Adjusting..

It is fascinating how quickly and easy one adjusts to another climate. It took us a couple of days and we thought it was hot (31 C) but we dressed for it, so it was OK. But now the temperature dropped to 24 C and we are so cold! We are wearing sweaters!! That sounds so crazy!! In Sweden or The Netherlands that would be a nice summer temperature..

Anyway we are adjusting and getting used to the kookaburras who make an incredible noise when the sun sets at 18.00 o'clock, the kangaroos who come out for a bite of a bit of grass next to our house, the long distance it takes to drive to the nearest supermarket (45 minutes) and city, the very bright and strong sunshine every day, the many big cars (4 wheel drives with a snorkel), the driving on the left, the drought and the beautiful mountains and ocean we pass every day on our way.

But it still feels weird as well, so many things are different! The food however is very similar, it's a very western country, so we can buy and eat much of the food we are used to. The supermarket looks a lot like back home! That's a relieve!

I never thought I was so attached to certain things, but I guess for me it's about feeling safe and knowing more or less what is coming, especially with two small children who also want this and for whom I am responsible. 

So what we are up to now is exploring our new temporary home step by step and bit by bit. We know where to find the supermarket, a nice place to play and a nice place to swim, a nice safe nature area, the library (trying to become a member so that we can read some other children's books), a great animal park (we are a member there, so we can go every day now!), a great aquarium (also became a member) and of course the beach with its attractions. 

And the people here are great! It's very easy to talk with people, they are friendly and open :-)

Of course while we are out and exploring and discovering, Ronald is working every day with the starfish. Since we stay at the research facility we can see him much more than we used to, we can even have lunch together (when we are not out and exploring..) and we can pay him a visit :-)

In the weekends Ronald is free and we can show him what we discovered :-)

Next time I will ask Ronald if he can tell you more about his research!

More pictures of our exploring are here..

See ya!

By the way, we have trouble with our internet connection at our house, so I can only put posts on our blog from other wifi hotspots now and then and so far it has not been possible to use skype, but we can mail, use whatsapp and sent text messages via our Australian mobile numbers!

Our journey

We are in Australia!
It is now 19.30 and at the moment I am sitting at our kitchen table writing this, the ventilator is on, bur I am still sweating. I hear birds and crickets outside in the total darkness where I know there is a forest.

But let's start with the beginning; our trip to where we are now. It has become quite a long story, so if you want to skip all the babbling you can also just watch the pictures here.

The first part went smoothly and we were very impressed by the first flight and especially the airplane of Singapore Airlines. There were three rows of three seats next to each other and we had a lot of space. We got each a pillow and a blanket, headset, toothbush and toothpaste and warm socks. And of course some meals which I thought were tasty, but the children only ate the cookies, some bread and the desserts ;-)
After lunch it was time to sleep (didn't really work for the children unfortunately) and after a very short 'night' it was time for breakfast (which feld as a midnight snack for us, really weird) and we landed in Singapore just before sunrise. In Singapore it was 6 hours later than in Sweden or The Netherlands. So that means that it felt like the middle of the night for us.

In Singapore we had a transfer of 14 hours, lot's of time to explore the airport with all its shops (a lot of bling bling and glitter!) Fleur loved the glittery kids shoes at one shop and there were 2 nice playgrounds for her and Nils to play. Fleur even made a friend; a little girl from Japan.

A lot of people were amazed by the site of Fleur with her light skin and curly light hear. They wanted to take her picture, which she didn't allow at first, but lateron she almost posed for those kind of people. Some people aven wanted to be in a picture with her. This all brought back childhood memories I have with the same kind of experiences when I was a child, with our Vietnamese neighbours, but it still felt weird, those people made me feel like I was walking with a beautifull living doll (know the song?! ;-).

We also went on a guided buss tour through the city, by that time Nils was exhausted and fell asleep, he didn't see much of it. Fleau had taken a nap before and she and I even went for a little strole to the Icon of Singapore; a lion/fish kind of animal. But again Fleur was the next main attraction.. The city is impressive with its high and often artistic buildings. And very very clean!

At the end of the day we were all exhausted and we were hoping to sleep during the entire next flight. This flight took 8 hours, the whole night and we flew from Singapore to Brisbane.
But of course we got a lot off stuff first and again a meal (dinner at 22.00 o'clock) and all of this took maybe three hours, so by the time we finally could sleep we only had a couple of hours left before they served breakfast.. The whole sleeping thing became a bit frustrating..

But then we finally were in Australia!! Just had to go through customs...
Which took us so much time that we missed our next flight...
First a long line for the passport check, then an immigration check and then a dog check. We had some fruit in our bags which are not allowed to enter Australia, so a dog picked out our bag and we had to open them. By the way all the Australians we had to deal with were all very friendly and understanding, no problem there!

Finally our last flight (three hours later than planned) with Virgin Australia took only two hours and we all fell asleep even before the plane took off...

Fortunately Ronalds contactperson at AIMS was meeting us at the airport and helped us with the rental car and led us to the nearest supermarket and then to our accomodation. I was SO happy that he did that! I was so jetlaged and confused with the time and had to drive left in a strange country..

So now we are here, in a nice house, at the edge of a nature reserve with AIMS, the research facilty where Ronald will be conducting experiments the next three months.
By this time our intestines are more or less used to the new time schedule, we mostly sleep at night and we see and hear a lot of fascinating animals. Whith dawn and dusk a lot of birds come out and make incredible noise, there are wallabies nearby, a wild dingo and in the ocean nearby are dangerous crocodiles, sharks and stingers.. Fortunately we also get a lot of information about where it's save to swim and what to do with the other animals (mostly just leave them alone).
The sun rises around 5.30 and sets around 18.00 o'clock, that felt confusing first, like it is winter but then a hot one! It is around 30 C every day.

Today we went to a animal sanctuary and learned a lot about crocodiles, very interesting and helpfull!
But we decided only to approach the water and swim were there are signs that its safe!

More next time!
You can find our pictures here!