kerikerr

Our journey begins in my bestfriends livingroom, where my heart was breaking saying goodbye to my mum and dad, bestfriend and my lovely godchildren - I don't want to do that ever again!
We hired a minibus to take us to the airport cause we didn't want any tears and snotters at the airport, we wanted that to be the beginning of our adventure! So we arrived at Glasgow airport laidened with 4 suitcases, 4 trolley cases, a buggy, a car seat and 3 small children, luckily a nice stewardess came to our rescue when she could see how much we were struggling and gave us a hand into the airport. Had to pay £111 for 3kilos excess baggage which the check in guy apologised for but said Malaysian airlines were strict and would send them nasty emails if they didn't charge us!!!! We flew to Heathrow ( which was a nightmare with all the luggage) and then onto Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian , had a 3 night stop-over which was great then another night-time flight to Brisbane. Had been dreading the flights but the kids were brilliant, they all slept most of the journey and Malaysian airlines were great, no complaints at all! Staff at KL airport were very helpful and they have a free portering service to help with bags etc. We left most of our luggage at KL airport during our stopover, think it was about £100 or so but well worth it. As for the strictness of the excess with Malaysia - nonsense, when we checked back in at KL airport the checkin staff let us put 2 of our trolley cases in the hold as well as they said we had enough to carry!

Arrived in Brisbane on the 22 Jan 2008!!! Again staff at the airport were helpful and we were directed to a Maxi taxi to take us to our accomodation! We stayed at Newmarket Caravan Park for the first week until we found a lovely rental in Ashgrove, more expensive than we had planned for but we really wanted out of the caravan park and had been told that it was really difficult to get a good rental, so I think we jumped at it, but we're really happy in it (will be happier when our furniture arrives). Bought airbeds and cheap crockery and cutlery from Ikea so we've at least got somewhere to sleep.
We hired a car for the first week and bought a second hand car the following week without any problems at all. Spent the first few weeks getting completely lost, Brisbane is much bigger than I had anticipated and it would take us an hour to find somewhere literally 5 minutes away. One thing that I found highly amusing was my husbands brilliant sense of direction was totally a**e for T*t, well we are upside down remember

Medicare was really easy to organise, just went to local Medicare centre and the lady was very helpful and we got our cards about 10 days later. Have applied for our TFN online, again which was easy to do. Today we got our Australian Drivers Licences, just took our ID filled out the form and you get it there and then - $67.50 for a 5 year licence.

Our 5 year old has started his new school, which he is loving because it's got a playpark, a swimming pool, a jungle area and tennis courts, so he thinks it's brilliant. The school have been excellent and very big on community and parent involvement, I was worried about the education side of things but I needn't have been, I have been thoroughly impressed so far. I need to find childcare for my younger two, which is proving more difficult as there are waiting lists for most baby places, so I'm still working on that! I'm due to start work at the Royal Brisbane Womens Hospital in 2 weeks, went up for a visit yesterday and they all seemed very nice and accomodating, so I'm kinda looking forward to starting work, I think then it will feel more real because just now I still can't believe that I'm actually in Australia. My Hubby is looking for work just now and had an interview last week, so hopefully we'll hear by the end of this week if he's been successful or not - to be honest he's enjoying the time off - a little too much if you ask me

Anyway, I'll stop rambling on now and conclude with, so far so good, we moved for a better life for the kids and from what we've seen up to now, we've made the right decision!

goingau

congrats, pleased to hear everything going ok. looking foward to updates as this is the area i'm thinking of (brisbane / gold coast)

sheli0508

It's great to hear updates and how things are going.... s'pose it keeps those of us desperate to get over there going....

We are looking at Brisbane/gold coast hinterland - depends more on where OH can find work, commute etc....

Thanks for the update - keep us all updated with how you are going.
take care,

Shelley

DestinationSydney

All sound great good the kids found the plane no problem as well. Good to hear from a fellow Junie actually there! All the best and see you on the other side one day x
Michelle

sammyg

Thanks for sharing that with us

kerikerr

Cheers folks! I noticed Destinationsydney your from Glasgow, where abouts, I'm orginally from Greenock, although I don't like to advertise that fact!!!!!

ianbrown

Thankyou for your update it was lovely to read, we have 3 young children too and had worries about the long flight, hopefully ours will settle well like yours, we looked at newmarket caravan park but think we will make our first place to settle at Brisbane holiday village, our move is planned for Jan/Feb next year so will be arriving roughly same time of year as you and your family,are you all coping ok with the big difference in climate?

Good luck to your husband in his job hunting and i hope you enjoy your place of work and get the little ones settled soon with childcare, thankyou again because its posts like these that give us still in the u.k a better idea of what to expect, i know everyone is different but its lovely to read others experiences.

Hope you have more updates in the future

Debbie and family xx

BrynJill

What a lovely positive update. We are hoping to be in Brisbane july 08 and i shall be working at the RWHB. We are looking to rent north of the hospital. Which area are you in and which school is your son attending? I have found a lovely school for my daughter but still unsure for my 9 year old.

Jill

kerikerr

Hi Jill,
We are living in Ashgrove which is just 10 minutes from RBWH, areas like Bardon, Paddington, Red Hill, The Gap are all nice and within easy commute, but are expensive to buy!!!My son goes to Ithaca Creek Primary, it is a lovely school with about 350 pupils so it's not too big. All the parents have been really friendly and the teachers are seem great. Good luck with your move and if you need any further info then just PM me!

brissydeb

Great post, really enjoyed reading it!


Debbie

Babsw

hey good to hear all going well. i still can't get used to all these junies being in aus!! Really pleased for you, it sounds great and can't wait to get there when its our turn! Take care.

kerikerr

Hi Babs,

Can't believe your still waiting, surely it can't be long now!!!!!

Babsw

hope not, we've got a CO now and meds are on their way to Aus as we type so fingers crossed!!! Think there are still quite a few junies waiting tho'. How are you getting on?

kerikerr

Yeh, really liking it so far, kids have settled well and still feeling a bit like a holiday! I'm sure that will change when I start work tho. Well I'm wishing you loads of luck and hope that there isn't still a huge wait to get medicals passed! Where is it that your heading again?

Babsw

brisbane but we haven't settled on an area yet, we're going to have a reccie this summer ( winter for you!!!) and try to pin it down a bit. I quite like the look of Mango Hill/Redcliffe that way but need to see prices etc, real estate.com gives a rosy glow to everything. Cleveland is also a choice but we're keeping an open mind till we get there. Have you any suggestions?