No probs and Im sorry its been so long


Hey , thats good though that you are getting stuff done, try and find the positive in any situation you can, Sydney may not be for you, but after all the stress you went through to get there , you gotta give it your best shot. Sending hugs xxx

Hi Jen-good to hear your little guy like the day care place.

I was looking at your post about the areas you have been looking for a rental. I notice they are all quite far out from the centre around 30km which is a bit like me in Melbourne-we are in a 'burb 32km out. I have no experience on the areas you've been looking at but I think that in Oz some of these further out 'burbs can be rather dull & characterless and not conducive to making one feel "at home" or like we are "living the dream" we came so far for. Are you living where you are specifically for hubby's job?

Can you live a bit further in or if not then how about one of the Northern beach areas such as Newport or Bilgola-although they are still around 30km out they are rather nice (I have family there and have always enjoyed staying with them in these areas over the years).

Try to have a pleasant day-oh, and congratulations!

Hubby works in Auburn/ Lidcombe area.
We have looked at being closer to Sydney itself but it's too expensive when you're looking at a 4 bedroom house that doesn't look like it's falling apart and the nice ones in price range are almost extinct, apartments though nice wouldn't suit us with the kids. So we were looking at those areas and surrounding areas to those as they were more affordable and more the type of home we felt we could live in.

Hubby's dream to live here and he's the fussy one, hence why although we have a car we now own and a hire car, we don't have a second car cause he 'can't find one he likes enough' just to run back and forwards to work so as of Sunday next week I will probably be back to running him about again if I want the car to use in the day, plus his days as of tomorrow start at 6am so i'd have to have all the kids up at 4 am and then i'd be picking him up at 6 pm and getting stuck in the delightful traffic queues that made the journey back nearly 2 hours so the kids wouldn't be going to bed til nearly 8 pm.... either that or we just don't go out anywhere as where we are there is no where to go in walking distance, so will be life til we move into the rental on the 7th July then at least the shops will be in walking distance !!

It actually feels like i'm living some sort of nightmare right now or one of those rollercoasters that look fantastic but when you get on within seconds you're desperate to get off again.

Anyway bday boy is feelign a bit on the poorly side si i'd better go and check on him

I think I would be sitting hubby down and explaining getting 3 and a bit kids up every day to drive him to work is mental for want of a better word. Living further in as you have discovered is mega expensive, a second car for most people in that situation is essential, or he looks at public transport.

Get him a bus timetable

Congrats by the way, look after youself and bub.

Jen,

Totally agree with this, and have to say that I think the biggest kid you have is your hubby!

If he's so fussy that he has to have a car that 'he likes enough' let him find one, while you drive the one he is already happy with. I think that if he is happy with his job and where he is right now that you have to start to think about what would make you and your three children happy.

I think you need to stand up for yourself, (big time)!

M

We've got one nice family car for my wife, and piece of turd which I use to get to work.

It's not a case of keeping up with the Jones here so tell your hubby to wind his neck in, get any car that runs (and legal) for now and get to work by himself!

Therefore, you and kids can stay in bed and get some of that most desparately needed sleep you need!

I'm not sure I want to tell him that but I have returned to the car or gone to bed early and left him to it and he knows i'm not impressed but then we are just exchanging unimpressed looks and stances right now.

Jen

In the UK my hub went thru a number of flashy vehicles over the years including BMW, Merc, new mini and most recently Jeep. In Aus he drives.....a basic Holden Barina tada!!

There really is no need to worry here-no-one else does

I have never seen so many flash expensive cars as I do around central Brisbane.

Including the one on my driveway

G

It's all utes here down Melbourne's Nepean highway or 15 year old beige Japanese cars

Is it like this?

No.....that one is a bit plain.

Seriously......I am amazed at the money that seems to be floating around and spent on cars and the like

If anything people are more materialistic in this neck of the woods than in the UK.

G

Yes and as I reminded hubby we sold two fantastic cars that we had in the UK to come out here and not be able to own the same. OK no mercs or bmw's but we liked them alot

He had my former Ford Mondeo 2.0 Zetec in black... 2005
Stupidly we'd just extended the mortgage to buy me a new Vauxhall Zafira 2008 that I absolutely loved, fantastic to drive, had driven a friends old shape one in UK that she hated but the new model was smoother and super comfy. I realise we won't get to have those sort of cars when we go back as we will be broke by then but at least 2nd hand cars don't hold money as they do here.

Right now I could do with picking up the phone and chatting to one of my friends as she's not been well and has been really unhappy this last week, would have been round to see me had I been there, I in return could do with chatting to someone who knows me well, time difference sucks, all my family and friends in the UK are in bed hopefully sleeping well.

Oh Jen - sorry I'm late seeing this thread. We've not chatted personally before but I'm in Sydney - well Richmond which is about 45 minutes from Auburn but if I can help at all I'd love to. You could come up to ours - I'd be happy to show you around. If theres anything I can do at all honestly just yell.

I'll PM you with my contact details now ok

Take care

Rach