geordie mandy

Hard to believe in the early hours of the 12th of June we arrived in Darwin.
We have hit the ground running and have so far got the kids registered into school, we pick the keys up on Monday to our new house and have organised a new car. TFN has been sorted we have opened a bank account, just medicare to sort and driving licence to sort out on Monday.
Things have gone very smoothly for us , better than what i expected it to. We are luckier than most as we came over on a sponsored visa and my husbands employer have really looked after us well.
so far i have found Darwin to be a compact city with lots of off shoots to different areas. WE have rarely used a map to find our way around and have not had a sat nav either.
The people have been very freindly and accepting of us. Whether that is in part to the world cup and my boys wearing either Newcastle shirts or England shirts im not sure.
We visited Mindle (sp) market last Sunday and saw both an amazing sunset but fascinating mix of cultures.
I wont deny that some of our first experience of the Aborginies has been a little un settling, seeing people lying on the side of the Stuart Highway, was upsetting, and my son witnessing people fighting in the city streets during the night from our temp home.
However we have also seen some talented artists who were happy to talk to us and explain what they were painting. The schools the boys go to have aborginal children and im sure they will get to understand a little more about their culture.
At the moment the dry season temps are comfortable and we are adapting to the heat well. Im not too sure i will enjoy the wet season.

So far im liking Darwin and feel we will be happy living up North lol
Mandy

jad n rich

Wow, really great to see someone really getting into the real cultural mix that is Darwin. Great experience for your kids, much more real OZ than moving to Pacific Pines or North Lakes etc Enjoy the weather now, its at its best, great time to arrive.

IngStina

So happy for you and your family to finally arrive after such a long journey to get down under. All the best to you and yours for your further adventures.


Kristina

Jaycee1

Great update Mandy
Glad you are settling in and have the support of your husbands employers.
Good luck with your new life in Darwin
J x

Cheetah7

Sally Simpson

Good luck Mandy

Hutch

Well done Mandy - have fun settling in.

Fly Away

Great news Mandy. You deserve to be happy!

geordie mandy

Thanks guys, in someways i feel lucky that i have been used to moving around every 2-3 years for the past 20+ years. However even i was wary that things might not go our way once we landed. So my attitude was we will make the best of the area we have to live in.
We got the keys to our new house today and after a welcome talk from the landlord it felt great. Its a brand new house on an estate that is still being developed, over the back from us is a south african family, i havent yet met them, but i know they must have 2 kids that go to the same 2 schools that ours will be going to.( I saw the uniforms on the line.) Next door to them our freinds my husband and i knew from 20 years ago. A very small world, we only found this out when viewing the house. Last time we saw them was when i was newly married army wife and we moved to army housing in Germany . Its quite fitting that 20 years on and a new phase of our life we should meet up with some old mates.
Today my OH got his driving license, just got mine to sort out.
The one thing that i have noticed which i found disturbing when we were going to test drive our new car, the saleswoman was going to take me and the OH and expected us to leave our 3 boys behind in the showroom un supervised. She claimed this was normal practice. Not with my kids. So only the OH got to do the test drive.
Ive never driven an automatic and ive not driven any car in over 5 years, so i am a little nervous about driving on the roads. Luckily we have some quiet roads at the back of our estate so im going to have a practice there once we have the new car.

The boys are lucking forward to getting into the house tommorow especially once the hire furniture arrives in the morning. Our dog arrives in the afternoon and that will be the icing on the cake for us. Our family together.

The only problem i am having at the moment is finding dairy free cheese and other products possibily due to not knowing where to go. My son has been getting his soya milk no problem but it would be nice to offer him similar products to his older brothers.
Its been a long day, the boys spent all afternoon in the hotel pool( making the most of it ).
So im off to chill now in the breeze of the balcony with a cuppa.
Mandy

mindblower

Mandy[/QUOTE]

Its been a hell of a journey for you ,good luck from now in

daunted

Congratulations Mandy and family! Welcome to Oz - may it bring you all the happiness you have well and truely earned!!

loz

Hi Mandy glad you are settling in so well. Have you tried googling Mrs Flannerys (sp) for the dairy free stuff. Its a huge health food/organic/vitamin franchise with branches all over the place. You should be able to get everything you want there. Good luck

Loz x

koalakim

Hi Mandy

Glad you are settling in well!

Enjoy the heat, you wouldn't want to be in Mellie right now..brrrrrrr!

KK

geordie mandy

4 weeks on and im still loving it. Although i really want my furniture now.
I got my TFN sorted , still waiting for my medicare card to arrive, applied 2 weeks ago, so i guess i will have to wait for that to arrive.
Been in Darwin 4 weeks now and still havent scratched the surface of what there is to do as there is so much in Darwin and the surrounds.
We have been in the house 3 weeks and there are things that niggle me about the house. Like we only have one room with interent acess which is our sons bedroom(on the plans its a study). There are only 3 telephone points, one in my sons room, one in the kitchen and one in our room. We have 2 tv points the main living room and our bedroom. Kids arnt happy that they cant watch tv in there rooms. It may be that we are going to have to get loads of wires to sort that problem out.
The major problem i do have is ants and flies, so far ive had ants in the food cupboard and chucked loads of food out. Even though i had them in plastic containers. Im constantly cleaning to help with that. The flies are doing my nut in, i caught one laying eggs on a glass that id just filled with juice , put the bottle back in the fridge, so that got poured down the sink and glass washed.Ive now bought a spray that like the airfresheners that spray every 15 mins sprays the repllent. Hopefully this will help
OH tends to use the car for work so we have been exploring the area around our suburb on foot, the kids quite happy to do that now they have scooters and a strange looking skateboard called a ribstick.
When i have had the car ive ventured further out to the beach which is too far to walk too, but only 10 mins by car.
so far ive met some lovley aboriginal people while out exploring, who have been polite and freindly asking about England. I sometimes find it hard to understand them as they talk so fast, (faster than a geordie on speed).
Ive also met some scarey aboriginals on the outskirts of the local park, who were possibibly drunk or high on drugs. So like most places there are good and bad spots i suppose.
The kids start school next Tuesday, im so happy with that, as its been a long time for them to be off school.
A few days after we moved in the house we bought our first ever barbie, my OH is still learning how to use it. Its been an interesting expereince to say the least.
As regards my youngest with his dairy free diet, ive managed to find a shop that does a few more products, and a 'Wendy's' chain of take aways do dairy free smoothies and cones. which equals one happy boy.
I feel very settled, the kids are happy, OH is finding it harder to cope with the heat still, mind you i dont think i would cope too well with a 5 k run at the moment lol.
He finds it hard going at work as not only has he gone from senior management down to below junior management, but he also is more qualified than his whole management team and in some cases up to 20 years older. He is doing plenty of training of the young guys mainly due to lack of what he sees as poor health and safety and communications. the other blokes where he works who are also Brits have also noticed similar problems.
He has now taken the attitude, of you wanted me for my expereince and skills but are not using me for that, i will enjoy the pay you give me for doing nothing and make the most of my time away from work.

Im getting my cv sorted and im getting help to prepare my self for work, saw the ideal job for me locally working for an aborginal charity that deals with the alcohol and drugs rehab. Will let you know if i manage to get an interview for it.
Gotta go the kids need me
Mandy

Sherlock Holmes

Glad you are settling in. Ah, the joys of blow flies, always ready to lay a surprise for you. Don't whack 'em, six more come to the funeral! Check your fly screens, they may have holes in them and make sure the kids nip in and out quickly and dont leave doors open etc.