Crikey! Australia Zoo

We thought it was about time we did one of the big tourist attractions around here and thought about going down to the Gold Coast (about a 2 hour drive) to one of the theme parks, but as Tris had work on Monday we though we would do one closer to home.  So Australia Zoo it was. 

Australia Zoo is run by the Urwin family continuing Steve Irwin’s dream of protecting wildlife.  It is only 15 minutes away from where we are staying at the moment, so it was the perfect day out.

It is a large zoo, full of Australian, Asian and a few African animals.  We saw kangaroos, koalas, crocs, lizards, snakes, otters, wombats, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, echidnas, giant tortoises, camels (did you know that Australia is not a native home to camels but due to them being imported back in the gold rush days it is now the only place where wild camels exsist and they now import them to Saudi Arabia!  How mad is that!), elephants, tigers, giraffes and a rhino.

There was loads to keep everyone happy and we spent the whole day there.  There was loads of stroking of furry things to keep Reuben happy and there was loads of scaly things to keep Rowan happy!

Reuben has already asked if we can go again!

I think the photos will say more than I can.  Although, can you believe it, we went to Steve Irwin’s zoo and came away with no croc photos!  

These water dragons were wild, running all around the zoo

The otters were the first thing we saw, the boys LOVED them.  Reuben said he wants an otter and Rowan wants to be one!

I must admit, they did look like they were having awesome fun

One of the many creatures the boys stroked, a python of some sort

Reu went up to the lady with the baby croc and instead of stroking it he wanted to hold it

In a zoo full of weird and wonderful aussie animals, Reuben was happy stroking sheep!

We bought some Roo food and went off to feed them.  A lot of people do this so some of the roos were just too full up to eat

This one was sleeping in this funny position

Bugger!  I have been saving this post until I get time to put on the rest of the photos, but now I have reached my limit!  I think I need to pay to upgrade my account, but I need to look into it.  So I will post up these photos and hopefully sort it out to put more up soon.

Rowan's First Day At School

Today Rowan has started school.  He was so excited this morning before leaving.  We are making it a special day for him, so he got to choose everyone's breakfast - chocolate spread sandwiches and chocolate milk!  And we will be having pizza for tea and ice cream with, you guessed it, chocolate sauce!
He has been so looking forward to it so much, counting down the days.

 

We got there and he went into his class all smiles and eager to join in, giving us all big kisses and cuddles.  Unfortunately we didn't know that they have a surf life saving lesson today and he needs his swimmers.  So I had to run back and get them for him.  When I returned he was very upset and wanted to come home :(  I think he was upset as he didn't know about the beach lesson and he likes to prepare for things like that.  So I had to leave him crying.  Hopefully he will have a good day.  He was so looking forward to it aswell.

UPDATED...........

I had been phoning up the school throughout the day to check in on him and they said he was doing ok.  

So at 2.30 we all went to pick him up.  He ran to us and gave us all a big hug and when asked, "How was your first day at school?"  He replied, "Cool, Well at first I was sad, but then it was cool!".

Phew!

I spoke to the teacher before we left and she said he went to the beach but not in the sea, which is fine and then after lunch they had computers!  No wonder he had cheered up!

So now he is relaxing watching some TV before a jump in the pool!

 

Suuny Coast - Settling In

I am writing this almost 2 weeks after the last post.  We feel like we have been here for ages!

So, a catch up……

Tris has done some work for 2 tree companies and is now working 4 days a week with one of them.  It is really hard work and the trees are huge, so he is no less knackered than when working for himself in the UK, but at least when the working day is over he has finished and he has a 3 day weekend.  Although saying that he is also looking to maybe change his career, he would love to be a postie or a pool boy!

Our car is all sorted.  It’s a Toyota Camry 3 liter V6, a bit of a beast, but surprisingly economical and it has a huge boot, being a station wagon, so moving furniture should be ok.

We have been looking at schools for the boys.  We visited 2 schools – one was very academic and strict.  Both me and Tris commented on how the children didn’t really look very happy.  Some may say are they supposed to be happy, it’s school, but they are so little still that Yes, I think they should be happy.

We hoped that the first school was not an indication of all Aussie schools and when we visited the second school it was proved that this was not the case.  It was friendly, relaxed, happy and colourful.  The school is yards from the beach and they have lessons on the beach and even teach surfing as part of their curriculum in the later years!

The boys loved it, the teachers were really nice and got down on their knees to talk to the boys and the kids looked happy to be there.

Rowan asked if he could start next week!

So next on the list was looking for a house that was walking distance to the school.  To cut a long story short we have been accepted for a rental just around the corner from the school.  A 3 bed bungalow in a lovely street with loads of kids.  The house also has a pool and a separate rumpus room just off the pool.  It’s a bit more than what we wanted but it’s just where we wanted to be.

It seems that everything is falling into place.  Our stuff is also on it’s way, it is due to arrive in Brisbane on the 10^th Nov, so should be with us by the 25^th.  We move in on the 10^th.

Anyway here are some more photos of our adventures……

Kings Beach headland

After really bad winds we went for a walk along the beach path, which is usually clear, but the wind had blown so much sand from the beach they had turned into dunes!

Reu in the boot!

The boys were fascinated by the bush turkey's

Rowan in Noosa National Park, we went for a lovely 3 km walk on a koala hunt, but didn't see any

Boys and their sticks

The boys helping out with the bbq

Boys in the big pineapple

Storm clouds on the horizon

Sunshine Coast - The first few days

On our third morning in Brisbane Tristans’ cousin, Krista, met us at our guest house and drove us up to our holiday let in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.  She lives in between Brisbane and Caloundra.  The drive took just over and hour and half, it took about half an hour just to get out of the city and onto the highway.

After arriving in the apartment we took it in turns to go for a wander to get ourselves accustomed to where we were in relation to the town and beaches etc without the boys in tow, just in case we got lost.  During this time Tris called an advert about a car, arranged a viewing and liked it. 

So by that evening we had a car, it just needed it’s timing belt changing then we are good to roll!

The next day we did more boring stuff (much to the boys disgust!) and this time it did take ages, but after we headed to the plaza.  In towns over here, you tend to have one street of a few shops and then a big mall (called plazas) on the edge of the town with all the main shops in.  So we headed off there for an ice cream, coffee a trip in K mart to spend some of Rowans birthday money, he bought a ninja toy and a skateboard to share with Reuben until his arrives on the ship.  Then we had boring food shopping to do.

But now with our cupboards stocked, the car booked into the garage for the work to be done, knowing where everything is we were starting to feel a little bit like we were settling down.  Time for some fun!

As it was the weekend and a very warm 29 degrees we headed to the beach, which was full of families.  From our apartment you follow the road down the hill for a minute and you arrive at the esplanade, a boardwalk that goes from Bulcock Beach right around the headland to Kings Beach.  We had been to Kings beach on our first day and saw loads of jellyfish, harmless ones and one bluebottle (a poisionus one), which put the boys off for a while.  So we headed to Bulcock beach and had a great morning in the little waves.  Reuben was straight in there, rolling in the waves and throwing sand on his own head.  Rowan took a while to decide to go in but when he did, he loved it too.

We went back to the apartment for the middle of the day as it got a bit too hot, then headed over to Kings beach in the late afternoon for a play in the park and to enjoy the cool evening air. 

The sun sets here in Queensland at about 6pm every night and currently the sunrises at 5.10am.

The next morning Tris woke up and sneaked out at 5.30am to watch the sunrise thinking that he would be on his own on the beach, but to his amazement there were loads of people out, fishing, jogging, doing yoga and other exercises.  And he had missed the sunrise!

We went to Bulcock beach for another morning of fun, playing in the sea and the sand.

Tris had an informal interview with a tree guy who has offered him work on a as needed basis.  Which is great, but we were all kinda hoping he would have a bit longer off. 

On Monday our car had to go to the garage, so we all headed off for the day up the coast for the day, packing some snags for a bbq for lunch.

Tris bought work boots and we went to Cotton Tree park for a play, bbq and for Tris to meet up with another possible employer.  His kids were on a pupil free day from school so we all met up in the park.  This employer has offered Tris 45 hours per week on condition of a trial and Tris was much more impressed with this guys company.

After the park we took the car to the garage and got a lift back to Caloundra. 

Whilst at the park we met a lady called Meegan, who moved here herself from New Zealand.  She has set up a program called family connect, where they organise a picnic once a month for new families to meet others and find out what is going on and stuff.  Greta idea and she will let us know when the next one is.

People are very friendly here, it seems that most people have moved here from somewhere else, I am yet to meet someone who has always lived here.

Today, it is Tuesday.  Tris is currently at his first day of work with the first job offer.  He left at 6.30am!  The weather has been really hot over the weekend, it was forecast 31 degrees and the firemen were on bush fire alert all weekend.  Last night however the wind has moved and a storm blew in and today it is blowing a hooly.  So it should be an interesting day for him.

Me and the boys have been getting to know the town.  We went to the library, met some people, found out about a storytime later in the week and picked up some leaflets.

One leaflet was how to prepare for the storm season.  It is cyclone and flood season soon, but this leaflet also covers Tsnuamis.  Rowan, loving extreme weather as he does spent ages reading the leaflet, then we headed out to the beach as Reuben really wanted to go for a swim in the sea.  The wind was blowing, the waves were pounding and the sky went black and then Rowan went into major panic mode worrying that a tsunami was about to come and we would be washed away, so we turned back.

So now I am sat (this was written without internet and uploaded the following day) on our balcony listening to the waves crash with a cup of tea, whist the boys watch after school kids tv.  Snack time me thinks and then maybe a game of uno whilst we wait for Tris to get home form his first day.

Bulcock Beach

Team work on the $12 skateboard

The headland between both beaches

Rowan said, "You can call me dude when I wear these sunnies!"

the pool at the apartment

Brisbane

We have been here now for  over 3 weeks now, so have lots to catch up on.  I have been writing and saving bits as we plod along on our new journey but have had to wait to upload the photos as we are on limited internet, so now using the libraries internet to upload a big batch, although the connection is so slow it is taking forever, so there's a lot less photos than I wanted to put on here.

So, let’s start from the beginning………..

We flew from Kuala Lumpur on Monday on the most hi-tech plane we have ever been on, touch screens and all.  Rowan, needless to say, Loved it!  We landed in Brisbane, got to our guest house, got a bit lost looking for some food then had a good sleep.

The next morning we had to head into the city and do loads of boring stuff; bank accounts, medicare and the tax office, which wasn’t much fun.  Rowan also left his sunnies and a toy on the bus.  He was most upset.  But not for long as we went into their first Aussie toy shop and discovered all the toys they have seen on the adverts really do exist down under!

So after all boring bits done, we bought some snags (sausages), bread and ketchup and jumped onto the CityCat.  The CityCat is a fast catamaran ferry that runs up and down the Brisbane river.  We got off at New Farm Park, had a barby for lunch.  In all the parks and gardens over here they have free to use electric bbqs, so we had our first Aussie bbq.  Reuben had fun chasing away the cheeky ibis birds that are the equilvalent of seagulls, but not quite so aggressive!

Then we headed to the playground.  WOW!  Rowan has declared it one of the biggest in the world.  I don’t think it is, but it is pretty awesome.  It is built into and around the aerial roots of huge Banyan fig trees, so it is always in the shade of these huge trees and the climbing frames and slides work in and out of the roots.

The next day we had more boring stuff to do, but we got it over with quickly and headed off on the citycat again to New Farm park, this time to meet up with Lara and Jet.  Rowan and Reuben made a friend and getting them out of the park was very difficult!  It was nice to meet up with Lara, she has been living here for 8 years so could give us some tips on settling in.

Lara dropped me off at a baby store so I could get car seats for the kids.  The laws here on car seats are way stricter the in the UK.  Both boys have had to have to have full on seats that they moved out of ages ago in the UK. They both think they are great though as they have big head rests!

In Kuala Lumpur airport, horrible photo of me though!

The boys in Brisbane city centre. 

The boys are obsessed with 'bubblers'.  Thet are everywhere and the boys have to try every one they see!

On the citycat.  Rowan really is a water person.  He loved being on the fast boat.

Our first aussie barbie

In the shade of a Jacaranda tree.  When the purple blossom starts to drop it apparently signals the start of cyclone season.

New Farm Park