Vash the Stampede

Yes, we've reached our second anniversary already!

For those who've just joined us, the story so far...

• Bought a house in Adelaide while still in the UK
• Moved to Australia in October 2009
• Two week update
• 12 month update

And now, on with the show!

Vash the Stampede

Well, here we are. Mrs Stampede & I will be celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary on Friday night and today marks our second year in Adelaide. It's gone pretty fast!

I'm currently studying full time (Bachelor of Theology, major in church history; looking to do Masters in future). Mrs Stampede was a teacher for >10 years in the UK and has recently registered as a teacher in Australia, but remains a stay at home mum for now.

Our daughter ('Pup') is 2.5 years old and looking sweeter by the day. Our son ('Wibbly Pig') is turning 1 year old next month; if he keeps growing at the current rate he'll end up bigger and stronger than his old man.

Pup:



Wibbly Pig:

Vash the Stampede

Our garden has come a long way since I started to get serious about it.

Vash the Stampede

After a savage battle I succeeded in taming the grapevine, and have now trained it to grow a shady screen covering the back porch. I've also planted two cuttings below the screen so they'll grow up and help to thicken it over time.

Vash the Stampede

The veggie garden provides broad beans, lettuce, beetroot, mint, cauliflowers, strawberries, tomatoes, spring onions, carrots, silverbeet, and some other stuffs.

Vash the Stampede

Out the front is a little tree I successfully transplanted from a flower box it had outgrown. At the time it was literally just a stalk with a rudimentary twig on the side (which later fell off! ) and it stayed that way for so many months we thought we'd lost it. But I kept tending to it faithfully, and now...

Vash the Stampede

Front lawn is looking good these days too.

Vash the Stampede

1.53kW solar system (a present from my mother) will be a real bonus this year, especially during summer.

Vash the Stampede

Nobody chucks rubbish into our front yard like they did when we were in Walsall, and the local footpaths are always surprisingly clean.

Vash the Stampede

We're still driving the '98 Mitsubishi Magna wagon on permanent loan from my mother, and we're still debt free apart from our two mortgages (house in the UK as well as the one here).

Our combined income is <$30k. Rent from the UK house all goes on the UK mortgage and it's classed as income, which reduces our benefits slightly. We're living on my student grant and Mrs Stampede's social security payments. This will be the pattern for the next few years until I finish my degree. To make life a little easier we've switched to an interest only mortgage and locked our rate at 6.94% for the next 24 months (our variable was 7.4%!)

We have to be ruthless with every penny, but fortunately Mrs Stampede is a genius in that department and she hasn't threatened to put me on the game yet () so I presume this means we're keeping the wolf from the door. Every now and then we allow ourselves a small luxury; the most recent of these was a Miele dishwasher. We bought it second hand from some rich friends for the princely sum of $50!

Mrs Stampede has been homesick a few times this year. Her mother would love to visit but can't afford it, and when my mother offered to buy her a return flight to Australia she had to decline due to health problems. There's a small chance Mrs Stampede's brother may visit us next year, which would be great.

Despite a few lean months it's been a good year and we can't complain.

I'm optimistic about the future.

Grayling

Good stuff.

Hope your studies work out.

G

Dorothy

Great update Vash. I cannot believe how big the kids are already. It doesn't seem that long ago you posted newborn photos.

Vash the Stampede

Thanks guys.

You're right about the kids, they are outgrowing clothes faster than I believed possible! We buy second hand clothes whenever we can. There's just no point buying new all the time, as they won't be in them for long enough to make it worthwhile.

Vash the Stampede

At a local cafe with the pups:

Vash the Stampede

Visiting a vineyard in the Barossa Valley: