And it begins...

So today is our third day in Canberra, Australia!  It has been a whirlwind getting here and we are glad to finally be living down under.  I decided I needed to document our time here and even though I was being encourage to write it by hand, I knew I would never keep up with that.  So, trying to be realistic, I decided to try writing about it in a blog.  So please excuse my rambling thoughts and the spelling and grammar errors.  I'm a busy mom!

Getting here...

We boarded the plane in Honolulu, HI on Wednesday just before noon on a sunny summer day and flew 10 hours and landed in Sydney, Australia on Thursday night in the middle of winter!  That international date line can get confusing when figuring our time changes, etc.! 

We spent the night in Sydney (we paid $$ to leave our 8 suitcases at the airport so we didn't have to wrestle with those to and from the hotel--money well spent) and left Friday morning for Canberra.  We were greeted (at the gate--something you can't do in the US any more) by two of the Australian Air Force bosses Erich will be working for and Derek.  Derek is an US Army officer that recently arrived in Canberra.  We had chatted with him through email prior to our arrival since we have a mutual friend that introduced us knowing we were both moving here.  They helped us gather our massive amount of luggage (8 large suitcases, 7 carry-ons, 2 car booster seats, and 2 six year olds), and helped us load everything up in Derek's car and our rental. 

This is the luggage cart in Sydney. 

This says to me, "Welcome to Australia.  Don't swim in our ocean!"

 



Our first days...

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Derek.  His help was invaluable. (we owe him a couple of bottles of good booze)  Since he had just gone through all this three weeks before, he was full of great advice.  He took us to get our Australian drivers licenses, open a bank account, and get Australian cell phone service.  Wow.  The kids were real troopers as we ran all these errands.  They did such a great job. 

On a side note...  Erich has done all the driving since they drive on the wrong left side of the road.  I am terrified.  I sit in the passenger seat with my eyes closed most of the time and the rest of the time I am stifling a scream.  I will have to start driving soon since Erich will have to start work and I will have to take the kids to school.  I am saying prayers asking for God to be in the car with us to keep us safe and to keep bad words from spewing my mouth.  I would hate to increase the vocabulary of my children that way.

Saturday we spent time relaxing and letting the kids play with the toys we brought along.  They hadn't seen them in a while and they had a good time.  We also ventured out to a grocery store and Big W (like a Walmart) to get some things we need.

My Random Observations...

• Driving here scares me.
• The birds are beautiful.  They are very colorful.  I will try to capture some pictures.
• The toilets are different. Different shaped and they have two buttons for flushing.  A low water button and a "I've got something serious to flush and I need more water" button.   I'm trying to teach the kids how to choose which button to flush with without them announcing to the entire public bathroom that they went poop or pee...
• The weather feels like a fall day in Missouri.
• You have to pay to park everywhere. 
• If you don't bring your reusable shopping bags, you have to purchase their plastic bags. (Note to self--Get reusable shopping bags and don't forget to bring them!)