Hi Sam

Glad to hear you are settling in well. Yes- I agree its lovely here !
It was very difficult to find a rental, they seem to be in short supply, I suppose its because the interest rates high, and people cant afford a mortgage.

We looked at quite a few, and this was the best one, so we were glad we got it, but its turning out to be just ok, very cold and hard to heat, due to badly designed layout inside I think. So looking forward to warmer weather. There is no bath either, and I do miss my baths !!

So you are in Blackmans bay is that right? we drove through there, and thought how lovely it was. Are your kids settling in ok ? and your OH ?
and how are you finding it ? do you have some friends here already ? or made new ones yet ? Its quite a challenge is'nt it ? but VERY exciting !

Have you viewed any houses yet ? we have looked at some lovely places up here, and will be spoilt for choice, I cant wait to get our own place. Just hope that exchange rate improves soon

Take care

Hi Carina

Our rental is nice, with sea views, up a very steep hill which is certainly going to help my getting fit campaign! There is a heat pump and some wall heaters in the childrens bedrooms and bathroom, this keeps the house fairly warm although I reckon our electric bill may be a shocker!

Where we are renting is probably a bit too built up for where we would like to finally settle but we do like this area, so will concentrate our search around here. We haven't looked at any houses for sale yet, as we have signed up fro 6 months on this house, so don't want to fall in love with any just yet. There do seem to be plenty around, but we don't have as much money as we thought we would have (due to the price we got for our house in the UK and the exchange rate) but this seems to be a fairly good time to buy, I think.

Remind me, how are old are your children? Ours started school last week and seem to be settling in well but it will take time for them to really feel as though they belong. They were out planting trees today and came home plastered in mud! Apart from meeting Kerry last week (which was lovely) I don't know anyone at all - OH had his first day at work today, I felt a bit lost really, went for a long walk, got soaked and felt a bit
How about you, have you made any friends yet? You're right, its very exciting and very challenging!

Sam

Hi went up Ben Lomond yesterday, theres 4 lifts operating and fair coverage. Loads of kids up there loving it

if anyone is thinking of going up you need snow chains for jacobs ladder or will have to get on the shuttle bus

Hey Sammy T, glad you are settling in and enjoying your new area. What years are your kids in at school? Are they going to Blackman's Bay Primary or the Private School?

Hiya Carina,

If you get a chance when the weather warms up in Spring, take your little'un to Tasmazia which is in "Promised Land", very close to Sheffield. It's a great place for kiddies!! It's a complex of 8 mazes, with a pancake parlour attached. Once you've finished all the mazes you can enjoy a refreshing drink and a bite to eat.

It's fantastic fun! Heres a link to their website......

http://www.tasmazia.com.au/home.html

Hi Buzzybumble bee

Yes I have a leaflet about Tasmazia, and will definetly be taking the kids there very soon. I bet it must be lovely when the lavender is out ?

Any more places in this area you could recommend for a day out with the kids ? We haven't done very much sightseeing etc yet, been to busy getting sorted out! We have been to Burnie, Ulverstone, Sheffield, and Devonport of course. I think the beaches are great around here, a favourtie for my kids is the Bluff in Devonport, we also went to Port Sorrel and Squeaking point !

I thought that Ulverstone was lovely, great parks, and very good shops. I would like to see Penguin too, someone told me the weekend markets are very good.

Cheers
Carina

Hi

Yes, we are settling in well, although it still feels very strange actaully being here!

Children are at St Aloysius in BB, they have been there one week now and seem to be OK, although I think my daughter really misses her friends from the UK.

Where abouts are you?

How is your mum settling?

Sam

Hi Sam

My kids are 10, 7 and 4 years old. On Tuesdays & Thursdays my youngest goes to kinder. So, I do find it harder on those days, I like having her with me, because she talks ALL the time, and I dont feel lonley then !
I remember when my OH started work, it felt very strange, and I felt quite scared at times
I have been shopping today in Devonport, as its my daughters birthday soon, and I've got some great bargains in the sales.
I'm glad to hear your pleased with your rental, its sounds lovely, with sea views, we've signed up for 6 months too, but I can't resist looking at houses !

I went to a party on Sat that our friends here were having, we met their friends, and it was a good evening. We have had an invite to a BBQ at the weekend from someone there, so that was great ! There are lots of friendly folk at my kids school. I think having kids at school helps you to meet others.
How old are yours ? Sorry I forgot. I remember you've got 3 haven't you ?

Hope you are having a good day, and your OH has a good 1st day at work, are your kids all at school ?
Keep smiling
Carina

Hi Cathy

just seen your post-thanks for the good luck message, we both finished among the prizes in our age categories so we enjoyed a couple of free bottles of Hunter Valley's finest!

Just come back from a weekend in Lonnie at the company's staff conference, we stayed at Pepper's on the waterfront and had a good meal on the Saturday at a place called Fluid. It was bl**dy cold up there though!!

Now back to the coal face, and looking forward to the Adelaide mara at the end of Aug, Sydney mara in the middle of Sept then a trip back to the UK to see the rellies straight afterwards. It'll be interesting to see how it feels being back there after a couple of years here.....

My Daughter's are in St. James School at Cygnet. It's a very good school.

Mum hasn't done very well with the move, today she was admitted to a Nursing Home. For the best I think.

Hi carina

Sounds like you are settling in really well

My children are 10 and nearly 12 (only 2 of them, thats enough!) I haven't really met any other mothers at the school yet but they only started last week!

There are some bargains around, I've managed to get the duvets and kitchen things all in the sales, so pretty pleased with that.

Hope your daughter has a good birthday, its my daughters 12th birthday soon so I need to get lloking for pressies too.

Take care

Sam

Sorry to hear about your mum, at least she is now near you, which always makes things a bit easier.

Sam

Hiya Carina,

Yes, there is quite a few place you can take the kids for a day out.

You can take the kiddies to Wing's Wildlife Park at Gunns Plains. Here's a link to their web site. They'll really enjoy that one!

http://www.wingswildlife.com.au/

Also in Gunns Plains is the caves, they have guided tours. Here's a link to the National Parks and Wildlife page telling you about them.

http://www1.parks.tas.gov.au/reserves/gunns_plains/

Then we have the Fairy Penguins that come ashore each night, along Lillico Straight. Which is situated along the highway between Devonport and Ulverstone. The entire expanse of Lillico Straight has a little penguin fence running along the side where the sea is, so that little penguins don't venture out onto the highway and get squished.

I'd do that when the weather warms up, as it can get a tad chilly waiting for them to noisily come ashore.

Volunteer's with the Park's and Wildlife give a little informative talk about the Penguins, and once they start to come ashore they use a large torch with red cellophane over it to pick little family groups out. You're not allowed to use flash photography as it can put them off their food. The babies are very cute! Best of all this little outing doesn't cost the earth, IT'S FREE!

There are many more outings you can take, though I won't bore you with them all now. If you'd like to know of a few more, just PM me.

Julie

Yes, Ulverstone is a lovely town with great parks and clean beaches. I was born and bought up there and my children and I went to Sacred Heart School, which is situated by the beach. Sometimes in Summer we had lessons down on the beach. All we needed to do was walk across the beach road to get there..... just a matter of metres.

Yes, the Penguin markets are great. They're a fav of my Miss 15, whenever we go, she always comes home with a truck load of stuff.

You can get your kiddies to see how many Penguins that they can count in Penguin. All the rubbish bins are Penguin shaped, and there is a ginormous Penguin in the park there, that has been known to be dressed by a local wag as Father Christmas at Christmas time. Lol.

Julie

Hi Julie

Thanks a lot for the info for places to go in the area, they look great and we will have plenty to keep us occupied for quite some time!

The penguins sound great, my girls will love seeing the baby ones.

Bye for now