More Firsts

     Yesterday I was wiped out and couldn't stay awake long enough to post anything.  We went out in the morning looking at rental furniture.  Now that we have a house, we have been starting to figure out what we will need, what we will rent with our rental allowance, what we will buy, etc.  It's somewhat tedious and not exactly fun for the kids, but it's all part of this new chapter.  The interior of the house gets painted this week and we should be able to move in next week.  However, our air shipment with household stuff arrives here this week but could take several weeks to get through customs.  We are just trying to get things set up in case we can move in, then play it by ear until then. 

      While we were out going between furniture places, I got brave enough to drive for a while. It was a bit nerve-wracking to have very little feel for where the left side of the car is, but other than that it was OK.  I discovered that I dislike not knowing my way around more than I dislike driving on the left side of the road.  Of course, if I wasn't so intensely focused on not running Chris into the curb (he kept asking me politely to "Move over to the right some"), I might learn my way around a bit better.  Anyhow, I drove for a while today again and am confident it will not be an issue for long, especially once we live somewhere that becomes familiar.

     Trying to balance the tedious with something fun, we headed to Balmoral Beach yesterday afternoon and evening.  It was a gorgeous day and the beach there is just amazing.   The beach is divided by a picturesque rocky outcropping/park and bordered along its length by a shady park.  There were lots of families out picnicing last night and the kids were thrilled to see 6 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in just three hours or so.  Jackson will have lots of his brethren around.  There was an incredibly noisy flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos flying around which we found interesting.  The locals find them bothersome and just ignore them but we're not there yet.  We can't really believe we'll be living three houses from such a pretty beach. 



The view steps away from our driveway.

Love all the water around this city!!

Rotunda in the park along Balmoral Beach.  Reminds us of the Old Well.

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

       Today Mia and Sam "enjoyed" getting school shoes.  Mia declared it's the first time she's ever not enjoyed shopping.  She also said that her fashionable friend Jessie would "just die if she had to wear those ugly shoes with white socks."  Yes, they will be wearing school uniforms complete with black shoes and white socks.  We will be going to their school tomorrow to buy the rest of the uniform gear.  I'm sure it's different if you have always worn one, but Mia is especially disgruntled about the whole uniform process.  Pictures will follow!

      The cheery shoe shopping expedition was followed by another surfing lesson for Mia and the first one for Sam at Manly Beach.  About halfway through the lesson, the beach was closed by lifeguards due to rough conditions.  More disgruntled Mia.  We'll head back another day for the make-up lesson.

     The "real-world" begins tomorrow with Chris heading off to work one way and the rest of us taking the bus for uniform shopping and library visiting.  If Chris could just figure out how to get my iPhone to work with Telstra here (he's spent every evening unsuccessfully trying to figure out "jailbreaking" and "unlocking", blah, blah, blah), then I may not feel like I'm sailing blind.  I don't know how anyone functioned before cell phones with internet access!