Greetings from Australia!

I have been in Australia for nearly 4 weeks, but we just got internet this week! I had gone 3 weeks without internet and was in withdrawl... and then we had really bad wind storms and the power kept going out, uggh! It seems to be working okay now....

I am settling in okay. I am getting used to driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car. It's definitely scary at first, but I am getting more comfortable each day. I still keep turning on the windshield wipers sometimes when I want to turn! (The turn signals and wipers are the other side too!) I am just glad the car is a automatic and I don't have to learn to shift left handed while driving as well!

Right now we are living with rental furniture (rented a bed, couch, coffee table, TV stand and dining table and chairs) until our stuff gets here. We heard from the Transportation office in Canberra that our stuff has arrived here in Australia, but now it has to go through customs inspections. We had to buy a new washer, dryer and fridge (since the power is different here we couldn't bring ours), all of which we hope to sell to the next US Exchange officer.

The dogs arrived in Australia on 20 March, after having to stay in Los Angeles for a bit for their blood test results to come back showing they were free of certain diseases/parasites. They have to stay in quarantine until 8 June though. :( However. the quarantine station is about 45 minutes away and we can go visit them from time to time. We went and saw them this past Sunday. They were happy to see us but looked very confused when we left without them. Abby was barking like "Hey! Hey.... you forgot me!"

I get a bit bored during the days (especially before I had internet), but other than that I am doing fine. Keeping busy with watching TV and knitting or crocheting or reading. The US Defense Attache (a US Army Colonel) in Canberra keeps forwarding Jared e-mails about job openings at the US Consulate here in Melbourne for me. The one he forwarded today looks promising. Jared and I will have to discuss the pros and cons of me working (more money vs free time to travel) and decide what's best for us.

Well, off to watch St Kilda vs the Bulldogs. (Yes, we have already chosen a footy team.) We have been to both St Kilda games at the Telstra Dome so far, but have to settle for watching tonight's game on TV. So Saints!

PS. I saw this advertisement during our layover at LAX on the way here. I found it very amusing (considering we had to go over the ocean!)