Apartment Pics...Finally!!

Sorry it took so long to get these posted! We finally got the last of the things on our list a couple of weekends ago and our home is pretty much complete. We hung the pictures and everything we own has it's "place". Granted, there are always things we can add, but we now feel like we're "officially" moved in! And, it only took us 3 months :)

Here's our living room. There is a sliding glass door to our balcony, which is just big enough for a couple of chairs :) It will be nice in the summer to be able to sit out there and see our "slice" of the water.

This is the kitchen - it's very small and there's hardly any storage - and, the cupboards that we do have are too tall for me to reach! It works for the 2 of us though.

This is our dining area - we found the cube shelves and thought it would work great as a storage unit too. We think it works out pretty well.

This is the "alcove" that is kind-of like a second bedroom. It's actually been really nice to have the extra space. We would feel so cramped without it.

This is our bathroom. It's a pretty good size, but it's the only we have. Our washer is behind the closet and there is enough room for some storage in there too.

There are a couple of differences we've had to get used to as well. One is that showers don't have full doors or curtains like we're used to, just short glass partitions. It's been an adjustment because it's really cold in the mornings since you can't close the door all the way and because water splashes all over the floor!

Another weird thing is that all toilets here have 2 flush settings - half and full. Apparently, it's to conserve water?Also, every electrical outlet has it's own on-off switch. So, sometimes, I'm waiting and waiting for the iron to heat up or the coffee to start brewing or wondering why the toaster won't stay down... only to realize that the switch isn't even on!! Crazy! :)

This is our bedroom. It's pretty basic, but since we had to buy all new furniture when we got here, we pretty much went for the bare minimum at IKEA.

So, there you go! This is where we live. It's become quite cozy and we're enjoying our place in Port Melbourne. We hope you are all enjoying your summer! Ours is coming soon...hopefully!! :)

First Experience Driving (on the Left)

I (Anthony) have now driven in Australia several times, but I thought I would write about my first experience on the left side of the road. My first time driving occurred during rush-hour traffic, which made me quite nervous.

I rented a small car from Budget to get to a client who was located in an outer suburb. The Budget staff pulled around the car for me. As I got into the driver’s seat, I accidently stepped on the gas-pedal, revving the engine to red-line and scaring a couple of people standing around. I guess I didn’t know where to expect the pedals on the right side of the car – something you don’t really think about.

I drove the car through the parking lot and thought it didn’t seem too bad. I thought perhaps the key was just confidence. So, I confidently pulled out of the parking lot and into oncoming traffic! I then decided that the key was not confidence, but carefully considering each and every turn.
My next trouble arrived when I wanted to use my turn-signal and instead turned on my windshield wipers. It made me laugh, but it became less funny when I made the same mistake EVERY TIME I wanted to use my turn signal. Seriously - every time. We’re talking a dozen times or more. Changing lanes on the busy freeway was hard enough – then when I found an opportunity I would turn on my windshield wipers (on a dry windshield) and startle myself so bad I would have to abort the turn and regain my composure. I think everyone else on the road thought I was crazy.

On a side-note, I have now driven several times and was proud of myself on a recent trip when I got almost all the way home without ever accidently engaging my wipers. I thought I finally got the hang of it. Then it started raining. Yes – I reached for my wipers and turned on my turn-signal!

The last problem I had with my first experience occurred when I parked and I could not get my key out of the ignition. I had forgotten to put the car in park. It seems simple, but with the shift-lever at the wrong hand, I have made this same mistake during just about every trip I have taken. Weird, huh?

Lastly, I will comment on Aussie speed limits. On the main freeway I use, the speed limit is only 80 kph, which translates to only 48 miles per hour. And… unlike in the States, you are not allowed to go over the limit. There is no grace period – they use speed cameras and if you go over 80 kph you get a ticket. So, people really go 75 (46 mph). Then, when they do any kind of roadwork (even when there are no workers around or when the work does not appear to directly impact the road or flow of traffic) the speed limit is reduced to 60 kph. That is only 36 miles per hour on the freeway! Mind you, I am used to the California driving style in Sacramento where driving up to 80 mph on the freeway was the norm. Needless to say, I find Aussie freeways exasperating. Maybe this will help me learn patience?

New Look and An Update

So, I thought it was time for a new look for our blog. It was harder than I thought, but I finally decided on this one.


Sorry it's been awhile since we've updated our blog. Anthony's been working a lot, so we've spent the last two weekends home, relaxing. It's been really cold here, so it's been nice to stay inside. We did venture out to IKEA on Saturday and got the last few things we needed for our apartment. It's almost all done. Hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon for you. I know you've all been waiting to see our place! It's finally beginning to feel like "home".


Anthony had to go to Tasmania this week for work, so I'm home alone. Not my most favorite thing, but I've made some great friends that I'll hang out with this week to make the time pass more quickly :) I still don't have a job, but I've been looking at other options, besides property management. I've enjoyed my time off, but I'm ready to go back to work. Please pray that God would lead me to the right job. Also, Anthony's been a little stressed out with work lately, so please pray for him too - it's such a busy time for him!


At our small group, I met a girl that I have so much in common with, including our name. Christie and her husband, Jahmal, are here from Texas on a working contract too, but they have already been here for over a year, and are leaving in August. Christie has been showing me around the City - she's taken me to the best chocolate places, the best discount shopping, and some amazing little cafe's. What more could you ask for?! :) I just wish they were staying longer - I'm going to miss her!

Our 3rd Anniversary

On July 9th, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. In some ways, three years has flown by, but in other ways, it seems like a lifetime. It's hard to even remember what life was like before we got married. God has tremendously blessed our life together.

To celebrate this year, we had dinner on the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant. It is a historical tram that has become a restaurant on wheels - the first travelling tramcar restaurant in the world. For three hours, the tramcar travels around the City and through some of the inner suberbs. We had such a good time seeing all the sights, eating some really good food, and reminiscing about the last three years.

They served an amazing 5-course gourmet dinner. I tried to get a picture of each course for you. Some of them were hard to get, but you get the idea :) We were able to try some new kinds of foods that we might not have tried otherwise and everything was really good. They let us take home the menu as a souvenier, so here's a recap of our dinner.

Course 1: Two Dips: Liver Pate' and Roasted Red Pepper - served with two different kinds of crackers. Sorry, I didn't realize the glasses were in the way when I took this :)

Course 2: Anthony ordered the grilled kangaroo loin with a tomato & chili jam and a vegetable & chive frittata. I ordered the smoked salmon with avocado mousse. (Yes, they actually eat kangaroo here and it's not bad...it's actually pretty mild).

Course 3: We both ordered the filet mignon with fresh green beans and a potato & herb rosti. Everything was cooked perfectly and tasted so good.

Course 4: Cheese & Crackers, dried fruit, and fruit bread. I could hardly eat any of it because I was sooo full, but everything was really good! This was Anthony's favorite course.

Course 5: Anthony ordered the warm sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and fresh cream and I ordered the white chocolate and passionfruit mousse with praline and vanilla raspberry syrup. Both of them were really good, but we could only eat a few bites. The next two pictures have a lot of "white" in them, so everything kind-of blended together. Sorry they're not the best pictures.

After dinner: Can you believe there was more?? After dessert, they came around with coffee and little chocolates. We only drank a few sips because we were so stuffed! :)

We stopped in Albert park for a short ten-minute break to take pictures and stretch our legs. We saw a possum in the tree. They are a lot cuter here than the ones we have back home. Some of the people were feeding it.

We took one last picture when we got home. It was such a fun evening and a great way to spend our anniversary!

Circus Oz

Last Saturday, we went to see a show called Circus Oz. It's just like a traveling circus in a big tent, but their were no animals. It was a fairly small tent and is only in town for a few weeks. The show was really good and there were some amazing stunts! We weren't allowed to take any pictures during the show for the safety of the performers, but I did get some before it started.

These were inside the tent before we went into the main area of the show. They had a souvenier stand, clowns, face painting, and food vendors. It was actually a pretty amazing set-up for being so temporary.

These were a couple of pictures taken inside the main area of the tent. It was a little dark, so it's a little difficult to see, but you can get the idea :)

Of course, we had to get a self-portrait....they're my favorite! :)

For the past couple of months, we've been going to a church called PlanetShakers. The services are always good, but the church is a bit more charasmatic than we're used to and it's huge (thousands of people). We are still trying to figure out where God wants us to be. So, on Sunday we decided to try out a new church called Collins Street Baptist Church. It was a lot more conservative and quite a bit smaller (only about 50 people) than PlanetShakers, but the service was really nice. They have a fellowship time after every service where they serve coffee and tea and cookies. It was nice to get to know some of the people. One of the pastors used to work at PwC, so him and Anthony had a good conversation.

I got a couple of pictures off their website. It's a beautiful building and they're just getting ready to celebrate their 165th Anniversary!

This church is also very involved in the community. They do a dinner every Sunday night for the homeless in the City. They also use their top floors to house refugees who need help becoming Australian citizens, along with many more things. We have a couple of more churches we'd like to try, but we really liked it here. Please pray for us as we try to figure out where God wants us to be.

Things we miss from home

We have found that there are several foods that we miss from home. Some things we've tried here are just not the same. For example,ketchup (or tomato sauce as they call it here) and mayo are both really sweet and just don't taste quite as good to us. We've also found that there aren't as many choices in the grocery stores for different brands and stuff. We never thought we'd actually miss shopping at Winco :) We do miss their amazing prices for sure!! Everything is quite a bit more expensive than what we're used to.

So, we decided to make a list of all the things we miss. Here's what we came up with so far:

* Garlic Baby Dill Pickles (all the pickles we've tried here have not been good!)
* Crystal Light
* Tillamook Cheese - if you know Anthony, you know this is a BIG one for him :)
* Miracle Whip Light - they have regular, but it's just not the same! (my family will understand)
* Sugar-free Jello
* Cereal - Captain Crunch, Kix, Cheerios (they don't have much variety here & we love cereal!)
* Hot Tea - they mostly have herbal here - I really miss Constant Comment and Lemon Lift

We also miss McGrath's Fish House (from home) and Mikuni's Sushi (from Sacramento). Everywhere we've been so far has been really good though. We just haven't found a really great seafood place yet, but we're still looking! We're a little nervous to try the sushi places we've seen here - you want to know that the sushi is extremely fresh, so we'll see! :)

On the subject of missing home, this blog wouldn't be complete without talking about how much we miss our family and friends!! We miss you all so much! Thanks for all the emails, phone calls, and cards that we've been getting. It makes us feel closer to home! We are planning to come home for Christmas and we can't wait to see everyone! We are having a great time "exploring" around and seeing new things though. It's been such a great experience so far! Since we're in another country, we don't get to celebrate the 4th of July this year, but we'll be thinking of you all this weekend. Have a wonderful 4th everyone!! (And, happy 1st to all our Canadian friends!!)