Sunday, 11.01.2009

We are back in Holland!
On Wednesday we had a lovely dinner with Nick's colleagues. We also got lots of presents. Sarah got a cuddly kangaroo (which she loves) and a beautiful picture book about Australian animals. On Friday Nick had to take our rental car back to the Europcar hire place in Campbelltown, but he had difficulties getting there, as 3 houses down the road a guy had been shot dead outside his second-hand car shop half an hour earlier!!! Time to go home!!
On the first flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur we couldn't get bulk head seats because so many young children travelled on that flight. So we couldn't use Sarah's car seat and she was climbing around our 3 seats for most of the flight. On the second flight we did get the bulk head seats and Sarah slept for most of the flight happily in her car seat. We arrived at 6am in Amsterdam. It was -5 degrees! The heating in our house had been set to 7 degrees, so it was really cold. It took almost a whole day to get back to 20 degrees. Sarah rediscovered all her toys and seemed to be quite happy about being back home. The battery of our car was completely empty, so we had to get some help to start it and then we had to drive around for about 45 minutes to charge the battery. That was really nice, because it was much warmer in the car than at home and because the weather was lovely and everybody seemed to be out on the canals ice-skating!
So this is the end of our Australia adventure and the end of this diary. We hope you all enjoyed it! Pictures and news about our Holland adventures can from now on again be found in the News and Picture Gallery section. Good day!!!

Tuesday, 06.01.2009

According to the weather forecast we'll have over 40°C today - definitely time to fly back home! But I have to say that it is amazing how we acclimatized to the warm weather here. Nick usually can't bear temperatures above 25°C, but now he doesn't even complain at all when it is warmer than 30°C. I start putting on jeans instead of shorts when it gets colder than 25°C! What a shock it will be to get back to Holland. We'll be using up all the gas for heating that we have been saving over the last 6 months!
My sinusitis finally seems to have cleared up. The antibiotic wasn't working, so yesterday was my first painkiller free day! Sarah and I went swimming to the local pool for the last time. Sarah has lost all fear of the water. She just jumps into the pool and she keeps on pushing me away, because she wants to swim on her own. Of course her feet-kicking is not good enough yet to actually keep herself above water, so I have to keep fishing her out of the water before she drowns ;-).
Sarah is also talking a lot now. She knows so many words and starts using 2 words together like little sentences (e.g. "Ollie, sleeping in bed"). So far Nick was able to keep up with her learning German (because she mostly learns English at the moment), but soon I think she'll overtake him. No signs, yet, for being ready for potty training, though. Changing her in the tiny airplane toilets will be even more difficult than half a year ago.
This will me my last update from down-under. My broadband contract runs out on Thursday. On Wednesday we are going for a good-bye dinner with Nick's colleagues. On Saturday we are flying back home, with one happy and one sad eye...
Generally we had a fantastic time here. There are things we love about Australia, but there are also things we dislike about it. It is a country of extremes. As an example: we love many of the animals here like wombats, koalas, kangaroos, echidnas, but then there are also all these biting spiders, snakes, stinging jellyfish, attacking birds, crocodiles, cockroaches... And it is similar with the landscape, the culture, the people, the supermarkets, etc. Another thing here is the "car culture". In our street there is not even a path for people to walk on. Cycling was always dangerous as there are no cycling paths. There is not even a space to leave bikes outside the supermarket. At one shopping area bikes are not even allowed on the parking lot! Outside the gym and swimming pool they actually do have spaces for bikes, but in the 5 months I have been going there several times per week by bike I never ever saw another bike parked there. I always thought of Australia as a very sporty nation. They are great swimmers and most people are a bit fanatic about sports, but more about watching than doing. We have seen quite a lot of huge people, but there are also a lot of very sporty people. The weather is extreme, too. It can cool down by over 20°C from one day to the next, depending on where the wind is blowing from. Rain usually comes down in a very concentrated form over a very short time rather than the constant drizzle we usually have in Holland. What we did love is the spaciousness, the easy going life style, our 4-burner BBQ, the outback, the sea (if jellyfish and shark free) and beaches, Sydney, the local pool and gym, Connoisseur ice cream, the blue skies ... It was great to live here for almost 6 months, but we wouldn't want to move down here for ever (but maybe for a year or so...?).

   Sarah picked a bunch of flowers

Saturday, 03.01.2009

We did a garage sale today to sell all the things we can't take back home to Holland. We had placed an ad in the local newspaper to say that we would start at 10am. From 8.30 people were driving around our house waiting for us to start. When I opened the garage at 9:30 to carry stuff out on the drive, people dug into our stuff like vultures! We sold most of it before 10am and then just sat lazily around, chatting to neighbours until the official end at 3pm. The only big item we couldn't sell is Sarah's bed. It was really good fun. The weather was perfect, too - one of the very few completely overcast, grey days. Still, Nick and I managed to get our first light sun burn since moving to OZ!

  Garage sale

Thursday, 01.01.2009

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R !!!
We really enjoyed our holidays, but now it is time to drive back home.

Wednesday, 31.12.2008

We spent the day again at the beach. Sarah is really enjoying the sand and the water now, after she found it all a bit "yukky" to begin with. Now she can't get enough of ordering us around to get her more and more water.
We almost missed the start of the New Year. Only when we wondered about the noise outside, we realized that 2009 must have started... Fireworks are not allowed in NSW without permission, so there wasn't much going on anyway. But the night sky in OZ is so much better than any fireworks!

Tuesday, 30.12.2008

We went to Mogo zoo today. We have been to so many animal parks and zoos here, that I think we'll need a break from them when we come back home... But this was really a lovely little zoo. Sarah loved the monkeys!

Monday, 29.12.2008

I went to the doctor in the morning and got some antibiotics prescribed. Then we went to a small old town called Mogo to shop for souvenirs.

Sunday, 28.12.2008

We spent the day today mostly at the beach, collecting shells and building sand castles. In the afternoon Sarah and Nick went swimming in the pool. Sarah spent half an hour bobbing up and down in the pool on her own grinning madly, just enjoying watching the kids and being an independent 'swimmer'. I took it a bit easy today as I had pain in my sinuses.

Saturday, 27.12.2008

The wind had been blowing towards the land last night and washed up loads of blue bottle jellyfish (Portuguese Man of War). They have long venom-filled tentacles and contact with them can cause severe pain and worse things. In many countries beaches would be closed when blue bottles wash up in these amounts, but in Australia people continue to go swimming and surfing!! We did a beach walk today, slalom around the blue bottles... We just got back home in time before a thunderstorm.

  Blue bottle / Portuguese Man of War

  Strawberry break!!

  On the way back

  Sarah in the carrier; a storm is coming

Friday, 26.12.2008 - Boxing Day

Today we went to an animal park near Batemans Bay - more koalas, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, snakes, birds, echidnas and mosquitoes... Sarah loves watching animals. The only thing she didn't like was a peacock that tried to steal her lunch of vegemite and cheese sandwiches... The rest of the day we spent driving around further south. It took us ages to find a cafe for a little break. There never seem to be any (open) cafes at places where you would expect them. Or if there are, then they are usually not good. Even in a touristic area like this. In the end we found a cafe in Tuross Head, which was owned by a German guy! We haven't got any pictures of today as we forgot our cameras in the villa.

Thursday, 25.12.2008 - Christmas Day

Luckily Nick felt better today and Sarah's cold also finally seems to be clearing up. We spent the morning in bed, unwrapping presents. Sarah got some clothes for her doll, a book, a wooden kangaroo puzzle, some wooden clothes to thread on a washing line and some Lindt chocolate reindeers and father Christmas. Nick had bought a little Christmas tree, some tinsel, chocolates and Stollen and I had got a Christmas concert from an English choir, so we did have a bit of Christmas atmosphere! After a big breakfast we went to the beach. In the afternoon we went for a swim in the pool. Our Christmas dinner was this year BBQ yellow-tailed kingfish for Nick, lamb for me, a sausage for Sarah and lots of salad and bread for all of us.

Wednesday, 24.12.2008 - Christmas Eve

Holidays!!! We are spending Christmas and New Year in our little 'villa' in the Murramarang Holiday Park in South Durras near Batemans Bay. The drive took about 4 hours and led through forests that had almost a rain forest kind of character because of the (tree) ferns, very much like New Zealand! The holiday park is great. It is in a national park, so right in the forest, but at the same time right on the beach on a lovely big bay. Wild kangaroos are grazing between the huts and tents. In our hut we feel like we are in the middle of a jungle with trees all around and colourful birds singing. At the same time we can just about see and hear the sea. We had pasta and tomato sauce for dinner - not very Christmassy... In the evening Nick had a fever and a very sore throat. I spent Christmas Eve shopping for food for the next couple of days.

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S   T O   A L L   O F   Y O U  ! ! !

  The bay

Sunday, 21.12.2008

Today we went to the Mount Annan botanical garden for lunch and for Sarah (and Nick) to play in the playground.

Friday, 19.12.2008

Sarah and I have been a bit ill with a cold this week, so Sarah didn't go to crèche on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. Today I only took her into crèche for 2h so she could celebrate her last day there while I could go swimming and do some shopping. Nick came back from China at lunch time. In the afternoon we celebrated my birthday with a fruity cake. It's great having my birthday in the summer for a change!!! I already had my birthday present a few weeks ago - the ticket for the lute concert of Sting and Edin Kazamarov in the Sydney opera house.

  Sarah opening her advent calendar card

  Fruity birthday cake

Thursday, 11.12.2008

Some people in our street have put up loads of Christmas decoration on their houses. As it gets dark way after Sarah's bedtime, she hasn't had a chance so far to see the show. But today was a cold and grey and rainy day, so one house had turned on the lights just when I was going to take Sarah to bed. So we went outside (Sarah already in her sleeping bag) and had a look. First she seemed quite amazed with all the lights and pointed things out. But then her final conclusion was "yuk!"... It's one of her favourite words at the moment. She picked it up at crèche...

Monday, 08.12.2008

Nick is off to Indonesia, Shanghai and Beijing. Sarah and I decided to have our first Christmas cracker on our first girls evening. She didn't like the crown very much, though...

Saturday, 06.12.2008

Nikolaus! Unfortunately Nikolaus couldn't come all the way to Australia as he was busy in Holland yesterday (Sinterklaas) and in Germany today - so no presents for us. We had a very warm day (37C) and used the little pool outside.

  "Enjoying" the heat

  Sarah on her "Auto"

  Playing ball with daddy

Thursday, 04.12.2008

Sarah doesn't like to get up in the mornings. She prefers to play and read in bed...

Wednesday, 03.12.2008

I have been to Melbourne for two days, sightseeing! Melbourne is much more metropolitan than Adelaide - lots of high-rising buildings and business people. On Tuesday I walked around a bit and went to the Melbourne Museum. They have expositions on Aboriginal culture, Science & Life, Mind & Body, Melbourne and more. In the evening I went to the cinema to see "Australia". It's quite a long movie, a bit of romance, a bit funny, nice nature, a bit war.
On Wednesday I went to the national opal collection, which was disappointing as you can see more opals in most jewellery shops. Opal is Australia's national gemstone, they produce 97% of it. We saw opalized fossils in the South Australian museum in Adelaide, that was really great. The rest of the day I spent shopping and walking around the city. I visited Cook's cottage, which used to belong to Captain Cook's parents and was moved to Melbourne from England, I went passed the cricket ground and the tennis courts (Australian Open), walked along the Yarra river and went up the Eureka tower (highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere).
I think I liked Adelaide better than Melbourne, and Sydney is the best of all three, anyway.

  Melbourne museum

  Cook's cottage

  Yarra River and City

  Arts Centre     City

  Eureka tower - the world's tallest residential building (300m)!

    © Katja & Nick, last updated January 2012