Homeowners but still homeless

Well... it has been a big week for us once again - it takes a lot of effort to get yourself established in a new country!

Over the past few weeks we had progressively gotten all of our drivers licences, banking and health care cards sorted out.  Now it was time to get the bigger ticket items in place - a car and a home.

Transportation:

We now have a vehicle to get about in.  A mid-size Mazda SUV was the selection.  The humans travel in comfort up front while Bernard has the entire back seat to himself.  He enters and exits through the rear door using his ramp and settles himself down on the folded down split rear seats.

Our Little Red Wagon with rear door up & dog access ramp in position

Housing:

After taking care of Bernard's medical needs (he is recovering rapidly), our attention shifted firmly to finding somewhere to live.  During our online searches we had seen a house in a nice leafy green part of the city that appealed to us so we decided to take a look through the place.  As soon as we got there we liked what we saw and after an open house inspection it just felt right so we put in an offer.  A day later the offer was accepted and the place was ours! 

Looks like a semi-detached but the two actually stand alone - ours is on the right

Covered outdoor living space and backyard to enjoy all year round

For most of the time since August last year when we started the house sale process in Toronto we have been living out of suitcases in temporary accommodation.  Now, finally, with the purchase of our Adelaide home the end of our transient lifestyle is in sight.  Unfortunately it is a 2 month closing period (the sellers choice not ours), so we won't be able to move into our new house until late July / early August.  By the time we move in it will have been almost a year of being 'homeless' (it is hard to believe it will have been that long).  We can't wait to get moved in and settle down with our own stuff around us.

So, we are homeowners but still homeless for a few more weeks.  That's all I have time for at the moment as we have to get to the stores to start pricing out household electrical appliances - major ones such as fridges, washing machines, TV, vacuum cleaner, etc., right down to the smallest items like the kettle & toaster.  We have to completely equip the house with new appliances because the household electricity in Australia is a 240 volt system which means the 110 volt appliances we had in Canada would not work here so we sold them all off before leaving.  As I said at the beginning of this post, there is a lot to do to get yourself set up in a new country!

Until next time, stay happy.

Bernard has leg surgery (again)

The first thing we did last week upon arrival in Adelaide was take Bernard to the Adelaide Pet Hospital to see the vet so that we could start the process of getting his sore knee fixed.  The surgeon gave him a quick examination and diagnosed a torn meniscus (cartilage) in his left hind leg.  Bernard was booked into surgery on their next theater day one week later.

 

Bernard checking into the Adelaide Pet Hospital

We delivered him to the Pet Hospital at 7:30am on Thursday, where he had arthroscopic surgery to trim the damaged disc of cartilage in his knee.  The surgeon stated that walking for Bernard with the torn meniscus as it was would have been very uncomfortable when the partially detached flap of cartilage folded under itself - similar to having a sharp stone in your shoe.  During the times that the the loose 'flap' of cartilage had popped back into its normal position his knee area would have been merely 'inflamed and sore'.

The surgery went well but he had to stay in the hospital for the night for monitoring as he required intravenous pain medication until a slow release pain medication patch they had stuck to the top of his foot started to kick-in about 12 hours after his operation.

After work on Friday we collected our boy and brought him home.  They had shaved his entire left hind leg to have clear access to his knee.  They had also shaved him on each of his forelegs so that the various IV needles that he required could be taped on - he looks quite a sight and that bad haircut is going to take more than 2 weeks to 'grow-out' (more like 6 months)!

The medication in the patch administers 'Fentanyl', which is apparently a pretty strong opiate.  To stop the dog removing the patch himself then licking it and potentially overdosing they have it thoroughly and tightly covered up with a bright pink sock that he can't take off.  The patch will continually release the pain medication for 72 hours so on Sunday we will return to the hospital to have it removed.

Shaved Leg and Bare-assed wearing a Pink Sock - Nice look!

He looks somewhat naked and ridiculous and is a little out of it at the moment but only one day after surgery he can already hop about unassisted to eat and do his business.  Despite the funny appearance he is now on the mend and in about a week or so he will no longer be in any discomfort which is the outcome we have been looking for.

I will provide an update on Bernard's recovery progress in the next post.

With that taken care of we now have to get into the real estate section of the newspaper and find ourselves a place to live...

Finally... We are all in Adelaide

The road trip across New South Wales, part of Victoria and South Australia was trouble free, albeit a bit grey with drizzling rain on and off for most of the way.  Nonetheless, we are now all safely in Adelaide.

We made a quick stop to take a photo of the 'Welcome to South Australia' sign on the side of the highway as we entered our new home state. 

Once inside South Australia we stopped at a couple of roadside fruit vending stalls in the Riverland to buy some produce direct from the growers.  It was all great quality stuff and it felt good to be paying full value to the farmer directly rather than having a large grocery chain as the middle man taking an overly large cut of the action.

Apples, oranges, grapes, dried apricots, sultanas (raisins), pistachio nuts, butternut pumpkins and all sorts of melons are grown in the area and were for sale at roadside stalls

With just the final leg of the journey to Adelaide to complete we both mentioned we were now eager to be done with all of the travel and to get comfortable not having to be somewhere else tomorrow.

Below, the map of Australia shows Adelaide's location within the country.  The Adelaide metropolitan area has a population of close to 1.3 million (according to Wikipedia), which for those of you in Canada, makes it a just a bit larger than Calgary.  Despite the population it still feels more like an overgrown country town than your typical bustling western world city which is actually quite pleasant.

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia: Population ~ 1.3M

Now off of the road, we are currently settling into our new neighbourhood  Our temporary accommodation is a neat little single floor place at street level in North Adelaide and will do very nicely while we search for our own home.  There is a butcher as well as a baker (but no candlestick maker), next door to our apartment and a nice coffee shop is across the road which is convenient.  Walking past the butcher shop window we saw a bone that was definitely a good size match for Bernard and couldn't help but buy it as a house / yard warming treat for him.

That bone should keep him occupied for a while!

Well, that's about all for now.  Stay tuned for the next installment of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, when the reality of getting back into the daily grind full time in the office will have set in for me.

Bernard is released from Quarantine

What a happy day for The Farrows!

After having been transported to Australia and immediately locked-up upon arrival, you can't help but think back to the convicts amongst the first settlers here.  Anyhow, after serving his time, Bernard has been released into our care and he is now a free citizen of the country!

We arrived at the gates to the Eastern Creek Quarantine station at about 20 minutes before they opened up at 10am.  We were first in line (no surprise there), but two other cars pulled up behind us just a couple of minutes later with similarly anxious pet owners eager to spring their animals from the lock-up.

At 10am exactly, the door to the office was opened (it was like the store doors opening for the Boxing Day shopping crowds).  Because Heather was at the front of the line she did not have to use her elbows to shove anyone out of the way so that she could get to her baby!  After producing her picture ID and signing some paperwork confirming we were there to collect Bernard, it was through another doorway and into a shed containing all of the crates of the pets to be released that day.  His was easy to pick out amongst the 10 or so that were lined up.

The quarantine handler let him out of his crate.  As soon as he heard our voices his ears pricked up.  He swivelled his head and when he saw us he rushed right at us and started pawing and licking us - he was obviously as happy to see us as we were to see him again!

Genuine smiles all around after a couple of tough weeks apart

Everyone was happy to be together again

It took about 30 minutes to take his crate apart and shoe-horn it into the back of the rental car.  While I was doing that, Heather and Bernard made good use of their time together taking a short walk (he still cant go too far but he was moving pretty well), then he got a serve of raw ground beef mixed with steamed rice - one of his favourite meals.

Once the reunion had cooled down it was time to hit the road again and start the drive back to Adelaide.

It is great to be a complete 'pack' once again.

Road Trip - Day 3: Canberra to Sydney

We were up early (still some residual jet-lag effects that have us waking up at 4am), to be greeted by a clear and crisp Canberra morning.  We checked out of the hotel and set off to do some sight seeing and check out a couple of national monuments in the nation's capital.

First stop was a drive up to the Mt. Ainslie lookout.  From this vantage point you overlook the entire city.  As it was a nice clear morning we had a great view.



View of Canberra from the Mt. Ainslie Lookout - Australian War Memorial in the foreground with Parliament House on the hill on the far side of Lake Burley Griffin

After getting a view of the city from the lookout we decided we would stop briefly at the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House before departing for Sydney.

The war memorial is a very large and moving place that recognizes all wars and confrontations that the Australian military has been involved with and the men and women that have served and fallen in those conflicts.

Below is a photo of 'Simpson and his Donkey' with a wounded soldier.  At Gallipoli in 1915, Simpson was a medic and his donkey was essentially an ambulance.  Together the two went forward multiple times to the battle front to retrieve wounded soldiers and return them to the field hospital.  Unfortunately, Simpson was killed after just four weeks of the battle.  The statue and story is very moving.

Simpson and his Donkey

A quick drive past Parliament House to see where the politicians tend to behave like children under the guise of running the country (they are the same the world over), and it was back on the road towards Sydney.

We made it into Sydney without event and checked into our hotel overlooking Coogee Beach - this place was our treat for ourselves and the views all along the beachfront were beautiful.

Heather on the Coogee Beach boardwalk

Tomorrow we will confirm our appointment to pick up Bernard from quarantine and then spend time in the Sydney area as we watch the clock slowly move towards collection time on Sunday morning... we can't wait!

Road Trip - Day 2: Balranald to Canberra

Day 2 was an uneventful drive across the Hay Plain.  Not much to see other than birds - Wedge Tailed Eagles taking advantage of the kangaroo road-kill, some emus in the scrub off to the side of the highway, pelicans along the irrigation ditches, sulphur crested cockatoos and plenty of the loud and slightly crazy pink, grey and white galahs eating grass seeds right on the edge of the road.

The countryside started to improve markedly as we approached the town of Wagga Wagga.  The flat saltbush plains gave way to gently rolling hills and grassland - I am sure the sheep and cattle are happier here than their brethren on the plains who are really doing it tough!

After a stop for lunch in Wagga, a short drive had us in Gundagai where we stopped to take a look at a pioneer monument - a statue of 'The Dog on The Tucker Box'.

In old Australian English, 'tucker' is food, so a 'tuckerbox' is a food chest. The dog was a drover's dog (a drover was a long distance overland cattle or sheep herder).  Being the faithful companions on the trail that dogs are, this monument shows a dog guarding his master's food chest.

We arrived in Canberra late in the afternoon and were greeted by one of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos mentioned earlier as we checked into our hotel.

After a counter meal (this is a pub meal for those unfamiliar with the Australian terminology), it was off to bed with some sight-seeing around Canberra on the program for the morning prior to setting off for Sydney and the beautiful Coogee Beach - pictures to follow in the next installment of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?

Road Trip - Day 1: Adelaide to Balranald

We departed Adelaide on a wet and windy Wednesday morning en route to Sydney to spring our dog Bernard from the quarantine lock-up.  Along the way we would pass through a number of distinct regions, each of which has it's own name.

Although our drive took us through the Barossa Valley wine district just north of Adelaide there was no time to stop in at any of the dozens of wineries for any sampling - we were on a mission!

Onwards to the South Australian 'Riverland', which is a big fruit and nut growing region (olives, avocados, grapes, oranges, almonds).  We stopped briefly in the town of Renmark on the banks of the Murray River for some lunch before continuing our journey.

Soon after pulling out of Renmark, we crossed the border from South Australia into the state of Victoria and continued towards the regional center of Mildura.  Mildura has a population of about 30,000 and is the biggest town in the district called the 'Sunraysia'.  This is also a fruit and nut growing precinct that straddles the Murray River.  It does not rain much in these areas and there are just a couple of major rivers that are the source of water used to irrigate all of the agricultural activities that occur out this way.

From Mildura, which sits on the southern bank of the Murray River, a bridge took us immediately to the north side of the river and into the state of New South Wales (NSW).  The road ran parallel to the Murray for a while before the two diverged and the road continued across the western portion of what is known as the 'Hay Plains'.  For those of you that think that southern Saskatchewan is so flat that you can 'watch your dog run away for three days', I think the Hay Plains might have Saskatchewan beaten when it comes to being flat and featureless - perhaps a five day view if you have binoculars that are powerful enough!

So, after a fairly leisurely 585 km drive from Adelaide, we arrived at our destination for the first night about ½ an hour before sunset.  The small town of Balranald, which is situated on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, is also on the main trucking route between Sydney and Adelaide.  The transport trucks rolled through town all night but our motel room was far enough off of the main drag that the rumble didn't really bother us.

Tomorrow we set out towards Australia's national capital of Canberra.  Hopefully we will arrive early enough to take a few photos of some national monuments to include in the next installment of WTF? - Where are The Farrows?

Family Catch-Up, Koalas & Jet Lag

We arrived in Adelaide last Friday afternoon and headed straight for the hills just a few kilometres east of the city centre.

My sister Nicole, and her husband Michael, live up there on an acre or so of land and we are staying with them for a few days before a quick 1,500km road trip to Sydney to collect Bernard once he has been released from quarantine.  We will then turn around and the three of us will return to Adelaide and move into our own short term accommodation.

Over the weekend the weather was great and we had a relaxing time catching up with not just Nicole and Michael but also my aunt Christine and her son, my cousin, Marcel when they came up the hill for lunch on Sunday.  Marcel and I could not work out how long it had been since we had last seen each other but that didn't matter it was just really nice to get together again.

After lunch, we had a nice surprise when some Australian wildlife presented itself to us.  We noticed a pair of koalas in one of the large Eucalyptus trees that surround the house.  These koalas are apparently regulars here.  The trees around Nicole & Michaels' house are part of their territory.  We managed to get a couple of nice photos of them, one of which you can see below.



This koala was quite happy to have his photo taken!


On the jet-lag front, we are slowly getting over it.  We tend to run out of steam around 4 or 5 o'clock each afternoon but with company we have managed to find a second wind and stay awake until about 9 pm before having to give up and go to bed.  Then, almost like clockwork we will wake up just after 2am each morning - we lie awake for an hour or so (sometimes two), then fall back to sleep until we finally get up around 6am for a coffee while we listen to the birds stirring and watch it become light outside as the new day begins.

Soon enough our body clocks will be in the right time zone and we will be back to normal.

Next post will likely come from somewhere on the road between Adelaide and Sydney.  Stay tuned...

Arrival in Australia

G'day everyone!

We are back on Australian soil.

The flight was pretty smooth with only minor turbulence every now and again across the Pacific and we actually arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule - good news, right?

Yes and no - while the flight was shorter than it normally is (that's the good news), we still didn't get off of the plane any earlier as our gate was not ready for us (that's the not so good news).

Once at the gate, we were then required to sit for another 10 minutes while the Australian Quarantine agency fumigated the plane.  They open all of the overhead lockers and spray the inside of them with some sort of disinfectant, then walk back up the aisles spraying the same stuff all over the place with everyone having to remain in their seats as they do so - and we thought our dog Bernard was the only one of us that had to go through a quarantine process before being let outside!  Note: to any of you from overseas that are planning to visit us here, this happens on every long haul flight that arrives in Australia (not just the ones delivering Canadians to these shores).  That's something for you to look forward to (or at least prepare for) - it is our governments little way of saying "Welcome to OZ"!

After all of that, with our Australian passports in hand we breezed through immigration without a problem - membership does have it's privileges!  Our luggage showed up on the carousel after just a short wait and then it was out through customs and into the world.

We made a bee-line for the lounge at the domestic terminal and each had a refreshing hot shower.  A cup of coffee while we looked out of the windows at the pouring rain coming down on the tarmac and we started to relax.  We had a couple of hours before our flight to Adelaide so a glass of good Australian red for Heather and a cold beer for me and we really started to feel as though we had arrived!

Arrival In Australia - May 1st 2015

Not sure what the next blog will describe but it will once again answer that burning question - WTF? - Where are The Farrows?