I Know I'm a Local Because...

6. We've experienced our first cyclone.

5. When I sweat, it doesn't bother me half as much as it used to.

4. I can drive to quite a few places now without needing the GPS.

3. I walk around the house barefoot most of the time.

2. I don't think I've worn closed toe shoes since we arrived!


and the number 1 reason why I know I'm a local?


1. A luke warm shower is too hot in the mornings, so a nice cool one is refreshing and comfortable!

Cairns Lutheran Parish Install a New Pastor!

This past Sunday, it was wonderful to see Vaughn installed as pastor to Cairns Lutheran Parish. It felt like the final step in Vaughn's journey to ministry. Of course, this is only the beginning, but in regards to anticipation, this was the last big thing in our very eventful past 2 months or so.

Vaughn then commenced work, officially, on Monday. After finishing work today, he now has 1) his first sermon for the parish to write; 2) his first funeral for next week and; 3) his first wedding... date yet to be set. A busy week to begin!

Vaughn's Installation - Cairns

Life After Cyclone Yasi

What an introduction and welcome to Cairns - watching in anticipation as Cyclone Yasi became a CAT 5 and seeing whether it would hit Cairns or not. Thankfully it didn't hit us with the full force, so we escaped unscathed. There was no damage done anywhere - vegetation was the only casualty and we woke up to debris in the street and yard; an easy clean up job. During the night, while Yasi hit the coastline, we had many people praying for us so it was a lovely feeling to help get us through the night.

The next day, we experienced our first real downpour since arriving in Cairns, which turned our street into a river. It was actually really lovely and it's rained almost every day since (our first week in Cairns was uncommonly dry with very little rain, which was quite unexpected).

A few days after the cyclone, both Vaughn's and my parents arrived for a visit and to see Vaughn's installation. Thankfully the night before their arrival, our power (which had been lost in the early hours of the morning, after Yasi had passed) was reconnected.

My parents left today and Vaughn's parents are still here for another week.

Life in Cairns

Moving In

After what seemed like a very long count down, the big day arrived when we flew to Cairns! We stayed the night in a hotel and the next morning, the removalists arrived to deliver our furniture etc. I'm sure you can imagine how excited we were! It was so nice to finally move into our 'own' place and make it home.

We've now been here for over 2 weeks and we feel very settled... that time has really flown! We love the house and the area we live in is beautiful. Our neighbours are lovely and it's a very friendly street.

Both churches (Cairns & Atherton) are lovely (Atherton is a lot older, but it has it's own charm!) and the people that I've met so far have been very welcoming, which is certainly a big help when moving to a place where you don't know anyone!

I'm looking forward to getting into a routine and start looking for activities for Amy and me to do, similar to when we were in Adelaide (library activities, swimming lessons, market shopping etc).

Cairns - Moving In

Precious Time in the USA

Our large group (Vaughn, me & Amy; Mum & Dad; Phil & Ben; Ben's girlfriend) all flew to the States for a lovely family reunion with my aunty and her kids. We had such a wonderful time and Amy loved meeting her American family. On the way over, she slept for about 5 hours total, which we thought was pretty good... until she slept for 10.5 hours on the way back! So, conclusion: Amy loves flying!

So, the main highlights of our trip over there (apart from the obvious of spending time with my family!) were:

- the lovely tea house we stayed in, in Brazeau (a very small, very old town about 1 hour 40 minutes south of St Louis).
- Deep fried turkey for Christmas day lunch - yum! (And contrary to what you may think, it actually is healthy!)
- Going to my first NFL game - I fell in love... it was a fantastic match and I enjoyed watching it very much!
- Visiting Concordia Publishing House (Vaughn was like a kid in a candy shop!)
- Staying in a beautiful Bed & Breakfast in Denver (Manitou Springs)
- Seeing a van with "Mr Rooter Plumbing" advertised on it... with a huge cartoon face with a wink on it. Hmm... In Australia, that has such a different meaning altogether! (see photo in album).

It was very hard to say goodbye to family, but Vaughn and I were also very keen to get back to Australia, to complete our count down to moving to Cairns, so quite bitter sweet.

US Trip 2010-2011

Homeless in Melbourne

After moving out of Archer Street, we temporarily moved in with Vaughn's parents and caught up with family and friends. A couple highlights were:

Celebrating our niece's birthday... a rare treat when we live interstate:

Annika's B'day 2010

Having a Spring Christmas with Vaughn's extended family as we wouldn't be around to celebrate on the actual day:

Spring Pre-Christmas 2010

Moving Out

The week we moved out of the Sem was a very surreal feeling week. Watching our house get packed up by the movers was a great feeling in that I didn't have to do it, but at the same time, because I hadn't just spent the last couple months packing myself, I didn't have that time for reality to sink in, so it was sinking in fast the week of 6th December...

It was nice experiencing the 'moving out' with other friends in the same situation as us, but it was sad when we had to say our final goodbyes. After 4 years of having these people in our lives, you can't help but grow attached to them!

One of the most saddest things for me about the actual moving out of our house was having to pull down the stickers on Amy's bedroom walls. I remember so clearly putting them up, eagerly awaiting her arrival. Although we'd only been living in #219 for 2 years, one of the biggest events of our lives happened there - we brought Amy home from the hospital into that house and became a family... but we had such an amazing journey ahead of us, so I couldn't be sad for long!

Moving Out

Playing Catch Up... Again!

Wow! So much has happened in the last 2 or so months. The last post I attempted to do wasn't able to be complete as our internet went down after a thunderstorm and it was the week we were moving out... and it was all go, go, go from then on and all without my computer and picasa! I've only just survived! So to recap:

1. Vaughn was ordained
2. We moved out
3. We bunked with Vaughn's parents in Melbourne
4. We travelled to the States for 2 weeks
5. We spent some more time in Melbourne
6. We moved to Cairns
7. We became 'locals' after experiencing our first cyclone
8. Vaughn was installed as pastor of Cairns Lutheran Parish

Whew! And that was all just within 2 months! I'll do some further posts with more details on each adventure!