HUP

Well youve heard a lot of the Garretts adventures from H Garrett but heres a few words from Mr G. We have nearly been here two months now and the time has just flown by. I would like to state before I go on that none of this is bragging, its just the way its been. I also know it is early days.

In the space of 3 weeks we

1) Bought a car (Nissan X-trail)
2) Bought a house (Small village called Harkaway near Berwick. 3 bedrooms 2 entertaining areas, pool and spa backs onto a nature reserve.
3) Got a job. This was a bit weird. I sent several emails in July to some companies that do what I do (EPOS software). After being off the net for a while I checked an old account and found one of the companies had replied on the 19th November. I rang them and they told me to come in the next day. After about 45 mins of the interview I was asked when I wanted to start. I said how about after christmas. They said how about Monday. I said errm how about a week on Monday which they agreed to. I got what I considered to be a reasonable salary which will be reviewed after 3 months. They are also looking to start up in the UK so there may be some possibilites of getting some company funded trips home to see the rellies.
4) Got the kids enrolled in the village primary which only has about 150 pupils
5) Got a pupppy called Rosie. We got her from the pound last Sunday. Shes a mutt (bull mastiff dalmation X (they think)).

I had only been to Western Australia before and the esprawling suburbia of Melbourne was a bit of a shock at first. It gets better when you start to know your way around a bit. We are also further out and its not quite as busy. Traffic can be very busy in peak hours and ealier on a Friday afternoon.

Life has been really good to us so far and we have been very very lucky.

Things I like
Loads of beautiful open spaces
Loads of play parks for kids.
Campsites with excellent facilities.
Free gas barbecues on the beach
How quick and easy it is to buy a house
The sky at night, velvet black with loads of stars
Tooheys Extra Dry, Victoria Bitter.
Meeting new people

Things I don't like
Stamp duty on houses, cars etc. It can be a real shock so beware!!
I don't think I'm gonna like my tax bill when I start earning
Bank charges. They are a real bitch. We have just joined HSBC who have free banking The problem is they dont have many branches. Though you can get money out for free at the supermarket and the post office (You also get 5 free ATM (cash machines) uses from other banks)
The bloody huge spider that I had to hit 7 times with my daughters trainer before it gave up the ghost.
The televisionn is as many have stated before shite. Though to be honest we havn't wanted to watch to much. Apparantly we are entering the worst TV period as it gets worse over summer.

There will be a lot more things I will/won't like and I'll tell you about them when they happen.

Badge

excellent post HUP.

I also have a penchant for the 345ml bottles of Toohey's Extra Dry..

you both sound like you've done OK - and your niche software exerience standed you in good stead - is programming EFTPOS as easy as say, VB, C, SQL server etc - what sort of 'environment' do you use to develop and test...do you have a teenager sitting in the office wearing a uniform, scanning weet-bix through until she finds a bug?

Don't tell us, or we'll all be boning up on EFTPOS..

badge

hevs

The image of you boning up on EFTPOS does worry me slightly .

When Matt goes on about it I lose the will to live (in about 5 seconds)

Love the new avatar!!!

Its not EFTPOS anyway its EPOS (Electronic point of sale )
Touch screen fandangos and all that.

Badge

lol

Maybe I should specialise in efTpos then - I'll handle the TRANSFER bit..

Badge disappears off forum,never to be seen again, to start multinational efTpos company, having seen a niche in the Australian market....

BM

Badge

Mrs B losed the will to live, when I started explaining all the software I have written for the Aussie industry...been beavering away for the last few months..

she comes behind me and pretends to help me fix all my bugs...funny thing is, once she spotted one by a complete fluke..

Badge

lynnj

Hi Heather and Matt

Glad things are going so well for you and that you are settling down to the aussie way of life, it makes banbury seem like a different planet not just the other side of the world

Lynn

Jirrupin

It all sounds really good apart from the SAS spider. Keep posting.

booboo1

sounds great heather.. good to hear a postive result and lets hope more people can get the good luck you've had.... You must be beaming...

I remember the night sky in Oz. It's awesome.....

take care
keep in touch

love and hugs
booboo

booboo1

p.s I'm going bloody stir crazy!!!!


:scared:
booboo

debsy

Hi

Glad to hear that you are all well and enjoying yourselves. Glad to hear about the entertaining area as I will be round for a barbie soon!!

footie chick

Well done guys, thrilled things are going great.

footie chick xx

tinaj

It sounds like a fantastic start- you have done so much so soon- brill! Hope we can follow in your footsteps when we arrive

Keep posting it is great to hear your positive updates.

tiredwithtwins

hi guys,
its lovely to hear all is going so well for you.
keep us informed on the school!!

sue

WBB

nice to hear from you, seems you have done very well in establishing yourselves quickly, hope the future goes as planned.

hevs

hi lynn, great to see you!! hows WA??
Banbury, banbury???? now wheres that??? oh yes arse HOLE or the planet! seems like ages since our lunch, will pm younwhen we get a decent broadband connection, i could put a stamp on this and the arrival time would be about the same
xxxxx