Luke and I have been rejected from many restaurants because we didn't have a reservation, I knew that dinning out was a big thing here but, really?? It was really difficult for me to believe all those places were booked so fast and so early but, yesterday we discovered why... all retail stores close between 4:30 - 5:30 ! Everyone has lives and free time, definitely makes more sense now :)
Good news!! We made this little time discovery by finding a mall close by...Bad news, we got to the mall at 5:15 LOL AHH the joys for living in another country ; )
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Say what?!
America + McDonalds = Mickey D's
Australia + McDonalds = Mackers
Tires = Tyres
How are you = How you going
Thank you = Cheers
You're welcome = No worries
Breakfast = Brekkie
Shopping cart or as I like to say buggies = Trolley
Dumpster = Wheelie Bin
Trash = Rubbish
I'll add more as I think of them :)
Australia + McDonalds = Mackers
Tires = Tyres
How are you = How you going
Thank you = Cheers
You're welcome = No worries
Breakfast = Brekkie
Shopping cart or as I like to say buggies = Trolley
Dumpster = Wheelie Bin
Trash = Rubbish
I'll add more as I think of them :)
Sunday, June 17, 2012
NO RAIN
Sunday was a gorgeous day, no rain!!! It was the first day that we have been here that it didn't rain at all :) and I can honestly say I now know why everyone loves Perth. Of course we had nothing fun planned but a day at the laundry mat or Laundrette as they say... And let me tell you, using the dryers is serious business. The place we went to is right down the road from where we live and one of the few in the area. Everyone pretty much just goes to use the dryers (which will set you back $3 a load for 17 minutes and $4 a load for the washer) and you better take turns LOL We just assumed that because we were already using a dryer that we could continue using it considering we had several loads but no... Luke went to put our second load in and this giant size man, probably 6'5, who looked like a professional basketball player, stepped up right behind him and said "You gotta share mates, you just used it " ... He wasn't really mean about it but he was definitely intimidating and I got scared and we let him have it LOL. We were probably there a total of 2 1/2 hours and I never want to do that again. I definitely won't wait till the laundry piles up like that again :) After we finished we decided we needed some fun, one of the parks I have been wanting to go to was about 10 minutes away, so off we went!
So far, Kings Park is my favorite place we have gone to ( I know we haven't been to very many) it is sooo green, there are so many things to look at, and the views of the city are amazing! They have a war memorial, botanic garden, water garden, places to eat, and tons of space to just hanging out and do whatever! We didn't make it all the way through but we plan on going back very soon :D
So far, Kings Park is my favorite place we have gone to ( I know we haven't been to very many) it is sooo green, there are so many things to look at, and the views of the city are amazing! They have a war memorial, botanic garden, water garden, places to eat, and tons of space to just hanging out and do whatever! We didn't make it all the way through but we plan on going back very soon :D
Cottesloe Beach, Indian Ocean
On Saturday we finally made it to the beach!! We decided to go to Cottesloe Beach because it was only 20 minutes away and one of the most popular in the area. The weather wasn't great but there were more people there than I thought. It might have been 60 degrees outside, sprinking, and very windy but that didn't stop the kids from surfing! We found lots of weird ocean creatures and there were tons of sea shells everywhere. We stepped in the water just to see how cold it was and it wasn't as bad as I thought, but there was no way I was going to jump in! I can't wait to go back when it is warmer and sunny!!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
America the Great.
Went to a local pizza place the other night and ordered a pepperoni pizza. They call it The American. Damn right it is.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Picky eaters
I'll admit I was pretty nervous about the food here, I am incredibly picky but, to my surprise there are some familiar faces :D
McDonalds, Subway, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and KFC are all here! The only place I have gone to is McDonalds and the menu is pretty similar. They do not have biscuits, which I thought that was odd but I can't seem to find them in the grocery store either. Biscuits here are consider to be crackers! McDonalds also has a McCafe inside which is pretty cool. They serve all kinds of coffee, fraps, donuts, and pastries. I will try and get a pick of it. The serving sizes are also different, a medium is a small and a small is the size of a kids meal drink and I'm pretty sure you can't super size anything either ;)
Look Familiar ??....
Yep ! Hungry Jacks is their version of Burger King and it is goood :)
Grocery shopping has been quit the adventure. They have IGA stores everywhere but they are relatively small and we found a WoolWorths or Wolly's as they would call it, which had tons of gluten free and organic foods but there is no all in one store like Wal-Mart. We did find a Target but it is not a Super target. They don't have groceries but they do have tons of clothes and it's two stories :) After searching and searching for a hair dryer, I finally asked a clerk where I could find one and she directed us to a Supa IGA, not a super but a Supa LOL and it was tons of help. I finally got my hair dryer and we found some other familiar products.
Felt like I won the lottery when I found Old El Paso :D
Although they don't taste the same, they are still pretty good!
McDonalds, Subway, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and KFC are all here! The only place I have gone to is McDonalds and the menu is pretty similar. They do not have biscuits, which I thought that was odd but I can't seem to find them in the grocery store either. Biscuits here are consider to be crackers! McDonalds also has a McCafe inside which is pretty cool. They serve all kinds of coffee, fraps, donuts, and pastries. I will try and get a pick of it. The serving sizes are also different, a medium is a small and a small is the size of a kids meal drink and I'm pretty sure you can't super size anything either ;)
Look Familiar ??....
Yep ! Hungry Jacks is their version of Burger King and it is goood :)
Grocery shopping has been quit the adventure. They have IGA stores everywhere but they are relatively small and we found a WoolWorths or Wolly's as they would call it, which had tons of gluten free and organic foods but there is no all in one store like Wal-Mart. We did find a Target but it is not a Super target. They don't have groceries but they do have tons of clothes and it's two stories :) After searching and searching for a hair dryer, I finally asked a clerk where I could find one and she directed us to a Supa IGA, not a super but a Supa LOL and it was tons of help. I finally got my hair dryer and we found some other familiar products.
Felt like I won the lottery when I found Old El Paso :D
sadly velveeta and rotel are no where to be found
Rain Rain GO AWAY
Perth is supposed to be one of the sunniest cities in Australia and it has been raining since we arrived :( There are 19 white sandy beaches in Perth and I have yet to see one !!!!! I am so ready to get out and explore my new city! I'm also going to have to brave driving on the opposite side of the road...yikes!! Luke has done really well, we have only had one oopsy and thanks to the good Lord no one was coming and we were able to quickly turn around LOL
Check out our rental, it's a Kia Cerato and I actually really love it.
Check out our rental, it's a Kia Cerato and I actually really love it.
Settling In
We have been here serval days and are just starting to settle in. Our apartment is 2 bedroom, 1 bath, and was fully furnished. With that being said, we have some interesting decor going on LOL. The kitchen is very small, the stove and sink are tiny, we have very little pantry space, and there is no dish washer. I don't mind the no dish washer however, because the sink is so tiny, it is difficult to not get water everywhere and to actually wash your dishes. Our bathroom is also were our washer is so it is a decent size. There is no bath tub or dryer... Dryers apparently don't exist here LOL We have a super fancy clothes line hung up in the bathroom and then there are some set up outside for everyone to use. I also don't mind the no dryer thing but it hasn't stopped raining since we got here!
Because we are on the other side of the world, we are in Australia's winter. The highs stay in the mid 60's to 70's and lows are in the 50's and 40's... not too bad. We are also 11 hours ahead of TX. I have been waking up anywhere between 2 am and 4 am ! Today I slept till 5, so progress is being made and it is very difficult to say up past 8 pm LOL
Pics of our new home
Our messy guest bedroom that has since been cleaned
Lovely blue couch with a few creepy stains, extra long coffee table and awkward side table.
Entertainment center with bright colored art work that was hung uneven lol
Dining room table. Jealous of my table cloth? I would be too, lets take a closer look...
Pretty sure I could make a sweet valor jumpsuit out of it :)
Sink/dishwasher minus no hot water... handle fell off when we tried to use it. And stove/heater because the heater we have is broke...
pantry and fridge
Hard to tell but the sink is super low to the ground.
Sink no. 2 and washer... washer drains into that sink
Attic cover and clothes line
Result of attic cover falling
The lovely loo.
The shower. Wanna wash your feet? Well you're in luck, separate faucet just for that
Community clothes line and view from kitchen
Where the magic happens... And yes the walls are light pink
Closet
And finally the patio
Because we are on the other side of the world, we are in Australia's winter. The highs stay in the mid 60's to 70's and lows are in the 50's and 40's... not too bad. We are also 11 hours ahead of TX. I have been waking up anywhere between 2 am and 4 am ! Today I slept till 5, so progress is being made and it is very difficult to say up past 8 pm LOL
Pics of our new home
Our messy guest bedroom that has since been cleaned
Off to Aussie Land
June 6, 2012 was the big day!! We headed out from DFW to LAX at 2:00pm which was a pretty short flight, not to mention we were bumped to business class, so that was exciting! Free booze and a pretty great meal to go along with it. Our seats reclined pretty far back and we even had a leg and foot rest... if only we had been so lucky for the rest of the trip !
I was super excited to be in LAX because I just knew I would see someone famous but our terminal was small. I didn't take me long to walk to whole thing and I gave up pretty quickly. They did have a Chili's, so we had our last good American meal :)
From LAX to Sydney was brutal. I think it was a 17 or 15 hr flight and we had NO ROOM. You could barely stretch out your legs and our seats didn't recline much at all. Once I finally fell asleep, the flight attendant woke me up, it was dinner time and the guy behind me need to use his food tray :/ I was not a happy camper. I then decided to go ahead and eat and that was a mistake... the food was nasty. We had some type of chicken and potatoes. I could tell the girl sitting across the aisle from me didn't like it either, she tried to cut her potato and it shot across the aisle and landed at my feet, we had a pretty good laugh about it. I will say they had a good selection of movies and TV. I watched 21 Jump Street, a documentary on Lady Gaga and Kate and Pippa :) Luke luckily fell asleep pretty fast and slept through the gross chicken meal haha. Our breakfast wasn't that tasty either. OOH and I had to conquer my fear of standing up on the plane and using the restroom, wasn't so scary after all :D
Finally we landed in Sydney and it was a mad dash to customs, our flight landed 35 minutes late and that put us in a pickle. The line for customs was long but went pretty fast, we then had to claim our baggage, go through security again and check in our bags again... yep we missed our flight. I guess it turned out alright though, we got to stretch out our legs, walk around, and get some decent food in our system.
The flight from Sydney to Perth was another 5 hrs : / I felt like we had a little more room but not much! I managed to watch We Bought A Zoo and 3 episodes of Revenge. I am now hooked on that show lol Meals however were not any better lol Qantas needs to make some improvements !!
FINALLY WE LAND IN PERTH!! Luke's HR managers Tess and Nick picked us up and took us to lunch. They were extremely nice, took us to our apartment, and then Tess showed us around the city. We didn't do much site seeing because we were exhausted. Turns out we lost a day and half from traveling and I still have not completely caught up !
I was super excited to be in LAX because I just knew I would see someone famous but our terminal was small. I didn't take me long to walk to whole thing and I gave up pretty quickly. They did have a Chili's, so we had our last good American meal :)
From LAX to Sydney was brutal. I think it was a 17 or 15 hr flight and we had NO ROOM. You could barely stretch out your legs and our seats didn't recline much at all. Once I finally fell asleep, the flight attendant woke me up, it was dinner time and the guy behind me need to use his food tray :/ I was not a happy camper. I then decided to go ahead and eat and that was a mistake... the food was nasty. We had some type of chicken and potatoes. I could tell the girl sitting across the aisle from me didn't like it either, she tried to cut her potato and it shot across the aisle and landed at my feet, we had a pretty good laugh about it. I will say they had a good selection of movies and TV. I watched 21 Jump Street, a documentary on Lady Gaga and Kate and Pippa :) Luke luckily fell asleep pretty fast and slept through the gross chicken meal haha. Our breakfast wasn't that tasty either. OOH and I had to conquer my fear of standing up on the plane and using the restroom, wasn't so scary after all :D
Finally we landed in Sydney and it was a mad dash to customs, our flight landed 35 minutes late and that put us in a pickle. The line for customs was long but went pretty fast, we then had to claim our baggage, go through security again and check in our bags again... yep we missed our flight. I guess it turned out alright though, we got to stretch out our legs, walk around, and get some decent food in our system.
The flight from Sydney to Perth was another 5 hrs : / I felt like we had a little more room but not much! I managed to watch We Bought A Zoo and 3 episodes of Revenge. I am now hooked on that show lol Meals however were not any better lol Qantas needs to make some improvements !!
FINALLY WE LAND IN PERTH!! Luke's HR managers Tess and Nick picked us up and took us to lunch. They were extremely nice, took us to our apartment, and then Tess showed us around the city. We didn't do much site seeing because we were exhausted. Turns out we lost a day and half from traveling and I still have not completely caught up !
Monday, June 4, 2012
Katie turns 3 !
On May 4th, we celebrated my little sister's 3rd birthday! I can't believe how fast time has gone by : ( She has such a big personality, loves having dance parties, and talks non-stop LOL ! Her current favorite song is Glad You Came by The Wanted... and yes she knows the words and has killer dance moves! Her birthday party theme was a mix between My Little Pony and Disney Princesses <3 She had a few friends over but mostly it was just family, I think she had a pretty good time! I don't have any pics to post at the moment but I will as soon as I can !! I sure am going to miss her when we are gone !
Free WIFI !
Thank goodness for free WiFi!! Last weekend Luke and I started packing up our apartment and had our cable and internet shut off. Luckily, it hasn't been too bad because we have been pretty busy but I haven't been able to update the blog so here we go...
Our original leave date was set for May 31st and obviously that didn't happen cause we are still here...we were pretty sure we weren't going to leave on time because we had not received news on the visa being complete but we packed anyways. FINALLY, early Thursday morning we got the email we have been waiting for, it was approved and Wednesday is the big day!!! We leave at 2:05pm and head for LAX, once we are at LAX, we have a 6 hr and 50 min layover ...I plan on celeb hunting to pass the time :) Our next flight is the big one, 17hrs to Sydney and then another 4 hrs from Sydney to Perth! We are going to be exhausted but I know it will totally be worth it!! I will try and post pics as soon as possible ! Prayers for a safe trip would be greatly appreciated !
PS I am going to have to conquer my fear of using the restroom on a plane... wish me luck
Our original leave date was set for May 31st and obviously that didn't happen cause we are still here...we were pretty sure we weren't going to leave on time because we had not received news on the visa being complete but we packed anyways. FINALLY, early Thursday morning we got the email we have been waiting for, it was approved and Wednesday is the big day!!! We leave at 2:05pm and head for LAX, once we are at LAX, we have a 6 hr and 50 min layover ...I plan on celeb hunting to pass the time :) Our next flight is the big one, 17hrs to Sydney and then another 4 hrs from Sydney to Perth! We are going to be exhausted but I know it will totally be worth it!! I will try and post pics as soon as possible ! Prayers for a safe trip would be greatly appreciated !
PS I am going to have to conquer my fear of using the restroom on a plane... wish me luck
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