Moving in!

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

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

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!

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

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

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: