Mrs Kiwi

** WARNING - LONG POST. SORRY **

Can't believe that this time next week we've been in Hervey Bay (and Australia) for a year.

How quickly it goes. Other posters comment regularly that once that holiday feeling wears off and you work day in and day out some of the novelty wears off and that is definitely and unfortunately very true. Of course when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, when I'm doing housework, washing and shopping I could be anywhere in the world and I'm peed off at the sheer routine of it all.

But I believe you have a certain amount of control over the extent to which you let the novelty wear off and so I thought I'd list some of the things that I still absolutely and utterly love and still get a thrill from:

- Sitting on the deck (or dick as my Kiwi hubby calls it) and watching the amazing wildlife.
- the fact that going round to someones house for a barbie & a swim is a regular thing, rather than the rarity it was in the UK
-Breakfast barbies on the beach. The fact that there are free barbies in parks & beachs and they actually get cleaned and respected by the users!
- the way the Aussies love a celebration. So far we'd witnessed fab celebrations for Australia Day, Melbourne Cup Day, State of Origin, Paddys Day and Christmas to name but a few.
- The way most people own a boat, and use them.

I could go on to name many more things I love:
* Dial a Driver (what a fab idea)
* Dan Murphys (say no more)
* Book Exchanges (again, another brilliant idea)
* The lovely houses, especially beautiful Queenslanders.
* Children & adults who smile and say hello
* Having a stressful morning at work then going out in your lunch break and sitting by the sea for a while. Works every time.

In my opinion, the good far, far outweighs the bad things about Oz. The only bad things I can think of in day to day life are the mozzies & sandflies and the cost of shopping (toiletries & books in particular, eg, $20 for a regular paperback book that you can pick up in Texco's for less than a fiver.

On a more specific level, its an absolute killer having to wave goodbye to those you cherish who are returning to the UK after a holiday. Have something nice planned for yourself to cheer yourself up. I blubbed like a baby seeing my mum off and I didn't care who saw me. Why can't they have supersonic flights that ony take a couple of hours to fly to the UK?!

On a lighter note, here are a couple of things that I fail to understand in Oz so any explanations welcome:

- Why my bank account is called "Access Cheque" and yet I press savings when using my card...I don't get it and I work in a bank!!!!!!!! I did ask them and they couldn't really explain it!!
- The difference between kcalories and kjoules. Lots of food packets here just show the kjoule value and try as I might I can't convert it to calories. So I just pretend its calorie free.
-Whether soccer is called football or soccer. It was always called soccer but now there is a movement to call it football so now I'm confused.

As I said in my 6 month update post, we've been lucky with friends and jobs and I felt settled really quickly. My hubby took longer to settle but he is now player coach of the local soccer team and that has made a huge difference.

There are certain challenges unique to moving somewhere like Hervey Bay, being far from a big city. The wages are lower and the variety of entertainment is smaller. You have to drive for a least a couple of hours to visit a different town and have a change of scenery and that can be a problem when relatives come to stay or you fancy a day out. But I insist that my hubby & I get away for weekends as much as poss and that definitely injects a bit of variety. Plus, there are lots of advantages to living in a smaller city too, like less traffic and less hurry in general.

Anyway, thats my story so far. To all new expats and those yet to come my main advice is:

- Don't just use seek.com and the other websites to look for work. Door knocking is hard but it can really work. Thats how I got my job.
- Say yes to all invitations because friends don't just fall into your lap. Out of a group of fellow expats, or work colleagues, or school mums or neighbours there are a few potential close friends waiting but you have to look to find them.
- Try, try, try not to compare the UK with Oz too much.
- Never say "forever", you're putting too much pressure on yourself.

We're really happy here, long may it continue. Thanks for reading.

loz

Great post. Glad everything is working out for you and you are enjoying your life in Oz
We've been here 3 and a half years and are still loving every minute.

Loz x

LouiseR

Fantastic update Mrs K. Definitely agree about having something nice planned for after visitors leave. I cried for 2 days when my mum left, I felt very bereft. I definitely wasn't expecting that at all

Wendy66

Great update, we enjoyed Hervey Bay when we visited in April 09 - is that big yellow house still for sale

Paula Cox

Hi Great update, really enjoyed it.

Paula

SNH

For the books - BOOK DEPOSITORY!! They sometimes only take four days to get to me from the UK. Order a book online from an Australian bookshop and it will take just as long. Book Depository charges only the price of the book - delivery is free. I've paid $6 to them for books that cost $34 in Australia (including books by Australian authors). It's utterly stupid how expensive they are here.


I was born in Australia and I'm still confused about soccer/football and thongs/flip flops. I've taken to saying both in the same sentence just so I don't confuse anyone I'm talking to!

Mrs Kiwi

thanks SNH for the book tip - sounds fab and I will look in to it straight away as I go through books like there's no tomorrow.

Yes, Wendy, the big yellow house is still here, its not up for sale though. (Bet they couldn't get any buyers, its gross!!!)

Cookster

Hey, great post. Cant believe you have been here a year!!!
Ref the yellow house..... still makes me smile every time I go pastit.
Anyway have a fantastic Easter, we are down the sunny coast doing a bit of retail therepy!!!!
Lets get together soon eh?
Angela xx

Mrs Kiwi

Cookster, you are definitely one of the reasons I love Hervey Bay so much. You are a fab expat in terms of being so, so friendly & welcoming to new arrivals and organising our social life when the rest of us get lazy!!
So, thank you, officially, for being Hervey Bay Expat of the Year (every year!)
Every town needs an expat like you. Love ya.

bluekipper

what a lovely positive post,,congrats on the one year mark,, hope you have many many more happy years,,you are spot on about not comparing it to the UK and to look for the positove things instead of negatives,its very easy to look at the negatives in life, I have learnt the hard way and about to return for a second go of it.#

thanks for the tips

bluekipper

Cookster

Ow er Mrs..... you brought a lump to my throat!!!!!!!
Thank you xxxxx

The_Foulgers

Really enjoyed reading your post, we are still in the visa process, but have been to Oz 3 times so far and are out again in June on a more detailed reccie (so it will 3 times in 15 months in June). Our thoughts echo your comments, we don't expect everything to be perfect but do genuinely feel that Australia is our home and really can't wait to be able to live there.

Although we haven't got our visa's we are doing a lot of virtual "door knocking" and talking to companies about doing a day's work experience on our visit in June. Our idea is to spend our 2 and a bit weeks commuting to the city daily and "living" as we would when we get to move, just to get the real feel for things, I've even lined up a trial gym membership near where we'll be staying (spend much if my free-time at a gym here in UK). I've got 2 work experience days (I guess they're more like an extended interviews really) lined up and my husband 1 so far, I guess our dream come true would be that on one of the companies decided to offer one of us sponsorship. We can but dream I guess! Anyway apologies for rambling on but really enjoyed reading your post.

Mrs Kiwi

Nice post, Foulgers, I think you're being really pro active and fingers crossed your work experience will pay off.
June is a good time to come as its winter so you'll get to see more than just the summer season.
Good luck, well done for being so pro active & may all your hard work pay off, I'm sure it will. Let us know how you get on.

The_Foulgers

Thank you so much, we just know we belong in Oz and want to move "home" as soon as possible (I've known for as long as I can remember that I needed to be in Australia, then, when I first visited in 2005 it just cemented that thought.)

We feel that doing the work experience bit can only benefit us in the long run as we'll have a much better understanding of working life and hopefully show people how committed we are to moving and to embracing the Australian way of life.
It will be good to see Perth in winter, last time we were there was Christmas, so will be nice to get a comparison. I think the only season we haven't been out to Oz in is Spring, so will have to rectify that one

Thank you again and we'll certainly let people know how we get on.

ab735

Hi, great update post. Spent a few days at Hervey Bay while travelling the east coast with the Mrs and we really liked the place, although perhaps just a little too far from Brisbane for us.

To answer your question about the conversion from Joules to calories the actual ration depends on temperature and specific heat of material but a good rule of thumb is to divide the number of joules by 4.2 or 4 to get the calories.

Assuming 20 deg C and 100% water the ratio is 4.18.

I have a breakfast bar for lunch which contains 373KJ and 88Kcal, and so Kellogg assume that for the human body at 37 deg C the conversion is 4.24

I'm afraid things are not calorie free if they only list the energy, sorry for spoiling any illusions