-contained bedroom with ensuite bathroom & balcony. Perfect for guests, hint hint.



The only other notable is I had my first run in with an Australian spider. I was home alone and sick as a dog, when I got up to get a glass of water and saw this MASSIVE spider sitting on the wall above our cabinet. I am not exaggerating at all when I say, the thing was as big as the palm of my hand. I tried to whack it with a magazine, but it moved to quickly, so I did the overly mature thing and locked myself in the bedroom and hid from it =)

I learned later it was a huntman spider, and yes, it will kill you. It's been rumoured to charge at people as well. Glad I didn't find that out first hand!

Tonight is Jon's last day on night's and now he will have a week off of work. His friend Jordan is over in Sydney for a business trip and we are hoping to catch a flight down to spend some time with him over the weekend.

Sunday Safari!

Jonathan & I have been told by many of the locals that a visit to Great Sandy National Park was a must. The park is divided into two sections: Cooloola & Fraser Island. We decided to sign-up for a 4WD tour of the southern section in Cooloola today & couldn't have been happier that we did!

At 8am, we met our tour guide Terri, in Tewatin at the Noosa Marina. The group consisted of Jonathan, myself & a mother with two lovely children from Sydney. We piled in the Land Cruiser and headed up 40 Mile Beach just as the tide was going out. In the early morning hours, we spotted kangaroos on the drive to the beach and when we finally got to the ocean the water was a pristine aquamarine color the whole ride up to our first destination point: Red Canyon.
Upon first inspection, the "canyon" looks like the Red Rocks you might find in the American Southwest, but Jonathan found out very quickly that looks can be deceiving. The canyon wall was too enticing not to climb, but it was not rock or clay, but sand. Each time you tried to take hold, it crumbled through you fingers.

Turns out, the national park is the largest vegetated sand dune system in the world. There is no rock and only traces of clay holding the sand in its firm formation. The minerals in the sand have oxidized causing it to turn vibrant shades of red, yellow, orange streaked with white. They boast 70 shades of color and we tried to get the kids on our tour to count for us, but they got bored after about 15.



After a short drive up the coast, we drove past our second destination, the Cherry Venture ship wreck. In 1973, a large cargo vessel was bound for Brisbane and caught in 12 ft.+ seas. It ran aground on this stretch of sand and now is just a rusted heap of scrap. Apparently, up until last year, it was quite an impressive sight and maintained much of its form, but the Queensland Park System demolished parts of the ship for fear of someone climbing on it and getting hurt on the scrap metal. By this time next year, the Cherry Venture will be removed from her final resting place because of asbestos concerns. It was an amazing sight and a reminder than in a fight of man vs. the elements, Mother Nature usually wins.

Onward to the "high point" of our day, we climbed the only rocky outcropping on the island to visit the lighthouse keeping watch over the Pacific Ocean. The view was breathtaking. Our pictures cannot do it justice. From our perch, we had morning tea & watched a school of dolphins swim along the cove below. We even spotted a massive manta ray.



We then trekked back down to sea level and followed the ocean along to Rainbow Beach, home of the real coloured sand dunes. In all fairness to this natural marvel, the word dunes does not correctly describe what we saw. I mean imagine mini-mountains of sand, some as tall as 50 meters. They were tall enough that as we swam, we could watch gliders launching off of them.

Our final destination for the day was the second type of habitat for the day, one of the two sub-tropical rainforests that was completed bedded on a sand dune. We had a lovely picnic lunch while a monitor lizard wandered around our feet. Then we did a short walk around the surrounding area to look at strangler vines and how they create these odd looking, gnarled, hollow trees by entrapping other trees causing them to die and decompose.



By the end of the day, we were completely knackered. Jon slept the whole ride home and I could barely keep my eyes open. We took a lovely afternoon nap and Jon is getting ready now to go off to the hospital for his first night shift.

Tomorrow, I have my second interview at well-known Queensland publication, so keep your fingers crossed!



P.S. Jon and I have been walking around for the past week singing the song from Bindi's new commercial. Watch:

Sea-kayaking on the Maroochy River

Friday night, we met up with several of the other doctors & staff at the hospital for drinks at Zachary's in Mooloolaba. It is a great little trendy-ish bar just off the main drag down there. Lonely Planet calls said bar, "Where hair gel goes to die." =) Either way, all of Jon's colleagues are amazingly nice and the bar was a lot of fun.

We woke up this morning and did an inspection on the property at Marcoola Beach Resort. It was huge & had enormous balconies, but I think we are leaning towards the one at Surfair. We are planning on submitting our application tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed!

The morning was quite overcast and did not appear to be a good beach day, but luckily enough the clouds burned off around noon and the sun was shining So, Jon and I decided to go check out some sea kayaks for hire on the river in Maroochydore.

We went for a short paddle around the little islands in the river. The views were lovely, the sun was shining, and the wind & tides were perfect. And of course, I got mouthfuls of water from numerous paddle splashes from a playful Jon.



By the time we got home, we were both completely knackered from a long day out in the sun & salt air. All plans of going out with the other docs in Cotton Tree went to hell in a handbasket & we ended up spending the evening watching Ghostbusters II on TV and eating Domino's. Pretty lame, but we have to be out of the house by 7:00am tomorrow for our 4WD trip through the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park.

Life is a Highway... and I have to learn to drive on the left of it....

As I am writing to you, I am on our back patio and the sun is stinging to say the least. It's only 10:00 in the morning & I can already feel myself burning, so this will have to be short & sweet. Otherwise, put me on a skewer and I'll be a kabob.



I'm about to set off on the of my greatest Australian odyessy yet: I am going to drive to look at the Surfair apartment all by my lonesome. Just me and a lot of left-hand driving. Now, I wouldn't be so scared, except for the fact that Jonathan, who is way more accustomed to this then I am has pulled a few brilliant driving maneuvers since we have been here, i.e. forgetting where we are and making a right hand turn out of the rental car parking lot into oncoming traffic. There are so many roundabouts and what not, that I am very nervous about it.

Things have been continuing to going well. Jonathan has picked up an extra shift at the hospital tonight, so he will be on-call in the wards until 9:00 tonight. After that, we are going down to Mooloolaba to join some of the interns and house officers at the pub for the weekly Friday night get together. So, it should be a lot of fun.

I am going to look at the Surfair apartment before 2pm & then I have an interview in Maroochydore at a well-known Queensland newspaper publication. After that, since Jon has to work, I plan on taking a drive down the "tourist drive" through the Blackall Range. We can see the Range from our house, but we haven't been up there yet.

Per Mum's suggestion, we have reached out to the Americans in Australia and Americans in Brisbane groups. It's a nice security blanket to have; they have sporadic events & a daily email group to ask "the silly questions" that you have being new over here, but feel like an idiot asking an Aussie.

Also, I found a Knit & Natter group here on the Sunshine Coast that specifically knits for Queensland's Needy. They get together a few evenings a month to knit, have brunch, and just relax & chat.

Alright, time for me to take shelter from the sun ~ would you believe that it is so hot here right now that the metal buttons on my jean capris are so hot that where I have the laptop leaning on them it is burning my skin!

P.S. If you were wondering, the girl I was hoping to get eliminated from Aussie Princess wasn't eliminated ~ they kicked of the doctor girl that Jon & I were both rooting for!

Need to Get A Jobby Job

At the beginning of our second week, being that we are settled in a little bit more, I have started to look for a job. I really only started looking Monday and already have been on two interviews. Things look promising and there are more career opportunities here than I initially anticipated!

Jonathan is working in the orthopedics department and loves it. It is so nice having him on regular hours where he leaves at 7:30am and is home by 5 at the latest. He's going to nights for the next 6 weeks, but the way the hours work out he works 5 days for from 9pm to 8:30am and then has the next 5 days off. It's a beautiful thing. His next two rotations look like they will be in General Surgery, but that may change.

Not much to report, things are going well. This weekend we are planning on going to make a final decision on the unit we are going to rent, and then on Sunday we are going to do a tour of Cooloola. It's a rainforest walk, tour of the colored sand beaches, 4WD safari down 40 mile beach & snorkeling. It gives us something to look forward to during these rainy afternoons!

For those of you who worried with us over the Medical Board registration, you should read this article from today's Courier-Mail about any inquiry into a Scottish doctor up in Townsville:
www.news.com.au /couriermail/story/0 ,23739,21037016-3102,00 .html

Apparently, doctors trained overseas is a real hot-button issue here in Queensland. In retrospect, all went fairly easily!

A Day At The Beach

Jon and I spent our Sunday cruising the coast in our rental car and relaxing on the beach at Coolum. It was an absolutely beautiful day, but the water was a bit treacherous because of a cyclone up north. There were really strong rip currents and all of the seaweed and sand was being churned up off the ocean floor making for less than ideal swimming conditions. To top it all off, there were jellyfish the size of dinner plates every few feet!

But, the weather was beautiful, which has been rare around here since we are in the midst of the rainy season. We had a lovely lunch of fish & chips (burger for me!) on the beach and visited the Ginger Factory in Yadina.



The Ginger Factory is yet another agrigcultural tourist trap here on the Sunny coast, but they have a nursery where they sell plants. I picked out two little plants for our patio to make it feel a little more like home!

He lives in a pineapple under the sea.....

It has been exceptionally hard to find an air conditioned, furnished apartment within our price range. All of the real estate agents I have spoken to assure us that this should change when the summer ends, but we really don't want to stay in Nambour (or Damn Bored! as we've started calling it) any longer than we have to.



We found two units that we are interested in that are fully furnished and set up as holiday rentals. That is great for us because that means electronics, pots, pans, crockery, flatware, etc. are all included in the rental. All we need to bring is our stuff and linens.

Both units are located in Marcoola in beachfront resort complexes. We are doing are final inspections of the properties on Friday & Saturday to make a final decision.



Then, on our way home we visited the "Big Pineapple" in Nambour. It was thrilling for a few minutes and we purchased a really tasty pineapple, but other than that ~ not so much to report. Jon did purchase a bottle of hot sauce of a special varietal; it was called, "Smack my arse and call me Cindy." There were several other "very descriptive" types that I care not to repeat that he wants to try during our time here.

Our First Week: Top 10

1. Jon and I have confirmed that toliet does in fact flush in the other direction.

(An aside on our toliet: Some of your would think it's super cool! In that, I know there are some guy friends of ours out there that are proud of their bodily functions and frequent rateyourpoop.com, but I'm not naming names. You would be insanely jealous. On the good old American Standard there is one handle to flush right? One standard flush. Get this, we have TWO buttons, a tsunami of a flush and a baby flush.)

2. 9 out of the top 10 deadly species in the world live in our backyard, or where we swim, etc. You get the idea. A woman I met at a barbie (bbq) has me so insanely frightening of finding a redback spider (poisionous) in my shoe, that I spray them before I put them on ~ that can't be good for the feet.

3. DJ Joel was right about Nambour. All of you were no trading (shopping) on Sundays? Nothing is open after 7pm ever. The entire town is one big upwards hill. I stepped in a dead tree frog walking up that damn big hill from the shops. Right now, I have a gorgeous view out my window of the Blackall Range (I think) and the Feed Store!

4. Australian Princess is my new super-secret reality TV obsession. As many of you know, I was head over heels for a TV show back in the States called Beauty and The Geek. I think I've discovered an international conspiracy: There is a he/she out there who just jumps from country to country trying to win reality TV shows. Check it out the photos. Eerie, ay?



5. Sawyer from LOST wasn't crazy; a chirping, croaking tree frog while you are trying to sleep will drive you mad. We have this one behind our unit that is equivalent to the sound you here back home when a outdoor pet cat gets attacked by a racoon. You know you know the sound. It's terrible.


6. They don't make dryer sheets in Australia. That makes us sad.

7. For a tropical climate, apartments with air conditioning are few and far between. It's a novelty. And, no of course the windows are all almost floor to ceiling to accentuate the views, sigh, so no window A/C units fit. But, I really can't complain =)

8. I never really had such a profound appreciation for inexpensive medications, groceries & herbal supplements when I was stateside. Now, when we left I saw a CVS flyer with buy one, get one Centrum 300 pill vitamin bottles for $10.00. I was in the Chemist today and the small 100 pill bottle was almost $34.95. That's about $28.00 USD. Tylenol, Advil, NyQuil, all these things you take for granted are SO expensive, even the native Aussie brands.

9. Jon's contribution: Just because there is an ATM machine doesn’t mean you can get money out. Just because a store accepts Mastercard or Visa (and you have plenty of funds in the account) doesn’t mean you can buy stuff. Our credit cards work one in 5 times at best and in one in 10 ATMs. We have to walk 3 miles to an ATM to get money out to take the bus, only to walk back those 3 miles to the bus stop right in front of our unit. Life’s funny that way, isn’t it?

10. Probably the most important thing I have learned: I am the luckiest woman in the world. I have a wonderful, loving, caring man who loves me as much as I love him. We are living in absolute paradise (yes, even Nambour is nice.) We are surrounded by people who are extending themselves to us beyond anything we could have ever believed. Life is a bit slower paced here, but that's a good thing. It has given me the time to stop and smell the roses, or tropical flowers =) The act of leaving the States allowed me to heal some old wounds and regain my life, but I still hold all of you back home very close in my heart. Moving made me realize what is important and what everyone in my life has meant to me. I love you all! And I miss you terribly!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Day was our first excursion to Nambour Center to go grocery shopping and pick up some basics. We were surprised at how expensive groceries are here! Our property manager, Ian, was kind enough to give us a lift to the shop and back, so that we wouldn't have to carry our groceries the whole way up this monsterous hill that lies between us and a the center.

Ian was also kind enough to invite us to join him at a New Year's barbie at the home of his Kiwi friends, Liz & Bruce, in Palmwoods. We graciously accepted! They had a lovely home that overlooked the Blackall Ridge & we saw one of the most majestic sunsets I've ever seen! We met a bunch of their neighbours & had a night of lovely bbq, good conversation and a few glasses of wine.

We arrived home before midnight due to absolute jet-lag. We watched the fireworks in Sydney on the tellie. They were supposedly the biggest display in the world this year. You can check them out here: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov .au/nye/

Happy New Year to all!