We Rent a House AND Go to the Gold Coast!

The good news is that we actually have ourselves a rental house and thus a spot of Earth to hopefully satisfy yonder tough-talking school administrators.  Of course having signed the lease, rushed to the governmental international education agency to have them provide the requisite stamp of approval on having jumped said hoops, we find out that the school of choice is doing professional development sessions until Friday, so my hope of immediate resolution of the school limbo was not to be.   Being a person who loves closure, I am, as my yogic friend consistently reminds me, learning to love breathing through my left nostril which is supposed to help me stay in the moment and not mind this "blowing in the wind" feeling.  Can you tell it's working?  Not.  : )

Anyway, back to the house.  It has "double brick" construction which folks here hold in high regard for being cool in summer, warm in winter.  Lovely rose bushes in the front, some fruit trees (which in addition to their being willing to consider pets clinched the deal for Mika), a great side deck, and a yard for the vegetable garden I have been missing all those years in Colorado.

Side yard fruit trees!!  (Photo credits to Mika)

Kitchen  --- note the small oven which seems typical of all homes we saw.  Apparently, the 18-pound turkey dinner is not going to be happening!  But all appliances have much higher energy efficiency ratings than I have ever seen, which is a great thing.  Our landlords own a kitchen renovation business which is clear from this beautiful space.

Side deck, which will not be looking as nice when this model furniture is replaced by our Sears Special outdoor set.  : )

A big selling point for us was and is how nice our landlords have been throughout the process.   I think in the end, it can make as much difference as the house itself.  They have the house furnished and will leave the furniture during the time until our own stuff arrives from the US.  From the looks of things, I think we will like their furniture better than ours!!  We will be moving in the weekend of February 12, a week after Mika starts school.  Seems only right to limit the major transitions in our lives to one per week.

Having nailed the house down, we were able to breathe a sigh of relief and set our sights on the impending trip the AIS had arranged for us, to the Gold Coast for the weekend.  The Gold Coast is located just south of Brisbane, and about a 2-hour flight north from Canberra.   It's a series of beaches famed for incredibly soft white sand where sunbathing and surfing are nigh onto the region's religion.  The ostensible reason for the trip was for me to get to meet the national team water polo coach whose team was having a camp there...but I really think the AIS was helping us to feel welcome, especially Mika!  I say this because it is also the theme park capital of Australia.  : )

We stayed in a great apartment a few blocks off the beach, a place Mika dubbed the "best hotel I have ever stayed in.  Ever."  Mostly because we slipped her into the master suite with her own bathroom and best of all, her own TV.

Note the remote in hand, despite the awesome ocean views.

We played and swam in the ocean the first day, and went to yonder water park after my meeting on the second day.  All in all, a great break from the grind of house hunting and worry about school stuff.

Note tiny surfers in the background...

A brief note about travelling in Australia.  There are several low-cost airlines that frequent the east coast cities/tourist destinations, and check-in processes are several degrees more laid-back than anything I have seen before (at least since 911).  Including no restrictions on liquids, so Mika was carrying around her favorite liter of soda the whole way home!  The onboard security speeches have a distinctly Aussie feel, which I think the stuffy US could stand to learn from.  Like acknowledging the reality that you clearly DO already know how to put on a seat-belt, but hey, just in case your elderly aunt might need a refresher...  It made me laugh, but also I actually paid attention to the patter for the first time in a decade.

So we're back in C-town waiting for our chance to prove ourselves school-worthy....stay tuned!