** NOTE ** As I add each new event or place, it will be at the top of the list under this post. That way you will be able to quickly see if there is anything new***
We decided to move to Tannum Sands, in Queensland, Australia in early December 2022.
It took us until February 2023 to dispose of, or ship, everything we owned in the US and make it over to Australia. Since then we have been slowly acclimating ourselves to living in OZ (Short for Australia in Australian). “No Worries” really is a common phrase and Australians seldom get bothered significantly if things don’t go quite right. The are forgiving and very helpful. They have a interesting habit of shortening most words and adding an “ie” on the end so words like breakfast and Christmas become Brekie and Chrissie. To make matters worse they tend to speak more English than American so they have the slang the Brits invented, like Bathers for swim suits and Jumpers for a jacket. Lastly, just like in the States, every region has its own dialect and accent. Nancy has to interpret for me quite often, As we have always done, we take frequent short trips on weekends or midweek breaks and tour local things of interest. Local can be anywhere within a couple days drive.
We moved to Tannum Sands because that is where our Son Andrew, his Wife Candice, and our three Grandchildren, Samantha, Cathy, and Christian moved to in 2022 when Andy got a great job in Gladstone.
Gladstone is the greater community in the area and Tannum Sands is like a small suburb of Gladstone. Gladstone hosts the largest saltwater port on the east coast of Australia and it serves a thriving ore processing industry. As you can see by the maps, Tannum Sands is right on the east coast of Australia about 500 kilometers (300 Miles) north of Brisbane.
For you geogrphy enthusiasts:
Basically, what that boils down to is that here in Tannum Sands, we are just a little closer to the equator than we were in Tampa, just south of it instead of north. As a matter of fact, we are jsut a short distance south of the tropic of Capricorn which is why they call this the Capricorn Region. The weather here is a bit warmer than in Florida, it never freezes and seldom gets below the 40’s. Summers (October to March) are quite hot. Being south of the equator switches the seasons so its summer from October to March and winter from March ot October … not many white Christmases here.
For the past seven years or so Andy and the family had lived in Coomera which is about 75 kilometers south of Brisbane. Tannum Sands and Gladstone are much smaller communities and the life here is considered rural by most Australians. It’s a great place for kids to grow up in, has abundant work opportunities, and is just swell for older folks to live peacefully in.
I’m in the process of writing a book about our experience moving and living here but it is not yet finished. Keep an eye out for it on Amazon if you want to read about our adventure in depth. (Just go to amazon.com and put Bill Rumpel in the search bar at the top of the page. My book, once I publish it, will be there.)
Unlike the bigger trips I have posted here on this website, this post will be about the things and places we find interesting in and around where we live. Most will be just a few pictures and maybe some description. If we take a significant trip it will be in the trip side and I’ll just put a note in here to have a look at it.
We have lived here for around six months, have our own home, a car, we are waiting for a camper to be built (supposed to be ready in September … watch for the pictures), have become involved n the community, have got our Australian driver’s licenses, our application for a permanent VISA has been accepted, and we we are enjoying being close to our family.
So, each of our little “adventures” will be a little tick below this one. If you are interested in catching up, just click on the little down arrow next to this post in the menu and see if I have posted something new.
