New House, Noisy Birds!

It’s Tuesday morning and I’m woken up yet again at 5:30am by the raw screaming of the wild Aussie cockatoo’s that sit outside our bedroom window.  It’s such a loud, distinctive scream that it would win any award for the worst alarm clock.  It’s also absolutely bucketing down with rain, and as I peer out the window all I can see is a blurred vision of the world.  However, I couldn’t be happier – just because it’s Tuesday!  Today, and every Tuesday (for the next few months anyway) I have between 9:30 and 3pm ALL TO MYSELF!

The last time I wrote anything on this blog was early December so I have a bit of catching up to do.  Going back a couple of months we had an email from our landlords advising us that they were putting the house, which we were finally calling home, on the market to sell.  I was gutted and very quickly went into a state of panic!   The thought of moving house (only 9 months after the big move from the UK) just made my stomach lurch – I just couldn’t face packing up AGAIN!!  And not just that, but my parents were due to arrive in a couple of weeks!  I had been looking forward to their arrival for months and the last thing I wanted to do while they were visiting was move!  There was also the small issue of my ever-growing bump was not getting smaller!!!

View of Narrabeen from the top of Collaroy Plateau.
Our house is just beyond the two high rises!

Slowly realising that my idea of moving into a lovely rental and staying there until we were ready for our next chapter was ever so slightly naive.  I had no choice but to throw myself back into the world of viewing houses.  Once again I found myself queuing up outside rental properties, with all the other prospective renters, being shown around by an estate agent with the enthusiasm of a sloth!!  I really did see some shockers and it still amazes me how some landlords can put their houses on the rental market in such truly revolting states.  But I guess you can do anything when you own a house in this little corner of paradise.  Eventually I found a very cute little house (I say little as it’s quite a bit smaller than what we had got used to) but it has the most perfect location.  It’s about 2km further down the coast from our old house on a narrow strip of land between Narrabeen Beach and Narrabeen Lake, with everything I could possibly need only a short stroll from the front door.    

Beautiful beach 500m from the front door.  How lucky are we??

The only downside would be the unlikely even of a tsunami!!  And of course those damn cockatoo’s!!!!  As mentioned above, there is just no escaping the noise!   Not long after moving in we discovered that the old lady over the road was feeding them.  So at precisely between 5 -7am and 6- 7pm EVERY DAY about 40 to 50 of these large, screaming parrots descend around the house.   It’s quite fascinating to watch (for the first couple of times anyway) as they are just everywhere – they sit right outside her door waiting for her to bring the food out as well as gather in the trees, swing off the telephone wires, hop along the tops of cars…..and SCREAM!!!!!  We have decided that she must be deaf otherwise ‘why on earth would you encourage them??????” Especially so early in the mornings!!!!  Mr D got so desperate one evening that he went on to Google to see if he could find out how to get rid of them (without buying a shot gun of course).  He discovered that their only natural predator is a snake!!  So he and Master J decided to buy a rubber snake, attach it to a piece of string and lay it across the road, while hiding in a bush!!  Unfortunately I have to report that their plan did not work!!  Any other suggestions for plan B are most welcome though!!  

I suppose I should be grateful that I have not yet seen a spider in this house. Between the cockatoos, the rainbow lorikeets (beautiful but just as noisy), the kookaburra's and not forgetting the Pelican, some days it really feels like we're living in an avery!!  I should mention that I went outside the other day to collect some washing off the line, as the heavens had suddenly opened, only to find a rather large pelican just sitting on the patio table!  I swear it was bigger than Miss H and it gave me the fright of my life!   

The move itself was a lot less dramatic than I had worked myself up to thinking it would be.  Thankfully Mum, Dad, LCJ and MT were all around to help.  I’m not sure it was exactly what they had bargained for on their trip to Sydney, but they were an amazing help!  We hired a van and two men to move everything from the one house to the next.   They arrived in a huge van that didn’t exactly look like it would pass any legal road-safety tests and neither of them spoke a word of English!!  As none of us spoke any Cantonese, there was a lot of hand signalling going on.  However, they were fantastic and moved everything over in a couple of hours!!  Unpacking was the interesting part with two alpha males in the house!  Mum and I had quite a few giggles!!!  Dad’s motto is “measure twice and cut once”, Mr D’s motto is “don’t bother measuring, just cut!”  We had to store quite a lot of stuff in the garage so you can only just imagine how the two of them organised it all!!!

The Aussie Average

Beautiful jacaranda hanging over our balcony

The last few weeks have been pretty action packed in the dB household.  The weather has certainly been hotting up as we make our way through the spring.  I must say I have been quite amazed by the season changes in Sydney.  For some reason I didn’t think they would be as prominent as they are in England.  The whole area has just exploded in the most vibrant purple as all the Jacaranda trees have come into bloom.  There is also this amazingly sweet perfume in the air from the beautiful flowering jasmine and frangipani.  The humidity is something that I am not as fond of though.  There is nothing more uplifting than waking up in the morning to blue skies and sunshine streaming through the bedroom window, but some days the humidity that accompanies it is quite unbearable!!   Using my hair straighteners or hair dryer in the mornings is not always an option these days, after two seconds I feel like I need to shower again.  

bed time entertainment in a tent

A few weeks ago we decided to try out “camping” with the kids.  The reason I say “try out” is because camping is really not something that has ever been high on my agenda!  Over the years I think I have gained a some what unjust reputation for being slightly high maintenance, but when it comes to camping I think I’m just going to accept it!  However, as the weather here is glorious most of the time and the campsite was only 5km down the road from home, I decided to give it a go!!  We borrowed a tent and set up camp with 4 other families that we’ve become great friends with.  There were 10 kids in total and they just had the best time ever!!  Watching their excitement actually brought back some very fond memories of when I used to go caravanning with my family as a kid.  So in conclusion I’ve decided that camping was actually great fun for both the kids and the grown ups and sleeping in a tent wasn’t so bad either (I just kept thinking of how bad it was to do an 8 hour plus night flight on a jump seat and suddenly a blow up mattress became heaven).  It also helped to be 5 minutes from home where I could pop back for a sneaky shower – cheating some might say……… but I prefer to think of it as using my initiative!!  I’m still not totally convinced that it will become a regular fixture on the dB calendar! 

Nic and I putting up a tent!  Done like experts!!

Nanny mummy is also spreading her wings and the dB family is expanding.  We’re all very excited to be joining the Aussie average as our two will soon become three!!  I believe the word ‘hectic’, which is what best describes my days, is going to be brought to an all new level soon!!  Our little bundle is due in early June.  Master J and Miss H have been very involved with the pregnancy so far and have been with me to all my scans.  Quite obviously Miss H thinks the baby is a girl, called “girl” and Master J is desperate for a brother – he even says he will cry for 88 days if the baby were a girl!!  No pressure then……….

Super cute at 13 weeks

The final count down is now on until the end of the school term and Christmas and there is just so much going on.  Master J has been preparing to start ‘big school’ next year and we’ve had several visits to the school for various orientation days.  He is so excited to start and shouts ‘there’s my school’ every time we drive past.  I think I am going to be learning almost as much as him next term.  It’s also going to take a new level of organisational skills to get us all up, dressed and organised with the right labeled ‘morning tea’ and ‘lunch’ boxes packed, library bags, water bottles, hats etc and still getting to school on time!  I did get a little lump in my throat when I saw him all dressed in his school uniform.  I really didn’t think I would be one of those mums that shed a tear on their baby’s first day of school, but I am beginning to wonder… (I could always blame it on hormones!!).  Miss H is also starting Kindy next year and will go two days a week.  I’ve been a little more worried about her starting as she has never been anywhere without me.  I arranged for her to have a play date with her new class and when I explained it to her, she became almost hysterical!  “Oh great!, this is really not going as planned” I thought.  “I don’t want to be a starfish” yes cried.  “I stay with Master J in the whales” When we arrived she clung to me like glue until I opened the classroom door and then she just ran in and never looked back!!  I was the one left feeling like I needed a stiff drink.  So clearly we have nothing to worry about on that front and she'll now quite happily tell everyone she's going to be starfish after Father Christmas comes.

All grown up

Christmas is just around the corner now and I cannot wait – although I must admit I am struggling to get the festive spirit going.  I know it’s a cliché but southern hemispheres Christmases REALLY aren’t the same as the northern hemisphere!  That magic sparkle just seems to be missing!   I guess it’s because the evenings are much lighter here and so the kids are already in bed when darkness fall so we never get to see any twinkly lights.  There are also NO Christmas songs played on the radio – not one!!  Thank goodness for digital radio, I never thought I’d ever appreciate Chris Evans.  He really got us in the mood when we put our tree up the other day.  That experience was a mission in itself.  Firstly I had to go to the mall to buy the tree with two toddlers, hundreds of busy Christmas shoppers and of course Santa!  We made it home almost unscathed and then had to battle the colour-coded branches (which didn’t match) to get the tree to look like a tree.  “It almost looks like a Christmas tree, mummy” Master J says, mid way through my third attempt, sweat dripping down my face!  “Well, it’ll just have to do” I say.  What do you think Miss H , I ask “It’s soooooo pretty” she says.  Yay, at least someone appreciates my efforts!!  Next week we have Master J’s school concert and then we are going to “carols on the beach’ where I believe Santa will be arriving by jet-ski to see the children.  But best of all my parents are arriving to stay for three whole weeks!!!!!!

Enjoying the Aussie summer