Quick Life Update

We have been posting a lot about all of our weekend adventures, but we haven't said too much recently about daily life. Here is a quick life update:

- I got a job! It was much easier than I thought it would be. I applied online on a Monday, had an interview on Friday, and was offered a position on the next Tuesday. I will be working at a place called Calvary College Grove Rehabilitation Hospital. Long name, huh? I am excited because I really enjoy working in inpatient rehab. On Monday I go in for an all day orientation. I really hate those! You sit all day and listen to boring information and try not to fall asleep. I am already dreading going back to Baylors when I get back to Dallas! At least I will be getting paid! As I find out more I will let everyone know. I don't have an official start date yet because I am waiting to get registered with South Australia. I do know I will be working mostly four days a week (totally awesome!) and when people go on maternity leave and holiday, I will go full time. I am what is called a casual worker.

-Our apartment is officially the craziest apartment ever. So everyone knows about the cupboard door falling off, well now we have a leak in the wall that is soaking our carpet in the bedroom. We are having plumbers come out next week to take a look at it. Pretty much to fix it they have to cut a hole in the wall of our bedroom to find the leak, then fix it, then patch up the hole. The have asked us to move out of our room into the guest room because it is going to be messy! Crazy! They still haven't fixed the cupboard yet either! I just hope that everything goes smoothly and they can fix it in a reasonable amount of time. Who knew living in a brand new apartment could cause so much stress! At least we don't have to pay for any of this!

-Other than that life in Australia is beginning to settle down. We have our weekly routine and our weekend routine. It will be nice once I have my job. We are running three days a week and are going to run in a 12K race in September. We have been cooking dinner for ourselves every night. Everything here shuts down at 5:30, so some nights, as sad as this sounds, we go to Woolworths to hang out because it is open until 9:00. This Saturday Justin is going to be doing a service project with the men of our church and then hopefully we will be hanging out with some of our church friends. Sunday we are going to Morialta! Bushwalking here we come!

Okay, that wasn't too quick of an update, but oh well!

Cuddling Koalas and Hanging Out with Kangaroos

Our new Australian family! We adopted a koala!

Me and my new baby!

Hanging out by another koala

Me, Justin, Sarah, and Brett

A mommy wallaby with a baby in her pouch

An emu...yuck! Justin has some sort of obsession with these crazy birds!

Feeding the roos

Feeding the roos

A Tasmanian Devil! This one is for you dad! :)

Feeding a roo

Feeding another roo

Feeding a wallaby

As you can tell by all of our fun pictures we went to visit some native Australian animals this weekend! We went to a place called Cleland Wildlife Park. It is about 20 to 30 minutes away in the Adelaide Hills. We went with Brett and Sarah who we went with to Victor Harbor and the Crow match a few weeks ago. It is always fun going to these places with other people!

Pretty much all of the pictures show exactly what we did there! Play with animals!! I absolutely love kangaroos! They are my new favorite animal. They were so fun to watch and interact with. They are very soft too! I pretty much want to take one back home with me! I think a kangaroo would do well in a 3rd floor Dallas apartment. We also go to cuddle with a koala bear! Yay! I had to put on this ugly green coat I am assuming as protection from claws, poop, and pee. The koala was heavy! He weighed about 30 pounds and my arms got tired of holding him! They aren't as soft as I thought they would be. They are kinda of coarse. The kangaroos are much softer.

This past weekend was our one year anniversary weekend, so we ended up going to Cleland and then out to dinner afterwards. We went to a nice restaurant on the River Torrens called Regatta Bistro and then we went out to dessert to a place called Cocolat. It was amazing!! Everyone who comes to visit needs to go there. It is outrageously expensive, but incredibly good! It is pretty much a gourmet chocolate shop. Yum!

That was pretty much our anniversary weekend! It is hard to believe we have been married a year and are living life in Australia! I am sure will have lots more adventures to come! We miss you all!!

Don't Cook Bacon without Proper Ventilation

This is just a quick post here reminding all of your apartment dwellers to not cook bacon unless you know how. This morning my sleep was interrupted by the sound of the fire alarm screeching very loudly. I didn't know if it was just a false alarm or not, but as time went on I figured I better get outside so I don't burn up in the apartment! As I was going down the stairs (I didn't take the elevator because this was a fire!), I didn't smell any smoke or see anything fire-like, so I thought that was a good sign. I got outside to find heaps of my fellow apartment people outside as well. I was lucky because I wasn't in my towel like some other people who had to leave their nice morning showers. Just a few seconds later, the fire department arrives and enters the building. Yay, we are rescued! About five minutes later, the apartment caretaker arrives and informs us that the lady on the 4th floor has burned her bacon again (I guess this is a common occurrence) and that there is no fire. So after all of this excitement we are able to go back to our apartments. I did smell a bit of burned bacon on the 4th floor when I was coming back to my apartment. So the moral of this story is don't cook bacon without proper ventilation or you make your entire apartment complex evacuate!

Hahndorf-Australia's Oldest German Town

Welcome to Hahndorf!

We ate here at Muggleton's. We had a coupon from the Entertainment book (yes, they have them here too!). I wanted a picture by the sign because it reminded me of something that would have been in Harry Potter! For those non-Harry Potter lovers, a muggle is a non-magic person, so I thought Muggleton's was a fun name!

Justin out by an old German church

Me on Main Street, Hahndorf is actually just one street long!

It is fall here in Australia, so this is me and a fall leaf!

Justin and I traveled about 30 minutes away this weekend to Hahndorf, a small town known as Australia's oldest German town. It pretty much consisted of one street, but it was quaint with cute little shops and cafes. Justin's boss is out of town this week, so we had the company car to drive up there. It was a beautiful fall day (not really cold, but we were able to see all of the trees changing colors). We attempted to go pick fresh strawberries, but since we had some pretty bad weather the last couple days with lots of rain, a bit of hail, and "freezing" temperatures, the season was closed early. We have to go back in November to pick any fresh strawberries!

Justin was in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday, so we had to do just a mini trip this weekend. Our anniversary is this Sunday the 25th, so we are going to a place called Morialta to go hiking and wildlife watching and then we are coming back into the city for a nice dinner! Justin might have more in store, but these are our main plans! It isn't very romantic, but we are in Australia, so we need to see as much as possible! I am very surprised with how much there is to do in Adelaide. You don't really ever hear about it, but there are TONS of things to do around this place!

On another note, things are starting to get a bit more settled around here. We have the Internet, a washer and dryer, our visas, and I am officially registered with the country of Australia to practice OT. Now, I am just waiting to get all of my information and papers I need to get registered with the state of South Australia. So hopefully in about a month or so I can get a job! I have started the job hunt and have applied for four jobs so far. I have yet to hear anything back! I will keep you all posted on the job status.

That is about it from here! We will add new pictures next weekend I am sure as we are going on another adventure! We miss you all!

11 Koalas, 4 Emus

This is the best shot we got of all the wild koala bears because he was facing us! I just wanted to go and grab him and cuddle with him! But if I did that he would have probably clawed my face off!

Here is another koala just chilling in a tree.

Ah, wild emus! Run!

These are called rainbow lorikeets and they were everywhere!!! They look just like a parot and are very beautiful.

Another koala bear just hanging out!

And another! Can you believe all these wild koala bears??

The entrace to the park right off the train. The sign looks quite a bit different than our National Park signs!

Hiking up the trail.

Justin on the trail.

Me on the trail. It was a beautiful day and by then end of the hike I was in my T-shirt!

Justin and I went to Belair National Park this weekend. It is just a 30 minute train ride away! It was absolutely amazing and is situated in the Adelaide Hills. We decided to go on a 2 hours hike called the Waterfall hike going by a lower falls and an upper falls. Funny enough, both of the falls were dried up since we are in drought here. We started our hike knowing that there was a potential to see some koala bears, but we didn't' know if we would see any. We passed a lady walking her dog on they way to our trail and she was like, "Did you see the koala up in the tree?" We were like, "No, where is it!" And low and behold there was a wild koala bear sitting up in the tree right above our heads! Of course we took about a zillion pictures from a zillion angles as this was our first koala sighting.

As we headed on our path trying to find the start of our trail, we started our koala bear hunt. We didn't see any on the way to the start of trail, but guess what we did see? Two wild emus roaming across an open field! Justin was in the bathroom and I was waiting for him and I spotted something moving in the distance, I came in for a close look and it was the two emus! I started to yell at Justin in the bathroom and we ran as fast as we could through the trees until we were in picture taking position. Again, we took several shots of our first emus. I must mention here that the emus were in the open field because there was a picnic going and they wanted food. But on the way back to the train station we were going on a back trail and right before our eyes were two more emus crossing the trail right in front of us! This was a much more exciting sighting as it seemed they were more in the wild.

On our hike, we did end up seeing 11 koala bears total! I have posted pictures of some of them. We did take pictures of pretty much all of them. Justin was the koala bear scout. He found all of them. I was sad because I didn't find any, but I did find the emus! It is just so weird to look up in a tree and see a cute little koala bear hanging out. And we weren't in a zoo! I plan on going to a place called Cleland Conservation Park and there you can hold koalas! I am excited for that!

Our hike ended and it was a successful trip. Belair National Park was beautiful and I would go back any day! I hope you all enjoy the pictures of the koala bears!!

The Annoying Parts of Moving to a New Country!

If I would suggest one thing to anyone moving to a new country for an extended period of time it would be useful to get your work visa before you go! Not having our official work visas has put a hold on lots of things we want to get done like, renting a dryer (Sarah and Brett who we went to Victor Harbour and the Crows match with are giving us their old washer!), getting Internet set up, and me getting a job!

Thankfully, our passports safely made it to Melbourne yesterday to get our 457 visa stamped in them. So, now we just pray they get mailed safely back to Adelaide so we can start getting more things done!

The excitement of yesterday was that the overhead cupboard's hinges in the kitchen ripped out of the wood holding it in, so we had to remove the whole door. If you look in the pictures from last time it is the frosted panel over the sink. Yesterday I was brushing my teeth and noticed the panel looked crooked, so I went to lift it up and the hinges busted! I had to wait for Justin to come home to help me remove it so the whole thing wouldn't fall off! I have a call into the property manager, so hopefully we hear back soon!

Also, yesterday we finally got our Internet card for our computer, but alas it didn't fit and we have to return it. Internet here is really expensive in general and we are having a heck of a time trying to get it set up in our apartment. I think we finally found a company to work with, but we didn't have our passports to sign up for the service. So hopefully next week we will get the Internet in our apartment and we can start using Skype!

On a good note, last night we had some friends over for dinner from church, Kylee and Darren. They are in our small group. We made them fajitas! We used kangaroo meat, but didn't tell them until the end, but they didn't mind. I guess a lot of Australians don't eat kangaroo for various reason, but the main one I hear is that the they don't want to eat "Skippy" which is a kangaroo character from childhood TV show. We had a great time with Kylee and Darren and couldn't believe how fast the time flew by! We are going out with them on Saturday night with a bunch of other people for Darren's birthday. It is out in Glenelg which is right on the beach!

I guess that is about it from here for now. I will be happy once things start settling down a bit. There is still just so much to do! Oh, this weekend excursion will be to Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills. I don't know much about it, but Justin has it all planned out and the best thing is we can take a bus there!! Miss you all!!

Our Apartment

I have finally posted our apartment pictures! The whole apartment has a pretty modern feel which isn't necessarily the Claybrook style but it is is a place to call home! I posted yesterday we were getting a washer and dryer delivered, but that is on hiatus because we need our 457 visa in our hands to be able to rent from the rental place! So, we ventured to the laundry mat last night to do our laundry. It is expensive! It will be nice once we are able to get our own washer and dryer. Oh, and we are going to rent a microwave as well. I had no idea how much I used one until I don't have one! Also this week we should be receiving our Internet card in the mail so we can have Internet in our house! Yay! Then we can use skype and I don't have to come to the library everyday! I think that is about it for here! Also, to those of you in our community group thank you so much for making Daniel feel welcomed to Dallas! I am sure he really appreciates it! We miss everyone!

This is the guest bedroom/office. It has two pieces of furniture. This lovely desk and robe (closet). When guests come you will get a very comfortable air mattress to sleep on.

This is our bedroom. It also has only two pieces of furniture. Our bed and the robe. Thank you Lauren and Graeme from our church who provided us with a bed, sheets, and a comforter (or duna as they call them here)

Our fancy sink in the bathroom. We have a fancy shower too, but I didn't take a picture. Oh, and the toilet has its own little room which is very common here.

Our kitchen! This is where all our gourmet cooking happens!

A view from the living room into the kitchen and our little dining room table.

Our living room! Fully furnished thanks to Lauren and Graeme from church! Just a side note here. Cable in Australia is something new, so most people only have five channels. We have decided to live like true Australians and just plug in our TV and use a co-axial cable and get our five channels fuzz free! The channels actually aren't too bad and the best part is that it is free!!

One more side note: Lauren and Graeme are people we met bowling our first week being here and they have befriended us! They have truly blessed us by letting us borrow pretty much all the furniture in our apartment. The own five lolly shops (candy stores) in the city. One of them even specializes in American candy, including Hershey bars, Reeses, and Pop Tarts. The even sell a 24 case of Dr. Pepper for $65! Can you believe it! Also, Justin's boss and his wife has also provided us with lots of stuff for our apartment too including the TV. So God has put people in our lives here to take care of us! We are thankful!

Ardrossan,Victor Harbor, Crows Match, Apartment!

Some of the action...the Crows are the striped team

Camry the Crow

Justin and his Footy Pie (also known as a meat pie and they are actually very good!)

Sarah and Brett, the ulitmate Crows Fans!

Me and Justin with our Crows attire at the oval

On top of the bluff

On top of the bluff

The ocean and rocks on Granite Island

Me and Justin

View from Granite Island

On Granite Island

The walk way over to Granite Island. They also have horse drawn trams if you want to pay for it to take you to the island.

Victor Harbor

Justin in Ardrossan with the jetty in the background.

Me in Ardrossan on the way to the jetty, it was windy and cold!


Justin and I have been very busy since our last posting! We went on a road trip to Ardrossan, a very small town on the Yorke Peninsula for Justin's work, visited Victor Harbor on the Fluerieu Peninsula, attended another Crows footy match, and above all moved in to our new apartment!!

First off, we got an apartment! Woo Hoo! It is in a great part of the city with something always happening. It is brand new and we are the first people to live in it which is nice, but also annoying because if anything happens to a wall or something they know it was us! It is just very nice to know that we have a place to call home. We have been very blessed as well because between people at church and Justin's boss our apartment is now fully furnished. Oh, and I got to make a trip to IKEA to buy plates, silverware, pots, pans and those sorts of thing! It was so much fun!! I love IKEA! I think I hit my picture quota because it is taking forever to download so I will add apartment pics next time!

On Saturday we went to Victor Harbor with Justin's boss' daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Brett. It was absolutely beautiful. You can just look at the pictures! At night you can watch penguins come in from the ocean after fishing all day to feed the babies! I would love to go back and see that! The water so so blue! We walked to this island called Granite Island and walked all the way around it and it has spectacular views of the ocean. Then we went to a bluff and there were even more beautiful views!

After our day at Victor Harbor Sarah and Brett took us to another Crows footy match! This time we had our camera! They played the Northern Melbourne Kangaroos. It was a good time!

I think that is about all of our adventures for now. This week we are getting blinds installed in our apartment, getting a washer and dryer delivered so we can do laundry, and just trying get settled in to our new apartment. Oh, I forgot, on Wednesday we are having a couple over from our bible study for tea (Australian's version of dinner!). We are going to make them fajitas. We figured they would like that since there isn't too much Mexican food over here! We miss you all and wish you all could come over here and visit!!