paisleylass

My top tip: be careful when the cover is off the skimmer box. Don't do what I did, and step backwards into it after chucking the leaves out of the basket. That got me a visit to the ED, a diagnosis of bad ankle sprain and weeks of pain

Apparently I was the third person the ED had seen that week pulling such a stunt!!

Oo I am blonde and not sure about saltwater - there's just a bottle of chlorine in the shed where the pump is, but I did taste salt when I got a gobful of water!

It's heaven, as a heavy pool user, having the freedom to get in whenever and not worry about how busy it is etc. i even took my first phone call in the pool today, and had my favourite radio station on

Oh, and it turns out the chemical balance was wayyy off before my pool guy hero showed up, so that was good timing! Massive alkaline level, no chlorine, cos the pump had been turned off. Had we moved in as soon as we got the keys it could have been yucky! Though I did say I'd take a sample to Bunnings before plunging in.

Big credit to Ray White Mt Gravatt, they have been amazing from arranging immediate repairs plus the pool maintenance to leaving bits and pieces like liquid soap, toilet roll, even dishwasher tablets in the house ahead of moving in! First letting agent in my life that has made the tenant feel as important as the landlord, and I say this as a landlord with 20 years experience as a tenant!

Turns out it's easy! Pool man came round Friday, showed me how to clear the basket of leaves, basic pump instructions, otherwise just get in and enjoy. Which I have twice, and will more and more as it warms up. Fab pool, perfect for aqua aerobics (after 2 years I know enough moves to carry on alone) and relaxing. At 8 metres long not great for laps but that was never my thing, I just love being in water!!

Thanks Straddy, I saw that too late But in the end we used On The Move. They were fantastic, really looked after our stuff. Only issue was we had to do two trips but that's partly our fault - we basically didn't disassemble anything at all, except the beds which couldn't possibly be removed otherwise, so the loads were very bulky. The boys were great and even knocked a bit off the price for doing two runs. Best of all they safely moved our new huuuuge fridge freezer upstairs - it had been delivered to the new address the day before by a one man crew who obviously couldn't move it up the stairs, and I had resigned it to being a laundry room beer fridge in my head!

We would use On The Move again, and the hourly rate is a good bit less than Mini Movers!

Mmm might use the train to get to the airport when we fly to Melb next month. No more $30 taxis when we're living southside!

Cheers Cal I'll check out that pool school! We did the full check of all the entry report stuff today - many pages!! - and so found some of the pool equipment. The pump also seems to control chlorine, maybe the chemicals are dosed automatically. I can't see how to control the temperature of the solar heating - I stuck my feet in and it seemed unheated. But I did make a nice last-minute discovery when checking all the light switches (there are LOADS!) - the pool lights up a lovely blue colour. I am super excited, will honestly be using the pool a lot, I have even bought a harness for pretend distance swimming! I plan to get in as soon as we're moved and get all the leaves out

Ooo sounds easy enough! The entry condition report gives a phone number for the maintenance company, I may give em a buzz tomorrow and find out when the next visit is due

A screenshot I took from the rental listing before it was removed!

Not too far, our street is quite hilly and you can see the mountain really well from the far end, but our place is lower down so can't see it so well. Still, with a huge balcony both at the front and back of the house we should get some nice sunset/rise views

Our current place has been great for the 3 years we've been here, but the next house is a huge upgrade! I even get free baths thanks to the solar hot water, never bothered here as it's a huge bath and costly to fill! And the extra rent is all covered by the pay rise I got when unexpectedly promoted - win!

So we have the keys to our new rental and move in fully in a few days yay! There is a swimming pool, looks new and immaculate, has solar heated water, there's an automatic cleaner in it. Rent includes monthly maintenance which is great. But what about the day to day? The obvious one is I need to fish out the leaves, there are heaps of beautiful bamboos nearby and already a lot of leaves have blown in. But what about chemicals, and how often? Can I top up with water from the rain tanks?

I can't wait to get in the damn thing, it will be bliss after moving all our stuff, but am a bit concerned the chemical balance may be off by the time we move in!

Well I booked a removalist in the end - On The Move whose rate falls nicely between the pricey Mini Movers and the unrealistically cheap Riverbank. They allow us to help and it sounds like they won't want to hang around and muck about as there'll be other jobs to get to, we get them first thing, 8am saturday.

We have taken 4 ute loads already, will do another 2 today, and it truly feels like we've made progress. If we are organised by saturday morning I reckon the whole thing should only take about 3 hours. I hope so - can't wait to get settled, I love the place already!

Always a good time in Byron even if the wackier backpackers can be a bit annoying! Seen The Inbetweeners 2? The brewery we visit for food and drink at night is part of the backpackers complex featured in that film but we stay at the Lord Byron resort which is a bit more civilised!

Reminds me we were just talking about going for a Twixmas break in Byron, maybe with some pals. Must look into that!

Hey calngary that would save heaps too I'm sure... Just nervous about moving all the heavy stuff, and moreso about packing correctly to avoid breakages!

wish hubby's company was paying for it like our last big move

Oh and the little fella in my avatar there is rapt with all these cardboard boxes around, it's like one big kitty adventure playground for him!! Will be interesting to see how the full move goes, he's a real escape artist and getting him in his carrier is a nightmare since he had a rough time at the vets...

Thanks folks, got some serious thinking to do.... Hubby is edging towards a self-move whereas I think we should suck it up and hire the beefy boys to do all the work! I want it to be as quick and stress free as possible, time and comfort are my priorities heehee.

I see the mini movers depot is in Logan so would take a while to get to Chermside but nit bad at the south end. Still, $179/hour arghhh!! Chortlepuss, as your moving technique is similar, how long did mini movers take to load and unload? I like the fact they encourage clients to help and save time.

Johndoe thanks, if hubby wins and we go self-move I may be after your advice, just nervous about glass cabinets breaking and stuff.

Hi, we are relocating to another rental in a couple of weeks and need a careful and fast (not rushing, just not taking the p1ss messing about) removalist! I'm considering Mini Movers as they apparently let you help load and unload, but they have the highest hourly rate I've seen!!

We'll be moving most of the boxes and small items ourselves, as we have use of a ute, in advance. On the day we just need to move the large, heavy items - beds, fridge freezer, washing machine, couch, tallboys and a few other bulky bits.

Any advice appreciated!

ETA if it helps we're moving from Chermside in the north to Mt Gravatt in the south, about a half hour drive.

Sweet! Lots of orange bags... Sainsburys is very close by if I recall

By the way, that's the only open home we've been to that only one other couple turned up to, most get at least 5 parties, perhaps better local knowledge (we live 5k away currently) put off most potential tenants.

Yesterday we went to view a rental and had already completed the application, part of which was a signed statement that we had inspected the house in person and would pay the deposit and move on xxx date. It looked great on the photos, but when we turned up there was a gardenful of bogans next door blasting doof doof music, the house in front also emitting a dull bassy-y music noise, which could all be heard throughout the large interior of the house we inspected. Pool area was overlooked by 4 houses, absolutely no privacy, and the 'enclosed' backyard had a crazily low fence so no good for our cat.

I can't stress enough how vital it is to inspect the property in person. The photos in listings are selective and fail to show the whole picture, and give away nothing about noise and neighbour behaviour.

We have one, the $200ish X500 that's always being punted through groupon etc though we bought it from oo.com. It's pretty good, especially with cat hair, but we have a lot of obstacles in our cramped home and it hates rugs and gets trapped or stops dead when it encounters one. No issues with open, hard floor areas though so helps to keep on top of kitty moulting issues.

It does discharge quickly when not in use, so need a very recent charge-up to function. We are not big on leaving any appliances running/charging/on standby while at work so it can be a pain waiting for a fresh charge.

At first cat was really wary of the robot (I have video evidence!), but now he'll just sit eating his biccies while the robot nudges his bum before turning and cleaning elsewhere.

Only flown to NZ with them. Won't go via Dubai ever. Wifi was ridiculously expensive. Sounds cheap but if you buy xmb for $x it runs out fast. For a brand new A380 the toilets were disgusting, dirty and smelly. Would't consider flying more than a 4 hour flight with them!

Congrats best of luck with it now!

 

Can you tell us what date your application was submitted?

Full timeline is a few pages back, we applied on 22 March. Biggest hold-up was the UK police checks - what a palaver!!

Just had our PR visas granted! Ecstatic to say the least and we're both off work today. Let the celebrations begin!

Thanks to all for information and good luck wishes

Absolutely yes, it's a pain in the behind to do it from Aus!!