Mochinbach

Part one!

We’re leaving the country in 3 weeks and returning to an icy, chilly England. It was always going to be that way, that’s what we planned all along. We’d spend one year in the ‘land down under’ and see how we felt.

We’d never been here before. The only references I had were taken from my obsessional viewing of the Australian soaps. From England I dreamt up a world with beautiful beaches and stunning sunsets, a land where everyone was having a BBQ and anyone could join in, a land where the sun always shines and the sea is always a beautiful turquoise. There were going to be parrots and Koalas in my back garden and I would have to be very careful to ensure I warded off the many deadly creatures that could kill me at any moment. It meant selling my house, leaving my job behind for a year, putting my career on hold, leaving my family and friends and not seeing them for 12 months. It was really hard and the stress of making the decision, selling the house, leaving work and my students (I am a teacher), saying goodbye to my family and best friend was really difficult. I felt selfish and scared and excited all at the same time. It was the hardest and strangest feeling to deal with. On my blog, which documented the entire 18 months process of getting the visa and the preparations for departure, I have commented that I felt nothing. It is true to some extent that I really didn’t have time to feel much at all! My school was in the final stage of a HMI inspection to pull us out of special measures, I was incharge of shipping, selling the house, the car, storing our belongings etc and I was exhausted! I remember in the final days bursting into tears in the staffroom before briefing, not eating for a week in the build up to it all and not understanding why I was in such turmoil! The plane journey was really the only time I had to let it all sink in. I had left. I wasn’t coming back for what seemed then a very long time and the bubble of security, safety and comfort was being left behind for someone else. I am thankful, however, that I was taking my partner with me, the OH who consequently became my Fiance Without him I am sure that I would never have had the strength to do any of this.

My family and friends, no doubt, have always seen me as an extroverted, carefree individual. However, in truth I like routine and I enjoy having something familiar to return to at night. This was like nothing I’d ever done before in my life and it was terrifying. I just kept repeating the mantra “nothing great comes easy”. It was a mantra that kept me focused and happy to persue this dream for a long time.

When we arrived in Australia (in January 08) we landed in Perth and then began a long travelling journey that took us all over the place. Having spent hours and hours researching and chatting to expats on the net we had decided that the place to be was Brisbane. Through conversations we were having on line, and perhaps a little bit of selective hearing, we had deicded that this was the place for us; the place with the beaches, the koalas the parrots and the 3 bed house with a swimming pool for around 300 dollars a week. Thus we planned that our travelling would end in the Sunny city of Brisbane where we would set up our new Austrlian home. As a result all of our shipping was being sent there and I had applied for Teacher registration from the Queensland College of teachers. We were all ready to get going and settle in. We travelled through Perth, Alice, Adealiade, Melbourne (where, of course, I visited Ramsay street –alone lol- and when on the Neighbours night – I met some of the stars and got their autographs ) , Canberra, Sydney and then finally ended up in Brisbane.


Impressed with the beautiful city we spend Australia Day night on the bridge over the river watching the fireworks and the giant bats (who I was convinced were birds for ages). The heat and humidity was hard to bare but we visited the towns that were mentioned on the forums as nice places to live where the breeze came from the sea and were hopeful of finding our dream location and price. We went to lovely Manly and Wynnum. And although we enjoyed our breakfasts and views from the Irish Pub and the towns seemed nice we were disapointed to not be able to find the beach. We were looking for a city near the sea. Something that is very hard to find in England, perhaps with the exception of Cardiff. The people were very friendly, the cabin we were staying in just outside of Wynumm was lovely and had possums visiting at night (to raid the bin liners but I was soo happy to see them I didn’t care!) We were desperate to find a beach, looking on the street directoty (map of the local area – like our A-Z) we searched for lines of yellow on the edge of the land. We drove as far as Redcliff in search of the lifestyle we had imagined but were twarted at everyturn. The beach in Redcliff was about 1.5 meters wide and my OH being 6”6 wouldn’t have been a very easy place to sunbathe with dry feet! The beautiful city center was not enough to keep us there and we made a decision to return to what we had seen for about 24 hours in Adelaide.

When we had stayed there for the night we had caught the tram down to Glenelg and watched the sunset into the sea. Cafes and restaurants behind us. We had been to the Central Market where we’d enjoyed the sights and smells of food from all over the world and obsereved the arts and music that was being advertised all over the walls. We’d visited the festival center on the river bank and enjoyed watching the ducks and pedalows go by as we ate lunch. We loved it. Infact, as we pulled up in the tour bus (on our way back from an exciting and exhausting 6 day safari from Alice to Adelaide) we were heard to say “I could live here”. We thought nothing of it at the time. It was only the second city we had visited and we’d just spent the last 6 nights in swags, and underground (CooberPedy) camping… any kind of civilisation had to be good after that! (Cold water in the taps instead of luke warm!!! Exciting!)

A week in Brisbane, not finding what we were after, and we realised that we’d already seen it in Adelaide. So off on a plane we went, we’d have to deal with the shipping later – it hadn’t arrived in the country yet anyway  We stayed in another caravan park and over the course of a week we used realestate.com.au and the local Advertiser newspaper (Wednesday and Saturday are the days when all the rentals are put in) to view several properties. It became blaringly obvious that we weren’t going to get a house by the sea with a pool and near the city and that our expectations were a little too high We also discovered that Fully Furnish means something slightly different in OZ. It means you get everything, cutlery, plates, sheets, towels EVERYTHING. Unfortunatley Fully furnished properties represent only 5% of the market; this mean that there wasn’t much to choose from. However, in a very short time we were lucky enough to find a beautiful 3 bedroom townhouse with the beach just across the road. 20 mins from the city center, 30 mins from the wine regions and 2 secs from the beach! Incidently it’s also 45 min walk along stretches of gold sand to the place where we ate our fish and chips on the wall and watched the sunset on our first visit.

rebnatoli

Looking forwards to Part 2!

moneypenny20

I've already read their blog. Was hoping part 2 was close by I like it when people speed through their lives but write well

Dreamer

Fantastic read, can't wait for part 2. I can see this being made into one of those mini tv series lol

justcantwait

hi
really enjoyed that,not to long for part 2 i hope

anne marie xx

Lee and Joanne

Nice to hear good feedback about Adelaide. Looking forward to reading part 2.
More pictures would be nice. More info on Adelaide also

Joanne

linloo

It was on the OH and I reccie visit here that we found Glenelg and sat outside the Dubliner bar, having a glass of sparkly, watching kids play in the fountains and the sun setting over the beach that made my mind up Adelaide was the place to be

It was just so easy and laid back. We moved here in June and bought a place in the hills But I drive the dog everyday to the beaches for a fantastic walk. Spent 3 hours today down at Seacliff beach with her, 34 degrees and the sea warm like a bath, I dont think it gets any better

Lee and Joanne

Hi Linloo,
I'm really jealous. I live 2 miles form the east coast. I have also drove the dog down to the beach today. Description...... Very very cold, bracing temperature so cold I was wrapped like a mummy. Wholly hat , scarf, gloves, fleece. Sea too cold to even dream of going near . Runny nose due to wind. Description of view..... GREY SKY, GREY SEA , GREY BEACH. It sucks. Can't wait to join you down under.

Joanne

linloo

I used to live in Lincolnshire! Just a little bit of a differnce Look forward to you getting here J, meet you down the beach with the dogs?

linloo

This was what was outside my front door this morning, when I went outside, he just ambled back up the tree, while I went rushing for the camera Just wow

thesmiths

Hi Linloo,

I bet that was pretty amazing seeing the koala. How cool!

We are currently applying for a GSM 175 (PR) and are hoping to move to Adelaide once we, fingers crossed, get the visa. Hope you don't mind me asking but was wondering how you are finding Adelaide. We have close friends in Aldinga Beach so was perhaps looking to settle somewhere along the Fleurieu Peninsula but not too far from the city. Do you know the area? Any info would be really appreciated.

Cheers Teresa

Fly Away

Lovely read Mochinbach! We're headed to Adelaide, so it's great to hear somebody's reasons for choosing the city.

Can't wait until part 2!

Clippy

Great read, looking forward to part 2

asher

thanks for writing all that it was good to read

linloo

We live in a place called Blackwood, which I have to say we didnt really investigate on our reccie trip, but once found, fell in love with the place. its about 30-40 mins to city and about 20mins to beach (all depends on traffic lights!) Blackwood has a really nice feel about it, family orientated and lots of little shops, It also has stores such as Coles, foodland, and woolworths for food shops. It has all the usual dentists, doctors and vets. There are gyms, fitness centres, takeaways cafes and a fantastic restaurant "Windy Point" a couple of miles away. There is a bar down the road in Belair, but I have only been in there a couple of times I have no kids, but my neighbors inform me that the schools are very good.I get Koalas in the trees out the front and blue tounge lizards sun baking on the drive, and I couldnt be happier. I have just found myself a job in Blackwood, which is ideal I love the idea of walking to work. Marion is the big shopping mall about 10mins away, it also has more bars and multiplex cinema. Also approx 10-15 mins away is Flinders hospital and University. So I have to say like most places in Adelaide you have everything you need on your doorstep and a short drive away. The housing prices are not to bad either, just depends what your looking for. Well I hope this helps, anything else just ask. Only got over here in June ourselves, so very much still finding our feet. But loving it all so far. I dont know to much about Aldinga and upwards just go along to the beaches that way, some of the housing looks fantastic, but I am very much sure out of our price range!!