Will the last Englishman out of the country turn the lights out please ?

The preparation starts here !

It is now just over 5 months until we begin our new lives.

The status of our application right now is that we have passed our medicals, we have invested the necessary funds into Aussie govt bonds, and we would have our little pink slip by now had we not asked to extend the entry date by getting new police checks sent through... D can finish his current contract by extending the date, so it seemed sensible all round.

Our current situation represents over 18 months of hard work, nervous tension, and lots of anticipation and excitement ! We started by D writing his paper on his career thus far, which totalled around 40 pages, and took 3 months to write. This was the hardest part of the process, but it was passed first time by the Aussie Computer Society, which was a weight off our minds. Since then, we have had to get references (Which was not easy, they have to be so detailed), find endless documents in the depths of our filing, renovate our lovely 1930's semi detached house in Woodford, get it on the market, sell it, move out, find rented accomodation, have medicals, transfer money to Aus, the list has been endless.

Obviously we will be sad to leave our friends and family behind, but we cant wait to make a new start in a country we feel is more in keeping with our outlook and desired lifestyle. We are in the home straight now, one last push and we are on the plane !