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Published: January 7th 2006
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We made it!
After another 2+ hours from Bangkok to Hong Kong and then 9 hours from Hong Kong to Sydney, we're finally at our new home. We got off the plane at 7:15am (which felt like 3:15am Bangkok time) and made our way through customs with little hassle. Unfortunately, my beautiful Thai hat was confiscated 😞 Australia is very picky about what comes into the country (you've heard about the rabbits, I presume) and banana leaf is a banned item. They offered to treat the hat for $60, but considering it was a $10 hat, we decided to just give it up.
We were met at the airport by two of Steve's friends from school - Ken and Graeme. Ken exchanged to UCC 11 years ago and has been a tremendous help via email even before we arrived. They were waiting at our arrival area with a Canadian flag draped over the railing - no trouble finding who was meeting us! It was about a little more than an hour from Sydney airport to the Central coast, and Ken and Graeme gave us a great little overview tour on the way "home". We passed over the Harbour Bridge
and saw the opera house. The drive to the coast is through rolling hills and valleys with lots of bushland. Forest fires actually swept through the area last week (new year's day) and you could see the burned forest on both sides of the roads in some spots. The heat wave broke the day before we arrived, so the temperatures are much more manageable now, reaching high 20s in the day.
Before arriving "home", we were able to stop at the travel agent and pick up our tickets for Fiji. Luckily, Graeme needed to stop there anyway to pick up his tickets for a trip to North America in the coming weeks. We took a scenic way through Gosford, Avoca Beach and Terrigal and got to see all the beaches and great land that we'll be trying to explore over the next little while. The beaches are huge and so are the waves! I'm not sure if you'll be hearing about us braving the ocean any time soon!
The house is great! In a beautiful setting on the side of a hill overlooking a valley. The kitchen has a walk-out to a beautiful new deck where I think
I'll eat my breakfast every day! The basement has three bedrooms and the bathroom arrangement is very handy - one room for basin & toilet, another for shower and tub. No more fogging up the mirror with a hot shower!
Once we got settled at home for a bit, Ken dropped by with a small load of groceries for us - just enough to get us through a couple of days, he said. He wouldn't take anything in return. Both Ken and Graeme have offered their assistance in any way over the coming weeks. What great people!
We managed to nap for a little in the afternoon and then started the ordeal of unpacking and trying to get organized (a little). There are several things here that we're going to have to get used to:
- line-drying our clothes
- using a gas oven and cook-top
- no air conditioning (but the bedroom is in the basement where it's cooler)
- driving on the other side of the road!
We took a walk in the evening down to Copacabana beach where there are a few little shops and restaurants. We picked up some fish and chips and
managed to make it home just before a big thunderstorm hit. The beach itself is beautiful - very fine, clean sand. There were several surfers out braving the waves, but the surf was pretty small compared to what we saw at Avoca.
After our busy day arriving and getting settled, we tucked into bed early and slept a good 10+ hours. I guess we needed it.
It's now our second day, so we decided to try driving. We've been invited out to Graeme's for lunch on Sunday, so we're going to have to learn to get around. There are also a few things that we'd like to pick up at the mall (a hairdryer for one!) So... after 15 minutes of planning with detailed maps and discussing how to make right-hand turns, we ventured out... Have you ever tried looking up to the left for your rear-view mirror? How about signalling a turn with your right hand (OK - the windshield is nice and clean now)? If you've ever driven around a roundabout, imagine entering the roundabout to your left! The roads here can be quite narrow and twisty-turny at times, so it was a bit stressful, but
we managed to make it to Erina Fair with no trouble. Parking now... that's different too!
The big mall in the area is quite large and we found what we needed quite easily. We picked up some more groceries as well as a few other things (I got my hairdryer!) On our way from the mall, we missed a turn at one point and ended up in Gosford - where we happened to pass the Apple store (maybe Tom didn't make a wrong turn after all?) Even though Tom is going to have to get used to working on a PC once school starts, we decided to drop in and see what they had to offer. If we're going to use the internet here with our macs, we needed an ethernet cable anyway. We came away with not just the ethernet cable, but a wireless modem as well. So - now we can surf and email and update this blog from the comfort of the back deck, the livingroom or anywhere nearby! After having wireless at home, it's kind of hard to go back and be tied to a wall again. Luckily, both our macs connected with no problem
A New Friend
Found in our backyard ~ 10 cm across (including legs) (we didn't even need a password!) and we're updating the blog from the comfort of the livingroom. Now we have all the comforts of home 😊
We've been enjoying all the bird life from our back deck today. We've seen (well, heard) the Laughing Kookaburra, the Common Myna, Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo and a pair of Galah (pink and grey cockatoo). A little bit of a change from the starlings, chickadees and pigeons at home 😊
Tomorrow we'll have to pack up again... Ken is picking us up on Monday morning (what a great guy!) and dropping us at the Gosford train station where we'll get a train to the airport for yet another flight... Our next blog entry will be about our travels to Fiji.
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Dave
non-member comment
Hello
Great to hear that things are going well. It sounds like you'll be working with a good group of people. Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures. ps the 6's and Removes are great. After the first full week, It almost feels like I've had them since the start.