Back in the Saddle

As of today we finally got the internet hooked up in our new home.  That is the subject of another blog for another day.  For now, it's time to catch up on some good stuff.  Tomorrow will be two weeks since we've lived here.  There's been lots to share in the last two weeks- here's a small part.

Our very first house guest and he wasn't even invited.  This is a little Gecko that we found in one of the closets.  We've found 3 more since.  They are completely harmless, about the size of my thumb and they eat bugs.  Regardless, I jumped like a little girl when it twitched.  We've since had a much bigger visitor.  More on that later.

This is Cyrus looking at our backyard from the kitchen/living room.  The backyard has a lower level that has a covered eating area while the upper level has a grassy area with treas and plants and a hot tub.  Yes, I said a hot tub.  A pool would be nice but apparently the owners of this property have never experienced cold weather if they think they need a 'spa' in this climate. 

The kitchen:  the location for all future parties despite the rest of the home having a very habital 2000 sq.ft. 

Crashed in the living room.  This is how the kids spend a lot of their time.  We had to convince Nadia to sit still for a moment to capture it on film. 

 The view of the backyard from the master bedroom. 

Some of the neighbours:  we live next to a nature reserve which is a haven for birds.  One of the common birds is this particular species of Cockatoo (Oz parrot).  A couple days ago I counted 17 of them foraging in an empty home lot.  Speaking of neighbours, the day after we moved in we were invited to that annual block Xmas party across the street.  We got to meet some of our human neighbours and we had a chance to get a little history of the area.  We were told that the suburb of Watermans Bay, where we reside, is the smallest suburb in the city.  It comprises 8 square blocks!

Zaren and Cyrus walking to the beach from our home.  It's literally a 5 minute walk.  Woot! 

 More of the view of the walk to the beach.  Double woot!

On the right is the road we cross to get to the beach.  On the left is 'our' beach.  Apparently it gets washed away from time to time and turns into exposed rock.  Fortunately, there is about 1 billion kilometers of beach front around here.  Give or take. 

 Enjoying our first dinner in our new home. 

The view from the other side.

 The boys are greeting another visitor but this time outside the house.

Upon closer inspection the visitor is a short-tailed skink warming itself on our patio.  They are fairly common (we saw one at the beach our first week in Oz) and harmless.  However, if you try to pick one up they have a nasty bite, or so I've been told by one of the locals.  I'm taking their word for it.