Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Well thought I'd sit and write an update as we have enjoyed reading your.
Flew over on the 9/12/07 with Cathay Pacific via Honk Kong with me OH and the 5 kids.What I imagined would be an absolute nightmare was actually ok, kids kept awake most of the first leg, we left LHR at 11.30am and slept 80% of the 2nd leg, apart from my 6 year old being sick on the HK leg it wasn't too bad.Loads of films, entertainment and friendly staff.
Car that we had booked was not at the airport but there are 5 or 6 big companies at Melbourne so we to pick up a people carrier there and then which we booked for 4 days.
Travelled down to Geelong to the Big 4 which we had booked for 3 weeks.
Got up the first morning and got straight out, as I think it helps with the timezoning.Knew almost straight away that Geelong was not for us, too Industrial and much bigger than we had imagined.
So took the ferry over to the Mornington Peninsula to have a look,$70 to cross but save the trip round the top via Melbourne,look into Citylink if you are travelling on the top half as the tolls don't have toll gates.
Peninsula is beautiful and we drove up the west coast to mornington as this is where we had opened a bank account.Really surprised at how big Mornington was, but a nice town all the same with good shops and nice facilities.
Went for a drive about and headed over to Mooroduc as we were told this was the horsey area, which is true, horses everywhere, anyway cut a long story short we ended up in Balnarring which we like immediately,small town/village with facilities and lovely beaches.
So back to Geelong big 4 and explained we wanted to move over to the Pennisula so cut our stay there to just a week, which was nice as they have a pool and it was a nice wind down for us all.
Next 3 weeks we spent at a hoilday let in Shoreham, which was nice but basically it was a log cabin (and you quickly get used to the spiders!)
In the 3 weeks we started to look for a rental, absolutely nothing in Balnarring but headed a few kms to the coast and found Somers a small coastal town and look at a property with land and bought it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its only small and need extending up and into the garage, but its in a really nice area, local school, acreage(as we want to breed horses and are bringing our stallion over) and close to really nice beaches so the boys are happy.
In the weeks, we have found Point Leo, an excellent surf beach and have all masted boogie boarding, surf lessons will start when work starts!
We been to the mornington peninsula national park and have seen loads of kangaroos, we have a koala that lives in our garden, but I think my daughter has frightened it away as she spent all day staring at it!
We been amazed by the Galas/parrots, blue tits will never be the same again and we have tons of possum pictures from the ones that used to visit the holiday let.
Our container arrived at port on Friday, thank goodness for Kmart(we have managed the last 2 weeks on blow up mattresses(its amazing how little a family of 7 can live with!!
We have started advertising Simon (the farrier) and are getting a good response, he's due to start work at the beginning of Febuary.
Next week we are going to start visiting the high schools for my daughter.
All in all great, bit sad at christmas as we bought over really nice cards with lovely messages in them which pulled on the heart strings a bit.
Said goodbye at house in UK not the airport which made things heaps easier.
Pay $10 a month with Telstra and that gives us approx 8 hours of international talktime a month!!!!!!
Bought a car in the first week,a must with a family, Simon bought a ute a couple of weeks ago ready for work.
Generally very happy and look forward to meeting more locals once the children start school, saying that though have already been pout to dinner with the neighbors and have been invited to a BBQ for Australia day:thumbsup:
Probably gabbled a bit and sorry for spelling but so far so good!!
Do keep dreaming that im back in the UK and am regretting going back as cant afford to go back to oz???!!!!!!!!!!! (to much sun!!)

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Sounds like a nice part of the world, glad you are enjoying it.

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Congratulations,

Somers and Balnarring Beach are beautiful areas. We are moving over in April and our daughter starts school at Woodleigh and her teacher lives in Somers Mr McCallum great bloke. We plan to live on the Peninsular but as to exact area not sure yet, have looked around a fair bit but I will be working in CBD so commute time is important.

Good luck with your new life and well done for settling so quickly.

Cheryl

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

you seem to have done so much! good luck in your new life and hope you keep us updated!

vicky

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Lovely post. Sounds like you are starting to get settled already!:thumbup:

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

The back beaches are so nice aren't they? We love them. Very envious of you living there.

Buzzy

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Hi,

Was just having a read and noticed you mention your stallion - are you bringing him over from UK? I'm at the initial stages of application and would really love to take my 15.2 mare to Oz with me. I can't find any details about flying her over - do you have any advice on how to start process and costs involved?

Any info appreciated. I don't think I could leave her behind!

P.S congrats on the move, sounds like you're all having a brilliant time.

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Hi
Yes he is coming from the uk .
Look at: www.IRT.com

You'd be looking at around £7000:ohmy:, which is ok for us as he has mares waiting for him. Horses are a lot cheaper over here.
pm me if you want anymore info:)

Re: Six weeks here already in Victoria :)
 

Thanks for update, nice reading. We liked the areas when we visited as well :D