Can't Top The Konotopskys: We have arrived! But just us, nothing else.

It sure has been a long while since I last posted on here, but in my defense we certainly have been preoccupied. I will give a quick recap of what has been happening for the last 4 or so weeks.
We drove off from our newly sold home in a tearful hurry on June 7th, and headed to our hotel in Calgary. We spent the night swimming and preparing for the next days round of flights. The next morning we met with my Mom who would be traveling with us, and my sister Lacey along with my two nephews, Liam and baby Sam. We drove to the airport and had a nice brunch before our teary goodbyes at the gates. (Still brings tears to my eyes)

Looking out at all the big planes

Our first flight was the one that seemed to take the longest ( or so I thought at first) for several reasons, one of the main ones being that Zedikiah suddenly announced his fear of flying by asking questions (very loudly) about whether or not the plane could burst into flames when we were taking off; and if it was in fact flammable when I told him not to worry. Yes, a very long 3 or so hour flight that took us from Calgary to Dallas,TX and let me tell you... they really do do things big there! There was a set of escalators that were ginormous!!

Of course we had to take a ride on them... just because. We spent some time at the airport waiting for our next (delayed) flight. Our next flight took us on Qantas airlines for a 10 (or so) hr flight across the oceans to Brisbane, Australia. The flight was FANTASTIC!! The company flew us business class and it was an experience for sure. Each child has his or her own completely adjustable seat, their own television set and movie options. Wade and I were given a new set of pajamas provided by the airlines to get comfy in. All of us were given night packs to freshen up with and eye wear to help us sleep. The food and drinks (not those sort!) were very good and greatly enjoyed. Another great part was that they allowed my mother to move to the front with us to enjoy the last little bit of the flight in a little more comfort. After collecting our luaggage, except for the piece of my moms luggage that had been lost by the airlines, and making our way through customs, we were picked up by a driver. Wade had secretly arranged a personal driver who we found holding up a sign with our last name on it... just like movie stars! We were driven to a nice hotel in downtown Brisbane.

We'd arrived in the morning so we spent the afternoon walking the chilly streets as we made our way to the lovely Botanical Gardens, where we saw some amazing birds such as lorokeets (super colourful little parrot-like birds), a huge variety of ibis birds and our first, up close look at a kookaburra. The plants were beautiful as well, I think that would go without saying though.. it is Australia!

Our First Kookaburra

The next morning flight provided me with my first experience with motion sickness. I spent the agonizingly long hour and a half, turbulent, flight huddled over one of those little white paper bags they have so handy for those who think they are going to spew. I did not, but near the end was wishing I would just to get it over with. This flight was also difficult because it was the first one that one of the littler ones, Maileigh, cried... wait, screamed for the first little while as she fought sleep; and terrified Zed because he was was certain that the reason for us bouncing and shaking was because the plane was broken and wasn't going to make it. It is funny to think that the two shortest flights we had seemed to be the longest and most agonizing ones. Overall though our children did awesome, and we received many compliments from other passengers as well as the flight attendants regarding their behavior and manners. That is always a treat to hear.
After arriving in the small airport of Emerald, we ended up having to wait a short time for the car rental company to bring us a van large enough to seat seven people plus our luggage. They did and it was one borrowed from the mine... a diesel 12 passenger, stick shift beast - I thought it was awesome. Ahhhh, there was just so much room. Anyway, we loaded up the troops and set off for our new home in the little town of Middlemount another hour and a half away. We spent the time listening to audio stories on CD and watching the surprisingly familiar landscape pass by. It was a quiet trip with not much to see.
Once we arrived we went straight to our new house. Because I had seen the house in pictures I sort of knew what to expect. My first impressions were that even though it was small we had a decent sized kitchen and a great backyard. I was very glad to see that the carpets laid through out 95% of the house (including the dining room) are NOT white... what a relief. The company had provided us with a kitchen table, but no chairs, some kitchen ware, couches, a TV and some mattresses on the floor. As soon as the company heard we were with out pots and pans, chairs and actual beds they worked quickly to provide these items for us within the next few days. I will continue this recap at a later date as my responsibilities to the children are now required.... I will post again soon along with some photos if I can. (Note - I was able to come back & add some pics)