Keller Family Blog

The large rodent was in the exhaust fan for the bathroom as Karlissa finished her shower.  I grabbed a flashlight/torch and shined up the light into the vent. After a few moments I could see the glow of eyes in the space as the eyes reflected my light. He dropped further down and onto the fan grill and we exchanged looks. He (the rat) wasn’t frightened by me at all. The kids made noise and so did I but mostly it just stared at us and seemed to try to figure a way down into the bathroom.  My guess is that it is a “black rat” based on info from: http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/rattus.htm. One of us and associated family needs to go.  We’ll see who outlasts the other. As I type this I hear at least 2 circling the house like they do every night.  Feels a little like we are in Jericho before the wall came down.

On Christmas Eve I wondered if all of the running around up in the ceiling was Reindeer on the roof instead of the Rats.  The pattern of the running around we hear still matches the sounds we have heard attributed to possums instead of rats.  We wonder if the rats were over the main part of the house and the possums are over the eaves.  We called the pest control people and they won’t come back out until the bait has been up for 1 month.  3 weeks now and the noise still goes on all night. They mostly just run around the inside perimeter of the house.  Definitely is more than 1.  Sounds like one is chasing the other all night long.

We did sleep better last night though as we put in the bedroom furniture we had bought via ebay.

We bought a real Christmas tree!!!  We always had an artificial tree in Florida. We were all excited.  At least until we put it in the van with the kids.  The difference of buying a tree in the winter (USA) and summer (Australia) at Christmas was underestimated by us. The little critters that would live on the tree in the USA would have either died in the cold or moved to warmer places to live for the winter. Here we had several spiders drop off in the van which caused a bit of panic. They were not that big compared to the ones that came off once we had the tree in our house.  I have a feeling that there are several more lurking in the lush beautiful tree.  We’ll see if we see big shadows once we put lights on the tree today.

Well we have been furnishing the house in Australia via ebay.com.au and via tradingpost.com.au . Also with the generosity of a friends (fridge, bookshelf, pots/pans washing machine and dryer) and 2 beds bought through another friend.  I shouldn’t forget the Australia equivalent of Walmart run by Woolworths Ltd called Big W. At Big W we bought our USA made Corelle dishes. Today I pick up the couch and chairs we bought online so we have something to sit / relax on.  (Here it is called a lounge suite.) The few days / first week we just sat on the floor and slept on air mattresses.  Now we have a dining room table with chairs and 3 mattresses and 4 beds a bookshelf.  Need to buy a bed for our mattress and mattresses for two kids beds yet some desks and a TV.

Also need to buy some spanners (wrenches) to put together one of the beds and we are on our way to celebrating Christmas.

Well, they have baited for the rats. Now we wait. Still hear quite a bit after 2 days. Don’t know if they have found it / taken the bait yet, but hope they do soon.

We were informed today that the good news was that the noises coming from the ceilings and walls was not an Australian native possum but rats. The possum man told us that there is no doubt that this house has had possums previously however the rat droppings were newer than the possum droppings. Also possums are territorial enough that they would kill a rat living in “its” space. Now the rats don’t explain all the noises which means that the possums are on the roof while the rats are under it.

Not to sound too mean or morbid but hopefully the possum people can get the rat bait up there soon and the rats eat it and leave the house before they perish.

We are housesitting for a friend while we are looking for a house in Melbourne. Outside we hear and see several different birds here. Not the same song type birds we have in the USA, but some very beautiful looking birds.  The bird that we hear at this house we are sitting at most often as in all day long is the Bell Miner bird.  While it is not named for the sound it makes but rather what it eats, it has a bell like chirp of the exact tone, pitch, frequency and similar rythm as a fire alarm that needs to have it’s battery changed.  So all day long I want to find the fire alarm to change its battery. Of course the bird may not like it if I try to open it up…

We have made it to Melbourne.  We are staying in a caravan park. (Cabins at a campground for the Americans). While taking a walk on a roo hunt this evening we saw a mother and a joey grazing on the hillside about 75 yards / metres away. Since it was dusk the picture is not as sharp as we would have liked it. 

Well we have one restaurant in Australia that we can all eat at:  McDonald’s Jaden can eat two things on the menu. A beef patty which has been placed in the box plain without bread and Fries also known as Hot Chips. The burger is 100% Australian beef with no Added Soy.  Jaden has not had a negative reaction to the fries though he has to the USA McDonald’s fries with their coating of Hydrogenated Soy.  Also Jaden could eat the fries at Burger King in the USA, but he can’t have the fries at their subsidiary here known as Hungry Jack’s as the sugar that coats them in Australia is derived from Wheat.

Needless to say if Crystal and the kids are out and about and need to get some food or when we are traveling we have an option to eat.  Not one that we would willing choose everytime, but it is possible.

Also the McDonald’s seem to always have a KFC near them, so for one occasion, we got Jaden’s at McD’s and everyone elses’ food at KFC.

Well, we will be relocating from Sydney to Melbourne soon. This has been very frustrating finding a home in Melbourne as there are way too many people seeking to rent than there are homes to be rented. Hopefully as we house sit for a friend we would be able to find a place quickly.