Whaling around town

Unobliging wolves in Yellowstone, unwilling orang-utans in Borneo and uncooperative tigers in India - we have some experience of the local wildlife refusing to put in an appearance at the required time and place. So when we set off for North Head (a hamlet of Sydney Harbour National Park near Manly) for a bit of whale watching on Wednesday afternoon, our expectations weren't too high.

It was an area we'd been meaning to check out anyway as it offers stunning views out over the South Pacific and back to the city. But it's also migration season for Humpback and Southern Right Whales (they are headed north to the Coral Sea for the summer) and several had been spotted off of Bondi Beach just a few days earlier. It was a beautiful day - nearly 80 degrees and even the light breeze off the Pacific still had a touch of summer warmth.

As promised, the views were stunning. I'm still a bit in awe of Sydney and can't quite believe we live here:

View from North Head, Sydney Harbour National Park

I digress. So we found ourselves at North Head and after a few moments of gawking at the city, we headed for the ocean-side lookouts. Being a weekday afternoon, it was quiet with only a sprinkling of tourists, suicidal-looking guys in suits and a few retired couples milling about. 

We didn't have to wait long. Not hardly ten minutes after our arrival, a spout of water shot up from the surface. It was a mildly breezy and there were a few white caps on the water, but this looked distinctly different. We held out breath and waited. A few minutes later something big broke the surface and we couldn't hardly believe our luck. 

This whale wasn't in much of a hurry and was still quite far away, we could see him/her clearly with the binoculars, but our camera lens couldn't stretch quite that far. Fifteen minutes later, it was swimming near the edge of the rocks almost directly below us and we could see him/her with our naked eye under the surface of the water. 

He/she splashed around a bit more and eventually graced us with a few full-breaches of the surface. Unfortunately, this is the best photo we got, but I assure you it was spectacular.

Occasionally, I worry slightly about my wanderlust and my (bad) tendency to get bored with a place before I've even had a chance to fully explore it. I don't think Sydney and I are going to have that problem, I think we are going to be just fine.

Brace yourselves, winter is coming!

As someone who has lived through 22 Illinois winters, I really didn't think I'd even hardly notice what passes for winter in Sydney.  I was wrong and this is why:

• 3.5 years in the tropics completely ruined me.
• There is no indoor heating in Sydney (for real).
• It's May! So to my 'northcentric' mind things should really just be warming up. I cannot process that it is actually November here.
• In Malaysia we were only about 200 miles from the equator and sunrise/sunset never really shifted by more than about 30 minute, it's completely dark at 5:30 here and that is confusing.

Now admittedly, there will be no snow, no freezing temperatures, probably not even a frost. But let me put it this way, 50F/10C is a long, hard fall when you've lived in near constant 90F/32C conditions and you are completely unprepared for the change. Even Catface is struggling, and she is completely covered in fur. She is spending her days camped out directly in front of  the fan heater.

My mom rescued me last month by bringing over all my sweaters that have been in storage in Chicago these last few years, so that was a help - but then I got caught out on shoes. In Malaysia, aside from a mandatory pair of black heels and hiking boots I owned only a pile of sandals and flip flops. I can hardly wear my hiking boots daily, I need some shoes. Like real shoes that cover your feet and require socks. Speaking of which, I also need some socks.

You may think I sound like a total sissy (and I kind of do), but by Sydney standards I'm still one of the tough ones. People here are already walking around in puffer jackets and wool coats. I can't imagine what it is going to look like in July, Gore-tex gloves and balaclavas?

So my northern friends, you may be feeling smug now, but just wait until it's January and we'll be drinking white wine in the sun while you trudge through the snow.

Health and Safety

I always get a little obsessive about major airline disasters. And the disappearance of flight MH370 is no exception - particularly being an airline that we have flown with so frequently these last three years - and let me be clear, I think MAS is a good airline.

However, the disappearance (and presumed crash) of this flight also got me thinking about the risks that we willingly and unwillingly take when we travel.

I still obsess over the Air France (another airline I've also flown with many times) Rio-Paris crash in 2009 and had to get a Xanax prescription to get me on the Indonesian airline Lion Air (which has a 2 out of 7 star rating and is banned from the EU).

I know exactly how safe air travel is - I know the odds of crashing on the car journey to or from the airport is many, many times higher - but the terror of being completely helpless at 35,000 feet is truly the stuff of nightmares.

Like I said, this got me thinking about the risks that we take when we travel. And yes, there's the flight(s) but it's usually the other stuff that gets you.

I was in Morocco in 2006 at the Cascade d'Ouzoud when a young European tourist fell to her death from the top of the waterfall. She just leaned in a bit too close for that perfect shot and slipped off the edge - easy enough with no guard rail. That was me 10 minutes earlier.

We were in a remote part of Indonesia last year and needed a taxi to get into the local town - the 'taxi' was a fleet of 4 local teenagers on cheap, Chinese motorcycles.

There's the uncovered 6 foot deep storm drain waiting for you take a tumble into in the dark and the trip where the anti-malarials are making you so ill you say, 'to hell with it, I'd rather get malaria.'  It probably won't kill you, but a bad case of 'Delhi belly' in India will make you wish you were dead.

And most horrifically of all, earlier this year an acquaintance was killed in a violent terrorist attack at a restaurant in Kabul.

Risk is all part of the adventure and wrapping yourself in cotton-wool is no way to live. But being back full-time in the first world, I do have a renewed appreciation for health and safety.

Even if it gets a little bit absurd at times.

We're here!

Well as you can see by the new title of this blog, we've now officially left Malaysia and we are one week into our new life in Sydney.

So far so good. We've found a great neighborhood in the inner suburbs - Artarmon. It is leafy and green with a handful of good restaurants, a local butcher and vegetable market. It's just 20 minutes via the train to downtown and just 15 minutes in the opposite direction for Ian to get to work.

Housing here is incredibly expensive and competitive ($525-650 a week for a smallish 2 bed, 1 bath place), so we've been on a bit of learning curve. The process for renting here is not dissimilar to buying a house - for most rental properties a short open house is arranged on a given morning and then anyone interested can turn up and submit an application.  Competition can be fierce so it isn't uncommon to offer more than the asking rental price to increase your chances.

Otherwise things are going smoothly, prices are high, but aren't quite as bad as I imagined - and things actually go on SALE. Nothing ever, ever goes on sale at the supermarket in Malaysia (largely because so many foods are subsidized by the government).

In between house-hunting we've been getting out to explore our new city. The sheer amount of things to see and do here is overwhelming (and wonderful). Even though we've both been here before, we couldn't resist the temptation to race down to the harbour and ogle at the bridge and opera house. We've explored some of the northern beaches and today plan on checking out our closest (and by close I'm mean 10 minute drive!) to Lane Cove National Park.

There will literally be a national park in our backyard. We are very happy people.

Oh, did I mention the wine? My god, it doesn't taste like vinegar here - it tastes like, wine! Nice wine.

The movers are coming!

The end is getting awfully near. Yesterday was our last ófficial' day at work. One week today we are on a plane with one-way tickets to Sydney.

Tomorrow the movers will come and pack up all of our things - many of them amazing things that will make the journey to Sydney and remind us of what an awesome adventure we've had here - Javanese masks, Chinese porcelain lamps, a Dayak statue from Borneo, art from Vietnam and Thailand and so much more.

I was just looking back and re-reading my early posts on this blog, reliving the excitement and anticipation of when we came to Malaysia 3 years and 3 months ago - the first geko in the house, our first encounters with Asian driving, the fabulous food. It was terrific.

We are ready for something new but I'm pleased that after 9 years and counting of living abroad the excitement hasn't completely worn off. (I'm also still very aware of what a privilege it is to live abroad as we have, and how very different it is from simply travelling to places).

To live in Sydney will be a whole new kind of adventure - less exotic, and a known quantity, but that is what we are now ready for. We're ready for a place where we feel we 'belong' (Malaysia has been very good to us, but it would take many, many more years for it to truly feel like home.) For a wandering British/American couple, Australia is perhaps our ultimate half-way house.

Final countdown

The movers come in 10 days. After that we have 5 days to re-home, dispose or squeeze into a suitcase everything that is left behind.

Cat #2 will be the first to go. He leaves us on Saturday, going to a good home, the home of a close friend. Catface stays with us till the bitter end, before she goes to the cattery where she will spend 6 weeks before catching her own flight to Sydney and then pulling through a final 10 days in quarantine before we get her back and beg her forgiveness.

Aside from the cats, we're feeling pretty calm about things. We've done this before with less money, less time and less experience. Also going from the second-world to the first-world, is so much easier than the reverse. We already have bank accounts, three weeks accommodation and visas for Australia. When we arrived in Malaysia three years ago, we had none of that.

Old pros with international moves, we've been sorting and culling junk for weeks, parting with things we didn't know we'd even acquired.

We've also been making a running list of the things that must make it into the suitcase. It's an odd list, but as we will beat our shipment to Oz by some weeks, there's some surprising things that you need:

• Bath towels
• A good knife
• Chopping board
• A pan
• Sheets
• Coffee press . . . 

Things that you can't live without, but to re-buy them for just a few weeks when you have your own on the way is infuriating. And expensive. So expensive. Even with a great company-paid moving package, international moves are expensive. The constant dining out  because you don't have a kitchen, the deposits, the essentials that can't make it into the suitcase, buying a new car and in our case the goddamn cat.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

2 posts in under a week! I'm really hoping to get this blog back on track for awhile. I've been pretty lousy at it lately, but we had a huge summer (literally, we both came back from a three-week trip to America significantly heavier than when we left) and then the start of the academic year was upon us and so it goes.

Anyway, as our time in Malaysia grows shorter (61 days!) I'm starting to see everything in two categories: what I will miss, and what I will not. Let's take a look:

Things I will miss:

The lovely, lovely weather. 90 degrees every day, guaranteed.

The food. In no particular order: yam basket, banana leaf curry, laksas of all sorts, hokkien mee, steamboat, Chinese pork ribs, salted chilies, the list goes on . . . .

Cheap stuff. Especially: food, haircuts, the vet, gasoline, (really nice) hotels, taxis, the cinema, massages.

Regional travel. So much to see and do, in three years we have covered: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia x 2, Thailand x 4 and several good romps around Malaysia including a few trips to Borneo and some totally gorgeous islands.

Cheap regional airfare. Or how else would we have managed the above? AirAsia, I love you.

Under the sea. This part of the world has possibly made snorkeling my new favourite activity. Rays, octopus, starfish, clownfish, amazing corals. Can't get that just anywhere.

Wildlife. Orangutans, elephants, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, giant lizards, sea turtles. Even the little geckos.

Having a swimming pool. There is a very nice pool about 20 feet from my front door.

Thunderstorms. Totally epic, torrential, noisy, tropical thunderstorms.

Never ever being cold. You know what it's like to get out of bed at 7am in January in Illinois? I don't.

About a billion public holidays. When you observe Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and national/state holidays that adds up to a lot.

The diversity. There's a lot of different people here. I like that.

*And this really goes without saying, but of course all of our amazing Malaysian and fellow expat friends who we've met along the way.

Things I will not miss:

Driving. Everything about it.

Trying to get stuff done. It's so hard to get the simplest things done here sometimes. Want to pay your internet bill? Must call them up and do it over the phone (Oh! The irony). Need a plumber? Take three consecutive days off work and pray he shows up by the third day. Want to deposit a cheque? Good luck finding the 'special' deposit machine for foreigners.

Calling strangers on their mobile. See above. Lots of businesses and tradesmen are not online, so you can't look them up online or book an appointment. Instead, you ask around, you get some guy's mobile number and hope for the best.

Bureaucracy. There is a form and a supplementary price for everything.

Negotiating. I hate haggling and negotiating, I don't want to be ripped off and I don't want to rip you off. Just tell me the real (fair) price.

Sugar. It's in everything.

Spitting, hawking, chewing, slurping. I know it's a cultural thing, but I don't like it.

Littering. Is there really no space in your car for that empty packet of crisps? Really?

Cockroaches. Really big ones.

Lack of personal space. The pushing, shoving, me-first battle of boarding a plane, train or just standing in what passes for queue here.

No means no. If I said I don't want to buy it, I really mean it. Also, don't follow me around the store.

Palm oil plantations. Please, please stop destroying your beautiful country.

Sopping wet toilets. With or without footprints on the seat, this really irritates me. If part of your bathroom ritual basically involves taking a shower, that's fine. Just please wipe up the mess.

And did I mention DRIVING?