Farewell Australia - July 2014

Our departure from Australia was a bit more sudden than we were expecting.  We had been talking for months about what we wanted to do, and what would happen if Oz offered Ryan a full-time contract.  We weren't sure we were ready to commit to another 2 or 3 years in Australia and the process of applying for permanent residence, but Ryan also loved his job and didn't really want to have to look for another one.  So, when the time eventually came and the offer was made, we were surprised for there to be a third option: take a summer position in Canada before ending employment with Oz.  That sounded perfect (though in retrospect it was a terrible decision...) so we took the offer and began the process of moving back to Canada.

Ediacaran fossils at the South Australian Museum.  They're what we were supposed to see in the Flinders Ranges had we made it past Slippery Dip.  They were in the museum the whole time, but it took us until the very last weeks to visit.

Packing in and of itself was quite the adventure, not to mention selling everything on Gumtree.  We were paying per kilo, so we had to assess which things were cheaper to replace than to ship, and which things we really wanted to take home with us, regardless of price.  After arriving in Australia with two bags each, we left with two bags each, plus 12 boxes.  

We also couldn't leave without throwing a killer party on June 21.  We invited everyone we knew, cooked a ton of food, and spent our life savings on a delicious gluten-free cake.  The best part was sharing what was left of our awesome wine collection (there were some seriously nice ones left), and our hard liquor.  The wine was gone surprisingly early (even though there were at least 13 bottles left), so the mixed drinks got kind of interesting after that.  Another great part of the party was the list we came up with of "Weird and Wonderful Australian Nuances" so we would never forget some of the odd parts of living down under:

-they say "ice block" instead of popsicle
-in New Zealand they call a cooler a "chilli bin"
-their shopping cart wheels go in every direction, making them much harder to push straight
-everything is smaller (sink, fridge, stove, etc.)
-people wear shoes in the house
-"fortnight" can also be said as "Monday week" (or whatever day you're talking about)
-babysitters aren't part of the main culture
-they print pictures on their toilet paper (we preferred the ones with coloured bubble pictures)
-gas=propane, car gas=petrol
-crikey, reckon, rubbish, no worries mate, trolley, lollie, heaps good
-thongs means flip flops
-the words bull, ball, and bowl all sound the same when an Aussie says them
-we never understood their phone number format.  Sometimes it would be 6 digits, but the spacing was different every time, and if two numbers in a row were the same they would say "double six" instead of "six six"
-good nic=good condition
-suss=suspicious/sketchy
-the smell of the flowers and the gum trees was amazing
-"no dramas"
-"take away" instead of "take out" for fast food
-"car park" instead of "parking lot"
-"move house" instead of just "move"
-Textas=Sharpie marker
-math class is "maths"
-autumn, not "fall"
-the telephone poles are made of cement, not wood
-"bring a plate" instead of "potluck"
-all of their power outlets have on/off switches
-sauce=ketchup
-pastie=meat pie

So after the hangover had passed and all of the boxes were packed, and we made one final trip to Henley Beach, Ryan officially flew to British Columbia to start his job on July 1, 2014.  Fittingly, on Canada Day.

Last visit to Henley Beach.  Where it all began.

Of course that meant I was left behind for an extra week, until July 11, to tie up all of the loose ends.  We hired a professional cleaner to clean the house (so we didn't get screwed like the last time we moved), but we STILL got scammed out of money because I accidentally had an extra rent payment go through that they refused to give back to me.  I also spilled water on my laptop the day before our insurance ended, so luckily I managed to get the money to buy a new one.

And while all of this was going down I got to stay with my lovely friends Janah and Luke.  Thank goodness I was around friends, because it was pretty hard to leave the amazing city we called home for almost three and a half years.

Those years changed our life like we couldn't have imagined.  The adventures were unmatched, and our friends and co-workers helped shape who we are now as adults.  As I write this, just over two years later, Ryan's parents are about to go back for a visit so we're feeling extremely nostalgic.  I'm missing the koala I used to pass in a tree on my walk to Greenhill Family Chiropractic, being woken up by parrots, sun drying tomatoes in the actual sun, and spending a lovely day at our favourite wineries in McLaren Vale.  But I also don't regret moving back.  Now we're back to living close to our family and friends, we got married in our favourite town, and we have an adorable puppy.  Everything happens as it should, and we will always remember those years in Australia with a fond smile and a twinkle.

Last view of Adelaide.

First view of Toronto.  Welcome home.

Visitors from Abroad

Only a few days after we got back to Australia my parents arrived in Adelaide.  That didn't give us long to settle into the new house, but at least it was for a good cause.  They had already been to Los Angeles, Fiji, New Zealand, and the North-East coast of Australia, so their jetlag was gone and they were ready for me to show them what I've been up to for the past year and a half.

I picked them up at the airport on Thursday October 18th, and their first surprise was that I met them at their gate.  In Australia you can get through security without a ticket (and you can get a ticket without ID sometimes) .  We had to rush home because I was late for work, but not unexpectedly they did yard work while I was gone!  When I got home I took them for a walk around the neighbourhood and to the grocery store where we picked up some local Yabbies (it's actually a type of crayfish, not whatever you were thinking!)  That afternoon my Mom helped me plant my herb garden and we feasted on yabbies and an Australian lamb roast while trying to find a wine in my extensive collection that my parents liked.

I had to work Friday afternoon, so we just stuck around town in the morning.  First  we went to one of my favourite places in Adelaide: the Botanic Gardens.  From the first time I went there I wanted my Mom to see the gardens, so it was amazing that it actually happened.  We joined the free guided tour at 10am, and the guide took us all over showing us the native Australian plants.  Then I took them to the Adelaide Central Markets which is always fun.  We only had a few things on our list, but as with any market I always leave with much more than I had anticipated.  When we got home we made up a platter of snacks for lunch, and then while I was at work my parents cooked and did more yard work.  Lucky me!

On Saturday we went to McLaren Vale, which is always the best part of any visit to Adelaide.  I wasn't sure what to expect since my parents have very specific wine preferences, but throughout the day they were both surprised to find multiple wines that they liked.  We did our usual tour, starting with Leconfield because they have the best platter lunches.  I think we would all agree that was the best part of the day!

Then we stopped at all of the usual places: Fox Creek, Dog Ridge, Vale Ale, Lloyd Brothers, and we tried to find the lookout and failed again.  The only new place we went to was Ekhidna Wines, and they specialize in beer and cider.  Their wine was terrible, but the cider was alright.  We didn't buy any though.

That night we had kangaroo steaks for dinner, but I think it was a little bit weird for my parents.  Roo has a really strong flavour and has to be cooked just right, and I probably haven't mastered that yet!  Overall we had an excellent day, and it was probably the highlight of the visit in my opinion.

My favourite thing to do on a Sunday morning is go to the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market, so that's exactly what we did.  Unlike the Central Market, the Farmer's Market is actually all local produce.  There's no holding me back when we go there!  As usual, I bought so much it wouldn't fit in my fridge (which isn't saying much because our fridge is really small).  After the market I took my parents to Henley Beach (where we used to live) to show them our neighbourhood, but more importantly, the beautiful beach!  Much to my disappointment, though, it was super windy and really cold.  Not at all how I remember it from living there!  Sadly our beach walk didn't last very long, so I took them up my favourite local river walk instead.  It's usually where we spot some neat birds, so they enjoyed that as well.

That afternoon we feasted on oysters, mussels, and a Thai salad.  Mom and Dad were sceptical about the oysters, but I think they both figured if I liked them then they must be alright.  I've found some amazing recipes, so they were delicious!  We ate really early because that evening we had plans in the hills.

First we went to the lookout at the top of Mt. Lofty for a beautiful view just as the sun was setting.

Then we made our way to the Warrawong Sanctuary in the hills for a nocturnal tour.  I had never been there before, so it was new for all of us this time.  We started the tour by feeding the kangaroos, and protecting them from the ravenous ducks that tried to steal all of the food.  When we eventually did leave, the ducks took over and the roos all gave up trying to get any more food.

As it got dark we made our way to two ponds where the platypus live.  They say there is only a 30% chance of seeing one  on any given day, since they're very shy animals, and it was not our lucky day.  My parents had already seen one in Queensland, though, so at least they didn't really miss out.  The park was beautiful, but it rapidly became dark and we started to look out for more nocturnal animals.  There were a few wallabies out, but mostly we saw smaller marsupials like bettongs and possums.

Bettong

Brush-tail Possum

The tour was really fun, and it gave me a new perspective on Australia since I rarely go out at night (mostly because I don't like night, but also because of the spiders…)

Monday morning I went with my dad to pick up their rental car, and then my parents left for their road trip of the Great Ocean Road, ending in Melbourne.  It was so awesome to show my parents around Adelaide, and it's only a shame that Ryan wasn't here to join us.  But luckily he came with us to Sydney the next weekend, so stay tuned!

Family Visit - Touring around Adelaide Jan. 27-31

After 24 hours of flight delays (not to discourage anyone from coming to visit us), my Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Ben arrived in Adelaide from BC, Canada.  Despite the setbacks they had, they were in good spirits and eager to go for a swim at the beach.  That was actually only the 3rd time I have ever been in the ocean, but it was really nice and warm.  After that we headed home for an Australian meal of kangaroo burgers.

The next day we went to the Adelaide Central Market in the morning (one of my favourite places), and since it was Chinese New Year there were people walking around in costume with dragons and drums to celebrate.  We bought all of the ingredients for a gourmet picnic and headed to the Botanic Gardens for lunch.  A first for me was going into the rainforest exhibit, which I mistakenly thought was the butterfly exhibit, and we saw a cool spider but no butterflies.  While walking back to the car we ducked into the National Wine Centre of Australia for some much needed air conditioning, but it was also a nice, free museum about wine making in Australia.   That night with our purchases we made the best homemade green curry I've ever had, which is exciting since we've been trying to master it for a few years now.

Sunday January 29th we headed to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills for a scenic drive, some wine tastings, and a wander around the quaint German village.  Turns out, though, it was the Crush Festival that weekend so it was a lot busier than we had expected.  We seem to have a knack for showing up unaware to festivals in Adelaide!  First we went to Somerled for a fun and delicious tasting, and ended up buying some wine (Alta, Sauvignon Blanc, 2011).  Our lunch at the German Cake Shop was disappointing, despite the delicious sounding name and the good reviews, but we supplemented lunch with some cheese and condiment samplings at other shops along the way.  We took the scenic route home and were lucky enough to spot a koala at one of the viewpoints.

That evening we met Ben and Jeanne's friend Fay for a drink and some dinner.  She leant us her car for the week and is very knowledgeable about the area, so it's always fun to see her.  Upon her suggestion we bought fish and chips, then ate them on the beach while watching the sunset.

The green hat Jeanne is wearing was a freebie from a drive through beer store.  We didn't buy that brand of beer, but Fay sweet talked the young clerk and somehow we ended up with a free hat!

On Monday we headed to the next major wine region in the area, McLaren Vale.  On the way we stopped at Seaford Beach to watch the surfers, but proceeded to the McLaren Vale Info Centre where the gang did their first wine tasting from 90 Mile Wines.  Next was Oxenberry Farms, which was an extensive wine tasting with a delicious lunch to follow.  The wine wasn't great, but it was good practice for the 3 tasters (I was driving and not tasting). 

Wirra Wirra was the next vineyard on the list, and one Ryan has been trying to get to since we moved here.  They have great red wines, and Ryan even joined their wine  club to get better deals!  We now have an assorted case of red wine for whoever visits us this winter (hint hint!)  After all of the wine we decided to do a beer tasting, but Vale Ale didn't excite anyone so we went to our final destination: Mables Chocolates!

On our last day of playing tour guide we went to the Barossa Valley, which is the third wine region in the area.  After a short walk through the town and into the Barossa Regional Art Gallery, we went to Maggie Beer's Farm Shop for lunch.  This was super exciting for me because Maggie Beer is a very famous Australian woman known for country cooking.  I've seen her on Masterchef and tried some of her recipes.  I knew there was a slight possibility that we would see her, but I figured it was very unlikely.  Turns out, she was actually doing a photo shoot on the property that day!  We didn't meet her or anything, but she was around the whole time we were there.  Every day they do a cooking demonstration there as well, which was quite a fun and delicious experience.

Since everyone was a bit sick of wine, we went to the Mengler Hill Lookout and Statue Park for a break.  There we had a beautiful view over the entire valley, and we also explored the abstract statues created by artists from all over the world. 

To end off the day, though, we went to Jacob's Creek.  It's a brand of wine available in Canada, so we thought it would be fun to check it out while we were in the area.  The have a bunch of wines here that aren't exported, so it was actually a better tasting than we were expecting.  We especially liked the Moscato!

Australia Day

January 26 was Australia Day, so naturally we had to do something fun to celebrate.  Originally our visitors were due to arrive at noon, but due to flight trouble unfortunately we had to quickly change our plans.  Lucky for us Justin and Kelsey were free, so we had a barbeque on the beach.  We had some chicken skewers, but cooking them on the little charcoal barbeque turned out to be problematic and quite sandy due to the wind.  We also had veggies, paté and crackers, and of course, Tim Tams (an Australian cookie covered in chocolate).  My contribution was the Australia Day party hats.

It looks like we were alone on the beach, but really as far as you could see people had brought massive tents out for the occasion.  Many people brought full patio sets, and one group even carried a massive barbeque onto the beach.  Not many people were swimming, but of course we had to go in for a short swim.  The water was warm but quite wavy and unfortunately a bit dirty.

After our sun shade blew down we decided to go back to our house where we promptly polished off an additional 4 bottles of wine (on top of the beer at the beach) then cooked 4 frozen steaks for dinner.  Luckily I had ice cream cones for dessert!

Overall, despite the travel setbacks my family had, we managed to have an excellent Australia Day.  It also means we can eat our roo burgers and kanga bangas (kangaroo sausages) for dinner tonight to keep the party going!

Working Woman

(Just because I'm posting, doesn't mean you should stop emailing me!  I love hearing from all of you!)

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I was hired through my temp agency to work for UniSA helping lecturers use their new lecture recording system.  I'm going to be blunt: this is the easiest job I've ever had in my life.  Basically, I show up 10 minutes before a lecture, help the prof with the new console, make sure the recording starts, then wait to help the next prof at the next lecture.  Today I had lectures every hour, but tomorrow I only have 3 for the whole day to help with!  I've sat through a few of the more interesting ones, but it's the first week of classes so there is a lot of housekeeping instead of actual content.  I've also finished reading "Fall of Giants" (850 page book) and I've started reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  The only bad parts were that I worked the whole time Ryan was home, and the bus system was a really big pain for the first 2 days since the training was way out of town.  It's depressing though - it takes me over 3 days to earn what Ryan does in 1!  Unfortunately tomorrow is my last day of that, so I'm back to doing nothing.   Yeah, life's hard.

Also this past week we were dog-sitting for Kelsey and Justin's dog Dawson.  He's a very good dog and for the most part the week went really well...until he got sick.  His last night here he spent the night throwing up, which despite the frustration of not sleeping, was completely heartbreaking.  It's awful when dogs are sick because they just give you those sad eyes and there's not a whole lot you can do.  Our theories are that he was homesick, or that he ate a rock.  He seems to be much better now so not to worry!  Before all of that we had a really great walk and lots of fun on the beach! (note: No one is on the beach!  Amazing!)

Job plus dog plus everyone feeling a bit under the weather meant that the last week was pretty uneventful.  The next two weeks will also be pretty low key, but we're hoping to do a short trip next time Ryan is back.  Still not sure where we want to go though.  Preferably somewhere warmer than here, so maybe either Darwin or Gold Coast.  I'll keep you posted!

Hahndorf in the Rain

During my earlier posts, I forgot to write about our trip to Hahndorf last Saturday. Hahndorf is a little German town in the hills east of Adelaide (point A).

It's fall here, so the streets were lined with yellow trees, and naturally it was pouring rain. Once we got there, we actually went into a place that had a wood stove burning for a coffee to warm up! The town was nice, but we didn't really walk around because of the rain. I'll definitely go back in better weather. (Disclaimer: the storm wasn't that bad by Canadian standards, but they closed down one of the piers on the beach because of storm damage)

Next we stopped at Beerenburg Farms, which is a place that makes jams and sauces. Pretty nice, but we were disappointed by the lack of free samples.

Our final destination was Chain of Ponds Winery (point B on the map). After a lot of windy roads (and me switching to the front seat because I get carsick) we finally made it. The drive was really beautiful, but no pictures, sorry. I've never been to a vineyard or a wine tasting before, but I'll certainly go to more! The property was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately these are the only pictures I have, but they don't do it justice.

After delicious food and wine, and another warm fire, we headed home.

Another picture I forgot that I took was the sunset on day 1.

And here are some pictures Ryan sent me from his work on the rig:

Reality Sets In

Since this is not technically a vacation, by day 2 reality sort of set in...we actually have to live here. This means that we have to take care of all of the boring stuff: banking, phones, grocery shopping, finding a place to live… I won't bore you with all of the details, except for our adventures in finding an apartment.

On Day 1 we had already set up a viewing to see an amazing place right on the beach. It was beautiful and we did everything possible to get it. Justin warned us that the market was tough, so not to get our hopes up on the first place we saw. So, after that we went to a few more open houses and submitted some more applications. A few days later we saw another great place right down the street from Justin and Kelsey. The two places couldn't have been more different. The second one was actually a house with a yard, but a 10 minute walk to the beach. We loved it though, so we submitted the application.

Meanwhile….

Ryan met with Euro, the exploration contracting company who hired him. They were happy he made it and wanted him out in the field right away. After only being here for 4 days, he was off to work for 2 weeks. He's about a 5 hour drive (I think) North-East of Adelaide near a town called Broken Hill.

I haven't really heard from him much since he left, so I can't really tell you how he's doing. He told me "the rest of the country is really beautiful" and "there are tons of emus here" via text message, so that will have to do for now!

Back in Henley Beach…

I was eagerly awaiting phone calls from our two favourite places. Whichever one accepted us we were going to take. That is, until they both did! After much debate, we decided to go with the house because it was closer to a grocery store and to Justin and Kelsey. Also, it had a covered area in the yard so I can have a BBQ! Here are 2 pictures. More to follow once it is furnished. It's not as big as it looks.

So, there you go, officially one week since our arrival date, and I have keys to a house. Turns out the housing market has crashed here recently and they are having a much harder time renting and selling places. Either way, one week is pretty impressive if I do say so myself!

Off to a Good Start

Well, we made it.  After a surprisingly easy (and nauseating) 28 hour flight, we arrived in Adelaide.

For those of you who don't know, Ryan and I are staying with friends in Adelaide.  Justin and Ryan met a few years ago in school, and he married a fellow geologist name Kelsey.  If you're counting...I now live with 3 geologists. 

One of the first things Justin told us while walking through the airport parking lot: 

This is a "ute" (like "utility vehicle")  and they're everywhere!  Commonly seen parked on lawns…. 

Anyways, Justin and Kelsey live in a great suburb called Henley Beach, and they're a 10 minute walk from the beach.  We obviously went there first! 

(Don't be fooled by this picture.  This was the only warm day we have had so far.  I've been freezing in hoodies and long johns every day, and had to go buy slippers!)

Other than the beach, the next best thing about this place is Justin's cooking.  Seeing as I'm a Wasylyk, that's saying a lot!  Oh, and did I mention they have an orange tree and a lemon tree in their backyard??