boggey

Cool im jealous ,funny contamplating that our resuce staffy cross maybe worth 1500 pounds if he comes with us
lol

Kapri

Mandy, that must have been terrifying for you. I'm so glad he was found safe and well.

geordie mandy

Just where the time is going to i really dont know, its now just gone past the 10month mark. WE have had all the boys have their first oz birthdays. Disppointing in the lack of family/freinds who acknowledged their birthdays. But thats life i suppose.
Work has been horrendous very chaotic to say the least, the manager went on holiday leaving us in the doodoo. She had allowed 3 support workers to go on holiday at the same time leaving us greatly under manned for our elderly clients and with an audit due was not good planning with so many complaints from people who could not get a support worker. Head office in Melbourne sent a relief manager up who is fantastic and she has already told me should i get a move down south she would happily have me on her team as she appreciated my quiet and calm personality when other case mangers were flapping big style. So im well chuffed with that.
Ive finally been brave and had my hair done , cut, colour and style in a darwin hairdresser. Ive struck gold as the girl was fantastic and listened to what i wanted and understood my hair. It cost $129 all in but it was a special offer most hairdressers round here have costs of $300 to $400 for doing my short hair. Darwin ive noticed appreciates shop loyality and loyality cards up here are well worth it. Recently i got a VIP card for Rockmans a clothes shop not sure how well known they are but i recently spent around $200 on new office gear and saved myself near enough $200 for my loyality. OH well pleased with that.
I have had a few miss you moments on mothers day, thanks to moon pig and interflora, both mums very happy if not tearfull. I would normally arrange flowers to go on my grans grave, so i sent extra flowers to my mums and she put them on for me. It was also the birthday of my late BIL last week and that was hard, as we are nearly always in scotland for that as my MIL appreciated us being there as she always struggles on his birthday. This year all we could do was phone her and send some photos of what we have been up to. Its moments like those that we realise how hard living so far away is.
Middle son who is now 11 has been suffering a little with homesickness. Just recently asked if he can go back home to England now. As i explained to him Australia is now our home. He is finding the school work so different, in some cases he is repeating work he has already done and in others doing stuff that confuses him. He is not settling in as well as we hoped he would. We have got him in a football club now(will not call it soccer lol) and that is helping a little but his fellow team mates just dont understand the game as well as him and he gets frustrated.
The youngest boy is now well settled he is so happy with the change of school and a teacher who understands and encourages him. He got student of the week and i could have cried with happiness for him. We are still waiting on a full ASD / Aspergers assessment for him, been told these things do take a long time especially up here in Darwin. Hopefully it wont be too long, then my son will get the extra support he needs in class.
The eldest boy, who now at 13 feels so grown up, he goes to the local shopping center with freinds , goes to the pictures and generally has a better social life than he did in the uk. Better social life than me and my OH lol.
Some times its like we have been here forever.
Still chuckle though that winter gear is now in the shops and its 30+ i can never imagine feeling that cold i would need a cardi on or jeans lol.
Im hoping in June or July while the kids have a 4week holiday to arrange a trip down to melly to catch up with freinds, i know i will feel a change in temp down in the south and then suffer when we come back up north.
We bought a tent last weekend and now that the dry season is nearly here are hoping on the weekends that no2 son is not playing a footy match we can explore NT. The first chance will be over easter with our freinds we are off to litchfield park to give camping a go.
Im off now to walk the dog now its getting cooler, have to time that right otherwise he still over heats bless him.
Mandy
Mandy

slapphead_otool

Sounds like it’s all fitting together Mandy. I knew it would.

How is the OH handling work? Hope he has settled in, but given the nature of his work it shouldn’t be too bad. A lot of his former colleagues back in the UK will be looking for work soon by the sound of the cutbacks.

Watch out for the 18 month hump – when the realisation that this isn’t just a tour of duty kicks in.

Hope you get a Melbourne move, for a change, but trust me – you will never forget that first spell in Darwin.

irishbloo

Sounds like you are slowly getting there.My two settled straight away although my oldest has had her share of bullying but now has made some lovely friends with the same mindset as her.I took a bit longer to settle.My husband still has a whinge every now and then but overall we are happy here and know we are better off here.Enjoy the camping,we love it.Get something decent to sleep on.Hope your youngest homesickness eases.All the best

Julzi

Mandy, please tell me who you went to to get your hair done, I'm sick of paying shocking prices for shocking hair.

savageb

My wife and I (newlyweds) are very seriously considering making our first year or two in Darwin as well, so reading your updates has been incredibly informative. Very interesting reading a real world account of the ups and downs of such a move.

We have no kids, so our experience will be different I'm sure... but your writing gives us a great window into the world you now live in down under.

Cheers

geordie mandy

Can you believe it in 2 days we will have been living in Darwin a year. That has honestly flown by. I must be adapting to the temps up here as recently with the drops in temp down to about 16 early morning and late at night ive actually felt chilly. Never thought that would happen.
So far the only thing that frustrates me about Darwin is the health care up here in the land that time forgot lol. Both professionaly with my job i often find things not to be streamlined often chasing up different agencies up when i refer the elderly for things.
Also personally i have found the mental health services to be very lacking, having waited since we arrived to get my youngest a confirmed diagnosis for aspergers ive had to resort to going private as the public system was getting us now where.
Also the past 2 weeks ive been off work, last week spent most of it in a public hospital, not a great expereince, i was admited with abdo pain and as i have a lap band the medics immediatly blamed that. Even though i asked for a barium swallow which is the only way to diagnose a problem with the band, they refused. There wait and see approach was annoying, but being so ill at the time i just went along with them. I got out last Friday and have spent the past week on bed rest, i eventually got the barium swallow after seeing a dr who had lab band knowledge arranged for the test, cost a fair bit but i got some back on medicare .Ive still got the abdo pain but not as acute as it was last week.
Apart from my negative expereince in hospital things are ok. My OH and kids got their citizenship on the 30th of May along with out next door neighbours who haled from South Africa. My OH got his citizenship due to his job and the kids get it automatically as his dependends being under 18. However ive got another 3 years to wait. Not fair but we knew this rule when OH got offered his job.
My eldest is going on his first school camp next week to Kakadu, an expereince he should enjoy, middle son goes on his next week.
All the boys have been doing loads of sports, more than they did in the uk. The middle son is also doing a maths challenge where the top 5% of his school go into competitions in maths. I saw some of the work and lets just say im pleased i aint him as i would fail at the first question.
OH still has issues with work but he is adapting and now getting paid of a more senior person in line with his expereince. He has also been told he will get promotion at the end of this year. Part of me is hoping it means a move down south. But thats only cos im fed up with the health service up here.
There are a lot of Brits us in Darwin, the nurse who looked after me was from Manchester. OH while out on an overnight road trip with work went to a cafe near Katherine and was served by a lass from Wakefield and the owner originated from the Durham area. Small world indeed.
Our approach of just going with the flow seems to be helping us to adjust to life up here. No matter where ive lived ive always tried to hold the same approach to life.
We have had a few miss you moments, like when my son using his ipod had face time with his cousin on Arran and we saw each other for the first time since we left. Seeing how the inlaws had aged was a shock. The kids were excited to give the Scottish family a tour of the house and show them the resident tree frogs and geckos. I did disappear in to the bathroom just to compose myself as i did get teary.
It was funny when my MIL told me she hears more from us than her other son who lives in shropshire. She imagined that once we left they would only get a call once in a blue moon.
My own parents dont tend to phone up very much when they do they have very little to say to us. Ive got over that now and just get on with it.
I still hanker for the day we can finally move to a place of our choice , but for now Darwin is home and will be till its time to move on.
Mandy

daunted

OMG has a year gone already?? It doesn't feel like 6 months let alone 12 since you arrived!
You really seem to have jumped right on in and embraced the way of life. Congratulations and I hope you all get to be somewhere you want to be (even more) sometime soon! Bunburys nice!! xxx

slapphead_otool

Congrats on a year over Mandy. Hope your husband has settled into work. Has he been to Bandiana yet?

Take care

Ross

geordie mandy

September already and 14 months in and the built up seems to be approaching, im wiser now on what to expect weather wise i hope.
The past few months have been the most difficult for us as a family, due unfortunatly to me having been so ill. I develped left sided pain in the 'ovary region' and was starting to think i had cancer. I struggled to go to work and my collegues kept telling me how ill i looked. Till the pain got so bad i was bed ridden. My in laws were worrying about me but felt helpless. Many nights my husband had to leave the boys on their own while he took me to hospital as i was in so much pain. (luckily the hospital is very close) once id been through triage i would be left while he went to see the boys. Family would have been very handy during these times. My closest freind in Darwin who in the past would help out had started working with the NT police as an auxillary and it was always sods law that when emergencies arose she was working nights.
Anyway 2 operations later and loads of money later spent im finally back to my former good health. Thankfully it was nothing serious in the end just adehsions that had attached my bowel to my pelvic wall.
Darwin is certainly not the place to be if your ill , but other than that it ok to live here.
The kids have continued to grow in the sunshine, costs me a fortune in shoes and clothes for 3 boys with hollow legs lol.
Im still working for the same company, but my case management role has stopped as it was only to cover maternity leave. Im now back down to 25 hours and a Home and community Care Coordinator again. After taking on such a demanding role that i really enjoyed im finding myself feeling a little bored with such a 'quiet' role. However the company were supportive of me when i was ill so theres no way i feel as though i can look for another job. So i shall just plod on and may start a counselling course which the company will pay for.

As the last school holidays were such a let down for the boys we have decided to brave the gold coast theme parks for a week, OH is just trying to make sure he gets his leave approved before we book.
We have been told by OH employers that in the 12/13 school holidays we can expect to be moving down to Melbourne as there is a role coming up then that they feel is ideal for my OH, we are both so happy to hear that. However i know better than to believe anything till its written down lol.

I cant say ive had any home sickness or longing to be back in the uk even when things were tough on us. WE just did what us geordies do and just got on with it.

I had to laugh today i phoned a client up and she asked what part of Durham i came from this is the first time since ive been in Darwin that some one could tell where i was from, as we talked her northern tones came out, she was from Whitley Bay, she came over as a 10 pound pom with her husband. She has asked me to visit her for a coffee which im sure i will do. After that conversation my receptionist was laughing as my speech had reverted back to my accent.

I do enjoy certain aspects of living in Darwin and the experience ive had here will stay with me, i know that. However the humidity, the expense and lack of proper facilities for my younger son and his ASD make living in Darwin long term a no go. Life will just plod on for us i expect up here till we move .
Mandy

moneypenny20

Fingers crossed for the Mellie job I'll try and fix the weather for you when you come down for the parks but I guess after the Summer of Darwin, you'll probably be quite chilly if it doesn't go over 30.

Tiggs+Graz

no no no no no!!!! not melbourne!!
i keep telling you mandy is HAS to be adelaide!!!

glad you are feeling so much better honey

oldandbold

Ouch - adhesions, I sympathise. Had these too, and was in hospital for 2 weeks with a paralysed bowel.
Re your son, dont know if they have done a full ASD assessment yet, but my OH thinks there is somewhere at casuarina plaza that does them?
Just a note of warning, you may find facilities no better down south for your son. I have come across people who have relocated to Darwin as they found the special needs services better up here.
Anyway, we have been here nearly three years now and no regrets.
Best of luck.

slapphead_otool

Mandy, you are a tough one and Im proud to know you. You just seem to brush aside things that would have others on this site wailing and moaning for a lifetime.

Hope the Melbourne thing goes ok. You will never forget Darwin...

Love

R