The Home Tour

Our living room area

The smallest bedroom in the history of the world (ours)

Jonathan showing off his crazy maneuvers in the kitchen during a lunch break

The bathroom - nice and clean

Our little eating area

Okay, per a few requests, here are some pictures from the inside of our home. It isn't much, but it is starting to feel like home. We are getting more used to the shared accommodation thing, though it is not without its frustrations sometimes:). That is nothing against our housemates, they have been really great thus far.

We have an outside view of the home in one of our earlier blogs. It's really a nice looking house and the location makes it awesome. You can't see clearly from the above pic, but the ocean (just a small view of it, but still) can be seen from our little dining area. It's not too bad, really. A blessing, I think.

Crab Madness!

Jonathan enjoying the live ones during his lunch break

All eight in the crate - trying to claw their way to freedom

Ben showing me the tricks of the trade

Even after he killed them they kept moving - gross!

The pile of legs

One of our housemates, Ben, works as a manager of a crab company on the spit. Yesterday he brought home eight huge live crabs. We had agreed that if he brought the meat, I'd attempt to make dinner with it. Sure enough, we went through the entire process together. He (thankfully) killed them and then we pulled out all the meat. It was about a two-hour process and we are still smelling the after effects in our kitchen today. I made my first ever crab cakes as well as crab dip. Both actually turned out great and all the housemates were enjoying the goodness of fresh crab!

We still have lots of crab left over and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of it. I'm going to attempt a crab quiche recipe and then we might just do it Australia-style and throw them on the ol' barbie -- that or broil them. It's been quite the experience. I've never cooked with crab before, much less had the live ones crawling around my kitchen! Yet another adventure:).

The Wharf

Above are some pictures of the wharf south of Mooloolaba (and of the beach). I had discovered this sweet spot on a long walk I'd taken a few weeks ago, but we went back for the first time together this weekend. In the northern end is Mooloolaba beach and then the entrance to the wharf is just south. They call the area along the wharf the "spit" -- where locals go to collect seafood from the boats and enjoy some freshly cooked seafood at a few local restaurants.

We spent the evening out there walking along the harbour and the beach. We also had our first official fish & chips experience. Jonathan tackled the "fisherman's basket" which included at least eight different varieties of fish. We should have taken a picture of our plates! Next time we will.

Prior to our wharf experience, we hiked Mt. Coolum and were so sad to find out that our camera battery died just as we reached the summit (bummer!). From Mt. Coolum we took the scooter north to Eumundi to this incredible outdoor market. There we enjoyed a few hours of shopping, topped off by eating probably my favorite food in the universe: gyros (I think they call them kababs here - pita bread filled w/ lamb & vegies, humus & tahini - yum!) Of course, our camera was dead for all of this, so we'll hopefully be able to return and take some pictures again. My husband is now bound and determined to hike Mt. Coolum at surise (reminds me of the time he woke me up at 2am to get to Aspen in time to take a sunrise pic of the Maroon Bells), so pictures will likely be coming your way soon:).

Left Of Way

So, I just had to add a little something here about the weirdness of living in a "left of way" place. You know what I mean, I country w/ drivers on the left side of the road. Not only is this an interesting phenomenon in itself, but it has some implications that extend even further than the road.

First of all, I haven't been behind a wheel in a car here, so I don't fully know what it's like. Of course, the steering wheel in on the "wrong" side, so I have, as a passenger, embarrassed myself a few times by trying to climb into the driver's side of the vehicle. The scooter we drive doesn't "feel" like an Australian scooter because it's just "normal". This can be tricky because one can easily lapse and forget where one is ("Ah, Jonathan! Left side of the road!" I've been known to scream as we turn onto a new street, holding on for dear life...).

I think what's far more interesting, is how this "left" business affects all traffic situations. On our first run here together, we (naturally) started out on the right side of the path. We soon realized, however, that people gave us funny looks before yielding to us; they were all running straight at us. We were supposed to run on left side too! We are far more intentional now as we go on runs. At the grocery store the same rules are followed. When passing, unless stopping to look for items, of course, keep left.

It's still tricky though, even thinking through "passing" situations. Hmmm. If we pass on the left in America, we should pass on the right here in Aussieland. I feel like I'm always doing that here. Thinking to myself -- "well, if I normally look left first before crossing a street, I should now look right first" and so on. It is still far from being natural, let me tell you. Usually I end up looking "left, right, left again, right again" before crossing the street. Then I stop halfway across and try to remember from what direction a car would come in that next lane. I am not very good at this left way of thinking!

Jonny's Dream Come True

Jonathan's dream of owning a surfboard is now a reality. This week he purchased this board from a surf shop just down the street. Although they mostly sell new boards, they occasionally get used ones to resell. This fine 7 foot 6 inch board was just sold to the shop from a surfer who was leaving to return home after a holiday. That made for perfect timing -- since the store owner says that used boards rarely hang around for more than a few days before they're taken.

You may not have to do more than glance at these pictures to feel the joy that my husband is experiencing:). We'll just say that not all athletic endeavors involving this board have produced the same quantity of joy (he's been throttled a couple of times). However, he is getting better all the time and it's fun to watch. I plan on busting a move on the board pretty soon myself. While he's been rocking the waves of Maroochydore Beach, I've been enjoying swimming and my leisurely reading on the beach (we're both currently devouring Harry Potter -- I admit, I have taught for almost three years and hadn't cracked open a cover from the series). Stay tuned for more surfing news to come -- hopefully none that involve the sh--k word!

Waterfall Hike

Here are a few pictures from the little hike we took this past weekend. We are already thankful about our scooter purchase because it has made little trips like this one possible. This rain forest is located about ten minutes away by scooter, in the little area where Jonathan works on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We plan to go back again and swim in the pools below the falls. When we went it was Australia Day weekend and there were lots of families enjoying it too. I bet it's quieter on a weekday.

Australia Day!

Did anyone know that there was such a thing as "Australia Day"? We sure didn't until we got here and found out what it was this weekend. It is the day that Australians celebrate the landing of of the first British explorers on Australia, or rather, the day they celebrate what it means to be Australian (as no one we talked to really knew the historical significance). It's similar to the 4th of July to us Americans, and since it falls in the summertime here, it is a day to be spent with family and friends around the old "barbie" -- with a few beers as well. The official day was the 26th, which fell on a Saturday. We had quite the day that day.

It all started with an exciting new purchase. The day before, Friday, we happened upon a motorcycle dealership and decided to snoop around a bit. We walked over to the scooter section and immediately began dreaming of all the cool places a scooter could take us. After all, we were surviving on foot mostly (and on the public transportation system on Tues/Thurs. for Jonathan) and were obviously limited as far as how much we could see. After a little conversation with an employee there, we left with an intense desire to purchase one. After all, we reckoned, we could sell it in May for a little bit less (or more -- mostly kidding) and get some incredible perks while we're here. We thought about it, prayed about it, and decided to go for it on Saturday, Australia Day! We are now proud owners of a 2006 Hyosung Rally Scooter (see picture above) + two matching helmets! We have taken it to the store a few times, to an awesome rainforest hike, and to the beach down south. It'll sure be fun to see what adventures lie ahead for us on the adventuremobile!

Okay, so after our early afternoon purchase, we headed south to Mooloolaba with some housemates of ours to celebrate Australia Day. We brought along some sausages, or "snags" as they call them to grill on the pretty intense public grills (they know how to do it right here in the Oz -- see photo above). We hung out there for a bit and watched the fireworks over the water. As you can see from the other picture, there were a few other people that decided to join us!