Well, it’s been a while since we updated the blog, sorry.  We’ve been fairly busy though so I hope you’ll forgive us.  I know I’m going to forget a lot of what we’ve been up to but here’s as much as I can remember.

Ellie

Ellie is settled well into school now. At the end of the first week, she came home with the Pupil of the Week award which she was very proud of.  Week 2 of school brought a poorly Ellie.  She woke on the Tuesday with an upset tummy which over the next few hours proved to be a nasty cold which lasted most of the rest of the week.  She was off school 3 days including the Friday which was the last day of the 2 weeks of swimming lessons and therefore a pool party which she was a little sad about.  On a positive note, she’s been losing loads of weight with all the swimming and with a more regular eating pattern and she’s looking fab.  Some mornings she’s not too keen on getting into school as it’s just dawning on her that there’s no going back, but most days, by the time we actually get there, she skips in.  I think the transition has been OK for her but she’s definitely gone in at a slight disadvantage with not knowing anyone and starting on full days with homework every night.  She’s handled it so well though and we’re very proud of her.  Get this….next year, she’s starting Indonesian lessons! 

Becca

Becca is now enrolled in “Kindy”.  There are currently no places available in any of the council run nurseries so we’ve placed her in a local private nursery and she seems to be doing well.  She goes in Mondays and Wednesdays while Ellie’s at school.  We would have preferred half days but you pay for the whole day so she goes in at 9.30 and I pick her up at 3.30.

We have also started going to Aqua Playgroup on a Thursday morning in Melton which is about half an hour away.  Melton has a huge swimming complex with about 6 pools (2 of which are outside).  3 days a week, the toddler pool is closed off for the playgroup and filled with a shopping trolley load of toys.  They go in at 10am and at 10.30 they come out and do a craft then have a snack.  After that, the playleader reads them a story in the water and finally for the last half hour, the toys are removed and the fountains and muic are turned on.  In all, they’re in the water just under 2 hours so you can imagine how tired she is when she is done.  All that costs just $5 which is around £2.  Not bad.

Shopping

There’s a large shopping mall called Watergardens in a place called Taylors Lakes which is a 5 min drive from our house.  It’s about 3 times the size of the Gyle on one side of the road plus it also has a cinema and a retail park attached on both sides of the freeway.  So, there’s no shortage of shops.  A little further away is Highpoint which is one of the largest malls in Australia and the girls and I went there last week and after just an hour, we’d only seen a tiny corner of it.

Eating Out

Well, if you like McDonalds, KFC etc then you’d love it here.  You can’t go more than a mile without passing one.  They’ve even adapted many of the McDs here into McCafe’s to compete with the coffee shops.  They actually have a corner of the place converted into a coffee shop with barista and cakes (Aus seems to have a fascination with cakes, they’re fab).  As well as that, they also pull in the families with a kiddie play area in most of the fast food outlets.

One thing we’re enjoying about eating out here is the variety.  We’ve tried lots of Asian stuff and a few Greek things and lots of lovely gelati.  Eating out is really cheap here too which is fab.  Last week while we were out, we ate at a restaurant where Mike ordered snapper.  When it arrived, it was the whole fish, eyes and all and the girls were fascinated.  Ellie kept saying “that poor fish Daddy, do you think it hurts?”!!!!!!!!!!

Driving

We were warned before we came that the drivers here are bad but to be honest we haven’t seen much evidence of that.  The roads are generally wider here with lots of freeways (and lots of speed cameras…don’t ask how we know that!) and they have a lot of legal u turn spots too which are def interesting.  We are now the proud owner of 2 cars.  Mike has bought a Dawoo Lanos to use to get to and from the railway station.  Petrol is almost exactly half the price of the UK.  The Aussies seem to think even that I high, you should see there faces when we tell them how much is costs in the UK.  Mike’s train fair is also about half of that which he paid in Scotland so in all, driving is a cheaper than the UK.

The House

We’re quite happy in the rental although the garden’s a state and we’re not about to spend our own money fixing it so we’re going to basically have no back garden while we’re here.  We’ve put a few photos of the house online.

TV

Well Donna you’d love the TV here.  CSI or similar is on just about every night and it seems that we’re a little ahead of the UK in terms of the new shows from the US.  We still haven’t found a decent news show we like….many of the news shows here concentrate on Australia mainly and it’s sometimes hard to remember there’s a war going on.  We download some of our favourite UK stuff from the Internet (like the end of BB, Jonathon Ross etc) and a couple of times a week I listen to Radio 1 online to catch up with music.  It’s really weird listening to the Chris Moyles breakfast show at 5pm lol.

Work

Mike started work last week and boy was it a baptism of fire.  He’s been put into a nightmare of a project and def in at the deep end.  He’s doing well though and seems to be getting on with his colleagues.  He’s actually in Sydney today, lucky devil.

Friends

Well, we’ve been really so busy that we’ve not had much time to meet other folks.  We’ve spent a bit of time with Sandra and Jim and their girls, and with Margaret and her family but now that we’re more into a routine we’re going to start getting out meeting more people.  There’s an expat meet next weekend actually where we’re meeting at the beach park in Mornington for a picnic and there’s around 20 people going plus kids so that’ll be great.   Yesterday, Mike had lunch with his cousin Damian who’s been working out of Melbourne for the past few months.  He’s moving on to Dubai next week sadly but at least they got a chance to catch up.

Weather

Well, it’s said that Melbourne’s weather is a reflection of the song “4 seasons in one day” and we’ve definitely seen that.  We’ve had colder days of 16 and warm days of 25.  It’s been windy, rainy (only a little) and chilly but generally, it’s not what you’d describe as cold, and it’s getting warmer each week.  Actually, when Ellie goes back to school after the Spring break (3 weeks) it’s compulsory for them to wear hats and suncream outdoors.

Being Tourists

We’ve not spent a great deal of time being tourists but we’ve done a few bits and pieces.  We’ve travelled down to Mornington to the lovely beaches.  We’ve spent an afternoon in picturesque Williamstown with its fabulous views of the city.  We’ve done a small tour of the city which is has to be said has only scratched the surface of this beautiful city.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the Melbourne home show with Lynn and Campbell and Brody and Ahren and last weekend we went up one of the tallest skyscrapers in Australia called Eureka tower.  Whilst up there (88 floors up) we took the chance to go “on the edge” which is a glass box which is moved 3 metres outside the building for a few minutes.  Sounds easy enough, but consider that even the floor of the box is glass and there’s nothing but 88 floors of air between you and the ground and it’s quite an experience. (http://www.eurekalookout.com.au/the-edge.asp)

This weekend the Melbourne Show is on which seems to be like a bigger version of the Scottish Highland Show.  We’ve got tickets to go see that and then we’ve been invited out to Sandra and Jims in the evening.  And on Sunday, Lynn and Campbell and the boys are back in Melbourne so we’re going out to dinner with them and then Lynn and I are taking the kids shopping on Monday.

House Hunting

Well, whilst renting here is very cheap and having a mortgage is not (home loan rates are around 7 – 8%) we have decided that by the time our year in this house is up, we’ll be more than ready to be in our own home again.  Renting is fine but it doesn’t feel right, and we just can’t see the point in paying someone else’s mortgage for any longer.  So, with than in mind, we have decided to build a house.

The house building process is VERY different here to the UK.  Here a developer buys a piece of land and divvies it up into plots which are then offered to the builders for sale.  The plots that are not sold to builders are then sold to the general public.  That’s where we come in.  We’ve chosen a plot of land which is close to where we currently are and have spent many many hours touring builders showhomes to find the right house for us.  The houses here are fantastic, to say the least.  We have however promised ourselves that we wouldn not go for the biggest house we can afford but the smallest one we like in order to keep our mortgage down to a more livable level.  After many hours of reseach, we ‘ve chosen a house style by a builder called Metricon.  Here’s a link to it…. http://www.metricon.com.au/victoria/homes/santorini/default.aspx .  The particular house we like is the Santorini 29 which is a smallish 4 bed house.  The land will be ready to be built on around the end of February but as Mike’s on probation til March we might not be able to start building til then.  It takes around 5 months to build so it shouldall work out just nicely.

Missing Home

Well, it’s got to be said that we are not yet missing Scotland. We are however missing family and friends a great deal and we love getting calls and emails.  Last weekend our friends Nicola and Gordon got married and it was hard not being there with them but Cheryl emailed me photos the day after which was great.  I think the hardest thing is not being able to call whenever the feeling takes us due to the time difference.  When the clocks all change next month that should be a lot better though.  The kids at home have all been on our minds a lot this week as we’ve been organising Abbie’s birthday present and also we’ve been doing our Christmas shopping.  We posted the presents yesterday so hopefully they’ll arrive in time.

Well, I think that’s all I can remember, I’m sure there’s more but I’ll add it if I remember.

Bye for now.