I could have almost kissed the girl from DHL when she picked up our precious envelope.

So this is it, police checks done, medicals done and in oz already, just waiting for the visa now.

I start voluntary work on Thursday, i will be visiting an elderly lady who lives on her own in the next village. I only visit for an hour and ive also agreed to help out at the local day centre for the eldely when they are short staffed. Im now going to body max classes on a Monday, spinning class on Wed and aqua fit on Friday. Feel happier having something to occupy me now .

Im off out shortly to take the dog for a walk as he has not had a walk for a few days due to the state of the field near us, way too boggy but as its freezing outside the ground is solid now.

Now ive just got to be paitent and wait for the medicals to be finalised and the visa to be granted. Ive got Christmas to shop for and the holiday to look forward to.

Thats all for now

Cant believe the application form has finally been finished, just need to photo copy it so that if anything happensand they query any of the questions then we can refer back to anything.

Going to get DHL booked for next week. Will be so glad to get this paperwork on its way to oz.

V has decided no matter how much the kids and i want to get to oz asap he still wants to wait till April. This is really bugging me as i turned down the chance to do my return to nursing course which finished in April as i did not want to delay him. But since it is his employer sponsorship that is taking us to oz i just have to accept it. Even if im freezing and hating the cold weather so much.

It seems strange to not be studying and i must admit i have been rather bored with just doing housework while the kids are at school.

Ive started a new fitness regime and my body aches so much, ive been doing aqua fit for just over a month now and have enjoyed it, so this week i also started going to a body max class on Monday, i enjoyed it but i felt stiff and sore when i finished and yesterday i did a spinning class which was the hardest work out ive had in a long time, im alll aches and pains today, tommorow its back to aqua fit. I shall give it a few more weeks before i decide if i will keep  the spinning class up.

I suppose i had better get on with tidying the living room up  

WE are slowly getting closer to a life in oz.

Im almost ready for sending the visa application off. Just got to get some copies of the data page of our passports done and have them certified. V needs to finish filling in his forms( i thought he had) then i will be booking the courier and getting them sent off asap.

I know one of the laterals has just recieved her visa today, they had theirs sent off in September so it not been too long for them.

V wants to wait till April before we move over to Darwin, but im hoping to go sooner. I suppose we will just have to wait and see how things go.

A big sigh of relief now that the medicals have been done. Over the weekend the boys had come down with cold and high temps, so i panicked a little over if they would be well enough for the medicals. i kept them off school on Monday as a precaution and kept them topped up with cough and cold medicine , medinol and a daily multi vit. It seems to have paid off, despite the kids still having sniffles and a bit of a cough the panel Dr saif they seemed fit and healthy. My BMI was within acceptable levels.

Just waiting on the police checks coming back and a few documents need certifying then the visa application is good to go.

We have been told to expect to get the visa between 6 weeks to 4 months. Cant wait.

Its been a long day, getting up early for the drive to Hull and waiting at the hospital for what seemed like hours ( well it was hours) but since we had the xrays and medicals all done in one day it was well worth it.

WEll the kids are wanting tea now so best get in kitchen 

I had a full weekend off and as a rule if that happens we go away somewhere.

I decided that we hadn't been to Maligne Lake yet and would love to go and look at it.  It is just before you get to Jasper and has it's own road leading to the Lake that is 44km's long.

We got up or should I say I got up at 4:30am with a husband that wasn't best pleased about being dragged out of bed at this time of the morning.  We set off at about 6am, I think after grabbing a McDonalds and taking the Yellowhead straight to Jasper.

When we got to the turning point and headed down the road to the Lake I must say it has to be on of the prettiest drives I have ever been on!!

As you can see it snowed!

Before you get to the Lake there is a parking area to go and see the Canyon, that was quite impressive.

The Canyon is Limestone

Below you can just about make out the bridge that crosses the Canyon

It was so very pretty

A mini waterfall

This picture make me smile, we were so happy to see the snow covered mountains again.

This is Maligne Lake, it is approximatley 22.5 km long and 97 metres at its deepest point.

It was a very worth while trip and I would highly reccomend it.

We had dinner and I decided that it was going to cost too much to stop over night and I suggested we should drive back.

It was 10:10pm when we finally got throught the door and into our Condo, we were both very tired. and went straight to bed.

Its been over a week since i sent off my final work for my course. Its up to the markers now, i will find out in December if i have gained a degree or not.

Since ive no more study to do ive thrown my self in to the visa paperwork, the police checks have been sent, the medicals are next week and the visa application paperwork should be finished before we go for the medicals.

Our tennets have moved out and despite not having permission they have decorated the house top to bottom very badly in colours that are simply disgusting, they must have been colour blind. On top of that they have stolen curtains, blinds, nets and even shelving that was fixed to the wall. the list goes on. We have told the agency who were managing our house to sort it out. In the meantime we have instucted a different agency to sell the house for us( once it is decorated of course).

The kids are happy to be back at school although they cant wait for us to be finally living in Australia.

My operation that i had in August is starting to show results, ive lost 2 stones so far and my BMI is now below the threashold for concern for the immigration medicals. I feel great ,have more energy and no pain when walking the kids to school. Ive even started going to Aqua fit on a Friday morning.

Once all the visa paperwork has been taken care off, i shall be starting to clear the garage and thin out all our wardrobes. I suppose you could say we are going to have a good clear out ready for oz.

Autumn is certainly here, already the dark nights and damp cold days are in abundance, will be so glad to no longer have to deal with the cold weather.

My god.............blink and you would miss me, for sure.

I'm sat at my computer eatting chocolate mint ice-cream and giving you guys the respect you deserve and filling you in on whats been going on in the land of Cassie.

The PR people got back in touch with us on 17th September saying what we had sent was not acceptable and they are saying we can't apply the way we did.  One of the reasons being is that daft cow Cassie forgot to send them the LMO to back up the company letter and the work permit!  What an idiot, and also the letter may not have been worded how they would have liked it.

So I sent them a begging e-mail asking them to please not send the application back!  Not sure if my begging has worked though!  probally not, hey.

Anyway, I'm not totally worried about that I just think when I send the right stuff it will be fine, the whole situation makes me nervous.  When I got the e-mail I was so up set.  I phoned Neil up in a right old state to which he replied "For gods sake, get a god damn grip of yourself woman!"  .  O.K. that may have been slightly censored.  I can laugh now but at the time it made me worse.  So I phoned my friend up and even she told me to take a "chill pill", LOL.  Work wasn't helping at the time because "that" guy I was having trouble with, had started up again.

Before I had got that e-mail I was having a bit of a rough time, thinking I wanted to go back to Blighty but once that e-mail came I was like, NO! .............I don't want to go back.  Change my mind like my knickers, god knows how my husband has put up with me through out all those years, bless him.

Life is just great at the moment, I go to work, then on my days off I meet with my friends I very rarely have time to do things, we use the dishwasher so much nowadays.  Big up, to the person who invented them.  Yes it was a man I just googled.

Neil's gone off to some talk, the other week he went paintballing, we seem to be establishing a life here in Canada, just like starting a fresh.  It's great when you feel like your really getting somewhere with it.

I do have some bigger news for you guys, I soooooooo can't wait to tell you all but I am keeping this one under wraps untill I know the final details.  No I'm not pregnant, that will be quite some time, in the future.

There are some very exciting changes for me coming very soon, I'll be back here reporting it don't you worry.  It's quite an entertaining story, nothing in my life seems to be boring and everything seems to be such a strange tale of events that unfold, and really, you couldn't even make it up.

In the meantime, take care.

Cassie

x x