In the kitchen with Matt: Australian Tourtière

So far on this trip Matt has been having a blast in the kitchen with the girls. Cooking from a kids cook book that Maëlle found very quickly. Today he stepped up the game. Kangaroo was the meat of choice on his twist of a French-Canadian Tourtière. It was a huge success! 

Checking items off the list

As we start to get more ready for life down under, we have realized a lot of things about what we can do with ease and what takes a lot of energy and puts us out of our comfort zones (both mine and Matt's). Today we went to open a bank account. We phoned ahead and asked what do we need. Followed the directions and then arrive only to be told we need more. We ventured to an Internet cafe and managed to save us a 5km bike home and back. Bank account done! We have ordered SIM cards, bought a car and finished the REGO and been on a few adventures. It still seems at bit like a holiday but with a lot more work to get set up.

I am thinking a bit of travelling for the next week might be in order since it is still summer holidays!

New Years Day- Darling Harbour and the Sydney Fish Market

Happy New Year! We were up bright and early to start off 2017.
Today we ventured out by 4 different modes of transportation 1) bike

2) harbour ferry

and 3)feet and 4) as it turns out a bus because the tide was low.

Our adventures took us the the Wildlife Zoo, Sydney Aquarium and the the Sydney Fish Market. All of which were crazy busy and fun at the same time. The constant sweating has not stopped and the kids are constantly hungry all the time.

Biking around here is going to get me into shape. The hills are a little intimidating and a good workout.   

We were a little crazy to venture out on New Years Day.  

We venture out..

Toady we left the little town of Oatlands and took our first drive.
1) You have to remember to get in on the other side.
 
2) Grocery stores are in malls! You need to take elevators to get everywhere. Costco was crazy busy. 
3) Matt found the meat package of his dreams!
4) Driving on the other side of the road wasn't too bad. I did the block once then we were off to drive on the highways. Hardest part is staying in your lane and not moving to the other lane by the passenger. People are way more aggressive here, even with shopping carts.

How many km will we put on?

How many km's will we add to this car? 

Getting to Sydney and getting settled

Well, we made it. The long travel look its toll on all of us, but we did it. Before we got off the plane in Vancouver, Maëlle started to throw up. Not sure if motion sickness or the flu, but it lasted for more than half of the 14 hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney. Malia slept for most of the 14 flight so that was a large victory with Maëlle not feeling well. We arrived tired and hot but had a great drive to our house and came into the AC with smiles on. Getting unpacked and half organized was emotionally exhausting, but a 5pm bedtime (11 pm back home) was much deserved.  Both girls we up before 4 a.m. and we were ready to start our first day.

Christmas

Christmas morning is over, the girls playing at Nana's and we are finishing packing for the big adventure that starts in 24 hours. Hard to believe it is tomorrow. This week we were lucky enough to get to meet our exchange partners Maxine, Ian and Todd. Todd loved being out in the cold and went skating each day. The bags are packed and we just have some cleaning to do. We have been lucky enough to have lots of help over the last month.