kezzabird

Alex is 3, 4 in January he just misses out on Kindy. the kids have to be 4 by 1st Jan and he's not 4 unti 17th!!

Its a bit of a bummer as he would be at pre school in UK. I've been taking him to mums and tot sessions so that he gets to mix with other kids and I get to have an adult conversation! It is a bit lonely at the moment for myself being at home with the littlun, but I'm sure I'll make some friends soon.

jerzo

Sob-Sob !!!!!! (it sounds soooo luvverly)

I so wish i was THERE not here, glad to hear from you Kerry but really sad that I should be there by now :curse: Self,Self,Self aren't I ??!!!

On a more serious note I'm now really glad I didn't book Graham Ct Apts as I did look at them , I think i'll go with Trinity Quest apts they look nice

You sound so happy and settled already i'm so happy for you all as it is such a HUGE move, we will be coming overto Oz in Jan and we will be in Tas in Feb (only for 9 days ...more self pity !! ) and I cant wait. After so much time , effort and money to finally be there will be great.
We want to be semi-rural too and Jerad wants lots of land so he can build his own house!! luckily he is a builder so its ideal ...............when we get there!!!

He loves the look of Huonville and it's not too far from Hobart if he needs to travel for work.

So pleased for you Kerry and hopefully you'll make loads of friends in the next few weeks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Speak Soon

Love Zoe

Sammy T

Hi kerry

Do they not have any pre school system then?
Don't know when we will get there but I'd love to meet up with you, by then you'll probably have a big social circle and be well settled. At least with a little child you can go along to mum and tots to meet others.
Very happy today, went to see Enrique Iglesias in concert last night and I'm on a happy cloud today, singing away!!
Was really good to do something special and made me realise I've been spending too much mental energy on the visa stuff and need to get back to living life instead of just waiting for the move. Doesn't stop me coming on here, though

Sam

kezzabird

Good for you sam, I know how you can get too focused on the visa thing it's good to go out and enjoy yourself and forget daily pressures.

As far as I can make out its kindy then primary school, I think kindy is the same as pre school.

We went to Myers Christmas parade today in Hobart City, it was good cos so far we haven't really been getting into the christmas spirit much as it doesn't feel like christmas, its really weird. The parade was great everyone came out for it and there were some fab costumes. The weather held off the rain until the end of the parade so it was really lucky, as it rained just after. Its been a bit of a grey day here today.

kezzabird

Yeah Huonville is loverly, tea bag is moving there. I would like to live there too, but its too far for OH to travel to work as he's working in the mountains north of New Norfolk. I think you might struggle to get a large plot of land at Huon though as its getting quite built up. They tend to be selling smaller plots.

Its great to hear from you too, I'd wondered where you'd got to!

GaryVFR8

2 weeks till me and my wifey land!!!!!
Really looking forward to getting there!!!
Got lots of things to sort out once we land like bank accounts jobs tax file number driving licence, Are they easy things to sort out?? Getting a bit nervous.
First day is going to be a mad day as off to Hobart Beer Festival!!!!
So hoping to meet a few people on the list if they are visiting the beer festival!!!!
See you all soon,
Gary

kezzabird

You can get your d.licence there and then in a Service Tas shop it costs around $80 for 5 years, tax file no you can do online, it takes about 3-4 weeks to arrive, B. account again easy, you need your passport to do this. We got a Westpac account no probs. No need to be nervous its all good mate!!
Yeah we are up for the beer festival too.
Keep intouch maybe we can meet up.
kerry
see you soon

jerzo

Hi Kerry

We had along chat last night after I read your update and it really made us desperate to go as soon as possible!
We had sort of put it out of our minds after the huge disappointment of everything going t**ts up !!
At least we will be having a holiday and we will spend the whole time scouring the possible areas that we will eventually live in!!
The housing market just couldn't be much worse at the minute so even though we have accepted an offer i'm not relying on that again so a validation trip is our only option ( lucky I won those flights!!)

Keep Us updated xx

Speak soon
Zoe

kezzabird

We just got our shipment today

Ahh its sooooo nice to have my things at last!

Just one thing though, I used Crown and although can't really fault there service, they did tell a porkpie! They assured me it would be crown all the way to tassie, well it wasn't! They used another company called Bells, who were ok but not as professional as crown. So just a heads up there if you were thinking of useing them for this reason.

I do know that Pickfords is over here though, so its probably a through and through with them. If it puts your mind at rest with entrusting someone with your worldly goods that is.

I hope all is good with everyone and that the housing market over there isn't affecting you all too much.

I'm off to put more things away now. Just thought I'd make this post seeing as my big computer is now up and running!

Sammy T

Good to hear from you again, Kerry
I bet it must be lovely to have your own stuff again, like greeting long lost friends, I can imagine our kids will be really excited when we are in the same position!
Useful info re Crown, having only looked into removals briefly, it seems that most of them do contract out in Oz, so will check out Pickfords to se if they are any different.
How long did your stuff take from UK to Tas (I presume it goes to Melbourne first?) and what did you do about giving them an address etc?

Sam

kezzabird

It took 3 months to get to Melbourne, then it had to get through Quarrantine that took about 7-10 days, then Crown had to arrange for the contractors to pick up our stuff that took another 2 weeks then bingo jingo you have your stuff!! We didn't have an address when we sent our stuff, but they would like a point of contact and that could be a hotel or something. Luckily Duncan has family in Melbourne so we used their address.

Before we left the UK we bought an Oz Telstra sim card and got our mobile phones unlocked in the UK so that we could use our phones on the Oz network when we arrived. It was easy to set up, we did over the internet. Got the simcards off ebay with $10 worth of credit. That way you can give the shippers your Oz number for them to contact you. It is also handy if you're looking for work, looking for a rental etc. They are really easy to charge up too, you can do it over the phone or most shops do phone credit too. Don't be tempted to leave your mobiles to be unlocked out here, as they buggered up Duncans mobile phone, something about not having the correct softwear for Virgin network or something! But trying anyway and trashing the mobile, its no good for anything now

ianandhelena

good luck with the unpacking-when ours arrived it was good to rediscover all our stuff, but we found a couple of surprises such as the pile of old UK newspapers (that we had been wrapping all our crockery in) which we had left in the kitchen, and we found that crown had lovingly bubble-wrapped the old papers and put in one of their packing cases, and also an empty box that was in the corner of one room that they had also packed for shipping.

kezzabird

Ha ha ha

Yeah now that you mention it they did loving wrap my boys good/bad behaviour sticker chart that was homemade!! And also some half burnt candles! Oh and they wrapped up a wedding card and voucher for our friends wedding that we attended before we left!! We had to go out and buy another! Now I have a £50 Thomas cook voucher, anyone getting married?

manc1

Ditto

Sammy T

"Now I have a £50 Thomas cook voucher, anyone getting married?"

What about giving someone a good Xmapressie or maybe selling it on Ebay.
Didn't they wrap up the children's money boxes as well?
I think we'll try and put everything we need to keep in one room with a big sign saying Do Not Touch but I guess you still end up with things going that shouldn't and vice versa - sounds very chaotic, still got a while to go before we get to that point.

Sam