Finally On line!!

Today is Saturday, February 10th and we just got hooked up to the internet yesterday, but I put this post together on Thursday. I'll post again in a few days. Hope you are all well!

Thursday, February 8th:

At this point I am not connected to the internet yet, but I thought I would start my first post. I am so glad to have all of the packing behind me. It was much more work than Amanda and I anticipated – and more expensive too! We finally finished all of the last minute packing and made it too NH around 8:00 on January 31st for a last dinner with my Mom. We hopped on our first flight at 11:00 AM on Thursday, February 1st and did not land until 11:00 AM on Saturday, February 3rd (7:00 PM on the 2nd Maine time). All in all, it was 32 long hours. I only slept about 2 hours on the plane. Thanks to my iPod and a good book, the trip was bearable.

Once we arrived, Amanda’s family was waiting for us and they brought us to our new home. Had some lunch, unpacked a bit, and ran some errands. We had Fish and Chips for dinner and went to bed around 8:00 PM and slept until 4:30 AM.

It is the middle of summer and the weather has been beautiful! The first two days were very hot: about 38 Celsius which I think is about mid to high 90’s. Since it has been mid 20’s C which is about mid 70’s F.

In the last few days, we have been shopping for home goods and getting ourselves set up and catching up with Amanda’s family. We live about ¼ mile from a state park and have been walking there in the mornings. On Tuesday, just 10 minutes into our walk we saw 7 kangaroos just hanging out and a bunch of odd looking rabbits. They are brown, have shorter back legs and tufts of hair on top of their ears. With the exception of pigeons, all of the birds are different. Lots of Cockatoos that can out screech any crow! They are about the size of a crow but are all white with a hook beak and tufts of feathers on their heads. Rosellas are probably the most beautiful birds I have seen so far. They are red, green and blue. The most prevalent birds I have seen so far are magpies. They are just like crows, bur have white splotches all over them. I’m still looking for a bird guide so I can figure out what all of the other birds are.

The trees are also completely different. Eucalyptus trees (more commonly called Gum trees) are everywhere and they are beautiful, especially their silhouettes at sunset. We have a large Gum tree in our yard that I admire every day. Here’s a picture. I need to learn more about these trees, but the bark continuously peels away in large strips.

The biggest news here at the moment is drought conditions. Currently the dams are running at 36% of capacity. Essentially, if it get’s down to 0%, there will be no more water. We are under stage 3 water restrictions which means you can not use sprinklers for your lawn at any time and can only use a hose with a trigger nozzle twice a week. It depends what side of the street you live on, but for us, we can use our hose to water plants from 6:00 – 8:00 AM and 8:00-10:00 PM on Sundays and Wednesdays. You are also not allowed to wash your car with the exception of windows, mirrors and lights and it must be with a bucket. It is quite common to bring a bucket into the shower with you and use that water for your plants any time you want. My mother-in-law and her husband (my step father in law?) have just put in a 900 liter tank that captures water that runs off their roof. Before we got here there was a big rainstorm and they filled the tank. They can use that water any time they want and however they want.

On Monday, Amanda and I went into the city to the casino to watch the Super Bowl. Apparently this was the only bar in town that had a big Super Bowl party. It was great! The game started at 10:30 AM for us and the place was packed. There were a lot of expatriates, but I was very surprised to find so many Aussies that were so big into American Football. I ran into a guy with a Tom Brady shirt and I assumed he was from New England, but he grew up in Melbourne and has never been to the states. I met another guy wearing UCLA garb from head to toe and he also has never been to the states.

I have so much more to share, but I need to put down the keyboard.