Originally Posted by Wendy

Congratulations on you three year anniversary Cas and Carl.



Hello lovely man, how are you and your missus? and how's them beautiful kids of yours?

Originally Posted by PaulandNic

Oh we're fine thanks ...





(sorry ... )

Originally Posted by gedge

lovely? you must have me confused with someone
the kids are indeed beautiful, if a little tiring
perhaps another bub piccie could be forthcoming, but i've already hijacked Cas' thread enough
ttfn C

Originally Posted by Weirdstone

What a load of nagbags

I came here on my own...Carl stayed to sell the house, and didn't arrive until 1st March.
I'm a Psychiatric Nurse and originally came on a Temp Sponsored Visa - I had been 'promised' a job in Acute ...but I was 3 weeks here before I knew where I had been placed ..in an awful Nursing Home - staffed with Casual nurses, and expats - no Aussie nurse would work there - an accident waiting to happen - I was coming home in tears, and dreading the following shift.. we decided that we'd just apply for PR early..which we were going to anyway. I applied end of Feb, and we flew to NZ to validate on the 24th of July - on the way back home from the airport on Melbourne - I droped into the NH, and handed my notice in ...that was bloody liberating
I'm now working for an Specialist Agency ..getting regular shifts in big city hospitals, working part-time when I want...and earning as much in 3 days as I was in 5. Bliss
Carl arrived, and we settled into life here.. Our first year we lived in Williamstown ... a pretty suburb to the west of the CBD ...however, we soon found it was very quiet (too quiet for us) in the week, and crazy with tourists in the weekend - also, Carl got a fulltime job coaching chess in schools ...it's his hobby, and he was like a pig in muck ...but travelling across the city to schools to the east of the city, and so we moved to where we are living now...Elsternwick ...it's buzzy, with great community and resources, and 'desirable' without being too posh - and with great transport links, and still near the sea...and only 8kms from the CBD.

Part of Carls job entails him travelling to different areas ...and because my work is so flexible...I travel with him - we've been to Canberra, Brisbane, Alice Springs, all over Victoria, and into NSW - and he at this moment is having 2 weeks in Sydney ..I'm popping up for the last few days on the 22nd.

We love to explore, and often just head the car in a direction, and see where we end up ...both like this, and with work...we have seen some beautiful things, and met some amazing people.

Victoria itself is a beautiful State of glorious coastline, mountains, rivers and lakes (though they have suffered due to the 11 year drought) - and you only have to remember back to last year to see the toll that the bushfires take each summer (been 'lucky' this year - we haven't had many, because so much of the burnable stuff was burnt off last year)

Victoria/Melbournes weather is often the butt of ridicule to those who really don't have a full understanding. Melbourne doesn't have wall-to wall sunshine and humidity ...it has seasons ... Warm, showery Springs, hot summers (lots of days 30C to 44/5C - with cooler 'breathers' of 24/5 inbetween), balmy autumns - and yes...cold winters with daytime temps ranging from 9C to 25C - (season is a bit unpredictable)

Melbourne is a city I still get a kick out of living in ...Australias 2nd city (you really can't count sterile Canberra as the 1st ..despite some beautiful surrounding areas) is vibrant, has lots to do, cultured, and is surrounded by suburbs that each have their own mini-culture..whether it be Greek, Italian, Vietnamese or Jewish - Elsternwick for example is a Jewish/Eastern European suburb, where you are as likely to hear Russian spoken as you are English.

Do we like it here?...you bet we do ! We've made some close, loving friends...English and Australian ...particularly two couples..one of each nationality, though our best friends are Brits ...who consider themselves, as we do.... worldly, rather than tied to our birth country. We have no regrets, have suffered no homesickness, have no desire whatsoever to go back to the UK, consider this our home in a way that we hadn't done for many a year - and we are just waiting for our Citizenship Ceremony date to come through the post .... the icing on the cake of 3 fantastic years.

Originally Posted by Weirdstone

Thank you all for reading my ramblings, comments, and hijacking my thread

Originally Posted by Weirdstone

Three fantastic years in Melbourne !

Originally Posted by Pootle

Hi Cas!
Great post, glad things are still going well for you.
3 years eh? Where does the time go? (Just flies whilst you're having fun!) We've been here 3 years also, and have our citizenship ceremony on Australia Day! Hope yours comes through soon.

Catch up before Easter??

Ruth x

Originally Posted by Weirdstone

Thank you all for reading my ramblings, comments, and hijacking my thread

Originally Posted by Weirdstone

Congratulation
We've had notification today...13th of Feb at Glen Eira City Hall.

I'd love to ...been so busy, and all over the place ...but would really like to..things will calm down after the summer.

Originally Posted by Shakmaty

Very good update, but I can't believe you didn't mention getting attacked by a cockroach....
....again