Mooloolaba

We went for a drive up to the ‘Sunshine Coast’ today. We had perfect weather - 32 degrees sunny, with a bit of cloud. It takes about 1 hour to get there (on the ‘Bruce Highway!) and its quite a pleasant drive. We went to a town called Mooloolaba as this was recommended as a great place to go to the beach. And it was – Abi had such a great time today playing in the sand, playing in the sea and jumping over the waves. She loves to swim and will simply lie down on her tummy in the shallows in the water – smiling and laughing with absolute delight. I am sure we will be back soon, there are loads of little shops and cafes/restaurants along the beach front – which we didn’t even get a chance to explore. We drove a bit further up the coast to Maroochydore and also spent some time driving around the Mooloolaba marina – stunning houses many with their own pontoons with massive boats... dream on! On the way back home we drove along the Steve Irwin tourist route and took a detour to the Glass House Mountains – which had beautiful views. While we were up there we saw our first wallaby – Abi was amazed – she loves looking at all the wildlife. There are facilities to have a BBQ up there too – looked like a good idea for another day. I’m sorry to say that today we only have a picture of the beach at Mooloolaba because we ran out of camera battery! Next time.

Still Job Hunting

Well, it has been a week since I posted... so I suppose you are wondering what we have been up to... To be honest, not anything too exciting – the focus now has to be getting a job as we are spending and not earning... not a good place to be. The market is still slow, but we are still steadily applying for jobs and meeting agents. Applying for a job here is quite a procedure – I have just written a 5 page document explaining why and how I meet the position’s key selection criteria. This is a regular requirement, especially for government positions. And the process is very slow – they will be interviewing for this position in January. Sigh.

We went to view our first possible property rental as we need to move out of here mid-Jan and we also need a place to unpack our container of belongings. Renting property works very differently here. Firstly, most places only require 2 weeks notice (rent is paid weekly here) and so there are not many properties available mid-Jan at the moment. Secondly, when you view a property its called an “Inspection” and what happens for many of the properties is that a time is published (a 10 minute slot) when anyone who is interested comes to ‘inspect’ – so on Saturday we went to see a place with a load of other people – all wondering through the house together. Very strange. Needless to say it was not very nice, so the search goes on. We have another few ‘inspections’ set up for next week.

24th November was a normal day and we had a friend round for dinner – so a lovely evening on Guy’s birthday.

Abi is still well and loving being with us all day, every day. She is such a little character – so sweet – she has learned how to use the digital camera and walks around the house taking photos of EVERYTHING. She finds this highly amusing. Thank goodness its a digital! Maybe I will post one of her masterpieces next time.

The other evening she told me quite plainly... “But I can’t brush my teeth now – I’m watching Little Einstein’s”.

Glorious Car

As promised – here are some pictures of our new car – these were taken at a place called Mount Glorious – we took a drive out there on Sunday. It is quite beautiful. We went to a lovely little restaurant for lunch which had ‘glorious’ views... On the way there we stopped in at a little nursery called ‘Lifestyle’. It has a little shop with lots of knick-knacks and a treasure trove to wander around. Not a place for the parents with a 2 ½ year old – as you can well imagine. It also has a cafe where you can have a light meal. I am sure we will be back.

Little Shop:


Abi wanted to take this home with her:


View from the restaurant:


'The' Car

Storm Damage

Yesterday we had the most incredible storm here in Brisbane. From where we are there was lots of rain, thunder and lightening and wind. However the storm hit other areas of Brisbane very hard. We are ok – but a couple of our friends who live in Ferny Grove and The Gap are without electricity and one friend’s house was hit badly by the storm. Guy is going there tomorrow to help out – apparently their neighbour’s roof is in their pool and their bathroom has been damaged badly. It is a terrible mess. They have no fresh water either.
News Coverage: 1000-homes-still-without-power and pm-pledges-cash-to-storm-victims

15 November

Brisbane has some lovely parks. Most of them have really nice play areas for kids as well as BBQs – electric, wood – or both! While we have been driving around looking at suburbs we often stop for Abi to have a play and have a picnic. Today for the first time, we took some meat along with us and had a little BBQ (or braai as we habitually call it). We had a great time as we met another 2 couples who also have children Abi’s age and she really loves to run around with them. It was really warm today – up to 33 degrees. One really does make use of the air-con in the unit (is what an apartment/flat is called) and the car.

We fetched our car on Thursday and it is really great. I have even been allowed to drive it 300m between shopping car parks. Hopefully Guy will get over the novelty soon and let me learn to drive an automatic....

Job search is still very slow – we have met with another 3 agents this week – but no jobs to apply for and it may well be very slow until the New Year.

Finally – we completed our house sale on Friday. Bitter Sweet Bitter – so sad that our lovely house is not ours anymore (and our lovely neighbours no longer neighbours boo-hoo); glad the sale is finally over and sad that we had to make such a loss on the home that we ploughed so much effort and love into – but – now we move forward (luckily we still get to keep our neighbours as friends!)

As promised – here is a picture of a “Queenslander” – this one needs a “bit” of work...

Abi – exhausted after playing in the heat

Tracey and Abi enjoying a snack

Guy at our first BBQ in the park

3 weeks into the dream...

We have settled in nicely now – 3 weeks down the line and we want to start settling into ‘real life’ now. It is very strange not going to work every day and there is not much of a routine to life, which can make it difficult for Abi and then for us. She has been so patient hanging around with us all day – doing mostly boring things – we can’t ask for more from her really.

We are loving Brisbane and Australia so far – but as I say, its more like a holiday and hopefully we can get into some regular things soon. I have seen a swim school nearby and want to get Abi swimming as soon as possible – she is doing really well in the pool, but Guy and I don’t really have the skills to get her swimming on her own and I am sure she could do it really quickly. She loves the water and will easily spend hours in the pool. The sun is very fierce here so we have to limit the swimming time and utilise the shade, sun-cream , hats and t-shirt etc!

We have bought a car – a Hyundai Sante Fe – we will pick it up on Thursday afternoon – so really looking forward to that. We have been using a loan car from the dealer since last week, which is good on the wallet.

We have spend most of the last few days driving around suburbs looking for areas that we like. We will look to renting a house from the beginning of January where we thing we want to live long term – to try it out as a place to live. I normally pack a sandwich lunch for us and we stop at a local park when Abi gets hungry – or sees some slides and swings she wants to play on. One of the areas that we quite liked has a lovely village shopping centre – and at the local butcher, lo and behold – boereworse – and other SA goods too – I asked what the South African connection was and they said that it was just the market – so many South Africans living in the area...mmmm

We had a great weekend (well every day is like a weekend at the moment – but you know what I mean). On Saturday we were taken to the “West End” for breakfast and we had a lovely meal with friends of ours. It is a quaint part of Brisbane with lots of unique places to have breakfast – quite a buzzy place. Then we went to a lovely park (another one!) and played with Abi for a while before heading home. On Sunday we went into the city and went to the “Eagle Street Market” – which was very nice and fun to walk around for an hour or so.

Tonight we were invited next door for dinner. We had such a lovely relaxed and informal evening with them as they are a South African family and made us feel so welcome and at home.

Not much news on the job front - market is quiet at the moment, but we are hopeful. I am seeing a recruitment agent tomorrow and we have a meeting with another one on Thursday.

Weather is still fabulous and it should be 30 on Saturday and Sunday. What a life.

Searching for Wheels

We hired a car last week Thursday and we have been looking at cars very day since then. I am wondering how we will cope when we also have jobs to go to every day as the time flies by very quickly. Looking for a car with a 2 ½ year old is not easy – Abi has been so good and patient with us driving to 2 or 3 dealers a day looking in each car in great detail. I just pack some fruit, a sandwich and a drink for her and off we go for the day. If you know Guy and I you will know that this has been an exercise of epic proportions and we have yet to make a decision after nearly a week – also our initial expectation of what we were going to spend has somewhat increased – which is adding to our dilemma – and with both of us not working... you can imagine. Will let you know the outcome.

On the job front – not much time for that at this point, we have our CVs out at a few agents. It is very frustrating as we ring the agents and leave messages and they don’t ring back. Once we have the car, we will have more time for job searching.

Now we have the hire car we have been able to go shopping and get some more groceries. There is such a wonderful variety of items here, we are very impressed. I am sure I have said this before, but it is not going to be easy to stay slim here! We also passed a shop with a South African flag on it – and yes, it did have pronutro and all our other favourites (also has real marmite!). Got home and Abi asked for a plate straight away!

We have also used the car to drive around some of the suburbs. There is quite a range of suburbs with sections of older ‘queenslander’ style houses and newer places too. (I will post a picture of a ‘queenslander’ at some point). There is still so much to see, we have no idea yet where we will look to rent.



On Sunday we went east towards the coast to a place called Wynnum and Manly. Lots of parks and play areas as well as a wading pool and plenty of picnic spots. No beach to speak of around here so we will have to travel further north or south to get some good beaches.
Other than that we try and have a swim every day – or at least jump in the spa bath... its been cloudy the last 3 days – but still lovely and warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt. Heaven.