Goodbye Australia

It's time to say our final Good Bye Mate and write our last blog entry. As Jakob says, "I can't believe it's been a whole year already". It is such a bitter-sweet time for us as we say our final goodbyes through teary eyes yet we are anxious to say hello to our friends and family at home. We have had a couple of send off parties or maybe they are "get rid of the Americans" parties. The first was a seafood feast dinner with all of Mike's math collegues. He worked with great people which made his time at work a little better.

We also had a big party with families we have met through our kids. It was an outside, evening party. There was a bonfire as big as a house, a one-man band, dancing, heaps of food and many cuddles (hugs).

We had been putting all of the stuff that we didn't want to bring home into a box. I took the box to the party so we could give away the stuff. I didn't realize Mike had thrown his old underwear into the box. Here is a picture of the woman wearing Mike's undies!

Mike wrote a poem that I read at the party. Here is a copy of the poem:

Old to Old Bar
Little Old Bar, town that barely makes the map,
Of which our prior knowledge didn’t amount to a pile of crap.
We couldn’t even find it till we went to ‘Google Earth,’
Little did we know how much it would end up being worth.

The town’s people were so helpful, generous and kind,
Lending us bikes, clothes and advice and they didn’t seem to mind.
We learned so much from these kind-hearted folks,
We just hoped we weren’t the butt of too many ‘ugly American’ jokes.

The town has a climate Washingtonians would die for,
We repeatedly woke up to sunshine and thought ‘what a score!’.
When it did rain, it came down amazingly hard,
267 millimetres overnight, enough to flood our backyard.

Our community, school and child sponsors helped in so many ways,
Especially when we were having those difficult transition days.
You made the tough days so much easier and better for us all,
You invited us to many barbeques, we had such a ball.

The schools were welcoming to Kyle, Mariah and Jake,
They had to wear hats outside so they wouldn‘t bake,
The teachers and students spoke with such confusing slang,
They worked hard to try to understand a damn thang.

Fosters and Shrimp? How wrong were we?
Toohey's Extra Dry and snags, we were more likely to see.
Good on ya, how ya going, fair dinkum, vegemite,
Tomahtoe and rissoles, started to sound just right.

Swimmers and sunnies, slip-slap-slop,
Rellies, oldies, utes and beauts, now we can’t stop.
Dirty weekends, lollies, nibblies, G’day mate.
Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi, it’s all sounding great.

Jake made new friends and loved his soccer team,
They won the Grand Final which was everyone’s dream.
He loved having sleepovers, and to play computer games,
He’ll never forget Jye, Aidan, Andrew, Joe or James.

Mariah felt right at home, making friends as quickly as can be,
Wonderful 6th graders like Pat, Jess, Liam, Tim, Bec, and Emily.
She ran, she kicked and played all types of sport,
She loved being on the oval, the track and the court.

Kyle went to Taree High on a bus each day,

His girlfriend on his lap, turning his parents' hair prematurely grey...
He loved trying to surf the green waves each morning,
He went day after day without a single shark warning.

Mike drove to Chatham, just a bit further down the road,
He taught all types of maths like median, mean and mode.
He golfed two or three times a week with my new found mates,
so for his wife Karen, there was very little time for dates .

Karen was the ‘events coordinator extraordinaire,’
She did her job well, always finding the cheapest fare.
She ran in the mornings and played tennis with the Mermaid mums,
So many of you have become her memorable chums.

We’ve loved Old Bar-the beaches, the sun, the casual lifestyle,
But it’s time to go home now, since we’ve been gone quite awhile.
We’ll miss so much about this town, that much is true,
But without a doubt what we‘ll miss most, is all of YOU…

It is time to leave the Land of Oz from "Down Under". I believe my family found the courage to leave our familiar surroundings and become new kids on the block. They had the brains to learn to survive in a new lifestyle and the heart to thrive. As Dorothy said "There is no place like home". It is time for us to click our heels three times and and return to the land "Up Over". We left Olympia with a finacial dept but we will return much richer than we can ever imagine thanks to the people we have met. We want to thank those of you who took the time to read our blog and and came along with us as we traveled Australia. It really has been an adventure and an opportunity of a lifetime.

We are signing out................................

Mick, Kaz, Kyle, Steen Train and Steenie (Aussie names)

Time to Squeeze It All In!

We're coming down to our final stretch and we realize we haven't done it all yet! A year just wasn't enough time to fit in everything we wanted to do. If Mike didn't have to work it would make it easier to fit in our play time, but I guess somebody has to pay for it. So here are a few shots from our final days:

After watching Kyle give surfing a go, we thought we should, too. Kyle makes it look a lot easier than it really is. Mariah did pretty good, but Mike and I proved it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks!

Here you can see how good Kyle has gotten.

This one is of Kyle's coach showing us how to surf "Down Under" ( up side down).

The Harbour Bridge Climb is something I'd wanted to do for months. We have walked up one of the huge towers, walked across, boated under and it was finally time to climb up and over the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Because it was so dear, only Mike and I went. We went with a friend and his daughter.

The precautions, efficiency and professionalism was amazing. They had special "ghost buster" suits that we wore. Everything had to be clipped on to you (sunnies, hat, radio). You could not take your own camera. You had to go through a metal detector and do a Breathalyzer test...Luckily we passed!

Every 10 minutes a group of 12 depart. This means about 12 per group x 6 per hour x 12 hours = 864 people every day. For $180.00/head it's not a bad business. I thought Mike and I could start a tour of the new Tacoma's Narrow Bridge. What do you think....any business partner's? I think it took about 20 million dollars and 10 years of red tape to get this one up and running.

Here is a picture of Mike and our friend Chris demonstrating how the Aussies open beer using the beer bottle opener on the bottom of their shoes.

We had a wonderful weekend with the other exchange families. It was sad saying goodbye. These families have been a wonderful support system during our trials and tribulations. The best part is now we have many new places to go visit people. Here is a picture of the kids. It was said that this year had more families with kids than ever before.

We also got to spend a day on an Aussie farm at Phil and Tony Thorntons & their 3 kids. It was a day filled with life and death. While we were there a calf was born and the family dog killed a baby water hen. We also took 7 fat cows to the auction (meat market) in the cattle truck.

This is a shot of the Aussie Masters Golf Champions..... Well maybe, New South Wales Champions? Just Taree Golf Champions? Ok, how about a shot of Aussie golfers.

My final picture represents the holiday season that is fast approaching. It doesn't feel like it for us. It's hard to think about Christmas while walking around in your swimmers and flip flops (thongs).

Ready or not we will see you in a week and a half....................................

Some of My Aussie Mates...

Well now I guess it's my turn to share with you all some of my Aussie friends I have made here in Australia.


Brett is my sponsor and was my first friend I had met hear. We have Gone out for a surf together many times.














I've become friends with a group of kids in my year that Brett is also friends with. Unfortunately I don't have many photos but I do a have a group shot with a majority of my friends.













Jackson was cut off in the group shot so I added this photo as well. He is one of my best friends here.









There are a few other boys that weren't in the photo including Darren who I go body boarding with a lot. and another boy not included who is a close friend is Billy.



I've made a lot of friends that go to different schools or that are in different years out in the surf. I don't have any photos of them either.




Also all the boys on my U18s basketball team (as Shown) and the boys on my U15s basketball team.















This is Kirsten. She has been my Girl Friend for nearly 8 months and i reckon I'll miss her the most of everyone.



















Well there are some of my Aussie Mates. I can't wait to see you all again once we get back to the states.

By Kyle

Friendly Friends of Jakobs

This is my sponser, Aidan. He was the first friend that I met. He's on my touch football team, he was on my soccer team and he plays tennis with me. I will never forget him when we go back to America.

Jai is another one of my good friends. He plays touch

with me, tennis, and comes over to my house a lot. He

is a very nice person and I will not forget him.

Joe is in my class at school, and almost all the time

I sit by him and play with him. He is another nice

boy. He is fun to play with and funny. He plays

touch with me.

Here are more of the friends I have made in Australia:

Mariahs Aussie Mates

It's Mariah again. Our year here is almost over and I am really looking forward to seeing all you Americans again. I have met so many people here that I will never forget. Here are a few....

This is my sponsor Jessie. She is on my touch

football team, at my school, was on my soccer

team and about everything......I hang out with

her a lot and she is heaps of fun. She is also a

School leader along with 2 boys and another girl.

This is probably my closest friend in Australia, Gina, she is a year younger then me, but we are good friends and I'll miss her a lot.

Emily, is also a very close mate, shes' really athletic, therefor I play a lot of sports with her. Her and I went as Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween and she was my partner for twin day. She is one of the 4 school leaders with Jessie.

Patrick, Is my training partner for Track and Cross Country. He is really inspiring, how he puts 110% in training and just plain out loves to run. He has also been a close friend.
Patrick is also a school leader.

Here are some more unforgettable mates:

Here are some friends I have made through the exchange league: