British Expats - We really are British Ex pats now

Haven't been online since we left the UK so thought that I would let anyone who is interested know how things are going....

I hadn't been to Australia before we arrived on 27th August and I was (if I am being totally honest) a little unimpressed... we landed at Perth Airport in miserable rainy overcast weather... the only thing from the arrivals area that gave us any indication we were in Australia was a bright green bird on the runway... Bloody Hell, I thought, we've landed at Jaywick and some old dear's budgie has escaped........

Things got better.....

Customs were lovely, we were last off the plane (with 4 kids and a mountain of carry on) and last through customs... we had about 6 customs guys helping us... we were the 4th 'large' British family that they had noticed arriving that week....

We picked up the two car rentals (the biggest one wasn't avialble so we ended up having to rent a small car for me and 3 kids and a 6 seater for the luggage) and headed down the freeway to Rockingham.... we got lucky... the 3 week holiday rental was clean, well equipped and I would recommend it to ANYONE... there were even boogie boards and bicycles for us to use... and only a 1 minute walk to the beach...

Found an internet cafe (thanks Nicks place) and eldest started the grieving process which she is now nearly over..... we then latched onto the tourist info place which was cheaper and easier to use... but it is only now, 4 weeks into our longer term rental that we have internet... and it is dial up whiclst we wait for our service provider to sort our broadband... I nearly had a nervous breakdown over that!

Found a 6 month rental... and grabbed it as we were desparate, now know that it isn't in the best area of town, but it will do. No air con installed but there is a bloody great pool and we can buy a portable unit.... so no worries.

Our 'stuff' didn't leave until the week we did... so still hasn't arrived... and boy did we mess up on what to bring what not to bring... I shopped for 2 weeks solid before starting work in the middle of week 3....

Be ware!!!! the oddest things are really expensive... like irons and ironing boards... and those hand mixers with two whisks on them... they cost a bloody fortune.. and other things were pretty cheap (when the pound was still good against the dollar... but now probably expensive).... I have had to buy eyebrow tweezers because mine were packed in the tea chests... we have 60 boxes of useless crap heading our way in the next week or so.... but I will be pleased to see some of my useless crap... even if I just unpack it and have a garage sale immediately to get rid of it...

Which brings me onto Quokka and garage sales... When people leave Perth they don't take anything with them, they just seem to sell it... either in Quokka or at garage sales.... which is a bloody good job because the cash has run out already.. and yes we did sell Ian's beloved Triumph, it sold the weekend after we left... thats another thing we should have brought with us... the biking weather appears to be most of the year (damn it)

We brought HIM a mitzubishi 4x4 wagon which carries 7... its an import and everyone asks about it... a bit like a very tall people carrier... its white... we got done by the car dealer, but talking to other people here.. EVERY ONE has a dodgy Perth car dealer story to tell... Having brought Ian's beasty we needed to find something for me to run into the city to work in.. and we got lucky with a 1984 (yes that is nineteen eighty four for those who thought I had made a typo...) Toyota for $2000 ... second hand cars are UNBELIEVEABY expensive.... but she has four wheels, no spiders (since we sprayed her) a radio (not even a tape player) 4 gears and is bloody reliable so as they say no worries.. she is really low mileage and the speed limits are so slow that I have no problems racing the gary boys off the lights... I shut my eyes and think of all the worlds trouble spots on the news and there, even when the rest of civilisation has completely broken down toyotas are still out on the roads... So i'll be ok come the revolution.

Talking of slow speed lijmits... HE got a speeding ticket in our first week... on the road into Rockingham where the limit goes from 80 to 90 to 80 to 60 just before the roundabout... They really do hide behind trees and wheelie bins with the old speed cameras.... muppet man!

Cost of living.... little different to the uk for us... but there are so many free things to do... like fathers day in Kings Park... and the beach... and the free barbeques at the foreshore... and in the parks... The waters around here are amazing and the kids and HIM have started snorkelling (Ican't becasue I wear glasses and prescription goggles are out of the question at the moment) They have seen all kinds of fish and stingray... and we fish for supper off of the jetty... unfortunately the kids are impatient so after 3 hours of continuous casting reeling in and recasting we tend to end up buying fish and chips from the chippy... and the fish and chips here are bloody beautiful!

I met up with Jen (from here), who kindly lent me her address for shipping... (makes note to tell shipping company, otherwise she will be getting large delivery ...ooops) who is as lovely in real life as she is in person... I hadn;t spoken to a real person (apart from HIM and the kids) so I really bent her ear....

Started work at 2 1/2 in weeks... way too early, should have swung a couple of months... nursing here is different ... and that is all I want to say about it right now... I will either get used to it or find something else to do... but right now I have good days and bad days ... the bad days are getting less frequent.

The kids aren't in school, they start next week with the new term.. They have had the holiday of a lifetime with HIM at home and me working my hours over 4 days so I have 3 whole consecutive days off a week... and that is what we came for... lifestyle.. Can't tell you what the local schools are like, we thought for about a minute about a private school... IF we were both working then it would have been a probability, right now we don't know where we will buy and only I am working so it would have caused financial pressures which I can live without... and that wasn't why we came...

We were the only people on the beach not wearing overcoats when we arrived and certainly the only ones in the water, today at 32 degrees things are different... and they have started shark patrols...

Most of my biggest worries have proven groundless, KEVIN has stopped sulking, I did tell her at one point to get on board, join the programme or piss off back to England... and she has... got on board... she has stopped talking about going back in August, got her learners permit and has started driving lessons... they all swim and have started riding lessons.. we couldn't do that in England...

We went to the Perth Royal Show weekend before last and it was brilliant, I sat for an hour and a half watching men of various shapes sizes and ages chopping bits of wood... and I'm not being snide or sarcastic... I really enjoyed it... it was good honest fun. I did get a little hot under the collar about the recreation of little england in the show ring with the show ponies... but after all I am in the colonies so what did I expect? ...............when KEVIN turned round on the train to fremantle to pick up the car and said... "that was the best family day out we have ever had" I knew we would be ok here in australia.

I am not homesick yet and the only thing I miss is gravy granules... we did stockpile a load of birds custard powder which was half price in the shop in Kallamundah on our second weekend, but haven't touched it yet becasue to be honest the stuff you get here aint bad... and the 6kg of cadburys dairy milk chocolate we brought with us is untouched becasue the kids actually prefer the australian stuff....

One of my cousins died last week and that has been hard, not being there and not going back for the funeral.

On saturday night some bloody bastard stole my vw golf from my parents drive way in the uk and torched it 10 miles down the road, which is a double whammy becasue it was no longer insured AND we had just paid to have some work done on it so that it could be sold... and we really needed the money because the uk house isn't sold yet, but that one just reconfirmed why we left... not that that kind of thing doesn't happen here, I'm sure that it does... but it was a reminder of how things were heading back home...

All in all it has been a roller coaster... but I would get on again... It is bloody lovely here, I'm not homesick yet (its still early days) and although we miss family and friends it is not so painful nor so far away that we cannot cope...

and I'm even learning the lingo.... no worries.:thumbup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddie007 (Post 5420248)

great post, had me chuckling at times. I HAVE FOUND THE GRANULES called Green's Gravy Granules, bought from Woolies an IGA nearly the same, no lumps and need a lot more for thickness.

Sam