Things here in Capalaba have become quite routine. Monday to Friday I take the children to and from school, I spend my days visiting with friends, Skyping with friends and family, cleaning, and whatever else ends up filling my time. Most evenings are spent helping with homework, dinner, and card games. A couple nights a week I sneak out early to go to bible study or visit with friends that live around the area. I have become so comfortable here that it's hard to believe I've only been here 4 months!

I have been praying for some sort of part time or casual job for the pasts 2 months and as of Sunday my prayers have been answered! I got word from one of my friend's in the area that there was a family he knew in need of a support worker for their teenage son. I sent them an email Sunday afternoon and by Sunday evening I was offered the job! Every Tuesday until I come back to Canada I will be driving to the north side of the city (about a 40 minute commute) to pick the young man up for his work experienc

e. I help him out with his office admin type work at a company called Mamre. This involves scanning, filing, etc... Then we go out for lunch (Macca's is his favourite so I'll need to be prepared to go every week). The timing couldn't be better either! It works out that I can fit in the shift perfectly between the children's school hours! This is such a Godsend and I couldn't be happier with how my first shift (last tuesday) went. I'm really looking forward to see what next wee

k will bring!

Driving over the Gateway Toll bridge is part of my commute.

Last week I discovered one of the Gold Coast's more beautiful beaches. I've been to all the popular ones: Surfer's Paradise and Main Beach. Last Friday though I got the opportunity to check out Burleigh Heads. WOW! The water was crystal clear, the sand was soft and white, and there was plenty of parkland around to picnic on. This is by far my favorite beach on the Gold Coast...for now.

I nearly forgot! Last week Steve and Monique came home and sent the girls and I to the local park to see a Koala in one of the trees. We spent about 10 minutes searching the trees for the koala, when suddenly it ran out on one tree and onto the next. This is the first wild koala I have seen while here in Australia, so I was quite excited!

Pretty cute isn't he?

Visit with Mama and Papa

I am terribly bad at writing regularly, therefore I apologize to anyone who is disappointed by that. Since I can't say that I will begin to post things more often I will simply try to make this post extra good! Here goes nothing...

My parents arrived safe and sound in Brisbane exactly one week ago and consequently I have a an absolutely wonderful week! Reuniting with them after nearly 4 months was more emotional than I had expected, I realized just how much I missed them. They got off the plane and as soon as we began our drive home I started to blabber/talk/explain and generally just carry on about where to go what to see and funny Aussie lingo, laws, etc...

Steve and the rest of my au pair family were more than happy to have mom and dad stay with us thankfully. So... I've lost my room and have been demoted to sleeping on a foam mattress in the office. Of course I don't mind though, it's a small price to pay to have my parents right here with me for 2 weeks.

The night they arrived I brought them to church where I found myself doing the same thing that my parents have done to me all of my life: I showed them off.

Throughout my life there have always been times where I feel like my parents are introducing me as their daughter and making sure I meet everyone because they are so proud of me. Now that I have them here I feel the opposite:Now I'm the one saying: ''Hey! Come meet my parents! They've come all the way from Canada! Aren't they just great????!!!''

After a few days of having my parents around I began to see why I do what I do around the kids. I'm definitely my parents daughter. Everything I do with the kids here is based on what I've learnt from my parents. Whether its discipline, talking, playing, or having a song for everything. It's just amazing, and I've never realized it until now when I see them with the kids.

Well, we haven't sat around doing nothing all week, we have been quite busy:

I've shown my parents around Capalaba, they've seen all my favorite shops, the girls' school, my church...I guess that,s about it for Capalaba haha.

We've had sorbet at Cleavland Point, shopped at one of the nearby Westfield malls, wine tasted at Sirromet, watched the dolphin show at Sea World (twice), and finally we spent this past (very rainy) weekend at the Gold Coast, followed by a great no-fuss dinner after church today.

As nice as it is to have mom and dad here I know when they leave in a week it will be hard to see them go. Being away from the ones you love really makes you appreciate what they do for you and what that relationship means to you. So my encouragement to everyone is that they don't take time spent with family for granted. Every little bit counts, enjoy it even if it's difficult to sometimes.

Here's some pictures from their trip so far...

12 weeks

I can hardly believe that I have been here for 12 weeks! Yikes! It seems like I have been here forever, while at the same time it feels like I just got here. Even after 12 weeks I still am upset that because of the time change I lost nearly an entire day of my life! I guess I'll get it back when I return to Canada.

Thus far my time in Australia has been such a learning experience for me. I have learned what seems like a new language with all of Australia's many abbreviations and odd words. I have learned how to drive on the left side of the road. I have learned to cook Thai food (reasonably) well. I have learned to scuba dive, how to take a train rather than buses, I have learned I have good sea legs, but mostly I have learned that no matter where you are people aren't very different.

It's so interesting how people from so far away can be so similar. Earlier on this morning I had the pleasure of going for coffee with a lovely young lady from the local Presbyterian church. we chatted about life, books, coffee, traveling, and much more. I was blown away by how both of us were on such similar journeys in life and how we were both struggling with the exact same dilemma. I found such solace in talking to her about struggles that we shared when I thought I was the sole person I knew working through it. It was such a comfort and joy to have found someone to relate to and share with.

Day to day life here seems so trivial sometimes, but when I step back I see just how content I am with it. The simplest things are what I enjoy most: Driving

the girls to school and listening to the daily prank call on the radio. Sitting in the hot Aussie heat to read a book and getting so boiling hot that I have no choice but to jump into the pool. Sitting down and watching the morning news (Sunrise) with my

cup of green tea.

When I made the decision to come to Australia I thought that through my time here I would understand my path in life. I thought that once I was here I would have the answers to post secondary education, to what career I would pursue, to my future family life, pretty much I thought I would grow up, mature and become the Emilie I was meant to be. I guess I was too naive to realize that Australia isn't magical, I definitely haven't received any answers yet. If anything I am more unsure and confused, but I think

I like it that way. My mind changes on a daily basis, and it keeps things interesting, I seem to be looking up different career options every week (this week's is Natural Medicine in case you were wondering). None really ever seem to stick, but maybe one day something will, I'll just wait and see, I still feel like I have heaps of time.

This post may not be as exciting as the others, but I figured a select few of you readers may want to hear things other than my Aussie adventures. For those who are only interested in my adventures here are some pictures of this past weekend's deep sea fishing trip:

My trip to Cairns

My trip to Cairns was an absolute dream come true! I left from the Brissy airport on Thursday the 27th right after we picked the girls up from school. After about 2 hours in the air I landed in the extremely hot and muggy tropical climate of Cairns. I landed around sunset so I saw the sun go down over the mountains and I had a beautiful view of the reef.

Steve's good friend Rhonda lives in Cairns and so I was thankfully able to stay there. I have never felt more welcome in my life! Rhonda's youngest son, Samuel (10) moved out of his room for the weekend so I had my own room! That night I sat in on a lovely family dinner with Rhonda, Samuel, and Ilyssa (17).

Friday Rhonda had to work so I spent the day with Ilyssa and a few of her friends

. We drove to Crystal Cascades. I have never seen so beautiful a place! The cascades ran down in between a large forest of beautiful green tress, vines and flowers. We spent the day there swimming and jumping off the rocks. I managed to face my fear of heights and I jumped off o

ne of the taller cliffs.

Now Saturday the 29th of January was a day that I will always remember. Rhonda booked

herself, Samuel and I to take a snorkeling/diving tour of the reef. Since it was my birthday Steve, Monique and the girls surprised me with a call that morning telling me that the whole trip to the reef (including my first dive) was all taken care of! I couldn't

believe it! I couldn't have gotten a better gift.

After we got checked in we spent an hour and a half on the boat to get out to the reef. Poor Rhonda and Samuel both got quite sea sick. Once we were there I immediately jumped into my very beautiful Lycra body suit and I was shown the basics of diving. Next thing I knew I was 7 meters under water breathing out off this mouth piece and wondering where the boat was. It was a very eerie and uncomfortable feeling at first.

Not long after our decent into the ocean a massive Blue Wrasse named Wally was swimming up to us waiting to be given a pat. We each took our turn posing for a picture with him and I even ga

ve him a little cuddle. After that the dive went by so quickly! We

squeezed sea cucumbers, touched sea anemone, and just got used to the feel of diving. After that first dive i was hooked, I quickly grabbed some lunch then headed back for my second dive. Thankfully this one was longer now that I knew the basics. This time it was just the instructor, an older German man named Wolfgang, and I. This time I wasn't scared in the least. We slid off the platform and descended to a depth of 15 meters this time. I swam along side an old sea turtle, held a clown fish that I captured while playing with the anemone. I gave the sea turtle a nice back scratch, but I don't Think he noticed because of his shell. When we swam back up to the boat I couldn't believe how quickly the time had passed! I was offered an opportunity

for a third dive, but of course it would have cost me. Now looking back I wish I would have just done it. Oh we

ll, I had a great afternoon snorkeling with Rhonda and Samuel. I saw heaps of beautiful blue parrot fish, clown fish, butterfly fish, a sting ray, and even a bamboo reef shark! (a pretty small one, but ma

ybe that was best).

When we got back to Rhonda's Ilyssa had made a lovely veggie lasagna and picked up a delicious chocolate cake for my birthday dinner. We set off sparklers outside before cake and retired early since we were so tired.

On Sunday we drove to Port Douglas to take a look around the markets and eat lunch on the beach. After we went to Mosomon Gorge and took a walk through the rain forest. We even took a dip in the chilly runoff from the mountain. It was such a beautiful place!

Monday was my last day, I spent it shopping with Ilyssa and her friend Jake. I found a few neat souvenirs and a nice pair of Thai pants. Then in the afternoon Rhonda, Samuel, Ilyssa came brought me to the airport and off I flew back to Brisbane. It was a wonderful weekend!

Back to School

The girls started their first day of year 6 today! Of course in preparation we spent Sunday and Monday at the theme parks. Sunday was a day full of dolphins, sea lions, penguins, and rays at sea world. We saw the sea lions and dolphins show,and road up front on our favourite sea ride:

Jet Rescue. It was a blast!

Monday was spent at Wet N`Wild where we spent most of the day waiting in lines on the boiling hot cement. I must say that the highlight of my day was Wet n`Wild`s newest ride: The Aqua Loop. (http://wetnwild.myfun.com.au/en/Attractions/Rides/AquaLoop.aspx) The Aqua Loop is a water slide that starts off with you free falling through the clear tube then takes you through a full 360 degree loop. When you are at the top the lifeguards help you into a clear pod. Then an eerie female voice counts down "three, two, one", th

e floor drops from underneath you and then you soil yourself. Haha ok, maybe not but it was scary as! Of course, I`d do it again!

Now that I have weekdays free, I'm unsure as to what to do with my time. I have signed up to do child care for Mom's Morning Out at the church I've been attending. I would be doing that every second Thursday. I haven't heard any news from the lady in charge yet, so I hope that it works out. Other than that I may be looking after Declan on Tuesdays. I've been starting a bit of a job search mainly childcare, cleaning or waitressing, so hopefully I find something soon so I don't get too bored (and make a bit of extra $ for traveling).

As for tomorrow: IT'S AUSTRALIA DAY! (January 26th) We'll be taking out Steve's boat, and enjoying the sun and sea! Then we'll spend the evening with Monique's family having a birthday BBQ for Monique's nephew and sister in-law.

So... in case you forgot (in which case I hope that for you own good you didn't) it's my birthday this Saturday! I'll be leaving Thursday afternoon to go up to Cairns for the weekend! The weather looks good so far, so hopefully I'll spend the weekend exploring the Great Barrier Reef and dodging crocks on the beach.

OMG! Oprah's big secret!!!! ...

I wish I was Oprah's half sister!!!!!!

And I hope everyone has been watching Oprah's Australian special! It's been a pretty huge deal around here.

Queensland floods 2011

As you may have heard there is serious flooding here in Queensland. If you haven`t well then check it out it`s pretty darn bad. I spent half of my trip in Sydney trying to get updates on the situation in Brisbane. By the time Friday came around the airport (thankfully) was still open and I was able to make it back to Brisbane without any troubles. I arrived in Brissy only a few hours after the river crested and thankfully the water was a whole meter lower than predicted. We spent the day driving around and scoping out a street in Kenmore that needed some serious cleanup. Steve and I went out the next day (Saturday) to help with cleanup. We took the water semi and all the hoses. We left the house at 4:30am and got there by 5:30 am. Steve spent the first few hours hosing off the road to prevent anymore mud from being tracked into the homes, while I used a 5000 ppi pressure washer to clean out the bottom level of a home. The homes down that street are all two levels and they were only flooded one the first level. After I had cleaned out the home Steve disinfected it chlorine. We spent a major part of the afternoon hosing out the underbelly of a home right on the river. After a 12 hour day of non-stop work we had hosed out 3 homes, the road, and disinfected 4 homes.

The work was very difficult, but it was good to be a part of the clean up. I could really feel the Aussie spirit as volunteers came from all over to help, and people brought us sandwiches, treats, and drinks. Please keep the people of Queensland in your thoughts and prayers as they clean up and rebuild.

As for our home, it`s completely fine. Capalaba has been untouched which has been a real

blessing.

As an extra: my rav4 broke down today after delivering water hoses to the flooded Rocklea Markets so I spent my morning waiting for a tow truck to arrive. The badly damaged areas are overridden with traffic trying to get in and out with volunteers, trucks and supplies, therefore making the traffic jams insane.

My week in Sydney

While the girls spent two weeks at their mother`s I hopped on a train and made my way down to Sydney. During my 13 hours on the Country Link train from Brisbane to Sydney I met a group of New Zealanders, saw the beautiful Aussie countryside and saw a trampoline set up on a hill at a 40 degree angle (quite odd).

(performers at the Sydney Festival)

Once in Sydney I saw all the sights: Bondi Beach, the Opera house, New South Wales Art Gallery, the Harbor Bridge, the Sydney Markets

, China Town, and last but not least the Olympic Park.

I was also able to explore a few suburbs where I was staying (Waverton, Lidcombe, Ashfield, and New Town). My

favourite of these was Newtown. It was filled with Thai restaurants, 2nd hand book shops, hippy boutiques, and even a bike library!

Lucky for me I arrived in Sydney in time for the kick off of the Sydney Festival. I was able to take in a few free concerts and enjoy downtown city. I even scored a few freebies from my bank ANZ who was sponsoring the event.

(View of the Opera House from the bridge)

That was my trip to Sydney in a nut shell. Hopefully I`ll get a chance to go back again yet during my travels!

(Kangaroo Pizza)