Dreaming of Internet (March 13, 2012)

Our appointment for the guys at Telstra (Big Pond) to come by the house and set up internet was scheduled for January 20, 2012. Eliza sat home all day anxiously awaiting this coveted prize. The ability to Skype and FaceTime or even email home for that matter is something that makes being so far away from family and friends a lot easier. It had been a while since we were "off the grid". The installers never showed up, didn't call, and we never heard anything from Telstra. A few days later I decided to call to see what happened and to re-schedule an appointment. After 45 minutes of being on hold and no real apologies forthcoming, they admitted they were having trouble with their employees blowing off appointmets because it was too hot, or for some other meaningless reason. The next appointment I could have was February 15. Angered, frustrated, and used to getting my way with U.S. customer service reps, I confidently told them that this was unacceptable. 90 minutes and 4 managers later, I was in the same place, being asked if I wanted to re-schedule the install on February 15. Just before I agreed, the agent hung up on me. Another call, another 45 minutes of hold, and finally I'm back on the schedule. February 15 rolls by without any phone call or installer showing up (I even called on February 14 to verify that they were coming by). After calling them back at the end of the day after it was clear that they were not coming, they asked me if I wanted to reschedule for the next available date...March 14. Yes, put me on the schedule, but I want to speak to a manager. Can you guess if I was successful? Well tomorrow is our appointment...here's hoping that we are connected sometime this century.

Aussie Rules Football Game (March 9th, 2012)

Trying to fully experience Aussie culture in its fullest form, we went to our first "football" game with our friends the Kemps, Portwoods (expats from Canada with TOTAL), and Walkers (Rio Tinto expats from Utah). We also met up with the Baileys.

So, here's the deal with Australian Rules Football ("Aussie Rules" or "AFL")...2 teams, 1 going in each direction, you advance the ball by picking it up and running with it, in which case it is fair game for the other team to brutally tackle you. If you are running with the ball, you have to give the ball a bounce every 15 meters which can be a bit awkward since it's football shaped. You can also pass the ball forwards or backwards to one of your teammates, but you can't actually throw the ball, you have to "handball" it, which means you hold it with one hand and bump it with the other (almost like an underhanded volleyball serve). While all of this is going on, it is pretty much open season on whomever has the ball and it gets pretty rough. The other (and more common) way to advance the ball is to punt it it to one of your teammates. As long as the ball travels more than 15 meters and your teammate catches it, the other team can't tackle you and you "mark" the ball where it was caught. This slows the game down a bit and takes some of the craziness out of it. If you catch a punt, basically you can choose to run with it or stop. Once you run, the free-for-all action starts up again and the other team comes after you. If you stop and mark the ball, nobody can take it from you. After a ball is punted the players go all out to catch it, sometimes they even jump up on another player's shoulders and spring off to get some extra height off their jump. To score, you have to kick the ball between the goalposts (like American football except the uprights go all the way into the ground). If you kick a goal, it is 6 points. If you are close and slightly miss to either the right or left, there is a 2nd goalpost on each side and you score 1 point for slightly missing. There are some other rules, but that is it in a nutshell.

Sawyer with Paige Kemp. Paige is in 4th grade but is in Sawyer's class at school (both 3rd and 4th graders). We also live just around the corner from the Kemps. They have been amazing friends to us.

Eliza holding a "zonked out" Nash.

Ryder with Sienna Portwood.

Our new favorite team...the West Coast Eagles. He scored a goal on this one, which is a pretty long goal. The reason the other team has backed off is because he caught a punt there and "marked" the ball.

Surfing Lessons at Scarborough Beach for Cody's 33rd Birthday (March, 2012)

We tried to do this a week earlier, but when we showed up to the lesson, there was nobody there. We eventually called the guy and he said the beach was too busy with a surfing competition and he decided to call it off. "Sorry mates, I forgot to call you". He was expecting us to say "No worries," but we aren't that Australian yet.

The real gift was getting Eliza off the sand and into the water since she is terrified of the ocean. Being that there have been 4 shark attacks within the year near Perth, it's probably for good reason. Eliza was a pro...she got up easily and rode about 8 different waves into shore.