I'm an Aussie resident!!

Here's me in front of the building that houses the Australian consulate in Auckland, New Zealand. In my passport is the infamous residency visa that has been in the making for the last 11 months! Now the hard part begins with all the paperwork I get to do here to become a legal resident - bring it on!!
It was VERY blustery in Auckland when we were there. But I LOVED it!!

New Zealand - Sonja's Visa trip

I (Sonja) LOVED New Zealand. I want to move there. Scratch the idea of moving long term to Australia, I want to move to New Zealand! But alas we'll be here in Australia for a while. Here are some pics from out adventures on the north island of NZ.

Fun at Healesville Sanctuary - July 31 2009

For Sonja's birthday we went up to a wildlife Sanctuary to see some Australian flora and fauna. We saw all kinds of unique animals and we got to pet kangaroos. Check out the video of the rarely seen Lyrebird. It imitates all different bird sounds to fend off its enemies.

Visa Update!!

Just got an email this morning saying that my visa processing is completed in Russia, now they'll send the application on to the next Australian embassy for the final decision on my residency visa for Australia!

I am very excited about this because I have been waiting for 10 months already. Hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer to live long-term in this beautiful country. I'm feeling a little patriotic for my new found home Australia so I'll leave you with the national Coat of Arms for Australia. Don't let it bother you that we sometimes have part of the emblem for dinner, Kangaroo and Emu taste yummy!

Sonja's back!

Sorry for the long pause in blogging lately. Cam has lost interest in updating the blog with his daily news, and I've been away and I haven't been keeping up at it. But now I'm back in Australia! I had an awesome time in the States and was thrilled to be there for my nieces high school graduation festivities. Yesterday Cam took me down the peninsula near Melbourne. We had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Sonja's going for a while

My tourist visa has run out here in Australia and I have to leave for a little while. I'm going back to the States for about 5 weeks and then coming back to Melbourne. I'm still waiting on my residency visa (grrr). Cam will stay here and work while I'm away - he's currently looking for a cleaner.

I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends and enjoying the sunny weather (hopefully) in Seattle.

Here's what I'm looking forward to:

Mt. Rainier, a dormant volcano

Pike Place Market in Seattle

Going shopping with my sister

And being silly with my niece (who's graduating, can't believe it!)

Easter at Mt. Beauty

Over the Easter weekend we were up at the holiday house at Mt. Beauty. We had amazingly beautiful weather during the day and really exciting lightning storms at night. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

The holiday house and our new car

our noisy neighbors, the cockatoos

With all the bushfires lately the fire department is desperate for some new recruits - seen here on their first outing.