Six months in The Alice NT

[sussex boy]

Hi all, sorry not to put pen to paper in a while, had a very busy 6 months and have just popped on only a couple of times. We now have net and pc at home.

Flight, Quatus to Singapore, smoke break and into Melbourne, long and boring, quick shower then Melbourne to The Alice, around three hours or so. Knackered and glad to arrive.

Met at airport and dropped of at one the the five star hotels in town, lots of sleeping for a day or so, company paying so had everthing on the menu!

Job, working for a large garage group in town, straight into work while Mrs looked for rentals. Turns out there is a housing shortage in the NT and rentals are very hard to find and expensive, a word to the md and strings pulled helped a lot there,

Place, surrounded by mountains and above sea level by a way, was chilly when we arrived in August, colder than the summer we left behind. Should of brought a jumper.

People, a mix of ozzies, south africans and aboriginals, good choice of food and have been invited to some interesting bar b qs!

So far so good? Well mostly, we remain on 457, medicals done( very cheap here compared to the UK) Rsms being proccesed now so future is looking up. I work even harder here than I did the UK, upsides are the money is better, We don`t live in an apartment, we live in a house, we are expecting our first child so lots happening at the moment!

After losing sponsorship to Carins a year back and trying over 100 other garages I am glad we made the move, The Alice is a bit tougher than most major cities, distances to everwhere are long etc. Some wonderful scenery and some( but not all) good people have made the last 6 months rush past for both of us. Regular postcards and phonecalls and general support from familly have made it all easier. Still lots to see and do when time allows. Spent Christmas at kings canyon resort which is lovely and went to the Rock on the same trip, 1600km travelled in 42c temps , amazing how 30c seems cool after a couple of summer months!

Bye for now, will keep you all posted
ps, allmost zero unemployment here, if you want a job you can have one, and lot of firms willing to talk sponsorship

[janine the party queen]

We spent xmas in Alice.What a place it is.Stunning scenery,loved Simpsons Gap.It was just too damn hot and too touristy for me.I could not get over how busy every where was,the roads were mad,so many cars.Quite surprised at the security guards on the doors and there was quite a big police presence as well.

[PommyPaul]

good on ya mate :D enjoyed reading that! hope life keeps looking after you out there :)

[furkew]

congrats on the "bump" and great to hear that is all going well, and good luck with the next 6 months.

Still not had the chance to get to the Alice, but its on my bucket list