Stanwell Tops and the Wyghts: November 16, 2009

We arrived in Australia yesterday, and for as crushed as we were to leave N.Z., we are already in love with this amazing country... So, to all you people who said we would love Oz when we were whinging about leaving NZ, you can say "I told you so...". Plus, we were lucky enough, for the second time in a row, to have someone waiting for us when we touched down. My Uncle Doug, my dad's brother, was kind enough to make the hour drive to the airport to pick us up and he was smart enough to bring the station wagon to fit all of our ridiculous amount of luggage... I think we've all come to realize how much we massively over-packed when we saw we each have about double what everyone else we encounter has; the sad part is, I thought I had done good in regards to packing.

I can't begin to tell you how fantastic they all have been already. We are set up in a fantastic lil studio with our own lil bathroom. Their house, in Stanwell Tops, is gorgeous, with an ocean view from the living room window, and you need only walk ten steps and you have your choice of fantastic hikes or bike trails. Due to the distance between our families, I've only met my cousins: Byron 12 yrs, Cheyenne 9 yrs, and Annelise 4 yrs, a handful of times, the last being 2.5 years ago. I am so excited for all the time I'll have to spend time and get to know my family here in Oz. These kids are fantastically cute... Their lil oz accents put them over the top. My Aunt Karen, our appointed activities coordinator, and my Uncle Doug have been so great to us. My Unc Doug even made a list of all the hip bars/clubs to hit, including one that is called the dry cleaners because that's where you go if you want to pick up a 'suit'... haha... we didn't end up going to any but we loved how they were always looking for a good activity for us. We are so happy to be in a family environment again, our new home away from home, and are so excited to spend a whole week here. We are getting worried though. Every place we go, we fall in love with it and it's gonna be very tough to decide where to settle down in the end... Which leads us to our second worry; WHEN will we settle down and work? We keep adding on more places we want to see, and things we want to do, that we have no idea when we are actually gonna start working... But I figure, if you are gonna have worries in your life, these are the kind you want...

Cheers!

V