The Australian Plague

Well, as most of you know, I have been incredibly ill the past week or so. Actually, I feel like I've been sick pretty much the whole 2 months I've been here. Yesterday Ben made me go to the doctor's (good husband) and they took swabs and a blood sample, instead of just giving me antibiotics this time. I should have the results tomorrow. Basically, the doctor explained that here in Australia we have very similar illnesses and sicknesses to what I was exposed to in Maine. BUT, they're different strains. And because they're different strains, I have to build up an immunity to the new bacteria. I'm a little concerned, because I just spent 24 years of my life building up immunities in Maine. How long will I be sick here? How long will it take to build up a decent immunity in Australia? I work with kids, so I'm constantly exposed to new bacteria and new viruses. I take the necessary precautions, like trying to stay healthy and hydrated, washing my hands, etc. but it's like "Bubble Boy". It's like I've stepped from my Maine-Immunity bubble and into AustraliaWorld, and now if there's something to catch, I WILL catch it. Tomorrow I have a follow up appointment where we can discuss why I was so sick this time around, and if there are any immunizations I can get, what kind of vitamin regimen I take to help my immune system, etc. So that's that.

We do have a couple of pictures to share! We made our lemonade last weekend and it's really good. My friend Melanie sent me a new lemonade recipe so we're going to try that one next time. We found out that the lemon tree doesn't belong to anyone--the other side of the fence there is just, nothingness. So we think it's safe to pick the lemons. Plus when I drank the lemonade I didn't look down and realize I was naked or anything, and no evil Satanic kangaroo tried to talk to me, so I think we're all set as far as forbidden fruit goes :) Here's a picture of our fresh lemonade:



This weekend we are heading up to Perth for Ben's business awards/dinner thing. I think it's going to be really fun. We booked a nice 4 star hotel that is a 2 bedroom suite that Mark and Nat and Ben and I will be sharing, and it was very inexpensive! Also, Nancy reimbursed us for our hotel, which we didn't expect. What a good boss! Since dinner and the hotel are all paid for, we'll mostly be paying for breakfast, gas to Perth (which we'll split 4 ways), and the zoo the next day. I can't wait--from what we hear, the Perth zoo is pretty epic. I feel like we're finally getting to see more of Australia.

Ben went to Nancy's sister's house for dinner on Sunday night. I really wanted to go but I was feeling extremely miserable. Nancy's sister has recently begun flower arranging, and she arranged a little bouquet for Ben to bring home to me. How nice! They are really pretty. The big purple one is some kind of Australian Iris, and the really tall burgundy/yellow ones are called Kangaroo Paws. I'm not sure about the others, but the really small white-ish ones are REALLY fragrant and they look like tiny white daffodils up close.


We have decided that when our 6 month lease is up, we're going to move. We're looking at going to Withers, which is a suburb of Bunbury (I don't remember if I've already written about this. So if I have, skim past it.) I would be closer to work, and if we got lucky enough, I could walk to work. I really don't want to buy another car. The car we bought is the nicest car either of us have ever had, and if we're only going to be here for 3 years, I don't want to spend another thousand or whatever on an extra vehicle--that just means more registrations, more maintenance, more gas...this car is nice and I'd like to just have one if we can. Plus, because Withers is outside of Bunbury, we could get a newer place for less money. We've scrubbed the mold out of the showers in this apartment, but I suspect it's under the carpets as well. These carpets ARE from the '70's. When I was vacuuming, the hose was lifting off the carpet--which just makes me think, ew, what could be under there?! We need to find a place that isn't going to encourage me being sick all the time. Plus we had a big problem with out Property Manager recently and don't want to give them any more of our business.

That's the update. Will have lots of pictures to post after this weekend at the Zoo and the awards night!

Anticipating the taste of stolen lemons

I'm wondering if Ben and I are the modern day Adam and Eve. Except this time, Adam/Ben would get all the blame. The neighbors have a huge lemon tree that overhangs our side of the fence. The people in the adjoining unit to us are gone for a couple of weeks, because renovations are being done to their side of the building. That leaves us with the temptation of picking the lemons that hang over the fence. I didn't know if it was such a good idea--I mean, they're not our lemons to pick. God says stealing is wrong! Adam/Ben assured me that they wouldn't get harvested on this side--they would go to waste. If I make fresh lemonade, am I going to suddenly realize I'm naked? Is it possible for child-bearing to hurt any more than it already does? Will Satan take a snake form and kick it oldschool, or will it be a kangaroo, perhaps, in honor of us being in Australia? We'll see once we taste the Forbidden Lemonade.

These lemons are HUGE. I took a picture next to my fist so you could get an idea. They're about 3 or 4 times the size of the lemons in the States. Also, they smell amazing! People will think I've washed the floors with Pine Sol--yeah right! Who am I, Cinderella?


We took a little adventure yesterday driving as close to the Ocean as we could. It kept leading us back to the highway, which we were trying to avoid. We ended up at Peppermint Grove Beach. It's a beautiful area--there's a playground and a covered place where people were bbqing. And as soon as we stepped onto the sand, it felt like home. The sand was so fine! It's so different than the sand at the beach we usually walk on. Here's a picture of the beach:

On our way out of visiting one of the beaches, Ben spotted this sign. This wins the award of Creepiest Sign in the Universe that I Am Aware Of:


Oh, here's a funny sign in one of the beach parking lots. Careful, the HamBurglar might steal your valuables!
Mark was reorganizing his living room, and wanted to get rid of some furniture. We got two recliners and a dining table with 4 matching chairs! I'm so happy to be able to eat at the table with Ben now. Here's a picture (yes Mom and Dad, I actually packed that table cloth that you guys gave us from Wells Antiques--that's how much I love it!)


While we were driving, there were some really pretty areas that we had never seen before. One of them had tons and tons of white birds. I went to take a picture out the window and they heard me talk and flew further away, so you can't see them very well in this picture. But isn't the scenery beautiful?


Ben is currently at work, and when he comes home we'll be running 234762835 errands. We're going to open a savings account so we can start saving to come home--hopefully next June-ish. The tentative plan is, to save enough to come home for about 3.5 weeks, then fly to Europe and do some backpacking. The way we flew here was through Germany, so we could take a similar route. We'd like to see as much as we can while we're young and flying anyway! We're hoping to be home for 4th of July so my parents and Ben's parents can spend some time in Caratunk camping and seeing fireworks. Anyone else that is up for some tubing and camping should let us know. Ben's parents have an awesome spot on the lake and river in Caratunk, and a beautiful campground to stay in. Hopefully this plan works!

We also have plans to go to Margret River for our 1 year marriage anniversary (4 years being together!) It's like the Napa Valley of Australia. It's internationally known for it's wines. We're going to stay in a decent hotel (we have our eye on a 3 star hotel in the town, it's right above it's own restaurant and cafe) so we can spend more money doing whale watching, wine tours and tastings, checking out cafes, maybe renting some bikes. We are really excited! How are we ever going to top our 1 year anniversary? Hopefully in 25 years they can send us to the moon or something.

The nannying job didn't work out, I'm sad to say. But, it's okay. I am going back to the relief work tomorrow and they need me all week and next week. So we still have money coming in, and once my qualifications are assessed I will be able to take on a full-time permanent position for more money. It's a good job for right now, though.

So that's where life is right now. Hope you're all enjoying the summer! Ours hasn't even begun..I think we'll probably melt.

Rambles

No new pictures in this blog, sorry! Our picture-worthy adventures are slowing down right now, but I'm sure we'll have more to share soon.

At the end of the month, we're going to a business dinner for Ben's work up in Perth. (Have I talked about this already? I can't remember.) Anyway, the tickets are all paid for, so we'll be heading up and staying the night so we can go out on the town and see Perth at night! We are also thinking about checking out the Zoo the following day. I guess the Perth Zoo is pretty sweet, so we want to see it since we'll be up there anyway. Will definitely get some pictures there!

Things at Ben's work are going well. Nancy is gone for a couple of weeks, so Ben is on his own with a list of things to do. He is also officially AutoCAD certified!! Pretty cool. He got his results back and they were VERY impressed with his drawings. They said his test was "exceptional all around" and he lost very very few points. He is such a smarty :)

Relief at the Early Learning Centre is going well for me. Very very hectic. My first day I was left alone almost all day with 10 toddlers (the ratio is 1:5). It's hard to get used to saying things like "wee on the toilet" and "change your nappy" and "time for morning tea". I usually say my American phrase first and then have to correct myself. I wonder how much time I will save once I get in the habit of saying the Australian phrase. Right now, I sound like this: "Charlie, time to pee on the potty. *Receive strange look from 2 year old like I am sprouting a second head* OH! I mean, Charlie, time to WEE on the TOILET! *Charlie smiles and comes running". That's a good 5-10 seconds per child I'm wasting. Jeez. I am meeting with a family today that I could possibly nanny for! It would be much less stressful--they have two boys, 3 and 6. The 6 year old is in school most of the day, so it would be me and the 3 year old for most of the day. The hours are great, it's full-time, and it's just the next town over. I hope it works out!

Our apartment is slowly filling up with things. Last weekend we got two bedside tables for our room, a vacuum, and some candle holders. We found an awesome headboard/footboard for $10 but it had sold! I was so bummed. It was perfect, and I haven't seen any of those under $100. Ohhhhhh well. We are still not sure if we're going to stay here. The bathroom has mold and it bothers both of us. Our lease here is 6 months, and then it goes on a month-by-month basis, so we may start looking for a new place after 6 months...probably in South Bunbury because it would be closer to my job and closer to the beach. We'll see!

Hopefully I will get this nannying job and then Ben and I can join the gym! Ben is excited to join a Squash team and I really want to do some Body Pump/Attack/etc. classes. I'm getting sick of working out in our spare room with just Jillian Michaels to keep me company.

That's all for now! Will update more later..hopefully with pictures, next time!

Laughing Kookaburras and such

Sorry it has been a while since our last update, but things have gotten so busy with stuff that is too boring to talk about. Lots and lots of paperwork, mostly. Errands everywhere..blah blah.

Ben and I picked up a little catalog delivery route twice a week. It's about $80 a week (yard saling money!) and we are enjoying it! It's just an easy little side job that forces us to get out and walk. Plus, it's good training for day hikes. We pack our backpacks way up (Ben's was almost 70 lbs. the other day!) and walk for a few miles. It's not something we NEED to do, but it's such a mindless, easy job, we figured we'd do it until we decided we are bored with it :)
Last weekend we went yard saling, and got all kinds of exciting things! A microwave (old school with the dial and everything!), a food processor, a dish rack, I could go on but I can't remember the other stuff. We also got a FREE couch and two chairs! They were in Port Kennedy, which is about an hour north of us, so we took Mark's Suzuki (I smell an adventure!) and loaded it up. So it wasn't actually free--$45 worth of gas, but that's cheaper than any furniture we've see in ads and at yard sales! Here is a picture of the couch and one of the chairs:

And YES! They ARE really comfy. We've also been able to order a new power cube for our wii, so we'll actually get to use it here, so we are happy about that. It was $15 with shipping. We are getting better and better at figuring out Australian Ebay.

I will be doing some relief work at a Child Development center in Withers (next town over) until my qualifications get assessed. I finally got my transcripts in the mail, and now I'm waiting on all my trainings and certificates from my last job. This week I'll be working 8-4:30 Thursday and Friday. Did I mention that I'm getting paid between $18.41 and $19.35? Because I am! It will be more once I'm not being classified as a "Casual Assistant", but until my qualifications go through, that's what I get. Not too shabby :)

Ben's job continues to be lovely. He just finished a "test" to get AutoCAD certified--he'll be the only one in the office with the certification! He had to do a drawing with AutoCAD and he drew a really cool house. It has to include all the structural stuff like beams and stuff--I don't know, I'm not an Engineer. But it looked awesome and he did a great job. Now he just has to wait to hear back if he got the certification, which he will :)

There is a fancy shmancy business dinner up in Perth at the end of the month that we are going to for Ben's job. How fun! We are thinking about getting a hotel room and seeing if Mark/Nat want to go in on it and stay the night up in Perth after. I'd love to see the city at night!

Lately I've been hearing these CRAZY noises when I wake up. It seriously sounds like 4 or 5 monkeys are outside the window doing the "ooh ooh AHH AHH" noise. This morning I heard it again so I ran down to see if I could figure out what the culprit was (not really expecting monkeys, but how cool would that be?!") I saw a bunch of birds fly off when I opened the shades, but one flew to the street sign and stopped. I could see it was white and black so I googled "Western Australian bird monkey sound" and I found out what it was within seconds. Gotta love the Internet. It is a Laughing Kookaburra (which made me get that song stuck in my head..."Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he, LAUGH! Kookaburra, LAUGH! Kookaburra, gay your life must be!" Please tell me someone else knows this song. It may or may not be from Gullah Gullah Island.) Anyway, here is a link to a youtube video of a Laughing Kookaburra--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ZbykXlg6Q

Now imagine this sound, but with about 4 or 5 birds doing it at once! Crazy birds. I think Australia has some of the most awkward creatures in the world. A few days ago, Mark found his passenger side window completely SMASHED out! And guess what it was from? A GINORMOUS possum. Equally awkward animal, with it's nasty little thick ratty tail and weird beady eyes.

I guess that's about it for now. Don't worry, I won't stop updating! Things are just paperwork-happy right now. More adventures to come!

Coldest month is almost over!

July is the coldest month here in WA, and it's almost over! The past couple days we haven't even turned the heater on :) It'll start warming up in September, and by December we'll be Christmas-ing on the beach. What a strange, strange way to spend Christmas day.

We had a very laid back weekend, doing laundry and some exploring. I keep forgetting to say this, but WA really knows where it's at when it comes to recycling. I'm sure if you buy a house, you're on your own as far as the big recycling cans go, but when you rent here, they provide you with a huge rolling trash can and a huge rolling recycling can. You can throw glass, paper, cardboard, aluminum, cans, flyers/catalogues into the recycling can and they come collect it once a week. They make it soooo easy. I asked Ben and some other people why we don't do that in the States and I guess it's because it's expensive. It's funny, because it feels like the States are always nagging about "going green" and recycling, and not wasting water, blah blah, but we won't spend the money on recycling cans to make it easier to do these things. Silly.

We think that Moses/Jamaal is actually our neighbor's cat. Here is the evidence we have collected (we have sweet detective skills):
1) There is another cat that has the same collar, and we see him sitting in the neighbor's window all the time.
2) That's pretty much the only piece of evidence. We won't be going into the Detective business anytime soon.

Here are some cute pictures of Moses/Jamaal snuggling with Ben:


I think we should rename the cat "Stewie". Look at his face in this one!


Like I've said before, we usually go down to the beach and watch the sunset at night. It's really beautiful here. Sometimes we see other people on the beach, but they are usually fishing off the jetty, running with dogs, or surfing in a full wetsuit. People look at us like we're crazy when we walk through the water on the beach. The ocean is so warm though, and it's a nice walk. Here are a few pictures of our last sunset adventure:

A picture of the beach---sand as far as you can see!



Proof that we're crazy Americans and like walking in the ocean in the winter



Dead jellyfish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ben's job is going well. He has been put on a project in a town nearby called Donnybrook. He has to log so many hours with another worker. They are reworking the drainage for the town. Not ideally what he wants to be doing, but it's a good start! Nancy continues to be an awesome boss. I am (still) in the process of getting my qualifications assessed. It will be a few weeks until I hear back, but I do have a couple of job prospects. I have been searching the web and posting ads on GumTree, which is like craigslist here. I think it'd be awesome to get a nannying job :)

Here are a few random pictures from last weekend:

For Kelly--she specifically requested a 'Roo Crossing sign :)


For Tammy and Steve--look, it's just like home!



This is Henry the Lizard. He lives outside our drain on our apartment. He's skiddish (skittish?) and we don't see him often. I'm not sure if his name is actually Henry, but that seems like a good name for a lizard. If it turns out HE is a SHE, we'll call her Henrietta--but I don't think we'll ever get close enough to find out the gender.


Well that's about it for now. I'm sure we'll have some fun new adventures soon. Miss you all!

Buffalo Beach, Lavendar Toilets, and other exciting news.

Ben and I have continued having wonderful adventures. Most involve our yard sale futon, 3 rounds of Phase 10, and episodes of "The Mighty Boosh". Just kidding...well, not really. That's what a typical week night is for us :)

Last weekend we had $20 to spend yard saling. We had to be super picky, but that's okay. We had fun and found some nice square dishes (we feel so fancy eating off of them!), a pretty wine rack (there's nothing in it, but maybe someday when we're loaded and classy.....), spoons, a free bottle to put (future) flowers in, another fruit bowl (we love our farmer's market fruit! We got a bag of 15 kiwi for $3 and it was the best kiwi ever!), etc. We also got a mattress and box spring for FREE from a couple in Dalyellup (Dal--ee--all--up). They originally wanted $30 for it, but when she found out we were from the States and had just moved here (and were broke), she said we could have it for free. They were really really nice and had two cute kids! She is originally from Detroit, and her husband is from Australia. She said to keep in touch and she could show us around. Dalyellup is a very neat and tidy, up and coming neighborhood/community, so we knew the mattress wouldn't be sketchy ;) If you are familiar with "Weeds" the tv show (Ben and I are die-hard fans), you will know just what I mean about Dalyellup when I say...

"Little boxes, on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky..."

That's a picture of our new bed, with the quilt that I busted a$$ to finish before we moved here. It's flipping beautiful, isn't it? Also, notice the curtains. They came with the apartment. That's all I'll say about that.

So, after a good 5 hours of yard saling (we really know how to stretch $20), we drove around the area and found some cool spots. One is called Buffalo Beach. Here are a couple pictures:


Buffalo Beach is really beautiful. It's just sand as far as you can see. Most of the beaches here are very sandy, with hardly any rocks. The sand is different from Maine though--it's not as fine. It's a little grittier, kind of like Old Orchard, but not dirty :)

We also followed a road that said there were camp sites--we wanted to see what they were like. I can't remember what it was called, though. Belvidere or something? It doesn't matter. Either way, we found THE MOST ridiculous roundabout you will ever see. Here is proof that Australia has gone completely bonkers with roundabouts:


Yes. This is a roundabout on a dirt, occasionally traveled, road. I couldn't believe it. They really have gone mental!

We continued through each direction on the roundabout, and discovered that the campsites were quite like what we're used to. A picnic table, a fire pit, some were near the water. They were pretty and very private. Some day we'll try camping there!

After we went exploring, we headed back towards Bunbury and walked along some footbridges in a beautiful part of town called Pelican Point. I would love to live here some day! (Or a place like it). They have gorgeous houses, many of them have their own boat yard! It leads right out into the ocean and many people have a dock and a boat to take out on the ocean. Here is a great example of one of the houses in Pelican Point (expensive!!!!!! you'll have to copy and paste the address into a new tab on your web browser. Make sure you look through all the pictures though! This house is gorgeous)
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-wa-pelican+point-106590955

And here is a picture we took from one of the bridges:


After we went home and rested for a while (Ben was sick last weekend, but he's feeling better), we decided it was a good day to check out the observation tower. It had been sunny all day and not too windy, so we headed to Marlston Hill to climb the tower and get some pictures. Here are a few of the houses, the city, and the lighthouse from the very top of the tower!


The Lighthouse! Looks different than the ones in Maine, huh?


The city of Bunbury


Pretty pretty Bunbury!


And now, to make this blog a bit unpretty (like that TLC song, remember that one?? Old skool!!!!!!) We've had a few requests for more pictures of the apartment...specifically, the purple toilet. Do you people not believe us?!?! Just kidding. We have the ugliest toilets known to mankind. Mustard and lavendar. I guess the lavendar one isn't really ugly, but it's just strange. The large circles on the top of the tank are the flushers! So, I'll break the ice with the really ugly one.

Go Mustard! (Have I mentioned that it is not unlikely for you to see a separate room for the toilet in Australia? Our downstairs has a tiny little closet for the toilet, and then a large bathroom with sinks and counters and a huge shower. Weird!)


And....lavendar!! (The floor is much more purple than it looks in this picture. Don't let the blue tones fool you!)

Well there you have it. Our adventures as of Wednesday afternoon :) Tonight we'll be going to Nat's place for dinner. I also have a few job prospects, but nothing definite yet. Turns out I have to get my qualifications assessed which is a huge process, $100, and a royal pain in the BEhind. But it's what I have to do in order to get a job in my field over here. Let the paperwork begin!

Updation Station!

Dear Avid Followers,

Sorry it has been so long since we last updated. It took two weeks to get the Internet hooked up here. I won't explain how incredibly bored I was, because I'd rather not relive it. I'm afraid I'm going to forget all kinds of stuff, but I'll do my best! Also, there are going to be approximately 238571526487528274 pictures in this blog, so beware dial-up users :)Ben's job is going well. He is currently IT and office slave. Someday he'll move up, but for now, it is what it is! Nancy is good about making sure that he always has something to do. And he likes his co-workers and the environment. Everyone continues to be helpful and supportive, and we're grateful for that!
We've been going to the beach a lot lately when Ben gets out of work. We don't have much else to do, so we drive down and take a picture of the sunset from the same spot every day. Eventually we want to make a sunset collage so we have some wall art. Here's one of the pictures of a particularly beautiful sunset we saw:

There's a ship that's always out there. I think Ben said it was an oil rig or something? Maybe I just made that up. Either way, what a pretty picture! The ocean is about as cold/warm now as it is in the summer in Maine. Can't wait to see what it's like in February!
We moved into our new apartment and things are going fairly well. A guy just came to fix the "hood" over the stove--it's legally too low, and because we complained that our stove isn't working and they have to replace it now, they had to fix the "hood" first. Here are a couple pictures of our new pad for your viewing pleasure!Here is our place from the outside--we are in the front half. How cool is it that we have rose bushes and a palm tree in our front yard?! (That blue beast of a car is Mark's--it's the one we drove around before we got the Magna...the one that stalls randomly)

Here is a picture of the kitchen (please note the fake wood cupboards and the orange backsplash tiles!)Here is a picture of the living room area--it's all open/connected to the kitchen (and our sweet yard sale futon and pink/purple end tables!)

I'm not going to post any pictures of the bedrooms because honestly--there isn't much to see. They're completely empty except for some empty suitcases, a twin bed, and some mattresses. However, I will show you a picture of the random cat that shows up occasionally at our place and is incredibly snuggly. Ben calls him Jamaal, and I call him Moses. As you can tell, we really believed he deserved a strong name--I went Biblical, Ben went ethnic. Should I just say Black there? Am I supposed to capitalize black? Am I being offensive? It's not my intention. Either way, here is the cat, and please note the psychedelic carpet he is sitting on---this is the carpet on the stairs and all of the bedrooms.

Speaking of psychedelic! There was an article in the paper last week about how the police were cracking down at a local forrest in Perth. This time of year, Shrooms (yes! The REAL DEAL! Jim Morrison would be proud...) grow in the forrest. People come from all over in hopes of getting Shrooms, but because of problems associated with the effects of them (real example: someone was running down the road naked screaming something strange and most likely as obscene as their nether-regions), the police have been patrolling the area to catch any potential Shroom pickers! It's also dangerous because there are other mushrooms that grow out there, and if you don't pick the "right" ones they can be fatal! Okay, enough drug talk. (No, we haven't made a weekend Shroom run yet. Although, it would be an easy, under the table job for me...just kidding! Kind of.)

Here are three random pictures, all amusing in their own way:

(A mostly terrible picture of Chocolate Covered Honeycomb. They sell it at the local Farmer's Market. If you can get past the texture of the honeycomb, it's really good!)

(Apparently this happens so often that a sign needs to be created and posted at the harbor.)

(Our cup holders are circular AND square! Are they like this in the States and I've just never noticed? Or do people frequently buy cartons of milk to drink in the car in Australia? Oh and guess who's is who...I'll give you a hint: Ben's is the PINK one. Hehe)

I can't remember if I said anything about Marlston Hill in my last entry, so I'll talk about it again. Marlston Hill is the very prestigious, upper class area of Bunbury where there are brand new, modern, HUMONGOUS, gorgeous houses right on the harbor. It's on the way to the beach where we take the sunset pictures. Here's a picture where you can see the harbor, some of the Marlston Hill houses, the Milk Carton (it has lots of important offices in it and it's in the downtown area), and the cool swirly observation tower!

The houses are so beautiful. This picture doesn't do them justice. They all have enormous balconies overlooking the harbor. I don't even want to know what they cost! (But I kind of do, too.)

On one of our weekend driving adventures, we found a little "back road" that goes all along the ocean. It's a pretty drive, and we found the 'Roo hangout! We got a lot of pictures and some video. We were really close to them too--probably about 20 feet! They look so cute in pictures, but when you are actually watching them, they are incredibly awkward. They can't move their legs individually, so if they're moving slowly and not hopping, they use their tail to lift themselves up. Their front legs are like little t-rex arms---they're kind of useless, why don't they just evolve into more useful, large legs? I don't know. Evolution always confused me. So anyway, when they move slowly and they're not hopping, they kind of crawl/slither. It's a little creepy and a lot awkward. Don't let them fool you with their cute, "Huh??" expressions. I'm getting closer to trying Kanga Bangas every day! ('roo sausages).

I think that's it for pictures. Lots of adventures, huh?

In other news, I am recently getting over a hideous sickness. Ben finally made me go to the doctor last Friday. Turns out I had ear infections and a throat infection. I finished up the antibiotics yesterday and I'm feeling a lot better. I can't believe how fast and efficient everything was here! You can go to the pharmacist (they call them "Chemists") and sometimes they can just diagnose you and give you a prescription. But because I had an ear infection, I had to go to the doctor. So, we got to the chemist at 8:30am, and she told us to go around the corner to Brecken Healthcare. I walked in and asked if they had any open appointments (praying they would because I didn't think I could go through the whole weekend with my ears hurting the way they did) and they had an open appointment right then! The only one of the day. I waited in the waiting room about 5 minutes, saw the doctor, and she wrote me a prescription for antibiotics (that I'm not allergic to, I remembered to tell her about penicillin in my delirious state). We went back to the chemist and had the prescription filled. We were done with all of that in 40 minutes! Can you believe that?! And guess how much the prescription was (and this isn't because we have health care, because the way it works with them is you pay it up front and then you can bring the receipts to get a refund if your insurance covers it)...it was $9.50 which was enough for almost a whole week! When I had mono, I remember the antibiotics being like $100. So far, the health care system gets a big fat A+ in my book!

Ben is going to start working on the residency process. Residency for us would mean that we don't have to renew our visas, but we aren't quite citizens either. It would also mean we could get national health care, which is a big reason we are going to apply. It took Mark 8 months to get his, so I'm not sure how long of a process it would be. But if we started now and it took us that long, we could be on national health care for almost 2 years, which is worth it! Also, you have to be out of the country when residency is granted, which means Ben gets all expenses paid vacation to the country of his choice (within reason...I think most people go to New Zealand, Tasmania, Singapore, Fiji...countries that are close). How cool is that?!

That's probably a good enough update for now. I hope your eyes aren't bleeding from staring at the screen for 23874874 hours. But..enjoy! Hope everyone is well at home. We miss you!