Day 10: Meeting Bruce

Today we had the priviledge of meeting Bruce. Bruce must be the primal Bruce - the one after which all subsequent Bruces were named and the person everyone has in mind when they think of Bruce. 

Bruce is wild. Or rather, he looks like someone who could tame a wild beast and survive in the Outback at least 7 times longer than a James. He is at least 6ft 2" tall, with red curly hair, a slight beard, and the face of one who has weathered many blazing hot Australian summers. He also happened to be our guide on a 4x4 trip around the northern part of Moreton island. 

The trip itself was quite an enlightening experience. Particularly since my expectations were of an island trip in one of the most developed countries in the world. Somehow, I managed to overlook the fact that this country also has one of the largest uncultivated, unconquered and hugely unpopulated spaces!! 

The whole continent cultivation only balances on the very edges with large cities and civilisation. (Although it is markedly heavier on the Eastern side.)

The 4-hour long trip along sand roads, through two small townships and hours of driving through seemingly undisturbed island reminded me of that. Australia is a place of contrast. First-world civilisation vs Outback. 

Sydney Opera House vs outlaw Ned Kelly. 

You are mostly allowed to drive on the beach, provided you stay within the speed limits (which are always well-indicated, and enforced by the beach Police!)

You can loose you driver's license for driving over the alcohol-limit, but if you live on an island, no-one raises an eyebrow if you open a can of beer when driving. Except of course tourists, craning their necks to verify they ARE in fact seeing a friendly local driving past with a BEER in hand!

My conclusion then on Moreton Island: if you expect lofty hotel foyers, rows of beach chairs, colourful umbrellas, waiters bringing exotic cocktails at the raise of a finger, and delectable cuisine you might be sorely disappointed. However,  if you bring a 4x4, snorkeling/scuba gear, a boat of some sort, a hat, and plenty sunscreen lotion.... it is an ideal destination. And of course, if you like historic lighthouses!

The lighthouse on the northern point of Moreton Island

Day 9: Sundivers, Beachwalkers and Tatoomies

For a few days after Christmas, the family booked to come to Moreton Island - the fourth largest sand island in the world at about 35km in length.

Location of Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island

The most likely way to arrive is by the Tangalooma ferry, which, if you're lucky, is a 45 min trip on a big double-deck cat, or if you're not that lucky, a 60 min trip on the much smaller 'Express'. We were not that lucky. I almost kissed the ground as we docked, but the idea of sand between my teeth fortunately brought me to my senses in time.

The island seems to be a popular destination - for humans, birds, dolphins and even whales in the cooler months.
To the casual observer, the most common species on the island is the bare-footed beachwalker. It is certainly true that there are plenty of them here, but if you observe carefully, you would notice at least half of them are in fact red-nosed sundivers. Of these, a good number have already transformed onto red-necked and red-shouldered sundivers. It is best to avoid these and not try feeding or touching them, even though they appear quite tame. They are in fact a very irritable species, and best left in the shade until they loose their distinct red colouring.

The careful observer will also spot a good number of lesser-striped and even greater-striped tatoomies. 'Striped' as a descriptor for this species is in fact very liberally used, as the range of different patterns proudly worn by these is truly mind-boggling. These can range from tiny patterns on females, looking remarkably like flowers, to intricate woven and banded designs mostly seen on the front and hind legs. It is not entirely certain why they sport these designs, as no obvious function has been observed. Some speculate it may be a sign of rank and superiority amongst the males. Another popular theory is that it may play a role in courting. Urban legend even has it that members of this species are in fact the descendents of the now extinct convictus that once freely roamed in Australia. One of the mysteries that will remain...

Below a picture of what may at first glance appear to be bare-footed beachwalkers, but are in fact lesser-striped tatoomies. They are generally quite camera-shy, so sadly I couldn't get a close-up!

Striped... on the beach next to the wrecks

Day 7: Two days of Christmas

Christmas Eve in Australia. Houses lit up by millions of lights. (Believe it or not: There really is a house somewhere behind the lights below!) Gammon and turkey and sumptious deserts. Kids struggling to contain themselves for all the excitement of the past weeks culminating this evening and Christmas day.

My thoughts go to my family, and other people who are strangers in a new country. Some less fortunate than me and being alone in a time everyone else is spending with family. And I wonder for how many people the lights and the glitz are only there to coat one day in a thin layer of happiness that will disappear as quick as Boxing Day specials.

Me? Pensive, but grateful.

Winner of the annual Gold Coast Lights competition - since 1999

Day 4: Getting Disturbed and... Connected

I discovered the first real disturbing thing about Australia today: Chicken sushi. Chicken sushi? Really?? Are they serious??? It's like warm ice-cream. Or well-done steak tartare. Or mild Durban curry. It simply doesn't exist in any logical world. It HAS to be the one or the other.
Unless they are simply putting words together in a very loose way, and insinuating that consumers are somewhat ignorant.
The alternative - real chicken, RAW pieces of chicken thinly sliced in sushi-style - is not a thought I can bear to entertain!

Disregarding that little anomoly, the second day of admin turned out reasonably successful.
Getting connected in Australia is certainly less expensive than in South Africa. One of the few things that are, I have to add.
For $30 you can get about $220 cellular value plus 500MB data, which would roughly equate to 200 mins talk time. So for less than R250 I get the same bundle I paid over R600 for in SA.
And for $10 more you can double it. Not bad. Not bad at all!

On top of it, it looks like it may rain soon...

Lightning across the canal

Day 3 - A License to.... Everything

One of the nuisances of moving to a different country is all the administrative tasks that go along with it. No wait, just about ALL the nuisance revolves around paperwork and forms and more forms. And just when you're done with the one lot on the one side, the next list builts up on the other side! Bank account. Driver's license. Telephone. Medical. Well that's the ones we started with anyway.

Different to South Africa, it turned out that opening a bank account was the easiest of the lot! Friendly, efficient, helpful staff at a small branch of the Commonwealth bank. Also different to SA, The Critical Document To Have is a driver's license. It is the one piece of plastic that define Who you are. It is a Category A proof of you are who you claim to be, and clearly you are a responsible person because you managed to get It. You can't get a cellphone contract without It. You can't get medical without It. You can't open bank accounts without It. But in order to get It, you need to proof Who you are. Which is rather difficult without IT!! The ONLY reason we managed to exit the circular loop, is that we stay with family who, thankfully! are in posession of the all-critical piece of plastic, and could give sworn statements that they really really do know us..... Phew!

First step in converting our SA licenses: write Learner's Test. Done. Next step: book and go for Driver's Test. Now just to put things in perspective: if you are an Aussie getting a license, it would take anything from about 3 years to 7 years to progress through all the different levels of provisional licenses and log books to finally having the coveted Open License. SEVEN YEARS.

Small wonder they put so much value on it!

(Sorry, no pic today. Don't have IT yet!)

Day 2 - A New Family and Chocolate

We are more fortunate than most people immigrating in that we have quite a strong family network in the Gold Coast. 'We' in this instance more accurately my husband. Be it family or family-in-law, they welcomed us like old friends: plenty of food served with a good dollop of first-hand advice.

'You will find everything you need at Coles or Woolworths. No I don't know if it's the same Woolworths. Taste the cheese - it's good but I miss the Gouda from South Africa. And the chocolate. It took me months to find chocolate here. Now I only buy Lindt. The Australian chocolate isn't nice. The Whittaker's is also good.'

The chocolate part wasn't news. Earlier the day we scoured the local shop for a good quality dark chocolate. Being a bit of a chocolate snob, I don't consider anything with less than 55% cocoa solids a true 'chocolate'. Belgian is good, Swiss is better. 55% cocoa is good, 75% is better.

In the end we settled for 3 slabs: Cadbury's Old Gold 75%, Cadbury's Old Gold Dark Chocolate with Almonds, and Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate (85%). The last turned out to be imported from Poland, and satisfyingly intense, although not made super-thin as one would expect. The Cadbury's Old Gold 75% was most disappointing. Do they use different cocoa beans? Vegetable oil? Who knows..... All I know is that I will be making chocolate brownies or ice-cream sauce with it in order to avoid eating it neat!

The Almond one turned out a pleasant surprise after that. Mostly, I guess, as one tends to chew it instead of allowing it to melt slowly on the tongue.

It didn't take a lot to convince me that I will be buying Lindt as a standard!

Bars of Cadbury and Green $ Black's dark chocolate

Day 1 - Arrival

Day one of immigrating to Australia is now officially completed.

Day flight from Kuala Lumpur: 8 hours. No sleep. Watching series on iPad as the plane had no in-house entertainment system. When offering the choice of food, the long-lashes air hostesses had the big smiles of
salesmen who KNOW you will regret the choice the moment you have the product in your hands, but with the knowledge that you have their product, or..... Nothing.

Brisbane International Airport. Survived without any casualties.

First night sleep - wouldn't have survived without half a sleeping tablet. Serious sleep-deprivation combined with the emotions of ARRIVING caused a good measure of panic around 3am. I would have taken ANY plane ANYWHERE - except that I couldn't decide where to go! It was a horrible feeling realising I can't go 'home'. There is no 'home' back home. This...... THIS is now 'home'.

Route to Australia - via Kuala Lumpur