First Australian Beach- "The Spit"

Looking North to the pier at the end of "The Spit"

Looking South towards Surfer's Paradise (high rises)

After being in Australia for 10 days now we have finally made it to the beach. The weather has cleared up for a beautiful day. We drove out to "The Spit" and walked along the beach.  The Gold Coast has 70 kilometers (over 40 miles) of beaches. One beach down, and many more to explore. Next time we will probably wear our swimming suits and play in the water.

David playing in the sand

David and Jennifer

Quilt Covers

Sunday morning we walked to the Catholic church which is next to our apartment complex and attended Mass. After church we headed to the mall to get all of the other stuff we needed in our apartment to get by until the rest of our stuff arrives by ship in a month or two. The most important and hardest thing for us to select that day was blankets for the bed. Here in Australia they use quilts (a light comforter) and put a cover over it, but all the covers we saw had unattractive, busy patterns on them. We just wanted a simple solid color but the only ones we found were above our budget. After visiting multiple stores and re-visiting all of them we finally decided on a striped pattern that was the simplest we could find and the colors match (at least I think) our room. After an exhausting day of shopping we were able to relax at home and watch a movie on our free TV (courtesy of our home stay family).

Ikea trip

Saturday, September 25 we woke up in our own apartment for the first time in Australia and immediately started planning our day. Since the Ute rental was still good till 4:30 that afternoon we figured we should look for some more furniture. Our bank account was low on cash so we couldn't buy used from people. However we did have credit cards and there was an Ikea store about 45 minutes drive from our place. On the way to Ikea we stopped at a Kmart to check out bedding options as we had only sheets and borrowed a blanket from our home stay. We made notes on the prices of many things on our list of items to get to settle in and continued on our way. I called one of my potential employers on the way up and organized to meet him at Ikea because it was about halfway between our homes. We spent hours looking at couches and sitting on them until we decided if they were comfortable or not. After debating whether to buy new or wait for some used ones we grabbed the check out sheets for a couple of couches and decided if they were available we would take them, if not we would find used. We continued through the Ikea maze and selected a set of dishes, glasses, colander and rug and proceeded to the furniture pick up area to learn that the couches were all sold out. We checked out and met with Wal Newton, the closest WestfaliaSurge milking equipment dealer to Gold Coast in the lounge area in the store entrance. Jenny and I talked with him and his wife who was also shopping at Ikea about the potential of working as a service person for his dealership. This would be a similar job to the one I had in Rochester but with longer commutes between farms.

After talking with Wal, Jenny and I decided to check back into Ikea to talk to someone to see if they really were sold out of the couches or if we just missed them. We were right about the store being out of the couches we wanted, at least ones in perfect condition in boxes. But the staff did help us find two slightly damaged couches which were exactly what we wanted. The only damage to these was a slight tear on the cushion of one and a little dirt on the cushion fabric of the other, but these couches have removable and washable covers that went over any of the defects so they were new couches that we got discounted at 25 and 40%! It took a long time to get through the checkout line again with the cashier screwing up several times and having a manger come twice to straighten it out. We strapped the couches onto the back of the Ute and headed back to Gold Coast. We got about one-third of the way when I noticed one of the straps was loose. So I pulled off the motorway and discovered that one of the cushions was missing. We traveled back to Ikea to trace our path and hopefully find our missing cushion. We had almost made it to the point where I had first noticed the strap loose when I finally saw the cushion across two lanes of traffic to my right (near the center of a divided highway against the barrier with little shoulder). Luckily the traffic let up enough for me to dart across and retrieve the cushion which was still in one piece. After that adventure we got the couches safely into our garage and the Ute back to the rental place just before closing time.

Moving into new apartment

All of Thursday, September 23 and Friday morning we spent looking online for used stuff for our apartment as we waited for the money to come through to our Australian bank to make the first payment on the apartment. We located a couple used beds that looked good and were in the right price range. We went to several furniture stores to check out prices on new beds and remind ourselves of the difference between a cheap and expensive mattresses. We looked at a couple beds ad decided on one and told the owner we would be by tomorrow to pay for it and pick it up. We also located a washing machine that was not emptying all the water for $80. After having solved a similar problem on my parents' washing machine of the same brand I figured this would be a simple fix and a good deal. It barely fit in the back of our car filling up the entire back seat and trunk area and the front seats had to be moved all the way forward making it difficult to drive, but we got it safely home. When we finally got the call that the apartment was ready to move into we jumped into action by renting a Ute (small pickup with a flatbed, very common here) and running down to pick up our bed and deliver it to our apartment. We had to disassemble the bed frame to get it up the stairs but that turned out to be a good thing as I discovered the previous owners had assembled the frame wrong in a way that would make the bed uncomfortable.

Wednesday, September 22- driver's license and car

Started off the morning going into Jenny's work to copy the marriage certificate and all the documents we would need for rental applications.

I was able to bypass the crowd and lines at the opening of Queensland transport and get my driver's license, including photo and card in hand within 15 minutes! David worked on transferring the money we would need for our upcoming bond (4 weeks of rent for deposit), two weeks rent and for other expenses that required cash.

We viewed a property near the university that we really liked and submitted our rental application on the spot. Later on we viewed new properties (only a few years old) that were closer to the ocean, near the Broadwater. One was a 30th floor unit with floor to ceiling glass and views of the ocean and hinterlands (hills/mountains inland from the coast).

Afterward, we completed our car loan and registration paperwork and drove away with our car. David let me practice driving around the block as I had not driven yet in Australia. David drove the rental car to return it and I followed. Luckily the drive was uneventful.


We also learned that evening that our rental application was approved! Overall an excellent day- we got a car and were approved for a rental property we wanted.

Tuesday September 21- Car loans- Day 2

We started the day by going to the car dealer as soon as it opened (in the pouring rain). After test driving two cars we decided to go ahead and purchase a 2005 VW polo. We thought it wouldn't hurt to go ahead a apply for a loan through the car dealer. There was the possibility of getting approved sooner and they would match the interest rate of our bank. We viewed several rental properties.  Bad news, the loan through our bank was not approved as they would only do the loan for two years based on the type of visa I had and would only finance fora much lower amount. Luckily we were approved by the bank that the car dealer used for financing.

I needed a valid Queensland (state of Australia we live in) before I could finalize the loan paperwork. We arrived at the local Queensland transport location and were greeted with a long line and large waiting area. I told David to go ahead and inspect the next rental properties or he would miss them as we were running late. I figured it would probably take an hour or more to get my application process. I was surprised to be through in 15 minutes time and spent the next hour plus waiting for David. I had no way to reach David as I had our only cell phone. I was unable to be issued my driver's license because I did not provide a copy of our marriage certificate. My passport was issued in 2003 and was in my maiden name and they needed documented proof of my name change. Luckily I was able to pass the time browsing Facebook on my phone for free.

 David and I viewed a few more properties for a total of seven today. We saw a couple more properties that we liked. We finished the day excited that we would be getting a car soon and could get rid of the Rent-A-Bomb soon.

Monday, September 20th- car loans- day 1

Monday morning we went the University. I had an appointment with one of the administrators to take car of some paperwork for my new job. I got a tour of the various spaces, my office, the lab, break room etc. I was given my access key to the office area but require more training before I have access to the laboratory. I also meet with my boss. He gave an overview of the malaria research going on in the laboratory. I was quite embarrassed when I managed to doze off while listening to him talk. He of course caught this momentary lapse. I managed to stay awake for the rest of the talk. David arrived a bit later. We then scrambled to put together all the paperwork that we needed for the car loan. This involved David calling my mom and asking her for all our account login/password information that she had in our files for all our assets and liabilities. We then logged into all our accounts and printed off everything we needed. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at the bank until 4:30pm (they closed at 4pm) completing the car loan paperwork. We also managed to look at three different apartments. We had a very busy day but we were optimistic about the car loan and had now seen two rental properties we were interested in.

Sunday, September 19- A little bit better

We made it to Southport Catholic Church for their 8:30am service. Auto dealers are closed on Sundays so we went around and looked at vehicles at several used car lots but saw nothing of interest. We had a copy of the Gold Coast Bulletin, the local newspaper, and looked for cars in the paper and online. We were unable to look at any rental properties today as there were no scheduled inspections. The weather was rainy so we spent most of the day looking on the internet deciding which properties to inspect (view). We left some voicemail messages and emailed inquiries to several of the properties. We hoped our email would be full of responses and the phone would be ringing off the hook in the next few days.  We were optimistic that we were making some progress on the vehicle and apartment fronts.

Saturday, September 18- Spinning our wheels

After a good night of sleep, we were awake by about 5:30am. David went to the nearby store and picked up breakfast- milk, bread, butter, and cereal called Wheet Bix (think Wheaties in a biscuit form that you break apart). We struggled in the morning to find an available rental car. One company had agreed to deliver a vehicle to us but after waiting past the delivery time they informed us it was not going to happen. All the rental companies were extremely busy with all the school holiday traffic. After getting really frustrated we started walking towards one rental company- Rent-A-Bomb. On the way we stopped and looked at some cars at a Holden dealership and the salesman offered us ride the rest of the way to Rent-A-Bomb. When we got there there were three old cars in the lot, the only three they had left. The cars were definitely a bomb. We ended up paying $35 a day for a ~1989 Toyota corolla (see photo). The interior was beat up, smelled like gasoline and it idled roughly at traffic lights so David had to put it into park to make sure it wouldn't die. Our goal was to purchase a car as soon as possible so we could get rid of this crappy car and also use it to check out rental properties. We went to a few car dealers and test drove one car which we hoped we would be able to buy once we were approved for financing. We did look at three rental properties, two were nothing of note and one was a newer property new the university. Overall the day was quite frustrating.

Friday, September 17

Friday was a long day, we slept o.k. on the airplane and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand early in the morning to change planes for the last flight in our journey to Australia. Each one of our three flights was delayed so that by the time we made it through customs and to the baggage claim we were about an hour behind schedule. After watching all the other suitcases get pulled off the carousel I was perfectly content to wait for more bags to come, but Jenny knew something was wrong when there was no one else waiting. After asking an employee she convinced me our luggage had not arrived. Jenny talked to the people at the baggage desk and the took the phone number and address of the people we were staying with to deliver the bags when they arrive. So with only our carry-on luggage we left the baggage claim area to see Jenny's new boss, Dr. Michael Good, waiting to pick us up. We had a nice chat as Dr. Good drove us to the address of the temporary accommodation in Gold Coast we had lined up over the internet. However, when we got there we were surprised that the house did not look like it did online. There was a beat up Toyota car with a small trailer parked in the steep driveway in front of a pool I thought I recalled from the online photo but with a lot more leaves and other trash in it. There were construction tools laying all around the pool and the house behind it looked shaky with garage being partially dismantled. The man at the house greeted us and immediately said "you were supposed to call before you came!" My heart sank, I was starting to think that all of our good planning was falling through. Then, he said we are supposed to go to his other house. When we got to the other house the situation was much improved. The property was an eight bedroom vacation home surrounded by palms and fruit trees with a large pool in the backyard. The kitchen was very modern and the living area had a 30 foot glass wall that could be slid open to an equally sized patio area under a roof. After taking a much needed shower Dr. Good took us downtown to our new bank to open our accounts and get the money we had previously sent. Then we went to Griffith University were I got a crash course in driving on the right side of the vehicle on the left side of the road. Mr. Good turned the keys of his nice SUV over to me and told us to pick him up in a couple of hours at 4:30! Jenny helped me navigate to a mall downtown where we parked and went shopping for cell phones. We met up with Dr. Good again and toured his apartment before he dropped us off at the over sized luxury home we were staying at.

Thursday, September 16

Thechnically this day did not exist for Jenny and I as we crossed the International Date Line.

Wednesday, September 15

After helping with morning milking and attending a funeral with my family I headed over Bronson's to meet with Jenny and catch a ride to MSP Airport for our flight at 5:30 pm. We had to rearrange some of our suitcases so that only one of the four would be overweight. Airport security was no problem and we boarded our flight to LA without too much waiting. On the flight we encountered some of the worst turbulence I have experienced, but I found it amusing and enjoyed it like a ride at ValleyFair. The only other noteworthy thing about that flight was getting to look down at the Grand Canyon as we flew over. Arriving in LAX airport we were given incomplete or incorrect directions by airport staff on how to make our connecting flight on Air New Zealand. We did not like the fact that you had to leave the secured zone of one terminal to find the bus to take you to the correct terminal and go through security all over again. There was little or no signage in the terminal showing where you were suppose to catch the bus. When we made it to the Air new Zealand check in counter the staff could not get Jenny's Visa information to match her passport making ot so we only had a couple minutes left before we were supposed to be at the gate. Hurried, we made it to the gate in time and boarded the big jet for our 14 hour flight accross the Pacific Ocean to Aukland, New Zealand.

Welcome to our blog

Hi,

As our blog name implies we are two farm kids who grew up in Minnesota. After attending college and university in St. Paul we lived in Rochester, MN and just moved to Gold Coast, Australia arriving on September 17th.

This blog is a way to keep in touch with friends and family back home who want to keep track of what we are up to.

Take care,

Jennifer and David