Moreton Island

I'm just as shocked as you are that I've updated this so soon! Sunday's events deserved it though. We spent the day on Moreton Island - about an hour ferry ride from the Port of Brisbane. It was a work event through E&Y. We left the port at 8am and spent all day there...got back at about 6ish. The place was gorgeous, the weather was amazing. We spent the morning on the western beach and then trekked it in a 4wd through some rough terrain to "the Desert" to do some sandboarding. It's one of the main sand dunes on the island...never thought so much sand could be so lovely. (see pics) Then it was back to the west beach for some lunch and a sunbake. Later we drove over to the eastern beach, drove along the beach and over to the Blue Lagoon where we swam and relaxed the rest of the afternoon - we ran out of time for beach cricket. Next time. The island is known for having whales and dolphins frequently swim by, I was so excited to see some but alas none were found. We are so coming back here to camp one day.  

Spring Fever

So we're at the 2 month mark now. After 8 weeks of events piling up we're a little overwhelmed at where to begin. Maybe shorter updates are more realistic. Hey, we've been busy! ;) So much to tell – I'll try to be concise yet descriptive, brief yet thorough, highlight yet inform. We'll see how long you last. 

So we've finally found a place to call home! The search was grueling for awhile, but alas, our shack is nice. We ended up with a 2 bedder (Oz talk) in a great suburb called Teneriffe. It's about 4.5km (2.8 miles) from downtown and we're less than one block from the riverfront. There are some "unfurnished" pics in the slideshow to the right. A trip to Ikea and SuperAMart and I think we're pretty much set now. Love Ikea... 

I think we're on 4 trips there so far, Brent even did one on his own. Very proud. I'll get some of the furnished pics up once it's a bit more organized...looks like a tornado hit the place. Which brings me to the exciting event of October 16 (or as we liked to call it, Xmas for us!), it was the day all of the items shipped from the U.S. arrived at our doorstep. I didn't realize how exciting it would be to unwrap our books and games and bikes... a.k.a - xmas presents...except that we already owned them. Mom, Dad, did you ever "regift" my own toys? Maybe a good plan in these economic times, you know, hide them in March and wrap 'em back up for Dec. 25? It just may work ;)

After several weeks of public transportation and power walking, we finally bought a car. Buses, walking, bikes and citycats will still be our daily source of mobility, but for the further ventures this will be nice. One of our first car trips is going to be to the beach...there are amazing beaches about 45 minutes north (Sunshine Coast) and south (Gold Coast) of Brisbane. The new little addition to our family is a Nissan Tiida (not sold in the U.S.) and we just picked it up last weekend. Sweet piece of machinery. Cars are not cheap here...even used cars. They maintain their value much more than in the U.S though, which will be great for us in a couple of years. 

One of the greatest blessings we've received since being here is the exchange rate. When we first arrived, it was about AU$1 to US$0.85. This was a bit disheartening finding out how expensive things were going to be. But in the last month the AU$ has weakened to a 5-year low and is now at about US$.65. It's God's perfect timing as it happened right as we had to make some bigger purchases, ex. furniture, car, apt. fees, etc. Our US$ has been stretched much further than we initially thought, such a blessing!  And Brent was able to enter us into a foreign currency forward contract with the bank which locks us in at the low exchange rate for the next year. So if the rate should rise again, we can still exchange at this current rate. Nice! I love getting a bargain. And I love having an accountant/finance guy for a husband!

Brent has been very busy at work for the past several weeks, but he's really enjoying it so far. Most of his clients are in the mining industry (primarily coal mining), and he has already done a bit of traveling to visit the mine sites. So far, he's primarily toured throughout New South Wales, including Singleton for about a week, followed by Wollongong, and then Newcastle. 

During these trips, he also got to go on several mine tours. When he toured one of the surface mines, he was able to watch them blast a huge section of the pit with dynamite. He also went on two underground tours and was close to a km beneath the surface. This pic makes us both laugh...nice ensemble! ha! 

At the end of Brent's mine trip, I flew down to meet him in Sydney for the weekend. This was our first trip outside of Brissy together (See the slideshow to the right). Saturday we took a day trip to the Blue Mountains - amazingly beautiful! We did some hiking and rode a glass-bottomed gondola across a ravine, came back that night and had a great dinner at Darling Harbour. Sunday we walked around Sydney - the Opera House, Darling Harbour, Harbour Bridge, the aquarium. That afternoon we went to Hillsong Church (a world reknown church) - great service!  So it wasn't a bad anniversary weekend! ;)

Our next big adventure is Christmas in Tassie! We figured since we are really going to be missing spending xmas at home with fam, we needed to do something exciting. We just got finished planning our 8 day roadtrip around the island of Tasmaina. The whole island is about the size of Ireland (so I read) and we're driving to various parts, spending a night or two in each one - hiking through rainforests, laying on secluded beaches and hopefully encountering some wildlife (there's an area of the SE coast where you can watch penguins come on shore from the ocean). So excited!

Now that we've hit all of the highlights of the past couple months, we've had some tough times as well. Let’s just say we’ve definitely taken full advantage of our medical insurance since being here. It started with Brent about 5 weeks ago. He played in the Waterfront Cup rugby tournament, which is the annual rugby competition between the big 4 accounting firms in Brisbane. I know what you’re picturing right now….a bunch of dorky accountants running around with their green visors. It was actually fairly intense and there were several people throughout the night carried off the field on a stretcher. He got hurt in the last game when he made a tackle and a guy landed on top of his hip.  He never actually went to see the doctor (to my dismay) but I’m pretty sure he bruised, crushed or strained his pelvis. He could hardly walk for about a week, but he's now back to close to 100%. 

I have been a barrel of fun. A few weeks ago I had a bike accident that sent me in an ambo to the er (my first time!) After some x-rays, an ultra sound, and some butterflies I went home with a gash in my right ankle and several sore scrapes and brusies. While hobbling along two days later, I somehow managed to roll my left ankle and in doing so tore some tendons and suffered a minor fracture to the top of my foot. I mean, really? Never have I been so accident prone! So both of us probably look like 90 year olds walking down the street. ha! 

Oh and some new words:

hamper = gift basket

fillet is pronounced "fill it"

car park = garage (actually makes more sense)

chook = chicken

Till next time. Love and miss you all!

B&K

The Yanks have landed

We're here! 22 hours of travel, 4 in-flight movies and several naps later. Worth it though. And we made it through our first week of "new" moments including words, lifestyle and foods... yes, roo was for dinner last night. ;) After a few nights of falling asleep at 8pm, out cold, we are finally adjusted in this city of fine weather and friendly mates.

                                   

We started our week getting applications for drivers licenses, which do NOT require a test...I'm still trying to figure out if that's advantageous for us or not. We also had our visas evidenced, bought some phones (expensive here, along with coffee, clothes and rent!) and started the apt. hunt throughout the city. Rent for a decent place averages $400 - $600/week!!! But the search has given us a great tour of the areas around the city and with the lack of a vehicle, exercise has been prevalent. So far we've eaten Thai, Middle Eastern, Portuguese, English, Chinese, Japanese, Australian and Italian food. There's a lot of diversity here...not only in the cuisine. They sell kangaroo meat at the grocery store, but no mustard to Brent's dismay. Coffee has been an interesting adventure as well. As some of you know, Brent has an iced coffee concoction routine from Starbucks. Starbucks is here, but the iced coffee has been a little bit of a struggle for him. So far he's received hazelnut flavored espresso with ice and milk, and one as a coffee/ice cream float with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. Ha! He's a bit out of his element in that realm. Thank goodness chai is the same across the globe ;) 

Some translations we've had to learn to use: sunnies = sunglasses, energy = calories (sounds so much better!), hamper = gift basket, Hungry Jack = Burger King, lift = elevator, trolleys = grocery carts, take away = to go, no worries = applies to everything. 

The weather has been absolutely amazing. We keep the doors on our balcony open all day and night. Great breeze all the time,which has made our exploring quite pleasant. I think it's brought some wildlife as well. This is one of the Water Dragons we met on our stroll along the riverwalk. The thing was about 2.5 feet long, a bit larger than Missouri's native lizards.

So apparently there are not many Americans down here because everyone keeps asking us if we're from Canada. Eh? Kind of comical. We made it to our first pro rugby league game. 

The Brisbane Broncos vs. the Melbourne Storm in a playoff game. The stadium was huge, it was a sold out game - 50,000 people that came to watch some guys slam into each other and throw around an egg shaped ball. Brent was in heaven, and he can't wait to get on a team! It was actually pretty fun -  hardcore, animated fans that are entertaining themselves :D Unfortunately they lost with 25 seconds left in the game. Good times anyway. I'm sure there will many games to see in the near future since the rugby union starts sometime soon. Rugby League half the year, Rugby Union the other half (similar, but some different rules for each). So yes, rugby is huge here and is on tv just about 24/7. 

Last night we ate kangaroo for dinner. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about doing that, but it was actually really good. I cooked it in a red wine reduction with broccolini and potatoes. Salivating yet?? It's very similar to beef steak, but almost fat free. They sell it in the grocery stores right next to the beef and chicken. Most are protected from hunting by law, but there are certain species that have large numbers and commercial licensed hunters are allowed to hunt a specific amount for population control issues. Similar to a hunting tag in the States for certain wildlife. Next on the "weird things to eat" list: Vegemite! 

So that's a bit of what we've been up to our first days here. We miss you all and love you. Write back soon!

Cheers,

Brent & Kristin

Email:

brent.papek@gmail.com

kristin.papek@gmail.com

Keepin' in contact!

So I finally started one of these things due to the fact that we'll be on the other side of the globe trying to stay in contact with you guys on a regular basis so we aren't forgotten. :D Hopefully pics and blogs will be updated frequently so we can share adventures (and challenges). So you should write comments back....pretty please. Blog on!