Moving day

The current owners of our new house moved out in a couple of days - a heroic acheivement. We can move in once the downpayment is made. If all goes well, that will happen next Monday and so we will be able to move in on Tuesday which happens to be when Sammy and Karma, our dogs, get out of the slammer. Couldn't be better timed. It'll be twenty days from arriving in Australia to moving into a house which we will buy. That's pretty speedy by anyone's standards.

One caveat is that our money must transfer ok from our US bank to the Australian bank. That might happen but then again it might not.

We did get our visas stamped in our passports. I said to Judi as we entered the Government Center in Paramatta, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here". After that incantation we actually were in and out in 4, yes F-O-U-R, minutes.

Tim

Friday night idleness

English->Japanese->English via the translator widget in OS X Tiger:

The wind blows tonight
風は今夜吹く
Tonight you blow the wind
今夜風を吹く
The tonight wind is blown
今夜の風は吹く
You blow the wind of tonight
今夜の風を吹く
The wind of tonight is blown
今夜の風は吹く
You blow the wind of tonight
今夜の風を吹く
The wind of tonight is blown

Eventually it stabilizes. I'd like to find one that does more than just flip backwards and forwards.

As I said, idleness.

Tim

Spiders!

From J-P:



Tim

The Australian Economy

Forget the reports that the Australian economy is booming because China needs raw materials, of which Australia has plenty. Drawing on our extensive research in malls, bottle shops, and restaurants, we can report that the Australian economy is really based on:

• Wine - there's a glut of good wine. Horrible, horrible problem.
  
• Real estate - this is the home of the $600K ok-it-sucks-so-tear-it-down-and-build-something-you-like house listing.
  
• Cell phones - about half the stores in any mall seem to be concerned with selling you an even better cell phone plan. Surprisingly, cell phone rates still suck.Cell phone rates are a mystery. We can call the US for 50min/$1 whereas the intra-Sydney cell phone rate is much higher (it gives me a headache to calculate how much it really costs so take my word for it).
  
• Good food. Sadly, the once ubiquitous pie shops have been replaced by trendy Asian fusion cuisine restaurants. If either Judi or I actually ate pies (pass the HP sauce), we might be a bit more upset.

One day the Chinese will own Australia as well as the US.

Tim

Moving money

It's hard to move money around remotely. We have two choices:

1. Send our New Mexico bank a signed authorization to wire the money to Australia. This authorization has to be "FedExed" which we worry about for obvious reasons (read earlier entries!)
2. Transfer money to another US bank that will accept a faxed authorization to wire money to Australia.

Method 1 takes about 5 days - the time to FedEx a document to New Mexico from Sydney. Method 2 has to be done in 4 chunks, one per day, and the funds only become available on the third business day. AND the money has to be in Australia next Monday, which is Sunday in the US. Pop quiz - which do you choose?

Vicky pointed me to a firm that helps with some type of transfers and which may be useful in the future but which cannot help with this particular problem.

Our choice was 2, of course, not wanting to be traumatized again by FedEx. It's going ok so far.

Tim

We bought a house

Today we signed on the dotted line for the house on 1 Nattai Close.



Now all we have to do is get the mortgage. We'll need a cash down payment of 10% by Monday May 2. We have this in our US bank account but it'll be interesting to see how easy it is to get it here by then.

Tim

Lions, Tigers and Bears - Oh My!

No journal about moving to Australia would be complete without wildlife stories. I read that Aussies dislike newcomers who complain about various aspects of life in their country – my apologies to anyone who might find offence (Aussie spelling) in what I am about to write. The wildlife in this country is mighty strange… some of it in a charming way, some of it in a lethal way, and some just plain weird.

Wildlife encounter #1: My first encounter with Aussie wildlife was walking up the path to Tim’s work. We saw something cross the path ahead of us so we went to look. What looks like a snake that has been cut in half, has small legs and a head that looks like a cross between a snake and a lizard? A land mullet! A mullet is a smooth skinned reptile of the Skink family that lives in the tropical rainforest and grows up to two feet long. (Note: The park adjacent to Tim’s office is a piece of rainforest that is being lovingly “refurbushed” (get it?) by a group of local ecologists. This animal does not seem to be the least bit aggressive – but I am minding my steps just in case.

Wildlife encounter #2: The spider. When you stay as a guest in either the lodge or the guest cottage, you are provided with an information sheet about spiders (with photos). There are three categories: The friendly or “low risk” spiders; the toxic (poisonous) – painful bite spiders; and the deadly and dangerous ones. My spider was in the dresser walking across Tim’s t-shirt drawer. When it went out of sight, I pulled out the drawer (I had the bug spray by this time, of course – I couldn’t find a hammer!). I found the spider and sprayed it, but not before it dropped into my underwear drawer! Do I have to draw you a picture here? Imagine putting on your silk undies and …. well, you get it. By the way, I am convinced this was a white-tail spider described as: May cause horrific ulceration to skin of sensitive people found in the garden and indoors, and listed under the deadly and dangerous ones. Need I mention that I will be shaking out my skivvies before donning them in the future?

Wildlife encounter #3: This report is getting a bit lengthy, so I am going to add just one more story (I have others!). Tim and I were again walking along the path from his office when we came across the most amazing sight. I guess I will call it a “caterpillar train”. We watched as caterpillars (the fuzzy, 1 ½” kind) paraded across the path – nose to butt until the “train” reached about 3-4 feet! See photo below.



Even when a little guy looked like he/she might dart off, they never broke rank – incredible.

Judi

Update: Our buddy J-P, a Sydney native now resident in Socorro, says:

It's good to see the locals putting themselves out to meet you.

Somebody has probably told you this already, but creature #1 listed in the blog (the one about 1/2 the size of a snake with legs and mullet-head) was almost certainly a blue-tongue lizard. They eat ants and are completely harmless.

As for creature #2 (the White-Tail spider I assume)...I gather you have a sheet like the one attached to this email? In all my years in Sydney, I never saw a white-tail spider in the wild. I do understand that Funnelwebs are relatively common on the north shore. They have been known to kill dogs and they can be aggressive.


Judi is not convinced about the mullet/lizard, J-P, but she concedes you may be right about the spider. While we are talking about mullets, I should mention that the local weatherman, whose name I cannot recall, has invented dual side mullets, dyed blond. It's quite something to see.

See our household move!

The container is on a ship called the Conti Shanghai, callsign DNHS. Here's the tracking page showing the location. Currently it's west of Japan.

The estimated date of arrival in Sydney (probably Botany Bay) is 23 May.

Tim

Friday evening ramblings

I officially started work at the Australia Telescope yesterday. Very pleasant experience meeting lots of nice people. Had a few long scientific discussions already.

Tomorrow we take a second look at a house we like in Thornleigh. This one has an asking price in the $500K's which is considerably better than others we had looked at. It's a multi-level house built on a hillside, lots of wood floors and balconies. We'd need to fence in the land for the dogs. The area around is leafy and green with lots of bush within a short walk. The drive to work would be about 30 minutes.

I've been reading the sale contract for the house. This is pretty standard legalese but I enjoyed the following clause:

"The time for one thing to be done or happen does not extend the time for another thing to be done or happen"

Buddhists would recognize this as the opposite of the Law of Dependent Origination.

This weekend is a long one. Monday is a holiday in Australia - Anzac day. The date is the anniversary of Gallipoli. For those of you without a British Commonwealth history education, Gallipoli was an attempt by the Allies to aid Russia by taking the entrance into the Black Sea, the Dardenelles. By dint of bad planning and general ineptitude, the campaign failed and many people died. It wasn't the worst day of carnage in WWI but it was really bad for the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). It's strange that Australia remembers its soldiers by commemorating such a disaster but on reflection it's probably more appropriate than to celebrate a victory.

We'll let you know how it goes with the house.

Tim

House hunting

Today was the fourth straight day of house hunting and we're both a little worn down. We've driven around many neighbourhoods and seen many houses, mostly from the outside. We saw inside a nice duplex today - modern, new, tastefully finished, but with too little backyard for us.

The area we really like is north of a big strip of the Lane Cove National Park. Some names are Pymble, West Pymble, Turramurra, South Turramurra. Fingers of housing extend into the park and benefit from the beautiful and peaceful greenery. There are many areas to walk, even with dogs (in reserve area outside of the national park). With some searching and patience, we might be able to find a house that fits us. Time is not on our side, of course. The dogs get out of quarantine 16 days from now and so we'll need a rental by then.

Anyway, as I keep telling Judi, "It will be fine".

Tim

Saturday

The Avenida Adelaida house sale closed today (2pm Friday afternoon in Socorro). So that's over. We should get the final settlement check deposited in our US bank the middle of next week. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to transfer the money here.

We looked at houses today, mostly in Epping and North Epping. Open houses are held on Saturdays with staggered times. With some planning and luck, you can make it to a reasonable number of the ones you want to see. We saw quite a few but none that were (a) in our price range and (b) that we liked enough to consider buying. We did see a fabulous house for A$998K. Perhaps I could work two jobs....

Our plan is to head out to the coast tomorrow, for some sea breezes and to reconnoitre. The traffic here in Sydney is pretty bad so I'd prefer to live close to ATNF if possible but we should at least look at the coast.

Going out to dinner tonight with an old friend from India. We'll probably go to the excellent eclectic Asian restaurant, Kenny's, in Epping. Judi and I went there for our anniversary dinner last October.

Tim

Friday evening

We've been here for a couple of days now and have done quite a bit of organizational stuff.

• Checked into the ATNF cottage just down from Radiophysics. This is a nice two bedroom house, wood floors, lots of trees around.
• I had my first meeting, with Ron Ekers and Richard Schilizzi. I'll officially start work next Thursday but we had to do this before Ron went on a trip.
• Got cell phones. Kind of expensive compared to the USA but more capable. For example, we can do video person-to-person. Getting the phones was actually quite hard since we have no history here.
  
• Opened a bank account with ANZ. Compared to the cell phones, this was easy. Money talks!
  
• Bought a printer/fax/copier/scanner - we need this for house hunting.
• Hunted for a coffee maker that grinds and brews on a timer. Can't seem to find one like we one we had in the US anywhere - bummer.
  
• Started looking at neighborhoods. Short summary - Epping and Marsfield seem better than we'd thought and up north (Mount Kuring-gai, Mount Colah) look worse. We'll look more at houses tomorrow (Saturday is when the open houses are).
• Bought some good Australian wine cheap!
• Checked out the produce - fresh fish, veggies, fruit - at a local mall. The choice, quality, and price are simply amazing, compared to Socorro but even Albuquerque.
• But so far we have failed to find bread as good as that in Smiths in Socorro (which isn't a high standard!).

That's it for now.

Tim

Please leave a message

At the bottom of each post there's an envelope icon - press that to leave a message. We'd love to hear from you.

Tim and Judi

Last day on Kauai

Na Pali is at the westernmost end of Kauai. It's where the oldest rocks are and where the most beautiful cliffs are. It's the most important thing to see on Kauai. On Monday (our last day), we took a sunset cruise from Port Allen on the south coast round to Na Pali.



The cliffs are beyond spectacular - those shown here are about 1500 feet high. It's hard to grasp the size until you see something familiar. We saw a number of goats at various places along the cliffs but they don't show up well in our photographs. In the photo of me, note the white blob at the top of the cliff - that's a radar antenna of about 50 by 30 feet.

The best time to see Na Pali is probably in the late afternoon when the sunlight is low across the cliffs:



These valleys were evidently full of people about 600 years ago but are deserted now. In the thirties there was a school on a beach here accessible only from the sea. Children from the valleys around and from the two islands to the west were educated at the school house that still stands just yards from the sea.

This is the biggest valley - about two miles across.



Coming back we saw quite a few whales and some dolphins. Boats aren't allowed to go within 100 yards of whales so it's not so easy to see them but the the dolphins came up very close to the boat and swam along just in front of the bow. I was perched right above them and had a wonderful view:



We also saw a monkseal (from a long ways away), a couple of flying fish and a few different types of birds.

Finally, here is Judi with the sunset.



Tim

WE MADE IT!

Since our visit to Kauai, all has progressed well. We spent our last day on the island watching kids swing from ropes into a fresh water swimming hole (fed by a 15 foot waterfall). Some of the kids actually climbed a huge tree and jumped in - they were so high I got dizzy just watching. They were fearless! I admit this was an idyllic spot.



At 3 PM, we boarded a motorized, sailing catamaran (65 ft. long) for a sunset cruise along the Na Pali coast. Imagine huge cliffs covered with green lining the coastline and the occasional waterfall flowing peacefully down to the sea. Imagine sailing along and spotting several groups of Hawaiian Humpback Whales which we could spot by the occasional spout of water. Our captain told us that many of the whales we saw were mothers with babies (and a helper juvenile) followed by some amorous males (it was a "heat run") apparently. We didn't spot any sea turtles, however, we had seen one at the Queen's Bath. The Na Pali coast is quite desolate and only accessible by water or a very long and incredibly difficult hike. In one area we spotted some mountain goats enjoying the beautiful afternoon.

On the way home, we were served "adult" beverages and pupus (appetizers) and watched as the sun sank into the ocean. We were delighted to be joined by ten spinner dolphins who lined up in front of the boat and swam along with us. They were wonderful to watch, and Tim got one particularly spectacular photo looking right down on them. What a treat. This is certainly the way to "de-stress" and recharge for our adventure in Australia.

The flight was perfect and I watched "Sideways" and "The Aviator." Both are great movies and the ten hours passed quickly. We arrived on schedule, rented our car and drove to the cottage at Tim's new work location. The cottage is a small, pleasant three bedroom house stocked with everything we could possibly need (except wireless which is why I'm writing this from Tim's new office). We both woke up early this morning and decided to go check out the local real estate in Epping (near the office). We'll be looking elsewhere too - it's awfully tempting to live closer to the beach!

That's my news. As I mentioned, Tim will add his comments and our photos soon.

Judi

On the plane

Tuesday afternoon and we're on the plane from Honolulu to Sydney. It'll be Wednesday in a few minutes when we cross the International Date Line.

It's strange to be making such a sudden change in our lives. Usually change is slow and hard to notice, creeping by until half your life has gone by. Here we're making one big change all at once (though I guess it's taken 6 months!).

Feels good.

Tim

Queen's Bath

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook mentioned a good place for swimming - the Queen's Bath by Princeville. Princeville is one of those horrible planned communities that some Americans seem to like in exotic places - think of a military base crossed with Stepford and you have it. Anyway, after a very steep and slippery walk down the cliff side you traverse some old lava rock to come to a fine natural swimming area - the Queen's bath, fed by waves at high tide.



It's kind of hard to get in and out. Judi slipped and got a small abrasion.



The view along the coast is spectacular (of course):



After that we went on to Hanalei (the original for Hanalee in "Puff the Magic Dragon") and ate some fine roadside food at the Hanalei Mixed Plate. Judi had Swordfish Caesar Salad and I had Tofu in Coconut Pesto. Amazing.

Tim

Po`ipu

The day started with a rain shower which turned to brilliant sunshine within about twenty minutes. The weather here is strange - within about ten miles is the wettest place on the planet: 440 inches per year but close to the ocean there is blue sky much of the time.

We spent the day exploring the Po`ipu area on the south coast.



With the help of a good guide book, we found a beautiful beach. As you can see, we're having fun!





We hiked around for a bit hoping, in vain, to see monk seals on the beach. We did see some turtles swimming elsewhere later on.

After two nights of bread, cheese, and wine in the room, we're going out tonight to eat at Duke's on Kalapali beach. The main attraction at Duke's is the live Hawaiian music on Friday evenings.

We booked the flight to Sydney. We'll arrive next Wednesday evening. I have a meeting at the ATNF on Thursday morning but the main task for the first week or so will be to find somewhere to live. On Thursday afternoon, we'll be sure to visit Sammy and Karma at the quarantine station. It'll be good to see them!

Tim

Kilauea lighthouse

The Kilauea Lighthouse is now a wild life sanctuary. It's on a spur of land jutting out into the ocean to the northeast.



Here's the view to the south showing nesting areas.



The white birds are mostly red-footed boobies. Closer to us were red- and white-tailed tropic birds who do this most amazing backward flying mating flight, circling below and then above each other while drifting back in the strong winds - impossible to photograph.

Tim

From up in the clouds...

Tim

A chicken in every plot

Kauai is overrun with Moa's - junglefowl that came with the Polynesians when the islands were settled. They are now everywhere on Kauai. Here's a particularly handsome male.

Perhaps as a result of the arduous voyage to get to Kauai, the roosters seem to be confused about the local time zone and crow at random times.

While I'm showing photos, here is one of a fern, taken up high in the mountains where the clouds drift and boil all the time.

Tim

Here we are....

Google!

Try switching views.

Tim

On Kauai...

We just arrived in Kapa'a on Kauai. The hotel looks empty but very nice. Thanks to Judi charming the ladies at reception, we have a room overlooking the pool and with a good sight of the ocean. The hotel is in the midst of renovations so the rates are low, I guess.

Robyn says that we are the only homeless people she knows who go to Hawaii.

By the way, we got the visa. So now we can enjoy our time here without having to worry about that whole mess. It'll probably take a week for my blood pressure to go down anyway.

Tim

Visa update

I just heard from Sally, the HR person at CSIRO. Evidently Judi's Xrays were not accompanied by the necessary clearance papers - probably meaning that the radiologist did not fill the form out correctly. Hence the Immigration guy couldn't approve the Visa. Instead he had to send off the Xray to the Local Clearance Unit (LCU - see it all makes sense, right?) to be Clearance'd. There is a minimum 48 hour turnaround on that so we have to wait until Wednesday morning (Australian time) before any possible change could occur. I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, we're off tomorrow to Kauai for a week's vacation. The best time to take a vacation is when you have no job and no home so off we go. We're staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Kauai at Waipouli Beach. We'd normally choose something more 'umble but we need the wireless internet.

Another advantage of this timeout/vacation is that it gives the Aussies more freedom to dick around without driving us crazy.

Tim

A whole lot of nothing...

That's what going on. There seems to be no action on our visa. My current theory is that they have lost the second set of Xrays. Our contact at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs forwarded them somewhere else on Friday afternoon. Doesn't that seem an unwise step given the history of these particular Xrays?

We went down to Manhattan Beach today and walked out along the pier. Had a nice bottle of Malbec and some bread and cheese back at the room this evening.

The next step has to be in a radically different direction, I think, because we're not getting anywhere this way. I'm thinking we should move to Fiji instead - get a fast internet connection and do contract work. We'll keep you posted.

Tim

El Segundo, CA

There are times when some sort of action is needed, and this was one of those times. More nights at the Holiday Inn Express and meals at the Socorro Springs Brew Pub did not sound appealing to either Tim or me. It was time to make a move.

Unfortunately, Tim wasn't feeling well, but despite this we headed to the airport and onto Los Angeles. Tom and Robyn drove us to the airport in our old Rodeo (their new Rodeo). I don't think there is any way to thank two people who have done so much for us - i.e., accepted into their family my geriatric dog and long-time good friend (Mica), taken on the task of selling my Honda Element (since it didn't sell before we left), and a "multiple" of other kind and helpful actions. Thank you Robyn and Tom. We love you and will miss you dearly.

We are now at the Hilton Garden Inn Lax-El Segundo spending our Saturday in total vegetative states. Once we regain some energy, we'll explore the beach and other attractions, but for now, we are quite happy just lying around...

We have reservations for Monday night to fly on to Sydney. Will the Visa be approved? Stay tuned!

-Judi

Kangaroo Boxing and Other Amazing Things

I just spent 30 minutes composing a post, was in the process of reviewing in, hit the back button, and lost the whole thing. But alas, this is nothing.

Wednesday morning we went to meet the container guy at the house. Melvin, the driver, is the original "Fat Albert." He is a huge black man with a wonderful deep and gravely voice. Melvin had driven all night from Phoenix to get to our house by 8:00 AM, Wednesday morning. Tim and I arrived before 9:00 to meet the moving guys.... and then it was 10:00.... and then it was 11:00..... After many irate calls to the shipping company and lots of "they're on their way," they're 40 minutes north of town," "they are in "Sirocco" and 10 minutes from your house." (She didn't realize that any place in "Sirocco" is 10 minutes from our house.) The moving boss in Las Vegas, Nevada even told me they were just about to turn into our driveway.

THEY NEVER ARRIVED.

After providing Melvin with some sustenance from MacDonalds, and with much convincing from several "players" in this drama, he was convinced to spend the night at the Roadrunner truck stop in Lemitar. Melvin would arrive Thursday morning at 8:00 AM - which he did. We were told that another mover was being dispatched from somewhere, but noone seemed to know when they would arrive at the house. Melvin waited. Tim and I waited. And finally, in the early afternoon, the calvary arrived in the form of Richard Mora and two helpers from Duke City Movers in Albuquerque. Now these guys are pros. They packed that mammoth 40 foot container in less than two hours and arranged it so that nothing would shift in transit. (Note: one of the movers actually boxed a kangeroo in a circus!)

Finally, our belongings were on their way to Phoenix and then to Long Beach, California for a leisurely trip across the ocean to our new home (Austria is landlocked isn't it?).

So.... our belongings are on their way and the dogs made it to the quarantine station near Sydney (I doubt they are very happy with me). Mica is at Robyn and Tom's house and is doing as well as can be expected - a bit confused, but she likes Tom and Robyn a lot.

So... you would think, "COOL, Tim and Judi are on their way." We even got notice that the package with my x-rays had reached their destination. Wow, everything is finally coming together.

Think again.

Any guesses on what could go wrong now? We received an e-mail from Dan, our friendly immigration agent, who said that he would release our visas as soon as he received the x-rays - which he did, receive them I mean. He wrote that he was trying to release the visas, but the electronic system was down - and it was Friday afternoon with several hours to quitting time. He told us he would see what he could do.

Update, Friday morning Socorro time, Holiday Inn Express. We haven't heard from Dan.

Giblets, Fafnir, and the Medium Lobster

If you don't know these luminaries, start here.

Tim