Hi Kay Did you have to buy a lot of stuff when you bought your house in Tas? What kind of things furniture wise did you bring or leave behind?
We think we'd fit all our stuff in a 20ft container but are happy to leave a few bits behind if it all doesnt fit - we're only bringing one single bed out of all our beds and possibly only our 2-seater leather sofa and not the 3-seater to save on space. We have a nice wooden table and chairs in our garden but we know they need sanding down and treated again (we haven't oiled them for the last year or so, so the wood's in need of some TLC). Not sure whether to bring them though....things like that are debatable depending on what the shipping estimator says... Also selling our washingmachine, cooker, fridge, freezer etc with the house - so the only really big pieces are furniture are diningtable&chairs, bookcases, wardrobes & chest of drawers in the 3 bedrooms....But we wouldnt be devastated if we had to leave some of the bedroom stuff behind, we'll just try and squeeze whatever we can in!
Will eventually be weird not seeing our stuff for that length of time - especially the kids going without most of their toys for a while.... Our daughter has just learnt to ride her bike without stabilisers so perhaps when we eventually arrive we can probably just buy her a new bike to keep her amused!

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend whatever you've got planned.
I'm off work today as i've managed to work all my hours this week already! (hooray! ). Out tonight with 3 friends to a pub near us that's changed recently from being the hangout for 18-21year olds () to a Thai Restaurant - so that should be interesting!
Having my hair cut tomorrow (and boy does it need it )... Fingerscrossed the weathers going to be nice for the weekend - so that we can go out somewhere for the day with the kids on Sunday - so far so good this morning - the suns out although it's a bit windy...

Hope you all have good weather too.

take care
Cathy

Hi Cathy guessed you were talking about the what was Spencers Arms. IF it is its great Thai food in their and the other half is still a great old fashioned English Pub!!! You will enjoy!!

Hi Corinne, yep - got it in one - it is the Spencers Arms i'm talking about. I guess the 18-21 year old drinkers (or perhaps i should have said 16-21!) probably gave it away. We'd heard that the food was really good....was interested about how they might have done it up inside - so nice to hear one half's still a good old pub! One of my friends lived until recently in one of the roads just up from the Pub and for years we were always disappointed that we could never drink in the Spencer's because of the regulars in there....instead we always ended up in Gidea Park at The Archers or in the Hornchurch pubs...
I'll let you know tomorrow what i thought of it...
Have a good weekend.
Cathy

Hi Corinne, Just to let you know had a fab time at the Ardleigh Dragon last night. You were right about the food - it was lovely The four of us shared two of the set meals which were lovely - we were going to order individually but no-one could decide what they fancied so we opted for the set menu's to save the trouble!
I couldn't believe the transformation of the inside of the pub! The restaurant looks lovely with all that dark wood and the bluey coloured patterned wallpaper on the walls...and it looks great in the beer garden.....the seating out there looked lovely with all those modern chairs....

Back on the diet again today... and feeling very tired as one of my friends gave me a lift home and we ended up chatting in her car outside my house for more than an hour - so i actually came indoors about 1am! If i'd known we were going to chat for so long i'd have said come indoors for a drink! Anyway, having my haircut this afternoon so hopefully a bit of housework now will help wake me up!
Cathy

Hi

Just a quickie as limited internet access at the mo.

Shippers been and gone, all went smoothly, apart form one problem that I need to sort out next week regarding how they described the children's soft toys - they marked them as "worm eaten" which I think will cause problems with customs. The toys are very loved and a little worn but certainly no worms

Had emotional day today, my mum, brother, sister in law and 2 year old nephew came for the day from the Midlands, really hit me hard that I'm not going to see them for a long long time.

Hope everyone is OK.

Sam

Goodness me worm eaten!! What on earth were they thinking

I'm glad everything went well apart from the worms

I'm afraid words can't describe the feeling when you have to say goodbye to loved ones, its just totally gut wrenching. I'm told its no different as to when someone dies, I know nothing like that is happening but the feelings are the same. There are lots more roller coaster style emotions to come I'm afraid. There will be ups and downs.

Carina and family are doing well you'll be pleased to know, they are visiting some friends up north this weekend and won't be back down here until mid week next week. I think Karl is just desperate to find somewhere to live and work now. They are a lovely family with great kids.

Speak soon and good luck with the rest Sam!!

Kerry
X

Hi Cathy we've bought 2 tv's, tv cabinet, suite, coffee table, bed & bed sides, dining table & chairs, microwave, kettle, dinner set, cutlery, laptop here in Tas. Some of these were knackered at home so we didnt bother shipping them and others I knew we'd need straight away so just decided not to bring and buy here.

we shipped 3 double beds (though why I dont know as we treat ourselves to a big king size when we got here ) .. the one thing about that was we bought the bed whilst in the rental then had a bit of a job finding a house with a big enough bedroom for it!

brought my washer and dryer as they were new, all colins tools (carpenter he has bloody loads!) loads of books, computer stuff but not the computer, bedding, towels, pillows ..again manly because they were good quality and fairly new so seemed silly to chuck em to have to rebuy. Just bought a few cheapies until the stuff came. Colin brought his bike then it was mainly clothes and shoes. Brought all my kitchen ware and electrical stuff like juicer, slow cooker, steamer etc just changed the plugs. If you can fit it in the shipping then bring it as you will only have to replace it. Also brought a couple of english multi extension leads and just changed the plug to ozzie great until you get round to changing plugs on anything you've brought or for plugs that you cant change like my phone charger etc .. we sat and changed 23 plugs in one night

Hope you had a good night at the Thai restaurant .. i love Thai food .. we went to a variety show at the local club where Colin did an act dressed as a woman it was sooo funny, he says if you want to learn how to intergrate into Aussie society wear a dress

weather has been beautiful though v cold at night.

Kay

Hi Sam. Blimey what were those shippers thinking putting that. Couldnt they have just put a question mark on the label or just written old/worn toys instead of writing the words "worm eaten"!!! At least that would have indicated like you said that they were just a little worn....
I really dont envy you regarding the goodbyes you're now having to do...
I guess we all know it's going to happen but obviously nothing prepares you for the actual emotions you must be going through....especially following all the heartache you've had in recent weeks anyway with the animals and everything regarding the house. I imagine that when you finally sit on that aeroplane next week you'll be like a deflated balloon emotion wise...and hopefully during the course of the flight will inflate with excitement!!!!

Like Kerry said i'm sure those feelings will re-surface from time to time in Tas... At least it's not bye for forever, just bye till you see them next time...but i know it's hard not knowing when that will be at the moment...

Anyway, I imagine this week is going to fly by for you.....
Hopefully will get a chance to say goodbye before you fly later in the week.

thinking of you all....we're a little bit jealous, but we know our time will come soon!

take care
Cathy

Hi Kerry, glad to hear that Carina and family are all doing well...
nice that you all got to meet one another...

So how is everything going with the land / animals? Haven't checked your blog but wasn't sure if you've updated it again recently?
Is Mash still as energetic as normal ?

Cathy

Hi Kay, thanks for your reply - it's really useful to see what people did/didn't bring. I know it varies from person to person, but everyone has a good tip for something to bring - and i'm trying to remember them all!
I think we will just try to bring everything that's in our house and if something has to be left it will be a bigger item to make way for the smaller ones.... Andy sorted out his double wardrobe and chest of drawers yesterday, one black sack of work clothes could be binned, another black sack of designer shirts he hasn't worn (bought from our pre-parent days of spending loads on clothes) which we'll try and car-boot.... and another bag to go into the loft of some stuff that i wanted to throw - but Andy wanted to keep (ie, WestHam football shirt, Golf shirt from a competition he was in, and a Barmy Army Baseball Cap he wore when him and a friend followed England around Australia & New Zealand watching the cricket a few years back). It's knackered....might have to hide that if Sam's kids toys were marked as worm eaten....they might put something similar on this cap!!

Thankfully Andy doesn't use too many tools for his job....so we know that when we arrive he can pop to Bunnings and just spend a few hundred dollars stocking up on what he needs. He will be bringing all of his other tools - but most of them are stuff that he uses around the house for DIY jobs.
Funnily enough we were both looking in the garden sheds last night and we've decided the lawn mower wont be coming as it would be a bugger to clean well enough....but we have a couple of gazebo's and kettle BBQ etc that we'll definitely bring with us - and loads of picnic style table and chairs...
Like you and other people have said we just tot up in our head how much it would cost to replace a lot of our stuff.
I'm bringing everything from the kitchen. Just hope a lot of my bowls etc dont get broken as some are from oversea's or The Pier - so i've paid a lot of money for a few of them..I'll be standing there asking for certain things to be double bubblewrapped!

Has anyone brought over Lamps? I have a couple of Tiffany style ones - one of which was very expensive and i'm worried about that breaking and how the shippers might pack something like that...

Our thai meal friday night was lovely. The food was great - although the crackers they brought out with sweet chilli dipping sauce when we first sat down were so hot my tongue and lips went numb!!!!

So...did you take photographic evidence of your husband in his dress?
Sounds like you had a laugh...

Glad you're having nice weather - i guess it's not too bad being cold if the sun's out during the day!

Cathy

Hi All

We have arrived !!! been here 1 week today, and its been crazy ! so much to do when you 1st get here, and coping with jet lag & 3 kids has been hard !

We met Kerry - who is lovely, and so helpful, THANKS Kerry - we will ring you soon.

Started off in Hobart, and now we are at Devonport, as we have some friends here, who have very kindly put us up. We are starting to think that we might be better off up here to start with, as they are going to be able to show us the ropes. So totally confused now, as we were all set on the Hobart area.

We are looking around at rentals today, they seem cheaper round here. Karl has been offered a job near Hobart, but he's not sure its for him. So also job hunting in this area too.
Lots to do !

Good luck to all who are waiting to come here, its a great place

Carina

Hi remember to use all your spaces in the drawers etc we brought a chest of drawers (forgot about that) and I filled them with my handbags etc

I only had one breakage one of my wine glasses every thing else was ok, Col lost a leg off one of his work bench things but he fixed it.

Yes I brought a glass lamp got here fine, the shippers were very good at wrapping stuff... also forgot I brought a fair few paintings which all were wrapped well.

well yes your right some people say oh dont bring that but if there is room why not bring it? as you say will only have to replace it.

I will put a photo of Col in my gallery

Your Thai meal sounds yummy love hot food

Hello and welcome to Northern Tasmania

Hi Carina Glad you all arrived safely! Hope you enjoy staying in Devonport - let us know what it's like as we are still undecided on North/South ourselves so would be interested in hearing your opinion on the area once you're a bit more settled...
Good luck to Karl for the job hunting - hope he finds something he likes very soon...

take care - talk to you soon
Cathy

Hi Kay, - all i'm going to say is that Colin could never be a peroxide blonde in real life with those dark eyebrows! I bet he made a few people laugh on the night! Some blokes just look scary dressed up as women!

Thanks again for the info on packing....I think with the stuff i'm worried about i'll have to just try and forget all about it for the time it's in transit and perhaps get Andy to unpack certain boxes at the other end - just incase i find things broken!!!

I have another question - seeing as this is relevant to me at the moment as i'm suffering badly from Hayfever at the moment...... Do you suffer from Hayfever? If so, do you find that it's better living by the coast?

Cathy

LOL isnt he a silly arse yep he made a lot of people laugh .. mainly me he is actually totally grey has been since he was in his twenties

no I'm sorry I dont suffer hayfever so I cant answer your question, is the sea air supposed to ease it then?

I have an allergy to animal hair the gp here asked if i'd ever had injections for it and I said I never knew you could?? wonder if the same applies to hayfever as the syptems are similar