Brisbane - Part IV - Lone Pine Koala Sancturay

We spent our last full day at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It's a great little place about 45 minutes North of where my brother lives. Even though we had gone to a koala sanctuary where we first arrived in Sydney, it was no where as nice as Lone Pine. For example, at the koala park in Sydney when we bought kangaroo food it was a baggie of honey nut cheerios, seriously. I felt bad feeding the kangaroos the cheerios, since obviously it isn't part of their natural diet. And worse, because everyone pets the roos while feeding them, a large proportion of the roos in Sydney had cheerios stuck to their mangy fur. Not the best experience. However, Lone Pine was really an incredible place, the animals were really well taken care of, and it looked like the staff really cared about their welfare. This is one of the senior koalas, the look on his face is priceless, just kicking back chewing on a gum leaf.

Here we are feeding the kangaroos. And what do you know, it was kangaroo chow. I felt much better feeding them this time. Can you see the baby Chihuahua joey?

They also had lorikeet feeding. The lorikeets obviously know when the feeding times are; there were hundreds of them. There was no way to avoid them; I think Mitch got a little freaked out at one point. They also had a great Birds of Prey show. The birds flew right over our heads, and at one point one of the bird's wings even tipped Don's head. Don's loves this photo, I have to agree it's awesome.


They even had a demonstration with sheep and Border Collies. I really enjoyed it, but Mitch got bored pretty quickly. I think he would have preferred to run around with the dogs.
We found out that there was a 90 minute boat trip from the Sanctuary to the CBD, so we took that option at the last minute.

It was a great end to the trip, just a relaxing boat trip down the river. We met another couple visiting from San Francisco, she was American and he was Australian. We had a nice chat on the way back. Overall, just another great day in Brisbane... and a wonderful end to our trip.

Cadbury's new ad

Not sure if this commercial has made it to the US. Probably not, since Cadbury definitely doesn't have the same market share that it does here and in the UK. I'm not sure what to think. Some of you may already know how I feel about Cadbury, so I'll just follow my Nana's advice and not say anything at all. Except that the kids are really cute.

Brisbane - Part III - South Bank & the Museum

I got a little sidetracked this week. Mitch is on his second week of Easter Break. With him at home, Don and I have been tag teaming by working half shifts until he returns to school next week. I just caught myself today referring to it as Spring Break. What a maroon.... Anyways, I have a ton of photos from our Brisbane trip, so I thought I'd post about our trip to the Queensland Museum. Mitch loves Museums, and if it's hands on even better. He's a tough one to peg. He doesn't care for the aquarium or the zoo, but give him a museum and he's in heaven. We went to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and he kept asking to go back so we brought the annual membership. After that, I kept talking to other parents who said their kids get bored there. I don't tell people we have a membership, I feel like an anomaly. Like having a kid who hates candy, or begs to go to the dentist, or get a shot. But I digress. Anyways, Mitch was very excited to see this new museum. We spent about three hours there, and I think we did everything there was to do. Another plus - absolutely free to enter! Here are a few photos from our visit.

After the Museum we walked to SouthBank . I had been there when I visited in 1997 and I thought it was a great little place to walk and grab something to eat back then. I couldn't believe how much it had changed in ten years, I guess like most things. Mitch was dying to go on this gigantic Ferris Wheel. He wouldn't let up so I tried something new and just told him that we didn't have any money. It actually worked.

We also passed this incredible man made beach (sponsored by Streets Ice Cream) built between the river and the city. It's really beautiful, almost like an oasis. If we had brought our swimmers we would have gone for a dip.

We walked the other way back (along the backside of the beach) and ran into this play structure that was right out of a five year old's dreams. It was built over water, with tons of climbing rocks all around. Mitch asked right away if he could climb on the rocks since there were other kids doing it. At first we told him no, thinking that the kids had climbed over the fence or something to get to the rocks. But then I realized that the rocks were actually there to climb on. Mitch made some friends and hopped over the river and the rocks for close to an hour.

Someone slept well that evening.

I Have Arrived

I think that most people who know me, are aware that my mother's side of my family is Australian. My brothers were born in Australia, and both live in Brisbane. Even with those family ties, when Don originally told me that he wanted to move to Australia, I fought fiercely to remain in the States. I didn't want to come to Australia. I've always considered my home to be the US. I was born in the US, I was married in the US, and our children are American. I'm also a walking encyclopedia of useless American pop trivia - how could I not be American? But when we received a genuine scare a few weeks ago from Don's employer, I realized that it was time to take the final step, and file for Australian Citizenship by descent. We came here on a 457 Visa, which is a very quick way to come to Australia as a skilled employee. However, it is a temporary Visa, and if the position that the Visa holder comes over on becomes redundant, they are given 28 days to get out of the country. Pretty harsh, and a real gamble for those who choose that path. It's not just us. when I talked to Mitchell's headmaster and let him know what was going on (I needed him to sign my proof of identity) he told me that they had lost two 457 families in the last six months. Indeed, one of the boys was in Mitchell's class. Tough times. So, a few weeks ago I filed the paperwork for Australian Citizenship by Descent. On Tuesday I received a package from Immigration, with my certificate inside. I am now an Australian Citizen. It seems surreal. So much preparation, and yet, so anti-climatic. Next step is getting medical exams for Don and Mitchell so I can sponsor them for Family Visas. That way they are eligible for Medicare, and Don has the flexibility to work for any employer he likes. Oh, and I also have to register to Vote. It's mandatory for citizens to vote, which is just fine with me. In a few months we'll apply for Mitch's Citizenship, and he'll be an Aussie as well. At first it didn't really feel different. But as Anzac Day is approaching, it's starting to sink in a little. I feel a little more like I belong here, almost like an ownership of the country. Plus, I want our son to know his ancestry. And, really, what better way than to actually live in the place where is all began?

Brisbane Part 2

We spent six days in Brisbane so my next few posts will probably cover our trip. We arrived in Brisbane on Good Friday, which is a national Holiday along with the Monday following Easter. People really gear up for Easter here, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that pretty much everyone (except retail) gets a four day weekend. It rained heavily the first few days of our trip, so we just ended up relaxing around the house. My brother and his wife live on a pseudo farm. They have five rolling acres, three horses, two dogs and a coop of chooks. So even though we didn't go anywhere, it was enough to keep Mitchell entertained. Here are their dogs Georgie the white Staffie, and Tom the Doberman. The dogs don't see many other humans so it took a little while to warm up. But, as you can see, they got used to Mitch pretty quickly, and vice versa.

We also met the resident chooks - I didn't get their names...


It was pretty warm during our trip, almost balmy. So Dad, Uncle David and Mitchell went for a few dips in the pool to cool down.

And finally, a spin on the John Deere....which, if you're a five year old boy, is the end all.

Brisbane - Easter Eggs

Who says you can't dye brown eggs? We spent Easter with my brother and his wife in Brisbane, and I was determined to make this Easter as traditional as our past Easter celebrations in the States. There were some hurdles, but we faced each one head on and triumphed!

1) No white eggs. There are no white eggs in Australian grocery stores. No really, there aren't. I heard that you can order them at Easter time from Greek grocers since egg dyeing is a Greek tradition. However, since I had no idea how to locate the local Greek grocer in Brisbane I knew we'd have to work with the brown eggs. Thankfully, there are different shades of brown eggs here. So, when we got to Brisbane I went to the local Woolies and opened up six or seven cartons of eggs and hand picked the lighter brown eggs from each carton. Did I feel odd? Yes, but I hoped my gamble would pay off.

2) No egg dyeing kits. No Paas here my friends. So we went old school. While we were at the grocery store we bought a box of food coloring and a bottle of vinegar. Mixed 1/2 cup of hot water with 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 20 drops of our chosen color and voila - egg dye! Mitch has taken to making funny faces lately when I take photos. He's giving me the stinkeye here because I think he was getting tired of me asking him to smile. I'm posting this one to show he's got the one raised eyebrow thing, just like dad.

3) My brother does not have any children so I was very uncomfortable with the thought of a dish of hot dye ending up on their carpet. I think he felt the same way since he left the room during the actual dyeing. He did however, hand us a stack of beach towels before he left. I'm pleased to say that Mitchell was very careful and didn't spill a drop. And for your viewing pleasure - another funny face.
I was very happy with how our eggs turned out. Instead of being really bright pastel colors they ended up with these really deep rich colors. Dare I say that I prefer these colors over the psychedelic pinks and greens I'm used to? I guess I had pretty low expectations, so to see our plan come to fruition was pretty exciting. The next morning we had an egg hunt and Mitchell found the eggs and ten chocolate eggs that the Easter Bilby had hidden as well. Australia has an Easter Bilby, not the Easter Bunny. The rabbit is a major pest here, so Australians have adopted the Bibly as it's mascot. It's endangered so around this time there is the Save the Bilby fund, and the kids collect gold coins to take to school as a fund raiser. As much as I disliked the idea of changing our tradition and swapping a bunny for a bilby, it actually worked out quite well. About a month ago Mitch told me that there was no Easter Bunny. My first thought was that an older kid had been talking at school. But he was actually very logical about it, like he had put a lot of thought into it. His argument was that there is no way a bunny could make it around the entire world in one day. Even taking the time change into account it was impossible. I tried to reason with him asking how Santa can do it. He actually rolled his eyes at me, took a deep breath and said, "Santa has a SLED". The only thing missing was the "duh mom". So when his school started hyping Easter Bilby he got into it. He did ask if the bilby brings presents and I told him it just hides eggs. I struggle with the whole fibbing thing, but I figure that when he really asks me I'll let him in on it. Until then we'll share the Holiday magic with him.

Batemans Bay

Last week I had an assignment in Batemans Bay. It's just North of the capital Canberra (ACT), on the south coast of NSW. I needed to go right into the city, about nine hours round trip. Because my boss is so awesome, he suggested that I try to make it a weekend trip since they would pay for a nights hotel. But, it wasn't meant to be. so instead of making it a two day trip I left early in the morning and returned the same day. The drive there was beautiful, and it gave me a good opportunity to reflect on our journey to Australia, and just how far we've come in the last six months.



On the way back I had to stop to take some photos of some farmland I passed through. Storm clouds were approaching and I thought it was just stunning.