To Catch You Up

I'm taking a friend's advice and starting a real blog (i.e. not a facebook blog). My talented husband is also working on editing video blogs for me, so I'll be sharing those here as well. The idea here is to document my big move to the Land Down Under from the "Land Up Over," as I like to call it. It has already been quite an adventure, so it's going to take awhile to catch you up. So I'll start by re-posting my last FB note (with some additions):

So, what have i been doing the past 2 or 3 weeks? Well, had lots of going away party fun in the US. One in KCK at the legends, Los Cabos to be exact. That was great! I got to see all my favorite BPU people, and it was just a lot of margarita-filled fun! Then had another party in North KC at O'dowds, mainly for Theo to say goodbye to the KC rugby crowd. Then finally another going-away open house in Belleville the day after Thanksgiving. The whirlwind moving and packing fiasco was quite stressful. But we managed to leave with only a car left to sell and about a dozen boxes at Mom's house for storage.

Traveling is always "fun," especially international flights with long layovers. We booked our domestic and international flights separately, so ended up spending the better part of a day at the San Francisco airport. Here's a little of what that day was like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-m-HABtrCw

The first stop was New Zealand. We had just gotten off the 12 hour flight and here's what we did on the way home to the farm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjmn_F0_1_M

We got to visit Theo's family for the first time in 3.5 years. Theo got to see tons of family and friends. So that was really nice, and much more relaxing than last time we were there. But much more cold, for some reason. Isn't this supposed to be summer?!? Word was that the week before was awesome weather, but just our luck, a cold spell arrived the same time we did. Theo went crazy on the food. NZ food is awesome, and of course there are a lot things he just can't get in the US, or Australia even. So he indulged in lime milks, chocolate slabs, and fish & chips. His monumental moment was devouring 2 pieces of fish, a burger, a hot dog (which in NZ is a fried corn dog), and chips (fries), all in one meal. But I guess he deserved it after playing a touch rugby tournament in cold rain that night.



So final destination was Gold Coast, Australia. We arrived on the morning of December 6, and we picked up from the airport by Theo's mate, Colin. He and his family graciously gave us food and lodging in their home until we found a place of our own.



First impression of the GC airport.... Lots of perfume. I thought I was going to gag. But I guess people need it to mask the sweaty smells, I suppose. It's summer... sunny and hot! Perfect... for me anyway. Other observations: People have been pretty nice over all and are truly more laid back here. "no worries" isn't just a surfer thing to say here. old ladies actually say it. LOL. another aspect of the laid back lifestyle is that stores and business generally close around 5pm, which is hard to get used to when you're used to having 24-hour stores. But I suppose I'll get used to that. The scenery is gorgeous, of course. I haven't traveled around much, but the beaches are fantastic. The trees are luscious, and the animals are crazy wonderful. The birds are huge and noisy... my favorite one so far woke me up again last night. it sounds just like a monkey... the kookaburra. And I just saw my first kangaroos last night. I've seen quite a few little geckos. Next on the list is koalas. "Koala Park" is nearby, but haven't had time to go yet...



I'm already missing Mexican food and internet cafes. I haven't actually tried a Mexican restaurant yet (there are a couple I've seen so far), because I'm scared of what I'll find. I haven't even been able to buy corn tortillas at the grocery store! And the first week or so, we had no internet access, so we desperately searched for internet cafes, but they are really hard to find here. But we don't have to worry about that any more, thank goodness. We're fully wired, so you can expect to see these more regularly now.