Driving in Australia

Well, as you may know, driving in Australia is not the same as back in the states. First, the driver side is on the other side of the car. (So the first few times you get in on the wrong side, you just pretend like you are getting something from the glove box, then get out and walk around to the correct driver side.)  Second, they drive on the other side of the road. Third, they make extensive use of roundabouts here. Speed limits and distances are in the metric system.

As far as driving goes, it took Paul about two weeks before he got the nerve to try and drive. Sherri chooses not to drive and has officially become the Navigator.  It takes some time to get comfortable driving but after a month Paul feels OK. It is still odd when he turns right and is constantly reminding himself to stay on the left.

Driving thru a roundabout can be quite challenging. If you are going straight thru, no worries! But if you are turning right, you have to make sure you signal or the Aussies may get a little upset and think you need a "P" sticker in your back window to indicate you are a beginning driver. After a few bad nasty stares and a review of the Driving Handbook, Paul has figured it out and is now adept at managing the roundabouts.

Of course the first time yo drive at night, it is a disconcerting feeling to have the kangaroos on the side of the road staring at you. It is also horrible to see your first roadkill emu or kangaroo on the side of the road.

We made our first extensive trip away from the Perth suburban area this week. Once you leave the suburbs, you truly enter the bush. Gas stations and restaurants are few and far between. For our first trip, we were a little paranoid about breaking down in the middle of nowhere. So, we packed extra water and food in our eskie (aka cooler). The "highways" in Western Australia are merely 2 lane roads and a rest area is simply a pull off area with no facilities save a rubbish bin (aka trash can). Road trains are the norm. A road train is a semi-truck with 2 or more trailers. It is certainly a little scary when you pass one with his trailers swerving in the oncoming lane. 

All in all, our trip away from Perth was interesting and Sherri has promised to download the pictures and post them on the blog. Lets see if she keeps her promise. 

A bit of drama

Well, as they say in Australia, we have had a bit of drama in our lives over the last few weeks. We moved into our new apartment on the 15th. Within a half hour of the movers arriving, the override key for the elevator got locked inside and a technician had to come restore access to the lift. Unfortunately, he did not arrive until 4 hours later. this was the worst move of our 9 moves in the Navy so far. 4 of the dining room chairs were smashed beyond repair and 2 of the oversized chairs were warped as well as a few broken pictures. It is just stuff and life goes on.

Kris finally arrived in Perth on Christmas Eve after 52 hours of travel and waiting in airports. She was delayed flying out of Atlanta and as a result missed her connection to Sydney. She was forced to wait 24 hours for the next flight. She made the best of her situation when she met an 18 year old Australian boy from Brisbane. They hung out at the USO and then went into San Francisco for the day. In any case, we were all together for Christmas Day!

Finally, we had an e-mail from our renters to report that a pipe in the bathroom had busted resulting in a TON of water in the master bedroom and den. Although we have to pay our deductible, it is covered by our insurance. Just a headache trying to call the insurance claims adjuster on Christmas Eve with the 14 hour time difference.

Despite the drama, we take solace in reminding ourselves that we are in Australia for the next two years. Best shore duty in the Navy as Paul has been reminded.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We are on our way to the beach to make this Christmas even more memorable and different.

Well, we have been here for  a few weeks now and are beginning to get established.  Paul has officially taken over in his new job and will have a week of work before they go on stand down for Christmas.  The Navy takes a month off for the holidays, because it is also their summer and the kids are out of school.  This is a little unimaginable to us, having a month off work, but we will be taking advantage of it and seeing as much of the area as we can.

Sherri has joined the Australian/American Womens Association and meeting lots of interesting people.  They get together weekly for outings such as tours and shows in the city, hiking in surrounding area parks, and their monthly LAW Review.  This last one sounded quite boring, until it was explained that LAW stood for lunch and wine!  We are surrounded by the wine country and it is a good opportunity to sample some of the local wines.

We have an interview at All Saints' College next week with Alex.  It is a private anglican school that we are hoping he will be able to attend when the new school year begins in February.  Since there is not an US military base here and no Department of Defense school, the military will pay to send dependents to a private school.  This works well for us, since the school district we will be living in is not one of the better districts.

Our household goods arrived earlier than planned and have cleared customs in what seems like record time.  We will be moving into our apartment on Monday, December 15th.  It will be great to celebrate Christmas in our new place.  Sherri is looking forward to having all of her kitchen ware back in order to cook for Christmas.  We have been eating out a lot due to the limited cookware in our apartment and the difficulty of planning meals without all the essentials.

The town we are living in is very relaxed and eclectic.  There are lots of interesting people, many of which we would call hippies, artist, and just plain weird.  It is not unusual to see people walking around town (or eating in a restaurant evidently) in their bare feet, or sleeping on the sidewalk if they please.  There are a number of backpacker hostels in the area, which seems to draw a large number of young people, and creates a lively night life.  Although all the shops and stores, including grocery store and target, close around five o'clock, the restaurants and pubs do a thriving business in the evenings.  In contrast to this, Australia has done very well in mining and there are a lot of people who have become very wealthy in the past few years.   

Australian Differences

When we talk/e-mail back home, friends and families are surprised about some of the differences between Australia and the US. Some of these are obvious once you think of them. Here are a few of the differences:

1) The school year here starts in February and ends in December to coincide with their summertime (Dec to Feb in the southern hemisphere)

2) The time difference with the east coast of the US is 14 hours right now. So if it is Monday 7 pm on the east coast of the US, it is Tuesday 9 am here. That's right we are a day ahead since we are on the other side of the International Date Line. The time difference can be up to 14 hours based on daylight savings time. When the US is "springing forward", Australia is "falling back".

3)  American football is called "gridiron" here. There are a few games that are shown on Fox and ESPN. Football here is soccer which is not nearly as big as Australian Rules Football (also known as "footy". The other football type sport is Rugby which has two variants (union and league) which I guess are akin to the differences between American and Canadian Football.

4) Baseball is a relatively minor sport. The big sport here is Cricket. A cricket test match lasts up to four days and as for the rules, we have not been able to decipher it.

5) Burger King here is Hungry Jacks. Everything is the same, just the name is different due to trademark issues in Australia. Other American fast food franchises in Australia include McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut.

6) Tipping in Australia is virtually non-existent.

7) Australians drive on the other side of the road and the steering wheel is on the other side as well.  It took about a week before Paul was willing to try and drive but he has had no issues so far. Sherri on the other hand has yet to attempt to drive. It may seem like a small thing but it really throws you off when you are used to driving on the right side of the road. Little things like parking or backing up are even harder.

8) Australia uses the metric system so gas (petrol) is sold by the liter and the temperature is referred to in Celsius vice Fahrenheit.

9) There are small differences between US english and Aussie english such as:

pharmacy=chemist

gas=petrol

gas station=servo

shrimp=prawn

10) We have not heard a single person say "crikey" or "throw a shrimp on the barbie".  Most Australians we have met hate that the American perception of Australians is based on Crocodile Dundee and the Crocodile Hunter.

Australian Animals

We visited the Caversham Wildlife Park the other day. We were able to get up close and personal with kangaroos, koalas, and wombats. It was an interesting day. We also toured the wine country and sampled some of the local wines. The wine industry has really taken off here in part because a case of beer is 60 dollars!  

Canberra

Sorry we have not posted any new pictures lately but we were not going to pay $30 for a single day of internet access in our hotel. Canberra is the capitol of Australia and is a beautiful city but certainly not on the scale of DC. We spent 2 days sightseeing between checking in at the US Embassy. Sights included the Parliament House, Australia National Museum, and the Questacon (a joint Australia/Japan Science exhibit). Yesterday, we spent a fair amount of time walking about. The pollen levels were severely high and Alex was in a significant amount of discomfort from his allergies. We are now on our way to Perth where Paul will report aboard and start his two year tour as an exchange officer. Come back soon for pictures of Canberra. 

Australia Bound

After a week of fun in Waikiki at the Hale Koa, it is time for us to make the big jump across the rest of the Pacific Ocean. We are finally departing for Australia. We fly out Friday morning and arrive in Sydney on Saturday afternoon after a 10 hour flight. Since we cross the International Date Line, we will actually lose a day.

Once in Sydney, we fly to Canberra for Paul's checkin at the US Embassy. After 2 days, we leave for Perth, our home for the next two years. Sherri will be posting new pictures soon.

Hawaii

Well, we finally arrived in Hawaii where Paul has two days of meetings. After the meetings Paul will take leave so we can all enjoy Hawaii for a week. Sherri is really happy to be in the warm weather. If you didn't know it before, Sherri abhors cold weather so the cold weather in DC and Atlanta last week was very disagreeable with her. Especially since we did not keep any cold weather clothing out (it was all shipped to Australia). We survived and Sherri should be happy that she will not experience any cold weather in the next two years. We expect to post Hawaii pictures during the next few days.

Good Bye

Paul is officially no longer the XO on USS Tennessee. There are mixed emotions as this chapter in our life comes to an end. Although we are looking forward to our adventures in Australia, we are leaving many friends behind in Georgia. As many of you know, with each new command, these friends become your family and you always leave a part of yourself behind when you leave. The good part is you also take away the memories and influence these people have on your life.
We have begun our travels which will eventually end in Australia. We are currently in Alabama visiting our daughter Kris and the rest of my family. On Sunday the 19th, Paul and I will fly to DC where he has meetings scheduled in preparation for his new job. On Wednesday the 22nd, I will fly back south and Paul will continue on to Newport, RI and Groton, CT for more meetings. Alex and I will pick him up at the Atlanta Airport on Friday the 24th. We will be spending the weekend in the Atlanta area, visiting more friends and family before flying to Pearl Harbor, HI on Tuesday the 28th. Paul will have more meetings on the 29th and 30th, then he is taking a weeks leave for some much needed R and R. There will be days by the pool, snorkeling, diving, good food, sight seeing, and more good food. On November 7th we will be flying to Canberra which is the capital of Australia for a few days in order to check in at the embassy. Then finally on the 12th we will be arriving in Perth as or final destination. Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
We will try to update often and add pictures along the way.

Home Sweet Home

We are officially packed out of our house and living in an RV on base.  Our friends Karri and Doug have been kind enough to let us stay in their RV until time to leave.  We are able to keep our dogs Reese' and Raul with us and I still have a kitchen to cook in.  

So far it hasn't been too bad.  Paul says it's like living in a submarine but smaller and with two dogs.

Alex works on school during the day and I try to get out as much as possible.

As far as progress on our relocation, our medical screenings are finished and we have all been cleared to go.  We should be leaving St. Marys on October 15th after Paul turns over to the new XO.  We will be spending the weekend in Alabama with Kris and other family, then Paul has to travel to D.C., Groton and Newport for a few meetings before we leave.  Our ultimate goal is to fly out of Atlanta on October 27th, headed to Hawaii, where Paul has more meetings and plans to take a week of leave for us to enjoy the area before flying on to Australia.

Adventure Update

Well, as usual nothing ever goes as planned with the Navy. It took three months, but we finally received our orders to Australia. Let the fun begin!

I made my first trip to personal property in Jacksonville today in order to schedule our move. I was informed I must return on Wednesday to sit through a 2 1/2 hour group counseling session before I will be allowed to fill out my paper work. Sigh. When I explained to the woman I had just drove, driven, whatever... an hour to get there, so could I please just fill out my paper work, she looked at me like I was an idiot and actually asked if I had ever moved before. (laughing hysterically) It was not funny at the time however. Paul asked "Did you explain to this woman you are married to a career Navy submariner and have done this eight times?" No! I was so angry at this point I could hardly speak. So I returned to my van in the rain, gripped the steering wheel tightly and let out an oh so slight scream. Seriously.

On a happier note. We have found a wonderful family to rent our house for the next two years. Yea! At that time we will be able to decide if we would like to sell or keep the house. Much of this will depend on the market and if we will be returning to the area for Paul's CO tour. The people renting the house are interested in possibly buying at the end of their lease, but if not, they are both established realtors in the area. This could be very convenient for us.

Kris has moved into the dorms at Columbus State and began classes last week. She is working part time at Smokey Bones restaurant there in town. So far she seems to be enjoying herself and has made lots of new friends. Although she has called a few times for advice when she had a flat tire and locked her keys in the car, she is doing well on her on. We are very proud and will miss her while in Australia.

Alex has begun homeschooling online and it is still to be determined if he and I will both survive. I understand why some animals eat their young. LOL

Our adventure begins

We have recently been advised that Paul will be receiving orders to Australia. He will be working with the Royal Australian Navy as part of the Personnel Exchange Program. The base is HMAS Stirling south of Perth in Western Australia. It looks as though we will be living in Fremantle which is located between the base and Perth.

Paul is scheduled to detach from Kings Bay in October and report to Australia in November. However, in order for our house hold goods to arrive around the time we do, or shortly thereafter, we will be packing out in mid August.

Kris will be staying in the states and attending Columbus State University. She has received the Georgia Hope Scholarship and will be studying secondary education/mathematics.

Alex will be homeschooling from August until December/January during the transition. He will then attend a local Australian high school. Australia's school year runs from February to December with two week breaks between semesters.

We will periodically add information about our move and experiences to keep everyone up to date.