The rest of J's week in Australia

Wednesday Dec 31st
We left K at my parents house in Bris at about 10am and drove to the coast for our first ever night away from K. I wasn't as much as a mess as I thought I might be. Of course, that was only because I was leaving K with my mum, who has raised and looked after hundreds of kids - there isn't a kid she couldn't look after (read: tame!) She is the mother of all mothers! She is actually who I aspire to be like as a mummy....but my goodness I have a LONG way to go.

Anyway, J wanted to go surfing while in Aus, and since he didn't bring his board, we had to first BUY a new one (how convenient, haha!)So we hit some surf shops down the gold coast highway. Being a better decision maker than me(we are total opposites - he is rash, I am guarded!), he was ready to buy at the first joint, but I convinced him to look at at least another shop. We found a small place where the board shaper himself came out to talk to us. Turns out his wife's Japanese, and he is looking to move to Amami Oshima sometime in the near future - nice! Anyway, he let J try out a board to see if he liked it, which he did, so J bought there. With new board in hand (or at least loaded into the back of the ute) we drove to Point Danger for some not-so-dangerous waves (only small swell)for J and some not-so-dangerous shopping (only bought a cheapie sun dress) for me.

NEW YEARS EVE
In the past, whenever I (and friends) have tried to do something for New Years Eve, it pretty much always turns out to be a fizzer. I think we put too much pressure on ourselves to have a good time. We have gone to fancy balls, gone out to the city, gone out down the coast, had parties at home....but this year, we hummed and haa-ed for a while, then decided to make it a quiet night getting together with me and 2 of my friends from high school, one of whom lives down the coast. So J and I got to her house about 6pm, enjoyed some cheese and biccies and a few glasses of bubbly before our other friend arrived (the bubbles went to my head and I was pished by 8pm, no lie!) Then we all walked down to the surf club to see in the new year. And you know what, I think it was one of the best NYs I have ever had!! Just being silly with old friends, singing classic 80s and 90s songs and having a few drinkies, followed by nachos back at the house as a midnight snack.

Thursday January 1st
We woke up early, about 6am to drive down to Byron Bay for some more surfing. The waves, again, were not really in our favour, so we had a yummy breakfast then tried to reach the back beach at Byron, and ended up 20km down the highway at Lennox Heads(I think we missed a turn). Despite the small waves and choppy conditions, J had a surf, me and friends sat on the grass and watched after taking a VERY BRIEF dip as the water was SOOOO cold. We headed back to Bris mid afternoon, and then went out for delish steak dinner with my parents at a pub.

Friday January 2nd
I had planned to meet with friend L yesterday, but was so buggered from driving up and down the coast that I postponed it until this morning. Since she lives inner city, we took the opportunity to visit the outdoor shops in the Valley, and I got a pair of Fairy Down (NZ brand that was recently bought up by MacPac, and only just available on the Australian market) travel pants, and J got a few bits and pieces. Then we met said friend in the Kathmandu shop, where she said "I don't think I have ever been in a shop and NOT wanted to buy anything before" haha. That is so funny because J and I can spend HOURS in those sort of shops. But put me anywhere near a department store these days, and I am outta there so fast. Got home late afternoon, had a bit of a play in the pool then headed out again to meet friends L and A for a delicious dinner and great night chatting away.

Saturday January 3rd
Hit the shops early this morning with mum while J stayed home with K. Had a few last minute things to get, including a gold chain for myself. I decided I wanted one to put my pendants on. I was looking for a strongish one, and had seen one at about $250, and other slightly finer ones elsewhere at about $140. I was thinking I would just get a thinner one, since I had no more time and couldn't find a thicker one anyway.Then, when the lady in the shop told me the necklace was only $65 I couldn't get to the register fast enough to buy it. When I got home, I looked at the receipt and found out that had apparently bought a pair of "Sterling silver cubic zirconia earrings"!! No wonder my necklace was so cheap! what a lucky bargain!

Lunch today was J's only frey into seafood in Aus this trip. We took mum and dad out to lunch at Wilson's Boathouse at Manly, which has a good reputation for it's yummy seafood. Shame about the service which was CRAP! Totally crap. But the food was amazing, we all agreed on that. The fact that it was pouring rain and 30knot winds didn't deter from the lovely setting, and we also got the chance to watch crazy yachties try to get their 2-man yachts out of the harbour for a race in the wild conditions. Now that is entertainment!

Back home from lunch just in time for my brother to come over - he had been away on holidays to Nth Qld the whole time J was in town, so hadn't had a chance to catch up until now.

Tonight was the big bonanza - 13 of us went to see the Australian Outback Spectacular Show. It was a great show, really good value for money, but the highlight was obviously that J was picked to be in the show!!! He had to take part in the Todd River Boat Race (anyone who knows about Australia would know that Todd River in Alice Springs is a dry river bed, so the race boats made of random materials, like Fosters beer cartons a-la- Fred Flinstone style). J enjoyed it too, and even hammed it up for the crowd and did a fabulous wave for the audience after the race which had my family in stitches. The other highlights of the night included having to wear cowboy hats, getting frozen daiqiris in plastic cups that flash!!! and me and my brother trying to outdo each other in the yobbo steaks. He would yell "you bewdy", I would let out a "yeaaaaooooh!" (first time I did it, he turned to me and asked me why I was miaowing "miaooooowwww" so of course I had to keep on doing it more and more cat-like for the rest of the night.) My nephew said at the end of the show that brother and I are just like each other, haha! All in all it was a great night and fantastic to get my sister, brother, nieces and nephew and 2 close friends together to go. K was an angel again for the night with my mum and dad (who have seen the show 2 or 3 times already).

A week was WAY to short, but I think we got to see lots of people and have some fun too. It was definately worth the big price of the plane ticket for J to spend some time in aus, his first trip back since we got married in 2005. I am sure that he enjoyed it too.

am confused (little interlude)

have spent the morning comparing prices and specs on laptops....yes, it is time to get a new one, as the old one (current one) is too too too slow and temperamental. But I am doing my head in trying to decide whether to go for the 320gb of harddisk WITH blu ray disk OR take the 500gb of hard disk but no blu ray for about 15000yen less. yes it has come down to that.

so confused!!

hopefully I can come up with a decision after lunch and post more about our trip then. at the moment i cant concentrate on anything that doesnt have a list of specs involved!!

cut to a couple of hours later and I made a decision! Thanks for the advice, Nooh and GirlJapan. I went for the 500GB, as mainly use computer for photos and stuff these days. Yay! New computer coming this way soon.

First part of J's week in Australia

Things were pretty maniac for J's time in Australia - a week is just not enough time!! But neither is a month! We had such a great time back seeing everyone in Aus that it was very sad to leave yesterday. Mum and Dad said the house is already too quiet with us gone. At least we have skype to keep in touch.

Anyways, the week in review.....I hope I can remember what we did last week - it was so full on!

Sunday Dec 28th
Having slept little with nerves (of excitement) we headed off to the airport to pick up J. It only takes about 20mins from my parents house to the airport, but I had come through pretty quickly back at the start of December, and I didn't want to have J waiting in the arrivals lobby thinking we had forgotten him so we left at about 7am, the same time his flight was supposed to arrive. We waited and waited and K did a sterling job of waiting for about 40mins, then got antsy, so K and I went to play on a seat nearby, as mum and dad stood on the lookout. There were a few false-alarms from mum ( she saw guy with glasses come through, who looked like perhaps a 13year old Singaporean off the Singapore flight) then Dad (saw a random guy who looked middle eastern!) but eventually J came out and K was super excited to see him, as was I! The day was basically spent interspersed with J napping, and my family and a close friend coming around for a bbq lunch.

Monday Dec 29th
J had a short list of things he wanted to do whilst in Australia, and one of those was to go out on the boat, and go fishing. Monday was a great morning weather wise, so we headed out at 8am for a cruise around the bay, with mum, dad, mum J and K and my sister and 2 kids. We stopped off the back of Peel Island and threw in a line (well, dad and the kids and J did while mum, sister and I ate corn chips and dip inside the boat) but nothing was biting, so we headed off to Horseshoe Bay, which is one of the most beautiful areas of Moreton Bay, imho. I thought we would be close enough to shore to jump in and wade across to the beach, but we were a bit too far for that, so J and the kids jumped off the back of the boat and swam there, while mum, sister and I ate turkey and ham (left overs)and salad sandwiches. It was a really nice half a day out on the boat. We all came home tired as (being on the water does that to you) so lazed around in the afternoon.

Tuesday Dec 30th
Since J didn't actually catch anything yesterday, dad took J and my nephew out in the boat again at 5am to try to get some serious fishing in. All we heard about was the story of "the one that got away"!!
A couple of friends from when I was on JET came around today for lunch - mum and I did a combined effort to make a vege quiche and it turned out really good. They brought around a bottle of NZ sav blanc which we demolished. I was teetering at 3pm! In the evening, Lulu and Shun from Cherry Blossom Adventures came over for a feast (haha) of okonomiyaki. We had met up a few times already but it was nice to have a few drinks and some cheese and biccies on the front balcony watching a gorgeous sunset and chat together. The only downside was all the mozzies, which came out of NOWHERE that night and ate into us all as we ate into the okonomiyaki.

...to be continued...

Christmas 2008

Yep, it was pretty much like this yesterday (and today, because Boxing Day is just a repeat performance).

Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden ute
Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It's summertime and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos
The swaggie climbs aboard - he is welcome too
All the family's there, sitting by the pool
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

Come the afternoon, Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce are swimming in their clothes
The time comes 'round to go; we take a family shot
Pack the car and all shoot through before the washing-up

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

from "Aussie Jingle Bells", by Colin Buchanan and Nick Bland
book and accompanying cd given to K from Auntie L and Uncle A, Xmas 2008.

all sausaged and shopped out

First a quick review of the past few days:

Sunday was a crazy busy day. We went to breakfast with friends of my parents from 8:30am (although we were 10mins late since Sunday was the ONLY day so far that K decided to sleep in.) Then we got home at about 11am, only to pack our esky up to go to my brother's house for a bbq. Since he lives over the other side of town, it takes about an hour to get to his place, so I was plying K with all the sandwiches and snacks about the place that I could find to try to keep her quite for the whole trip, so that for whatever reason, she fell asleep like 2mins before we arrived!
We had a nice drink and bbq around their pool area/outdoor deck. K was well behaved most of the time (except when she was "riding" the paper mache zebra, but that was probably my brother's fault for showing it to her) and fell asleep in the car on the way home at 6pm. I was nearly falling asleep driving home too. What a big day.

Monday my friend H came up from the coast, and we left K at home with mum to go to see a movie, "Four Holidays". It was entertaining and I enjoyed it. And the half-dozen cinnamon donuts we shared during it. After the movie, another friend met us and we did their Christmas shopping, had lunch at a cafe in the shopping centre, did more shopping, walked around more so that our feet hurt, so we indulged in a little pedicure (was lovely) and yet again was buggered by the time I got home near 6pm.

Today a friend I have known all my life (really, her parents live around the corner and they knew me when I was a bump!) and I caught up. We had a fantastic tapas lunch/glass of wine/cappucino then cruised around her favourite dress shops, where she bought a lovely dress, and I tried on 4 but bought none. 2 of them were ok, 1 was really nice, but I couldn't justify it - I really have nowhere to wear it in Japan. And it was $175(on sale!) That is too much for a dress to wear once on Xmas day then forget. It *was* a cool dress though, longish with a fab pattern in brownish almost paisley pattern that reminded me of a peacocks feather for some reason!?, halter neck type top with a band of glittery bling under the bust. It matched my toenails too (painted purple yesterday @ pedicure). Got home and skyped J which was nice, and just fell asleep before in front of the TV because I was stuffed yet again. I did manage to wake myself up enough to watch "Judging Amy", my latest TV addiction. I am gonna miss THAT when I leave. I doubt they have it at my local video rentals place.


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I love bbq sausages, and miss them when I am in Japan. There is something about the bog-standard aussie bbq sausage that floats my boat. But after having had sausages 3 days in a row since Friday night and the 2 bbqs on the weekend, I think I am a bit over them. Luckily Xmas here is not a bbq. I will probably ask for one more sausage sizzle before I go back to Japan though, just for good luck.

As for the shopping, all I have actually bought since back here is 1 singlet top and 1 tshirt, a pair of togs for me, a pair of ugg boots for K and several Aussie animals reading books for K. Even when I can go shopping without K I do not really find myself that interested in it. Even when I find nice clothes/shoes I can't bring myself to buy them, because a) I already have so many clothes that I never wear and b) I honestly can't see myself wearing the clothes once I get back to Japan. I have no need for strappy high heels and slinky dresses there. I used to think it was because people in Japan are more varied in their fashion (as in it is acceptable to go out to an izakaya in a t-shirt and jeans where as in Aus I would want to dress up to go out) but I think it is more my mind set. I don't want to dress up, I don't feel the need to dress up in Japan. Does that mean I have become fashionably lazy, or just fashion lazy?

addicted to blocks of Cadbury Chocolate

Was it always THIS good!?!?

the week that was

On Wednesday we (me, mum, K, niece and nephew) went to Australia Zoo (was gonna link to their site, but it was one of those that come up automatically with audio and it was of Terri yelling out "crikey". Not what I needed to hear. I could't turn it off fast enough. I wont - put anyone else through the trauma, so no link here). It wasn't too hot a day, nor were there too many people there, suprisingly for beign school holidays. We walked around all day, watched a crocodile and animal show, saw all the animals and ate our picnic lunch in the sit down food court area because we couldn't find any grass (that didn't have kangaroos lazing around on it).

K loved patting the kangaroos, although I think she may be a *bit* confused as she kept calling them "hippos". We are reading Sesame Street Little Ernie's ABC at the moment, and "H is for Hippo"!

Wednesday night I left K at home with mum and niece and nephew while I went out for dinner with friends for one of their birthday. We ended up at the same cafe we always go to when I come back, sitting in the same seat as last time too, al fresco out on the sidewalk and spent a great couple of hours chatting and laughing. K was an angel for mum, she went right off to sleep, most likely as she was tired from walking around Australia Zoo all day - man I was tired too!!

Thursday and Friday we didn't do much, just stayed around the house, went across the road to the park to play, and napped. It was nice to just enjoy the afternoon seabreeze we get at my parent's house (they are across the road from the water, and we always get the lovely breeze)

This morning we went Saturday morning shopping, a ritual in our household. We started off at the farmers market (which is only on once a month) down on the waterfront, enjoying some Andes music as we bought up yummy fresh fruit and veges. Then we went to a small shopping centre, where we bought the rest of the essentials. We used to go to this particular shopping centre every Sat morning (and every Thursday night for a while after Thursday night "late night trading" came in about 25years ago!)and I remember buying cinnamon donuts there often. I was gonna buy some today, but resisted.

This afternoon I went over a friend from high school's house today for a bbq. We had a fantastic reminiscing session, watching videos of one of our 21st birthday parties and reading through old letters we wrote to each other when we were at high school. My sides split from laughing so hard at some of the video footage (of us dancing at the party!!)and all the memories that came with the people in the video.
My friend has 2 gorgeous dogs (labs - one gold, one black), and K just loved playing with them all day (at one point she was "riding" on the back of one of them, like they were a horse. She enjoyed it so much so that she didn't have a nap, but she was so happy playing that she was ok without a nap. She crashed tonight though, haha!

Now I am listening to the 'carols by candelight' on TV as I type this up. Only 4 more sleeps 'till Christmas, wow! We aren't doing the Christmas gifts this year, except for the kids, which I think is good, as it is soooo hard now to buy stuff for people - even buying for my 8 year old niece and 12 year old nephew is hard enough: they just have EVERYTHING already. But I just realised I have only got some boxer shorts for my nephew, and nothing for my niece yet.....what to do?? Probably end up panic buying next week. Along with 1.5 million other Brisbanites.

more things from "home" that I realised I miss, now that I *am* "home"

salad sandwiches with beetroot, made on yummy fresh brown or multi-grain bread (that was today's lunch)

sitting on the front or back verandah all day, doing nothing more than enjoying he breeze (that was yesterday's line-up)

so many different birds, all squarking at the same time (outside now)

the fact that everyone is so friendly, almost to the point of being loopy (because you actually talk random stuff to people in the queue in coles, who by the way, are standing well out of your personal space)

and some things that I don't miss

repeats of "alf" - I can get that on nhk educational on Monday nights in Japan, I sure don't need to watch it here!

being woken up at 7:05am on my 2nd day here by the neighbour mowing the lawn....did you know you can make noise after 7am on a weekday?! Well, it is light by about 4:30am, and already near 30deg by 7am, so I sorta understand, but still.....

today

was hot. it still is actually.
I am sweating as I type this out, as everyone else has gone to bed and all the windows are closed!!

Today was a birthday party for my nephew, who turned 12 on Thursday. I sooooo didn"t know what to get him, so I just got a voucher for a boating/fishing shop as he is really into fishing with his dad. He said he wanted a family party this year, I think because K and I are here for it, so we all went over today for a bbq and swim. When I finally got K down for a nap at 3:30pm (rolls eyes) I spent some quality time alone with nephew and his turtle, "squirtle" out on the front lawn as squirts had his run for the day. It was nice. And despite K's late nap, which she didn't wake up from until 5pm (when I "whispered" in her ear to wake up) she went down easy for bed time tonight so all is good.

Today I watched an episode of "Desperate Housewives", and set the video to record Grey's Anatomy - I am not sure what series/episode it is, but I am so hooked, I am gonna take it home with me and work it out!! I am soooo having "Grey's" withdrawals.

Tomorrow is a lazy day, perhaps a trip out to the farmers markets in the morning, then a friend with her 2 labs might come over to visit. From Monday we have my neice and nephew here most days as school holidays have started, so we are going to go to "Australia Zoo" probably on Wednesday, which will be hot (and crowded) but hopefully fun for the kiddlie-winks!

oh, and one last thing:
Today I realised one of the things I miss about Australia - washing that has been dried on the hills hoist washing line, outside. It feels so fresh and warm and like something straight out of a washing powder ad. I DO miss that in Japan.

checking in

Well, a week has passed since we got on the plane for Aus. The flight over was surprisingly easy, I managed to get K to sleep (yay for my ergo!) after the meal was served, at about 11pm, and she slept through until I had to wake her up for landing at 6:45am. how cool is that!! The train ride out to Narita was memorable (K in ergo on my front, 50L backpack full of nappies on my back, lugging along a 23kg suitcase - my fault for choosing a mid-day flight when J couldn't take us to the airport,) but it worked out in the end as we had 3 seats to ourselves for the pretty empty weekday flight, and both K and I were lying down most of the flight over.

Spent the first few days seeing family (nieces and nephews, bro and sis) and just lazing around really as last week was quite hot. I also had a bout of reverse culture shock/why did I want to come home again? feelings over the weekend, but am happy again now, and settled in to our "summer niiiiiiiiiiii-ights"! This week has been more bearable heat wise too.

I even got my first K-free day yesterday, when mum minded K while I went shopping with my friend (and despite my will not to buy anything, I came home with two shirts, nothing fancy, just a tee and a light cammi type thing). It was sooo nice to have some girl time with a friend, without K ( only really my 2nd ever K-free time). Today mum and I went shopping at a local shopping center, where we bought not much, but spent about 4 hours there (most of it trying to get K to sleep in the stroller so we could actually LOOK at something in the shops)

The fam and I went to a local Japanese restaurant tonight, and it was an interesting experience to see how Japanese food is presented here in Australia.

We had:
a tuna and cucumber sushi roll, for K
yakitori - which turned out to be chicken on a skewer, served with a soupy type of sauce
*karaage - which was just like tempura chicken
*takoyaki - very nice!
*yakiniku - which was like a korean bul gorgi dish
*roast duck - at a Japanese restaurant?!? hehe. It was delish, though. in a yummy ginger soy sauce
*sukiyaki calamari (!! what the...?) - it tasted like a chili sauce/chow mein style sauce over veges and calamari
*curry - can't go wrong there
*rice - long grain, just not the same

We enjoyed it, and the meals were huge, so we all rolled out. K was great, sitting up at the high chair for almost 2 hours during dinner - she got given a hello kitty sembei near the end form the lady in the shop! she was SO stoked!

Haven't been online much as pretty worn out after long hot days of family fun, followed by a few days of not being able to access a computer, but hope to blog a few more times over the next few weeks here.

Tomorrow is my nephew's birthday (happy birthday!). In the morning, we are off to see auntie L and uncle J for morning tea. Probably end up going shopping somewhere on the way home, as we ave the kids next week once school breaks up for Xmas, so we have to get all our retail therapy out of the way before they are with us, as a 12year old boy and 7 year old girl and 20month old K will probably not be that much fun to take out shopping.