The Davey's Adventures in Australia

Presents from SA

2009-09-24T22:18:00.001+10:00

Thanks Dawie, Magda, Dawie jnr, Marina en Lienkie!

Bribie island

2009-09-24T22:15:00.001+10:00

Jessica

2009-08-17T10:51:00.001+10:00

Potjiekos …

2009-06-27T21:12:00.002+10:00

Last weekend we invited Gert and Elize over for potjiekos … so glad we brought our potjie with! The one thing that is really cheaper in Australia is ox tail (I remember it being really expensive in South Africa) In the shops you will find it next to the dog bones, in between gross stuff like pig ears, beef hearts and who knows what.

So we made a delicious ox tail potjie … mouth watering!!!

This was a little different because we had to do it on the gas braai, but it was so much easier than doing it on a wood fire.

Gert and Elize:

Me and Christiaan (Gert and Elize’s son)

Me and Brett:

Finally ready …

Ryan and Christiaan

2009-06-23T14:18:00.001+10:00

Racing downhill in a park, boys will be boys!

Cycling …

2009-06-23T12:57:00.000+10:00

Here are a couple of photos of us cycling with the kids. There are so many stunning parks close to our house with wonderful play areas for the kids, so we o ften pack a little picnic bag, load the kids on the bikes and go park-crawling. Not as exciting as pub-crawling, but the kids love it!! Okay, slightly less often now that it’s winter and a bit cooler …

Movie world

2009-06-12T13:01:00.003+10:00

Here are some pictures from when Brett took the kids to Movie world a couple of weeks ago.

The kids really enjoyed the outing, off course the daddy was exhausted afterwards ... kids will be kids!

School

2009-06-08T13:25:00.008+10:00

Hi,

Just some photos of the kids' schools.

Ryan goes to Sesame Lane, about 1 km from our house. He loves it there.

Jess goes to a playgroup every day for an hour when Brett goes to gym. It was difficult for her in the beginning, but now she loves going there. On Fridays she goes to Sesame lane. I don't have any photos of her Sesame lane class yet.

It's been a while ...

2009-06-08T13:10:00.017+10:00

Hi,

Sorry, it's been so long since my last blog entry. The reason for that is that I didn't have much to write about ... life carries on. During the week we do the normal stuff ... work, eat, sleep. Weekends are great! We don't often go to spectacular places, it is winter after all. Winter ... yeah really cold. Temperature is between 15 and 22 degrees. Ha-ha! But apparently it will still get colder in July and August, for now we are enjoying really lovely weather.

We are doing well, obviously we've still got a fair amount of settling to do, but for now we are happy here. The kids are doing great, except for Jess getting all the ozzie bugs and me and Brett getting them with her. Ryan is still going strong.

Brett is cherishing his time at home with Jess, but typical man, gets despondent sometimes because he wants to be the one working. But with the economy the way it is, we are lucky to have an income at least. The great thing is the fantastic bond that has formed between the kids and Brett, especially Jessica. She adores her daddy, and went from "mommy's girl" to daddy's angel. Brett is also a lot more patient with the kids than I am, so I've got some lessons to learn there.

My work is okay, but I am generally tired during the week. And as a result not very patient with the kids (I'm not proud of that). But weekends are great, that's when I feel alive! Happy!

Here are some pics we took, enjoy!

Jessica and Noelle at Go wild indoor play area

Jessica looking at the ducks at a very nice park with a lake. Stunning place!

Ryan (spiderman)

Jess showing off her school bag

In the shower with teddy and a castle

The 2 boys (our house is in the background with my white car parked outside - left)

Jess loving the motorbike

This is about 50 m from our house, stunning isn't it?

Jess enjoying a mealie at the Redcliffe kite festival

Our own biltong!

2009-04-24T12:43:00.015+10:00

I suppose one of the few things that a normal South African can't live without is biltong. So, after 3 months in Australia the absence of biltong became too much and we decided to make our own! (Okay, Gert and Elize made us jealous with their home made delicious biltong!)

It was a nice little project for Brett to build us a biltong box that we can use to dry the biltong.

The biltong box ... ready and waiting!

A week ago we made the first batch

Overnight in the fridge:

And finally in the biltong box ...

It dried quickly, 2 1/2 days!

And it was so nice to have biltong again! The first batch was a bit sweet to our taste and as I'm typing, the second batch is busy drying in our own Biltong maker! Should be ready tomorrow!!!

Australia zoo

2009-03-29T19:40:00.007+10:00

Today we had a wonderful and exciting day ... we went to Steve Irwin's Australia zoo. It is about 40 minutes drive from our house in a beautiful area close to the Glasshouse mountains

My impression of the zoo is great, it's not huge, but they really look after their animals, and focus on conservation. You cannot believe the amount of staff! When we walked through the gates we were greeted by someone holding a baby croc and someone holding a snake. We had the opportunity to touch the animals.

Of course Brett dared me to touch the snake ... eeeewww!!!

But I surprised myself and stepped upto the challenge ...

The kids had less trouble with that, obviously more genes from their daddy!

The kids had story time when someone kept them busy for a couple of minutes while we enjoyed the best cup of coffee ever!

Look at the size of this python:

Then we watched the Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors show:

Are you ready for some serious wildlife action? Our keepers and their amazing animals will take you on a slithering, swooping, jaw-snapping adventure of epic proportions! Every day in the Crocoseum we are taking on the world’s conservation issues and protecting the animal kingdom, and we want you to join our army of Wildlife Warriors. Come on a journey of discovery and learn all about the incredible world of giant snakes, majestic elephants, colourful, soaring birds and those prehistoric legends, the big Saltwater Crocodiles. Wooo-hoo!

Interesting that the guy who presented some of the show was a Steve Irwin lookalike with the name of "Steven". Forgot to take a photo of him though.

At some point they had these parrots flying around in the arena, amazing!

I thought this guy was more than a bit crazy:

The kids fed some farms animals (I must admit, I think I enjoyed this even more than they did!)

Me and the kids petting a kangaroo, their fur is incredibly soft and fluffy!

And touching koala bears. Their fur is so thick and soft!

And of course, Brett had to show off ;-)

I think Jessica fell asleep before we left the parking lot, and Ryan not long after that, they were exhausted!

Drivers license

2009-03-13T07:07:00.002+10:00

Yesterday Brett and I both did the practical driving test in order to get our Queensland driver's licenses. My appointment was at 08:00 and everything went well, except for the reverse park (parallel parking) where I almost drove on top of the kerb and almost failed because of that. When you go for the license you are allowed to make 8 minor driving errors, but 1 fatal mistake can fail you. Driving onto the kerb would have been a fatal mistake. So in the end I passed with 7 minor errors. I paid my fee for 5 years (you can choose from 1 - 5 years) of $70 and were out of there before 9:00 ... with my new license in my hand! No waiting for 6 - 8 weeks! So that took less than an hour to do my driving test, pay my fee, have a photo taken and get the license ... amazing!!!

The pressure was then on Brett ... his appointment was at 09:30. We swopped cars (he did the test in my car, a manual) Jess and I went to the shops and I was so nervous that he wouldn't pass! An hour later he phoned me ... he had failed ... went over the speed limit. I met him somewhere to swop cars again so that I could go to work and he showed me ... his Queensland driver's license! He passed, didn't go over the speed limit like he said! He only made 5 minor errors ... With Brett you never know, do you? :-)

So now we've both got our Aussie driver's licenses, and what a relief that is!

Ryan is doing really really well at school! According to the teacher, the two Ryans are inseparable!

Jess is loving the time with her daddy, but is not giving him a lot of free time to do his thing. Brett joined the gym and goes to gym every morning. He leaves her with a lady there that looks after the kids for a small fee, a much needed break for the dad!

Work is going well, I'm enjoying it here and the work is challenging. I leave home at 06:00 in the morning and get here around 06:45. I'm not so tired anymore, getting used to getting up so early in the morning.

This weekend we're going to visit our friends, Thomas and Ilona, on the gold coast. Can't wait!

The job ...

2009-03-03T07:47:00.000+10:00

As most of you know, I got the job! They first offered me a 3 month contract, but then phoned back later to offer me the permanent position (the guy who they offered the job to first got a counter offer from his company and they didn't want to match it) So lucky me!

Yesterday was my first day, and boy was the traffic bad! They wanted me to be there at 08:30 so that they could get stuff ready for me, and I left home just before 7, dropped Ryan off and managed to get there about 2 minutes late. Took me about 90 minutes to drive the 35 km. The traffic back wasn't that bad, drove a different route, 45 km, and it only took an hour. Left work at 5 and got home at 6. It's a small company, about 10 people, and they're all very friendly and helpful. The big boss is a South African (English), started the company 20 years ago, the IT manager is also South African (also English), here for 10 years. Then there's also another guy, a Delphi developer, in Australia for 4 months now, Afrikaans. I'm quite happy to work with the South Africans, makes the transition just a little bit smoother.

The nice thing about the job is that they offer flexible work hours. So as long as I do my 40 hours a week and I'm here between 9:00 and 14:00, I can come in earlier and leave earlier if I want! That suits me perfectly! This morning I got up at 05:15, showered, got ready and left at 06:00. Traffic was much better and I got to work at 06:50. Which means that I can leave at around 15:30. Great!!! Still gives me some time to spend with the family if I don't pass out ;-)
Ryan is doing great, he made a friend at school. Last week Thursday was the first day that he told me he wasn't ready to go home just yet. Showed me around the play ground and I chatted to him and his buddies. It's still a bit of a struggle to get him to go to school in the mornings, but at least we know that he has fun there.

I think it's time for Brett to contribute a bit to the blog again, I'll get him to write an update on our trip to the gold coast!

Moving in!

2009-02-23T14:42:00.000+10:00

The big move ...

The move went extremely well! Brett left first to get the keys and the car was loaded, Elize dropped me and Jess off at the house just after 9 (her car also filled up with all our stuff) The first letdown was that the power wasn't connected! The main switch was off, with a notice stuck on it that it was switched off by the council and should we switch it on, we might get a $75 000 fine or 6 months in prison!!! I phoned the electricity company, and they told me that it would be switched on the next day some time. What a pain ... moving and sweating, and then no aircon!!!

The moving company arrived just after 10 (we asked them not to come before 10 because we only got the keys to the house on the day). Boy were they quick! 3 Guys unloaded all our stuff and placed the furniture where we wanted it, removed the wrappings and took it back with them. That all took about 1 1/2 hours. The three of them managed fine with the pianos (9 guys in South Africa almost dropped it!) It was so nice to see all our stuff again after 10 weeks! The delivery from "The Good Guys" came at the same time to bring us our new washing machine and tumble drier and later on our bed got delivered, and the diningroom chairs.

The container arriving:

The guys unloading:

The most amazing thing was Jessica. Just after Elize dropped us off, I put Jessica's camping cot in her new room and made her bed for her. 5 Minutes later Jess started crying next to her bed, so I put her in with a dummy and tea ... thought she would just play a bit. In no time she was fast asleep! Even before the container arrived. She only woke up when everything was delivered, so that was great!

The chaos:

Later on a handyman arrived to mow the lawn (the previous tenants left it long, so the rental agent sent someone out to cut the grass). Cool guy, said "No worries mate, just flip the switch on and switch it on in the mornin'. They'll never know!" So he flipped the electricity switch on. At first I didn't want to use electricity, but the aircon felt sooooo good! Thank goodness, I don't know how we would've survived the night without aircon and fans!

Brett spent the rest of the day assembling Ryan's new bed. The instructions said that it would take 2 men 2 hours, and it took Brett alone 4 hours to do that. After that he assembled the dining room chairs and our bed. Quite a job!

The finished product: Just for kids, right?

... Wrong!!! ...

When I fetched Ryan from school, he was super excited to find his rubbish truck. It was in the container. Took me about an hour to find it, and then he was happy!

We were very brave to organize a birthday party for Ryan on the Saturday ... and started to realize that the next day. Especially when more people said YES than we expected! By Friday the house was still chaotic, but Brett did wonders in the 2 hours I was at the shops to buy party stuff. I couldn't believe it was the same place when I walked in ... boxes gone (okay all shuffed in the garage!), furniture moved, HOME! On Friday night we cleaned up the spare bedroom, a very good thing that we did!

So, the day of the party arrived ... overcast and rainy! About 10 friends from Ryan's class RSVPed, most with a brother or sister. And Gert, Elize, Christiaan and Noelle. Surprisingly it all worked out well. It was hectic, and I don't have a clue how many people and kids there were, but Ryan had a good time with his friends. When everyone left, one lady (Lee Anne) stayed behind and helped clean up while her 2 kids played with Ryan. They're from South Africa, now in Ausralia for 7 years, but moved to Brisbane only last year from Melbourne. We invited her and her family (including her parents who are staying with them) to join us for a barbie later. Thomas, Ilona, our friends from the gold coast, and their boys also joined us and ended up staying over for the night.

Waiting for the birthday boy to blow out the candles:

Hufff ... and puff ....

Kids playing in Jessica's room:

Kids playing in Ryan's room:

Brett's braai (barbie):

On Sunday we just relaxed! Slept until about 08:30, made breakfast and chatted to our friends. In the afternoon Brett and Ryan went for a cycle around the block, came back to get me and Jess ... a kangaroo about 50 m from our house!

Monday I had a job interview, went really well! Small company about 5 km from the cbd, so quite far from our house. Started by a South African 20 years ago. That was so nice to have an interview with a Souh African (or ex SA?) ... with the economic crisis so many people are unemployed, so I have this guilty feeling that I'm taking a job away from an Aussie. But not in that interview. The job is for ASP.Net web developer with strong sql skills, exactly what I am. They invited me for a second interview next week Monday with the development manager (also a South African). Hold thumbs! Not the ideal job, it's far away! Took me about 40 minutes to get there in normal traffic. But we need the money, so I can't afford to be picky. The plus is that they offer flexible hours!

Our phone line just got connected, so we'll have internet in the next week. Then, I promise, I will upload some photos of the house, the neighbourhood, etc. And tell the stories of our adventures here in Oz!

Update : We've got internet!!! So, more updates will follow soon!
The job interview was so-so ... will have to wait and see. At least with internet we'll be able to apply for jobs again.

Our house:

Ryan dressed as a pirate, they had a pirates and fairy day at school on Friday (I have to add that he left the feather sword at home, because it's pink and for girls! Oh, and those were his words, not daddys, although daddy was VERY proud!)

Ryan and Jess playing in his room:

An update

2009-02-10T09:39:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since the previous update, but things are a bit hectic. I'm sure it will get much better from next week when we're in our house, unpacked!

Tomorrow is moving day!!! We're moving into our house in North lakes, and our container will also be delivered, as well as some other things that we've bought in the mean time ... tumbledrier, washing machine, beds, etc. Can't wait!!!

Our container has been cleared by customs and quarantine, but they found one problem ... a dirty pair of shoes! We had to choose ... destroy for $80 or let them clean it for $150. So now we've got one less pair of shoes ... I'm just happy that it has been cleared and that they'll be delivering everything on the day that we're moving into the house. Perfect!

Ryan is in school now, very close to our new house. So far he's doing okay, but it is a struggle every morning because he doesn't want to go. But it's been like that every time we changed his school. Yesterday was his birthday, and we fetched him earlier, went to the beach and tried out Brett's new kayak. Ryan was very chuffed with his new rubbish truck (thanks Nini & Papa), his excavator toy and his diving stuff (fins, mask and snorkel) We'll have a party for him this weekend at our new house, so we've got a lot of stuff to get ready before then!!!

Jess is doing great, much friendlier now that another 4 teeth managed to cut through. She's finally used to Noelle and at home here, and now it's time to move out! I'm sure she'll enjoy having her own room again.

On Thursday Telstra will install our home telephone line and our ADSL, so we will be connected soon! Unfortunately North lakes (the area we're moving to) doesn't have ADSL2, so it's just normal (slower) ADSL for us. Should still be faster than what we had in SA though.

Jobs ... not yet, unfortunately. Seems like really bad time to be job hunting, but we're sure that something will turn up soon!

I'll post updates about all our adventures in and around Brisbane soon!

Chipmunks

2009-01-23T19:57:00.001+10:00

Last Sunday we went to a place called Chipmunks. It's warehouse full of toys and slides and jungle gyms for the kids. Think Wacky warehouse on steroids!

Of course, the kids passed out in the car .............

Brisbane!

2009-01-23T19:25:00.000+10:00

The flight from Perth to Brisbane took forever! It was about 4 1/2 hours long, but with the kids awake most of the time, it felt more like 2 days. When we arrived in Brisbane we were greeted by Gert, and with a lot of effort we managed to squeeze ourselves and our baggage into his Hyundai Terracan.

When we arrived at their house in Rothwell, about 30 minutes north of the CBD, Elize was there to welcome us with home made (of course) Bobotie, complete with Mrs Balls chutney! The evening Gert and Brett went out to watch a 20 0ver cricket game between SA and Aus.

The next day the hunt for a car started (Gert took the day off work to show us around) ... After driving around and looking at a lot of second hand cars, we decided on a Mitsubishi Outlander, 2007 model, with the remainder of the guarantee. It's a 4x4, but is more like a station wagon. So far we're loving it! The last thing we expected was to buy a car in Afrikaans, but that's exactly what happened! The sales guy pickup up on our accent and started chatting in Afrikaans! We paid a bit extra to get the windows tinted to keep some of the harsh Aussie sun out (it really helps a lot!)

This is our car, sexy isn't it?

Gert and Elize's house

Next thing on the list was to find a rental property. Boy, what a mission! The suburb that I researched and decided on was North lakes, with a very popular state school, nice new houses and lots of parks. Unfortunately a lot of other people also loved the suburb. After phoning a lot of agents we decided to expand the area and look at other suburbs. We saw a couple of crappy rentals, small houses, tiny properties and huge price tags! On Sunday I found 2 rentals in North Lakes with inspection times on Monday. That's basically like "show" days, except that the show is only for 15 minutes and a whole bunch of people rush through the house. It's also not a first come first serve like in SA. You must fill out an application and the the agent will approve you (it works on a 100 point system where you have to supply a couple of documents to identify yourself) I made a bunch of copies of our passports, visas, ID books, driver's licenses, tenant reference, reference from the lawyer that transferred our house in SA, letter from the bank stating our bank balance (because we didn't have jobs), car registration paper, etc. Well, on Monday we saw the 2 houses, loved them both and applied. And on Wednesday we got the good news that we were approved for one of the houses! It wasn't our first choice, but the area is stunning! Very close to a park with a gas braai overlooking a lake. There are currently tenants in, so we can only move in on 11 February.

For some reason I can't find a picture of the house, but it's really not spectacular from outside. For me the area is the best thing about the house.

Ryan hasn't been able to start creche yet, because we're waiting for a reference number from Centrelink for family assistance. Apparently they can't take him in without that. He is devastated and can't wait to start school. His creche, Sesame lane is about 1 km from our new house. They don't have space for Jessica at the moment, but she will be on a waiting list.

I will post more news soon! Thanks for reading, we miss everyone at home, but are having a great time here. Things are still hectic.

Oh, Brett and I both passed our learners driver's license today! Now we want to go for a lesson before doing the practical driving test!

Lots of love,

Linda

2009-01-23T16:40:00.000+10:00

Margaret’s River.

We booked 3 nights in a house in Margaret river about 300 km south of Perth. Not knowing much about Aus we didn’t know what to expect, but boy were we surprised. The drive down was amazing, watching the scenery change from mostly sandy soil and bushy trees to rocky area's with tall beautiful tree's definitely got us in the mood for holiday. Many times on the trip I could have sworn we where back in SA, the scenery is very similar.

We first got to a town called Busselton. And one thing Busselton has is a long jetty, kind of their tourist attraction. So off we went to walk down this jetty, when we got there the first thing we noticed were the beaches WOW, they're unbelievably beautiful, bright blue and crystal clear, and they go on for ever.
The jetty is long and you have to pay to walk down it (I thing $2) but it looks well worth it, so we started walking down to the end......and we walked.......and walked.......and walked.....and when we felt that we could walk no more! We walked some more. Eventually we reached the end crawling on our hands and knees, pushing a pram and carrying a very ungrateful kid on our shoulders only to find a little shop that have guided tours down to the sea floor with a windowed concrete pillar about 18m in diameter. We couldn’t go on the tour because we had to book, but we where allowed to walk back :) the jetty they say is 1.841km long, but they lie, its spans 2 time zones and you will need your passport at least once.

I would compare Margaret’s river to a little Afrikaans Paarl mixed in with English Knysna, it has a very beautiful vineyards and AMAZING beaches. The whole place has a holiday town feel to it, and allot of rich Aussies buy property there to holiday in or rent out.

The house we stayed in was awesome, a 2 bedroom place with a fire place and wooden floors, the property is surrounded by tall tree's so dense you cant see the road next to you. We used this bunker as our base of operations while we explored the area. The first beach we went to was directly west of the town and WOW, the water is crystal clear with this shallow rock out cropping that lies about 10 cm under water and expands out for about 100m. The surfers use it to launch into the sea. The sand is soft and
We were also able to snorkel just of the beach and surroundings looked just like the Capes "fynbos".

We also went and visited some wine farms but not before we went to a brewery. They make a beer there that is 7.1% and called the Raging bull. What’s nice about all these places is they catered for the kids, and almost all of them have quite elaborate jungle gyms to entertain them.
The wine farms are all very scenic and the wine is very tasty, and it got more tasty the more vineyards we visited.

The 4 days we spent in Margaret’s river went so quickly but they were worth it and I’d go back anytime.

Fremantle

2009-01-19T14:37:00.000+10:00

The next morning (Wednesday 7 Jan) we spent walking around in Fremantle, Ryan also had his first (unplanned) swim in the sea.

Fremantle was established in 1829 as a port for the fledgling Swan River Colony and was the major city in Western Australia for much of its early history.
It was the first port of call in Australia for many migrants and visitors and today Fremantle sustains a rich mixture of cultures and nationalities.
Fremantle is Western Australia's major commercial port and handles the majority of the State's imports and exports.

This is the round house:

The Round House is the oldest remaining building in Western Australia. It was built as a gaol and was the first permanent building in the colony.
It was designed by HW Reveley, the colony's first civil engineer, and built in 1830 - 1831. The Round House had eight cells and a gaolers residence which all opened up into a central courtyard.
Bay whaling was carried out from Bathers beach below the Round House. As part of the whaling operations a tunnel was constructed under the Round House to provide whalers with access to the town from the jetty and bathers beach.
When the first convicts arrived in 1850 the Round House was inadequate to house them so the convicts built a new goal which was completed in the 1850's and continued to be used as Fremantle prison through until 1991.
The Round House was not used as a prison when, in 1886, convict establishment became the responsibility of the colonial government. Instead, the Round House was used as a police lock-up through until 1900. It then became the living quarters for the chief constable, his wife, and their ten children.
The Fremantle City Council took over responsibility for the Round House from 1982 when the headland was vested in the city. The building was opened to the public soon afterwards and can now be viewed seven days a week.
A team of volunteer guides who are on duty at the Round House during opening hours.

Round house punishment:

Perth - day 3

2009-01-14T22:34:00.000+10:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I've made a post, so here's a summary of what we did in Perth on day 3.

To pick up from my last post, the next day we went back into the city, just me, Brett and the kids this time (the previous time we were accompanied by Collin's parents), caught the bus, then the train and walked to the bank to activate our new bank account.

This is Ryan playing in the park close to the bus station:

Brett and the kids in the train (or the bus??? They look the same inside ...)

Ryan in the bus/train:

Brett and Jess:

After we went to the bank, Collin phoned and told us to meet him on the south so that we could go to the zoo together. To get there, we had to go over the Swan river with a ferry.

Here's Brett showing Ryan jellyfish from the jetty while waiting for the ferry:

Remarkable the mom's and babes on the ferry, and the space provided for us!)

On the other side of the river Ryan played on this jungle gym. There are a lot of parks in Perth, all with wonderful jungle gyms, but all different.

This is the view back to the city, lovely isn't it!

The zoo was lovey, I was really impressed with the exhibits. It is much smaller than Pretoria zoo, but worth going, especially to pet the cangaroos. The following photos were taken at the zoo...

We've arrived!

2009-01-05T21:23:00.000+10:00

The flight:

The flight was good and comfortable, or as comfortable as you can expect with two kids ...
Jessica slept most of the time, I gave her something to sleep and am I glad I did! Ryan was so impressed with the in-flight entertainment, he watched movies and played games until we told him to sleep, after about 4 hours.

Perth - day 1:

Arriving at Perth was a bit hectic, going through customs, passport control. It was nice to be bumped to the front of the queue because we had two kids (that happened at OR Tambo as well, we went through the assisted passengers queue at passport control!) Customs was fine, they didn't ask to see the medicine that we declared, were concerned about food but we didn't have any. Asked to see a wooden box carved out of wood by Brett's great grandfather, but didn't have a problem with it.

Collin fetched us with his Prado and thank goodness ... it had enough space for all our stuff!! 9 pieces of checked-in luggage and 5 pieces of hand luggage!

Perth is beautiful, but hot and there are flies. Little flies that are quite lazy! A couple of times a waved my hand around my face to get rid of them and managed to smack it!

Yesterday afternoon after a nice swim in Collin's pool, we went to the city and walked around. Unfortunately we forgot to take the camera.

Last night was okay, Jessica went to sleep around 9 (the sun sets around 20:30!), but woke up around 11, happy and chatty after her "afternoon nap". Ryan is a bit rattled, I think he expected to see his friend Christiaan, but we're only going to Brisbane next week. But when we fell asleep we slept until 9 this morning when Collin's mom woke us up.

Perth - day 2:

Today we explored Perth city, got there with the bus and the train. Collin had to work, but his mom and dad were kind enough to show us around. We were supposed to go to the Commonwealth bank to activate our account by going there in person with our passports, but I was clever enough to leave our passports at home ... oops! So we'll go again tomorrow!

The bus service is great! Nice, new and well maintained busses with air-con, what a pleasure! There is a bus stop a short walk from Collin's house and a bus runs past every 15 minutes. The train was also excellent, clean, fast. Always space to put a pram or for a wheelchair. We walked around in Perth central, I'll post photos later. Had lunch in the food court, it's got chairs and tables in middle and lost of fast food places around, so you order what you want, get your food and sit in the communial area to eat. Very nice! When I went to the bathrooms to change Jessica's nappy I found a stunning changing room with a comfy couch, microwave, changing station. Very nice! They really do cater for kids! There are lovely parks with jungle gyms everywhere! (Not in the city, but in the suburbs)

Tomorrow we'll have to go back to the bank, and afterwards we'll meet up with Collin and his parent to go to the zoo! Can't wait!

We're enjoying it here, I'm really relaxed ... we're on holiday! Miss my friends and family though.

Countdown ....

2008-12-03T20:07:00.000+10:00

Can't believe it, one month and then we're flying to Perth!

Last week was hectic, Biddulphs packed our stuff and the container on Tuesday and Wednesday, luckily they were able to fit more into the container than we thought. It should be on the ship by Friday 5 December and might arrive as soon as 5 January in Brisbane! We're only arriving on 13 January in Brisbane, so we must find a house as soon as possible.

At the moment we're staying in a guest house, nice little self catering place with 2 bedrooms. Minah comes in every day to look after Jessica, we must enjoy her while we can! Soon we'll have to do our own laundry! This weekend we're going to visit Jaco and Naudine on the farm and on Sunday we can move into a friend's house where we'll stay until the 3rd of January.

The kids seem okay, Ryan is fine with everything and very happy that the guest house have got a swimming pool! Jessica just struggles a bit to fall asleep, but other than that she's also fine.

Brett and I are both working until 12 December. After that we can spend time with friends and family to say the goodbyes ...

Jessica

2008-10-03T18:04:00.001+10:00

We went to the cardiologist about a month ago and finally got some good news with regards to Jessica's heart defect. There was a slight improvement! She will still need a heart operation to correct the ASD, but it's not urgent. Initially the cardiologist said that we should operate between 12 and 18 months, but we can now wait until she's about 4 years old. At that time it might be possible to do the operation with a catheter and not open heart surgery!!! Excellent news!

She is really doing fine, walking now ... full of energy. Thankfully no symptoms of the hole in her heart.

We'll see a pediatric cardiologist when we get to Aus ... they're building a brand new children's hospital in Brisbane!!!

Big plans

2008-10-03T17:57:00.000+10:00

We've booked our plain tickets ... we're leaving on 3 January 2009, going to Perth. There we'll spend some time with our friend Collin. On 13 January we're flying to Brisbane. That's when the work will start ... finding a house, a car and jobs. Schools for the kids, so many things to do!

Our container will probably be packed end of November so that we won't be without furniture for too long in Australia. In December we'll be staying in someone's house who will be on holiday for the whole month. So that should work out fine.

We're really stressing about the whole decision and the big move at the moment, I think because everything is happening so slowly we've got too much time to thing about the big move. That makes it more difficult ... it's like pulling a plaster of painfully slow!

We are going to miss our friends and family so much, and the kids their grandparents. Sometimes I really wonder if we're doing the right thing. It was so much easier to talk about it before it became a reality.

Visa granted!!!

2008-03-25T03:18:00.000+10:00

On Tuesday, 18 March 2008, I received an e-mail from Australia to notify us that our visa has been granted on 17 March 2008!!! I couldn't believe it ... the wait is over! Now we have to plan our first entry holiday!!!!!

Things happen for a reason

2008-02-28T19:05:00.000+10:00

So, up to now I've been a little bit upset because I've been looking forward to the move to Australia ... and then Brett got a nice work opportunity and we decided to stay for another year.

My daughter, Jessica, was born in August 2007 with a large ASD (hole in the heart). According to the cardiologist this would increase her risk of getting pneumonia if she gets the RS Virus (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) - a major cause of respiratory illness in young children. The cardiologist motivated for the synagis injections, used to prevent serious lower respiratory tract (lung) disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children at high risk of RSV disease. These injections will be given once a month for 5 months at a cost of approximately R17 000 per injection! Today I got the good news that the medical aid decided to pay for these injections!

So, looks like we're staying here a bit longer for another reason ... and not just Brett's new job opportunity. We can also then have Jessica's heart operation done here in South Africa, maybe the best option.

Waiting for our visa

2008-02-21T22:43:00.000+10:00

We are in the final stages of our Skills independent visa (subclass 136) for Australia

Here's our timeline so far:

ACS Skills Assessment: 6 November 2006
IELTS: 13 January 2007

PR Visa 136 (Non MODL):
Posted: 2 July 2007 Via Postnet
Received: 10 July 2007
Receipted: 15 August 2007
Acknowledged: 18 October 2007
Apply for baby passport: 7 November 2007
CO Assigned: 6 December 2007
Applied for PCC: 11 December 2007
PCC Ready: 16 January 2008
Collect baby passport: 16 January 2008
Collect PCC: 24 January 2008
Medicals: 28 January 2008 (R2840, 2 adults, 2 kids - Hatmed)
E-mail baby passport, medicals receipt and PCCs: 28 January 2008
Baby Cardiologist Report Faxed: 4 February 2008
Medicals Couriered: 6 February 2008
Medicals Delivered: 11 February 2008 (Signed for by James)

At the moment we're just waiting to hear whether or not they are going to grant our visa, but it might still be a while because the LCU (Local Clearance Unit) have got a backlog of 10 weeks, and they are the ones who have to approve the medicals.

Hopefully we'll hear soon!