Well I can't believe how fast a year has gone.
We landed on 9th December 2007 and here we are in January 2009.
Its been and amazing year and we are so glad we did it(we had previously done just under a year in NZ, but that was nothing like this)
Theres me , OH and 5 children.
They have all settled in amazingly in a little coastal hamlet on the Mornington Peninsula called Somers.
We were lucky to find 10 acres of land with a run down house-2 bedrooms!!We sleep in the dining room, but our building permit has just come through which was good timing as we are all a bit 'over' being crammed up!
We bought our stallion over from the UK and last weekend he won state Champion of Victoria, how good was that!
We've learnt to do artificial insemination which we would never have considered in the UK and now he will have foals next year in Perth and up in NSW.
The boys(have 4 boys 1 girl) have found motorbikes here and are regular trips to hastings motorbike track,Simon (OH) has bought himself off road bike as well so the boys will be looking to do trail rides next year.
3 eldest children are currently doing nippers with Emily the eldest 13 passing her life saving star and now patrolling in the Red and yellow--so Australian!
She is also looking to represent the state at the surf club activities.
Schools are going well Oliver my 3rd was happy to win $50 dollars and a book for outstanding effort over the year and he well deserves it as went into year one and had to learn sight reading instead of phonics, but he has more than caught up.James is relishing in the Australian Scouts over here.
Apart from the youngest we were all skiing last winter.I even managed snowboarding! 2 hours for weekends to MT Baw Baw then we did the 4 hours to Buller for a 5 day trip, that is really surreal as there you are on top of a snow mountain in Australia!
It all sounds a bit rosy and my father in the UK keeps saying we will come out of holiday mode, but I'm not sure we will, its a lifestyle over here and it suits us.
Weve made some really nice friends, which took time but now have a circle I know I can rely on.
Miss family and friends of course but Australia more than makes up for it and it is your nuclear family which is important.
I would more than recommend it to anyone,we came over looking for more family time and thats what we have.
We are going back to the UK for a trip at the end of june so that will be intersting but I know we will all be looking forward to coming back 'home'!

Great post.....sounds like you are enjoying life to the full

Many thanks for the update. You really are experiencing the outdoor lifestyle that we all say we want (although I'm guessing you were already pretty into that anyway!), although I just want to be able to take the kids to the park without getting drowned. I've have however experienced Melbourne rain first hand, so I know it's not all BBQ's.
We got our visa yesterday and are looking at moving to Mornington next year, so it's always good to hear such positive feedback and God knows we're going to need it the closer we get I'm sure. We aren't going to be able to move over before our 1 year validity period, so are looking at coming over for a further reccie (greedy things we are)/holiday in July/August.
Glad life is as good as you hoped.
Lorraine

Nice to read your update, do I remember correctly that you went to Geelong initially and then prefered Mornington??
We arrive in Geelong in March, have never been before so we are going to take our time before we settle on an area, alot will depend on work of course!
Anyway, hope you all continue to enjoy life over there

Laura
xx

Thats right we did the first 2 weeks in Geelong, but it didn't quite feel right very commercial to what we were used to(Cheddar in UK!)
Lorrielou I know what you mean about the rain, when it rains it pours, but its not that cold nasty rain from the UK and as we have acreage we like a bit of rain as it makes the grass grow!!
I love it here and as I mentioned we did in year in NZ so knew the pitfulls and came not expecting to much but alls been good so far and touch wood it will continue the same way

Great story glad someone else has found the nice life on the Westernport side of the Peninsula. Less people Love Somers, Balnarring beach etc. Great cycling area too.