Our First Week Back in America

There's much I've wanted to document about our moving process from Brisbane to Lexington, including the fabulous and bittersweet goodbye celebrations we had those last couple of weeks. However, I'm finding less and less time to write as we hurriedly work through the resettling process.

Here's the recap of what we've been up to the past week. I'll try to get some back posts finished from those last few days in Australia soon.

Chris's New Friend **UPDATED**

When Chris got home from work on Friday, he heard a different type of bird chirping on the balcony (actually, I had heard it all afternoon and ignored it). When he peered through the sliding doors, he found a small yellow cockatiel sitting on the plants. When the bird heard Chris call for me, it banged into the glass trying to come into the house.

Chris opened the door and extended his finger. The bird immediately hopped onto his finger then bounced up to his shoulder. It happily sat perched on Chris's shoulder for the next 30 minutes.

This is obviously someone's pet bird who found its way to a birdlover.

Chris's New Friend

My New Kentucky Home

Over the last six months, I've noticed the amount of writing I've done has decreased significantly from my earlier blogging days. In large part, it's been due to the active schedule I keep as my life has settled into Brisbane and my roots have been spreading -- albeit shallowly but spreading, nonetheless.

Girls' Camping Trip to Straddie

Front Row: Gena, Holly, DD, Cyndi
Back Row: Kathy, Deana, Terri

I'm using the word camping here loosely. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not much of a camper. Staying in a three-star hotel is about as much roughin' it as I'm up for. 

Bear Grylls has nothing on us...
especially when Deana and I use a public restroom in the wild.

In fact, we were joking that this is more like glamping... glamour camping. 

Brisbane Flooding Again

We took this storm pretty lightly on Thursday. We even rented a car for a possible trip to the beach on Chris' day off on Monday (today) for Australia Day. I'm not even sure I realized we were dealing with an ex-cyclone yet.

A Sailboat Having Troubles in Newstead on Monday

Friday afternoon. Icky day. Saw something on the news about the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswold hitting Brizzie this weekend. Chris and I stayed in for dinner and watched it spit rain intermittently throughout the evening. We both worked out.  I started reading The Hobbit.

Why I Like Australia - Reason 3 (Exercisers)

I didn't say I was going to do them in seven consecutive days, did I? Well, clearly, I'm not.

Today I am toasting the runners, boot campers, rowers, cyclists, and general health nuts of Brisbane. I've never lived in a city where there have been such an outpouring of exercisers on the streets. No matter where you look someone is walking, jogging, boxing, running the stairs, ride a bike, or rollerblading along the sidewalk. Whether in groups, as couples, or just a soloist, the people in Brisbane don't let grass grow under their feet.

My parents observed that the people they encountered in Australia were slim and healthy looking. The gyms here stay packed. Fitness classes fill up quickly. There are yoga joints on every corner. Boot camps in every park. What's up with this phenomenon? 

For a country Australia's size, they have an extraordinary amount of world class athletes. Swimming is a real speciality here with school-aged children taking both Phys Ed class AND swimming class during school hours. Oh, how I would have loved that! 

Brisbane supposedly is a bit more healthy than the other Aussie cities, perhaps because of its fabulous climate and people's love of the outdoors in a state similar to Florida. Whatever the reason, it's a delight to see so many Brisbanites outside burning some calories.

If only I would join them.

Why I Like Australia - Reason 2 (The Birds)

I never really noticed the birds back home. Well, you couldn't help but notice the mockingbirds, but aside from a few other standouts, the birds of home seemed to blend into the background.

In Australia, I have become a bird enthusiast. I love to watch the trees and the skies as they squawk overhead. Sometimes Chris and I go to the park just to watch the rainbow lorikeets chattering away at each other like old ladies.

Rainbow Lorikeets

Why I Like Australia - Reason 1 (Vegemite)

This Saturday the country celebrates the official national day of Australia -- Australia Day. January 26th is the traditional date that marks the landing of the First Fleet from England in the Sydney Harbour in 1787.

I summarized this history lesson when we first visited Sydney, and if you are interested, you can click here.

In honor of Australia Day, I'm going to list seven things that I like about Australia. I'll start with an easy one -- Vegemite.

You may recall my Seven-day Vegemite Challenge, but you may have missed that seventh recipe... because I never got around to posting it. I did complete the challenge in the seven days, but I'm just now writing up the results.

Cooking with Mairi

Our resident Scottish chef and host of Hogmanay celebration, Mairi, gave a few of us a cooking lesson at her home this weekend. Mairi is a former caterer and maker of all good things, so she was the perfect teacher for making scones, rhubarb and apple crumble, and risotto.

Mairi's School of Culinary Arts and Shenanigans

Deana and Me

A Day at Moreton Island on Tangalooma Resort

In a stroke of sheer genius, Deana, Gena and I organized a full day on the fabulous Moreton Island at the Tangalooma Island Resort for the group. Island guests can spend the night at the resort, but we were happy just to get in a full day at the beach and play with the activities on the resort. We also invited Gomes and his visiting wife Cass with us, and later Margie and Dennis decided to come over and stay a couple of nights on the island.

Happy New Year!

We had a great start to the new year with a Scottish NYE celebration called Hogmanay. Our Scottish friends Mairi and Jimmy hosted a smashing dinner with some of the best dishes that have ever grazed our lips. Mairi, a former caterer, really knows her way around the kitchen, and we all had a hard time deciding what was the best dish.

Uluru Sunset Camel Tour

This was technically the last activity that we did on our trip to Ayers Rock - Uluru, but it's going to be the first one I write about... mainly because I just looked at the pictures and I remembered how totally awesome this experience was.

The Murphys on Murphy (the Camel)

Before even arriving at Ayers Rock, I wanted to ride a camel. It just seemed like one of those experiences you should take advantage of if given the chance, and well, here's our chance. Talking Chris into it was a little bit of a challenge, but he finally relented.

Heat, Dust, and Flies at Kata Tjuta

Welcome to the Heat, Dust, and Flies. Welcome to Ayers Rock. 

One of our tour guides said this to us in transit to some event or other, and boy, did it fit. 

Day temps above 105*F (normally above 110* after 2 p.m.). It's a dry heat, as so many people told us. 

Red, sandy dust covering anything and everything. Dust Devils, little mini-tornadoes of dust, twirling about the desert landscape, especially where the fires had cleared the vegetation. No wonder Fire Twisters have occurred out here. 

A Dust Devil

Flies buzzing your head whenever you stood still (and sometimes when you weren't standing still... like you were a galactic planet and the flies were your satellites, so they travelled with you while orbiting your head). 

I still wouldn't have traded it for another adventure. 

Merry Christmas From Ayers Rock

Christmas at Ayers Rock

Christmas Day!! We woke up early, threw back the covers, and ran into the living room to see what Santa had left us and to see if Santa preferred my cookies to Chris' protein shake...  That's when it devastatingly occurred to us that we weren't at home, this was not winter in Tennessee, this hotel room didn't have a living room, it was 84* outside, and a random stranger was staring at us in our pajamas.

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Tennessee anymore.

That's because we're in Oz. Literally.

So, we backed our backpacks and headed toward Ayers Rock-Uluru.

Ayers Rock - Uluru

Driving from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock on Christmas Eve

If you're planning a trip to the Red Centre, I thought you might like to know our experience with the drive from Alice Springs to the Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara. 

This first part I'm going to tell you about our rental experience and things to watch out for. In the second part, I'm going to tell you the fun stuff... what we saw and did along the way.

Sign Outside of Alice Springs

Car Rental in Alice Springs
First of all, we decided to do the drive because we wanted to see both Alice Springs and Ayers Rock in the same trip, but also wanted to see as much of the Outback as we could. There are flights that go from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock (yeah, the two places aren't exactly close... the drive took us five hours and we didn't stop much), but we didn't want to fly it... we wanted to drive it. 

One Day in Alice Springs

We started our Red Centre journey in Alice Springs, the largest city in the area. It was a three-hour flight from Brisbane and a relatively easy transit through the airport to the hotel. The heat was intense. Dry, hot wind sapped every drop of moisture off your lips, tongue, and eyes. Without sunglasses, it was unbearably drying and bright. It was a sauna at 105*F (41*C).

We arrived about 12:30 p.m. at the airport. Alice Springs is a half hour behind Queensland time. Yeah, odd.

We rented a car to drive from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock (more about that in a separate blog), but we were spending the first day in Alice Springs. As we drove from the airport to the hotel, we saw several small groups of five to eight aborigines sitting in the dried up riverbeds along the roads. They didn't seem to be doing much, but it had to be stiflingly hot out there, even in the shade.

Annual Leave for Thanksgiving

We had a great visit back to the States for Thanksgiving. It seemed too short but it was fun to see our families and a few friends.

We are going to Ayers Rock/Uluru in the center of Australia for Christmas. We thought it'd be too depressing to stay in our apartment in Brisbane alone, so at least we'll be doing something that day rather than pining for our families back home. Ayers Rock is supposed to be about 103* on Christmas Day, so we may forget what day it is altogether!

Good News for 2013!

We get to stay in Australia until May 2013! This is very exciting news because we were only supposed to be staying until February. With coming straight off the holidays, this felt way too short for us and we just weren't ready to pack up yet.

Migraine Messes Up Visiting Time

I get migraines. I've been plagued by severe headaches my whole life, but I started getting textbook migraines about 10 years ago. There's not a medicine that prevents them for me, and once I get one, I can take something at the onset to minimize the pain. However, if I wait too long, there's not much to do except lay in the dark and try to sleep it off.

Unfortunately, a few days ago I had a particularly bad migraine. In fact, it lasted for three days until my parents couldn't take it any more and called our family doctor as soon as the office opened. He told them to bring me in immediately.

I've never been to a doctor mid-migraine. I always wait it out. But this was definitely a different migraine. When I closed my eyes (which was the whole time because light felt like it was searing a hole in my retina), I could feel this throb of pain circling my head... kinda like the ache was an insane 100,000+ crowd  at a Tennessee football game doing "The Wave" around Neyland Stadium while stabbing knives on my brain as they sat back down.

Round and round. Some rounds were stronger than others. On some rounds even the old people stood up and stabbed.

Round and round.

Bizarre.

Guess we'd better see a doctor.

Home Leave in Tennessee

I've not been doing much writing lately, but I wanted to update that we're having a good time at home in Tennessee. Chris got me a new DSLR camera for Christmas, so I've had a good time using my nephew as my model.

My nephew at my parents' house