Busy Day Today

Grays still on nights this week (and will be next week too) so I've been busy on the website. Decided to register for an ABN today (Australian Business Number) - been meaning to do it for a while but I finally got around to it. Only took about 10 mins and didnt cos anything so I dont know why I havent done it sooner. I also realised that the Shops in Oz website I've set up is set up using a US server and is .com rather than .com.au - not ideal when you're trying to hit the Australian market. Anyway to combat this I decided to sign up for the domain name shopsinoz.com.au and completely re-do the site - well that was my plan! The web hosts advertised as having a great Site Builder but I was soon to find out that it wasnt that great - not for someone like me with very little website building knowledge. I thought that I actually knew more than I did. Needless to say I'm going to get my money back from the Web Hosts but that means that I now have a .com.au URL but dont know what to do with it! Queue my next bit of info!

I enrolled at TAFE (college) today for Cert 4 Web Design. Its classed as full time (16 hours per week) but I'll only actually spend 10 hours there because it runs over after pick up time for Danielle. They've said it'll be fine for me to finish early each day though and work on what we've learnt at home - that works well for me. Hopefully I'll pick it up quickly and be able to do something with my new domain! Initially I want to just redirect the URL but I'm not even sure how to go about that! Its all fun eh?!

Danielles been off school the last two days too. Just had a bit of a temperature - nothing much but all her class have been having time off ill so I thought it best to keep her off. Its also her gymnastics grading on Saturday and I really want her to be well enough for that because she was ill last time and missed out. Chances are she'll be moving up a grade this time - the down side to this is that it'll probably mean me sitting around for 2 hours on a Wednesday while shes training rather than the 1 hour I have to do now!

That'll do for now anyway!

Danielles had her first sleepover party!

Mums op is scheduled for 3rd July so until then (the wait is awful obviously) I'm trying to get on with life as normally as possible. She seems to be pretty upbeat whenever I speak to her, and she tells me shes fine, but I know that deep down she must be in turmoil (as we all are). All we can do is hope that things all turn out good.

Danielle was invited to a sleep over party a few weeks ago and got upset at the fact that she couldnt bring herself to go (shes very clingy to me at night time) so as a way of making her feel a little better I told her we'd have a sleep over party here. Initially she had 5 friends coming but due to two of them not feeling too well yesterday it ended up with just 3 of them. This actually worked out better because they all fit in the one room.

It wasnt as chaotic as I'd imagined it would be which was good. They pretty much entertained themselves all the time. I told them they had Danielles room and the spare room to do with as they liked - this left the TV and living room all to me - I'm not stupid! Gray managed to get himself rostered onto nights - hes not stupid either!

The girls went home at 10am this morning and 2 hours later Danielle is already bored! Gray is still sleeping so theres not really a lot we can do so I think I'll do a bit more work on my website. Things have been going pretty well for both sites. The Expat Store is looking really good and there is a lot of interest in the Australia Online Shopping Directory which I'm very pleased about. It is very very time consuming though which I didnt expect at all.

Off to take my laptop and sit in front of the TV while doing a bit of online work.

The fun never ends here!

Hangover from Hell Today!

Well to try and keep myself busy last night (rather than sitting in brooding) I decided to go out for a few drinks with the girls! Needless to say I didnt know when enough was enough and ended up getting pretty slaughtered (which I havent done for a long long time!). As I was drinking I knew I was gonna feel rough the next day but I really didnt give a damn - I managed to have a laugh at the same time which was very much needed.

I was right anyway - shocking hangover today - I'll be glad when today is over so that I can hopefully wake up tomorrow feeling better!

Feeling really weird about the 'mum' thing. Dont really know what to feel at all. She tells me that shes dealing with it OK and as I only have her word for it I just have to believe her - nothing I can do about it from over here anyway.

The next 3 weeks are gonna be a very anxious time for all of us. Waiting for the Op to be over and done with and then waiting for the results.

Off to watch a bit of TV now I think.

Terrible News

I got a phone call from mum this morning. Her annual mammogram has shown up a small cancerous lump - breast cancer. I struggle to even type those words in the same sentence as 'my mum'. At the moment I'm just in shock I think - really cant get my head around it. This is the news that every Expat dreads and I thought I was gonna be lucky enough not to get a call like this for a very long time.

Apparently the lump is only very small. She is having it removed on 2nd July and hopefully will only need radio therapy afterwards. The horrible thing though is that any dealings I (or rather those close to me) have had with Cancer have never had good outcomings. I know too much about this horrible disease and I just wish I didnt.

My mum sounded ok on the phone and kept telling me not to worry - but how can I not worry?? Its my mum, its cancer.......and I'm living on the other side of the world.

Life f***ing sucks!

The rain has finally ended!

The weather has been absolutely awful here the last few days. Unfortunately 9 people lost their lives in total. Very very sad.

Thankfully it seems the worst is now over and the sun has come back out.

Yesterday was a very lazy day. We couldnt go anywhere because the rain was so bad and so we spent the day in front of the TV and PC! It actually worked out quite well because I got a lot of work done on my websites.

There has now been a store added to the Expat Forum (http://www.expatforum.com/expatstore/) which links to products from my site. Its looking really good and I'm really pleased with it. Its great for Expats too because it saves them having to try and find UK Shops which deliver overseas - I've done all the hard work for them (and trust me it has taken a looooooonnnnggggg time!!).

We went out for a meal this afternoon and our friends son Jordon came with us. A couple who moved out to Australia from the UK 2 years ago are returning to the UK so it was a farewell to them. I've got a feeling they'll be back in time but they're quite young and miss family which is fair enough.

Jordon is here for a sleep over tonight which has made Danielle very happy. As yet shes not managed a sleepover at anyones house but we're hoping she'll try to stay at Jordons sometime soon - shes pretty clingy to me in the evenings (cant blame her though I suppose!! haha).

No work for Gray tomorrow and no school for Dan. They've got a Queens Birthday Day off!! Not sure what we're gonna do but I'm in the mood for spending money (that we dont have!!).

Well as we havent done much over the last few days I dont really have much more to say.

Bye for now :-)

Its been raining for 2 days solid :(

Firstly........sorry.........I forgot about the photos again!! My memory is shocking!

Well its been raining very heavily for the last two days.......non-stop!! This wasnt in the brochure! Whenever it rains every Aussie says 'Oh we need it though dont we?'!! This may be true (well its very true actually) but I DONT LIKE RAIN!

I've been keeping myself busy this last few days setting up a new website. Its still in the very early stages at the moment and I'm really just playing about with it - feel free to check it out though www.shopsinoz.com - its a directory of Aussie online shops. Its taking quite a long time just to get everything on there at the moment - then it'll be time to work on getting traffic to it! its all good fun though :)

I applied for a job today - it was advertised in TAFE so I thought I'd give it a go. Just part time casual (as needed) during school hours - admin work in an accountants I think (dont really know too much about it to be honest). The only problem is that Aussies arent generally in any rush to let you know if you've been successful or not so it could be a few weeks before I get the 'thanks but no thanks' reply! :) You never know though.

Gray and Dan went to see Shrek 3 last night at the flicks. Said it was good but not as good as the first two apparently? I wouldnt have minded going but they never get any time on their own together so its nice for them to have that for themselves.

Grays been working loads of overtime lately. I dont complain when the money comes in but I wish he didnt HAVE to. Thats why I'm working on the websites and trying to get a part time job. That little bit of extra money would make such a bit difference to us.

We still dont have any tenants in our UK house. For some reason our agents were slow getting it all cleaned out but they've said it should be ready by 9th (which is tomorrow) so hopefully we'll get someone in soon. If we dont then our money worries are going to become a lot more serious. Dont even go there!!

Right its time for the school run now.

Cya!

Another thing

A lot of people have been asking me for photos - rather than email individually I thought I'd post here - I'm going to have a good look through my photos sometimes this week and starting posting a few.

Be patient - they're worth waiting for - honest gov!

Another gorgeous day in........paradise apprently??

I've woken up a lot happier today - the wine definitely helped last night - I can highly recommend it to anyone feeling the same! :)

Today I've just gotta do the normal everyday boring stuff.......shopping.........washing.........cleaning........and sorting out Danielles TIP of a bedroom! She spent almost 5 hours in there yesterday, apparently tidying it, but only managed to clear the top of her cupboard - in fact I'm sure its messier in there now than when she started! Not really sure if I'll tackle it today or not actually because I just know that it'll take all day.

Might do a bit more work on my website actually (www.ukshoppingworldwide.com - for those who've forgotten!). I'm really enjoying doing it and I'm sure that when I start this course in July I'll enjoy it all the more. I didnt realise just how much there was to know about setting up a website - all good fun though!

Ok....the shops are calling.......back soon :)

Happier now! :-)

After a lazy day in front of the TV.......and a glass (or 3!) of wine.......I'm feeling a lot happier! :-)

Feeling a bit flat today :-(

Not really sure why but I'm feeling really flat today. Its 2 weeks today since mum went back after her six week stay and I think all the stress of it has suddenly hit me. It'll pass I'm sure but at the moment I feel like crap!

Forgot to mention about our property in the UK!! Nightmare!

When we left the UK we left our property being fully managed by an Estate Agents. They gave us the impression that they had a family all lined up ready to move in. Anyway it turned out that that family fell through and so they ended up putting a different family in who were on Housing Benefits!! Not that I have a problem with housing benefit tenants.....but it would have been nice to be consulted first.

Everything was going smoothly with them for the first 6 months. Housing benefit paid around 2/3rds of the rent leaving the tenant to pay the remainder - simple you'd think, only the tenants changed their minds. Instead they decided not to pay anything! Cutting a long story short we gave the tenants notice in January that we wouldnt be renewing their tenancy agreement at the end of March. They were fine with this and made lots of promises to repay all their arrears by the time they moved out. Moving day came and they didnt answer the door......and didnt move out. After lots of pestering by our agents they finally moved out leaving behind a garden and garage full of furniture and garbage and a dirty house with stinking carpets. Thankfully they didnt trash any of the fittings and fixtures!

By the time they left we were down by about 700 pounds (sorry no pound sign on this keyboard) - we managed to use their bond of 550 pounds to get most of the work done so all in all we're probably down by about 1000! We're just waiting for the house to be cleaned right through now and hopefully we'll have tenants in by the end of the month!

The joys of being a landlord from the other side of the world!!

Its a beautiful Autumn Day!

Not long woken up to a beautiful Autumn day! Grays working today so I'm thinking of things to do with Danielle. She wants to go Ice Skating but I dont think its fair for us to go off spending loads of money while Grays in work trying to make us some for next weekend - its a public holiday next weekend - they get a day off in Australia for the Queens birthday would you believe!

I'll probably end up taking her swimming and then maybe for a bike ride. Its great for riding around here because its so flat and the roads are pretty quiet.

Although the sun is shining it is still really cold - well cold for Australia anyway. Theres a real bite in the air. Having said that I very rarely have to wear any sort of coat/jacket and if I do its usually just on the school run in the mornings. At most I get away with a long sleeved top and a padded gillet. We are gonna head to the shops in a little while to get some gloves for Dan and a scarf. Kids are quite funny here. They go to school in just their normal clothes (no jacket etc) but have scarf and gloves - so Dans jumped on the band wagon too. Last year she also took to wearing black tights to school and.......get this.......white sports socks over top!! God the Aussies really do do fashion!! haha. Anyway I thought that phase may have past but unfortunately not. Shes back on it this year too. Kids will be kids eh?!

Its strange (and nice) in Australia because they really dont seem to have the 'class' structure that we have in the UK. It doesnt matter what you own, wear or drive....you're not judged for it. Us Brits should hang our heads in shame really because that seems to be what we live for - what we own and look like. Sad really.

Right I'd better get myself sorted and do something constructive with this beautiful day.

Have a good one everyone and I'll catch up tomorrow - see arent I being good now! :)

My thyroid is no more!

Before moving to Australia I knew I had a thyroid condition but was told that it was fine and that I could move to Australia - which we did! When going through the medicals for our PR visa it became apparent that further tests were needed on my thyroid - scans, bloods, more scans and a few more blood tests.......which eventually brought me to the decision to get it removed - it had grown A LOT in the 6 months since our move and the chances were it wasnt planning on stopping - so out it had to come. This was something I'd been expecting as my mum and two of her sisters have also had theirs removed. I had the option to get it done through the Health System (with a probable 6 months waiting list) or to go Private. Although we didnt have the money....we opted for Private to get it over and done with. I'm glad we did too because when they took it out I was told it was HUGE and a pretty difficult operation. My vocal chord nerve was cut during the Op which meant I couldnt speak for a while afterwards. Everyone made lots of jokes about it but I must admit that it was very scarey - my surgeon actually thought that it would probably be permanent which in turn gave me that belief too. Thankfully she was wrong and I now have my voice back fully - although it does get a bit weak at times. I also had to take lots & lots of calcium for a few months post Op too as the Parathyroids were effected......this again could have been permanent (my auntie is on 15 large calcium pills a day for life!) but thankfully thats all come good too - I've been lucky! My scar isnt great - very noticeable but that doesnt really bother me. Having that big fat thryoid out was my main concern and now its gone! :)

In the last 12 months - we got our Permanent Visa!

I said a lot had happened - and its all coming back to me bit by bit.

As I mentioned in my posts 12 months ago we had our Medicals for our PR visa in June last year. After a lot of messing about (they wanted lots of information from my medical records about miscarriages and thyroid disease etc) our medicals were finally given the OK. I was really worried about this I must admit but thankfully it went well. We then got the all important phone call on July 28th 2006 telling us we had Permanent Residency. This didnt make much differnce to our everyday life to be honest but it just gave us that bit of security that we needed. When you move to Australia on a 457 temporary Visa (which is what we were on) then bascially it means the visa holder can 'only' work for that employer (although I could work wherever I wanted). If the job was no longer available or he was sacked then we would have 28 days to leave to country - scarey! It also meant that we would no longer have to pay school fees ($4500 per year) and that we could claim family benefits. This is something that I really had no intention of doing but with the wages pretty low and the cost of living the same (if not higher) than in the UK then needs must.

So thats it - we've now had our PR visa for 10 months and will apply for Citizanship when we've had it for 24 months :)

Another little catch up!

Mum came over for a visit at the beginning of April for 6 weeks. It was great having her over here - especially for Danielle. The only problem is that it was really hard when she left (for me more than for Danielle actually). It was the longest time I'd EVER spent with my mum since I was about 18 so to see her leave again was awful. I actually felt as though I was pushing her away and the guilt for separating her and Danielle again was awful. Thankfully everythings back to normal now though which is great. Mum loved her holiday and took a ridiculous amount of photos! We took her to as many places as we could think of cos for her it was the 'holiday of a lifetime'. We're gonna try and get her out here as often as possible but off her own back it'll probably be once every 2 years because she just doesnt have the money. I wish we were in a position to be able to pay for her to come out once a year but unfortunately we're not :(.

When I get chance later I'll go through my photos (they're all on CD now) and upload a few of us throughout the year. I now have blonde hair (well streaks!) and wear contacts rather than glasses. Its really difficult if you were glasses over here because you really need to be wearing really good sunnies and prescription ones just dont cut it. Plus its a pain when you're in and out of shops if they're prescription cos you cant see a thing when you take em off!!!

I've just been reading at the school again today. I like doing that and Danielle likes to see me get involved too.

Oh I'm thinking of loads of things now as I sit here.

Pets - well we started off with a rabbit and a guinea pig. Patch & Fiona. Patch started to get a little bit too 'friendly' with Fiona so we had to separate them as he was also getting agressive to anyone who went close to her. As guinea pigs like a companion we decided to get her a friend so I headed to the pet shop and got a cute white female guinea pig - which we called Sam (after Danielles cousin!). A few weeks down the line it became apparent that Sam (the guinea pig not the cousin!) was pregnant! Great! Gray wasnt impressed at all I can tell you. Anyway apparently guinea pigs get very 'friendly' with their brothers and sisters from 3 weeks after birth and if they're not separated them more babies appear - this must have been what happened with Sam bless her - pregnant by her brother - sick! I was actually quite excited at the thought of having baby guinea pigs and watched her like a hawk until the big day finally arrived - 3 little babies. I couldnt bring myself to give them away so a friend took Patch the rabbit for us and we kept all the Guinea pigs - so we now have 5 guinea pigs!!

We also treated ourselves to a Cockatiel a couple of months ago which we're trying to teach to talk - hes called Charlie and is full of character. I'm the one who feeds and waters the little bugger but Gray is the one he loves! Charming!

I'm thinking of loads of things to catch up with now but I'll break them up into separate posts I think to make it easier to read!

Onto the next one!

Forgot to mention the car!

I knew I'd miss out something really important! When we first arrived we boughta Toyota Corolla station wagon - nice car but we were still hankering after a 4WD. Anyway after 4 months we sold it and treated ourselves to a Holden Jackaroo - lovely car but heavy as hell on the petrol. Might end up trading it in again soon for an unleaded but I cant see us changing back to a 'normal car' again - I LOVE my 4WD :)

How embarrassing - 12 months since my last update!

12 Months!!! Now that is embarrassing! After all the promises I made to keep this up to date.....I failed miserably!

Well here I am trying to make amends - how on earth I am going to catch up on 12 months worth of updates I dont know but I'll try my best.

We stayed in the house we first moved into for only 3 months after. It didnt have the storage we were after and was sooooo cold during the winter (yes believe it or not it does get VERY cold in Oz!) and had next to no storage.....so we made yet another move.

We're now in a 3 bed single storey house with double garage in a street with a communal pool and tennis courts (god dont we sound posh!). The house is nice and the garden isnt a bad size - just a bit of an awkward shape, but otherwise its good. The rooms are all a good size too which I love. During the summer holidays ( January) myself and Danielle were in the pool everyday because it was so hot (god I love the hot weather!). Danielle was like a little macaroon - very very brown (lifes not fair sometimes!!). She looked more Aussie than the other kids here - blonde hair, blue eyes and golden brown skin!

Its pretty much all been about Danielle now I think about it. She tried Tennis lessons for a while but didnt get on with that......so she moved onto Dance lessons, but got bored with those. Shes now settled with swimming, gymnastics & horse riding. She moved through the swimming lessons really quickly and is now training twice a week in Squads and swims for her school in the annual Swimming Carnival (very proud parents we are!). Gymnastics is just at the beginners stage so far so no big movements there but shes got a grading at the end of this month so hopefully she'll move up and start doing 'proper' gymnastics then. Horse riding has only just started but she loves that and is desperate for her own pony (dont know how to tell her but that is NEVER gonna happen!). She has been saving for almost a year to buy one for herself and has achieved a massive saving of.....wait for it......$31!! :D Shes been doing fantastically in school (well that goes without saying really with parents like us ;-)) and we're really proud of her. Shes got lots of friends and gets on with all the teachers. Unfortunately she seems to have a big following of boys too - not much of a worry while shes 7 years old but in a few years time I can see its not gonna be as CUTE!!

Grays doing well in work. He got promoted a few months back which was great. Not a huge pay rise but definitely a step in the right direction. Hes getting a bit bored now though and is thinking about doing some colleges courses to help him get into the Design side of things. He hasnt been able to do as much golf as he'd have liked (hardly any to be honest) because he does have to do a lot of overtime. The time that we do all spend together now though is quality time and we do lots more things as a family which is great.

Now its onto me! Ok here goes! I volunteer to deliver Meals on Wheels once a month with Sharon (the Aussie mate I met when we first arrived - her and her family have been brilliant and we're really close now). It only takes about 2 hours but its nice to go out and meet the old folk and also feel as though you're having some input in the community - very important when you move to a new country I think. I also do a lot of volunteering at Danielles school - reading a couple of times a week and help out whenever I'm needed. Its great to get to know Danielles school mates that way. I started TAFE (College) a couple of months ago just doing a part time Statement of Attainment course in Admin Skills - you need a certificate to wipe your own ass over here so I thought I'd better give it a go. I'm glad I did too because I've been really enjoying it. The new semester starts in July and I'm going to do either a Certificate 4 in Business Admin or a Web Design course. At the moment I'm inclined to go for the Web Design course because I've recently set up a new Website called UKShoppingWorldwide and I'd love to be able to understand all the jargon more. I was lucky enough to get chatting with a bloke from a Forum I use - Expat Forum who is helping me out so much with my site - he understands all the jargon which is great!

We went camping about 4 or 5 times during the spring/summer and absolutely loved it. There are some stunning places to visit here and everything is so kid friendly. The stunning beaches usually only have a handful of people on them and the surf is loads of fun (well for Gray and Dan it is - as you can imagine I'm much more of a whimp!!)

We've been here 14 months now and although its flown by it also feels as though we've been here forever. Very strange. The minimum time we had to stay here was 2 years so when that time elapses we'll assess our options. We all love the beach so much and with us being where we are (just over an hour from the coast) it can seem a bit restrictive in the peak of summer.

I'm sure there is lots more that I could add to this update but I dont want you all falling asleep!

Take care all and this time I 'promise' to keep it up to date!

Rach xxxx

Its been a while - sorry!

We've been so busy getting on with our new lives that I'd forgotten all about updatig this - sorry!

Ok so we've been here 2 1/2 months now and its pretty much just everday life! Danielle is absolutely loving school and is doing really well there. The school is scruffier than the UK one but they apparently dont get a great deal of funding so thats to be expected. The teaching is great though and Danielle has come on leaps and bounds since we arrived.

Grays work is going ok. The money is pretty crap though which means that he HAS to do overtime simply for us to pay the bills etc. He still gets to finish by 6pm each day though so its not too bad and he finishes at 1pm on a Friday.

We had our Medicals last week for Permanent Residency. Its not the we necessarily want to stay here but it just gives us that bit more security if we have PR. We'll also be able to claim back some of the $4500 school fees we paid when we arrived plus be able to claim child benefit etc (something I had no intension of doing but needs must).

Everyone has been really friendly here. I met a mother at the school and we've gotten really friendly with their family. They're so welcoming and my life a lot easier for us.

It hasnt been easy by any stretch of the imagination and I've certainly had some bad times as well as good. The lifestyle however is great (even though its winter) because we get to go out on our bikes most days and there is a part right opposite the house. The roads are much quieter than the UK and so Danielle can easily ride her bike on them (obviously with me riding close by!).

The weather is extremely strange here. With it being winter it gets extremely cold in the evenings and mornings. Some might say that its not a patch on the UK (which is probably true) but in the UK most houses have central heating and double glazing - in Oz there is none of that. The doors have huge gaps around them and the standard of the building is absolutely shocking. At the moment I sleep with a heater on next to the bed, bed socks, big thick dressing gown and a nice thick duvet. The cold is something I did not expect thats for sure. It wont last long though and soon enough we'll be having the air con on 24/7!!

Gray is having a lie in this morning. To pay for our medicals he has worked 13 days solid bless him. Needless to say hes shattered.

Danielle is having swimming lessons at the moment and is enjoying them. They're very strong on learning proper swimming strokes here rather than just doggie paddle! Its really strange to see the young kids (younger than Danielle) swimming front crawl perfectly (head in water and everything - even I cant do that!! ha ha!)

We've got just over three months left on the tenancy of this house and we're still unsure as to whether or not we'll move on. The location of the house is great and so is the garden but I found the house a little depressing at times. Its very dark and always looks dirty to me because the windows are all wooden and it really needs a good paint everywhere - unfortunately when you're renting you cant do anything like that so we just have to live with it. We have seen other houses which are nicer but the location isnt there - personally I think the location is more important so we'll probably just keep looking. We're happy here for now though.

Right I think thats it for now!

Sydney Show and a lovely train ride afterwards!!

Well it was Grays last day of freedom today (starts work tomorrow) so we thought we'd get the Easter show in before he started! Jesus Christ it was so busy it was unbelievable - if you havent been before it is absolutely HUGE and there was barely walking space today - crazy! A great show though with loads to do (loads of money spinning schemes too!!!). We spent 4 hours walking around it and still missed loads out.

To top it off on the train ride home there was a flamin druggy on the phone to all of his mates trying to score some more gear!! Couldnt believe it - he was obviously speeding his head off (couldnt sit still and was almost chewing his own face off!) and was trying to get hold of a gram of weed to bring himself back down (his words not ours! he was making no secret of it on the phone - the entire flamin train could hear him!). We were considering living in the village next to us but thats where this lad got off the train so we're reconsidering now!!!!

On that note I'm cracking open a bottle of beer (or 4!) and gonna try and relax!

Have a good evening all!

Two weeks into our new lives!

Well we arrived in Sydney on 1st April (can you believe it!) and things have been moving pretty quickly since then. The amount of stuff you have to do when you first arrive is absolutely crazy! We arrived at 8am on the Saturday morning and tried to stay awake as long as we could but Jesus our heads were all over the place. I expected to feel tired but not to feel so physically exhausted and actually ill! It was very strange. Gray and I were both the same - cold, shivery and light headed. It lasted a good few days too - thankfully that stage has passed now. Weather has been great - only one miserable day in two weeks - cant really complain at that for Autumn can you?!! We moved into our house a week after we arrived and found it to be a bit tattier than we'd expected - no worse apparently than any other rental property in the area though!! Its in a great location though with a park right outside, the school around the corner and more importantly a great entertaining area outside!

So in the time we've been here we have:-
Got our Visa put in our Passports
Registered with MedicareApplied (and paid!!!!!) for schooling through the NSW Education Dept
Registered with the school
Moved into the house
Bought a car
Trans the registration of the car (and paid the stamp duty that we'd forgotten about!!)
Applied for our Aussie drivers licences and got them there and then - great service!
Set up our home phone
Set up Broadband (very important!)
Visited the Blue Mountains (only 30 mins from us which is great!)
Visited Featherdale (kids can get so close to the kangaroos its fantastic!)
Had our first barbie party!!!!! (many more of those to come!)
Bought Fridge, TV, Hoover, Microwave and Kettle (all in one go from Good Guys!)
Bought Beds (and got all the bedding including - great idea!)
Bought BBQ & Patio Set from BBQ's galore - fab shop!
Visited Mona Vale Beach (on the same day that it flamin rained - typical!!)
and finally seen our first WOLF SPIDER!!!!! trying to gain access to our house - a couple of sprays from our trusty destroyer though and he was history! Wheres the rest of his family though thats what I want to know!

I'm sure we've done much more than that but that'll do for now I think! We're enjoying it so far but we know that its not going to be easy. We're very fortunate to have a group of friends already over here who are more than happy to offer help and support when needed.

Waiting for our washing machine is a flamin nightmare!! Should really have gotten all the washing done at the launderette before Easter - can't believe almost EVERYTHING closes for the full Easter Break!!

The evenings are very strange here. As soon as its dark everyone seems to stay in their houses - very wierd! We walked back from our friends house last Saturday night at 10pm and didn't bump into a sole. There are hardly any street lights either so its pretty dark!! The days more than make up for that though! The wildlife is great! Seeing parrots just flying around is unreal - all shapes, colours and sizes!

More from us soon! Bye!