Happy Birthday, Matt!

Matt's birthday has come and gone! We had a fun few days too!  The weekend before was his company Christmas Party on Hamilton Island.  I think we might have enjoyed the ferry ride as much as the island itself.

Hamilton Island is a popular tourist trap, but there's a reason for that.  It's gorgeous!  Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much more than a few hours exploring.  We did learn that there's plenty reason for a repeat visit: scuba, snorkeling, paddle boarding, helicopter tours, jet skis, sailing and fishing.  Oh!  And everyone drives golf carts!  We can't wait to go back and spend some time.  That is, when we have more time to spend!

Grandmas have no fear!  Matt and I are eating well!  I made a cherry pie for his birthday, a black cherry pie to be specific because that's all they had in a can.  It was delicious!

Turns out the reason they don't have canned cherries is because no one has ever heard of cherry pie!!!  Matt took a piece in his lunch and ended up sharing the whole pie because they'd never tasted it before.   What a nice guy!  He earned another pie!  Lucky for him, my baking skills are improving!

Enjoy the slide show!

Thanks for a Thanksgiving Success

I guess my math skills are still up to par. I somehow managed to successfully convert all standard measurements to metrics, at least close enough not to burn or destroy any of the dishes.

Grandparents, don't you worry, we ate like kings. The turkey came out perfect, Matt's gravy was divine. I added paprika and poultry seasoning to Gma's Dressing recipe and I'll never go back.

It was a lot of work, everything was made from scratch. Including the fried onions for the green bean casserole. My only cheat was using frozen veggies and a packet for the dressing mix. I didn't even burn the corn bread! Just look at this smile!

The pumpkin pies came out good too, but I forgot to take pictures. I've been worrying about my pumpkin pies for two days since the last time they came out a bit more savory than sweet. No complaints this time though!

That's it for now. Our first holiday abroad has come to a close. Love you and miss you all!

Adventures of the Super Market

Well, it’s been an interesting few weeks settling in to our new home.  We were supplied with the basics: furniture, microwave, dishes, silverware, one spaghetti pot, one sauce pan, one fry pan and a water kettle.  I know I should be having fun picking out new house wares but it’s just hard to put your heart and more importantly your money into it knowing you’ll be giving everything up again in 2 years.  I’m still getting over the fact that all of our life’s collections are still sitting in a thrift shop in Moab, Utah.  

At least there’s the Holidays to look forward to.  My spirits are high as I sit here waiting for my pumpkins to roast so I can make my own puree for the pies (and maybe a little set aside for my homemade pumpkin lattes too).    My subconscious has been telling me that along with the Holidays comes winter and along with winter comes hearty comfort food.  No such luck with the winter here, but I was able to take advantage of poor Matt getting sick to make lots of warm soups and chicken with dumplings.  Matt’s all better now, four days of sleep, broth and OJ and I’m back on my own again.  It was nice to have him home for a few days even if I avoided him like the black plague.  Germs were not on my to-do list.

Back to the point of today’s post:  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, kind of.  It’s not celebrated here, for obvious reasons, so there’s no vacation time for Matt.  We’ll be having a small dinner with Matt’s coworkers, one of which is American and the other likes Cardinals baseball so we figure that’s close enough.  

Yesterday I took my reconnaissance trip to the market with a complete list of everything I’d need for the feast, knowing full well I wouldn’t be filling my list mainly because my refrigerator just isn’t big enough.  Boy was I in for a world of unexpected trouble and that’s without going into detail about it being the busiest I’ve ever seen the store!

So, it goes without saying American Holiday = American recipes = American measurements.  No problem, I’m getting used to this.  No pre-made shortcuts or ready in the box mixes, no problem.  I can cook from scratch, it tastes better that way.  No cornmeal, no turkey baster, no marshmallows!?!?!  OH NO!!!!!  Have no fear my friends – it was only a reconnaissance trip.  I’ve armed myself with the internet and I’ve got my substitutions and game plan lined up.

I did, however, think there were a few things you might find interesting:

·         You can use polenta in place of cornmeal

·         You have to go to the counter to buy a lighter for your candles

·         Most of the cold medicine contains only Echinacea, willow bark and the like.  The good stuff must be at the Chemists (aka Pharmacy)

·         Band-aids don’t peel open.  After you’re proven that you shouldn’t be allowed around sharp object you now have to cut your bandage strip open.

·         Most of the deodorant is roll-on or spray-on.  Clinical strength can cost up to $14

·         You can only buy alcohol at the bottle mart, and liquor can cost up to twice as much

·         Wine is cheap

·         A bottle of beer is called a stubbie

·         Most of the rum can be bought pre-mixed with cola in a can (my fave so far)

·         Bing cherries cost $8.99/kg.  A bunch of grapes cost $13

·         Crispy delicious bacon is hard to come by except in a restaurant, I’m supposed to keep my eye out for “streaky” bacon

·         Cream soda is called creaming soda

·         Lemonade is fizzy – and delicious!

Welcome to Bowen!

We finally have a place to call home! After a week and a half too long in little Collinsville we have successfully secured ourselves a beach house in Bowen. That also means we finally have a return address, so the Thank You notes are on their way too.

We had a bit of a scare in our apartment hunt. There was only one furnished apartment and one beach front apartment available on the market. Those were our two requests. Doesn't seem like a tall-order for a town surrounded by 5 beaches. Yet, the day we dropped off our application for the furnished beach house, we also received the news that someone else put in an offer to PURCHASE! Yikes! After a gruesome weekend, we got the call that the sellers were not accepting the offer. Apparently they are asking high dollar - $800,000!

Unfortunately, we learned that just because you buy a furnished apartment doesn't mean you don't have to spend a lot of money setting it up. 5 trips to the grocery store now and we still don't have it all. Towel, linens, food, cleaning supplies. The list goes on and on.

Now we just need a boat.....

Reality Sets In

After 16 hours of driving, that's 1400 km or about 870 miles, we have finally made it to our new hometown.

View Larger Map

Matt's company set us up with some temporary housing until we find our own apartment. I'm currently sitting out on the front stoop eating Nutella and Arnott's Milk Coffee biscuits. You might be asking yourself "Why is she sitting on the front stoop?" I have to tell you, we knew the temp unit would be small, but I think we were in for a reality check.

The unit is half of a trailer. There's a full-size bed and a night stand. That's it for furniture! After we got over the initial shock - which was exponentially increased by the discovery of the 2" cockroach in the teakettle - we've realized this place is actually livable. There's a mini-fridge, a sink and an oven. Both pubs and the grocery store are in walking distance. We have our own bathroom which has hot water and was surprisingly immaculate. So what if the front stoop doubles as my office? So what if the TV doesn't work? So what if all of our luggage is still in the car? So what if Matt's too tall for the bed? At least there's a view of the lawn bowling club! It's a big deal on a Monday night, let me tell ya!

Here's a panoramic sweep of the place, the whole place:



I've done a bit of apartment hunting and we have hopefully found the one. I'm taking Matt to look at it on Saturday. Hope we have all the proper documents to get an application approved! This place is awesome! I don't want to spoil the surprise so no pics yet.



For those of you petrolheads - we got our Defender 90! It's a beaut! We got the last one in Queensland. It's a diesel bullet-proof tank and I can't park it but I sure get a lot looks driving through town. I'm feeling like a 15 1/2 year old driving a big truck for the first time. I only have a US license so I'm partially legal. I know what the road rules are, I think. I'm still getting used to the steering and the clutch is on the wrong side. But I sure am having a good time!

On the road again....

I know this may come as a surprise to many of you, but I am currently procrastinating.

We have been living in this hotel room for 3 weeks and its finally time to pack up and hit the road again.  Turns out Matt's mine site actually wants him to be on-site at some point.  And Monday isn't coming soon enough for them.

You can imagine after three weeks we've started to settle in just a bit.  Time to pack up our 9 suitcases again and take the 15 hour drive up North towards our new home.  That also reminds me - I wonder which bag the Garmin is in????

We've enjoyed our time here in Brisbane. It was a great place to start getting used to the lingo.  It's kind of like talking to Snoop Dog - everything has a nickname.
Breakfast = brekky
McDonalds = mackers
Woolworths = woolies
Aggressive = aggro

I just got a little surprise as I was typing this up to.  Just another reason why I have the best husband in the world.   He sent me flowers - and proceeds went to Breast Cancer Research.  What a guy!

In the swing of things...

Matt and I had hot dogs last night. Sure, they were called frankfurts at the store. Sure, they were a little redder than what you would expect. But for me there was a sense of comfort and normalcy. Not that I don't love the fact that I can stop anywhere within a 2 block range for a nice kebob. But what isn't more American than a hotdog and doritos?

Really the food isn't so much different. There's more access to Indian and Asian food. They like meat pies better than apple pies. Maybe they just don't know what they're missing? Aunt Mary, I'm going to need that recipe now!



We're getting into the swing of normal living again. Matt's in the office. I'm on the phone all morning. We went car shopping this week. Put a deposit down on a new Land Rover Defender 90. If you don't already know what that is, you probably wouldn't understand the appeal. We don't have the car yet, since we have to go through Matt's company to get the lease approved. Keep your fingers crossed!

I'm loving day-time TV here. Anyone remember Two Guys and a Girl? Ryan Reynolds was still cute even when he played a bumbling idiot. Other shows which can regularly be found on TV here: The Love Boat, Smurfs, Cheers, Xena, Murphy Brown, Perfect Strangers, Rosanne and The Brady Bunch. It makes me feel like I'm playing hookey in high school again.

Evening is just as American, only a little more up-to-date. Big Bang Theory is on 2 or 3 times a night. I'm getting hooked. Simpsons is Matt's default. They're airing last season's episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Glee and Two and a Half Jerkwads (that's what the MX News called it anyway).

There are some Australian shows, like Home and Away, but you just can't bare to watch them. We are still adjusting there, I suppose.

Oh and we keep making fun of all the commercials who only call out Australian actors. For example: "Watch the New Charlie's Angels staring Australia's Rachel Taylor." That's it, no mention of the other two girls. And now they're advertising for Wedding Crashers staring Australia's Own Isla Fisher. But hey, who are Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson anyway?

~ Jenn

PS - note that I've made this page easier to access. You can now go directly to www.AuSchucks.com

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

We went to the coolest place ever on Saturday! It's called the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Tons of Koalas hanging out in trees, looking all cute and cuddly. They're really not that cuddly though, and they weigh more than a toddler. But at least they smell like Eucalyptus.

Truth is, the koala's weren't even the highlight for me or Matt. I loved the dingos. They had a new little puppy who just came in 4 days ago. They were still trying to socialize it. I talked to one of the carers, turns out dingos are generally pretty friendly. They're legal to own as pets in New South Wales. You have to obtain a special permit to own one in Queensland,or else I'd have left straight from the sanctuary to the pet store.

Matt's favorite was the platypus. He's kind of obsessed with them, at least that's my opinion. He was pretty cool. Much bigger than I expected and he's a quick little bugger in the water. You'll have to check out the video. Did you know that when he goes underwater he closes off his eyes and nose and uses electro-senses just like a shark? I sure didn't.

The other super cool part about this place was there was an open reserve with kangaroos, wallabies and emus running loose. You could just walk right up to them and feed them. We watched an emu come up from behind this one girl and steel her bag of kangaroo food. She screamed, the emu ran away and the kangaroo ate both the food and the paper bag. The guided map said not to touch the kangaroos, but they were just so darn cute. And they really didn't care. Some of them just let you walk right up to them and scratch their ears. If you look closely in one of the roos I petted there's a baby in the pouch with it's feet hanging out. We were a little nervous about getting up close at first. Matt bent down next to one of the wallabies and I thought it was going to give him a kiss!

So I left there a bit disappointed that I won't be getting a dingo as a pet. But, don't look so sad, my friends. Turns out that wallabies make great pets too! They love to cuddle and you can walk them on a leash. They grow to be 2.5 feet and only 40 pounds. Wouldn't Bentley love having a boxing buddy? I sure think so....

Until then
~jenn

Brisbane Botanical Garden & Mangrove

So, there's this really pretty little garden a few blocks from the hotel. Turns out it Brisbane's Botanical Garden. Its free and open to the public. There's lots of palm trees and bamboo plus poinsettas. It's gorgeous garden and there's even a river stage in the back. Motley Crue played there last Wednesday, unfortunately tickets were $140 minimum. Slightly out of our price range!They weren't kidding when they said everything was more expensive here.

Oh well, we did enjoy our stroll and found a really cool bridge off the side of the river. And on the south side of the river there's a cool little area with multiple pools and fountains for the kids to play on. Check out the slide shows below.

We've got one more week left here in Brisbane. Matt's got an orientation class scheduled at work. Unfortunately it's scheduled for Thurs/Fri/Sat. We're still searching for apartments up north, and researching our options for cars. Will let you know more as we start getting things figured out.

~Jenn & Matt
PS - Don't forget to put in your email if you want to get notifications of new posts from us!


Mangrove & Beach


Botanical Gardens

Brisbane Pictures!

We've got some pictures for you!  So, we had the weekend to run around Brisbane a bit.  We're staying at a hotel in City Centre this week and next.  So we have just been wandering the neighborhood so far.

Matt went to the office first thing Monday and they weren't expecting him.  I guess that start date was a little more fuzzy than we thought. Turns out they weren't expecting him in the office til Friday.  Nice for us, as we'll get a few more days exploring time.  Too bad I still have to work in the mornings.

We've got a pretty sweet situation with the hotel.  One bedroom on the 40th floor.  Great view of the river!  So far we've learned how to use most of our appliances.  The stove vent was a tricky one! 

A few observations we've noticed so far:

• Everything is expensive.  The camera we bought in LA costs double here.
• My bags are entirely too full as it is, so I can't buy anything anyway.  
• Mobile phone shopping is a nightmare.  Pre-paid or post-paid?  Unlocked or tethered? And who ever heard of a manufacturer called Huawei which is pronounced "whar-way"????
• No matter were you go, you will never escape the fast food industry.  McDonald's has family meals.  Burger King is called Hungry Jack's.  Pizza Hut & Dominoes are everywhere as well.
• There is a 7-eleven on every corner.  And sometimes two.

Hello Brisbane! Hello Rugby World Cup!

First of all, thank you so much to those of  you who were able to come to the party over Labor Day Weekend.  Matt and I had a fabulous time and will forever cherish the memories. I don't think we could have asked for a better send-off!

 We landed in Brisbane yesterday morning.  The flight was uneventful, a good thing, although we were packed in like a couple of sardines.  We were greeted by the paparazzi, so I was feeling quite at home after my time spent in Hollywood.  US Open Winner, Samantha Stosur, exited immigration directly behind us. Check out the video:  Samantha Stosur Comes Home.

More to do with the sports, its the beginning of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.  After our nap, we woke up and started trying to better understand the game.  So far, we don't understand it all, but we're liking it.  We prepped our cheering skills during the Fiji vs. South Africa game, then headed across the street to the Irish pub for the Ireland vs. Australia game.  If we weren't hooked before, we are now!  It was a great match ending with Ireland up 15-6.

Stay posted - we'll be posting some pics from Maui and Brisbane soon.