Kiwi

ki·wi/ˈkēwē/Noun

1. A flightless New Zealand bird (genus Apteryx, family Apterygidae) with hairlike feathers, having a long down-curved bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.

2. A New Zealander, esp. a soldier or member of a national sports team. 

3. The egg-sized, edible berry of the Chinese gooseberry, having fuzzy brownish skin and a slightly tart green flesh.

Kiwi

Kiwi 

Kiwi

Yes, an entire post dedicated to the Kiwi (kiwifruit that is).  I have always enjoy kiwi's so while shopping at the QV Market I saw these huge kiwi.  They were much bigger than any kiwi I saw in the US and they were cheap (5 for $2).  You don't get much here that is cheap so I bought them.  They tasted much different than the kiwi I am accustomed to eating.  They were super sweet, not sour or tart. Maybe because they are grown here and not picked as early. I don't know but I am going to become a fan of the kiwi (fruit and maybe of the New Zealander sport team bloke!).  Below is some of the fruit that Nic and I have been enjoying every morning for brekkie (breakfast in Aussie slang).

Brekkie

Smaller

Smaller….

One of my first comparisons is that things are smaller in Australia than in the US.  The size of packaging for household goods are sold in smaller sizes, the paper towel is smaller, the toilet paper is smaller and most annoying for me is the Barbie sized appliances.  I have provided some pictures of our appliances.  The fridge is about 5 feet tall.  I’ve used Rich as comparison (he is about 6 feet tall). I can hold about 2 days of food which means I’ve had to shop every 2 days for food! The stove is also tiny; I guess I did not need to bother packing my cookie sheets, pizza stone and turkey pan.  The most difficult is the washer.  I literally can fit one day of dirty clothes in there.  See picture below of washer filled with yesterday’s clothes.  I am doing laundry every day, good thing I’m a housewife for the next couple of months! Maybe I will get lucky and find an apartment or house to rent with full sized appliances? I can only hope!

Rich next to our Barbie fridge

that is 1 day of clothes

Tiny oven...looks bigger in the picture; I'd show you how small but all the baking pans in the apartment are Barbie sized as well!

The Joys of Air Travel

What a travel day (actually 2 days).  The three of us along with our 8 pieces of luggage and 3 carry on bags and 3 personal items were picked up at our home in Alpharetta.  The driver was about 20 minutes late as there was a tractor trailer accident on the highway (Interstate 400).  Since that particular highway is the quickest way to the airport we had to find an alternative route.  The trip to the airport usually takes about 40 minutes but on Friday it took 2 hours!  Fortunately our flight was not for several hours so we were ok.  We got through our baggage check in (an additional $225 due to the weight of 3 of our bags) and security and enjoyed the Delta Sky Club.  Our flight was due to leave at 5:45pm so we made our way to the gate around 4:45pm to find out that our flight was delayed until 7:00pm due to the lack of a first officer.  They really had no idea what time a replacement would show up...but that did not stop them from boarding us on the plan at 6:30pm.  Once everyone was boarded they informed us that they did not know what time were were leaving.  Why would they put us on a plane to tell us they did not know what time we were leaving?  Anyways about 20 minutes later, we had a first officer!  Now it was about 7:30pm.  Our connection to Melbourne was scheduled to leave LA at 11:30pm (pacific time) so we were still ok and then the thunderstorms started!  So we sat on the plane for about 40 minutes while a severe thunderstorm took place.  We were finally cleared to take off around 8:30pm.  We arrived in LA and had to walk to another terminal, well run as we needed to check in 90 minutes before our flight and it was very close to 10pm.  We finally got to the terminal and were told that they closed down check in due to the weight in the plane. What??? They offered to re-route us through Sydney and then connect us to Melbourne. I said no, we would wait and see if we could check in.  About 10 minutes later they said we could check in.  We boarded the plane and were in the back of the Airbus 380.  What a nice aircraft, 2 floors (yes were were on the bottom level at the back in the cheap seats). It was a long flight but not terrible.  The crew was very nice and the food was decent.  We arrived in Melbourne at 9:15am.  We went through immigrations and off to get our luggage when we heard Rich's name being paged to report to the oversize luggage department to be told that 4 pieces of our luggage did not make it to Melbourne.  We went to pick up the remainder of our bags to find out that 2 of the bags were my things!  We went through customs and got in a cab to our temporary apartment.  We did some shopping and I cooked dinner and we were all in bed by 7:00pm.  It's good to be here safely, even if I don't have any clothes to wear!  Here are some pictures Nicole took out of the window of the plane as we were coming into Melbourne.

And there it all goes...

Well the truck with the container drove away with all our worldly possessions.  I'm sad that our time in Atlanta is ending.  We'll be staying in a hotel tonight, bringing our last car to the Honda dealer tomorrow and then being picked up by a very large (I hope) van to drive us and our 8 pieces of large luggage and 3 carry on's, 1 computer bag, 1 rolling computer bag and 1 backpack!  Our flight leaves Atlanta at 5:45pm Friday.

And so it begins...

The movers have arrived and are busy at work.   I've taken pictures of the container just incase anyone sees it floating at sea!

Atlanta

With just 4 days left in Atlanta I thought it was time to reflect on my time here.  Nicole and I drove to Atlanta on Mother’s Day weekend in 2007. I remember that very long car ride from NY (1200 miles).  I remember feeling very alone and lonely when we first arrived but soon our lives settled in and it became home. 

We met some wonderful people in Atlanta and made some good friends.

 We found a family in Camp Sunshine when Nic was diagnosed with cancer and we were fortunate enough to have the very best doctor and medical care to treat her and make her healthy again.  You all know who you are and know that you will continue to be loved and we will miss you dearly.

So our last couple of days we are enjoying our friends, eating at our favorite places and shopping at all the store we know we won’t have in Melbourne.

Blog Title?

The blog has been started but we are still kicking around names for it.  We don't want anything that has the words "down under" or "oz" in the title...but are open to other suggestions.  

Please sign up to be a follower! 

IT'S THE IN BETWEEN THAT COUNTS

I have been following a number of blogs of American expats living in Australia since we found out that we were moving. I did this so that I could get impressions, opinions and ideas, so I decided that I would create a blog for other expats considering a move to Australia and also for a way for our family and friends in the U.S. to see what were up to as we navigate our way through another country.

On one of these blogs that I have been reading (http://yellowbrickroad2oz.blogspot.com/) there a quote that I'm borrowing as it really summarizes how I am feeling right now. It goes something like this...

Someone once said that beginnings are scary, endings are always sad but it's what's in between that counts.

So as we say goodbye to our families and our beloved dogs (Missy & Izzy), pack up our stuff, have last minute dinners with our friends, stock up on the things we know we can't buy in Australia and move to a far, far away land we are scared and sad but we are also looking forward to what is to come.