Road Trip

We woke up at our campsite at Sundown National Park to the sound of screaming cicadas and decided to pack up and get out of there as soon as possible. We were originally lured to this campsite with the promise of a hot shower and a guaranteed spot with online booking. There were showers but the only running water on the grounds was in the river 500 feet away. If you wanted a hot shower you had to get water from the river and pour it into a donkey boiler they had next to the showers. The boiler was wood fired and I am assuming the water you used for a shower was from the condensed steam coming out of the boiler and you had to cool it and transfer it to an algae coated tank above the showers. I really don't know how it worked and we were not going to try it because we had no firewood and we had showered the day before and didn't need to work that hard to get one this morning. We had our stuff packed up and were on our way out within a half hour of waking up. The campsite was beautiful but I was getting a headache from the cicadas. I took my time driving out of the park stopping a couple times to remove medium sized sharp rocks off the road so that they would not scrape the bottom of our tiny car or ruin the tyres (Aussie spelling). As soon as we made it back to tar roads I apologized to the car and promised to never again take it on any gravel roads.
Shortly out of the park we stopped at an unmanned fruit stand we spotted the evening before. It felt weird raiding some strangers refrigerators in a small shed by the road but all the fruit and vegetables were in plastic bags and had a price written on them. We chose a bag of apricots and deposited three dollars into the coin box on the wall. Traveling a little further along we turned south onto the New England Highway and crossed the state line into New South Wales. The first town we came to was Tenterfield where we stopped just long enough to take a picture of the grand Stannum House. Evidently in the early 1880's this area was booming with the mining of tin, it was so prosperous that they built this building in hopes of it becoming the government house and the city becoming the capitol of the soon to be formed country of Australia.














From Tenterfield we stayed on the New England Highway through Glen Innes a town very proud of its Scottish heritage. Next we drove through Armidale which is known for its real fall season complete with changing colors of the leaves. From Armidale we headed back east on Grafton Road otherwise known as the Waterfall Way toward Coffs Harbour. We only had time to visit a couple of the many national parks along the way. We stopped at Oxley Wild Rivers National Park to have our picnic lunch. At this site the Chandler and Wollomombi rivers have cut a 400 meter deep gorge and at one vista you can see the falls of both rivers at once. Wollomombi is the second (or third depending on source) tallest water fall in Australia at 200 meters.

After lunch and taking in the amazing views I drove the winding mountain roads toward our next stop, the rainforest in Dorrigo National Park. As we got closer to Dorrigo the landscape got greener and more rolling. We were entering an area that used to be a major dairy production area. I was excited to see cows grazing on the green hillsides in a landscape that could have been in southern Germany.
The rainforest in Dorrigo were unique again but here they had a much better visitors center and a board walk that went straight out off the side of a slope into the tree tops of the forest. The easy to walk trails wound around trees draped with vines. Unfortunately we did not travel very far on the trails as I had a goal of making it to the next town to meet up with a fellow WestfaliaSurge milking equipment dealer that I may be working with. We also planned on continuing on the road to find our next campsite before dusk. Upon arriving in Bellingen we finally had cell phone reception so I called the dealer we were supposed to meet. He was not home yet and told us to have a look around town for a bit. We walked around the small touristy town and sat down to enjoy some home made gelato just off of the main street.

I called the dealer again and he was home so we went over to his house to talk about the possibility of me working with him on some future projects. We had a great chat before continuing on to find where we were to sleep for the night. Securing a campsite in New South Wales turned out to be a lot harder than back in Queensland where we started the day because they did not reserve campsites in any of the many national parks near where we driving. We did not realize that Aussies celebrate New Years Eve like we celebrate the fourth of July. The parks along the coast were packed with people who looked like they had been there for a week. After stopping at several campsites, driving many hours and calling several hotels, we gave up and headed inland to find an affordable motel which actually had a vacancy in the town of Casino. Driving the streets of Casino was eerily like we had found ourselves back in some small town in Nebraska. But it was comfortable and quiet as we saw the new year in by watching the spectacular firework display in Sydney on TV.

Kangaroos!

Mount Lindesay

Woodenbong Police Station

Fortunately we had a couple of nice weather days just before the New Year. We took advantage of the excellent weather,  it had been raining for the past week and half straight, and began on our 1400 kilometer (870 miles) road trip through the countryside to the west and south of the Gold Coast where we live. First we headed west to Beaudesert where we stopped and picked up groceries. Then we drove southwest on the Mount Lindesay Highway through Rathdowney. On they way we stopped to take a few photos including Mount Lindesay which we had been driving by for hours, the police station in the small town of Woodenbong, and the Killarney Hotel in Killarney.

Killarney Hotel

We stopped for our picnic lunch along the river at a park in Killarney. This area had recently had a lot of rain and we could see signs that the river had been much higher and flooded the park where we had stopped. We continued our drive to Warwick and then headed south on the New England Highway to Stanthorpe.

On our way into Stanthorpe we got off on the fruit run through Applethorpe. The area around Stanthorpe is at a higher elevation, 1000-1200 meters and posts some of the coldest temperatures in Queensland. Surprisingly it can even freeze here during winter. It is located within a region referred to as the Granite Belt for all the large granite boulders. This area is very agricultural and the primary non-tropical fruit growing region in Queensland. Stanthorpe is full of vineyards, wineries, as well as fields of strawberries and orchards with apples, apricots, peaches, and nectarines. Strawberries and stone fruits were in season during our visit. We stopped at a few fruit stands to see what was available and prices. In town we took some photos of the Target country store, post office (complete with English crest) and went to the visitor center. This Princeton sized town of 4300 residents is a popular place for tourists. 

 

Unfortunately we only had enough time to make it to a strawberry farm due to our late arrival in town and businesses closing by 5pm. We stopped and  purchased a kilo (2.2 pound) package of fresh strawberries and headed on the road to our campsite at the remote Sundown National Park. I had made reservations online for our campsite, only $10. We knew we had to hurry so we could setup our tent before dark.

On the drive to the park we had a kangaroo run out in front of us but luckily there was enough distance between us. It was the first live kangaroo I had seen since arriving in Australia. The only kangaroos I saw before were dead on the side of the road. David had seen kangaroos on a couple of occasions on his drives in the country for work. I was surprised by how fast and graceful it was able to hop by us. It took us nearly 90 minutes to reach the park, all was sealed road but the last few miles being rough gravel with large rocks. David drove quite slowly and on our way into the park I spotted a kangaroo, and then another. We stopped and watched the pair a bit. As we got further into the park there were kangaroos everywhere on both sides of the road. We stopped several times and watched them. I would agree with David's description of kangaroos having a dog like face and ears kind of like a rabbit that can stand up. The kangaroos were very aware of our presence and watched us while they ate grass. They would only hop away if someone got out of the vehicle or if startled by our driving. There were hundreds of kangaroos in the area (a large group of kangaroos is a mob) and we spotted around 50 close to us. The young kangaroos, joeys, were with their mothers. Most joeys were fairly grown in size but we did spot one in the pouch. As it was getting dark we proceeded on to our campsite. On the way we spotted kangaroos eating grass in one of the camp sites. Considering the remoteness and the rough road to get there we were surprised to find people in at least four of the other campsites. When we got out of the car the sound of cicadas was deafening and we hoped it would not last all night. Luckily as it got darker the noise died down and stopped completely. We setup camp and then walked around exploring the campground a bit more walking out to the nearby river. Since there weren't any picnic tables and we didn't even have camp chairs we ended up just eating cold food in the car. There were fire rings but they were out of firewood that they usually supply and we hadn't picked up any on the way. Later we laid out on a blanket and stared up at the clear moonless sky. I don't know if I have ever seen so many stars or stars so bright. The next closest star gazing experience I had was at my Aunt Sharon's farm near Mille Lacs lake starring up at the milky way. The one familiar constellation was Orion which we could see in much greater detail. As it got later we could begin to see the Southern Cross constellation rising above the trees. Like any summer camping experience there were of course mosquitoes. The first day of our road trip adventure had come to a close under the starry Australian sky.

Our First Christmas Down Under

This was the first Christmas Eve dinner (feast) that we had made together. Our meal consisted of a rolled pork roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, a roasted macadamia nut and mango salad, and bread pudding with rum sauce for dessert. We prepared everything except for the bread which we purchased from a local bakery.

We spent the entire afternoon working on the meal and it turned out quite well and tasted delicious. It was definitely not the same as being with our families which each have their own Christmas Eve traditions. Since it was just the two of us we had plenty of leftovers to enjoy for the coming days.

During the meal we reminisced about past Christmases. This was not our first Christmas together without snow or being away from family. After we were married we spent our first Christmas in Rome as part of our honeymoon. We left my Aunt Sharon's place very early on the morning of December 24th for our 5am flight. It was quite a memorable morning as it involved a lost passport, which was found just in time for us to catch our plane. We ended up running through the airport to arrive at our gate as final boarding was called. We spent Christmas Eve at airports and flying arriving in Rome on Christmas morning in time to hear the new Pope Benedict XIV give the Christmas address. Like our first Christmas abroad it is quite green here and rainy. We saw the sun on Monday and Tuesday when we had beautiful clear blue skies. However, it has been grey and rained every day since then. On the plus side it has kept the temperature from getting too hot as often Christmas can be one of the hottest days of the summer (95 F or warmer) here in Australia. It was about 78 degrees Fahrenheit for a high on Christmas with a low of 72. I am not sure whether friends and family, particularly in Minnesota, will be envious of the temperatures or just the lack of snow. However it is quite humid especially with all the rain that has been falling. In my phone conversations with my mom she keeps reminding me of how beautiful everything looks with the pine trees and yard all covered in a nice blanket of white snow. I can picture it but am not presently missing the idea of shoveling the record amounts of snow that has fallen in Minnesota and -20F temperatures. However it does feel different not having any snow or cold weather for Christmas.

For Christmas Day we attended church and afterwards volunteered at the James Jacob Fellowship Christmas Lunch which was being held in the church basement. This was the 3rd annual luncheon organized by a couple, Jan and Leigh who lost their son in 2005. It is geared towards individuals who have mental illnesses some who are currently hospitalized or institutionalized or anyone else who needed somewhere to be for Christmas day and  had signed up in advance for the catered meal. As it was raining it likely deterred some guests from attending but it was a good time. There was a kitchen crew that prepared all the food and served up the plates of food. David kept busy as the cappuccino man making the cappuccinos and serving them to the guests and volunteers. I participated in singing some Christmas carols and serving some of the plates of food to people seated at the tables and just having conversation with different people. I'm guessing there were around forty or so guests for the meal plus a dozen or so volunteers. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and the food. The meal consisted of salad, turkey, ham, potatoes, carrots, peas, and Christmas pudding with custard sauce. On the table were chocolates, candy canes, Christmas crackers (complete with paper hat, joke and toy), and confetti poppers (which explode and shoot confetti streamers). All guests received a gift bag with some small presents that had been donated. 

Volunteering at a Christmas luncheon was much different than our usual Christmas Day celebrations with family. Since both of our families lived in close proximities we were always able to attend two Christmas in one day, one at my Grandparents and another with David's relatives. In talking with people at the lunch we did learn more about the holiday traditions here in Australia and about the Gold Coast region. The traditional Christmas meal really isn't any different from those I've had in the USA but the Christmas or plum pudding is a holiday tradition we do not have. At my family Christmases there is always a wide variety of holiday desserts including cookies (or biscuits as they refer to them here), pies, rosettes, fudge, and other treats. I have heard from different coworkers that when the weather is really hot at Christmas time some families serve cold meats or have picnics at the beach. I can understand why they would not want to heat up the house with roasting meat and all the traditional fixings. 

Later that evening David and I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation which was being broadcast on the television. This movie is a staple of my family's celebration of Christmas as they watch it every year on Christmas Eve.

We hope that all our friends and family (around the world) had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all many blessings ahead in 2011.

Christmas preparation

Christmas is almost here in Australia and we are making preparations for the holiday. Like in the USA shops have had their Christmas junk out since mid November and the cities have decorated the streets. Unlike the USA the radio stations are not playing that many Christmas songs and very few people have real Christmas trees. I have, however, heard one song and it cracks me up; here is the link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnJ8jsw4BSo, the video is lame but the song is what many Aussies like. We have purchased a fake tree for $10 from KMART and decorated it with $25 worth of lights and a few decorations I brought back with me on my recent visit to Minnesota. The day after Christmas is Boxing Day (another holiday) and it is supposed to be the biggest shopping day of the year. Between Christmas and New Years only retail shops will be open, but all other business will be closed down. No one will be at Jenny's lab and I have been told that farmers don't really want to have me come by unless it is an emergency. However since I did not work for the three weeks while I was in the USA I need to work whenever I can. Unfortunately Jenny and I cannot make a big trip during that week. We are planning a couple more small excursions and hope to be able to get out of town for a day or two.

David's trip to USA

I have just returned to Australia from a three week trip to the United States. I arrived in LA the day before Thanksgiving and stayed with my uncle Tim Reiman and his family. I had a great time staying up late and talking with family that I had not previously had a chance to get to know well. I found I had a lot in common with my Californian cousins and felt very welcome in their home. I would have liked to stayed longer, but my travel plans only allowed two days, so Tim dropped me off at the airport to continue on to Minnesota. Kristin picked me up and we had a lot of catching up to do, especially since she just recently got engaged. For the next week and a half I helped my parents however I was needed. My projects included fitting a new kitchen sink, building new steps for the 4020 and 4520 tractors, hanging new lights on the star atop the 80 foot silo and of course doing maintenance on the milking parlor. I also had a chance to finish a project, building an automatic cow brush out of used parts, that I had started before we moved. In the middle of my visit I attended the Reiman family Christmas at my old school in Pease. I surprised a lot of people with my presence. Almost everyone knew that Jenny and I had moved to Australia. The get together offered a much needed chance to get caught up with relatives. Throughout my stay I received packages that I had ordered. Several packages were tools I bought online for a quarter of their cost if purchased in Australia. One package was my first order of parts for Mueller milk tanks to sell in Australia. I also grabbed a few things that I could not find in Australia such a dryer sheets. At the end of my trip was the main reason for my visit, to be a groomsman in Tony Dahlman's wedding. Tony and I are really good friends from our time in FarmHouse Fraternity at the University of Minnesota. The wedding was in Northeastern Iowa so I took care of some business in Rochester before heading to the wedding rehearsal. Of course the next day was Saturday December 11th, the day of the severe blizzard that coated the roads in ice and buried us in slush and snow. The wedding was the most welcoming and friendly I have ever been to, partly because everyone who made it knew they were not going anywhere else. It was sad to see so many empty tables in the reception hall but with a smaller group people mingled more than you would normally see. The only easy part of Sunday was getting my car out of the snow. Overnight the wind had blown all the the snow away from the car; all I had to do was scrape off the ice and drive away. It took me all day to make a trip back to Princeton. Under normal weather conditions it would have taken only 4 hours. I did slide into the ditch but only once. I was proud to have had the chance to prove I could still fight a blizzard and take stories of the weather back to Australia where no-one can comprehend what I had just survived.

Adventures in and around Perth

View of Perth skyline from Kings Park

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Australasian Society for Immunology annual meeting in Perth last week. The society is made up of Immunologists from Australia and New Zealand. There were about 600 people it attendance. Perth is the capitol of Western Australia and was a five and a half hour plan ride (probably similar from flying from Seattle to New York) as the countries are similar in size. I have heard people say that Perth is similar to Los Angeles (maybe because of weather and west coast location). Upon arrival in Perth I noted some similarities to LA including palm tree lined streets. Also it has been quite dry for the past three months so that lawns are brown and it lacks the humidity found on the east coast of Australia where I live.Perth is known for its laid back lifestyle and is one of the most remote large cities in the world.  It is not a large city, about 1.6 million, but it is definitely feeling the effects of the mining boom of natural resources in Western Australia. There are cranes everywhere in the central business district or CBD as they refer to the central commercial area. In addition to attending the conference and learning about the great science and big names in immunology here in Australia I had the chance to visit Rottnest Island (18km, ~11miles) off the coast in the Indian Ocean.

One of the bays on Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island was nearly a two hour ferry ride from Perth. First we traveled from Perth which is inland on the Swan River and then from Freemantle on the coast out into the Indian Ocean to the island. It is a car free island, just a bus service and numerous tourists mostly on bicycle. It is a small island 11km long by 5km at its widest spot (~7 x 3 miles). It is actually quite hilly as I was soon to learn biking around the island and was a good work out.

Quokka

The unique animal for which the island is named are Quokkas. They are very small marsupials only a foot tall and were at first mistaken as being rats by Dutch explorers who named the island "rat nest" and that is why it is called Rottnest Island. We were fortunate to see a few Quokkas, first under a tree and then a couple near a picnic area overlooking the ocean. The second ones were not afraid of people and appeared used to being fed and were even petted by some of my travel companions. It was my first experience up close with marsupials in the wild though the ones we were very close to did not seem all that wild.

A smaller quokka

Biking around the island are beautiful turquoise waters, white sands, and remnants of shipwrecks on the coral reefs. Swimming is available at any of the beaches, just hop into the water, and snorkeling can be done on many of them as well. I went for a brief swim and it was quite refreshing.








The water wasn't as warm as my previous visit to the Indian Ocean in South Africa but was nice and the white sand was quite coarse made up of crushed sea shells.

Beach where I went swimming

London Court (pedestrian mall)

The city of Perth itself was nice and clean. It had a good mix of old buildings including churches and government buildings with character and new buildings. The pedestrian malls were busy and it was easy to get around by foot. The malls were decorated for Christmas.

It was at least a twenty minute walk from our hotel to the conference at the convention center each day. I could walk along the Swan River or pass by the parks near the Government House. The green spaces were quite nice.

Government House grounds

Small Business Owner

I just completed the first couple of days of work, so I feel i can tell people about what I have spent the past several weeks doing. After talking to two different milking equipment dealers in the area I have found neither one of them has the resources to hire me as a full time employee. But there is plenty of work if I can split up my time and work as an independent contractor. After studying small business models, Australian tax code and consulting with accountants, lawyers, an Australian tax office representative and a small business mentor I have decided to begin my own business. Being an independent contractor is fairly common in Australia and the tax rules make it pretty simple. So far I have WestfaliaSurge dealer about an hour away that wants me to work with him Installing, upgrading and repairing milking equipment in an area from 45min to 1 1/2 hours way from Gold Coast. I would work from home with my own Ute (pickup) and tools but he would stock the parts I need. A second Dealer about 3 hours drive away wants me to come down and work on installing a couple parlors, I would stay for a week and return home on weekends. Third, WestfaliaSurge Australian headquarters based in Melbourne wants hire some of my time as well, I would work at home probably doing over the phone tech support. I will learn more about this option next week when I meet with one of the managers. Hopefully between the three I will be busy and get to see a lot of different milking setups. All I got to do now is save up some money to buy a Ute.

David's Birthday

To celebrate David's birthday we cooked a nice meal at home. We ended up making a cake with no bowls larger than a cereal bowl; it was quite the challenge. We ended up mixing the cake in the aluminum cake pan with forks (no mixer either) that we baked it in. It actually turned out pretty well considering our improvising. We also had some excellent cider.

Hiking in the rainforest... in the rain

In spite of less than desirable weather (more rain) we decided to head out the rainforest. We drove to Lamington National Park located in the Hinterlands, about an hour drive inland from where we live. We visited the Binna Burra section and hiked a couple kilometers of trails to see the caves. The trail was quite wet, muddy, and slippery and it rained the entire time. We decided to walk the road back to the parking lot instead of another 3 kilometers through a wet and muddy trail. We didn't see any wildlife of note other than a wild turkey on our drive into the park. We plan on returning and doing much more hiking when the weather is nicer.

 

 

5th Wedding Anniversary!

Anniversary dinner

In celebration of our 5th wedding anniversary on the 8th of October we went out to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant (Omeros Brothers) on the marina. The food was excellent. David had calamari for his main entree and I had barramundi a local fish found in freshwater and mangrove estuaries. For dessert we both had chocolate terrines which were delicious.

 

October 1st- First day of new job

Outside my work building

My desk

Today was my first official day of work. I had been into work a few times to take care of some paperwork and meetings. The day was quite uneventful as my boss was on vacation for the entire week for school holiday and I did not see the lab manager, he was likely in Brisbane where he works 50% of the time. I did get my desk area setup and organized after assembling the shelves. (Andrea, please note the giant Malaria parasite resting on my computer). I was able to get my work email up and running, catch up on emails, attend a student seminar, as well as read and perform literature searches regarding my new research area of malaria immunology. The office area has an open plan design and probably can hold a hundred plus postdocs and graduate students.

View from behind my desk into office area

To walk home it takes about 15 minutes and the university has its own bridge that crosses over the Smith Street Motorway. Like most days of the past two weeks it began to lightly rain on my walk home but luckily I had an umbrella.

University bridge

The Gold Coast is know for its 280 plus days of sunshine but we have had maybe one day without rain since arriving just over two weeks ago. It is spring here and supposedly the wettest on record since the 1950s. Everything is quite green which is nice but it has been raining and wet so we haven't done much exploring.

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