Life in Australia - so far

Well, we have been here 4 days now and we sort of have a routine. We wake up between 6:30 and 7:30. We all eat breakfast separately. Michael and his folks have muesli and some juice that usually contains ginger, carrots, celery and some fruit. Blake usually has corn flakes, juice and an egg. This is my biggest meal of the day and I eat 2 eggs, 2 pieces of toast, cheese, a bowl of shredded wheat, and a banana.

Breakfast being over, everyone else starts about their day. Blake feeds the chucks (chickens) and the cows and the dog. Michael starts in on some farm chore fixing something, or with fixing up our car. I usually help with the dishes. There is no dishwasher here and you can’t let the dishes set either because they attract ants and spiders. After dishes, I have so much to do I can’t really decide. Do I sew, read, or do a puzzle. Hmmmm. About mid morning everyone gathers for tea and snack. Then Kaye, Blake and I go on a walk down the road. I’ve been here 4 days and know more of their neighbours then I did my own after 5 years.

After our walk we have lunch. Lunch usually consists of sandwiches and salad. However, it’s not the type of sandwiches you and I are used to. Michael’s sandwich consists of one slice of bread, feta cheese, avocado, cucumbers, capsicum (red peppers), carrots, and sometimes Brussels sprouts. I usually make a salad of lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and cheese and then just eat my bread with butter and honey or jam. Then the afternoon starts. On week days we do errands, getting library cards, checking out hospitals, going to appointments, getting groceries, getting a phone etc. Hopefully next week we will start looking for somewhere to live. On the weekends I sit on the veranda and sew, read or do a puzzle while Blake plays with the dog or the neighbour kids.

In the evening, we have eaten rice with pesto and orzo salad, though they call it Risoni here. Then we just all sit around and read. I have been making Michael do yoga with me. Between yoga and our walks, my ankles have definition now, but my feet still have a little swelling. It’s lots better though.

The weather here has been really pleasant. We sleep with the windows open and there is the dew feeling in the morning as if we were camping. And this is the low humidity season. During the day it gets to between 20 and 25 degree’s Celsius (70 - 80 F) and at night it can get from 8-14 degrees (50-60 F). I wear shorts most of the time, though Kaye and David layer up in pants and flannels and even a jacket in the evening. Yesterday they even started the fire. They laugh at me and I laugh at them. And remember this is winter for them! How am I going to survive in the summer! Hopefully by then I will be adjusted.

Being in Australia, and on a farm, there are lots of changes to get used to. All the food scraps go to the cows or chucks. They unplug everything when they aren’t using it. Their outlets or power points as they call them here have on off switches on them. They don’t have air or heat but dress in layers. They do have fans and a fire place when needed. They don’t need much from the store as they grow most of their own fruit and veggies and make their own bread. They grind their own flower from spelt and most of their own jams and spreads. Their water is heated by solar panels on the roof and the rest of their water they get from a well. They recycle nearly everything. It takes some getting used to, but I think our planet would be better if everyone did this kind of stuff.

I haven’t done too much to determine the price of living over here, but there were a few things I’ve noticed. Eggs are about $5 a dozen. They have chucks and are going to let us buy a few to pen in with theirs so we shouldn’t have to buy eggs that much. Chickens only cost $14 each and their food is only about $30 every few months so it’s way cheaper to have chickens than buy eggs. Gas is only $1.50. That sounds great huh, until you remember it’s per litre. So that is nearly $6 a gallon. All the cars here are small and economical. Kaye and David just bought a Honda civic and that’s considered a large car. When they were shopping for cars and told us what they were looking for, all the features are basic at home so it really shocked me. They wanted air conditioning and power steering.

Oh, their super markets (grocery stores) are much smaller than ours. They only have 2-3 choices of each product instead of the many that we have. Most people don’t buy fruit or veggies there either, they have other stores for that from the local farmers. Most people have their own bags, which I was glad to find that more people in America are starting to do. Their cheddar cheese is white, not yellow, cause they don’t put anything extra in it. They also have new fruits that I’m getting introduced to. Star fruit is green and it’s shaped like a star if you slice it. It is ….. Hard to describe, sort of like an apple in texture but sweeter. Passion fruit you cut in half and it has a juice and edible seeds in the middle. I haven’t had a fresh one, only one made into a fruit roll up, but it was good. Papaya is another one. They are just starting to bloom on the tree so I’ll have to tell you more about that one later. They have this market that makes fruit roll ups from all these fruits in a rainbow shape and colours that are all natural and I’m hooked on them. Dragon fruit is another one, though they don’t have any on the farm so I can only get them during season in the market.

Well I better save some for next time. Miss you all. I’ll get pictures on here as soon as we get DSL instead of dial up.