lp77 Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 Oh well, taken a while but here's a wee update. Flights were fine despite delayed leaving Edinburgh, missed connection so night in hotel and landed in Brisbane 24hrs later.... organised our container to be packed 17th/18th December for it to leave UK on 21st December... Also delayed.. It never left till 31st December and got caught a few times on the way here but it arrived 11th March.... My friends all said Scotland didn't want to let us go... dont know if it's easier or harder coming with an Aussie as some stuff they know inherently but having in laws to leave 1/2/3 kids helped as what children like going round government offices lol. i had old Medicare and tfn from whv 15yr ago so all merged, still to find my old super... hubby had bank account and we used that for a number of weeks till I remembered there was a time limit before you needed more id.. Went with no fee account at nab, very easy to open. The exchange rate has declined since our house sale went thru... Since boris and ids put in their opinion. Honestly house sold Friday and bores spoke out that weekend... Oh well make sure your signatures at the bank are up to date.. Our chaps payment was refused as signature was different, thankfully moneycorp let us move some money .. took longer getting a rental than expected but had few weeks not paying rent as at in laws and their timeshare. Then stayz booking.com and last minute we used for a few weeks till got house in robina. We were offered one initially but no garden... Not why we came to Oz. Thankfully we did stay in other places as 4walls and empty cupboards wouldn't be much use.. In lovely area now with park and ducks nearby. Walking distance to aldi ? kids-all v shy starting school but school 3times bigger than UK school.... Similar class sizes tho. Oldest girl (9) went into yr 4 and is blossoming and walks up herself to class, thankfully Santa brought her an iPod touch to keep in touch with her friends in UK and has been lovely hearing her chatting to them occasionally. Surprisingly she doesn't seem to miss them too much but sometimes. She is at gymnastics and swimming every week. The school has been so good as she has type 1diabetes so v switched on and proactive compared to UK school. She is happy to not be the only child with diabetes. middle daughter (8) yr 3 has had her moments.. She has felt it worse, wish Santa had got her a touch instead of the nano she asked for... The heat really got to her she feels unlucky since being here... Has fallen and hurt both ankles, one we eventually got xrayed just in case. Also swimming and gymnastics but also doing art after school, I sat in for one full lesson at the beginning to get her to stay. Hopefully the next few months will let her enjoy it more. Since in one place she more settled and got wooden cupboards we have let her put her art work on. She loves pool and beach.. youngest boy (6) yr 1, shy first day but really found a few friends and goes off to play soccer before first bell at school with them. Not doing anything after school atm as he says 'it won't be like Scotland...' Us -we bought land to build on so been trying to organise that too... More stress but it's what we came for so hubby wanted that to be started before he went to work but builders are slow... hubby set up abn and will do contracting. Assuming Brisbane where he will work, planning to train up but some roles are in gc so fingers x. Me im a nurse so may go to uni briefly... The registration year starts in June so will wait till May to register and hopefully it doesn't take too long. groceries feel expensive esp starting from scratch but buy what you can afford.. Bought a car, went round and round , had hired a car for 4weeks and extended it for a couple of weeks until we picked up our car Nissan xtrail love it and was the first thing we bought and was so nice not to be borrowed... Insurance-total rip off paying ctp with rego and then fully comp, I think it's a great idea to have ctp but if you buy insurance it should be refunded... contents insurance online comparisons but just chose one seemed reasonable cost.. Felt like holidays for a while and still feels surreal. Have had a few down moments esp when kids sad but surprised I haven't felt more homesick... Waiting for it to hit in... Shouldve brought more hangers.... Insurance for marine /shipped items hint add on the excess to the value and don't leave it to last minute to do paperwork as we rushed it and unfortunately our bedroom furniture all busted underneath... Obviously a bad design but packers should have protected it better I think.. And we'll be out of pocket to replace. We thought our packers were fab till we unpacked.. Lamp shades bashed photos and books bent.. Ornament missing.. Shoes packed together, TV in beside clothes and no fragile sticker on box.... Thankful to in laws for picnic set and pot and bed linen/towels and cutlery when we moved in to rental prior to container arriving.. Bought blow up beds and bean bags for kids. soo glad to have our own stuff now but v creative using oven, one pot and one frying pan... Never had takeaway the first week which I expected when no stuff. Kids also don't like the chocolate, sausages, gravy or mince.... Getting better, just trying things when they are on offer... Had nearly a full week without a 'I don't like that' shop around for white goods and try to organise from same place to minimise delivery charges. Look at the shop a dockets on back of receipts and at the bottom use vouchers... dont expect fast food to be fast lol.; also Internet and mobiles are better than 15yrs ago but leaves a lot to be desired. Huge expense for v little... I wonder what would have happened to the Mobile phone industry if crazy john had not died.. Everyone been lovely but miss friends. I've kept my UK Mbl running atm as it gives me freedom to call/txt parents too whenever. Cant belive first term is over but looking forward to holidays with the kids. Organising a couple of play dates so hopefully it all works out. my parents coming out in 6weeks sooner than I expected /wanted but will be so good to see them and my sister coming in July... Anyway i I will stop rambling on and get to bed... Need to convert to Aussie time, bed early and up at 5am.... One of these days ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Good to hear you arrived safely, the bit about kids and food made me chuckle as my youngest was like that, now (after a few years) Aussie food is the norm, so expecting a few 'i dont like that' as we are dribbling over food we missed when we head back to the UK for a few weeks later in the year,lol. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jodipodi Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Lovely post, nice to read people's arrival reports I imagine it's always exciting even in the midst of the stresses of things that take us out of our comfort zones... Wishing you well xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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