Beautiful Winter

Despite some more ups and downs, we have thoroughly enjoyed our first winter.  Having only ever experienced an evergreen environment, the children loved the beautiful autumn colours and mounds of crunchy leaves from the many deciduous trees planted about to break up the general eucalyptus haze. The city became briefly picturesque before the frosts came, turning the trees barren and the grass back to brown!

Temperatures gradually dropped to between -4 - 15C. Despite being cold, the weather was eerily calm, with none of the wild winter storms we were accustomed to in Wellington! Generally a frosty start would give way to a beautiful clear sunny day. The school children would still spend all their downtime locked outside the classroom, and assemblies continued outside even after the new expanded school hall opened. Washing could be dried on the line and the beagles would find somewhere to sunbathe, even if they did need an electric blanket in their outdoor bed.

Leah now loves her school and has a firm group of nice friends.  She has a slightly older BFF (Best Friend Forever) who she looks up to a great deal. One day after school Leah announced that she no longer wanted her woolly "snugglies" (the comforters she has had since birth) or to suck her thumb, but she would like to get her ears pierced (done at a much younger age over here) and a pair of black shiny knee-high boots! Two life-long habits were instantly dropped, and yes she bravely faced her fear of needles and now sports some flower earrings to go with some calf-high boots we were able to settle on!

Leah has also lost her first tooth, and started using the free school bus at the gate to get to and from school.  There are many extra-curricular activities on offer but Leah has settled on highland and irish dancing, and swimming for now. She is such an Aussie-phile, singing up loud and proud to "Advance Australia Fair", and insisting on saying "haitch" instead of 'h'.having sung it twice a week at school. 

Fraser is also happy.  Mainly because, having secured his place by being fulltime, we were able to drop his preschool hours back to the twenty hours of preschool he is accustomed to and that we are funded for (as per our entitlements at home).  He now gets two days at home with Mum to do his favourite activities (War Memorial Museum and Cockington Green).  He loves to help with the groceries, feed and walk the dogs, and collect the mail.  He has graduated to riding his bike without training wheels, and is currently obsessed with aeroplanes.

Kent is settling into the routine of work.  At times he is frustrated with the system, but given the redundancies at home... 

I am enjoying some time to myself after a demanding couple of years!  I have a number of little hobbies on the go and otherwise enjoy helping out at the school canteen.  Thank you to all those who keep asking when I am going to get a job!!!   Ha ha, that can be for next year when the children are both at school. 

In May I was able to pop back home for Joan's last weekend on the farm, having sold it after 40 years.   Unfortunately it was only for a few days (Kent doesn't have flexi-time, so Leah has to go into afterschool care if I am not there) so I wasn't able to catch up with anyone.  The children and I will come home again sometime in July/August so we will try and catch up with more of you then.

Culture Shock

Sorry it has taken so long to update and thank you so much for all your personal messages that I haven't responded to yet!  There seems to be a natural disaster somewhere every time I think about blogging, which makes our family day-to-day activities seem completely trivial.  To whoever is rocking this planet, could you please get off???  We have all had quite enough, thank you.

February has been a bit harder for us than January.  Thankfully we had been briefed on the relocation 'Culture Shock Model' and the phases of: Honeymoon, Distress, Reintegration, Autonomy and Independence.  Actually I was still working through those phases from our posting to Wellington and Kent's deployment in 2007, and Kent's subsequent posting to Linton in 2009, but yes we are clearly passing through all those phases from the beginning again!

Our distress stage began as soon as Leah started school.  We had all been looking forward to it so much of course; Leah loves school and it is our main contact with the local community.  Sadly the different process was not to Leah's liking initially and it made us appreciate our lovely little school back in NZ!  The key differences for Leah were the sheer number of students (800+), and that the classroom is not available as a base (it is locked morning/lunchtime/after school) so there is no respite from the volume of people or the heat, which was in the high 30Cs for the first week.  Leah was very much a little 'inanga' in a big billabong!


We love the school uniform though!

Anyway, after over two weeks of Leah hating school (and dragging her toes to get there), I decided to go and eat lunch with her even if it meant I had to eat lunch with her for the whole term!  It took one lunch time, and a game of hide'n'seek with a few classmates and Leah has been absolutely fine ever since.  She now LOVES school again, and now that she is settled we can see all the good things the school offers - specialist teachers, sports galore (including AFL today apparently), and a sound literacy and numeracy programme (Leah has homework every night including the weekend!).  Leah is also doing a ballet/jazz class at the local dance centre, and irish dancing through the school.


Leah and Fraser in Fraser's outdoor area.

Of course, we were also still settling Fraser in to the nearby preschool over this period so naturally Fraser also fed off Leah's anxiety.  He is only just settling down now after being there since mid-January!  His centre is absolutely lovely though, with fairly low staff/pupil ratios, and very similar to the structured preschool environment Leah and Fraser had in New Zealand, so our sympathies for Fraser don't run quite so deep!  Fraser is currently obsessed with airplanes, so living on the flight path to the airport and along from the emergency helicopter base suits him nicely!

Not quite the airplane ride Fraser had in mind!

Kent had his first trip away with a tour of military installations in Sydney, Melbourne, and Darwin. He enjoyed crawling around ships and watching an air show.  Kent has not been well since we arrived - possibly a combination of a viral cough and hayfever (aka 'Manflu') - so he was quite ill when he was away but seems to have finally come right at last.  He is enjoying his job instructing but missing the challenges and autonomy of command.

You can think of a caption!

Beagle-wise it has also been an eventful period.  Barney has developed an irrational fear of thunder (we get quite a few loud thunderstorms), and of being shut in his crate (which he has always slept the night inside in) so he has taken to sleeping outside on the patio.  Naturally the two afflictions don't go very well together!  At least he is not showing any signs of the arthritis he had been developing in NZ, and he thoroughly enjoys our daily walks in the new environment.



Our first Beagle Club walk at a specially-fenced dog park.

 Meanwhile Phoebe has been diagnosed with arthritis and a heart condition by the local vet!  Nothing had been picked up on her pre-flight vet check in NZ but she has really struggled with the heat here, even on cool days, and now we know why.  Although for an invalid, she still has a very healthy appetite!  Naturally the vet has reinforced the need for Phoebe to lose weight, so with an initial reading of 12.2kg we are very proud to report that after four weeks on her expensive special food, pet milk, medication and exercise regime, Phoebe is still 12.2kg!!  Hopefully the heart medication she starts next week will help her breathe a bit better, so we can walk her more than ten minutes a day. 



The kids and Phoebe enjoying the shared water station

The kids were thrilled mid-February with a surprise visitor for Alice's birthday!  Joan enjoyed seeing where we are and helping tidy up our garden.  Fraser was also thrilled to get a day off preschool to go to Cockington Green again.

Joan admiring a 'small' garden.

Otherwise we have still been trying to make the most of our time here even though the work and school commitments now take first priority.  We have managed to get to Weber's Circus, the Canberra Fair (like an A&P show), our local fair, and paddle-boating on the lake.  The largely settled, warm weather is so nice that the children love spending most of their time in our dynamite backyard.  They have both leaned right out with all the activity. 

JAC: Just add children!

I am helping in the school canteen at school, trying to keep off the 5kg I lost during the move, and keeping on top of the meals, lawns and vacuuming, while still sorting out the house!!  We still need some furniture etc, but today I finally bought a dishwasher. 

Well that is enough for you to digest for now.  We are all back to being happy again and are now starting to plan our first trip, hopefully to Adelaide for Anzac Day.

Alice

Paddle boating on the lake.

The hard bit is over (we hope)

We are now settling into our new home, suburb and city!  It was hard work to get here though and so much harder going inter-country rather than simply moving cities.  We are glad we have two years to recover before we repeat the process. 

In the end, Kent, Fraser, Barney and Phoebe left for Australia as planned, leaving Alice and Leah at home for an extra week to complete the final administration, maintenance, pack up and cleaning, which couldn't have been achieved without help from Nana Joan, Aunty Sheila, Craig and Penny (neighbours) and Karen (now in our house)!

Unfortunately, upon reuniting, the children were ABOMINABLE for the first couple of days.  Despite Alice's multiple and perfect demonstrations of the 'Australian siesta', the children were far too excited to have an afternoon nap to reset their body clocks, and took every opportunity to sabotage our essential trips to sort out our administration in Australia!  It was looking highly probable that Santa would be skipping our house this year (coincidentally our unaccompanied airfreight containing the Christmas presents also hadn't arrived).

Thankfully on about Day Four the children awoke at a reasonable hour (instead of 5am) with smiles on their faces and much more congenial attitudes!  They have since been having a wonderful time while we explore the sights of Canberra, our favourites so far being the National Zoo and Aquarium, Cockington Green Gardens (http://www.cockingtongreen.com.au/), and Questacon (like Te Papa but science based http://www.questacon.edu.au/#canberra).  The city is all that everyone promised!  Easy to get around, beautiful, clean and plenty for families to do.  It has been like a family holiday so far (except with cooking/cleaning), and the Christmas presents arrived in time after all!

Temperatures have largely been cool, much to Alice's disappointment!  The highest it has been is 37C (luckily we were at http://bigsplashwaterpark.com.au/ that day) but otherwise it is generally in the mid-20s and will cool off at night (between 10 - 20C) so it is comfortable sleeping. We have had rain every week which is good as it means no water restrictions and the grass is green.  The kids enjoyed our first hail storm (hail as big as grapes) and thankfully slept through the first LOUD thunder/lightning storm, although Barney was terrified instead (meaning Kent had to apply the appropriate cuddles all night)!

Barney and Phoebe have been perfect!  They have adapted to spending more time outside (when it isn't too hot or cold) and have loved exploring a new suburb on their daily walks.  For a while there it looked like we would have to change our blog name to twoslimbeagles, but no, Phoebe has since discovered that the wheelie bin is lower than the one at home and engorged herself, and then gone back to only walking every second day or so.  We are 100m from a bush track that goes right around the perimeter of the suburb, so they get plenty of off-lead time, and we are already starting to meet all the dogs in the neighbourhood.

The house is growing on us.  It is not ideal for young children: master bedroom on level three, children's rooms on level one, cold hard tiles that become slippery and smash plates, a huge drop of seven metres from the top balustrade to the ground in the front atrium and a drop of three metres between the formal lounge and the dining room!  However the children have been sensible so far, and we just sleep in the spare bedroom instead.  It has gas central heating and an air con system, and all the furniture (with some tweaking) and appliances supplied are excellent.  The back section is HUGE (20m x 20m) and weedy (yes, we have already sprayed) so we have bought one of these which is waiting for us to find the time to assemble: http://www.yardgames.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=70_74&products_id=1032.  We also had to buy a lawnmower and hedge trimmers asap!

The suburb us lovely!  Gorgeous brick homes with beautifully landscaped front lawns, several man-made lakes, surrounded by forest on two sides and grassland reserves on the other (where the kangaroos hang out), numerous paved bike trails, and well-appointed, with a supermarket, bakery, medical centre, chinese restaurant, pub, etc.  It is 20 minutes from Canberra though, so a little bit isolated, and being in NSW instead of ACT has already presented administrative difficulties (registering a car, finding a preschool, different holiday periods, etc etc).  We had to buy two cars pronto, so the move is quite hard on the pocket initially (and those of you who know Kent, knows that he does not like to spend money!).

Kent is looking forward to starting his job shortly, Leah is desperate to start school at the end of January, and Fraser starts the local preschool tomorrow so it won't be long before we re-establish the rhythm of the household and start meeting some locals.  So far everyone has been exceptionally friendly and helpful.  Freakishly so.

Naturally we are missing you all and want to hear what you got up to for Christmas!  A big thank you to those who have sent little gifts and cards, they are really appreciated!  The children have finally stopped asking if their friends will be at the pools/park etc when we head out somewhere.  You are all very much in our thoughts though.  Glad to hear the weather in Wellington has been surprisingly lovely!

Homecoming!

Between school and preschool activities and organising the move, November seems to be flying by!  The best part has been Kent arriving home to live after nearly two years of going backwards and forwards to PN.  The children have been basking in the additional parental glow, and Kent has enjoyed making school lunches, doing the school run and generally getting back into the rhythm of the household.  The only hiccup being Fraser getting firmly evicted by Dad from Mummy's bed after his usual dash in at 4am!

We have thrown ourselves into completing the house so it is able to be tenanted.  While there is still a great deal to go, we have knocked off a few big jobs including glass splashbacks finally being installed in the kitchen after two years of patchy GIB, and a new wraparound step to the front deck!  We now just have some exterior painting (over the front bricks on a whim), a bit of landscaping and a general tidy up outside to go and that will end three+ years of renovating (for now!).  Before and after photos can be in the next post!

We have also managed to shed most of our surplus gear through our favourite 'online auction site'.  The caravan sold in less than 24 hours so Kent was very happy about that!

All had medicals and dentals completed, including the dogs who had to microchipped.  Getting Leah to sit still for the required dental bite-wing x-ray was near impossible, but we got there in the end!  The children ran around the military medical centre with such 'joie de vivre' they were promptly declared fit and healthy before they collapsed the doctor's office chair again (by pulling the levers) and scattered all the little white things from the large bucket in the waiting room (as is standard in all military medical waiting rooms) any further!!

The seafreight has been sent (see picture below). Notice all the important things like 4-5 hot water bottles, the pet electric blanket, toys-toys-toys, a giant inflatable aeroplane, and the Christmas tree (already decorated)!  The children have now had very few toys and books for two weeks and they have been quite content (maybe we don't need them back after all?).  'Gone to Australia' is now the perfect parental response to any inquiry into the disappearance of a beloved item!!

We have also finally been allocated a house (always useful that, when you are three weeks away from arriving lock, stock and barrel!), and we are thrilled with it.  It has a large backyard so dogs and children can be safely entertained.  The only hitch is we can't organise any utilities in advance as we must have the tenancy agreement and an Australian bank account in place first!  Even the school enrolment can't be completed.  So we will just be very busy when we arrive and possibly camping out powerless for a few days (the dogs only have a limited time in kennels as they are all full the following week due to Christmas holidays).  The local zoned school has excellent reports, both nationally and from other families who have attended it, so we are very happy indeed.

This month the children have had lots of activities on.  Leah experienced her first Halloween and we ended up with a school Halloween Disco, a trip to RNZB's 'The Nutcracker' and a local Light Party all in one weekend, and all requiring some form of dress-ups!  Here is a picture of them in their Light Party getups (Mum had lost motivation by then so Leah is self-created Purple Girl and Fraser is Spiderman).  Note Fraser's new buzz haircut (we are now waiting for it to grow back to his hobbit hair)!



Anyway, that is us for another month.  Next week we have airfreight to pack and after that we will be literally camping in our own home.  Thankfully we have lots of junk to get rid of that we are able to use until the last minute.  Hope to catch up with some of you in person before we go!

Final mention must go to the Pike River Miners.  Sadly, a national tragedy.

Time to get packing!

Barney came home from his surgical makeover happy, relaxed and looking like a brand new beagle without his "Phar Lap" warts.  Shame it was considered cosmetic and wasn't covered by our pet insurance!

Leah's tui costume was complete in time to participate in the fabulous school Wearable Arts Show.  The childrens' costumes and performances were absolutely amazing, all the more poignant because we only have a few months left at the school. 

Meanwhile Kent and Alice treated themselves tickets to the real World of Wearable Arts show.  It was an outstanding night out, especially for Kent who is a bit of a pessimest when it comes to live shows and musicals.  He thoroughly enjoyed it so a point scored for Alice at last.  The children had a huge time at home playing with their cousins, who kindly babysat.

We then had the school holidays.  Alice and the children made it to Wanganui to farewell 'Mugs Gully' (as pictured).  The children loved walking through the paddocks and getting to Kowhai Park and Virginia Lake.

The school term has now started again and the real work begins.  Filling out passport applications, getting medical and dental clearances, selling off surplus furniture and toys, finishing off the renovations on the house, getting the beagles vaccinated and cleared for travel, making all the bookings for travel, catching up with friends and family, and researching, researching, and researching schools, suburbs, dance schools, sports clubs, cars, holiday destinations, dog accommodation, and amenities in the new location. Whew, just writing the necessary lists is a job in itself.  Thank heavens for Google, which is sure getting a workout, and we are grateful we get to Google Earth our future home and potential schools these days instead of going in to a new environment blind!

In the beginning,...

In the beginning, there was the posting notice!  An event much anticipated by military families.  Good news, this time we get to go somewhere warm!  However we have a lot of work to do to get there.  Join us as we prepare to embark on the opportunity of a lifetime.

Meanwhile we are busy with our existing commitments.  This week we are preparing for the school wearable arts show.  The weekend was spent sewing a tui costume and tonight we are making kowhai flowers.

Barney Beagle is having a vet visit to get some growths cauterised off his head, his ears thoroughly cleaned (a constant battle) and a microchip in preparation for the move.  Past experience has proven that a beagle patient can be more demanding than a child, AND twice as demanding as a man!