ecando

HEY GUYS N GALS!!!!!!!

Just a very quick update to let you know that we are still alive, and still down under. LOTS of news to tell, tales of sadness and woe, tales of great adventures and tales of great kindness ... and ultimately of happiness and contentment too!!!

I am SO SORRY that I haven't been about, but further installments will explain why. Hopefully you'll forgive me .... I hope you all had a great Chrismas, and had a wonderful new year ... here's to a great 2005 for you all ... and I wil be ack REAL soon.
XX
Jez

CasG

Good to hear from you - look forward to hearing all the finer/sordid (delete as applicable) details soon. Cas x

Tass

Hey Jez ! Good to hear from you .........was just mentioning you in my "all alone " thread. Hope whatever has been happening isn't too bad and that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Speak soon , Tass.

J+J

I wondered what had happened to you...Hope things are ok
Happy New Year

lynnlovessun

Glad to hear you are safe and well. Fill us in soon!

Lynn

primrose

Happy New Year Jez and family,

Your post was a bit of a tease.....hope you are all well, and settling in.

Lisa

jimtrish

hi jez,

good to hear you are safe and well, waiting for your next input!
take care mate
Trish

ecando

Hi All .... it's GREAT to know you all still care!!! LOL

Well ... the story so far .....

We landed in Melbourne (9th Dec), and whisked ourselves into the centre to find our accommodation. As cities go, Melbourne is a wonderful place … so clean and everyone so helpful … safe too … all except for where we were staying! It was quite depressing, and the accommodation basic.

After a very tiring first day, we returned exhausted to our apartment (opened bank accounts and requested tax numbers) and collapsed into bed at 19:00 !

The next week was spent traveling out to the suburb we had chosen, but the journey back was always something we did not look forward to. Laura did have a job offer, but the commute turned out to be too much, and the lack of secure parking finally knocked that on it’s head! The suburb we had chosen was … well nice, and that’s about all really. Not enough for what we had given up. The school for the kids was GREAT, and certainly made the choice of suburb correct … however, we found that the catchment area was far too small, and the lack of suitable rented accommodation was backing us into a corner … time was against us, and we weren’t 100 % about the area. Over many family meetings, we decided to ‘give the area 6 months’ and then see … Realisation at what we were proposing to do, made us address the decision to switch to Victoria from our original plan of Brisbane….

I can't emphasise the sense of loneliness we were all feeling, and wondering if we had made the right decision to leave everyone behind …

With that, we phoned the only people we knew in the southern hemisphere, our friends of old … R & T for now.... After them getting over the shock of us being in Australia, they asked us ‘what the heck we were doing in Melbourne and get the heck up to Brisbane…..’ Well … that was all we needed … a lifeline if you will …. We gave them time to talk it over to see if they reall meant it, and we sat down and had another meeting to see if Victoria held everthing that we wanted ….

Two hours later, the flights were booked, cat’s internal flight to Brisbane from quarantine in Melbourne booked (BTW .. we went to see her, and she was doing GREAT! .. better than us!), and our boxes of ‘stuff’ from the UK, redirected (again!) to Brisbane.

A two hour flight transpired the next afternoon (after a day sight-seeing in Melbourne – oh how the city had improved even more!!!!!) and we were collected by T at the airport … After a glass of wine ….. and a talk with people we knew, the stress was beginning to lift ….

Since then???? Well … the days waking up full of dread at what we had done have passed, and we are now beginning to enjoy ourselves. Brisbane … what we have seen is wonderful, and we have had an evening by a city beach, watching the fireworks and bands playing Christmas carols … VERY nice.

Christmas was hard … but then again, it would’ve been difficult at home too …. We got through it very well, and Jacob had his first birthday in a swimming pool, with a BBQ to follow! (Also, we were swimming on Christmas Day too!!!) Boxing Day was spent on the Gold Coast … very nice!

So …. How come I can communicate with you now?? Well, we are now in our house! Rented of course, but in a very nice area and in a VERY nice suburb (Cleveland 4163 if you’re interested!) Pictures will follow, but out of our street, turn right, over the brow, and you can see the sea in the distance. We have found a wonderful headland too, not far away called Wellington Point – FAB.

Jobs … well it’s not the time of the year, but Laura has a ‘chat’ lined up with a VERY interested hospital, on the 10th Jan, but there is another hospital, which is just across the road (a catapult’s range – easy!). Me? Well not surfing yet, sea or internet, but will be doing the latter from tomorrow …

Yesterday we had a house warming (BBQ!) for a group of people (10 adults and 11 children!) we have been introduced to by R & T… two families are Brits, and one of the families are over here on holiday, but hope to have their visa soon. All have been so welcoming, and have helped us a lot. We met them on last Wednesday .. the day we heard we had this low-set (bungalow!).
Also, we went to the local church yesterday for the first time today (Mass was at 08:30 … and that was the LATE Mass!) and it ‘felt right’.

Fickle (I know Rich!)??? Maybe, was it worth it YES, have we made the right choice .... OH YES!!!!!!!!
So after a shaky start, we are now inding our feet, shoping til we drop, and having a great time.

Yes, there are still moments, and even days where we are scared that it will all work out ... but we just put it into perspective of what has happened in the world lately, and we realise just how lucky we are .... safe , together, and working hard to make it right!
Sunshine Coast tomorrow, so that's nice too!!!!

Will keep you posted a little bit more regularly … especially when I can get broadband! No such thing as cheap dial up here!

Jez (getting bronzed!)

jimtrish

blimey what a start jez! atleast you tried it though and have found where you are all happy. I wont have that luxury to switch as i will be on the rsms visa, so will be tied to hospital for 2yrs, but have made lots of friends on here and they have given me great feedback and 2 of them live in townsville so thats grand.
sounds like youve been mega busy, time to chill for abit hey? have the kids started school and how are they finding it? what visa did you go on then?
you will be sorting your driving test out soon then! :scared:
take care mate, best wishes to your family and do keep in touch.
Trish

tiredwithtwins

great to hear from you jez!
fab update!!
keep em coming!

can i ask you how easy it was to get the rental?

looking forward to the pics......

sue

lynnlovessun

Brisbane! You have made a great choice! Why were you so set on Melbourne anyway? Was it the cooler weather in Melbourne that appealed more?

You will be able to meet up with Nikki then soon! And us when we finally get there

We spent New year last year in Southbank as well - we had a lovely meal and watched the fireworks (twice!).

Keep your chin up and remember the homesickness will get bad at times but stick with it and things should improve - especially when you start building a life for you and Laura.

Keep us updated!

Lynn

J+J

Hi Jez

Really pleased to hear you're getting on OK, alright then bloody marvelously (not jealous really)
Sorry to hear you had such a shakey start, fingers crossed your recient spell of good fortune continues.
Keep posting
J+J

ps have one on us

ecando

Hi Trish ....
Yep ... bit of a scare at first, but now we've relocated ... it's made all the difference! We're off to the Sunshine Coast today, so wil take some piccies! The school for the kids has a great rep,, but we're not talking too much about it with the kids, as our youngest (12) is very home sick at the mo ... but comin' around... Driving test? Nope not yet, sill got two months to go yet .... :scared:

jimtrish

good to hear from you. Thats my worry with the kids being homesick, jade is 9, josh is 7 and connor is 4, so my youngest will have to go to preschool even though hes at school full time, the other two are excited about the future and in jades words ' the weird uniforms'! but we will see. How long are they having off before they start school? well, let us know when you do the driving bit...i will prob get the record for number of failed attempts!
so is it easy to get tfn and bank accounts and the medicare?
love to see the pics, shame you couldnt just 'pop' up to townsville and take some pics! just kidding!
poor old cas, she was hoping that you and yours would give her some guidance in melbourne, hope she gets loads of good news soon.Oh, and someone else said, is it easy to get the rental? ive been in touch via email with some agents and they reckon we can secure a property before we get there...my friends over there have said they will view for me! id be lost without my new mates on this site!

take care mate, and slap on the suncream!

Trish

ecando

Hi Sue ....
Rentals ... checking on the net, there are loads and loads .... in reality ....
Well I guess it depends on the area and time of year, but we were picking up lists with 5 or 6 houses .. some were OKish, some were awful, but some OK too .. What area are you hoping to head for??
(The prob with the rental market, is when the property boom happened, the landlords sold. There is property, but less than the net shows...)
Jez