Countdown

One week today we fly home. Our last day of work was yesterday and we had a little pizza party afterwards. I felt so sad saying goodbye to my boss, I know that I'll never have a kinder employer.

Tomorrow morning we're going to visit our friends Danny & Jen down in Orange and spend the next two days with them. We basically haven't sold anything yet with the exception of Colin's surfboard and our desk, and I'm starting to feel panicky about everything else. I don't care about the money as much as just getting rid of it. It'd be nice to make some $$ on the car and the bikes but at this point I just want someone to offer us anything! Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to get rid of it all, and if not then we'll just have to make a trip to the nearest thrift store. Last night we advertised our car on a website that you have to actually pay a fee to do so, so hopefully that'll score us a sell.

I managed to purchase direct flights to Vancouver which I'm incredibly happy about. Every time we've flown Sydney-Vancouver its been a 22 hour flight through LA or San Fran but this time it'll be a meager 14! Its still a crazy amount of time to sit but there will be no complaints from me this time around.

A couple of weekends ago we went up to Brisbane to visit Neil, Anita & Aliza one last time. Its crazy to think that our time has ended here and theirs has just begun. We had a fun visit and were extremely happy that we went. We've been here 2 1/2 years and I still hadn't held a Koala, so we went to a Koala park in Brisbane called Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Colin and I got a picture. I wanted to make Christmas cards this year and specifically wanted a photo for that purpose. It was a special 60 seconds as Rodney's koala paws gripped onto my shoulders and it went by all too fast with nothing but a smelly shirt and photo to remind me of the beautiful moment we shared.

E.

See you in August

If you haven't heard, we're in the process of moving home! We just couldn't miss out on yet another Penticton summer. Our last day of work will be August 14th, and I'm looking at plane tickets for August 22nd.

When we made the big decision a few weeks ago we had mixed feelings about leaving Australia but as the end draws closer we're feeling more and more excited. There are things about Australia I'll miss. Obviously the Queensland Kroegers, our church, friends, the beach, espresso, cafes, our jobs, my doctor, etc.... But the thought of seeing our family and friends again trumps it all.

There are a few logistics that need to be ironed out in the next month. I still need to purchase the actual flight and we have to sell our copious amounts of stuff. We posted some pictures online Sunday and made our first sale tonight. We met up with a young Danish guy at Strathfield train station and did a sketchy back of the car transaction. He was unfortunately unfamiliar with the town in which my father was born which cost him a Danish discount. I'm most concerned about selling our car and bikes but I'm hoping that 4 weeks will be sufficient. It would also be fantastic to sell our camping equipment because we have a lot of it and its quite nice. Winter just isn't the best time to sell it. That being said, we DID just sell a surf board. Maybe a Danish person will buy all our gear.

Tomorrow is my day off so I'll be cleaning the car and posting pictures of it. Ideally we wouldn't sell it for at least 2 weeks since I'm still using it but we can't wait too last minute on it either.
E.

Dingo dinner

If anyone even still reads this blog despite the fact I haven't written in two months, I'll try and make it a good one.

Several weeks ago Colin's sister, Adelle flew to Australia for a visit, along with a good friend of hers/ours, Tara. We had a fantastic time running around checking out the sites which included a Sufjan Stevens concert (compliments of my inlaws for my bday gift) at the Opera house. We were also lucky enough to spend a weekend at our friends fabulous beach home where the girls got to surf in Australia for the first time. It was such a great weekend. We were 2 1/2 hours south of Sydney and as we drove home that Sunday night the last thing on my mind was our car registration. When we were about 45 minutes from home we got pulled over by the cops and I assumed it was for a random breath test. Apparently our car registration had expired 20 days prior! When we moved last December we had changed our address with our insurers but forgot about registration and we hadn't been around our old house in a while to check the mail thereby disabling any chance of receiving the two reminders that had come in the mail.

The cop, being the ever gracious human being that he is, hit us with every possible fine he could have and then told us that we wouldn't be able to drive our car home. The total cost for the night was $1678 in tickets and then $275 for the tow home. To add even further insult to injury, we discovered early the next morning that if we didn't get our car registered by day 21 post expiration (yes, that very day), then we'd have to get something called a blue slip and endure a several week waiting period which meant we wouldn't be able drive. My amazing boss picked me up for work Monday morning and then helped me organize paying for my green slip and book an appt. with my mechanic. Then Colin took half a day off of work, met with the mechanic who approved our car which gives us a pink slip, then he drove to the RTA and paid our dues. All of that was another $800 dollars. It was the most expensive and unexpected two days ever.

A few days later Adelle and Tara rented a vehicle to tour up the coast to meet up with Neil and Anita. 3 days after that Colin's grandma came to visit for a week. We had one nice day of weather and then rain rain rain. Grandma Houle was a champ though and made the best of a damp week. 5 days after Grandma's arrival we flew to Brisbane to meet up with Neil, Anita, Aliza, Adelle and Tara. Neil was writing his last exam the next morning and we were all going to go on a holiday together. We rented two cute little cars then drove up to Hervey Bay where we rented a huge 8 person 4x4 that probably should have only fit 5 people with luggage and then took the ferry across to Fraser Island where we stayed at the beautiful Kingfisher resort. Early the next morning we took off to start exploring the island. Neil and Colin were designated the drivers of the beast which meant they had to undergo brief training before we were even allowed to take truck. The terrain is indescribable. I had only seen pictures of the beaches at Fraser Island, not the insane roads you have to drive on to get to the beaches. We developed a system where the two people in the front would yell out how big the next bump would be based on a 1-5 scale so everyone could brace themselves accordingly.  There were so many adventures on Fraser Island but I will pick my favorite memory.
Dingo Dinner:
The only consolation to seeing that such a beautiful sea creature had beached itself and died, was that it gave me the opportunity to watch a dingo eating a humpback WHALE!

After spending Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning there, we took the ferry back over to Hervey Bay, exchanged the beast for our cute little rentals, and continued our drive up the coast. Our

next stop was a place near Rockhamptom called Yeppoon. We stayed there Sunday evening, then woke up early the next morning to check out the sites. Colin & Adelle ran into town and the rest of us drove there to meet up for bunch. We spent the day at the beach and rented a couple of stand up paddle boards. I was absolutely terrible at it but everyone else seemed to manage quite well. The girls even got to see dolphins when they went out. 

Late that afternoon Anita asked if we could spell her brothers name 'Thomas' in the sand for a birthday message she wanted to send him. After it was all set up Neil asked a young twenty-something girl who was sitting nearby to take our picture. Afterwards, Neil raced back up the rocks to see how it turned out. They ended up talking for a while and then Neil yelled that she was coming down and we were going to help her spell a message too. Turns out she was meeting her boyfriend at the beach and her message was "Will you Marry Me Josh?" and she had a ring!!! Neil took lots of amazing photos. We had an hour before he got off of work so we spelt it in a huge heart of shells. Obviously Josh agreed to the matrimonial offer based on our sand handiwork. It was a great afternoon. 

We left Tuesday morning super early because we had to drive a massive distance that day and get to Airlie beach by 3pm to check in for our 3 day Whitsunday/Great Barrier Reef sailing trip. We were almost an hour late which really wasn't a big deal (in our opinions) because the boat didn't leave until after 7pm but I guess they like to get paperwork done. pfff.

We had an amazing three days snorkeling our way around the Whitsunday islands and getting to experience the outer great barrier reef. When my parents came out Christmas 2010 we went to the inner reef and it was so cool to also experience the deeper end of things as well. Colin opted to do some scuba diving and enjoyed the opportunity to experience that on the trip too.

It would take me another hour to write about those three days so we'll have to say it with pictures. It'll be a few weeks until someone from our group has gathered up the time to make a video but we'll post something on here eventually. Neil has everyone's pictures and video on his computer so I nominate you and Anita :)

Colin and I left the rest of our group Sunday evening and flew back which included a lame 3 1/2 hour layover in brisbane where Colin slept on a couch in the airport and I read a book called "My Steve" by Terri Irwin. It was actually incredibly emotional and I struggled to get through the last chapter while keeping my airport dignity. 

When I arrived at work this morning I discovered that one of my coworkers quit while I was away and the office was in chaos. Welcome home.  

E.

    

My pet spider

Colin recently started working another job on the side as a physio for an AFL team. He's only had 1 practice and 2 games so far but he already loves it. Saturday was his first game and it was down in Wollongong which is a little over an hour south of Sydney. I went with him and read a book while occasionally looking up to watch, and was even asked to look at a players tooth. After dinner we began the long journey home and discovered that somehow during our travels we had accumulated an unwanted passenger running around the hood and front window of our car. If you're not familiar with the Australian huntsman, here is what you're missing out on:

I thought that once we got home it would relocate to a nice tree somewhere or perhaps a neighbors apartment, but while I was driving Colin to gymnastics tonight it decided to make another appearance. Fortunately its still on the outside of our car. Colin saw it before me and said, "I want you to consider the safety of the other passenger in the vehicle. " I managed to safely get to our destination but Colin couldn't find it once we got there. I've been living in fear for the past 3 days waiting for him to figure out how to get inside our car, and I don't think we'll be able to get rid of him without force. Whenever I need to get in or out of the car I get everything ready in my arms then make a mad bolt so he doesn't have time to get inside. Though I doubt he's lingering around waiting for me.

We've had a fun couple of weeks lately. Neil, Anita & Aliza came down for a visit and we went on two camping trips with them. I'd really like to put together a little video of it since its a convenient visual aid of our fun. Plus I like making videos. We had such a great time with them and we wished that we could live closer together. 

I have to pick Colin up in an hour and I'm actually scared to drive. I've psyched myself out looking for spider pictures to post. 

E.

Grad 2012

Colin's grad video

Victoria

Made a little video of our trip the other day.

Victoria

We took a week off of work to see some sights in Victoria at the end of February and had a great time. We spent 3 days in Melbourne checking out the infamous ACMI building which had some fun and free exhibits, the greek festival that was taking place the weekend we were there, as well as enjoying the aquarium and the many cafes and interesting buildings in the CBD. We also spent an evening at Philip island which has a ferry penguin reserve where you can go enjoy sitting near the beach and watching the penguins run into their burrows. They spend several hours before sunset "rafting" near the beach while their numbers increase. Then when it's nice and dark they bolt in their large groups. When I say bolt though, I mean penguin bolt, which is slow and hilarious to watch. As soon as the penguins started coming out of the water it poured on us and the sky gave a great lightening show. We weren't undercover and got drenched. The tiny penguins were worth it though. Unfortunately, cameras weren't allowed because the flash disorientates the penguins (fair enough) and the video footage that we secretly took didn't turn out due to lack of lighting.

The following day we left melbourne and headed towards the Great Ocean Road. We stopped at a place called Torquay which is the surf capital of Victoria and the headquarters for most of the major surf brands (rip curl, quicksilver, etc..) We were told they had excellent retail outlets but we were disappointed with the lack of retail prices. We saw Bells Beach while we were there which is home to some major surf competitions. Only really good surfers surf there because it's dangerous and you'd also look like a moron surrounded by those guys.

We spent the night at Johanna beach campground in Great Otway National Park and woke up early for a spectacular sunset. Truth be told, I actually woke up to use the toilet and Colin capitalized on the unholy hour by making me race the sun up a hill. It was really beautiful though. We then made our way onto see the famous rock formations: 12 apostles, London Bridge, Bay of islands, etc... Loch Ard Gorge was a real highlight. A speedo-bound Colin went swimming in the freezing water while all the people who had unloaded from tour buses took photos. Oh my.

The weather wasn't great the whole time we were in Victoria but it really starting turning on us so we went to a Bunnings for a larger tarp and some rope. The guy who helped us was this super informative middle aged man who told us to go to a place called Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve which is on top of a volcano and is home to wild emus, koalas, and an assortment of fantastic wildlife. It was a highlight of the trip.

We camped that night at Wannon Falls campground and made it there just in time for a spectacular sunset.

The next morning we drove through the southern end of the Grampians and then drove to the other side of Victoria to take the coastal route back to Sydney. We camped at a place called Paradise Beach and it was so brutally windy we skipped making dinner and ate fruit, then packed up as soon as it was morning so our stuff wouldn't blow away.

With the exception of our first 3 nights in Melbourne staying at a hotel, all of the places we camped at were free. The Victorian government apparently doesn't want you to pay when you stay in their fine national parks. But the last night we camped we were in NSW and decided to camp at a place called Pretty Beach, even though it was $22, because I didn't feel great and they had hot showers. After we got set up I ran to the showers only to find that the hot water only worked for the first 20 seconds of my shower and came out as scalding, followed by only cold. I've never used such crass language during a shower before. When I got out I discovered that I wasn't alone in the bathroom but the other lady was very understanding of my situation. Pretty Beach was worth the $22 though, because there were about 50 kangaroos in the park and they weren't scared of you. Everywhere you walked there were kangaroos and kangaroo poo. It was 'pretty'.

When we got home and began unpacking, I realized that our clothes we had been wearing the night we watched the penguins in the rain had been left in a plastic bag (my idea) to rot while I completely forgot all about them for 5 days. I had to wash the contents 3 times before the smell came out.

And that's our trip.

E.

Family

Australia right now feels like a far away place. People surround us and our days go by just the same as they would anywhere else in the world. However, the distance that only an ocean can fill, relentlessly swells up and down between us. No matter how connected we are to the people around us it’s Jesus who is our Rock. As we cling to this rock I sense waves smashing our feet. They attempt to rip us off the rock face so we fall into ourselves. When I finally look around I see all the others clinging and I’m glad to be beside them all on that rock. We have such wonderful friends and family “focused on things above not things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” (Matthew 6:33)

I can see where I want to be, I sense that my position in life isn’t a weightless one. My actions and words have the ability to produce fruit. Fruit in a biblical context: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22)

I want love not hatred or bitterness, Joy not gloom, peace not turmoil, patience not quick agitation, kindness not cruelty, goodness not indecency or wickedness, faith not constant worry, gentleness not a short temper, and lastly I want to have self-control and not become a victim of my own passions. Only the Lord can help me out with this and only through the blood of Jesus Christ am I made righteous. I can’t do this on my own but God made it possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection. What mercy and compassion I’ll never completely understand but I accept it with tears on my face for the wrongs I do. And tears on my heart for the grace I’ve received. Thank you for this priceless gift.

With this said it’s not an easy thing to commit to. Following Christ takes sacrifice but it’s worth it. Death is in this world and is as real as the chair I’m sitting on. It is not a nice thing; it’s not a pleasant thing. It is a horrible, horrible painful, excruciating reality of our sin. I don’t know how to react to death, I really don’t. I feel joy knowing when someone truly knew Christ, although I am not the judge, I sense in my being pure joy when I’ve heard someone confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and live their life for Him.

Preach the gospel to yourself everyday, and then go out and tell others.

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)

C.

Home Again

Hey ya'll. Colin and I just spent a week traveling around the state of Victoria, and arrived home this evening. I'll probably put together a little video of our trip and I'll definitely write a blog about it, but here is a picture for you to enjoy if you're even remotely considering coming to visit us.

Oh, and we also saw an albino kangaroo.

Danish

I haven't been baking much lately but last week I felt motivated to try something new: The Danish. I hadn't ever thought of making them before and it turns out they're a surprising butt load of work. I started them Wednesday but the weather was too hot to actually roll them out. Thursday nights are our new yoga night so I didn't get a chance to try. Friday evening was rainy and gross which made it a perfect recipe for danish making. In hindsight I wish we had put a little more effort into the filling, but we wanted to eat them so badly we just threw some fruit in the middle. They were pretty fantastic. I ate 3 as soon as they came out of the oven. This is what they looked like:

We made blueberry, apricot and raspberry. Colin had made a blueberry sauce as well. We mixed icing sugar & water together and drizzled it on top. It was great.

Thursday is Australia day (public holiday, woo!) and tonight we're going down south to Gerringong so Colin can surf with our friends in the morning. We have to be back for work Friday so it won't be an extended long weekend.

Colin is at a job interview right now, fingers crossed!

E.

NYE

Colin and I rang in the new year last night, Australia style. I never imagined myself doing this but we got up early, took the train to Circular Quay, and waited in line outside of botanical gardens so we could nab a spot to watch the fireworks. They only let 6,000 people into this specific section of the gardens and you have to be there when they open it to the public, at 10am, to get a premium viewing location of the harbor bridge and opera house. Jenna & Willy got there right before 10 and Colin and I didn't arrive until almost 11 due to trains and last minute food prep. They had saved ample room for us. In the area we were in there were no trees close enough to shade us so we roasted in the sun like idiots until it went behind a building at 6pm, then it got super cold. We weren't really prepared for either of the 2 extremes which made for a fairly uncomfortable day.

At 9pm the first fireworks go off for the Family Show and last for about 10 minutes. Sydney does an incredible display. We felt dumb at 8:50pm when our sweet area was trampled by all the smart people who had spent the day under trees, who came rushing up through the carefully blanketed area us foolish people had "reserved" for the previous 11 hours. I didn't enjoy those fireworks as much because I felt indignant about my zone being intruded on and strangers standing in front of me.

At 11:30pm we packed up all our stuff and just stood up to wait for the fireworks. We learned our lesson the first time. Our friend Willy had broken his wrist and toe the day before and we got a bit antsy when the pushing started. It was hard after such a long day and much anticipation not to get angry with everyone rushing in to get a closer look. Fortunately we weren't trampled and Willy escaped with his broken limbs still in tact. heh.

The midnight fireworks were amazing but it was a once in a lifetime experience for this girl. No fireworks display is worth a 14 hour wait exposed to the elements and trying to train it home with a million other spectators. I made a little video of our day but if you're interested in seeing the full scale of Sydney's fireworks, I'll throw in the link for the midnight fireworks they show on tv. It's spectacular.

My Video

Full Midnight Fireworks

E.

Santa Paws & Fruit pictures

A lot has been happening lately and we're just starting to slow down which feels amazing.

Neil, Anita & Aliza arrived safe and sound, stayed in Sydney for a week while it poured everyday, then left for Brisbane/Ipswich to find a home. We're leaving tomorrow morning to join them for Christmas. Aliza is super fun and I enjoy being around her very much.

Colin graduated and is now done school forever! We went to his grad ball last Sunday and it was exciting to commemorate his achievements but also alleviating to celebrate the end of our commitment in Australia. We're still happy to stay longer but it'll be on our own terms. Visa pending, heh.

We spent this last week moving into an apartment with our friend Erin and it was crazy the amount we've accumulated. We seriously need to downsize this year or it'll be a nightmare packing a few suitcases at the end. The move out of our house was difficult because a) living in a house is awesome, and b) we had to get rid of all the furniture. Due to a miscommunication with the people who were moving in, Colin and I spent the entire day today sitting in front of our old place with a couple of garage sale signs posted around the neighborhood and furniture all over the lawn. We managed to get rid of a couple things over the course of 7 hours for very little monetary gain, then borrowed a friends trailer to drop the rest off at a salvation army, who were closed. They didn't have a sign saying that we couldn't leave it at their door, so I hope that was cool. We tried dropping it off at this neat place called Reverse Garbage but they were full of what we had to offer. It was a long day of selling/hauling crappy furniture.

And last but not least, here is a picture of our (old) roommate Drew with a lost dog that he found on Friday. Drew spent a long time walking him around on a leash he had made out of shoelaces hoping that the dog would find his own way home. That didn't work so we drove him and the dog to a vet hoping that he was microchipped. It took us half an hour to find the vet and they told us to take him to the RSPCA which was too far away, so we took him to a different vet who said they'd take care of him. They asked Drew if he had put the jumper on the dog or if the dog had previously been wearing it. Fantastic!

E.

Oh and I took some pictures today of all the fruit trees in our old backyard:

Orange tree

Lemon Tree

Kiwi plant (non-producing)

Pineapple plant! (just discovered recently)

Mango Tree (non-producing)

days

Time is flying by, Neil, Anita & Aliza arrive in 6 days, Colin's finished school in 12, and we move in 20. Christmas is in 28 and the new year in just 34.

Colin didn't end up running his half marathon this weekend because of an injury. I know he was disappointed.

I don't have much to say, just wanted to let you know we didn't fall off the map.

E.

Summer time

Normalcy is slowly starting to return to our little home after a sad week. Colin finished his last exam Thursday and we celebrated Friday night at our favorite Thai place with our friend, and future roommate, Erin. Saturday we had a picnic at Coogee beach with Jenna & Willy and ran into a bunch of Colin's classmates, then we spent the afternoon lying in the sand with them. I was amazed that my first beach trip of the summer resulted in very minor sunburns; just a tiny bit on each shoulder. Colin went for a run later that night with his friend Jason. They're training for a half marathon on November 27th (happy birthday, Pete).

Today was an awful day heat wise. It was 30 with no wind and incredibly humid. After church we went grocery shopping to escape the outside air and it resulted in us buying a lot of goods from the frozen foods section. We skyped a bit and then made an incredible dinner. We ate baked stuffed potatoes, green beans, and pork roast. I made scones for dessert with raspberries and whipped cream. It was the first dinner I've made in months and I forgot how much work food can be. If you want the best pork loin roast in the world, use this super simple recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/maple-baked-pork-loin-roast/detail.aspx

It wasn't genius using the oven for two hours on such a hot day, but I didn't start cooking until 5 so it wasn't too bad.

Colin's final practicum starts Monday and runs for the next 5 weeks. He's been placed at Canterbury Hospital which is a 10ish km bike ride from our house. Neil, Anita & Aliza arrive here in 27 days and we're so excited to see them! I had forgot how painful summer here can be, hopefully I can acclimatize in the next month so I can seem tough.

E.

Announcement

We are being audited.

I was soooooo looking forward to getting our tax return back because, as you know, we are poor people. Yesterday we received a delightful letter from the Australian Taxation Office telling us that our highly anticipated $$ won't arrive for a minimum of 12 weeks while they review our return. Seriously!!?? We have the easiest tax filing gig ever. We write down how much I make, the fact I have a dependent husband, and then they pay us. What's to audit?

Lame.

E.

Crash Boom Bang

Today was Colin's last day of class! He starts exams in 1 1/2 weeks and then his final practicum runs from November 7th until December 9th. He's so close to completing everything that it feels sort of surreal.

We're definitely planning on renewing our visa's and staying longer, probably until August 2012. Colin will apply for a skilled graduate visa and we'll go from there. Our roommates are leaving at the end of December for a 2 or 3 month trip then moving back to Canada/USA and we don't want to stay in this house anymore nor look for new roommates. The property is great but the owners haven't been speedy with repairs and it's been frustrating. Our friend Erin has a room for rent and she lives 5 minutes from our current place, so that's our plan for 2012.

It sucked being away from family & turkey for Thanksgiving. Last year we celebrated it but this year we were unorganized and lacked gusto. When I was driving home on Monday all of the cars started crashing in front of me and my little wagon managed to stop just in time, so I was thankful for that. I think the first car must have been cut off and hit the brakes, but sydney-siders drive too close and it resulted in a 4 car collision. The rest of the drive home was spent in a daze just thanking God.

I have an extra day off this week due to a funeral that my boss is attending. I think I'll bake a pie to honor the day off. The boys will be home, probably studying, so I'll stay out of the way.

I wish I had a dog to play with.

E.

Queensland

Our drive up north was pretty fun. We stayed with friends the first night who live in a place called Macksville. They have 4 kids under 9 and had some in laws visiting who have 4 kids under 6! It was a wild and fun house to be in. The 6-year-old niece of our friends was born with a severe case of osteogenesis imperfecta and was such an incredible kid/family to meet. If Colin and I were to have a child with brittle bones, it would be so tempting to wrap her up in bubble wrap and never let her leave the house, but they’re amazing people and let her live normally.

After parting Macksville we continued north to a campground in Mebbin National Park and spent the night. It was a crazy and windey road to get there but well worth it, it was so beautiful and we had the whole place to ourselves.

The following morning we drove to the Gold Coast and walked around surfers paradise for a bit. Colin went on a ride called The Vomatron because he promised my brother that we’d go on it if we saw one. We wanted to make it to Brisbane though so we kept going north. We passed by all of these amazing theme and water parks but it was already late afternoon, so we thought we’d maybe go back the following day.

Once we got to Brisbane we drove around and checked out the sites a bit but there was really nothing we had planned on seeing there, so we drove to Ipswich, which is where Neil & Anita will hopefully be living next year if he gets into that particular campus. We couldn’t find a campground in the area and it was getting late, so we just stayed in a hotel and ate pizza.

The following day we looked into what theme park we wanted to go to but realized they were SO expensive that we just couldn’t justify it that day. We went back to surfers paradise to go swimming but once we got there all these clouds rolled in and it got incredibly windy so we got back in the car and started our descent south. We had planned on camping that night but the site we drove to was an hour+ out of the way and was closed. It had also been pouring on us for a couple of hours so instead we decided to just keep driving, and called our friend’s in Macksville to see if we could stay with them again. They are incredibly hospitable and so we stayed there Saturday night.

We made it back into Sydney on Sunday in order to avoid long weekend traffic and then spent today catching up on laundry, groceries etc.

E.

Road trip tomorrow

Sorry we've been crappy bloggers lately. It's currently 10:30pm, we just finished eating dinner, and I just put zucchini bread in the oven. There were so many bad time management decisions tonight. When I got home from work we thought it would be fun to go swimming, then after swimming we realized that we needed groceries for dinner, and Colin had made dough for pizza earlier so after cooking the meat, chopping the veges, making the sauce...all of a sudden it's 10:30.

Colin's off school this week, and I have a long weekend coming up, so I took Thursday & Friday off and we're driving up the coast starting tomorrow morning. We have 6 days to do whatever we want and we'd like to check out Brisbane, a) because we've never been there before and, b) Colin's brother, Neil, his wife Anita, and our niece, Aliza are all moving there in December. We haven't spent much time north of Sydney and there are so many sweet places between us and Brisbane that we'd like to check out.

Hopefully we'll have some fun pictures to post from our trip when we return.

E.

Student life

Let me start by saying I don't want you to feel sorry for us, we find it all very funny, and are enjoying the personal growth experienced through it.

Colin and I still have a bank account in Canada with some savings in it but we try to avoid using it so we have some funds for when we get home. That being said, lately we have been living pay cheque to pay cheque. It's not usually down to the dollar but this week we had an extra expense that we had been anticipating and coincidently I'm getting paid two days later than I normally would. It started this morning when I went for groceries. When I went through the self checkout, I selected that I wanted $20 cash out. My card was declined which was weird because I knew we had enough in our account. I tried again without the cash out selection, and my payment went through. Relief.

I headed home without stopping at our fruit and veg store because I didn't trust my bank card. I called Colin and asked him if he had bought anything today. "Oh yaaaaa, I paid for my CPR course today, is that alright?"

"Colin, I almost couldn't buy groceries and now we don't have enough money for gas."

"Oops, should I try and cancel the payment?"

"No, it's okay."

I still needed cilantro, lettuce and green onion so I went to our change jar and dumped a bunch in my wallet. 3 items were too many for me to remember without a shopping list, so I had to spread my visit into two, and paid the same cashier with 20 cent coins for my goods.

After dinner tonight Colin and I were discussing if we should fill our gas tank with our Canadian credit card and he decided that he would count out $13 in change and just put in that amount. I laughed and said that I would be mortified to pay with 65 coins but he insisted that he didn't care. Colin put $13.70 into the tank because he knew that he had an extra dollar in his wallet. Unfortunately we had miscalculated and he only had $12 in his pocket, plus the extra dollar. He told the cashier that he had more change in the car, which he did, but the guy felt sorry for him and told Colin not to worry about it.

I was watching this all from the car and dying with embarrassment. Colin is so unfazed by life's awkward moments.

Anyways, I get paid tomorrow and I'm so excited! As is our car.

E.

Video of our Canadian visit

This is just a little video of our Canadian trip that we put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bcRH36vJt4&feature=player_embedded

vis-à-vis

We've been home for two weeks now and it feels like we never left. Going back to Canada for a visit was a tough reminder that we still had several months left until we were back for good. The last couple months have brought to light some interesting information regarding Colin's course and unfortunately, due to processing overload back at home, the earliest Colin would likely be able to write his entrance exams to work in Canada looks like September 2012. If we come home in February then he has to work as a kinesiologist for at least 7 months. I never thought we would do this, but last night we looked into extending our visa. If Colin were to get a decent job in Sydney then we'd consider staying an extra couple of months. Its a big maybe at this point, but definitely something we're considering. With our current visa we're allowed to stay until mid-march so we have lots of time to decide. I talked to my parents on skype today and explained our predicament. When I initially told my mom in 2009 that Colin was applying to schools in Australia she was heartbroken at the imaginary prospect that I'd live here forever. However, when they came to visit us last December, I was worried that my parents would end up moving to Australia and never leaving. My mom was thrilled that we were considering staying here longer and joked about coming to visit us again. It wouldn't surprise me!

Decisions decisions.

E.