I sold the Bed!

It happened yesterday. I posted an ad on Gumtree, which is like Craigslist. Within 24hrs, I got a phone call and within 48 hrs I got 3 phone calls, but the bed went to the first person.
We decided to sell the bed first so we could move our futon into the bedroom and make the lounge room our moving/packing area.
This was all amazing until bedtime last night when we discovered that the futon isn't very comfortable.
Is it possible to wake up more tired than when you went to bed?

I was able to put some puzzle pieces together today as well. When I started crying last night because the prawns (shrimp) I got at the market were rotten (after only 1 day!) and that was the main ingredient in our dinner..."Dinner's ruined" wah wah wah. Yeah, that prolly wasn't over the prawns. It was over the selling the bed and taking
our first step toward actually leaving our Aussie home. I noticed I was missing the bed last night when tried to rest my hand and lean on the spot that foot-board normally is/was. I was brushing my teeth and I nearly fell backward.

By the way, I did ring the market and I can get my $11 back for the prawns.

Yoga Envy

I'm almost done with my 30 day yoga program. The price included 5 classes per week. I have done pretty well with hitting that mark.
I have been practicing mainly 1 form of yoga for about 3 yrs. This was mostly because of money. It was a great deal, they let me clean the studio in return for free yoga. When I could no longer do that, I would just attend the classes when my friend was teaching and she didn't seem to mind letting me slide in gratis.

Here in OZ, I have discovery several veins of yoga. I have been fully taking advantage of the discounts and deals offered to a newcomer at a studio. It's usually "pay for one class and get 7-10 for free". Making the rounds with this, I have seen lots of yogis.

I also use my gym membership to attend our gym yoga. Just to say this, there IS a difference between gym yoga and studio yoga. You only know this if you have done both. Due to our normal gym instructor, Jerrod, taking holiday, we have had the pleasure and boredom of having substitutes. Some of them suck (boredom), but a few are really good and bring a kind twist to our normal routine. While we love the diversity, we welcome the return our long time teacher and his soothing voice. Recently coming from a NY holiday, I think he realized he is far too kind to us and is pulling out some new poses to challenge our practice.

Back to the studio...I am normally pretty comfortable in class. I can do a lot, but that has come with work and practice. Sometimes though, just sometimes there is a crazy yogi - like a human pretzel- that shows up. The last 2 days, Miss Bendy has come to class. It's not so much that I want to be like her (yes it is), but I really just want to watch. Like in most situations, staring is not allowed in yoga class. It's not the normal poses she does that I want to see, it's the ones I'm not good at...like I'm not able to do a headstand, tripod or crow. Somewhere between kindergarten and turning 31, I have unlearnt tripod. Crow is the same thing, only your head isn't touching the ground.

This is me attempting to do crow. The second the flash went off, I toppled over.

So, Miss Bendy can do tripod into headstand. It's pretty fucking amazing. A few others can do it too, it's just that she does it like an acrobat. Now, not to be funny, but there just happens to be an acrobatic school in my neighborhood so in all probability, she could be circus folk.

While in class with her yesterday, I thought up yoga envy. Then we both returned to class today. During class the teacher said something along the lines of "doing what your body can and not pushing it just so the pose looks good." This was an excellent reminder that yoga comes with time. Then I thought of golf. Golf comes with time. Then I thought of parenting. Then keeping up with the Joneses. And it just came back to me. About everything. I have to be reminded not to compare myself to others. My yoga practice is great and I discover new limits every time I try. It's like that with everything. I have to work with what I have. I have to work within my limits, but it's okay to push and challenge and hopefully grow.

This is bridge (or full back bend), it's the hardest thing I can do. My friend Nan helped me with it when she was here in Feb. When I say help, that means my ass was the same height as my knees and she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled up. See...that's how it's supposed to feel. Ugh.

I only took the photos, because I've spoilt you with this format forever! Using self timer and then getting into the poses was a challenge! If I could have swung a golf club instead, I would have. Muahh!

Stuff for Sale!

We are leaving Melbourne on June 3rd. We need to clean out our things by the end of May.
Here are some photos. You can view the entire contents list & pricing by clicking here.
This is pick up only. We are located in South Yarra.

Please call or email with questions:
Lisa 04 3499 2791, Ldecaire@gmail

BIG DEAL-the lot! All apartment contents on list - NOT including the bed - for $300. Great if you are just starting out!

Let's Make a Deal! If your are interested in more than a few things, please let me know what items you are wanting and we can make a deal. Also, if you would like to see a specific item, I can email you a photo.

File cabinet, fair condition $25

Wine rack (9 bottles) -$10, assorted lamps, square table with fixed legs -$15, small wood table/shelf -$5

Wood cart with wheels and sliding center shelf $10

Queen size bed with black metal head and foot board + sheets and pillows $100

Holiday!

One thing most other countries better than the US is VACATION! Aussie employees get a mandatory 4 weeks of holiday leave at minimum! There is a campaign called "No Leave, No Life" to promote holidaying in Australia. Their catch phrase is "Win the work/life battle with an Aussie holiday."
There are billboards for this campaign all over. We first saw them in the train station in Sydney, now they have made their way to South Yarra as well. They are great!

No, sadly my train is not made of camels :(

So, even though the Aussies get 4 weeks, they feel like they should get more. You know, the whole "work hard, play hard" deal. According to this article, the US is doing okay, but we are more in line with the all work Asia market than the laid back Europeans. I have met several people here who take their 4 weeks all at once and do an African safari, tour the US or trek through Europe. These month long vacations do sound enticing. What do you think?

And today I acquired boxes

We are leaving Oz in 34 days. 10 of those days we will be on holiday. I am trying to keep it all together and not get too flustered with the huge amount of items that need to be sold or given away. With only one proper closet, our house seems a bit cluttered an it's starting to make me antsy. But I would like for our house to remain homey and not sell too much stuff too soon.
In an attempt to enjoy my last few weeks of living abroad, I joined a 30 day yoga program. I am 12 days into it and have done yoga 10 of those days. It is helping me get out of the house, stay active, eat better and calm the fuck down.
In class the other day, I had a thought pass through my mind: I need boxes. I said to myself, "Yes, that is a good idea. I will organize that today. Now, shut up."
Later I went to Safeway and asked for boxes. They were more than happy to provide me this service. They keep banana boxes for people. You ask for them, they save them after the nightly unpacking and you pick them up in the morning. Easy.
This morning, I knew I had to pick up the boxes. I realized that having this one simple item would put my mind at ease. What I did not realize was I would have to put them somewhere until I really needed them. Fortunately, we are borrowing our friends' car whilst they are traveling on holiday. It's an SUV. Now it has become the perfect mobile storage unit. Awesome.
I stated thinking more about this banana box thing. My Dad always said to get banana boxes for moving. They are very sturdy and have lids. No need to tape the bottoms or do the funky one flap-in, other-flap-out tapeless style and they are stackable. He would always acquire an embarrassing amount of boxes for me before I moved. I bet if I was to ask my Mom, right this very moment, if they have any banana boxes, they would probably have one or two empty ones laying in the garage, for just in case.
So it seems, now I have these boxes and just knowing they are there is comforting.

More Lingo

In The States, sometimes you are know by your job. He's a plumber or she's an electrician. As a group, they can all be know as tradesmen/people. However, that sounds a bit stuffy. So in true Australian custom, they have nicknamed these people "tradies." As in, "ladies love the tradies." By the way, an electrician is called a sparky. This is a favorite of mine, isn't it brilliant!
So now you know about tradies. The next thing, is their apparel. We thought it was strange to walk down the street and see an entire shop dedicated to neon orange and yellow clothing. Apparently it's like a law or something for tradies to wear highly noticeable apparel. You know, for safety. So the clothes are referred to as "hi vis gear". You know, for high visibility.

Here is my mate, Patrick, sporting the outfit he wears for his new job. The matching socks are a new requirement. Hats off to Pat; he just secured an apprenticeship for a glazing and aluminium company. It is so refreshing to see someone really excited about their job. He is psyched. He is making custom windows with aluminium frames. And, NO, I didn't spell it wrong! They say allu mini um here. It's British.

Cat Sitting

Our German friends planned a long holiday away. To our pleasure, they took us up on our offer to house their cat for 4.5 weeks while they tour various countries.

Buster is a Manx cat. Essentially, this means he doesn't have a tail. He kind of has a "nubbin". It is a bit weird, as it moves around, like a normal tail wagging. Coincidentally, Jim has taken to calling him "Nubbins."

As of today, his new fave lounge spot is some prime real estate on the counter. I think maybe he feels camouflaged there.

Getting used to having a borrowed animal takes some getting used to. We loved the idea of having a furry little beast running around. We assumed that he would sleep with us and love to be pet. To the contrary, Buster likes being pet for a while. At 9pm he turns into a demon, running all over the place. He has an internal alarm clock that didn't get the message about Daylight Savings Time. He was waking and mewing at our door (demon mode prohibits allowance into the bedroom) 5 am instead of 6. We had a little chat about it. It seems to be sorted out now.

The calm before the storm

After two weeks, we now have all grown accustom to, and acceptant of one another. Buster is up in my bidness all day. He sleeps on the desk, curled up right in front of my laptop. If I am in the kitchen, he is standing right there, curiously waiting to see what I am doing or if I will put a round object on the counter for him to knock off. He has created a running track from one end of our lounge room to the other. It goes right through my keyboard.

Desk Kitteh

I have accepted that I can't control him. If our house was bigger, I would see him less. But our house is tiny. If he isn't near me, I know he is under the bed. (This is me turning into a big softy) Buster is waiting in the middle of the room when I come in the front door. He greets me with his special dolphin speak, as he doesn't meow in the normal sense. He is so cute and soft and makes me laugh. When he does make me mad, I have to remember that he doesn't know any better. Sometimes though, I wonder if that's just what he wants me think.

An unflattering rear shot of a skillful escape. Mr Kitteh No Tail.

Lisa explains it all...Sydney Wedding

Sorry ya'll...photo release SOON!

Many of you may be wondering how this wedding business all came about. I will share now.
We had been planning a wedding something for back in the US of A. However, sometime around the end of Feb and beginning of March, the plan changed. We miss CO and in order for us to return there, Jim needed to accept a recently opened position at his old office. Reluctantly, we decided that one year was good enough for living away, instead of our intended 18 months. During March, I looked into getting married in Sydney, but had shelved the idea. You needed to lodge your notice 28days in advance with your celebrant. I missed that window.
Meanwhile, Lahna and Kevin Ward had booked their trip to AU. They were coming to Melbourne, going up to the Great Barrier Reef, then to going to Sydney. Since our time here was shortened, we pushed our Sydney trip up to April; coordinating it with the Ward's holiday plan. During March, I looked into getting married in Sydney, but had shelved the idea. You needed to lodge your notice 28days in advance with your celebrant. I missed that window.

I hadn't mentioned anything Jim about checking on a Sydney wedding. Then, about March 25th, he comes home from work and asks, "what about getting married in Sydney?" That pretty much sealed the deal. All we had to do was a lot of leg work.
Lahna & Kevin arrived on Monday the 31st. We shared our plans with them, Lahna agreed to be a witness. Tuesday, I contacted celebrant Helen Wyld. She was SO flexible, encouraging and helpful. We had to lodge the paperwork with her. Did I mention Easter was coming? Australian have holiday on Good Friday and the following Monday. On Tuesday, we had to go to the Marriage Registry of Victoria and plead our case to have a shortening of time on our the lodgement of our paperwork. We provided the woman with our witness' airline itinerary, an email from Jim's boss about moving early, and Jim's plane ticket. She granted approval.

Yay!! Here is what the rest of the week looked like.ta dah!

Tuesday: Marriage Registry approval. Found $80 dress.

Wednesday: Shopped with Susi, but didn't buy anything. Didn't find green shoes, but found fab pink one. Had to have a think about it. Later, succumbed to the pink shoes. Started looking for pink accessories.

This is Susi...she's a goddess.

Thursday: Returned to the factory outlets with Susi. Bought pink shoes. Bought shirt, tie, pants, belt and shoes for Jim. Based on some stuff Helen had sent, Jim and I wrote our wedding ceremony.

Really, how could I not?

Friday: Off to Sydney. Met with Helen. Had dinner and sightseeing with Kev and Lahna.

Tripod proved useful!

Saturday: Purchased bridal bouquet on the fly at a florist by our hotel. Bought Jim better pants. Walked around The Rocks area of Sydney. Toured the street market. Got Lahna a dress and found perfect wedding jewelry. Early dinner and then Bridge Climb! Late dinner.

Take away bridal bouquet, coming right up.

Just having a pash on the largest single arch span bridge in the world, no big whoop.

Sunday: Check out of hotel and head to Kev and Lahna's hotel. Dress. From Darling Harbor, catch a ferry to McMahon's Point. Meet up with Mel, Gus and Helen. Get married! Take lots of photos. Go back to Darling Harbor and eat the best steak ever! Take the shoes off and go back to Kev and Lahna's. Change clothes and watch TV for an hour before going to the airport to head home.

You know, just got hitched, now waiting for the train.

So, there it is. Yes, I am amazing. I only went crazy one time, right before we left for Sydney. And it was over the dishes not being done.
Of course, I am SO appreciative: Susi dedicated her 2 days off to my cause! She was helpful, pragmatic, patient and at all times, genuinely excited and enthusiastic. Lahna and Kevin took excellent care of us, as only family can. Kevin recorded our ceremony. Gus took fancy photos. Lahna and Melissa were great emotional support and provided pretty signatures as our witnesses. Helen was amazing with her "fly by the seat of your pants," yet very organized approach...exactly what I needed! Jim was amazing. Thank you for wearing pink and red for the day! Oh, and marrying me :)
Although we couldn't share our day with everyone, we had the best time! Lots of laughs, emotion and love. A truly perfect day.This post is brought to you by Coffee.

The Magical French Island Park Tour Day

Some things I can not make up. There have been a few occasions when stuff is happening and I say to myself "what the fuck is going on?" or "is this for real?" Last weekend was one of those times.

Kind of on the fly we decided to go to French Island National Park. We had made this attempt before. It involved a 2hr train ride with a negative outcome. We went to purchase tickets for the ferry to cross over to the island. Due to a possible afternoon storm, they couldn't guarantee us a return trip back to the mainland. This was a serious disappointment as you could see the island just across the channel. It was only a 15min boat ride. However, for this attempt we had a car and a positive forecast, so we decided to go for it.

All went smoothly except, upon arrival we realized we might have made a mistake by not booking some sort of tour. The island was small, but the general store was 3k from the docks and all the other stuff was passed that so...we were in for a long day of walking in a short period of time. We only had about 4hrs to tour. As we made our way to the general store, van passed. We got a little further and the van was coming back our way. We joked about getting a lift. Miraculously, the van stopped. A small, weather-worn, oldish woman jumped out.

Mumbling and barely audible, she said she could take us to her farm. She promised koalas (koalas!!) and a tour. She never looked us in the eye; she just organized the back seat of her van and gave us the gesture to get in. We all looked at each other with bewilderment. What do we do? Considering the population of the island in approximately 60. We figured it was safe to proceed with her plans for us. We hopped in and buckled up. Lois, was 4th generation islander and lived on the family farm, which housed a chicory kiln.

We drove by the general store. She took us by the school for primary aged children. It has 3 students. She stopped and dropped us off for a short nature hike that ended at her farm. There, we stopped for lunch. We saw heaps of chickens, a few sheep, 2 horses, cows, a pretty rainbow colored bird, and a ferret.Jim and Kevin performed some minor manual labor, like moving a log and relocating a huge saw. Lois showed us the koalas on the trees around her farm. She gave us the lowdown on the chicory kiln (Chicory was a coffee substitute. You can still find it in some coffees and teas). She recommended we head down the road and see more koalas and offered to give us a lift back to the docks in time for our boat. You see, a camper that she was picking up, missed our 12pm boat and was now coming on the 4pm boat. Thank you for missing your boat, Miss!

Once we left the farm on pursuit of koalas, we looked at the park flier and realized that our Lois, was actually the Lois Airs, who pretty much is the voice of the island. Her name was all over this piece of paper. If you have and questions, it's her mobile number that is listed. Lois is one of 3 people to do island tours. If Lois hadn't picked us up, we wouldn't have seen anything worth while that day. We totally lucked out. a short ferry/boat ride

The Historic Chicory Kiln Farm

The rainbow, fruit eating bird

Lois schooling us on what chicory is all about

a horse

a sign

a tense moment. we thought he was going to jump on Jim's face

trying to hurry and get a photo before he gets to aggravated

Milford Track: Day 2

This day was gorgeous! We awoke to clouds, but they burned off early. We started walking through Mackinnon Pass, working our way toward the summit. The day was looooooong. We hiked 10miles. It took us about 7 hours. We proceeded at a medium pace and took heaps of photos. It was magical fairy land. The rain the day before had swollen all the mosses. Everything was green and lush.

Soft and fluffy moss.

Seriously.
Water so clear and trout so big.

More of the pass
Waterfalls abound; they were everywhere. When you couldn't hear the creek, you would hear the birds, when there were no birds, you could hear a waterfall.

Success!
A great day, but we were a bit out of practice and we couldn't wait to get our boots off.

Milford Track, Day 1

The seed of an idea for hiking Milford Track, on the south island of New Zealand, was planted with a pretty picture and brief trail description that Jim read in Backpacker Magazine. The article consisted of the top 10 "classic" hikes in the world, which included Milford. After we learned we would be moving to Australia, he went back and clipped cut out the small blurp about the vague wheres, whens and hows. See the lure here.
The Logistics:
Milford Track consists of a 33.5 mile hike spread out over 4 days and 3 nights. As one of the best hikes in the world, it is very popular. About 14,000 people complete the track every year. To accommodate that many folks, it has to be regulated and organized.
For summer season, (Nov-April) you must register for your space. Only 40-44 trampers (the NZ term for hiker, bushwalker etc.) start off every day. You take a boat from Te Anau Downs to Glad Warf, the start of the track. You tramp a specified amount of miles every day to to a Hut Camp. You stay at 3 different huts, costing a total of $135 per person. The Track is one-way, so at the end you are picked up by boat at Sandfly Point, you cross Milford Sound to Milford and hop on a bus back to where you came from. Thanks for visiting, come again.
At the end of the day, having a flushing toilet is awesome:
Now this might sound a little cushy, but this hut thing is a fabulous idea. 14,000 people would have quite an impact on the pristine environment. By supplying the trampers with a place to sleep, a place to cook, and a place to do their business, the Department of Conservation is helping to do just that; conserve. And making some good money. Your other option is a guided tour. This tour costs WAY more. Guests stay in better lodging, do not have to carry food, and have their meals prepared for them. That's cushy.

We took a 2hr bus ride from Queenstown to Te Anau Downs. Then a 1 hr boat ride to the start of the Track.

Even though we picked the month with the least days of rain, typically only 12, it rained 2 of our 4 days of hiking. Day 1 no biggie, only 2hrs of walking.

First glimpse of the Clinton River.The soggy trampers arrive at the first hut, Clinton Hut.
It's just like summer camp, only unisex.

The rain stopped, yeah! This is the beautiful view of the valley from the helicopter pad.
Hut entertainment: Warden Ross leads us on a nature walk. His bird call skills were impressive.
The sun on the river.

New Zealand, Arrival

We just had the pleasure of spending 6 days on the south island of New Zealand. 2 days were travel days and 4 days were hiking the Milford Track. This year has definitely been an experience and I am thankful for every minute of it.

New Zealand, south island, from the air. For real, this body of water (I think Lake Waitaki) and several surrounding it are turquoise.

We arrived Queenstown, NZ at 3pm on Monday. Surprisingly, it looks like Colorado. I love mountains!
Our hotel is on Marine Parade in Queenstown. The end of the street runs into this:
Mountains AND water...it really doesn't get any better.

Queenstown is small. Tiny even. The town isn't even a grid, as the there are only 2 main streets with 4 or so perpendicular streets between. These streets house the restaurants, shops and adventure tours. They are only one block long. It felt like Beaver Creek, CO or some similar small and upscale ski town.

Like someone I already know

Have you ever have this feeling...the one where you see someone and they remind you of someone else; someone who is already in your life?
It's so strange when this happens. Sometimes it's good. You meet the person and they have similar traits to another one of your friends. This happened when I arrived in AU. My new friend Melissa says some things quite similar to my friend Rosemary. They remind me of each other. Maybe that helped Melissa and I become friends faster, as if we already had something in common. Or my mind might have just likened it that way.
When Nan and I went on our wine tour, there was a gentleman in his mid to late 50's, (I was going to say "older" gentleman, but 50 hardly seems older now. Older is 70.) who joined our group a little late. He had taken a hot air balloon ride early in the morning and met up with our group at our first vineyard site. At first he totally creeped me out. Everyone in the group was a couple and he was the only solo person. He kept trying to talk to me but he had a "stare-y" type demeanor. Like when someone looks you in the eyes TOO much while standing way TOO close to you; a total space invader. Of course he sat next to me at lunch.
It would have been harder to avoid him, and I hate being an intentional bitch, so I sucked it up and started a conversation with him. Elgin is from Vancouver. He is here setting his daughter up for a semester abroad in Adelaide. He is traveling all over AU for 3-4 weeks. He goes on wine tours in every city he visits.
Once Elgin got some attention, he became less creepy. He started being amazingly sarcastic and making, sometimes inappropriately forthright, interjections in people's conversations. (It takes one to know one, right?) He totally called out the tiny Indian woman who had only had one glass of wine at the 2 vineyards we had been to. I thought she was a lightweight, as she was half my size. But she confessed to this complete stranger that she was instead, pregnant. He started to amuse me.
Beyond all this, when I first saw him, he looked like someone to me. Some one familiar...who? I might have thought this all along, but it wasn't until he said "Holy Mackerel!" that I could see him as a slightly younger version of my Uncle Charlie. Now, my Uncle DOESN'T in any way creep me out. He is a very kind and polite man. And not irritating in the slightest. But the similarities in there speech patterns and facial resemblance was uncanny. See...

Elgin from Vancouver vs. Uncle Charlie from Michigan