Our home in the trees

P6190229.JPG
Originally uploaded by Judi Blue.

I want to show you the huge and beautiful trees that surround our new home. The tall trees are gum trees, but there are many other types I haven't been able to identify... yet.

Judi

Time for a vacation....

P6190211.JPG
Originally uploaded by Judi Blue.

I guess you can see here why I haven't posted for a while. Our house is filled with full boxes, empty boxes or "stuff". Too much stuff. It's an eye-opening experience to move from a home with two double garages, a large kitchen, three large closets and a walk-in to a home with one small closet, one small walk-in, a small kitchen and a carport for storage. This after four garage sales. Who says we're materialistic!? Actually, most of the "stuff" is like the thirty miscellaneous coffee mugs we couldn't bear to part with because of the memories associated with each.

I am taking action to combat the overload. I have bought garment racks to store/hang clothing, assembled various storage units, and I am even buying a huge wooden storage unit/wardrobe that I "won" on EBay. Don't ask how I expect to get this to our house - I haven't figured that out yet.

It's overwhelming, so I set small goals for myself each day. At least I can find one neat and clean corner - one.

Judi

Angels of Mercy

Angels of Mercy
Originally uploaded by Judi Blue.

This is Brian (left) and Glenn (the other side). They are removal experts from Ambrose and Sons and they are moving our things into our house as I type this. Bless their hearts. Now for the unpacking - YUCK!

Judi

Morning Mists on Delivery Day

It rained last night so we have some mist this morning. Here's a view from our balcony.



Tim

Angry Email Messages and Miracles

I'm almost afraid to say this, but.... but..... but.... the movers are coming tomorrow morning (Wednesday) with our stuff! Phew. (I really missed my little Fiskars manual drill.)

Judi

On the fire trail

Sydney has immense areas of undisturbed bush. In our neighbourhood, the houses form fingers into the bush. Fire is a real risk and so there are many fire access trails down which a truck can drive or people (and dogs) can walk. About 1/4 mile from our house is a trail heading north. We all four (12 legs in all) walked along it today. Here's the slideshow (21Mb so be patient). The music is from a very good friend of ours, Mark Holdaway.

Tim

You call that a dog? This is a dog...

Karma meets some sort of creature, perhaps a dog, maybe not.



Strangely, Sammy didn't try his usual humping trick.

Tim

Our furniture, different clothes, our nice comfy bed..

I had to wait a day before I wrote this or it would have had too many expletives to publish. You would think that since our container arrived in port on May 23rd, that we would have our belongings by now - even considering customs, quarantine, etc. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Now our local mover won't deliver our belongings until he receives payment from --- well, here's where lies the problem.

Elvis, our local guy, sends emails to Omega Shipping asking for his payment before he will deliver our container. For some reason, Omega does not respond to his inquiries. (BTW, this is the second time around for these particular actions). I forward a strongly worded email to our original contact/broker, TransLogisitics, attaching the email from Elvis that explains his predicament. TransLogistics forwards my email to Omega Shipping who says that every time they have contacted the Container Line, they are told that our belongings have been released. They send a strongly worded email saying that the current situation is not their fault. The bottom line is that Elvis will not deliver until he is paid.

While I am giving credit where credit is due to these organizations, I wouldn't want to leave out New Planet Movers located in Las Vegas Nevada. The original two packers they sent to Socorro (Vitali and Vitali) arrived on time and did a good job (or so we hope). Since the container never arrived from Phoenix, Vitali and Vitali had to leave for another job. New Planet told me they would send a replacement team right away, and don't worry, "I know these guys personally, They'll do a good job for you." Perhaps they would have done a good job for us if they had ever shown up - how many days did we wait for them? I also found out that my contact at New Planet didn't know "these guys" from Adam. On New Planet, LYING is an acceptable form of communication.

Now I haven't told you about the original estimate that Translogistics bid that was - ugh oh - $2k higher than what was originally thought. Hmmmmm. I haven't mentioned that Eli, my contact at Omega Shipping, went on vacation during the beginning of our move and left everyone hanging - even leaving a voice mail for me saying that we had to pay the packers ourselves (this was not the deal - this cost was included in the agreed upon cost). Of course, with our garage full of packed and ready household goods, the container never arrived, and when it finally did, it was twice the size of the original order.

I guess I could go on and on with the telling of this ridiculous saga, but why weary both of us? My suggestions to these companies.
1. Use the phone, not just emails to communicate.
2. Hire people and organizations that can be trusted and who have proven themselves before.
3. When a key contact goes on vacation, be sure they debrief the poor schmuck left to do the work.
4. Pick someone who will actually have the integrity and professionalism to take responsibility when things go wrong (i.e., not pass the buck (or email) from one person to another.
5. Remember that an international move will be stressful - and that a company's lack of competence will have deleterious effects on the "movees."
6. There are more suggestions, but these are a good start.

So, to date, we don't know when we will have our household goods to furnish our new house. We have found that living out of suitcases for two and a half months can develop character (if not holes in the shoes you wear day in and day out). We discovered that it is especially important to read the fine print on shipping contracts. We are hoping that an internet blog can be mightier that the sword. Perhaps we will have to hire a hostage negotiator to obtain our belongings. Stay tuned, that's not a bad idea.

A Pissed Off Judi

"I'm not a'scared of no stinkin' death adder!"

While my handsome and brilliant husband is reading, or rather listening to Homer, I research nature's instruments of death such as: the Death Adder, the Funnel-Web Spider, the Red-Bellied Black Snake, and killer Cone Shells. My interest was piqued on the day our house sale settled. I met a neighbor on the street who said he bought his land 33 years ago to the day. He mentioned that sometime in the last eight years, he has found both a red-bellied black snake and a six meter python in his back yard - remember, he lives right down the street from us!! I wish he hadn't told me about his reptile adventures, since I have only just recovered from my first close encounter with a huge Huntsman Spider in my kitchen. These spiders are large enough to carry you off, but fortunately they are considered low risk (non toxic to humans) and non-aggressive -- although if cornered can give you a painful bite.

Sammy, Karma and I still make daily visits to the local dog park (in Westleigh, NSW). It's a great place for me to socialize and meet new people and for the dogs to exercise without leashes. Unfortunately, during our last three visits, a Basenji attacked Sammy (she has also attacked other dogs in the past). Her "Mom" is good about grabbing her and taking her home right away -- her punishment is "time out" in the "Sin Bin." We hope this is a temporary attitude problem and that she will improve her manners. My two furry pacifists don't appreciate this kind of behavior, and Sammy has taken to staying close when "Bowie" the Basenji stops by.

Just a note: No word from the movers for several days. So close yet so far.

Judi

Fair Ilium

I've been listening to an audiobook of "The Iliad" when driving to and from work every day. It's the old Samuel Butler translation read by Robert Lescaut. Really, really excellent. It's so good, in fact, that I'm worried about not paying enough attention to the road.

Homer is one of my all time favorites. I've read both the Iliad and the Odyssey a couple of times (maybe more). It's an interesting question as to which is better. The Iliad is the ultimate war story full of passion, horror, blood, and great deeds. The Achaens come to Troy to reclaim Helen, hence the famed thousand ships. They lay siege to Troy (also known as Ilium) for nine years. The Iliad is the story of what happens in the tenth year. Most of the action takes place on the plains in front of Troy. The Odyssey has more subtle charms, being the story of Odysseus returning from the Trojan wars to his home and long lost wife and son in Ithaca.

So while I'm driving down the Beecroft road, I'm really back 3500 years or so in ancient Greece. The power of literature.

Tim

Progress

Yesterday we closed on the house on Nattai Close. So we are the legal owners. All of the money eventually transferred as it should. The Foreign Investment Review Board approved our purchase (very quickly). ANZ Bank (eventually) loaned us the money. We had a last minute "discussion" with various parties about the details of the contract (confusingly worded to those of us new to Australia) but we resolved that.

So we had a bottle of Asti last night. The bloke at the bottleshop asked me why we didn't choose Moey. Took a while to figure out he meant Moet et Chandon!

Tim

The Sydney Opera House and the Manly Ferry

The Sydney Opera House
Originally uploaded by Judi Blue.

The Sydney Opera House is probably the most photographed piece of architecture in the world. It truly is magnificent and extremely photogenic. (Click on this photo and see some other photos from the day.)

Last Saturday, Tim and I took the ferry to Manly, NSW. We had tried to take the Manly Ferry last October when we were visiting, but it was canceled due to rough seas (although the trip is all within the harbour). The ride over was lovely - a bit brisk, but blue skies and enough wind to encourage lots of sailors to take their boats out.

When we arrived at Manly, we were pleasantly surprised to find the annual Food and Wine Tasting Festival happening (I guess you could call this "People Heaven."). We chose some delicious cheese and fruit plates and a couple of nice red wines. Later we did some requisite shopping and headed back - although this ferry was inside seating only, too hot and packed.

We had a fun day, perfect weather, good food and wine - we were tired, but content... and pleased with our good luck and fine timing.

Judi

Duffle Dog

Duffle Dog
Originally uploaded by Judi Blue.

Since we still live out of suitcases until our household goods arrive (hopefully next week), Sammy decided to benefit from the situation.

Perhaps he didn't want to be sent in a pet carrier as on his trip to quarantine. In any case, he's a dog packed and ready!