Originally Posted by Weasy (Post 4411095)

At last I've found a few minutes to do an initial update!!!! Hope it's not too long and boring.

Our last days in the UK were very weird. Having booked our flights for the 10th of January when our assuror lodged our bond on the 6th December and was told it would only be a few days until we got our visas, we then had a gruelling 4 week wait over Christmas and New Year!!! We were beginning to panic that we'd have to fly without our stickers and get them in New Zealand... Anyway, at about 4am on the 2nd January I woke up to do that early morning email check (you all know what that one is like....) and there it was. The email had arrived at 1.30am – surely the first grant of 2007?

This left us with 8 days to say our goodbyes properly as the reality of it hadn't hit until that email. Not an ideal scenario but good in some ways as I hate long drawn out emotional scenes.

So, we left Nottingham at 6am on a typical dark January morning having said all our goodbyes the day before and had a very relaxing taxi ride to Heathrow.

We had an amazing 2 week holiday on the west coast of the States where Arizona had the coldest temperatures in 17 years!! This meant we had to bring all our winter woollies with us but the trip was well worth it and a lovely break before starting our new lives. We did have to buy an extra suitcase to fit in all the cheap clothes we bought at the outlet malls in LA, and were more than pushing our luggage allowance! Top marks to Air New Zealand, could not fault them overall.

At 10.35am on Australia Day (Friday 26/1/07) we landed in Adelaide and were met by our rellies who drove us up into the hills and straight to the rental we'd managed to organise prior to arrival, thanks to a certain person on another forum to whom we will be ever grateful. Our landlady and her mum were there to greet us and they'd even made us a pavlova for Australia Day – how lovely was that? Our rental is in a place called Piccadilly and we just love it in this area, it's beautiful.

We bought a car the next day, the girls started at school on the following Tuesday (on 6 acres of grounds with their own wood and heaps of facilities), we got medicare, drivers licences, centrelink etc sorted out. We managed to finalise the transfer of our money when the exchange rate hit its peak and we got $2.54. We've caught up with a couple of friends off forums but have a few more to see yet, I've started going to a few coffee things etc with other mums from school and generally finding everyone very welcoming. We've been to a wedding on Port Noarlunga beach, gone to the beach after school on a Friday, the girls have already had a few play dates each, our previously not very sporting 9 year old has signed up for a beach volleyball tournament with school and I've had lunch at Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary with some new Aussie friends and ate lunch looking out at an amazing array of wildlife. Chaz went to catch up at a couple of agencies that he'd visited when we were here on our reccie last year and generally scoured the career websites.

However, this week Chaz got an interview for a great job that he'd actually applied for just before we left the UK and he got offered the job the next day :). Should be starting sometime next week so we've now also bought a second car.

We can't quite believe it's only been 3 weeks so far, we feel so 'at home'. As I said, this area is truly beautiful and as the girls adore their new school and we love whole feel of the area we'll be staying up 'in the hills'. We love listening to the birds and crickets at night and on a very clear night we can see the milky way.

Overall we're loving everything so far. I've only had one night where I suddenly had a moment of panic and thought 'what have we done?' - no idea what brought that on and it went as soon as it appeared. I'll let you all know if I still feel the same in a few months.:D

Originally Posted by Weasy (Post 4411095)

At last I've found a few minutes to do an initial update!!!! Hope it's not too long and boring.

Our last days in the UK were very weird. Having booked our flights for the 10th of January when our assuror lodged our bond on the 6th December and was told it would only be a few days until we got our visas, we then had a gruelling 4 week wait over Christmas and New Year!!! We were beginning to panic that we'd have to fly without our stickers and get them in New Zealand... Anyway, at about 4am on the 2nd January I woke up to do that early morning email check (you all know what that one is like....) and there it was. The email had arrived at 1.30am – surely the first grant of 2007?

This left us with 8 days to say our goodbyes properly as the reality of it hadn't hit until that email. Not an ideal scenario but good in some ways as I hate long drawn out emotional scenes.

So, we left Nottingham at 6am on a typical dark January morning having said all our goodbyes the day before and had a very relaxing taxi ride to Heathrow.

We had an amazing 2 week holiday on the west coast of the States where Arizona had the coldest temperatures in 17 years!! This meant we had to bring all our winter woollies with us but the trip was well worth it and a lovely break before starting our new lives. We did have to buy an extra suitcase to fit in all the cheap clothes we bought at the outlet malls in LA, and were more than pushing our luggage allowance! Top marks to Air New Zealand, could not fault them overall.

At 10.35am on Australia Day (Friday 26/1/07) we landed in Adelaide and were met by our rellies who drove us up into the hills and straight to the rental we'd managed to organise prior to arrival, thanks to a certain person on another forum to whom we will be ever grateful. Our landlady and her mum were there to greet us and they'd even made us a pavlova for Australia Day – how lovely was that? Our rental is in a place called Piccadilly and we just love it in this area, it's beautiful.

We bought a car the next day, the girls started at school on the following Tuesday (on 6 acres of grounds with their own wood and heaps of facilities), we got medicare, drivers licences, centrelink etc sorted out. We managed to finalise the transfer of our money when the exchange rate hit its peak and we got $2.54. We've caught up with a couple of friends off forums but have a few more to see yet, I've started going to a few coffee things etc with other mums from school and generally finding everyone very welcoming. We've been to a wedding on Port Noarlunga beach, gone to the beach after school on a Friday, the girls have already had a few play dates each, our previously not very sporting 9 year old has signed up for a beach volleyball tournament with school and I've had lunch at Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary with some new Aussie friends and ate lunch looking out at an amazing array of wildlife. Chaz went to catch up at a couple of agencies that he'd visited when we were here on our reccie last year and generally scoured the career websites.

However, this week Chaz got an interview for a great job that he'd actually applied for just before we left the UK and he got offered the job the next day :). Should be starting sometime next week so we've now also bought a second car.

We can't quite believe it's only been 3 weeks so far, we feel so 'at home'. As I said, this area is truly beautiful and as the girls adore their new school and we love whole feel of the area we'll be staying up 'in the hills'. We love listening to the birds and crickets at night and on a very clear night we can see the milky way.

Overall we're loving everything so far. I've only had one night where I suddenly had a moment of panic and thought 'what have we done?' - no idea what brought that on and it went as soon as it appeared. I'll let you all know if I still feel the same in a few months.:D

Originally Posted by Weasy (Post 4411095)

At last I've found a few minutes to do an initial update!!!! Hope it's not too long and boring.

Our last days in the UK were very weird. Having booked our flights for the 10th of January when our assuror lodged our bond on the 6th December and was told it would only be a few days until we got our visas, we then had a gruelling 4 week wait over Christmas and New Year!!! We were beginning to panic that we'd have to fly without our stickers and get them in New Zealand... Anyway, at about 4am on the 2nd January I woke up to do that early morning email check (you all know what that one is like....) and there it was. The email had arrived at 1.30am – surely the first grant of 2007?

This left us with 8 days to say our goodbyes properly as the reality of it hadn't hit until that email. Not an ideal scenario but good in some ways as I hate long drawn out emotional scenes.

So, we left Nottingham at 6am on a typical dark January morning having said all our goodbyes the day before and had a very relaxing taxi ride to Heathrow.

We had an amazing 2 week holiday on the west coast of the States where Arizona had the coldest temperatures in 17 years!! This meant we had to bring all our winter woollies with us but the trip was well worth it and a lovely break before starting our new lives. We did have to buy an extra suitcase to fit in all the cheap clothes we bought at the outlet malls in LA, and were more than pushing our luggage allowance! Top marks to Air New Zealand, could not fault them overall.

At 10.35am on Australia Day (Friday 26/1/07) we landed in Adelaide and were met by our rellies who drove us up into the hills and straight to the rental we'd managed to organise prior to arrival, thanks to a certain person on another forum to whom we will be ever grateful. Our landlady and her mum were there to greet us and they'd even made us a pavlova for Australia Day – how lovely was that? Our rental is in a place called Piccadilly and we just love it in this area, it's beautiful.

We bought a car the next day, the girls started at school on the following Tuesday (on 6 acres of grounds with their own wood and heaps of facilities), we got medicare, drivers licences, centrelink etc sorted out. We managed to finalise the transfer of our money when the exchange rate hit its peak and we got $2.54. We've caught up with a couple of friends off forums but have a few more to see yet, I've started going to a few coffee things etc with other mums from school and generally finding everyone very welcoming. We've been to a wedding on Port Noarlunga beach, gone to the beach after school on a Friday, the girls have already had a few play dates each, our previously not very sporting 9 year old has signed up for a beach volleyball tournament with school and I've had lunch at Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary with some new Aussie friends and ate lunch looking out at an amazing array of wildlife. Chaz went to catch up at a couple of agencies that he'd visited when we were here on our reccie last year and generally scoured the career websites.

However, this week Chaz got an interview for a great job that he'd actually applied for just before we left the UK and he got offered the job the next day :). Should be starting sometime next week so we've now also bought a second car.

We can't quite believe it's only been 3 weeks so far, we feel so 'at home'. As I said, this area is truly beautiful and as the girls adore their new school and we love whole feel of the area we'll be staying up 'in the hills'. We love listening to the birds and crickets at night and on a very clear night we can see the milky way.

Overall we're loving everything so far. I've only had one night where I suddenly had a moment of panic and thought 'what have we done?' - no idea what brought that on and it went as soon as it appeared. I'll let you all know if I still feel the same in a few months.:D

Originally Posted by Weasy (Post 4411095)

At last I've found a few minutes to do an initial update!!!! Hope it's not too long and boring.

Our last days in the UK were very weird. Having booked our flights for the 10th of January when our assuror lodged our bond on the 6th December and was told it would only be a few days until we got our visas, we then had a gruelling 4 week wait over Christmas and New Year!!! We were beginning to panic that we'd have to fly without our stickers and get them in New Zealand... Anyway, at about 4am on the 2nd January I woke up to do that early morning email check (you all know what that one is like....) and there it was. The email had arrived at 1.30am – surely the first grant of 2007?

This left us with 8 days to say our goodbyes properly as the reality of it hadn't hit until that email. Not an ideal scenario but good in some ways as I hate long drawn out emotional scenes.

So, we left Nottingham at 6am on a typical dark January morning having said all our goodbyes the day before and had a very relaxing taxi ride to Heathrow.

We had an amazing 2 week holiday on the west coast of the States where Arizona had the coldest temperatures in 17 years!! This meant we had to bring all our winter woollies with us but the trip was well worth it and a lovely break before starting our new lives. We did have to buy an extra suitcase to fit in all the cheap clothes we bought at the outlet malls in LA, and were more than pushing our luggage allowance! Top marks to Air New Zealand, could not fault them overall.

At 10.35am on Australia Day (Friday 26/1/07) we landed in Adelaide and were met by our rellies who drove us up into the hills and straight to the rental we'd managed to organise prior to arrival, thanks to a certain person on another forum to whom we will be ever grateful. Our landlady and her mum were there to greet us and they'd even made us a pavlova for Australia Day – how lovely was that? Our rental is in a place called Piccadilly and we just love it in this area, it's beautiful.

We bought a car the next day, the girls started at school on the following Tuesday (on 6 acres of grounds with their own wood and heaps of facilities), we got medicare, drivers licences, centrelink etc sorted out. We managed to finalise the transfer of our money when the exchange rate hit its peak and we got $2.54. We've caught up with a couple of friends off forums but have a few more to see yet, I've started going to a few coffee things etc with other mums from school and generally finding everyone very welcoming. We've been to a wedding on Port Noarlunga beach, gone to the beach after school on a Friday, the girls have already had a few play dates each, our previously not very sporting 9 year old has signed up for a beach volleyball tournament with school and I've had lunch at Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary with some new Aussie friends and ate lunch looking out at an amazing array of wildlife. Chaz went to catch up at a couple of agencies that he'd visited when we were here on our reccie last year and generally scoured the career websites.

However, this week Chaz got an interview for a great job that he'd actually applied for just before we left the UK and he got offered the job the next day :). Should be starting sometime next week so we've now also bought a second car.

We can't quite believe it's only been 3 weeks so far, we feel so 'at home'. As I said, this area is truly beautiful and as the girls adore their new school and we love whole feel of the area we'll be staying up 'in the hills'. We love listening to the birds and crickets at night and on a very clear night we can see the milky way.

Overall we're loving everything so far. I've only had one night where I suddenly had a moment of panic and thought 'what have we done?' - no idea what brought that on and it went as soon as it appeared. I'll let you all know if I still feel the same in a few months.:D

Originally Posted by Wendy (Post 4411949)

(I was sat round the corner of the rocks with my two kids and hubby was fishing!)

Originally Posted by Weasy (Post 4411095)

At last I've found a few minutes to do an initial update!!!! Hope it's not too long and boring.

Our last days in the UK were very weird. Having booked our flights for the 10th of January when our assuror lodged our bond on the 6th December and was told it would only be a few days until we got our visas, we then had a gruelling 4 week wait over Christmas and New Year!!! We were beginning to panic that we'd have to fly without our stickers and get them in New Zealand... Anyway, at about 4am on the 2nd January I woke up to do that early morning email check (you all know what that one is like....) and there it was. The email had arrived at 1.30am – surely the first grant of 2007?

This left us with 8 days to say our goodbyes properly as the reality of it hadn't hit until that email. Not an ideal scenario but good in some ways as I hate long drawn out emotional scenes.

So, we left Nottingham at 6am on a typical dark January morning having said all our goodbyes the day before and had a very relaxing taxi ride to Heathrow.

We had an amazing 2 week holiday on the west coast of the States where Arizona had the coldest temperatures in 17 years!! This meant we had to bring all our winter woollies with us but the trip was well worth it and a lovely break before starting our new lives. We did have to buy an extra suitcase to fit in all the cheap clothes we bought at the outlet malls in LA, and were more than pushing our luggage allowance! Top marks to Air New Zealand, could not fault them overall.

At 10.35am on Australia Day (Friday 26/1/07) we landed in Adelaide and were met by our rellies who drove us up into the hills and straight to the rental we'd managed to organise prior to arrival, thanks to a certain person on another forum to whom we will be ever grateful. Our landlady and her mum were there to greet us and they'd even made us a pavlova for Australia Day – how lovely was that? Our rental is in a place called Piccadilly and we just love it in this area, it's beautiful.

We bought a car the next day, the girls started at school on the following Tuesday (on 6 acres of grounds with their own wood and heaps of facilities), we got medicare, drivers licences, centrelink etc sorted out. We managed to finalise the transfer of our money when the exchange rate hit its peak and we got $2.54. We've caught up with a couple of friends off forums but have a few more to see yet, I've started going to a few coffee things etc with other mums from school and generally finding everyone very welcoming. We've been to a wedding on Port Noarlunga beach, gone to the beach after school on a Friday, the girls have already had a few play dates each, our previously not very sporting 9 year old has signed up for a beach volleyball tournament with school and I've had lunch at Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary with some new Aussie friends and ate lunch looking out at an amazing array of wildlife. Chaz went to catch up at a couple of agencies that he'd visited when we were here on our reccie last year and generally scoured the career websites.

However, this week Chaz got an interview for a great job that he'd actually applied for just before we left the UK and he got offered the job the next day :). Should be starting sometime next week so we've now also bought a second car.

We can't quite believe it's only been 3 weeks so far, we feel so 'at home'. As I said, this area is truly beautiful and as the girls adore their new school and we love whole feel of the area we'll be staying up 'in the hills'. We love listening to the birds and crickets at night and on a very clear night we can see the milky way.

Overall we're loving everything so far. I've only had one night where I suddenly had a moment of panic and thought 'what have we done?' - no idea what brought that on and it went as soon as it appeared. I'll let you all know if I still feel the same in a few months.:D

Originally Posted by stevensfamily (Post 4411864)

Oh Lou, It sounds fantastic, thank you for a great update post. The reason for your one night of panic is because it has all happened so quickly at the end, like you said you did not have time to focus as you had to wait until the new year and then BOOM off it all went. Your life sounds idilic and of course you will have ups and downs but the overall picture is fantastic and so good that Chaz got a job. Are you going to build on the land next door?. Please keep us all posted on your new life downunder.

Cheryl

Originally Posted by RooksieJ (Post 4412833)

hard life eh mate ;)