Mount Coolum Climb

About 2 miles up the road from where we are living now is one of the most predominant features on the Sunshine Coast, Mt. Coolum. It is a geologically similar to the Glasshouse Mountains in the hinterland; volcanic leftovers as how it was described to me, but I’m sure that’s not the “technical term!” The signpost at the trail terminus approximates that is about 208 meters high and 25-26 million years old!



So, of course, after living a week in its shadows, I couldn’t take it anymore and I had to climb it. The climb looked daunting and seemed incongruous with the estimated 2 hour return time posted at the terminus, but it turned out to be much easier than I originally anticipated. Although, it was very, very hot making the trip up fairly difficult.

The start of the trail winds through a paperbark tree forest with a great array of flora growing amongst the beautiful trees! On the Park’s website, I read that over 700 different plant species grow on this mountain!! It was absolutely beautiful and the trail was well-graded and well-maintained in this section of the hike. It is worth the trip, even if you turn back once you reach the exposed parts of the trail.



The track becomes rocky and steep as you past an old quarry and the craggy vertical cliffs of the mountainside. The views here are worth the climb; you can see as far south as “The Spit” in Mooloolaba and have a lovely view of the coastline from this vantage point.

The trail takes a hard right turn and drastically changes to rock & sand with eucalypts and grass trees. The rock in some sections almost forms perfect columnar stairs. This area is completely exposed and I was absolutely melting trekking up at about 9:30am; I can’t even imagine what it felt like when some of the people that were starting as I was finishing experienced. A wet bandana under my baseball cap gave some relief, but I doused myself with some of my drinking water to cool off.

Supposedly there was only a high of 28 degrees C today, but it felt much hotter on the mountain. It was so hot and I began to notice a distinct smell as I was climbing up. I eventually realized that it smelled like charcoal after a barbie! I definitely felt like a piece of meat being grilled!



I was hoping when I reached the top I would see the Peregine Falcons that live up in the area, but I guess it was too hot for them as well.

As you continue up, there are beautiful views sweeping from Mooloolaba as far as Double Point (the Lighthouse we visited on our Cooloola Safari.) On the summit, there was a small, makeshift memorial to Steve Irwin. It was very heartwarming to see such a lovely tribute in an amazingly beautiful for an outstanding man.

I even called Jon and left him a voicemail saying, “Hey, I can see our house from up here!!”

On the way home, I saw the best sign ever. We have koala crossings, no fire ant crossings, no banana plant crossing, kangaroo crossings, all by our house. But, for some reason, the “AGED CROSSING” cracks me up the most. The graphic on it is pretty funny: a man bent over a walker.

Disconnected Discourse

Think really hard about the last time you had no phone line in your home or no access to the Internet. It’s unimaginable isn’t it; I have no idea how idea how I existed pre-1990. I mean the last time I used a rotary phone was… well, it was like 1998, but that’s because Lakeridge Swim Club is not exactly technologically saavy, but we’ve got Rocco, so it evens out.

Sorry, I digress…….

Jon and I moved into our new apartment and thought we would be able to have a telephone line through the resort until our telephone line would be set up. However, that was not the case; as soon as our apartment came out of the holiday letting pool, they were unable to provide that service for the unit.

We went to Telstra, the local telephone and broadband Internet provider, last Saturday afternoon and filled out an application to have someone come to our home and initiate our service package. By Thursday, we still had not heard from them and called Telstra Customer Service directly. We were floored to find out that our application that we had lodged at the shop was not even processed yet. With a little negotiation and a few tears, we were able to have the compassionate customer service person arrange for a service call on Monday, February 12th. I cannot believe I have been without the Internet for over a week.

I shudder to think at the amount of emails that are piling up for both Jon and I and all web bill-paying that needs to be done. It’s been really hard being so out of touch with my friends & family too. No phone, no internet and limited contact with other people has made things kind of lonely for me. Especially since Jonathan is working nights and sleeping during the day, my human contact is limited. I just have to keep telling myself it’s only for a few days.

I felt like Fred Flintstone when all of the paperwork that I have scanned for DIMIA, my work, Jon’s work, the real estate agent that had to be sent out the old fashioned express way and I wasted two days driving up and down the Coast to hand-deliver it to where it needed to be. How did we exist pre-email / Internet? I can’t even imagine going back to that!

We do have a kiosk in the resort, but no matter what time I go down there whether it is 2pm or 2am, there is a pre-teen MySpacing their face off for hours. So, we apologize for the fact that we have been out of touch lately, but it’s ridiculously expensive to call / receive calls internationally on our mobile phones, we have no land line, no Skype access, and essentially no internet.

Everything else has been going really well! We absolutely love our new home & have been enjoying the beach and the pool everyday!

Some good news: My letter of offer arrived yesterday and my start date is Valentine’s Day. All of the visa verification and tax file number issues were resolved and everything is on the up & up.

Are you ready for some football??

You would think that if you had to wake up in the morning at 7am to commute the hour (the same distance I had to travel to NYC) only to watch the Super Bowl and drink Budweiser, it wouldn't be a problem? I can tell you from experience, it seems just like getting up for work. I could barely get Jon out of bed! Especially because, THE PATRIOTS WEREN"T PLAYING!!!

We did make it down to the Prince of Wales Pub & Hotel to watch the Colts / Bears game play out with many other American expats! What a great day & what a great game! We sat and we bitched and we comiserated about things that no one else here would understand. I mean truly, the taste in the Yankee Stadium dog is "Brooklyn Water." No one else gets that, except the proprieters of Eli's Bagel's in Matawan, which is why there bagels are so GOOD!

By meeting the Americans that live in BrisVegas as they call it, I have realized one thing: Jon and I are country folk. Brisbane is a far cry from NYC, Boston or LA, but being on the Sunshine Coast, we are, as the woman at the Telstra shop put it, "about 20 years behind the U.S.A."

But that's not a bad thing. Career-wise, Jon and I see each other. Neither one of us has the opportunity to become a work-a-holic. We are forced to do shopping in a set time frame, which, in turn, distinctly sets apart free time or family time. We have the opportunity to sit and talk, or to sit and say nothing. When did that ever happen stateside?

See our previous post about where we live. Albeit, the melonoma capital of the world, but it's our home now......

Loving Life, Loving You, From the Sunshine Coast....

Moving on up to the East Side!

The entry below truly explains how fabulous our life has become. But.....

Before you read this, whether you know us or not, please know that without the support of our families, we would not be in this position today. Both of our sets of parents raised us to realize that the world is our oyster and that nothing was beyond our reach. We also each have siblings and "Jaimes" that challenged us to reach for the stars throughout our lives.

In the more recent past, Jon's parent's graciously let us live in their home for what they thought would be 2 months that turned into almost 7 due to DIMIA. Berit and Mike are the type of people that Jonathan and I aspire to be. When we told them that we wanted to move to Australia to pursue a dream, they didn't ask questions ~ they just asked how they could help, even if it meant they had to endure personal sacrifices. They had learned at an early age that there is richness is life when you travel the world and passed that value on to their children. I was an extremely lucky that they accepted me as family and tried to instill these values in me.

Without their support, Jonathan and I could never have achieved all we have in the past few months. Not only the financial and emotional support, but the words of wisdom and guidance. In the time that we lived with them, we endured the visa process/medical board approvals, private hardships, and the duality of parents & children living together in adult life and we still managed to come out loving each other.

Berit & Mike, we do love you more than words can ever express, not only for what you did, but for who you were.

To explain to those of you that don't know them, Jon's Mum sat me down one night before we left and passed these words of wisdom on to me that I feel I should share with any woman who is traveling because of her husband/ boyfriend/partner's work. In a nutshell, she told me to find a niche for yourself; there is a certain loneliness in traveling for someone else's work. The first month or so before your find a job or make friends at work or in general, you will be incredibly lonely. Seek out an expat group in your area, or if you have a hobby find women in your area with a common interest. Women around the world commiserate over the same things: Men universally leave the toilet seat up and underwear on the floor. You will find solace in having someone to understand your frustrations and you will find unyielding support from expats when you have those "stupid questions" that you would never ask a native. I would have drowned in my new surroundings if it were not for Berit's advice.

Jon and I cannot thank his parents enough for the unyielding support they offered us during the initial stages of this adventure. It's nice for both of us to know that we have "Mum & Dad" and "Mom & Daddy" to turn to for advice & support. The numbers are in our favor.

Now, here is what I meant to say today:

Just like "The Jeffersons" we moved up to the east side, only it was the east side of the Sunshine Coast. All I can say is "Wow." I am living in a beautiful apartment (or unit) in a gorgeous resort on a breathtaking beach with a man I love. Jon and I might be the luckiest people in the world.

We both were lying by the pool today and Jon looked over at me, smiled, and said, "Hey, we LIVE here!!!" It is unbelievable that this is our home. We are so lucky and blessed to have found a home with such a great location!

It is a beautiful resort complex with a fabulous restaurant, bar, pool, beach access, day spa, gym, game room, gambling room & beautiful hotel rooms & long-let units. As I write to you now, I am listening to the sound of tropical birds; albeit different birds than in Nambour. (See future entries for pictures). Currently, I am sitting out on our master bedroom balcony, listening to the waves of the Pacific roar like a washing machine and there isn't another person in sight. I am looking out over the ocean and a lagoon style pool that is lit up like Times Square. There is also a children's play pool that I have found is awesome it sit in while reading and sunning/tanning. (We have found, sometimes the old men monopolize the "benches" by the jets in the regular pool. I can only imagine why and every reason I come up with is GROSS!!!

Yesterday, Jon and I walked down to the beach and it started raining. We laughed our butts off because we couldn't decide whether to walk the 100 meters back to our room or stay put. We just both knew we were living in paradise when we didn't see hypodermic needles, tampons, or condoms on the beach like you would at the Jersey Shore.



I will always be a Jersey Girl at heart, but this is far better. White sand that you can filter through you toes. The sea turns from transparent to light blue to aquamarine to deep blue in 200 meters. Shells that we bought in stores on the boardwalk wash up on the beaches in front of my new home. Hell, I have found the hermit crabs that we bought of vacation ever year biting my toes while I run along the beach each morning.

Right now, I can smell the sea from where I write to you tonight on our balcony and it is GLORIOUS!

Today, after the rain, we decided to stay put on the beach and the sun came out and we laid on the beach in front of aquamarine seas and loved life!! You can be chest deep in the ocean and still see your feet!! Such smuggers we are these days!!!

Back to the apartment....(or unit, as they call them in Oz)



When you walk into our apartment, it is an arterial hallway that branches out to two doors: one into the main living area and one into the master bedroom. The entry hallway has our washer/dryer closet and we have ideas for furnishing it as a proper entryway. The main living area has a kitchen area with all stainless steel appliances and a granite counter top with breakfast nook. To the right of the entryway, there is a guest bedroom and ensuite bathroom with a luxurious tub & rainfall shower stall. A small dining area with oak dining room set with purple accents; the living room is a purple microfibre set with birds of paradise accents. At the end of the room, there are floor to ceiling windows with rolling blinds. The balcony has a full wicker & iron dining set that perfectly accent all of the plants we have previously bought with ample storage space for Jon's surfboards.

The second door off the arterial hallway opens into a LARGE master bedroom and ensuite bath. This room also has floor to ceiling sliding glass doors with rolling blinds. The bathroom has a beautiful rainfall shower. It even has a mini-bar. Perfect for guests or in case we get to silly to walk to the kitchen to get another glass of wine! More likely the prior!!

Our first night here, we decided to go downstairs to have dinner at the Gecko Restaurant. It was luxurious to say the least! Jonathan had a duck dish that was delectable and I had lamb that was to die for! We have a high-end restaurant in our "basement." How amazing is that???

The bar downstairs, The ScuBar, is having a raffle. Every Cooper's you purchase, you get a ticket to enter to win a Cooper's Pale Ale surfboard. Needless to say, we've been drinking a lot of beer; As some of you might remember, I'm a Cooper Trooper!!

The next day, once we were settled in somewhat, we went down to the wine cellar downstairs and bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate our new home. We ate dinner (chicken with herbs I grew in our potted garden) on our balcony overlooking the ocean.



I can't rave about where we live enough!!! Mum & Dad, Mom & Daddy, siblings, anyone... you have to come a visit and experience it for yourselves!!! We can't wait to have you here and share in our happiness!!!