British Expats - 3 weeks into a new life and it's going well

Well, we're nearly into our 4th week and it's going well guys. I've been crap at keeping my BE blog up to date, but I've been keeping the blog on our own site (see link below) smack bang up to date for family so chck that out for the details. Here's a summary of my thoughts to date.....

Goodbyes
What can I say? Horrific doesn't even come close. As the taxi pulled up to take us to the airport I couldn't even speak!! I was devastated to the point where I thought I might just say, game over:(. I knew it would be hard, but if was much much worse than I ever imagined. The kids fixed me though as my 5 yo Ellie asked me in the cab why I was crying so much. Not wanting to upset her I told her I was just crying happy tears as I was so excited. She then turned to our 3 yo and said "look at Mummy Becca, she's REALLY happy". We all had a giggle at that one:lol:.

Flights
We flew with Singapore and BMI from Edinburgh. Due to chaos at checkin, our cases weren't even weighed at Edinburgh, just put straight through so we had no hassle about extra weights etc. Although, the woman at the desk did look a little surprised by our suitcase mountain lol. The worst part of the journey was the flight from Scotland....As I sobbed my heart out watching my home town disappear below the clouds, Mike was stressing as he'd seen at least 2 of our cases lying still on the tarmac as the plane left!!! We got them back whilst in Singapore though so was no great hassle in the end of day.

The flight to Singapore was a doddle, we all slept most of it and the seats were comfy, food was good & toilets were clean thoughout and the staff were lovely.

We stopped off in Singapore for 2 days and had a lovely time. We toured the city and river, had Singapore Slings in Raffles and thoroughly enjoyed the down time after the upheavel of the previous days.

The flight to Melbourne was OK but none of us slept much so by the time we arrived in Melbourne at some time after 5am we were in a bit of a state!!

Arrival
We had no hassles at all getting through immigration etc and were delighted to see Margaret waiting for us in Arrivals with a huge hug:). After collecting our rental car, we loaded the cases into our car and the girls and I went with Margaret with Mike following in our car. Poor Mike, he didn't have the sat nav on and had never driven in Aus before so it was quite hair raising following Margaret through the busy traffic.

Margaret and her hubby looked after us so well that morning. They provided caffeine and a lift to our rental as well as much much more. We really really appreciated the help, and are still to make that up to them. Soon guys, I promise.

Our temp Accom
We are staying at Blue Hills in Bayswater and it's lovely. The house is nice and clean and has everything we need. Bayswater itself isn't too great but it's fine. We'd def recommend this house if you're coming over and need something more substantial than the usual Big 4 type place (esp in Winter).

Getting a Job
Mike had made a few contacts prior to arriving and set about them pretty quickly. Within a week he'd had a pile of interviews, and was getting a feel for the market he's in. Currently he has accepted a really good position but is still pursuing another which he feels fits him better and which he's actually really excited about so we can't really complain on the job front.

Getting a Rental
This was our biggest hassle really. We had no real idea where we wanted to settle so we have spent many a day driving around Melbourne tying to work out where suits us. The inner/trendy suburbs are way to pricey, and although we came close to choosing Berwick (it's a lovely village) we decided at the last miniute that it's just too big a commute (nearly an hour on the train). We revisited the SE suburbs which are lovely and rentals (if you can get one) are reasonably priced. However, we fel we'll buy within a year and the property to buy is just too expensive. Coming from Scotland, we haven't got the same pot of cash some of our English neighbours have and we just don't want to be mortgaged up to the hilt just to have a nice house, that's not what we came here for.

We've looked north and loved the atmosphere of some of the areas but none felt right. We also looked SW towards Point Cooke where we met up with Fraser and Rachel but it didn't feel right either.

We were actually getting worried when I spoke to Sandra (Sandra&Jim) who moved to Caroline Springs last year. She praised the place so we decided to take a closer look, and after a few visits and lots of research, we decided it's the place for us. We managed to get a lovely rental which is brand new and we are moving in next week:thumbsup:.

Schools
No probs at all. We filled out the forms at the local school the other day and are meeting the principle on Friday but we've been told there's def a space for Ellie and she starts on the 3rd Sep. While this is great news, I'm struggling with it a bit. She's my baby and I feel I've not prepared myself for her going to school, but she's going nonetheless so I'll just have to get on with it lol.

Getting a kindy place for Becca's not proving so easy, but we'll get something I'm sure.

The Locals
Wow, what a friendly bunch. We've had nothing but lovely experiences with the Aussies we've met. We've seen men racing to help Mum's with prams onto trains, had people offer to put shopping through the checkout for us in Coles when the kids were creating, and had some lovely chats with people in passing (like the lady on the train today who asked Mike how long he'd had his Scottish accent lol:lol:).

The Expats
Well, what a lovely bunch you are:thumbsup:. We've had tremendous support from so many of you (esp MArgaret and Sandra and Ginny) and whilst 'e not had the chance to meet as many of you as I'd have liked, there's plenty of time for that:D.

Driving
No probs at all. We have bought a new car, a Hyundai Tuscon and its lovely to drive. I haven't seen any of this terrible driving I had heard so much about so so far so good on that front, and I'm loving the cheap petrol.

Shopping
OK, Coles ain't no Tescos Extra. There's nothing to get excited about but as I said to Jazzy's the other day, I am probably spending less as I don't fill my weekly shop with CDs and clothes etc. The kids are loving Target and Kmart toys and Mike's had a field day buying the 46" TV/PS3 for Blue Ray and surround sound system he promised himself. So far, there's nothing we'e need that we haven't found (expect maybe a decent family sized chicken pie which I've got cravings for). As I knew, the chocolate isn't the same, but it'll do lol.

Quarantine
The cats came out on Suday and appear to have been well looked after.

Shipping
Still waiting on our container, should be here in a week or two. Can't wait.

Melbourne
What a lovely city. It's clean, friendly and seems to have something for everything. No complaints so far.

Emotions
I'm still raw from the goodbyes, and a lot of my friends' kids started school for the first time this week so that's been difficult to handle (have had loads of emails with photo of cute kids in uniforms they'l never wear again). It's way too soon to say how we feel about the move as we're still busy getting settled etc. As Margaret said in her update, we need much longer before we will feel at home, but we're getting there. We've also all been ill since we arrived so it's only now we're getting some fun stuff done too.

So far so good though. We're happy bunnies:lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by herrchook (Post 5215322)

Thanks for the lovely update I hope you feel settled soon and all goes well for your hubby and children when they start work and school. Best of luck in your new life