lardyl

say hi to the Quayside and the Big Market for me..................haway the lads!!

Lenmil

Wey aye bonnie lad. Mind you the Toon is being torn apart by the developers at the moment. Opposite the Co-op is pulled down The Bigg market is quiet now even at the weekend. Every one goes to the posh pubs at the Quayside. I was shocked when i fisrt came back and seen this. How fast people move away.

AnnieNell

Many congratulations Lenmil. It's great that it's all come good in the end for you & your family . Good luck as you begin your new adventure in Tas .

Lenmil

Blimey. Sent off our passports Tuesday and got them back this morning. I have red stickers in them with PR. I also have blue ones too that are NZ PR (unactivated). Blimey.

lardyl

Good for you - those Oz stamps are gonna be a better way into a new life down under than our blue ones - btw handed over our passports for final section18A approval today at NZIS, Akl - so we'll soon be real permanent residents (not sure how many more blue stamps we can get but we all have three already!)
Is the Tuxedo Royale still down on the river? Great place with a fun revolving dancefloor.......MrsL was at college in the toon and we did much courting there......happy days!

Lenmil

We too have 2 blue stickers in our passports. One is an out of date work visa the other an unactivated PR with 3 months restictions and actually says may be granted residency on application. And that was the problem, been over 6 months now, ah well. The Aussie one is better. It say's holder is permitted to stay in Australia. My visa is a class 119 by the way. If it helps any one.

JAJ

Australian citizens can freely live in New Zealand. You'll be eligible for Australian citizenship after 4 years residence, so the option of going to NZ afterwards would still be there if you really wanted to.

Lenmil

This one say's it all. Traffic every where.

lardyl

thanks for the photos, some memories and some newer stuff to see....

dupe

OH read in the Chronicle last night that the Tuxedo Princess is to be no more.
a restaurant is being built and there is no room for both! End of an era.

I thought Jesmond was the place to be these days?

Aye lad, yil miss ya stottie! How far would you go for a canny bag o tudor?

Lenmil

Ney more Tudor these days now man. Walkers crisps dominate. Was not really mad about stottie, but i did like me mushy peas n saveloy. Jesmond is the "Now" place as well as the Queyside. Was out Friday night in the Old George and it was very quiet, not many people out at all. No wonder pubs are closing. Emerates has just started a route to Oz from Newcastle just today. Packed out staright away and on the news they were talking to a couple. first thing they said, "were off to Oz", the next migration figures will be bigger i reccon. I will miss the lads though, bunch of crackin blokes.

lardyl

yeah, we moved away from the NE in 96 and watched the house prices rise and rise since so there'll be planty of cashed up pomms getting on the flights to Oz from places like Jesmond. MrsL lived over that way when she was up there and I used to enjoy eating in the railway carriage restaurant - fun. I liked the stottie and kinda miss the mucky beer, and gravy on me chips. Maybe the life out in WA will suit a lot of folks from that part of the world. I love the people from the north east - really remind me of the Black Country lads I grew up with - coal mining and metal bashing are great industries for community spirit.
Walkers are just part of Fritto Lay and Pepsico now, ruddy multi-nationals, were all owned by 'em!! :curse:

Lenmil

The house prices are just astounding now. Really silly prices. People who bought years ago will have a lot of equity, but new starters are going to have a bad time and are. Wages have not risen much either. But you would not think it. The amount of 4x4 type cars driving about is amazing but i do wonder how many of them actually own them. But when i talk to people who have businesses in Newcastle they all say how people do not seem to have any money. But you see many walking about who look like they got nothing but they have the latest mobile/cell phone and look like extras to a star trek episode with their blue tooth ear piece on.