A little bit of home...

Friday, March 9th was a BIG day for us.  Two months and two days after we arrived in Perth, our sea shipment arrived at our house.  Honestly it took a big longer than I thought it would, but after hearing from lots of expats, we actually got very lucky!  Our shipment was delayed only about 2 weeks and many have had their shipment delayed a month or more.

For those of you that don't know, we have been living with rental EVERYTHING....towels, silverware, furniture, lamps, bedding, small appliances, etc.   So all of that had to be removed before our stuff could be unpacked.  

The day went smoothly....at 8 am the rental furniture was removed, and at 10:30 am the movers showed up.  Every communication we received from the shipping company said that they are going to provide full unpacking service.  When I asked how long they planned to be at the house, they said 4 hours.  Now, it took 4 people 4 DAYS to pack our house in Houston.  These people are telling me they are going to move everything in and unpack everything in 4 HOURS????   I was skeptical.....

I should have trusted them, because what we forgot was that half of our house was left in storage back in Houston.  In the end we packed MUCH lighter than we thought.  Overall, we really did bring the basics...and honestly I do not think we are going to miss the things in storage all that much.  A lot of what went to storage were things that we did not use on a daily basis.  Pictures, china, dining room furniture, plus other things we could not take with us.  Rest assured though that my Barney (my stuffed animal from birth) came on the plane with us.  I could not leave him behind ;)  and NO it was not the purple dinosaur.

Anyways, back to the day.  The movers started at 11am and left our house around 4.  They really did get finished in one day!

They did a great job of moving the furniture in and unpacking things...but I was left a huge mess to put away.....sigh....that is what I have been spending the last few days doing.   What DID bring enough of were clothes....our closet here is WAY smaller than what my closet was back home and Dustin and I have to share it.  Luckily we have an extra bedroom upstairs, so our off season clothes will be kept there.  If you come to visit, hope you do not need closet space ;)  Just kidding I will move some of Dusty's clothes for you....

Here are some pics of how things looked during the process....

Our Containers

As each box was brought in, we had to check it off these lists...

Trash after only 1/4 of the unpack

Our bedroom

Hope it all fits!!!

The boxes just kept piling up.

Breakfast area

Looking into the family room

Mo's room...she has a lot of furniture and it JUST fits

Addie's room

Playroom...it looked WAY worse when those boxes were unpacked

Kitchen in disarray

The office.....AKA big pile of MESS!!!!

The grey tub and box are my shoes....I need to find a place for them

My clothes that would not fit in the closet =(

All ready for bed =)

There's no place like home....

When we started the process of moving to Australia, we received LOTS of advice from LOTS of people. As with everything, some of the advice was worthwhile and some would have been better left unsaid.

One piece of advice really stuck in our minds, and at the time seemed a bit odd.  But in retrospect was truly excellent advice and we are glad to took it!  What was the advice?  To go on vacation.... Now I know that this seems like silly advice, because everyone goes on vacation no matter where you live.  But the REASONING behind the advice for us, was what was brilliant.

Think back to when you are on vacation...no matter how long or how far the vacation, towards the end, where are you ready to go???? HOME.  Up until this point, we have still been referring to "home" as Texas.  We never refer to 11 Birrigon Loop as "home".  It was always "let's go back to the house", "I am on my way back to the house"...never " I am on the way home".

So the theory behind going on vacation was to help us start referring to Perth as "home".  Oddly it seemed to work.  Now don't get me wrong, I will always think of Texas as my true home and where our roots are, but it does help to create a sense of belonging and routine here in Perth.

Busselton is a 3 hour drive from Perth and after referring to the maps, not difficult to find.  However Dustin and I did come to the conclusion that I am not a natural at reading maps or being a navigator, and it is not easy for Dustin to drive AND navigate at the same time!  Thank goodness for Navigation on my phone.

The goal of this trip was not to make ourselves crazy by trying to cram tons of things into one weekend, but instead to relax....and that is exactly what we did!  We did visit, The Busselton Jetty, The Lighthouse, Simmon Creamery, Wise Winery, and a fabulous restaurant!

I posted the pictures on Facebook, but here are some of the highlights:

The Busselton Jetty is the 2nd longest Jetty in the world.  (Jetty is another name for pier).  You can ride a train to the end of the jetty where there is an underwater observatory.  You can go down three levels and see a different part of the ocean each time.  The final level is the ocean floor.  It was amazing to see how different each level was and the marine life on that level.  Because the observatory is under a pier, all creatures are animals, not plants.  AMAZING!  Morgan and Addie had a ball looking at the fish and seeing them in their natural habitat.  To finish off our trip, each girl got a mood ring.

The Lighthouse is still functioning and was built in 1903.  At that time, 3 families lived at the lighthouse and the men would rotate shifts in manning the lighthouse.  Nowadays the lighthouse is manned by a dimmer switch to turn on and off the light.  We were able to go up all the way to the top and walk outside of the lighthouse.....the view was breathtaking!  Morgan did not join us, because she apparently does not like heights.  I thought she had outgrown this....so she sat at the bottom and waited patiently.  With the spiders ;)

Wise Winery...let's just say we will save the Winery tours for a time when Dustin and I are in Margaret River by ourselves.  Not much there for the girls, and we really did not get to enjoy the time there.  I did get to have a sample of several wines and was able to find several to take home.  Could not make it wasted trip could I?

The rest of our trip was rather simple and relaxing.  It was nice to do nothing for a weekend...including cooking and cleaning ;)

On Monday we packed up and head "home".  Not only did we learn to call Perth "home", but I realized that home is not where your things are, or where your house is, but where you are in the moment...where you feel comfortable.  They say home is where the heart is, and that is true....but that also means that my "home" is Double Oak, Biloxi, Tomball, AND Perth =)

Hugs and Kisses to all!

Kangaroos!!!

Well the day has finally come....the Collier Family saw kangaroos.  We knew Addie would be excited, but the rest of us were surprised by how excited we were also!

Up to this point, our weekends have been spent trying to put together our house.  All of us are done with shopping.

Also, after being here for a month and a half, I think that we are all getting a bit homesick.  The weekends are the hardest time because we do not know other families here yet to hang out with.  The girls are getting tired of looking at us and without their toys, things are getting rather boring.  Our sea shipment was pushed back a week, so we are going to HOPEFULLY get our things March 6th...hopefully.

SOOOOO, it was time for an outing...Australia style.  Caversham Park ( www.cavershamwildlife.com.au/ ) is natural wildlife reserve about 45 minutes north of our house.  The descriptions online does not do it justice.  The park is actually part of a HUGE park with lots of different things to do.  You could spend the entire day there...it is their Six Flags ;)  Next time we go we will bring our swimsuits and a picnic.  They have a splash pad, picnic areas, PLUS all the animals.  It honestly was a great day.

The park is organized by the different regions Australia, and the animals native to that region.  We saw birds, flying foxes (bats), Wallabys, Wambats, Koalas, Dingos, reptiles, and of course KANGAROOS!

Morgan has really become interested in animals of all sorts, so she and Dustin were very interested in reading about the different animals, where they came from, etc.  Addie and I kept trying to imitate the sounds the animals MIGHT make....we were almost charged by an Emu, got a Parrot to say hello, and annoyed several of the other spectators near us ;)

We thought we were going to get to hold a Koala Bear, but apparently that is against the law in Australia, so we settled for petting one while they were sleeping.  Their fur is not as soft as I thought it would be, more fuzzy.

There was an interactive show where they showed us birds, a lizard, a possum, and a wombat.  The wombat was the start of the show and quite honestly not that attractive.  They are HUGE and reminded us of a pig with fur.  She was very sweet though and let her handler hold her like a baby.

In the middle of the park are the kangaroos.  You have to go through a double doored gate and then you are free to roam the grounds with the animals.  It was incredible that they just were laying around and letting everyone pet them.  There were babies, adults and mothers with their babies in their pouch.  I did not know they exist, but there were even white kangaroos.

You were able to get food to feed the kangaroos.  I think some of them were so lazy because they are fed so much =)

There are TONS of pictures, so I am going to post them to Facebook to be able to explain them all.

All in all, it was a great day and we are so glad that we went.  It goes without saying that when you come to visit, that we will visit Caversham park =)

Each day we count our blessings that we are here in the is beautiful place, but there are also days that are difficult.  We miss our family and friends....and everyday normal life.

I got really upset the other day because another expat told me while it is hard to make friends in the new location, it will be harder to go back home and pick up with our friends.  She said people do not want to hear about how "wonderful" our life was.... I am here to assure you, that our life will NOT be all wonderful.

So I hope that you still want to hear about our adventures and time here.  And please make sure you keep me updated on what is going on with you all!  We are interested in that!!!!

Hugs to all
Amy

Dusty's new toys

Many of our things from Houston, were not able to come into Australia....whether we want them to or not.  Primarily these were things that are from outside and have dirt, etc on them.  Australia does not want contaminants in their country...makes sense since they are so dependent on their ecological system.

Now as many of your are aware, Dustin's garage and yard were IMMACULATE.  Before he got into running, the yard took all of his time and tinkering in his garage was more than a hobby.  I think that is one of the hardest things about us having to rent a house, is that the yard is not "his".

Lucky for us, the yard work in our rental house is minimal.  The backyard has astro turf for grass, and flowerbeds.  Not very big.  The front yard has real grass, but also is tiny.  So while we had to get new lawn equipment, we did not necessarily have to get heavy duty stuff.

At first, I was just going to go and get the equipment myself....after much thought on Dusty's part (3 seconds) he vetoed that idea.  We headed to Bunnings (similar to Lowe's) in search of lawn equipment that would suit both of our needs....Dusty wanted power and I wanted cheap.  Hmmm, those two adjectives really do not go together when describing lawn equipment.

After spending our normal 1 1/2 hours in a home and garden store, we found something that worked for both of us!

This time it was Dusty's turn to get giddy with anticipation.  As soon as we got home, he began his meticulous job of making our yard look nice.  The nice thing is that Dusty gets to still do yard work and "relax", but it does not take him all day like back home.

I will have to send pictures of our garage as soon as Dusty makes it his own =)

Houston, we have appliances

Continuing in our trend of having to buy everything new, we purchased BIG this past week.  First let me start by saying that we still have not received our crate from Houston, so we have been living with rental EVERYTHING from Chevron (except our clothes and toiletries).  Honestly it was amazing to me that Chevron rented us all of this stuff.  Everything from couches, linens, and beds to soft boiled egg cups.  Even though we have appreciated the appliances, we were ready to get our own.  

As I mentioned in my last post, appliances were being delivered on Friday.  Dustin had the day off, so he and I waited for the delivery men and then planned to run more errands that day.  The delivery men dropped of the appliances and left...literally.  They did not unpack or install any of the appliances.  SOOO it should go without saying that there were MANY challenges for the day.  The first being is that Dustin has none of his tools...so something as simple as unscrewing a bolt became a monumental task.  Of course we did not really think of these details, because back home if we needed a tool, well it was in the  garage.  Secondly, things were missing.  Our washing machine did not have the hose that allowed the water to come into the wash.  Our refrigerator had the hose, but it did not fit to our connection in the wall.  So we plugged the fridge in, but turned off the water and ice maker.  That was apparently the wrong thing to do because there was a loud buzzing noise every 20 minutes.  

Remember how I said that we were going to wait for the delivery and then run some other errands?  Well we left after the delivery not realizing all the above mentioned problems. So when we DID get back after collecting the girls from school, we were stuck in trying to fix our problems.  Since nothing is open after 5  pm, that meant we were left to fixing the appliance problems on Saturday.  That meant ANOTHER trip to Harvey Norman which led to yet one more purchase.  I have been to either a Harvey Norman or Cole's everyday since being in Perth.  

Our purchase on Saturday from Harvey Norman?  A soda machine...coolest thing ever.  We can now make Diet Coke and Red Bull at home and not have to pay ridiculous prices at the store.  Shockingly it tastes pretty good!

So after all those fun times, we finally have a fridge, washer, dryer and dishwasher.  The washer and dryer are stacked and smaller than home.  I will have to get used to smaller, more frequent loads.  No worries, with the girls wearing uniforms, there are a lot less clothes to wash!!!

Who thought I would get giddy about appliances? 

Old fridge

New fridge

Dryer

Washing Machine

Washing machine

New patio furniture

Tiggy

Not much of a narrative for this post, just wanted to send pictures of our new car....Tiggy.  Dustin named her and I think it is kinda cute =)

We were able to get a really good deal on a Volkswagon Tiguan 2.0 DL.  Not sure what the letters and number after the name means.

I have really enjoyed driving it, and the girls have gotten rather used to being passengers!

Christmas in February?

So when we say we are starting over in Australia, we really mean we are starting over.  Since the electrical outlets and voltage are different between the two countries, NONE of our appliances will work here in Australia without either 1. A transformer or 2. an adapter.    It is really not feasible to buy adapters for everything in your house, so that means I GET TO GO SHOPPING! 

At first I was a bit overwhelmed.  Think about everything in your house that needs to be plugged in..we have to replace it.  That means everything from TVs to power cords to night lights to dryers, and beyond. So being the bargain shopper that I am, I went on the search for the best deals.  It seems that we will be purchasing our Fridge, dishwasher, TV, washer and dryer from one store.  With the exception of the dishwasher, most of the appliances here are smaller than what we are used to back home....go figure.  So trying to find a fridge that was big enough for us PLUS had an ice maker was difficult.  Our options were limited.  However, I think we will wind up getting a pretty good deal on these appliances.

BUT the exciting news is the deal I got at Target today....EVERY small appliance was on sale...my dream come true.  So after reading the Target ad, and consulting the maps, off to Target I went.  I was giddy with an anticipation that can only be compared to Black Friday shopping.  As I was loading up my cart, I noticed that many people were looking at me...yes I AM that crazy American.  I am ok with that though...I will work it to my advantage and get away with quite a bit.  

So Christmas has come early in the Collier household...today I got a crockpot, toaster, blender, iron, kettle, and Xbox....okay the last one was not necessary, BUT it was on sale ;)  

Plus I got Just Dance 3 for free....gotta love a deal =)

No worries, when you come for a visit, I will be happy to make you a cup of train my kettle and a home cooked meal in my crock pot!!! After dinner we can DANCE!!

Hugs to all

XOXOX