one-night trip

Brett and I went to Cape Tribulation for Wednesday and Thursday! It was a great one-night trip away to see something new and different. We left early Wednesday morning after packing and getting everything into the van. We had all our bedding off our bed and back into the van seeing that it started out in the van. We had a cooler of food for the 2 days and some clothes. We hit the road around 830am and drove an hour north to start our journey. Cape Tribulation is a small bit of land in Northern Australia which is also home to part of the Daintree rain forest, aka the oldest rain forest on earth. Before taking the cable-ferry over to Cape Trib we stopped in Daintree Village which is tiny. There is literally just a shop or two, a tourist information place and a boat ramp for the tours leaving hourly to spot crocodiles. Once arriving in Cape Trib we headed straight for the beach. We went to Cape Trib beach for the afternoon where we layed out, napped, swam in the crystal clear water and ate some lunch. We stayed the night in a small caravan park which doubles as a hostel and restaurant. It was pretty warm at night and the van doesn't seem to have great airflow so we started to make a list of the things we will need while traveling on the road come December. First and foremost, a FAN. We woke up Thursday early and made a yummy breakfast of pancakes. We hit the road for some swimming holes which were beautiful and we were the only ones there! It was a little creepy being the only ones there but the track well well worn so we figured we just went at a slow time!! We also got some exotic fruit ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company made from fresh bananas, raspberries, soursop and wattleseed! It was delicious and really fun to walk around through the orchards. We rode the cable-ferry home again and ended our day back in Port Douglas laying in the shade on the beach and making dinner.

All is well here as you can tell! I think we are falling into life pretty well in Port Douglas and once we get totally settled and a little bored back on the road we will go. We have our apt here until December 22nd so once it gets a little closer we will decide where to spend the holidays and maybe even splurge for a hotel room Christmas night. However, as of now and thanks to Brett's great work schedule we are able to have a few days during the week of to enjoy some other places. I know we want to get back up to Coffee Works in Mareeba to eat come delicious chocolate and sip some yummy coffee and I also want to get down to Palm Cove. It is said to be a cool little resort town like Port Douglas but fancier and they are building this incredible piazza/courtyard/shopping center that is said to throw you right into Europe. I will let you know how authentic it feels!

Brett got his skype interview date for Regis in Denver and he will officially be wooing them on October 29th! I know he will do great but keep your fingers crossed for him and we will let you know how it goes. It is only 20 minutes long but I am sure they will only need 20 minutes to know that he is totally dedicated and excited about being a nurse.

Well, I am off to run the beach to meet up with Brett at work. Hopefully I will find out more about the restaurant today or this weekend. There was a fire in the kitchen on Monday which was opening night so I have not started there. If they don't plan to open up anytime soon I will be off looking for something else. We hope all is well at home and we miss everyone. Lots of love.

-K8

Sunny October

Monday 10.5.09

It is so hard to believe that it is October 5th and it is sunny and well, the same temperature as Gig Harbor at a whopping 18 degrees. However it is suppose to get up to 28 degrees which is 82! It should be a good day. Brett has a kite boarding lesson today at 10am and I start at the restaurant at 5pm! I am really excited to see how this Italian restaurant is going to go here in town. Port is really busy during all the school holidays and we have one more round of schools arriving today from Sydney. All of the locals keep saying that the town will get really slow once they leave so we will see how it goes.

Yesterday, Brett and I went to one of the local pubs here and watched the NRL (National Rugby League) finals with some friends! Well, we started alone and within minutes had a group of friends with us! We are officially locals and we know people. We hung out with Ted, our neighbor Dean and Marty from Brett's work. Marty is from Vancouver B.C. and we are all excited because he has ESPN and the sports network. Marty is going to allow us to get our football fix and thankfully he is just as much a fan as we are!

Yesterday we had coral trout for dinner which Ted caught out on a friend's boat and it was really good. It was a white fish with a really smooth melt in your mouth texture! It was fun to try something local. This is the one bummer thing about Australia. They don't have their own cuisine. They just steal all the other cultures dishes. Some would say that we do the same thing except we have the famous burger and fries and Australia even stole that from us. Vegemite is about all they got.

We would love some updates from home so please send some information our way! How are the babies, weather, house editions, school and such? Miss you and all love you!

Harry Potter

Life is kind of like home. Brett has already gotten up, made breakfast and is rushing out the door as I sit here with my coffee cup preparing for my day. No, I am not saying I don't work but it still feels very similar because we have jobs, we drink morning coffee and we have an apartment in a small town. Before we left I honestly never pictured what our lives would be like while here but they are very similar to our lives at home. I think this is comforting and frustrating all at the same time. I like that we have a home base and a town that we enjoy but I am also eager to get back on the road around Christmas time! I am looking forward to heading south where it is said to be a little less hot and we are also making plans for NZ and southeast Asia so I am doing my research for that!

Last night Brett and I met up with Ted and Heidi again and watched an outside viewing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets! It is a lot of fun and Brett actually enjoyed his first Harry Potter movie and stayed awake through the WHOLE thing! This is a huge accomplishment because I honestly don't think he has made it through a single movie since we have been married and all his friends will attest to the fact that he puts on a movie just to fall asleep! It must have been that he was in a restaurant with outside seating at a regular table and chairs. We snuck in popcorn, cookies and coffee to enjoy the movie and it was a great night!

Speaking of movies, Brett and I have been renting movies to get us through our evenings. We come home so tired and exhausted. Brett from working and me from laying out in the sun. There is something the sun does to you that makes you tired. So, we kind of started this whole thing where we rent movies that we love and know the other person has not seen. I got to choose one the first night and I figured it was a LONG shot but in honor of Patrick Swayze's death I would pick Dirty Dancing. I figured Brett would never go for it but surprise surprise he didn't even put up a fight, we rented the movie and he actually liked it!!!! I was so impressed. We'll see how it goes once he picks a movie but I will do my best to be open-minded!

I start work at the restaurant Monday which means I get to work the opening night!! I am very excited but go figure, I need to go into town to do some shopping because I need a plain white shirt and I didn't bring a single one. Of course, I have billions of them at home but I have to buy one or two while I am here. Oh well, I am more than willing to buy a shirt for a job that doesn't require listening to people barf and gag in the background! Sorry for being so blunt.

Well, my download of The Hills is done and I am eager to watch it so I am off! Time to top off my coffee and brace myself for the drama of the new season. We miss you and love you!

Learning from friends

Brett and I continued for the second week of getting $10 pizza on Tuesday night except last night we had friends with us!!! Yes, we have friends! We met this couple at a state park awhile back, remember the couple from Seattle, and we just met up with them again in Port. We have been keeping in contact and randomly running into them in towns totally unplanned! We were totally meant to be friends! Anyways, they came back into town yesterday and we went to dinner with them and then ate drumstick ice cream cones on the beach with them! It was so much fun and so awesome to have a couple to hang out with. They are from Western Australia but are traveling around like us for two years. They are really nice and they teach us so much about Australia. Plus, it is really fun to talk to them about the states because she grew up there and he has visited quite a few times and they had their wedding in Seattle. Small world huh.

Here are a few things they have taught us:
1. Graham crackers are nowhere to be found in Australia so the poor kids have never had or heard of a s'more. Ahhh, what is a bon fire on the beach without a s'more. However, I guess since they don't have hershey's chocolate either a s'more just wouldn't be the same.

2. We can buy a club card for $20 for The Coffee Shop (their version of Starbucks) and get buy one coffee get the second one free every time we go in there! Finally I can get my cappuccino and not feel bad about spending $4 because Brett's coffee will be free!!

3. People here either like vegemite or promite. There is no gray area. Vegemite is a vegetable extract spread that they put on toast or lunch sandwiches and depending on what you grow up on that is what you like. They explained it as being the same as liking either pepsi or coke. I instantly understood what the big deal was because people in the states who actually drink pop are so hardcore about the two.

4. Kids here didn't grow up on PB&J sandwiches. People in Australia actually think that the combo is really gross and instead grew up with vegemite sandwiches or PB and honey. Just no jelly. However, I can see why the name peanut butter and jelly would sound gross because here jelly is jello and our jelly is jam. Peanut butter and jam just doesn't have the same ring.

Ok, we are done with brekkie and about to head down the beach to hang out with Ted and Heidi. They are in Port for maybe a week before heading to Darwin so we want to see them as much as possible! Hope all is well there.

Happy Birthday tomorrow BO!!!! (Oct. 1st)

Photos Monday 9.28.09

Hi all,

I know I have posted a lot today but I wanted to put up some pictures from Mossman Gorge. It was an awesome place to swim and eat lunch! We had a lot of fun and it was just the perfect weather for playing in the fresh spring water directly off the mountains.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32638029&id=39200194#/album.php?aid=2087198&id=39200194

Christmas Cards

Working on a boat does something to people. Yes, it makes them barf when the water is rough but it also makes them want to take pictures because the water is so blue, the sky is so clear and the beauty of the land is endless. This is where I come in. I work on the boat and in turn this has made me the photographer for many families trying to capture the beauty of Low Isles. (Aka. My office until further notice) I have realized a very funny phenomenon however. Whenever someone asks me to take their picture I always wait for them to pose and I recite the normal phrase of, “This is for your Christmas card!” Hence the reason for this blog. Families in Australia don’t send out Christmas cards. That is only a states thing. I finally realized this after talking to an Australian couple who has friends in the states and after many many funny looks from families who had never heard of the idea of Christmas cards. People in Australia think that the Christmas card photo and especially a letter recounting all the events from the year is impersonal and would rather have someone ring them to give them the bits of information about the family.

Just anything interesting difference between here and there.
Brett and I are headed to Mossman Gorge today. I don’t really know anything about except that Brett is excited and there is a swimming hole. It is only about 30 minutes away so we will check it out and be back in time for the best recommended take away fish and chips in town!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and here’s to a great upcoming week! We miss you and all we love you.

PS. We got to skype with Miss. Olivia today and she is so cute. She looks a lot like her daddy but also a lot like her cousins! She is so sweet and tiny! Keep posting pictures please!

Vegemite

Saturday 9.26.09
Brett and I have been in our apartment for three nights now and it is going really well. It is perfect for what we needed. It is big enough for our stuff. Good thing because it used to all fit in a van and it has to again when we leave. But it is also small enough that it doesn’t get too dirty and best of all it is literally a stone’s throw from the beach.

Brett is working at the beach rental place and hopefully he can do a few lessons each week. So far there has been no wind so he is sticking to renting kayaks, boogie boards, buckets and spades (which is our equivalent to buckets and shovels), wind surfing gear, catamarans and huge inner tubes. It seems he will be working there four days a week and since he likes the job and gets to be outside the whole day in his uniform of board shorts his life is pretty darn great right now! Port Douglas is treating him well!

I on the other hand have run into a bit of a road bump. The boat was working out well however I tried going on the boat one day without taking motion sickness medication and it was a no go. This was preceded by the roughest day some of the crew has seen and while I felt just ok most of the boat was not in very good shape and there were a number of barf bags used. Now correct me if I am wrong but work should not involve this kind of behavior voluntarily or regularly. I have told the company I don’t want to have to be medicated for work every day and to please find a replacement. I am going tomorrow but hopefully not much more after that. However, on a better note I have a “staff meeting” lined up on Tuesday at a cool Italian restaurant that is opening up in a week. I saw the ad today, called the guy, went in and met the guy/looked at the place and he signed me up to come and sit in on the meeting for all the people interested. It looks like it will be a cool little place with indoor and outdoor seating as well as pizza oven and coffee! Keep your fingers crossed that I like it.

So, I have a feeling we will be blogging less because we are now doing the same day to day things as we do at home. However, I will do my best to keep you updated on funny tidbits and anecdotes from the land of Oz.

Here are a couple funny things:

1. Brett eats vegemite on toast at least once a day. He loves it. I am not really sure if he actually loves the actual vegemite product or if he likes eating it because ALL the Australians do it but whatever the reason he eats it. It is just a salty brown spread that you put on toast. Nothing special but funny I guess.

2. We miss the market every day. We miss amazing cheap produce. The food here is either really expensive and really not of the best quality. I don’t know if they import everything or if the price just gets jacked up because it can but it is a lot higher in the US. We still manage to eat well but we miss the prices we know and love.

3. We dry all of our clothes on a clothes line outside the back door. Dryers are few and far between in Australia so we have joined in on routine of washing and hang drying.

4. Here in Australia we have been laughed at more than a few times. They think we talk funny, have funny rituals and have funny names for things. Case in point, we went to a BBQ with Brett's boss and upon arrival he handed Brett a beer and than proceed to ask him if he needed a stubbie cooler for his beer? What is a stubbie cooler? Ahhhh, a coozie! I think the funny differences in language is awesome!
1. Bathing suit = bathies
2. Sunglasses = sunnies
3. Rash guard = rashie
4. Cooler = cold box or esky
I have a feeling things became shortened in Australia because they are just so laid back! I think I can get on board with this!