British Expats - 3weeks in NSW

Hi all,
We left the UK about 5 weeks ago, following a very emotional couple of weeks.
We had an amazing leaving do but it was hard saying goodbye to our families and friends.
However, we had decided to have a holiday on the way, and I'm so glad we did. We spent 3 nights in a very hot L.A. and took the kids to Disney, then we had a blissful week in Fiji.
We are so glad we did this. We had a great time as a family and put all the emotion behind us. When we arrived in Sydney, we felt refreshed and rejuvenated and ready for the busy few weeks ahead.

So far, things have gone very smoothly. I think there are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, I did my research. Some of you know that I have spent years on this site and I think it's paid off!
Secondly, we had realistic expectations. We weren't expecting for my husband to be offered an amazing job straight away, without proving himself. We weren't expecting to find best buddies immediately. We were prepared to put ourselves out there and make an effort.

We spent the first few days in Sydney, seeing the sights and doing the boring administrative things like finalising my registration with AHPRA and going to the bank to activate our account.
On day 3 we drove up to Lake Macquarie. I had a brief wobble because it was cold and wet but I soon shook myself out of it. The holiday let was freezing so we went straight to Bunnings to buy heaters.
Luckily, the cold didn't last long. We have actually arrived to the warmest July in years, which has probably helped.

We got my son into school almost immediately and to my joy, he loved it from day one. This was such a relief as he hadn't wanted to come to Australia and had been very negative about it.
My daughter had a wobble on day one but was fine by the end of the week, once she had made some friends.
My work is good and I m going on a night out with everyone next week. It's less pressured than my previous job, so far anyway. I may have a different story in a few weeks!
My husband has found work and starts on Monday. He got this job through some expats that we met who have been very good to us. It certainly is who you know, rather than what you know.

Socially, we have met up with 2 British families and had a great time with both. We met them through a local expat Facebook group and had been chatting before we arrived. I'm hoping to make some Aussie friends through work and clubs etc.

We really like it here and can't wait for the weather to warm up some more so we can get out and enjoy the beautiful beaches that are abundant in this area.

Newcastle is a great place IMO and I'm glad we came here and not to one of the bigger cities.
It has lots of suburbs that have their own little shopping centres etc and although it has everything you need, it doesn't have a big city feel. We have beautiful bush, beaches and the lake as well as plenty of shopping centres.
If we want a big city fix, it's only 90 minutes / 2 hours to Sydney.

I don't think I have any observations that haven't been made before, but I'll share them anyway :D

THE GOOD

The sky - beautiful blue skies in the middle of winter. Even if a day starts out overcast, by mid morning the sun is out.

Sunsets - we have been blown away by the amazing sunsets we have seen here. Beautiful red streaked skies.

Clouds - I love some of the cloud formations, they are beautiful and interesting.

Beaches - lovely golden sand and plenty of it here. Newcastle and this part of the NSW coast is renowned for its beaches.

Wildlife - we have beautiful parrots into garden and I have seen loads of Roos! We even found a red back in the bathroom, captured it, made the kids look at it, then took a pic and posted it on Facebook to freak everyone out in the UK :rofl:

Radio - I'm a shallow soul. I want to listen to chart music and people having a bit of fun. The Today network fulfils that for me - intellectuals among you may disagree!
We haven't gotTV yet and I don't watch it much anyway, so can't comment. Apparently though, X Factor here is on Monday and Tuesday night which seems odd.

Great coffee shops and outdoors lifestyle. No problem walking or cycling in winter.

Older Aussies with a wicked sense of humour. Don't find it to the same degree in younger Aussies but I have had such a laugh with some older shop assistants :D

Cheap good quality fruit and veg, if it is in season. We find that healthier food is cheaper here. If you want to go to Coles and do all your shopping there, buying processed stuff, then you'll find it expensive. But things like coconut oil and capsicum peppers are cheaper here.

Dan Murphy's. I love going in after work on a Thursday / Friday to buy a bottle of (cheap :thumbup:) wine. It's full of other people doing the same and I love the "we've finished work" atmosphere. My OH loves the cold room with all the beer !

Well observed 40 kph school zones and the school bus network.

Double decker underground trains in Sydney - great idea!

THE BAD

Graffiti. It's everywhere. Not Banksy style good graffiti, just tags :thumbdown:

The price of second hand cars. I sold my 6 year old Ford Focus estate in the UK for £2,200. Here, I bought a 9 year old Toyota Corolla wagon for $10,000.
I have to manually wind down the windows :eek:

Cold houses. This has been done to death so I won't go on.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Driving - the only bad experience I had was in Sydney. I was in the wrong lane and signalled to pull into the right lane but no one would let me in. The woman behind me got the right hump and blew her horn at me and called me an unrepeatable word. She could have used the empty third lane to go round me but she was too far up my arse. As she swore at me and gesticulated, I blew her a kiss. That made my day :rofl:
Here in Newcastle, I've had no problems. Yes, people can under take and left lanes disappear, but hey ho, I'll assimilate.

Whole shops devoted to one thing. Eg, we have seen razor shops and vacuum cleaner shops. How do they make money? :blink:

Dogs on the back of utes, barking their heads off :lol:

People loving my accent. I could get used to this :D I haven't come across any anti British sentiment so far, yet I thought I might.

Cost of living. We have only just moved into our house and are not paying bills yet so it's probably too early to have an informed view. However, we find if we shop around, things are not as expensive as we had been led to believe.

We are not experiencing any home sickness yet but are aware we've only been gone for 5 weeks. It may happen at some point but we have agreed to shore each other up, if and when , this happens.
At the moment, we feel we are settling well.

In summary, we are enjoying it here so far and I think we will try and stay at least until the kids have finished school, if not longer.
It is worth saying though, that we didn't dislike the UK. I love it and could easily do another post with all the things I love about it. We weren't trying to escape anything, we just fancied a change and some sunnier weather. We didn't really have any expectations beyond that and so haven't been disappointed.