Swimming with the Sharks

We went swimming this morning at "our beach" as we do regularly. It was sunny and the water was beautiful. It's a wonderful shade of sea green and so clear that you can see which waves have fish in them.

It's been raining a lot lately for short bursts at a time, which is perfect. It cools the air but doesn't ruin your day. The surf was good, so the surfers were out, which is actually kind of strange for Kirra. The government has been adding sand to the beaches here to protect against hurricanes, which ruins the "points" and results in smaller waves. So we hardly ever see surfers here, but this morning was good for them.

We were practically alone; just us, a few other swimmers down the beach, the surfers and the fish. The biggest difference today was that there was no lifeguard. Since we've been here, it's been the holiday season, so the city has extra lifeguards at various locations down the beach. Kirra is so small that we apparently don't get one all year long. So it makes me a little nervous. If we get stung by a jellyfish, we're on our own. And when I see fish, I always think of sharks.

Theo was telling me the other day about the "shark nets" intermittently placed along the Gold Coast beaches. There are also "drumlines," which are flotation devices with baited hooks on them. So I'm NOT the bait? Awesome.

I tried to get a photo of them...

The shark nets are only 5 meters deep, and intermittent, like I said. So sharks can still actually go around them and under them. But I guess the drumlines help a lot, too. I read a recent news article that said the Gold Coast hasn't had a fatal shark attack on the Gold Coast since 1962. Notice the word "fatal." So it still freaks me out.

Hopefully soon I can relax and just enjoy swimming with the sharks.

Long Weekend

It's been a long weekend...there was a holiday on Tuesday, plus my life resembles what feels like an eternally long weekend. Not going to work every day isn't actually as glamorous as it would seem when you don't have any money to spend!

The holiday was Australia Day, commemorating the arrival of the first British to Australia. It's sort of like Independence Day in the US, except for it's not exactly independence being celebrated, I suppose. Similar to how Christopher Columbus Day is controversial in the US, so is Australia Day. To some here, it's a sad day for the Aborigines and nothing to celebrate. Nonetheless, we attended a holiday BBQ down the street so we could spend the day with friends, especially those who were so kind to help us out when we got here. The beach-side parks were crowded with people. The crowd varied from young to old, Australian-born to immigrants. There were lots of Aussie flag outfits, hats, fake flag tattoos, and t-shirts. One thing almost everyone had in common - BBQ. If they weren't BBQing on the public grills, they were BBQing on ones they brought with them. It was super hot outside, but it didn't seem to be slowing anyone down.



Theo had a good time playing around with the boys. For the first time, I even saw him play cricket, although an extremely casual version. I thought he hated that game! I guess he'll play anything after 5 or 6 bowls of kava!

Earlier in the weekend, I got to go to my first surfing competition. It was fun, especially since it was located right on a dog beach. So when I got bored of watching surfing, I could watch the cute dogs. It's been ages since I had a dog, so of course it made my yearning for one even worse!!

An interesting quirk I've been noticing on the Gold Coast is the general lack of some of the social graces I'm used to, like generally making eye contact, smiling, saying "Excuse Me" when you bump into someone, etc. So this weekend, what surprised me was that even though a surfing competition was clearly in progress, the fishermen continued to cast their long lines from a pier right next to the surfers. So the competition announcers politely asked the fishermen not to cast so close, since apparently during a previous competition a surfer actually got hooked! But they continued as if nothing was going on, which to me would be pretty rude, but here, I guess people just do what they want.



To break up the monotony of relaxation, I had my first job interview smack dab in the middle, on Monday. My feelings about it are mixed, so I plan to keep looking. I guess my "long weekend" continues.

Byron Bay

Today we went on a "road trip." At least a road trip by local standards, and frankly our own since we don't have a car yet...even though Byron Bay is only about 45 minutes south of the Gold Coast.

Byron Bay is the closest thing to a sort of hippie community in the area. Downtown, they have funky little shops and cafes, and you have a better chance of not getting hit by a car crossing the street. Oh the humanity there! :) I should explain a little...in the US, Theo always marveled at the way drivers of vehicles would actually stop and wait for pedestrians. He would tell me, "That wouldn't happen in Australia. They'd just run you over. You can't just walk out in front of cars there!" Since I've been here, I actually have noticed a general respect for vehicles among pedestrians. I've even seen a lifeguard truck make a lady with a stroller stop on a sidewalk so they could drive through. Anyway, my point is that Byron Bay is so hippie that they'll even stop for pedestrians. Imagine!! (By the way, I didn't really see any actual "hippies" of the magnitude we have in the US, but it did seem more liberal.)

So we woke up at 4:30 a.m. so our friend Takkeshi could get some quality surfing in. Here's the surfing shot of the day, compliments of Theo:

It was a beautiful morning and the waves were great. We ate breakfast, went back to the beach, then had seafood & chips for lunch.

It was a nice, relaxing trip and I'm sure we'll be back. The vibe is definitely different there. Cute, funky, and even more laid back than usual. I'd love to have a house there. I found a newspaper and browsed the real estate section. Property near the beach is over $2 million. Guess I better get a job soon.

So, how's the weather??

So a lot of people are curious - what's the weather like? Well, I was very excited about arriving here for summer in Aussie. We had a little rain when we first arrived, but now it's been pretty normal. Highs in the 80s and lows in the 70s. Perfect for me and my sun-loving self. Although it can seem like it's a lot hotter than 80 when one strays too far from the beach. We are lucky to have a 2nd floor apartment, only a block from the beach, which gives us a nice constant breeze. A lot of people here either don't have air conditioning in their residences, or have a small A/C unit that only gets used when absolutely necessary. I love the warmth, so I'm not missing A/C much. You can really tell the difference when the breeze stops though. A few nights were so hot it was hard to sleep, and apparently it will get hotter in February, so I'll let you know if I melt.

Mexican Food - 2 Thumbs Down Under

One of the few things I knew I would miss before I left the States for Australia was Mexican food. I was completely spoiled in KC. You can’t throw a stone in any direction in KC without hitting a Mexican restaurant. Twice I lived within walking distance of my beloved, affectionately nicknamed, “Mexican Price Chopper.” It had everything, from the best selection of produce (including cactus, every kind of hot pepper you could imagine, and strange looking vegetables I didn’t even know what to do with). In this grocery store, they even make tortillas, chorizo, and tres leches cake (yummmmmy) onsite.

So I figured Australia would be barren of most Mexican goods, and I had been dreading these food craving moments for months, but I still wasn’t mentally (or gastronomically) prepared. So let’s start with the most basic of almost-daily snacks for me, the “egg taco.” I had prepared for this one. There are 3 ingredients in an egg taco. 1. The egg. 2. The corn tortilla. 3. Mexican hot sauce. The hot sauce was in my suitcase.

Eggs are easy enough to find. The problem, I discovered, was the corn tortilla. I’ve searched every grocery store in our vicinity for what I thought was a basic food item. However, no corn tortillas can be found, only flour ones. In my search, I did come across something flat, with corn as a main ingredient, called “Mountain Bread.” Sounded cool and interesting, so I decided to “give it a go.” Although the ingredients list corn flour, wheat flour, water and salt, all these taste like are pure flour. And not even as good as a flour tortilla… just tastes like pure flour. Not cutting it for my egg tacos.

Next Mexican food attempt: the restaurant. Walking around the Gold Coast, you will actually see quite a few Mexican restaurants, at least more than I expected. I was reluctant to try them, but I finally gave in to my urges/curiosity. The first thing I noticed was the prices. Mexican restaurants in the US are notoriously inexpensive. Another way I was spoiled, I suppose, so I put the fact that even combination plates were $20 out of my mind. Scanning the menu, I saw “Chilli” Verde (sorry I can’t help pointing out the spelling mistakes!), one of my all-time favorite dishes. I read the description… capsicums!?? Instead of tomatillos, they use green peppers! I don’t think so… this is blasphemy!! So I finally decided on a “Burrito Americana.” I figured… if they can’t do actual Mexican, maybe they can do TexMex. When it came out, it actually wasn’t that bad. But not great either. And definitely not worth $20. I definitely needed some spice, as always, so asked for hot sauce. What do I get? Tabasco sauce. I don’t even like Tabasco sauce… I actually think it tastes gross. But I obviously didn’t get the hint, and decided to ask the waitress if she knew where they sell corn tortillas (she looked some sort of “ethnic”), but she obviously wasn’t Mexican because she had no idea.

SHEESH!!

The next project will be cooking refried beans at home. I've seen pinto beans at the store. So there I go. I can eat beans, at least...

...with hot sauce.

First Apartment in Oz

I'm not in Kansas anymore, but I am in Oz!

After hours and hours of internet searches, realtor visits, rental applications, and walk-throughs, we finally found the right apartment for us. It's in Kirra, which is on the southern end of the Gold Coast - not far from the Coolangatta airport actually, which will be nice when we start getting out-of-town visitors. We're about a block from the beach, so we can wake up every morning and see the waves crashing on the shore, which is pretty close to being in heaven.

This is the view from the living room window:


It's a two bedroom, 2nd floor apartment with a carport, balcony toward the beach, and washer hookup. The main kitchen/living room space is tile, which is nice. I'm always wary of old rental unit carpeting and how clean it is. Although with tile, you have to buy a lot of rugs, which can be expensive.



The funny thing about most Southern Hemisphere bathrooms is that the toilet is in tiny separate room from the rest of the bathroom/shower room. I haven't figured out why, but it sure is nice to avoid the toilet after my husband has been in there! LOL

I didn't believe Theo before we moved here, but it's true what he used to say about clothes dryers. Most people here don't use them. I supposed it's already so hot outside, you might as well use nature. I wasn't sure if I would like this, but so far it's been easy to get used to. It saves money on electricity as well, I suppose. We haven't gotten our first utility bill yet, so that will be interesting. Water is included in the rent, so it will just be power. I was surprised (after living the Midwest all my life), to find out that I could specify how "green" I wanted my power to be. Being the environmentalist that I am, I was excited to get 100% green power for the first time in my life!

Furnishing the place has been a slow process...for a few reasons. But we did get some hand-me-downs, like cooking pots, table & chairs, etc. Still no bed. We're sleeping on the floor. This was pretty brutal for the first few nights, but now we are actually used to it. And I'm not saying this to be positive or optimistic. Neither of us have had back problems and we're sleeping like babies. So now we don't know if we'll even buy a bed! Maybe we'll get one for visitors, though :)

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.