It's been awhile since I've posted anything because it's been another round of whirlwind life change and adjustments. As soon as I was selected for a job with the State government, we immediately started making plans to move. We flew up to Mackay for a few days to suss out the housing situation, and luckily on the last day in town our application was approved for a rental house! We were really excited because first, it can be a bit of a nightmare finding any rental properties in Australia, because there's no central way to search and the market is huge. You have to visit every real estate agency in person practically every day to keep up with the new listings, inspections, applications, etc. Then they go off the market so fast, you really have to be on your toes. So we were relieved that we got that part done so quickly.

Then the next step was packing, moving, and tying up loose ends in Kirra. I pretty much moved up to a hotel room in Mackay and starting working right away, while Theo stayed behind in Kirra to pack, see our stuff off with the movers, and clean our apartment before we officially moved out.

The job has been great! It's exactly what I had wanted to do. I'm still getting to know the work processes and people, but there's always a learning curve. I have 2 other Americans in my office, which was surprising! Every day I'm impressed by the progressive policies and work environment. As far as employers, I couldn't have done any better!

Mackay as a city is not bad either. I didn't really know what to expect, since I didn't get to see much during my interview visit. It's still a coastal city, but not as big as the Gold Coast. Not as touristy either, which is really nice. It's further north, so it has a warmer climate than where we came from (a Fijian friend says it's on the same latitude as Fiji!), so they grow a lot of sugar cane and other tropical crops here. It's also not far from the mines, so a lot of people who live here actually work in the mines. Many have one week on/one week off type schedules. This can sometimes be a negative because miners get paid so well, it can create a kinda false economy, with businesses catering to and inflating prices for miners. But it's not too bad. If we lived any closer to the mines, it would be much worse!

We're still getting settled into the new house. We have practically no furniture, and it's a 3-bedroom house, so it's going to take awhile to make it feel cozy. But we have everything we need, really. The best parts about it are the wood floors, the awesome front deck, and the fruits growing in the back yard - passionfruit and mandarins! The backyard is fenced in case we find a cute puppy to take home, and the neighborhood seems really nice. There are definitely things about the house we would change if we could, though. It's pretty old, and they must have added the toilet later, because it's in the back, down a few stairs off the laundry room. So it's not that fun when you have to get up in the middle of the night. And on a related note, the water pipes are really old and unpredictable and the bathtub is an awful pink color. But the good things definitely outweigh the bad... Just glad to be employed and semi-settled at the moment...