Meet our House Sitter Crew!!

Meet Kristi (mom), Kelsey(purple), & Kinlan (pink)! They'll be holding down our fort for us while we're away. They came by the house today to inspect the new digs and to get an idea about how things work here. I think the girls are excited to have their own room and lots of room to play. Amarra and the girls made fast friends. Kristi got a quick tutorial on using Skype, where the circuit breaker is located and how to add salt to the water softener. I'm pretty sure there will be a million things we'll forget, but hopefully our local friends and family will be able to help her out if any issues arise.

We received our amended itinerary, now sans China, but extended time in Europe and elsewhere. We now have e-tickets, which will make changing dates, if necessary, much easier. We're pinning down plans to get from Sydney to Port MacQuarie--we'll probably take the train b/c baggage fees alone for the flight option was going to run us close to $1200! There's a great deal on train tickets in the area from Melbourne in the South all the way to Brisbane in the North that's good for 6 months and costs just under $400 each for adults, then the kids get tickets for $1 each every trip! Tamara's been very busy getting the finer details of travel at least researched and we've done some purchasing.

It appears that my application to the Australasian Medical Council for my temporary license has been accepted, though I have not yet gotten word that I've been approved. Once I get that things should move pretty quickly on finalizing our Visa and my work contract. It's a relief to know that all the paperwork is pretty much done. It's also convinced us that it's not worth it to go through all this for Tamara to be able to work part time...way too much trouble.

Our August 5th departure day is officially just 53 days away now! I have 29 ED shifts left in those 53 days. And we have a TON of packing, and last minute items to finalize..are all the bills set up for auto pay? We have to suspend cell phone and home phone. We have to "winterize" the lake house. And some minor, but important, "something" seems to crop up every day. But it's close, and we're ready!