We've arrived, and unpacked, and are setting up our new house. We've also finally got internet set up. We've already been here a week and a bit, but it doesn't feel even half that long. So far it's all going well; it's feeling very strange, very different, but also quite lovely. We've already had both sets of parents come to stay and help unpack, and we're now looking forward to a little bit of time on our own to settle in ourselves and get used to this crazy idea. This huge change of scene.
I LOVE this house, and I fall a little deeper in love each day. The inside is nice, but the outside is amazing! We've only had our computers and internet set-up for a few days, but before that I made the most of the break away from the screen, and have spent the past week wondering how I was going to tear myself away from the back veranda. It's been nice to break the old routine of eating breakfast infront of the computer, and now we're out of Winter and in a new location, I'm hoping that habit is a thing of the past.
It's such a novelty having our dining table set-up with space around it. For as long as we've had it it has been up against a wall, and we've had to pull out then push it back in each time we wanted to use it (not to mention push the coffee table out of the way to make room for it). Now it's so funny... we sit at it where ever we want, and get up and walk away without doing anything. Suddenly life feels easier. hehehe.
Tilli is finally starting to settle in. The first few days were rough on her, she had totally had "enough", and she spent the first few days hiding under the bed. But now she's quite liking it all, in fact she seems quite chuffed. Our windows go all the way to the floor, so she spends most her time going from room to room to survey the view from each window. We haven't let her outside yet, we're waiting for her to get used to the new surroundings, smells, etc first.
She loves the carpet! A little too much... for a few days it sounded like she was wearing velcro boots all day long, but luckily now she's gotten used to it (and we've clipped her nails), her footsteps have returned to quiet little pad sounds. I imagine the sensation for her was similar to when we take our shoes off and walk bare-footed on warm sand for the first time after a long chilly Winter, stretching our toes out through the sand and letting it rise between our toes.
Each afternoon we get visitors munching on the grass just over the back fence, yesterday it was an unusual dark faced wallably of some sort, the first day there was a family of kangaroos including the joey drinking from the mumma's pouch, and the BIG papa watcing over them. Some days it's a gragarious kookaburra. Tilli is rather fascinated by all these new creatures. I don't think she knows what to make of them, but she's transfixed all the same, and sits watching them from the window, and does not move until they have gone.
Most of the time we can hear birds, and the ocean. Although it seems as though we can't escape traffic noise, the first night we could hear the highway, (although thankfully with each move it gets much better; before this there was only 1 house between us and a busy road, and the house before that we were directly under the flight path). Anyway, the noise wasn't too bad, it's faint and a fair way away through the bush, and you can actually mistake the distant hum of the cars for waves, but when a truck rattles past all you can do is squeeze your eyes shut tight and imagine it's a motor boat somewhere in the distance.
But like I said, most of the time the wind is coming in strong off the ocean so we don't hear it at all. We get that sea wind along our shady veranda, so it feels fresh and coastal and clean, it feels so clean. We've timed our walk to the beach: 5 mins, and we've been for a lovely walk over one of the headlands to discover more secluded beaches and amazing views. Next on my list is to research what times of year the humpback whales pass by.
We've encountered some strange hurdles: getting power on, learning about all the extra thingoes you have to attach to the arial to get TV reception, and that the only place we seem to be able to get mobile phone reception is on the front lawn of the neighbour across the road. We can't get mobile reception inside at all (may have something to do with our tin roof or all the trees, not sure yet). There seem to be tips and tricks, second nature to the locals here, that we are slowing picking up.
So far the weather has been warm and sunny, and it's really hard to shake the feeling like we're just on a holiday somewhere, house sitting for someone. I'm having difficulty believing this is our life now. I had a little crisis yesterday (the first of plenty I'm sure), I'm not sure why, just feeling unsettled and hard to plant myself in this new plot (as lovely as it is) far away from all that I know, so I went out and bought manchester :)
Today I'm off to exchange it. I told you, crisis.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to finding a feeling of "settle", and also to what comes next. Each day feels new, and also brings with it a tiny tiny bit of familiar, which will eventually pile up around me and help to soften my days. I'm having great fun setting up the rooms and finding places for all our things, so as each room fills out, comfort flows in. I really really can't wait for some friends to visit. There'll be new manchester in the guest room!
p.s. the descriptive title is for those of you who are as google-maps-happy as I am ;)
My juggler here, is an example of the 40 odd characters I had to draw.
I've had so many emails and posts and blogs to catch-up on over the past few days. In amongst them all was a totally cool surprise!!! 
So there y'are girls. I think you rock!
