The Move Home

Well, the time has come for the Fosters to pack up and head back to the frigid North. The three of us are currently all squeezed into a hotel room at the Sydney airport, and the two cats are boarded at the Hanrob boarding facility getting pampered before the flight home tomorrow morning.

Our prep for this move was long and tedious, but it appears to have gone off without a hitch - so far (though we still have 20+ hours of flying with a toddler ahead of us).

We've been told that our air shipment is supposed to be flying out of Sydney in three days time, and that our sea shipment is currently over the depths of the Tasman sea on the ANL Windarra. We've also been informed that our sea container is expected to arrive into Montreal in 7 weeks. Until then, we'll be 'living it up' in a small one bedroom hotel in downtown Ottawa.

Our 40 foot sea container being loaded outside our home in Canberra

ANL Windarra - our cargo ship! Please stay afloat, pretty please?!

Skyfire 2015

SkyFire is an annual fireworks event in Canberra, dating back to 1989.  Though we did make it to SkyFire 2013, we missed the 2014 show because we were in Western Australia for Stacy's birthday. Since our time here in Canberra is winding down, we decided that we needed to see SkyFire one more time!

After enjoying a nice going away meal with friends, we made our way to the lake just in time to watch the fireworks. With well over 100,000 people on hand, the areas around the lake were quite crowded. Though we did not have the best of seats, the fireworks display didn't disappoint!

Fireworks, fast and furious.. to the beat!

Grand finale!

Canberra Balloon Festival 2015

We were a bit late to last year's balloon festival and as a result ended up taking photos from across the lake after several balloons had already taken flight. This year we decided to get up at 4:30AM (!!!) so that we could get up close and personal with the balloons before they took off at dawn. It was a great idea because we ended up with some spectacular photos. Although we enjoyed last year's festival, the up-close experience made this year's so much more enjoyable!

Dozens of balloons take flight!

Last year, the feature balloons were the Sky Whale balloon and Darth Vader.  This year they upped the ante by featuring a Yoda and Angry Birds balloon!

Angry Birds Red and DoDo!

Enlighten 2015

At last year's Enlighten Festival, we only managed to get a handful of pictures of Parliament House. We had a a very young baby boy with us and we were already pushing past his bedtime. ;)

This year we had an older boy on hand, so we were able to view all of the architectural projections and get a true feel for the festival. It was certainly well worth the late night out!

Projections on Old Parliament

Projections on Questacon Science Museum

New to the festival this year was the Night Noodle Markets! They were a huge hit with over 150,000 visitors stopping by to eat lots of delicious dumplings, noodles, kebabs, and N2 gelato!

Mmmm.. Gelato!

Chloe (1999 - 2015)

When we moved to Oz, we knew it was possible that Chloe would not be coming with us on the return flight home (she was 13 when we moved here). As our move home date approached, however, we really thought she was going to make it. Sure, she was a bit slower than she was years earlier, but she still seemed to act like her normal self for the most part. We began prepping her for the return home - an updated rabies vaccine and a cargo booking on Air Canada.

Unfortunately, only a few short weeks ago, Chloe started to go downhill very quickly. In a matter of a couple days she went from acting normal to no longer eating, no longer drinking water, and to falling over when she attempted to walk. The night before her final day, she was bad enough that we didn't think she would make it to morning. It was then that we knew we would be faced with the difficult decision of putting her down.

RIP Chloe, our baby girl. We hope that you're now running around, chasing birds again.

Final Visit to Sydney

As with most of our favorite destinations in Australia, we re-visited Sydney a couple of final times before our move home. On these particular visits, we returned for High Coffee at the Intercontinental hotel and had several meals (and ice cream cones) at Darling Harbour. We went back to the Aquarium and Wildlife Centre (so that Matty could see them now that he is older), and we also strolled through the botanical gardens and ferried out to Manly for the day.

I think it's safe to say that we love Sydney. It's most certainly a tourist city, but if you can look beyond the tourists, you will see so much more that this city has to offer. Our most visited spots have continued to be Darling Harbour and Manly Beach, but we've also come to love so many other areas. We will miss the cafe atmosphere, the shopping, the beaches, the gardens, and the laid back vibe.

We will also truly miss the ability to drive there in only a few short hours. Instead, we will be faced with 25+ hours of flying if we wish to visit it in the future. That thought alone makes us want to dig our feet in and stay here forever...

 

Final trips to the Coast

When we first contemplated a move to Australia, we pictured ourselves visiting the beach as often as possible. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Quite frankly, we were too busy doing so many other fun and interesting things! Needless to say, as we see our time in Australia quickly fading away, we have decided to make as many trips to the coast as possible. Having Matty around is certainly a great motivator for us as he LOVES the beach! I'm not sure what we're going to do when we're back in Ontario where there really are no proper beaches around...

We will truly miss Australia and its beaches - they are some of the prettiest in the world! We will also miss the ritual of grabbing some fish and chips for dinner before hitting the road home after a full day at the beach.

Christmas

This year we were lucky enough to have Andrew and Stephen visit us for Christmas! It was a great visit and allowed Matty to spend lots of time with his uncles! The guys were here for almost a week before they left for the rest of their Aussie adventures, but we made sure to enjoy lots of relaxation, catching up, and sightseeing of a few of Canberra's highlights.

As with the past three Christmases we've experienced in Australia, the weather wasn't the best - 25C (at most) with overcast. We imagine the 'quintessential' hot and sunny Aussie Christmas does exist, but we've unfortunately not had the opportunity to experience one while posted here. Maybe someday... ;)

Christmas Party at Canadian High Commission

We were invited to the Canadian High Commission's Christmas party this year, hosted at the High Commissioner's home in Redhill. The home itself is located on Mugga Way, a street locally known as Canberra's Golden Mile. The area hosts palatial-style homes with selling prices starting at no lower than $3 million big ones. The Canadian HC's home is no exception. The home is located on a two-tired piece of land, with the home itself located on the bottom tier and the pool, pool house, and entertaining area located in the backyard on a top-tier overlooking the home.

Upon arrival, we were offered glasses of champagne and hors d'oeuvres. We were all told to bring our swimsuits for a pool party, but it was a bit cool (25C) for the adults to swim that day (though the children certainly took advantage of the large pool)! We mingled with our colleagues and some of the HC staff. The High Commissioner himself was only present towards the end of the evening, as it was the last evening of his post here in Canberra - so he was obviously pre-occupied with other things on his mind.

Following the champagne and hors d'oeuvres, we were invited inside the home for a Christmas buffet meal. The meal featured a mixture of traditional Canadian Christmas items (turkey, stuffing, cranberries, etc) mixed with Australian Christmas items (fish and seafood). It was a fantastic meal, and a beautiful home. Speaking of the home, it is quite clear that it was designed for entertaining. There was a whole section of the home dedicated directly for this purpose, including a staff kitchen and dining area. It was quite neat seeing the separation between the entertaining area and the actual area of the home where the HC and his family lived.

Following the Christmas meal, Santa arrived so we all headed back up to the pool area to meet with him and have him pass out presents to the kids. Unfortunately, Santa arrived ringing his bell loudly and shouting "HO, HO, HO" which did NOT impress Matty. He was scared of Santa from that moment forward. Nonetheless, we still got a photo or two of Matty sitting on his lap. Sure, Matty may be screaming his lungs out in fear while sitting on Santa's lap, but they're pictures we will treasure well into the future!

All in all, a great afternoon and evening hosted by the High Commission!

Swim lessons

Every Saturday morning since Matty was 10 months old, we have been taking him to swim lessons at a fantastic baby aquatics program in a nearby suburb. We were a bit hesitant to start him in swim lessons so young, but here in Australia 10 months is considered a late start - most babies start when they are 8 weeks old!

The program Matty is in is called Aquatots and it is an absolutely fantastic program. It is designed not only to teach him about safety and survival in the water, but it also incorporates many activities to help him develop core muscle strength in order to hit physical development milestones. For instance, classes typically run for a half hour each week. During this time, there is a set number of water skill activites that take place (such as splashing, kicking, back floating, jumping into the pool from the ledge and learning to quickly turn around and hold onto the ledge to save themselves from drowning, etc). All of these swim activities are spaced out with non-swimming activities in between them (because let's face it, infants have an attention span of about a minute).

To provide a bit of an overview of a typical half hour lesson, the babies and their parent will get in the pool and form a circle with the other parents/babies and the instructor. They will begin singing a song all while incorporating splashing, kicking, tossing baby in the air, and dunking the baby under the water. From this they will move on to a circuit of activities: back float from one end of the pool to the other; when they arrive at the end of the pool there will be a bucket with toys in it. The kids will be encouraged to grab a net and scoop a toy out of the bucket (which teaches them hand-eye coordination). From there, they will walk across a thick mat lying across the water to work on their core muscles and balancing, and then they will move on to do an underwater swim drill with the instructor. Each week there is a new theme, new swim skills to work on, and there is always new non-swimming activities included. To us, this is what makes these swim lessons so valuable. They keep Matty's attention the whole way through, all while teaching him some new skills.

But the big question is - how does Matty like it? Well, during the first handful of lessons, he was a bit hesitant. He was often found placing his finger in his mouth (a technique we believe to be a self-soothing one). But once he got used to the routine, he really got into it! Now, from the moment we arrive at the pool to the moment he is back in the car exhausted after his fun morning swim, he has a HUGE smile on his face.

If only we could find a similar program in Ottawa...We are definitely going to miss our weekly Saturday morning routine!

Halloween

Halloween in Australia is a relatively new celebration. It has never really been a part of the Aussie culture and there has been (and still is) much push back towards it simply because of its American influence. It is often believed to be an over-marketed, unnecessary celebration of greed. Nonetheless, it has gained in popularity over the last 3 to 5 years and is becoming a growing trend. Stores now sell Halloween costumes and decorations, houses now put up orange balloons at their doors if they are participating in it, and even the odd house here and there goes all out in terms of decorations.

We were quite excited about Halloween this year as it was Matty's first proper Halloween (last year he was just a tad bit too young to participate). For each of his three days at daycare during the week, he wore Halloween-related clothing. On the big day itself, he sported his fancing-schmancy Winnie the Pooh outfit. He was a huge hit at daycare and his carers were proud to be helping him embrace his Canadian culture.

On the evening of Halloween, we dressed him up again and brought him around to visit some friends. He was even lucky enough to get his favorite treat along the way - an arrowroot biscuit! Following this, we drove around and had a look at some of the houses that were decorated. Let us just say, there are not many houses that decorate, but those that do go BIG.

Final Visit to Melbourne

As part of our wrap up before moving home, we have been planning final visits to some of our favorite Aussie destinations.  We fell in love with Melbourne early during our posting, and have been lucky to be back there a handful of times. As luck would have it, we had an opportunity to do our final visit in October when Blair was sent down for a weekend work conference. Since Blair would be busy most of the days during the weekend, we tacked on an extra two days - just enough time to re-visit our favorite haunts. More importantly, since Blair was busy all weekend, Stacy was *supposed* to have adequate time to visit some of her favorite shops! 

Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Stacy ended up being sick most of the weekend. The week prior to our getaway, she came down with a fairly bad sinus infection. The doctor she saw put her on a new antibiotic which she had never been on before, and she ended up having a bad reaction to it. Because of that, she ended up spending a lot of the time locked away in our hotel room for the first day or two. She was not alone though - she had her most favorite little person on hand to keep her company.

In the end, all plans were not lost. We were still able to visit everything on our list. The only thing that suffered was Stacy's shopping - but alas that was probably better for her pocketbook anyways. ;)

Ahhhhh Melbourne. We will miss your laneway culture, your awesome coffee and food, your beautiful architecture, beaches, and river. But know this. We are not saying goodbye - we are simply saying "See you later"!

South Pacific Cruise

At the beginning of September, all three of us headed into Sydney to board the Carnival Spirit! We booked this cruise because a) it visited several of the South Pacific islands we wanted to see; b) it fit into our schedule; and c) the ship still had balcony staterooms available. 

This cruise was to be our last true vacation before our move home to Canada. We have been fortunate enough to see all of the major sights in both Australia and New Zealand, but still had a desire to see a bit more of the South Pacific. We figured a cruise would make the best use of our time.
 
We were a bit skeptical when deciding to book a cruise as we've never been on one before. We were also a bit skeptical choosing a Carnival cruise given its reputation, but it was our only choice since we were booking at the last minute (4 months ahead of time is considered last minute in Australia -- many of the cruises book up more than a year in advance here).

So what did we think? We LOVED it! Carnival actually surprised us. The cruise was well planned out, there was lots to do, and we were treated like royalty. Honestly, we were quite surprised! The food was very good (and there was LOTS of it!), but it was the staff that made the cruise for us. They did everything they could in their power to make this trip enjoyable and relaxing. The fact that they all LOVED Matty was just icing on the cake! ;-)

The cruise itself was 10 nights long. It had three full days at sea upon departing Sydney before arriving at our first stop -- Port Vila, Vanuatu. From there it headed to Mystery Island (Vanuatu), then to Lifou (New Caledonia), and then finally to Noumea (New Caledonia). The islands themselves were ok (nothing compared to the Caribbean), but we still had a nice relaxing time. I think our favorite stop was Mystery Island because we were craving a simple beach day. Its hot temps, blue water, and soft sand did not disappoint!

What did we learn?

• We loved being rocked to sleep each night by the waves. 
• A balcony stateroom is fantastic....and mandatory. ;)
• You can gain a lot of weight if you truly take advantage of all there is on offer!

Here are a few pics from our cruise! :-)

Drink with a view - to start the cruise off right!

Central elevator area

Atrium

Splashpark that Matty played at

Fastest water slide at sea!

 Pictures from the islands:

Port Vila

Mystery Island

Mystery Island

Mystery Island - Where cannibalism was prev. practiced

Lifou, New Caledonia

Lifou, New Caledonia

Lifou, New Caledonia

Yes, we took a train tour of Noumea :o

l'Anse Vate, Noumea

Noumea's fantastic coastline

Ice Hockey - Team Canada Vs Team USA

At the end of July, we headed into Sydney for the night with some friends to watch Team Canada take on Team USA in an International Ice Hockey competition.

The game was pretty much bang on with ones we've seen back in Canada and the USA. It was great fun, and we're glad we can now say that Matty (as well as our Aussie friends) have finally been to an official ice hockey game.

Unfortunately, Team Canada did not walk away with the trophy that night. Following a grueling three periods (with lots of fighting), the game was forced to OT where the US scored the winning goal, thereby winning the game - and the series - with a score of 4-3 over Canada.

We must say...it was pretty cool watching Team Canada play in Australia. :-)

Team USA won. Boo!! :(

Wayne Brady Comes to Canberra

After seeing Drew Carey last year in Sydney, Stacy was uber excited about the fact that Wayne Brady was coming to town. We purchased our tickets months in advance, had a friend set up to babysit Matty for the evening, and were looking forward to seeing this multi-talented man in the place we currently call home.

Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Matty came down with his very first fever/viral illness a few days before the show. Blair very kindly offered to forgo the show so that he could take care of Matty while Stacy headed to the show with one of her friends. What a great Daddy/husband!

The show itself was setup exactly like "Whose Line Is It Anyway." The entire show was improv-based, with Wayne and his stage partner creating characters, scenes, and songs on the spot with topics that were chosen by the audience.

Wayne was just as good live (if not better) than as he is on TV. What a fantastic show! Highly recommend seeing him if you ever have the chance!

These are not great photos, but the best we could get! :)