The Easter What???

The Connor family has just closed out our first Easter in Australia - successful by Kaia's standards which is good because I have been berating myself for not putting enough stuff in the Easter baskets this time. But I'll cut myself some slack since I just didn't have the time or wherewithal to put a whole lot of effort into the holiday this year.

On to more interesting things:

Kaia came home from school the other day claiming she saw the Easter Bilby during class.

I was sure I didn't hear her right so I just said "You saw the Easter Bunny at school? Oh that's good because I talked to him the other day to make sure he knows we moved to Australia and he promised me that he knew our new address and he'll be here on Easter..." -- etc. etc...

Kaia looked at me like I had three heads and said "Mom, I didn't say Bunny I said BILBY."

Huh???

So Kaia gave me the lo-down. The bilby is a native Australian marsupial who has long ears. The species is endangered and there are currently only about 600 bilbies in existence today. Because they are endangered there is a national effort to promote "bilby awareness" and Australians have introduced the Easter bilby. People can now purchase chocolate Easter bilbies at the grocery store during Easter and the proceeds will go toward restoring the bilby species.

So next year in addition to our chocolate eggs and treats, I'll be putting a couple of bilbies in the baskets...

Happy Easter to friends and family in the States and beyond!

Reunited and it feels so Good

The movers delivered our sea shipment yesterday. This is the part of our household which was required to packed up on January 3rd to begin its long trek to Oz. Our furniture, beds, kitchen and the majority of Kaia's toys were boxed or wrapped up and put into one of those big metal containers you see on freight trains. The train then took our container to Los Angeles where it waited with other containers to be put on a cargo ship and begin the long haul across the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, I don't remember half of the things I packed and now there are so many boxes that it looks like something exploded in our house.

But let's not worry about the explosion just yet. The gentlemen who delivered our goods were two good Irishmen, Joe Daly and Jay Fahy. Both Joe and Jay had a touch of the Irish flu as they had been celebrating everything green the day prior. Plus Joe is married to an Irish lass from Belfast.

So I was mistaken on Aussies not celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Joe and Jay were most gracious to let me know of the host of Irish pubs that are more than happy to celebrate anything Irish any day of the week.

Thanks Joe and Jay!

Kaia is thrilled to have all her stuff back and Joe and Jay were amazed at how many boxes were labeled "TOYS". Of course Butterscotch received a warm welcome, some brushing down and a carrot.

We all had great sleep last night on our own beds and pillows from home --- true bliss.....

Too Ra Loo Ra Loo La...

St. Patrick's Day is not celebrated here in Melbourne - what kind of TRAVESTY is that? :)

So, the Connor Family will be thinking of our Irish folk in the States and maybe adding some green food coloring to our wine, milk and beer tonight.

In the meantime, here is an old Gaelic blessing and our wish for you:

May the roads rise to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face.
The rain fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Countdown to Butterscotch's arrival: T-minus-4-days

Some of you may have met Butterscotch before we left the States. Butterscotch Pony is a voice-activated plush horse which also moves her head and ears, and blinks her eyes. Butterscotch even whinnies and neighs like a real pony. Plus, little ones can sit on Butterscotch and pretend to go for a ride.

Guess who got Butterscotch Pony for Christmas?

Kaia was thrilled to receive her "real" pony. The unfortunate part was that she didn't get to spend a lot of time with Butterscotch (or any of her Christmas gifts) because we had to have the house packed up to go to Australia by January 3rd. We had to explain to Kaia that Northern Trust wasn't going to pay for a business-class plane ticket for Butterscotch so the horse had to go on a "special" trip on a boat with all the rest of our things.

Anyway, today we received word that all of household goods have passed Australia customs with the exception of one thing: a small ladder. This is your typical $30 four-step wooden ladder that I bought for my first apartment in Chicago so I could change light bulbs and reach the tops of cabinets. The ladder has been sitting in our garage in Naperville and may have had some dirt on the feet when it got packed. So AU Customs stuck it in quarantine and the ladder failed whatever quarantine tests it was subjected to.

Poor ladder.

Since AU Customs won't store things for unglamourous ex-pats like us, we were presented with two options:

1. Have the ladder "disposed" of.

2. Have the ladder steam-cleaned.

To throw the ladder away is $93.00. To have it steam-cleaned to Aussie standards is $150.00.

Needless to say, our $30 ladder will become a sparkling clean $180.00 beauty.

I need to change the light bulbs here to.

Talkin' bout a heatwave!

Ben and I just got back from our first Lauriston Prep Parents Cocktail Party. It's 10:00 pm Thursday evening and it's 93 degrees outside.

I need another glass of champagne!

A glass of grass please

Warburn Estates Sauvingon Blanc from South Australia. Would recommend to all of you who are awaiting spring as the grassy overtones of the wine are very apparent.

Spiders and Beetles and Gary - OH MY!

I don't mean to make this blog all about Australian insects but the way the creatures are introducing themselves just begs for a write-up.

My latest run-in with an arachnid happened two mornings ago. This time the furry (yes, FURRY) invertebrate was IN THE HOUSE walking down the doorframe of Kaia's bathroom. Measurements? Not including the legs, the body was a good inch long.

EWWWWWWW!

I know spiders are predators and eat insects and all but when a large fuzzy crawler is in your house, you are not thinking about all the mosquitoes it will eat.

You are thinking the spider will eat you.

Alas, Ben was home and to the rescue -

(Side note: What am I going to do when Ben is at work and one of these things decides to show up????? Am I courageous enough to do battle with the underworld?)

Things are getting creepy enough that I've bookmarked this reference site on my computer:
http://museumvictoria.com.au/Spiders/index.aspx

It has a handy search and classify function that lets you input what you know about your eight-legged friend so you can determine what type of spider has been traipsing around your house.

How convenient.

Additionally, Kaia's bathroom seems to be a party place for all things animal as this morning we found a 2-inch gecko on the floor. Ben was home and the gecko is now outside roaming our courtyard.

I've named the gecko Gary. Kaia has named her Jenna.

Going Postal

The Australian mail system (called Australia Post or AU Post for short) is taking some getting used to. It's quite different from what we are used to in the States. First off, Aussie mailmen ride around on scooters on the sidewalks to deliver the mail. So you need to watch where you are walking otherwise you might get clipped. Between that, driving on the other side of the road and watching out for trams, I'll be lucky if we don't have any ER visits in the next week....let alone the next 3 years!

But I digress....back to the AU Post:

Besides the mail people riding on scooters, there is also no Saturday mail delivery so Aussies (and the Connors) only receive mail Monday-Friday....I believe this is part of the laid back lifestyle which Australia embraces and expats such as myself are somewhat stunned by ("What do you mean the Target is only open until 6p?").

Plus these mail people do not pick up mail from your house...you have to drop your letters off in a red Australia Post Box. Several people I talked to were fascinated when I told them that USPS picks up mail from your house if you leave the red flag up on your mailbox.

And finally, the scooter-driving mailmen do what only and exactly what their title implies: deliver mail. Only. So if there are packages or treats from eBay or any other thing larger than a catalog, you are directed to the AU Post location where the package is awaiting your arrival.

No UPS Man here.

However, we'll survive....and if anyone would like to send Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter or Culver's just let me know and I'll be happy to pick up wherever AU Post directs me.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Arrogant Frog Ribet White which can be found for under $13.

In places other than Australia.

Today I drove to Kmart and some more observations

I'm getting pretty good at this driving thing....OK, at least on roads that don't have the word "way" at the end of them (IE: freeway, expressway).

Everyone I've talked to says I need to go to Kmart to get the basics I'm looking for like cleaning supplies, toothpaste and the like. So after I took Kaia to school and armed myself with my formerly-known-as-Target list I ventured out to the great unknown. I did get lost, but only briefly and here's why:

Lots of the more well-known stores here (like the Targets, Safeway Supermarkets) are attached to malls which is a bit different than in the States. It's interesting because you see people in the mall who have just done all their grocery shopping at Safeway and they are walking around with a cart full of groceries --- in the MALL.

Another interesting thing is the grocery stores do not sell liquor. It is not legal to do so. However, most of the time there is a liquor store right next door to the grocery store. Usually near the supermarket is a separate butcher and fishmonger so you can buy fresh meat before shopping for the latest outfit.

Interesting no?

Some additional supermarket observations:

The Aussies do not refrigerate their eggs. They are displayed on a shelf in an aisle. Beth, being a foodie, do you care to comment on this? Personally, I think of SALMONELLA when I walk down that aisle.

The fruit and vegetables are really fresh and the majority (95%) are grown in Australia. Nothing like supporting the economy!

On to Kmart:

The Kmart I visited is part of the Chadstone Shopping Complex which is also home to a Target, Borders, Myer (similar to our Macy's) and David Jones (similar to our Neiman Marcus) and a Safeway Supermarket. Then there are the smaller stores within the mall which I haven't seen yet. Needless to say, the mall is HUGE - much larger than Yorktown or Fox Valley.

I'm looking forward to getting lost in there :)

Anyway, the Kmart is exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to buying the necessities of life. It's a bit more reasonably priced than what I've been experiencing.

Which means I can buy one additional bottle of Sauv Blanc with the money I'm saving!

Along Came A Steatoda Grossa.....

Some of you may know that Australia is home to several species of poisonous spiders -- not too mention snakes and sharks. While the media has done a wonderful job of scaring the public (IE: National Geographic's aptly entitled "Australia's Backyard Killers), the vast majority of Aussies seem to be walking around happy and spider-bite free.

Last night before I went to bed I turned off the living room light only to notice one of Australia's arachnids hanging in its web in the transom window above our front door. To say that I jumped back about a foot is an understatement. This thing was LARGE by U.S. standards. With leg-span, it would have easily taken up the palm of my hand (that's 3 inches across)...and to make matters even more interesting, I wasn't sure if it was inside or outside the front door.

I called upstairs to Ben - who luckily was home and not in Sydney like he is today. He came down and we both stared at the spider trying to decide what our options were. But first we had to figure out if it was inside our outside the front door of the house.

Guess who did that?

Ben determined the spider was outside the front door by using Kaia's Croc to see what the depth of the transom window was above the front door. He was so relieved until I pointed out that Kaia and I were not using the front door until the spider was not in residence inside OR outside the door (what if it decided Kaia was a perfect morning snack?).

So we walked through our options:

Option 1: Ben thought he would "catch it" with a drinking glass. I pointed out that the spider was indeed larger than the opening of the drinking glass and with legs as long as my fingers, it would probably sprint away onto Ben's arm, run down his body across the floor and tackle me.

We decided not to use the glass.

Option 2: Our rental townhouse has a central vacuum feature in which you stick the vacuum hose into the wall, it turns on and you can vacuum to your heart's content. All the dust, dirt and anything else you feel like sucking up gets deposited into an enclosed container downstairs in the garage. Once it's full, you empty into the container into a garbage can.

We chose the vacuum option and will draw straws on who needs to empty the vacuum container at a later date.