Semester Abroad 2024 | The Traveling Mahoneys

Gonna try and jump start the blog with a few posts highlighting life in Australia

First up in the category of “how is the lifestyle different from.. well anywhere we have lived before” is a focus on my daily swimming routine.

Pre Swim routine at Freshwater Rock Pool

The day we landed in Australia our friend Philippe mentioned that his 80 year old Legendary father swims every day in the ocean. That piqued my interest and I was off and running on my own “I too can swim in the ocean every day” commitment. Unfortunately the initial streak only lasted one day, but was quickly reset with a clarification that I will be ‘swimming in the ocean every day I live in Freshwater”. I am happy to report that this new, qualified goal has now hit 100 days and is going strong!

Some times you need a buddy on bad weather days

A few highlights and statistics 100 days in:

Longest Swim: 600 meters. Shelley Beach to Fairy Bower and back. I am working my way up to the Manly Beach to Shelley Beach swim that what seems like 1,000 Sydneysiders traverse every Friday and Saturday morning between 6am and 8am. Amazing fish along this entire swim which is in Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve.

Shortest swim: I literally dumped my head under the waves while Freshwater Beach was closed for a rescue. Lucky the girl who was swept off the rocks in a high surf day (giant waves crashing 20 feet in the air) survived, but it was pretty dramatic for a while while the lifesavers closed the beach, zoomed out to the rocks on jetskis, a medical helicopter landed in front of our house, and the life savers did their job. Reminder that the ocean has some serious safety hazards.

Sharks sighted: 1 Blacktip Reef shark. Generally harmless to humans, less than 1 meter long, but still got the heard going! Sighted March 13 off Freshwater Beach.

Favorite place to swim: Freshwater Beach of course! Nothing beats peeking down at the waves and getting your toes in the water a minute and a half later. No shoes, no shirt needed!

Freshie is calling with some good low tide midday, midweek vibes!

OK gotta go, it’s time for a swim!

Hello from beautiful Sydney Australia! We have embarked on another family adventure and moved to Australia for a “Semester Abroad*”

Made it to the Boxing Day Sydney to Hobart sailing race start… but couldn’t get a non silly picture out of this crew after a massive bike ride to the north head in 85 F sunny weather!

Long story short – we moved to Sydney (Manly…well Queenscliff, steps from Freshwater beach to be specific) for the next 7 months. We are planning to return to the US before school starts back in the US for our kids next fall. A few weeks into our time in Sydney we are LOVING all that comes with an adventure that involves moving to a new country.

We are super excited to dive into local life here, while exploring Sydney and Australia over the coming months. We got a killer spot on the beach, have been spending a ton of days with some of our best friends from our time in London (Philippe and Linda) and have been pretty successful at aggressively avoiding sunburns.

Surfs up Dudette’s

A few frequently asked questions we got as we were planning the move:

Why Sydney? We have been planning to move to a new country with our kids for the past five plus years, specifically before the oldest gets to middle school age. We were working on Amsterdam, Lyon or Munich then caught up with our Sydney based friends last January. They “showed” us around their new house, the harbor and their sunset views. On our way to dinner that night we turned to each other at the same time and said “lets do Sydney”. We have been here a few times (including with kids) and once we looked into the move, the big items (school, housing, visa) were not that complicated and while we don’t have a language adventure, we are traveling to places that are new for our family (been to Tasmania anyone??)

What are the kids doing? They start school in Manly at the end of January. Until then it is a lot of beach time with a few camps (sailing, climbing, Taronga Zoo…) thrown in during their second summer holiday in the last 6 months.

Are you really coming back to California? Yes, we are. I promise!

How did you find your house? Loooots of online searching, emailing rental agents and a “facetime” tour of our spot from Philippe.

Whats the best part? The beach. The beach is the best part.

Do you surf? Well we are learning… more on this later.

Can we really come and stay? There is room at this inn! DM us for more details and dates as they are filling up fast

How is the ice cream? Its amazing. Especially Messina

Do you call a popsicle a popsicle? Nope, they are called Ice Blocks

Will you and the girls come back with Australian Accents? Dont you hope so?!!

More posts to come soon including: the intricacies of moving to a new country with 3 kids, a quick trip to Adelaide and the Barossa wine region, Beach Life, New Years and the Holidays in Sydney and our upcoming trip to Melbourne to visit more awesome London friends and check out the Australian Open.

But for now we will leave you with the view from our front porch…

*oh you saw the asterisk? Wondering what it could possibly be alluding to? Is it that our time is technically more then “a semester”? Is it that we may stay longer? hmmm well guess you need to follow the blog to sort it out!