Re: We made it!
 

Food, the only way to keep you quiet Jen:D

Been out and got Mrs C something so that should be fine now:fingerscrossed:

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Here's some piccies from Brissie

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

I'll thank you not to judge the whole of QLD by Brisbane:sneaky:

Re: We made it!
 

:rolleyes::D

Have a good'un,
Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Happy New Year Cooler King and family. Hope it's the best year for you all xx

Re: We made it!
 

Thanks and the same to you.

My New Years resolution is to cut down on cake, ah well, broke it already:D

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Happy New Year Cooler and Co. :thumbup:

Re: We made it!
 

All the best to you Alfresco:thumbup:

Have a great year,
Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Just a quick update.

We've just bought a house here which we think is wonderful for us. It's a good size and we have hills right behind us and close to the sea with a view from around the corner. May post a few pictures if I get time.

I am still working and OH is still training for her new occupation. Work and her training has made it a bit tiring at times but should pay dividends in the long run. Kids are happy but we've all found it colder than we thought. Trust us to have our first winter that is the coldest for thirteen years! The rain is needed and surely we have seen it. Rarely though, do we not see the sun in some fashion - different to the NW in the UK.

We have various family coming for definite from beginning October to early January!


Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Spring and summer just around the corner! :thumbup:

And hopefully another 13 years before the next coldest winter.

Congrats on the house purchase, must feel wonderful to finally feel settled in your own home. Pics would be great.

Hope you have more than enough space for all your visitors! ;)

We'll be arriving shortly.

Take care.

Re: We made it!
 

Well done!:thumbsup:

Pics would be good.:)

Re: We made it!
 

Hi Cooler,

Good to read that you're all sorted :thumbsup:. I remember roughly a year ago you'd given up your job and was rotating you and your family's accomodation around family and friends. Your situation then seemed almost desparate in those days. And now look where you are!! :cool:

Well done! :thumbsup:

Re: We made it!
 

Cheers Sally and Alfresco - hmm, just have to do it another night now!

Yes paulry, moving into MIL's for a while which is a modern two-up, two-down with SIL there and OH, me and four kids was kinda interesting:ohmy:

I have to say that it's been worth it and we've got a lot of good friends. I have some good mates at work and the same outside. What I do like here is that you can have a mate who's a doctor and another who's a gardener and they're all treated the same. If they're Aussies, I get my retaliation in first:)

SA is great, but they do like their bread here, they're int'a bred:D


Cheers,
Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

But what made it all the more interesting, was meeting lil ole me! lol :lol:

Re: We made it!
 

lil??? :rofl:














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Only joking :p:lol::wub:

Re: We made it!
 

Oi cheeky!!! So, when will I put the kettle on for your arrival?

Re: We made it!
 

:ohmy: But I'm not keen on boiled beer! :p:lol:

Out of here on halloween (the clocks go back that day too - so glad to not have to live through a dark winter again, but better make sure we remember that the clocks have changed :rolleyes:). Then it'll be desperately-needed R&R in South Africa for a few weeks before arriving in Aus at the end of November. :thumbsup:

How far are you from Canberra? :)

Re: We made it!
 

Far?! lol 1126km according to google maps lol

Re: We made it!
 

:ohmy: You must really be in the back end of nowhere, Jen. :blink: Or is it that Canberra is the back end of nowhere? :unsure::o

If you can make it to Sydney for New Year maybe we can meet up there. Planning to be at the waterfront to see in our first Australian New Year. :thumbsup:

Re: We made it!
 

We've Simon's folks over for Christmas and New Year so doubt we'll be going too far afield this year! Maybe next year tho!!!

Re: We made it!
 

They aren't wasting much time in visiting. :) But I guess you've been lucky with accomodation sorted, etc almost from the word go. :thumbsup: One of my fears is that we'll have barely landed and we'll be inundated with holidaying relatives before we can settle down properly. Had lots of "last chance to see the UK while we are here" visits both last year and this. They're great relatives but with the backdrop of all that we have to do I'm kind of sick of it, TBH. In that regard the word "No! :thumbdown:" is going to feature a lot during this next year or so. But it'll be interesting to see how long it holds out :D

Re: We made it!
 

Nah it was our idea for them to come, they're lovely, but I might end up needing a new liver by the time they leave lol

Re: We made it!
 

Great update and congrats on the house :thumbsup:

Re: We made it!
 

Sorry, not done any photo's yet! On holiday so maybe able to get some done this week. The big news for me, is that I have decided to go part-time next year. Mrs C will qualify as an enrolled nurse at the end of this year and she will work full-time somewhere.

It looks like I'll be doing 0.63 of full-time so I should have more time for the kids and also to do some of the things that Mrs C currently does so well. Looks like I'll be digging out some cooking books!

This might mean we get more time on the beach, which can't be a bad thing:thumbup:

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

YAY sounds good to me...
im so looking forward to time on the beach/family time this year now ive escaped from long/rubbish work hours...
might see you down there lol

Re: We made it!
 

Well, just a quick update.

I still have not got around to putting any photo's on here!

We have had a few visitors over the last couple of months. MIL and SIL were here for two months and three weeks respectively. It was great to see them but they are coming during the holidays next time so we get more time together. OH's Ex-MIL is still here...

Mrs C spent last year training as an enrolled nurse and worked her socks off and received her registration yesterday:thumbsup: She has been doing agency care work over Christmas and New Year - what a trooper.

Kids absolutely love it here and they older two are starting to do well in surf life saving - swimming lessons worth every cent. The younger two are picking up the accent the most and love running around naked, picking up insects:eek: They all love our kelpie called Foxy and she is a real softy.

Our anniversary today, those who have met Mrs C, know how lucky I am.

We love living in a small village next to the sea which has a beautiful beach. Strangers say hello, wave to you and let you etc when in the car.

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Well, still not got those house photos on!

The latest news from us is that my wonderful wife went for two jobs and got offered both of them. She trained here in Adelaide last year with a private colllege and qualified as an Enrolled Nurse. The fees were $7,000 and she has earned far more than that doing agency work. She is waiting for a start date, but thinks it will be in the next two weeks at The Royal Adelaide Hospital. Well done Mrs C.

My father is staying with us at the moment and really likes it here in (usually) sunny Adelaide. My mother is too scared to fly all this way, but at least my father has seen our life out here. My dad is 78 but still pretty active, didn't sleep for two days before he came and then at Singapore decided to go on a bus tour and have a drink and a meal at Raffles in his 13hr stop over!

Our two eldest (8, 10) competed at the State Surf Life Saving Finals and missed out on medals but they really enjoy the training and competition. Anyone who has kids involved, will know how high the standard is, remarkable.

We've been here 18 months and the youngest two sound like true South Australians now!

The terrible news is that being an Ipswich fan, I have had the misfortune to have a Norwich fan who lives around the corner! But I have met two Aussies who support the Tractor Boys, so that has made up for it :thumbsup:

There is no doubt that they're a funny breed in SA, especially in the South, but we love it.

Now, where did I put those photo's.

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Lovely to know things are going well for you guys & well done to Mrs C!:thumbsup:

Re: We made it!
 

Thank you Sally, not always been easy with four kids but it's about keeping going.

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

A great update! Well done Cooler and Mrs Cooler :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: We made it!
 

Thanks mate, hope all is well with you:thumbup:

Did I mention that they love AFL here :eek:

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Great update. A picture (or a few) says a thousand words. ;)

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Well, the camera is now broken! But I have tried to upload some photo's and can only get this one on for now.

Cooler

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:ohmy: That's terrible. What steps are you taking to protect your children from it? :p

Re: We made it!
 

Decided to plunge in! I support three teams Crows (Adelaide) Richmond and The Suns. The GC Suns becasue I have told Mrs C that I must be allowed to attend a home match:D The look on her face would suggest that might be a long time coming:(

The worst thing is that I am an Ipswich Town fan and we have a Norwich friend who lives around the corner. His son is a similar age to our youngest and he's become a Norwich fan!!!

How are you?

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

That's our dog BTW!

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Hi folks,
can't remember what I've updated but...

Mrs C trained as an enrooled nurse last year and did plenty of agency work on good money over Christmas. She got a full-time permanent job work at on of the hospitals in Adelaide a few months ago and loves. She just passed her probationary period and has been told that they will help her do her RN. So that is great news, may mean she has to cut her hours slightly to study. Should be sort term pain for long term gain.

Kids are still having swimming lessons and Mrs C has started as well. She really is doing well, she goes to a personal intructor every week who lives across the road. The guy is 74 but looks like an exceptionally fit 60 year old.

Just me who needs to get back to fitness as I do nothing! I find it hard as I cannot run (bad hip) and as well as work 60% FTE and do most of the looking after the kids. The good news is that the youngest boy starts school after the holidays - cheaper than child care! Mrs C and I do intend to do the bronze within the next two years and do patrol at the surf club, so I'll have to look better by then :thumbsup:

I'll puts some pictures on soon, but unfortunately, the camera broke a while back.

Anyway, got final proof on reports for tomorrow...

Cooler

Re: We made it!
 

Very nice to hear that all still going well. Well done Mrs C on getting perm job & good luck with doing RN training, will be so worth it for her:fingerscrossed:

Re: We made it!
 

Hi, glad you made it safe and sound. we are going in Sept for a holiday only need to sell the house first so have to come back after a few months.

We are in two minds weather to ship the car over too, someone did put a reply on this a few weeks ago but cant find it now, sods law.

All I Know is that if you have owned the car for more than 12 mths then you pay no import tax, but it needs to have the air con drained and oil and has to be spotless (steam cleaned) to pass the Adelaide import regs. Not sure if it
will be too much hassle, anyone know of someone who has already done this? is it worth the hassle, given the cars in OZ are much more expensive than the UK?

Good luck in Adelaide I love the place cant wait to get there, my daughter and hubby have been there for 5 years and have just bought their first house.

So best of luck to you and your family, great place for kiddies.

Any advice would help on the import car front.

Thanks

Re: We made it!
 

Tw years today, we flew out of Manchester to our new life in Australia. We had a few problems to overcome, before we got here, but it was all worth it.

Our eldest two are members of a Surf Life Saving Club and I have started to get involved in the running of the Juniors - the youngest boy joins this year :D We have an exceptionally wonderful Kelpie which is just great with the kids and very clever.

Mrs Cooler is an Enrolled Nurse and has worked for about five months in one of the major hospitals in Adelaide. She has applied to go to Uni next year and will spend two years working part-time and studying to become an RN :thumbup:

Me, I still teach but went part-time this year and spend more time with the kids (they'll say more time moaning at them!). We have loads of friends, Brits, South Africans and more Australian friends than you can throw a bent stick at.

We have a lovely house out in the sticks with hills behind and the sea just a couple of minutes drive.

The Uk = a girlfriend I loved, but I moved on and got married to the real thing!



Cooler and co