Driving Home from Church

Rather than me paint a word picture of the experience of driving here in Western Australia - here is a short video that shows the drive from our church to our house.

Licensed to Drive

It has been a red-letter day at sunny Casa Del Riecken.  Both of the adults are now officially licensed drivers in Australia!

Our "real" licenses are not in our possession... yet, but we do have the temporary paper versions.

If you are considering moving to Australia from the United States, here is what was involved for us.

There is no test required.  You simply show up, pay your fee and they send you your license in the mail. You will need TWO forms of identification though.  Erika used her passport and a utility bill.  I used my passport and a copy of our signed lease.  You can see the required documents in this PDF.

There is no written test.  There is no behind-the-wheel test.

Once all of the paperwork has been filled out and your picture has been taken, it takes three to five days to get your license in the mail.  That is not a typo.  Three to five DAYS.  Wow - that is super efficient.  I am used to waiting weeks.

Erika was able to walk in, pay and be done.   I was a special case.  Because I am diabetic (Type II), I had to get a (very very brief) medical exam before getting my license.  I make an appointment with Central City Medical Center and was able to get in the same day that I called.  The ten minute physical cost me AU$75 (AU$65 for the exam and a AU$10 new patient fee).  The doctor asked me about my condition, took my blood pressure, did a simple eye exam and listened to my heart and lungs.  I gave him the forms and he faxed, then mailed, them to the drivers license center.  That was on a Thursday.  On Tuesday I was able to return to the center (centre) to finish the process.  (Again, very fast.)

The doctor approved a two-year license for me.

Fees:

Your fees vary based on how long you want your license to be valid.  Erika is a healthy person and she had the option of one or five years.  She took the "I'm committed to living here" approach and put down AU$116.00.  If she had opted for one year only it would have cost AU$37.00.

I could only get a two-year license, so my fee was $48.40.  I am not sure what the fee amounts are for three and four years, as they are not published.

That's all there is to it.  If you come from some other countries, there is more involved.  My Scottish friend, because of the licensing rules, had to sit for the written test and has a heavy vehicle license - because his Scottish license allowed him to drive heavier vehicles (his wife has the same license) - though they didn't have to have any special training for that.  He tells me that they have since "fixed" the system.

If you are from Burma or Bangladesh you need to sit for a theory test.  Some countries require a note from the consulate indicating that you are licensed to drive in your home country.  If your documents are not in English you may require an official translation.

The Australian Department of Transport:

We would call this the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) in Minnesota.  The waiting room here has the same queue system that the Hennepin County License Bureau has in Minnetonka.  You get a ticket and then wait.  The ticket in Oz is distributed by a machine, where in Minnetonka you ask a person for the ticket.  You then wait while tickets are called.  Different services go to different counters.  You wait until your number is called and then go up to the numbered counter.  Very efficient.

But... don't go over lunch.  The ADT is only open banker's hours and, of course, everybody goes down on their lunch break.  I waited for an hour over lunch and only a few minutes when I went in the early afternoon.


See this PDF  and this page for additional information.

Thrifty digs at the Ops shop

Thrift shopping is nothing new to me. With one income and a gaggle of kids, I often shop thrift stores for clothing and other items. In the midst of our packing we were able to make a very large donation of our stuff for charity. Thankfully Australia has such shops. They are not known as thrift stores or Goodwill here but rather "Ops Shops". I think that's short for opportunity. I'm not sure about whose opportunity it refers though. Mine perhaps in getting a bargain or someone else who benefits from the proceeds. I like the new name (new to me that is). Opportunity Shop is very positive sounding. There are lots of opportunities. The opportunity to get a bargain, to recycle, to help someone in need. It's much better than second hand or thrift store.

The items we saw were typical of what one would find in Minnesota, clothing sorted by color and season, kitchen wares, toys and books. Prices did differ though. There was a half price rack with items for $2. But most clothing was $6 or $7 dollars and not the $2 or $3 I was hoping for. Still, I went away with a renewed sense of hope that we can make a go of it here in Australia. I took comfort in the fact that yes there are thrift stores and Target is just around the corner.

Aussie English 001

Seen in an advertisement at the Joondalup train station:

Ticket price includes one free drink and "nibblies".

Do you think that they mean appetizers? Appetizers on menus here are called "entrée" and what folk in the USA would call an entrée is called a "main".

Viva la differance.

Location:Collier Pass,Joondalup,Australia

Caversham Wildlife Park

Last Saturday, on the advice of a friendly co-worker, we took the family to the Caversham Wildlife Park in the countryside to the East of Perth.

The park is somewhat like a zoo, in that there are many animals in cages.  But more interesting is that many of the animals are not in cages.  This gives the animals an opportunity to interact with the humans... and gives the humans a chance to interact with the critters.

The Entrance to Witeman Park, where the Caversham Wildlife Park is found.

Critter Alert!  Let's see.. Kangaroos, Cows, and... ?! What is that?

At The Park Entrance
It costs $101 for the whole crew to go in.  It was worth every cent.

In the large kangaroo encounter area (that's not what they call it)

The 'roos are fat and lazy.  Why be anything else when hundreds of children bring you hands full of food.

Brave James is the first to approach an upright 'roo.

Zoey feeds a 'roo.  It is taller than her.  James is there for emotional support.

Oliver has the 'roos eating out of the palm of his hand.

Isaac commented that the 'roos fur is very soft.  It is - it is like cat fur.

A 'roo on the go.

Hannah has a new buddy.

Zoey, of course, found the smallest kangaroo in the park (that wasn't in a pouch) and had to snuggle it.

Madeline and a mob of kangaroos.

Emu.  Emo emu.  Freaky bird.  The fence next to it is just over waist high on a 2m tall adult.

Zoey grew brave enough to wander off on her own to commune with the wildlife.

Here's the kids and a ... Quokka.  I have no idea what a Quokka is... but there is one in the background.

The park is divided into sections based on parts of Australia.  And there is a large farm (domestic animal) section as well.  Here we walk from SE Australia's section to the farm.

In the farm section they had a bunny pen.  It is only open to kids five and under.  Oliver sat down and the bunnies started to mob him.  It didn't hurt that he had food for them.

City boy successfully milks a cow.  Shortly thereafter the cow urinated on the farmer.  What do you think the kids will remember?

Matilda the Carpet Python.  Picture by Hannah.

Rieckens + Wombat + Park Lady = Christmas Picture?

Some minions with a Barking Owl.

Zoey FINALLY found a DINGO!  She loves dingos.

Erika is pinching a koala's butt.
No... really... she is just stroking with the back of her hand.

All of the Rieckens and a sleeping marsupial.

no Middle School in Australia

When I was growing up we had three schools.

Elementary School - Grades k-6
Junior High School - Grades 7-9
Senior High School - Grades 10-12

Then it all changed. We got rid of Junior High School and had middle school instead. Then it looked like this:

Elementary School - Grades k-5
Middle School - Grades 6-8
High School - Grades 9-12

In Australia they only have two schools: Primary and High Scools. The High Schools sometimes are called a collage.

Primary School - Grades k-7
High School -Grades 8-12

UNLESS it is a Catholic School, which are wildly popular here, in which case it is

Primary School - Grades k-6
High School - Grades 7-12

I'm not sure what I can do with this information, but maybe you will find it useful.

The Cost of Electricity

Synergy is the electricity retailer for Perth and the surrounding area.

According to their web site, we will be paying $0.2187 per Kilowatt Hour for electricity.

For our little portable heaters then, which burn at 2000 Watts (2kW)- this means that it will cost us...

2kW x 1 Hour x 0.2187/kwH x 3 heaters = $1.31 to run our heaters for one hour. If we run them for eight hours at night, this comes to $10.50 per night. For a month of this, it will put us out $314.93 if the month has 30 nights.

Our current plan is to run all three heaters in the large common room with the rest of the house sealed off during the day, but only run them for an hour or so at a time. At night, we will put the heaters in the bedrooms on timers and run them from an hour before bedtime to an hour after lights out, then an hour before wake-up time until just after wake-up time (approximately 7:30-8:30).

Erika also spoke with the previous occupants of the house and they were kind enough to tell us their average electric bill. They told us that they were spending $125 every month. This means that they weren't running the heat on electric like us.