We’ve been here for 10 days. Elle thinks it’s going slow. I think it’s flying by. Picking up where we left off in the last blog post….

We arrived to our new house via a taxi  on February 1st. After a long flight, waiting in line at the airport to show our passports was pretty miserable. We were hungry and thirsty and ready to see daylight. Finally, we got outside with ALL our luggage and it was raining. We quickly found a taxi, gave our new address, and we were on our way. Just like that. 

We were at our new house before 11am. Only about 20 minutes from the airport. The taxi dropped us off in front of the house. I’d seen pictures online of our house so I recognized it immediately. We unloaded everything onto the sidewalk. The owner of the house was there and a cleaning crew. We were able to drop all the bags at our landlord’s apartment below us and take off for a bit while the house was cleaned. The house we’ve rented is an Airbnb property, so there are people in and out on a regular basis. We were able to go off of Airbnb and rent directly from the owners for 4 months. We’ve been emailing them making arrangements, so it was nice to finally meet them. They couldn’t be nicer. A couple with 2 little girls.       

  Anyway, we left our bags and walked to the end of our block. We looked to the right and there it was. The ocean. Ahhhh. It was raining, but of course we had to go put our feet in the sand. Mae jumped into the ocean. We were the only crazies at the beach on a rainy (and foggy) day. Then we headed back up the street and found a burger restaurant. And so it began… Can we use our credit card? What are some of these items on the menu? Why is it so expensive? Chips=fries? Kangaroo burgers????  We had a delicious and expensive lunch. Next, it was time to move in. We got all our bags and brought them back upstairs. Our landlord showed us a few things and then we were left alone in our new house. The kids ran around choosing bedrooms like they were on The Real World or Big Brother. It had already been decided that the girls would share a room and let Luke have his own room for a change (he bunks with Mae back in Denver.)  So the girls got the room with 2 single beds. Their room has a fireplace (old house) and a TV with Netflix. Luke chose the room with the queen-size bed and a TV. That left Wes and I with the last bedroom. Ours room has a fireplace, no closet, but does have A/C!! So it all worked out fine. I share a closet with Luke and Wes shares with the girls. We didn’t bring too many clothes and we can keep our warm weather clothes packed away in suitcases for now. We loved the house right away. We didn’t know that we’d have a peek of the ocean from our main room which is lovely. The dining table is big and great for homeschooling. The kitchen is small and definitely the type of kitchen you’d find in a vacation rental, so we are trying to be creative with working with what we’ve got. 

Over the next couple of days we began to figure everything out. I’ve never lived in another country. I have only left the country twice and both times were to Carribean resorts. I’m not a traveler. There is alot to figure out. We opened a bank account and got our bus passes. We found the grocery store and started to stock the kitchen with mostly new foods or at least new brands/varieties of foods. 

Our first weekend was exciting. We took a bus and a ferry to our friends’ house for a swim in their pool and a BBQ. NO…we didn’t have shrimp on the barbie. That isn’t  a thing here.  They call it prawn anyway, but we had lots of delicious meat and side dishes. The kids were thrilled to have a big homecooked meal. It was a hot day, so the swimming felt amazing and the kids were so happy to socialize with other children. Our friends were so welcoming and helpful with tips about Australia. We saw the opera house and the bridge en route to their home. We all enjoyed traveling by ferry. 

We had to watch the Superbowl on Monday at 10:30am. That was crazy, and so was the game. What a win! We will never forget this Superbowl day. It was a happy day. 

Tuesday we started homeschooling.

We’ve been to the zoo, mall, library, park,and an ocean pool. Wes goes to work everyday at the University. It’s been an exciting 10 days. 

 We are settling in to a new life in Australia

It’s all happening. 
*DBM