So far we LOVE our new little town! The Airbnb is in an excellent location, 5-10 min walk from all the shops and the beach. The condo has a pool and a view of the ocean. Check out the amazing sunrise on Sat morning. Also the mammoth shrubbery behind the building – prehistoric size! The downside to our temporary location is that it’s at the top of a hill. That makes for great views – but it also means when we come home, we’re climbing up a hill, ugh! Apparently not going to the gym in recent months has taken its toll…
We now have Australian phone numbers and an Australian PO Box for mail delivery. I’ve started trying to organize our Airbnb to make it work for a longer term stay – and just like at home, Hugh’s in charge of the kitchen and I’m looking after the rest :). Hugh got a Sunbeam air fryer/oven and a Breville coffee maker (I’m expecting barista-level coffee now) and I got a printer. We’ve checked out the main grocery stores and have decided that Woolworth’s is our favourite. We happened across a farmer’s market on Sat morning where we discovered lady finger bananas and roughleaf pineapples – both local and DELICIOUS. It’s incredible even in the grocery stores how much food is grown in Australia – you really never need to buy anything imported. A big thank you (or perhaps not…) to my student Karys for introducing me to TimTams and the TimTam Slam – really going to have to figure out how to walk by these delicious chocolate biscuits or I’m going to have to find a higher hill to live on… Tim Horton’s is really missing out on an opportunity – with the name TimTam and you use it like a straw in your coffee, it would be pure marketing genius!
My friend from McMaster Sandra kindly gave us a gift certificate for a restaurant just a few minutes walk from our Airbnb so we enjoyed a fabulous meal there last night. Hugh had a prawn risotto that was amazing. I had the red jew fish (best fish I’ve ever had – I’m not a huge fish eater, so when I find one I really like, I’m pretty excited) and it came with a “bug” – that would be the Moreton Bay Bug. Looks like a huge crayfish or small lobster and tastes like lobster – very yummy! After the wonderful dinner, which included a few glasses of wine, the climb up the hill home was just a little harder than before :).
We wandered along the beach boardwalk before and after dinner, checked out the totally different night sky, and watched the full moon rise over the ocean. This made us think of all our family and friends back home who would be enjoying the same moon – strange how something so far away can make you feel so close together.
