Shrieking Echidnas

We checked out a Celtic festival this weekend. I don't think I've ever seen so many kilts in one place before and all with their family tartan. We watched some caber tossing and enjoyed the sheaf throwing competition. We didn't enjoy the tug of war quite as much, but that might have been due to the plumber's crack display (get a belt, please!).

On our way back to the house I spotted an echidna! This is one of Australia's "spare parts" animals. The best way to describe an echidna is a porcupine with something like an anteater nose and mouth. For the record, echidnas do not shriek, but apparently I do when I see them! Poor Eric, who was driving at the time, couldn't decide if he should slam on the brakes or take some unknown evasive action since the echidna was not on the road or in his visual line. At least he passed his shriek-o-cardiogram so we know his heart is good (in more ways than one!).

We had box seats to the rugby game Saturday morning and we didn't even have to leave the house! There were a bunch of young men staying in the holiday house next door and they decided to have an impromptu game on the beach. We enjoyed it, but have concluded we need to have an Aussie watch a game with us and explain some of the finer points because sometimes things just don't make sense.

We tried a new church Sunday morning and happened to meet another couple who were also there for the first time and we had a great time chatting. As it turns out, they are from California and moved here a month before us. We found it entertaining that we happened to meet on the other side of the world. Everyone at the church thought we came together - same accent and all you know.

Hope you all have a great week. My goal for the week is to stifle my shriek if I see a cool animal. I'm sure Eric will appreciate it!

"10" is the New "50"

Eric and I are finding that much of what we're occupying our minds with is conversions. If it's 10 degrees Celsius outside, what is that exactly in Fahrenheit? After finally reconstructing the formula on a napkin, we came up with 50 and then amused ourselves with finding the point where Fahrenheit and Celsius cross (-40 for those keeping score). What can I say, it's how engineers entertain themselves! Now we know for certain that their winters really are nicer than the winters back home because that's the morning temperature. Of course, there are also the conversions between miles/kilometers, gallons/liters, and pounds/kilograms, but I'll spare you those details. Needless to say, we're getting some mental exercise.

We are also getting our fair share of entertainment in the driving department. The usage of the "international turn signal" (i.e., the wipers) is slowly decreasing. It now only seems to be happening at moments of extra stress or just when you relax because you think you've got it well in hand. We took delivery of the Toyota RAV4 that we are leasing for the next couple years Friday afternoon so we did a tag-team drive up to the Newcastle airport to return the rental - without mobile phones (non-US speak for cell phones), but it was no worries, mate.

We found a great church to worship at this morning and felt very welcomed. It probably helps that it was easy to figure out we were new what with our accent and all. It is so comforting to know that there are fellow believers here and that they, too, serve a risen Savior (well, actually Saviour). We were so at home there that we found ourselves contemplating whether or not we could make this our home church even though it will most likely be at least 50 minutes from where we end up living (umm, 45 if I'm driving!). Guess we'll just have to wait and see where the good Lord leads us.

I saw some kangaroos yesterday (Eric was focusing on the road - good man!). We haven't seen any koalas. I keep checking the eucalyptus trees for them, but no luck so far.

We were shown another possible rental apartment yesterday. It wasn't what we were hoping for. There's another place coming available in a couple weeks or so and we are applying for it sight unseen. I'm really hoping we get it as we were able to see the unit above it so we know it won't be a dive. The apartment is on the beach and there were some pelicans out there to greet us - pretty cool!