Geraldton WA, two weeks in!

[orlaandjoe]

Hey everyone! Hard to believe but we have been here almost two weeks now..and we are absolutely loving it so far! Flew with Singapore Airlines and they were amazing..fabulous service, food and entertainment and to top it all of our six year old slept for nine hours of the twelve hour flight from London to Singapore!Flight from Singapore to Perth was fab too. Arrived to lovely sunny heat in Perth on 31/1/12 and went to a hotel in Belmont to spend the night there, as the thought of another flight that day would have been the end of us Hotel was lovely, had a little explore, got some food and hit the hay. Next day went into the city and over to Subiaco to register with AHPRA, which was very straightforward! Then we caught our fourth and final flight of our journey to Geraldton. We were collected by the woman who organised the visa for us from the hospital,who is just a fabulous and welcoming person! She took us to our beautiful (and massive!) 4X1 which my work is providing us for this first few weeks, and came back the next day to take us shopping for groceries and gave us a tour of the city. Geraldton is such a beautiful place, even nicer than we imagined, the scenery is stunning and the beaches are fabulous. And the people are unbelievably friendly, even strangers go out of their way to talk to you,welcome you and offer their help in any way they can. For example the man we bought our car from in the garage, took my partner's CV and has helped him to secure some work with a local company! Also my manager from my new job has had us round to her home twice now for BBQs and to meet people which was just fantastic. The weather has been mostly beautiful, hot and sunny with a nice cool wind, but trust us to arrive just as a cyclone hit! Although being from Ireland the rain and wind made us feel right at home! Over the next few days we got our son settled in his new school, which he is loving so far, jumping out of bed and skipping the whole way in! Bought our car (a 2002 Holden Astra), setting up our bank account, signed our son up with the local soccer team..and a million other things i can't think of right now :) We also managed to secure a beautiful long term rental in a lovely area..we went to the viewing day and there was probably around twenty other people there and we thought "we have no chance of getting this house", so we were delighted to get a phone call to say our application was sucessful! Moving in Monday week, so excited to be able to settle in and make it feel like our home. We just love everything about the place so far, there seems to be so much to do for families, a great variety of shops, also some beautiful restaurants and coffee shops (eating out a little too much lol). I am starting work at 7 in the morning and I am so so nervous but at the same time excited to get started. I had a tour of the hospital last week and met some of the other midwives who were very nice, so that helped! We are missing family and friends but it is so much easier than we imagined to keep in touch with Skype every day. Well thats about it for the moment, sorry for rambling on, hopefully my post is of some help for some of you still waiting to make the move!

[kimsdu]

A great post !! Sounds like you are fitting in nicely...

[Corky80]

Hi Orla,

I was just thinkin about you yesterday- great to hear you are gettin on well, good luck with the job tomorrow I sure you'll be fine, I'm still waiting on APHRA- gettin a little frustrated as I just want to book our flights now!!

Let us know how the job goes,

Take care,

Orla

[Benmx]

Great post!! Hopefully heading to Geraldton in May/June, depending on arrival of visa!!!
Reading this has really made me excited about the move and can't wait now!
Heading over with two kids, so was delighted to see your little lad has settled so well!
Hope things continue to go well and you enjoy your new job!!

[Dani251]

Your story just made my heart melt! I needed that! (we're sooooo stressing right now with the big move - chaos!lol)...

It sounds amazing! Enjoy every minute! Can't wait to see it too!


Dx

[orlaandjoe]

Hi Orla,

I was just thinkin about you yesterday- great to hear you are gettin on well, good luck with the job tomorrow I sure you'll be fine, I'm still waiting on APHRA- gettin a little frustrated as I just want to book our flights now!!

Let us know how the job goes,

Take care,

Orla

Hey Orla, thanks for your reply, job going great so far. I know it can be frustrating but stay on top of them and hang on in there!x

[orlaandjoe]

Great post!! Hopefully heading to Geraldton in May/June, depending on arrival of visa!!!
Reading this has really made me excited about the move and can't wait now!
Heading over with two kids, so was delighted to see your little lad has settled so well!
Hope things continue to go well and you enjoy your new job!!

Hi Benmx! that's great, best of luck with the visa process! It's definitely great so far we are absolutely loving it and my son is having the time of his life lol :) hopefully you and your family get here soon, any questions I can help with just ask!

[orlaandjoe]

Your story just made my heart melt! I needed that! (we're sooooo stressing right now with the big move - chaos!lol)...

It sounds amazing! Enjoy every minute! Can't wait to see it too!


Dx

Hey Dani! I know it's definitely soooo stressful in the last few weeks trying to organise everything but it all comes together in the end! Hope you're doing good, let me know how things are going!x

[maxi]

Aww how adorable. I feel very excited now having read that. Hopefully we will be there in the not too distant future and can experience it all for ourselves. Can't wait x

[judi]

Loving the sound of Geraldton ...OH had his 457 visa approved today ...he flies out there May 9th !! I hope to follow but no sure when tho :( :(