Getting to know you…..

Hi Friends!

Now that we’ve been in Australia for over a month, we are starting to feel quite settled into our new lives.  We know the routine of starting over, and we jumped right into getting organized. 

Within the first 2 weeks we acquired our first “new” car.  A 2010 Hybrid Camry fit the bill.  It’s the newest car we’ve ever owned, and it feels quite luxurious!  It’s also eerily quiet, so we can sneak up on anyone!  We were fortunate enough to borrow a 2^nd car for a bit from our friend Jill until we purchased another 2010 Toyota – this time a zippy Corolla hatchback in wildfire red.  It’s a fun practical car.  It feels strange to be a 2-car family, but it is the right choice for us living in our little country town. 

We’ve also joined a gym!  This gym is different than any other ones we’ve belonged to before.  It’s a small facility with a trainer on hand to help you and push you along.  We’ve been going for a month now – and we are hooked!  I have to say, Amaury is our best workout buddy…he hangs out in his jogging stroller and keeps entertained watching us do these crazy routines.  We even take turns jogging him around the gym when it’s time for cardio. 

Amaury and I have joined up with a few playgroups in town.  For 2 hours in the morning, this kid cooks, pushes babies in a pram, jumps on a trampoline, eats snack (and sometimes other kids’ snacks), climbs and digs in the sandbox.  He plays so hard that he often falls asleep in the car on our 2 minute drive home! 

A gorgeous view from our friends house of the Murray River.

I’m getting to know many people in the community …and drinking a lot of coffee J I finally read “Gone Girl” in about 2 days.  (Now what should I read?!)  I’ve also been looking at houses like a mad woman.  We’ve moved to a lovely 3 bedroom house for a longer temporary stay, but we need a permanent home.  We are looking to buy, but we haven’t found anything with a price point we are willing to commit to. 

The great thing about where we currently live is it is small and suits our needs for the moment.  It also has a lovely garden, which Amaury and I tend to everyday as part of our routine.  We are growing spinach and lettuce.  The roses are starting to come in, as are the irises.  Amaury helps me water the garden and helps me carry the weeds and trimmings to the rubbish bin.  We love being outside!!!!

Amaury and I made an exciting trip to Adelaide last week.  A friend, Kris, who I briefly worked with in Somerville some 9 years ago, had a brief layover with her hubby on their OZ/NZ tour.  Andy and Kris were in town just long enough for Amaury and I to pick them up for a lunch at the Adelaide Central Market.  We had a lot to catch up on and connect with in 2 hours!!!  Kris and Andy are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers like me!  I was finally able to thank her in person for sending me the best care packages while I was in Namibia.  What a great time we had!!

Kris and I 

Kris and Andy 

Jose has been busy these last 2 weeks getting his OB skills assessed in Adelaide.  He’s been back in the “theatre” (the operating room) assisting and performing C-sections.  The most exhausting part of these 2 weeks is driving in and out of Adelaide (1 hour each way).  It’s an easy drive, but gets old after a long day.

Jose relaxing - about to cook our first meal on his new barbi!

So, why did the sheep cross the road?

I love how I’m finally able to do all the things I’ve wanted to do to be green.  We have a compost bin, I hang all our clothes on the line to dry, I’m almost exclusively using cloth nappies for Amaury and our recycle bin is overflowing.  Our garbage bin is about a quarter full for collection each week.  Amaury and I save much of our plastic and cardboard to repurpose for “toys.”  There is so much you can do and make with a little creativity and a bit of time.  Or, you can just put a box out and let them play the game "in the box, out the box." 

Babies love boxes.

Jose and Amaury at the Adelaide Central Market

A lovely rainbow after a day of rain

Jose, Amaury and I have managed to take a few drives around the area.  We drove 1 ½ hours to Victor Harbor, a little beach town.  Hello gorgeous blue water!!!!!  We were 1 of about 3 families on the beach.  Absolutely stunning!  On the way back, we stopped at a family owned olive grove and bought olive oil and a few jars of olives.  (Amaury would eat the whole jar if we let him!)  We will definitely be back that way again soon!

Amaury just before he took a "dip" in the sea.

I think that’s about all for now.  Thanks for checking in on us here in South Australia!

G'Day, Mate!

Dear Family and Friends,

We are excited to announce…...

WE LIVE HERE!!!

This was a process full of ups and downs, with major hurdles and hoops to jump through.  I’m pretty amazed that we accomplished most of the process while living in Barrow, Alaska.  Jose and I somehow kept our focus, and our persistence paid off in a big way J

Now that we are here, life couldn’t be sweeter.  

The 4 weeks leading up to our departure began with arriving in Las Vegas at my mom’s house after a month of traveling and visiting friends and family.  At this point, we were awaiting word on our visas.  All of the paperwork had been filed on July 3^rd, so we knew we should hear back soon.  Sure enough, 4 days of waiting gave us the good news – our visas were issued, and we could then book our flights! 

We decided to fly Air New Zealand.  (it was a lot cheaper than Qantas and they offer a skycouch for a reasonable price so you can lay down.)   Check out the video here:  air new zealand skycouch

Who doesn’t want to fly through New Zealand?!

We left Vegas on an afternoon flight with six 50lbs suitcases, 1 rolling carry on and 2 backpacks.  Oh, and a stroller and car seat!  Whew! 

Once we landed in LAX, we had to switch terminals WITH ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE.  Can I just give a shout out to my hubs for his genius work at loading a luggage cart and stroller up with all that crap?  Amaury enjoyed being carried on his dad’s back, because the stroller was occupied.  It was actually pretty easy to make this transfer, and I was very grateful for that!

One annoying thing about Air New Zealand (and maybe other airlines do this too) is that they weigh your carry on.  We had a zillion toys and activities for Amaury along with a change of clothes and important documents in our checked bag.  We were about – oh- 13lbs over the limit!  Oops!  With a little shifting from suitcase to suitcase, we managed get everything packed away. 

Now the luggage is checked in all the way to Adelaide!  And we have about 6 hours to kill……I’ll spare the boring details, but it involved about 1000 laps around the terminal. 

Jose trying to keep little A calm at 10pm

Exploring his own wallet

The skycouch was awesome.  If you ever fly down here and can spare the extra cash, it’s well worth it.  You purchase 3 seats and you pull the footrest up to make a bed.  Amaury and I were able to comfortably lay down and sleep for about 6 hours.  He may have even slept longer! 

We landed in Auckland and dawn, then went through a security line for international transfers and quickly caught our flight to Adelaide.  It was pretty easy. 

The flight to Adelaide was not full, so we managed to switch seats and have a row of 3 to ourselves.  Amaury fell asleep before takeoff and slept most of the flight!

Just waking up!

Good Morning, Auckland! 

We landed in beautiful Adelaide at around 10:30am.  Of course we were almost the last ones off the plane.  Then our stroller didn’t make it from Auckland to Adelaide and had to give our info to the baggage guy (we were the last ones in the baggage area), then we got questioned at customs because we had a few items that were in question (our sandwiches we made in Vegas didn’t clear customs.  They didn’t want our turkey coming into Australia).  And we were the last ones to clear customs.  We were sure Nicola (Jose’s recruiter) and Jill (the clinic manager in Murray Bridge) were beginning to wonder if we actually made it to Australia!  Luckily, they patiently waited for us on the other side!   Smiles and hugs and sighs of relief all around!

Landing in Adelaide, South Australia!

Stretching our legs in between paperwork at RDWA

 Our first 4 days in Australia were spent in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.  I was pleasantly surprised at how cool Adelaide is!  There are about 3-4 coffee shops to every block, fresh local produce, shopping, gardens, museums, theater, music hustle and bustle of a city without the annoying traffic.  I am excited there are a plethora of ethnic restaurants available here too.  This city has everything!

We learned how to order our coffee here too.  Jose drinks a short black and I drink a flat white.  Amaury drinks a baby cino.  It’s a little espresso cup of frothed milk with chocolate sprinkled on the top.  He goes CRAZY for it!  I had no idea Australians were serious about coffee.  We are going to love it here.

The Botanic Garden

More of the Botanic Garden

One of our favorite places to explore was the Central Market.  Fresh.  We stocked up on fruits, vegetables, spices, meats, coffee and eggs.  I was in heaven!

We left Adelaide on Friday afternoon to move to our new hometown of Murray Bridge.  It’s about an hour drive through beautiful rolling hills.  No kangaroo or koala sightings L but the birds here are incredible!  We’ve even heard a kookaburra laugh a few times! 

Our home for the first 2 weeks, the Rainforest Retreat, Murray Bridge

Outside our room at the Rainforest Retreat

Our delicious breakfast

Jose's first day of work in Australia! 

Jose is working in a smaller clinic the first week to learn the Australia medical system.  I will take my time re-learning how to drive on the left.  Amaury and I have some big plans to meet new friends. 

We have been welcomed very warmly by the doctors and families in the practice.  We’ve enjoyed lunches, dinners and coffee with many people so far.  It is a huge sigh of relief to think all the stress of getting here is in the past, and we can focus on starting our life in South Australia.  The fun begins now to acquire new cell phones, find a house, and purchase a car so we can take weekend drives to Adelaide, the beach or the Barossa wine region.  I’ve heard people say a few times that South Australia is the best kept secret.  I believe they are right!   

Bound for South Australia!

I can't believe we will be flying tomorrow!  For those of you that have been following us, this has been a long time coming.  After one and a half years of paperwork and delay after obstacles, we can finally almost feel the jet-lag.

It has been a good few months.  We spent a week in Idaho with Rick and Cheri and had a blast.  We lounged around, barbecued, we went fishing  and for walks under the beautiful expansive sky.  I think my favorite part was actually catching my first fish!  Amaury looked so cute in his little life saver that Cheri got for and gifted him. 

Our next stop was Fort Lauderdale.  Everyone was so excited to see Amaury (and us) and they couldn't believe how much he had grown an learned.  

We reached Vegas and very soon found out that our visas had been issued and that we would soon be across the world.  Our friends in SA were very excited as well.

30 boxes, 6 checked bags and 3 carry on pieces of luggage, our new adventure begins!

Goodbye Top of the World - Hello….Down Under!

So great news, folks!  We don't have to change the name of our blog!

We are happy to report all of our paperwork, interviews, forms, more interviews and more paperwork have finally gone thru.  We got the go-ahead to move to Australia!  We are now awaiting visas, which still take a bit of time (but not as much time as applying for a medical license!) We don't have an exact date, but we know we will be there well before Sept. 5th.

With this news comes a goodbye to Barrow.  Alaska has served us well.  We only have great things to say about our experience here.  We've made great friends and were fortunate to be able to watch our little Amaury hit some pretty big baby milestones.  When we arrived, he was barely rolling over.  Now, we have a walking little toddler on our hands!

We will certainly miss the laid back life.  We will also miss our friends.  If you've been following our blog, you'll know how much we loved the Aurora Borealis.  (although it is over for the season).  We've experienced 24 hours of darkness and now 24 hours of daylight.  We lived through temperatures of as much as -40 degrees Fahrenheit.  We've seen the vast tundra and a frozen ocean.  We've also seen snowy owls, caribou, (bear and moose in the Alaskan interior).  We've seen the tallest peak in North America.  Jose's eaten muktuk (whale) and we've both enjoyed caribou.  We realized that being a small, remote town does not mean it is without diversity.  There are people from all over the world who now call Barrow home.  (Philipino, Thai, Tongan, Samoan, Southerners, West Coasters, Cuban, Mexican, Trinidadian, White, Black, and mixed).  And obviously the Iñupiats have been here for thousands of years!

The excitement of Australia hasn't sunk in just yet.  It's hard to imagine at this point.  But, we know we are looking forward to an active outdoor lifestyle.  We can't wait to be outside!

The next few days will be filled with as much as possible.  My friend Luke is flying up for the weekend to celebrate his birthday!  It will be a great way for us to make sure we get everything in before we leave on July 1st.

Yay!!!!

Denali National Park, the Parks Highway and Talkeetna

Our packing list included:

Food
Water
Binoculars
Sweatshirts
Bear Spray
Rifle


Why we left all of this in the car during our short 4 mile hike - I have no idea.

We drove 15 miles into Denali National Park to the end of where the public is allowed to drive.  There is a gorgeous river between 2 small hills with a lovely hike next to the river.  The clouds were low, with a cool mist in the air.  We certainly weren't prepared for the weather, but we bundled up as much as we could.  Amaury was snug on Jose in the moby (and soon fell asleep).  The trail was relatively flat, rocky and wet.  It certainly wasn't difficult, but we did need to watch where we stepped.  There were people at the trailhead, but once we got going, we were alone.  I was a little nervous, but Jose assured me he would be on strict bear watch.  (At this point, one would think - Hey, perhaps we should bring our bear spray!!!)

About 20 minutes into the hike, Jose turns around abruptly and whispers, "Baby, don't move."  My heart started racing as I looked up and saw the most gi-normous grizzly bear.  He was about half way up the hill - probably 500 yards or so.  I started waving my hands and yelling to scare him away.  If he was aggressive, he could have been down that mountain in 5 seconds.  We were stuck.  There is no way we could have out run this thing, especially with our baby in the wet conditions.  We were both scared shitless.  Then….

the bear walked up the mountain.

Whew!

He hid his head behind a tree (with his butt hanging out - like we couldn't see him.) Then he peaked out again to check us out.  I screamed some more before he walked up and away.

I managed to get a shaky picture of this bear. 

You can't see me!

Bear stopping one more time to check us out

  Once this guy disappeared, we continued on our hike, whistling, clapping and making a fool out of ourselves around every switchback.  There were more hikers behind us, so we felt safe with more of us on the the trail.

My favorite part of the hike was talking with the others about their experience hiking in Denali.
"We did a 9 mile hike and saw Dal Sheep!"
"We got caught in a snow squal!"
Jose - "We saw a freakin BEAR!"

Finishing up our hike

At the end of our hike, we spotted some caribou

Hey guys!

Don't mind us!

We passed by the visitor center just in time to see this guy:

The following day, we continued our journey on the Parks Highway towards Anchorage.  It was a gorgeous, clear sunny morning.  It's the kind of day you live for in Alaska.  The snow capped mountains sparkled in the blue sky.  Mt. McKinley soared above all the other peaks.  I think we stopped about 10 times in an hour to take it all in.  Below are about a dozen pictures of all the beauty!

Our last stop was a cute town called Talkeetna.  It's a hunting and trapper town that has turned into a hippie hangout and starting point to climb Mt. McKinley.  A great brewery, tons of shops and good food.  Just what we needed!

Trapper cabin circa early 1900's

Mt. McKinley view from the edge of Talkeetna

So, how cold is it? 

It's TOO COLD, mom!!