Which reminds me that we haven't told you about the first. For those who are interested, that is.
Having sold our Hondas to new loving homes (we enjoy envisioning my dear friend Tonya's family of 5 taking family outings in the Odyssey minivan), we have now entered the world of Toyota devotees. As part of Rick's compensation package, the church leased us a white Toyota Avensis (similar vehicle pictured above), aka, a peoplemover. Isn't that a great name? It seems to be Australia's answer to the minivan. It is not as roomy as our Odyssey, but then, Australian roads were not built for the honkin' monster cars of the US. The lanes and parking spots are definitely narrower. And quite honestly, it suits us just fine, although luggage room will be tight for trips. It seats 7, which we were looking for in anticipation of visitors (hint, hint). And, true to form, I have already given it a nice scrape along the front fender when I took too sharp a turn out of the garage.
We tried to arrive with no preconceived notions of what we would need in a 2d car, although we presumed it would be something that would get Rick to and from work (the church is about 10 minutes away). After over a month with one car (thank you, dear friends, for loaners and rides), we eventually arrived at the conclusion that we should buy a used car.
Kudos go to Rick. Determined to get the best value he could, despite the fact that he really had no spare time, he attended a car auction with his fellow minister Kent, spent hours pouring through online car sales sites, and used several nights to go look at cars. Mind you, this is a guy who hasn't bought a used car since high school and basically can open the hood and tell you if there is a motor in there. But he finally found a white 1997 Toyota Corolla SECA (similar to the one pictured below). It has no frills (when is the last time you had to roll up your windows yourself?), but has low mileage (kilometerage?) and it seems that Corollas can last forever (right Gwen and Karen?)
Are you sensing a theme with color (or lack thereof?) It seems that there are many more white cars on the road here than in the US. We presume that is because the sun is so hot, and white deflects the sun best.
Our apologies for taking so long to post. Settling in has taken so much time, and then the computer was unable to retrieve our pictures, and then there was marital miscommunication about who is responsible for the next blog (phew, got that one worked out). Anyhow, we hope to, within a few more days, give you some thoughts on shopping in Australia, as well as introduce you to some of the wildlife in our yard (yes Lynn, there will be spiders).
Anne
2 comments:
Looks terrific, Anne! I remember a Dodge Vista (I think that's right) friends of mine drove in Bethany that sounds like it was similar to the Avensis. Still doable, even though tight.
The roads there sound like the ones on Prince Edward Island in Canada, where they have a contest every time they paint the white stripe at the side of the pavement to see who can get the closest to the edge. Fine for automobiles, perilous for the huge potato trucks hauling produce across the island, and positively hazardous for bicyclists.
We look forward to your entries, and will be posting up another soon about Mac -- who got to frolic in our first (probably only) real snowfall of the season. I'm sure there are others who are reading as well, but you have to have a Google or Blogger account to post... :->
--Matt
Everyone is more than welcome to look at the blog, but not post! We know that lots of people are just tuning in to see what life is like here....
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