Can anyone relate to this?

[Guest __TJ__]

LOL yes i know the mortgage would be the same kind of thing there, BUT ( and that is a big but) we wouldnt have a £250,000 house in oz. we did well out of our first house sale and went overboard on the second house, overstretched if im honest, now we are struggling so having all that burden taken off us will be a blessing.

we have scoped out house proices in the areas we are heading to ( hopefully) and we are looking at less than half that, so the mortgage will be a heck of a lot less, but as i said we will be renting for a year probably so wont need to worry about mortgages etc for a while.

[Herbster]

Hi Rocki, TJ, Lyn, et al::

 

From a very weary Herbster: I hate days like today - I think someone left all my taps on last night & my energy levels are on EMPTY! :SLEEP: I'm forcing myself around, & I don't think there any Brazil nuts left - they are always good for improving ones mood! I'm thinking, OK - Time to Go Home, NOW! I've had enuf trying, I just want to go home - where ever THAT might be!! Be nice to go somewhere familiar - just be nice to actually go somewhere I suppose - not easy living in the middle of nowhere with no car or means of transportation! Peeps saying about how many people they see in a day, well apart from my OH, who can barely speak these days - that's it! Once in Wisconsin I actually noted I went 5 days without talking to a soul, then it was the mail man, here is pretty well the same!

 

Just be nice to pop into Dartmouth or mooch round Torquay or go to see the nice folks in my butchers & greengrocers in Corbridge - It's just too weird it being like May, yet Christmas is OUT - I hate the fact the tinsel and Father Christmases on sleighs are in the stores - it's AUSTRALIA _ for god's sake there is NO snow in OZ at Christmas - get over it!! (As my OH would say - Mr Grump that he is at the mo!)

 

I don't suppose it helps that my OH for the first 2 months we were here was really depressed; to get a smile was like gold dust, for him to show interest in ANYTHING was a major achievement - AND he was the ONE that wanted to come here - so I thought that was a bit rich lol!! And now, ever since he started his new job he's been exhausted working stupid hours, getting sick and of course having a torn ham string on top of all that - so to say he's NOT HAPPY is probably another understatement! I do feel sorry for him, poor thing, but there's really so little I can do I try what I can & today I don't want to try any more, it's too hard - maybe I need Thornton's Chocolates?!... :cry:

 

Well, better press on with the dinner - or that will be ruined & then we'll really have something to complain about! Hope no one else is feeling so Blue...

 

Love X

[Mongrel]

LOL yes i know the mortgage would be the same kind of thing there, BUT ( and that is a big but) we wouldnt have a £250,000 house in oz. we did well out of our first house sale and went overboard on the second house, overstretched if im honest, now we are struggling so having all that burden taken off us will be a blessing.

we have scoped out house proices in the areas we are heading to ( hopefully) and we are looking at less than half that, so the mortgage will be a heck of a lot less, but as i said we will be renting for a year probably so wont need to worry about mortgages etc for a while.

 

Hi

 

not being nosy but are you sayin you are lookin at £125000 houses curious cos here in perth you are taalkin $400000 around where we like nor near coast 4 to 500000 and thats for not much ps we are lookin ata 100% mortgage:sad:

 

Mally from Kally

 

M from K

[Lynandsean]

Hi Rocki, TJ, Lyn, et al::

 

From a very weary Herbster: I hate days like today - I think someone left all my taps on last night & my energy levels are on EMPTY! :SLEEP: I'm forcing myself around, & I don't think there any Brazil nuts left - they are always good for improving ones mood! I'm thinking, OK - Time to Go Home, NOW! I've had enuf trying, I just want to go home - where ever THAT might be!! Be nice to go somewhere familiar - just be nice to actually go somewhere I suppose - not easy living in the middle of nowhere with no car or means of transportation! Peeps saying about how many people they see in a day, well apart from my OH, who can barely speak these days - that's it! Once in Wisconsin I actually noted I went 5 days without talking to a soul, then it was the mail man, here is pretty well the same!

 

Just be nice to pop into Dartmouth or mooch round Torquay or go to see the nice folks in my butchers & greengrocers in Corbridge - It's just too weird it being like May, yet Christmas is OUT - I hate the fact the tinsel and Father Christmases on sleighs are in the stores - it's AUSTRALIA _ for god's sake there is NO snow in OZ at Christmas - get over it!! (As my OH would say - Mr Grump that he is at the mo!)

 

I don't suppose it helps that my OH for the first 2 months we were here was really depressed; to get a smile was like gold dust, for him to show interest in ANYTHING was a major achievement - AND he was the ONE that wanted to come here - so I thought that was a bit rich lol!! And now, ever since he started his new job he's been exhausted working stupid hours, getting sick and of course having a torn ham string on top of all that - so to say he's NOT HAPPY is probably another understatement! I do feel sorry for him, poor thing, but there's really so little I can do I try what I can & today I don't want to try any more, it's too hard - maybe I need Thornton's Chocolates?!... :cry:

 

Well, better press on with the dinner - or that will be ruined & then we'll really have something to complain about! Hope no one else is feeling so Blue...

 

Love X

 

 

 

Hi Herbster

 

Hope you are having a brighter day today and have found some Thorntons or brazil nuts....... I adore chocolate covered brazils - they always lift me) Funny I never imagined that you would have rocky days, your posts are always so upbeat and on the ball (I visualised this rock solid, really on the level sort of person and I feel really bad now for thinking that!! .. and my smilies won't work so I can't express properly........)

 

It is kinda weird how the very slightest thing too can knock you back, you can be having a great day/s, everything hunky dory etc etc and then 'something' heaven only knows what, just like a tap being turned off or on, and there you are.... rock bottom.

 

Just wanna send you the biggest hug in the hope that lifts you and PM me too if you would like......... I am on the 'up' swing again!! LOL

 

Lyn x

[Herbster]

Hi Herbster...Hope you are having a brighter day today and have found some Thorntons or Brazil nuts....... I adore chocolate covered brazils - they always lift me) Funny I never imagined that you would have rocky days, your posts are always so upbeat and on the ball (I visualized this rock solid, really on the level sort of person and I feel really bad now for thinking that!! .. and my smilies won't work so I can't express properly........)It is kinda weird how the very slightest thing too can knock you back, you can be having a great day/s, everything hunky dory etc etc and then 'something' heaven only knows what, just like a tap being turned off or on, and there you are.... rock bottom....Just wanna send you the biggest hug in the hope that lifts you and PM me too if you would like......... I am on the 'up' swing again!! LOL...Lyn x

 

Thanks Lyn: :notworthy:

 

I must admit, I'm not a moody person at all (that's my OH!!) I've never even really been a girlie-type temperamental creature either - now whether that's because I've always had to be strong & Get On w/things, (Eldest of a large gang!) or I just can't be bothered (& like HRH talk myself out of it!) or what, I don't know - but every once in a while I will feel like every thing's been drained out of me, and I think wouldn't it be lovely to be spoilt - just once, or have a treat (NO Thornton's here but I found some Brazil's & they really DO help med fact!!) Actually probably those years in a convent school with all that guilt-tripping & Oppression that went with it, makes you grateful for small mercies!!

 

I should have been Amish, or something hauling the water out the well, bringing in the wood by the armload, although I'm not much good at getting up with the lark & going to bed when it gets dark - although w/OH's crazy hours we do get to bed pretty early - virtually before the watershed!! And actually, I wouldn't have been a very good Amish woman either - I draw the line at NO indoor plumbing - what's all that about?! And then not even using buttons on your dress, holding it together with pins!? I know it's proud, but really!

 

I used to live close to a large Amish community & I'd stop over at one of their bakeries for fresh baked goods, & the girl there, her dark blue flour-dusted dress was held together with pins - I always was rather cautious eating the bread & cakes, just in case she was missing any!! And in the summer when it got real hot all the little kids used to go sleep at the top of the corn bins, as they were basically opened to the air & as obviously the Amish have no electric, consequently no A/C, the kids to keep cool would sleep out doors in the summer. I can appreciate their Life Option, but I just couldn't see the point of out-door plumbing - especially in Wisconsin where in the winter it frequently got down in the mid-20'sF BELOW ZERO, with feet of snow cover, which is damned cold to plow through in your slippered feet & in the summer in the 40's, there's austerity and then there's out right deprivation....

 

No wouldn't want to be Amish! So OH had to go back to work this morning - can you believe after helping the others do their jobs yesterday he had to work Sat am to get HIS work done! Amish or what?! So he dropped me at Salamanca & I busied myself taking loads of photos & actually treated myself to a pack of Pride of Madeira seeds... I've been dying to know what these amazing blue flowers are, & I just had this feeling they must be what you'd expect to see in Madeira - the Island of Flowers, but I thought, no! it gets too cold in Tassie for it to have similar flowers, but of course we get so much sun - you should see all the flowers out now, I don't know what they're all called but there's loads of succulents that are so gaudy they take your breath away! But anyway, that's what that blue flower is - Pride of Madeira, so I treated myself to a $3 pack of seeds, which he assured me if I get them in the next few weeks should do fine.... Fingers X'd

 

Then we went out to see our new house, which was good to do, although now it's empty it looks quite forlorn & could really do with some of these gaudy flowers to liven it up. Poor Nutmeg the pony was sure lonesome, so now I have to persuade OH that we need an all in one 4-legged lawn mower & fertilizer unit - after all we have a hunk of land & we can't let the grass grow too freely not letting the Wallabies in!! :v_SPIN: Risk of bush fire an' all!

 

Pass me the sack cloth & ashes!! Back to the grind stone... Well, least I can laugh at myself, not quite crazy yet! Nice to know we're among friends here, thanks I appreciate it - it's not always easy having no one to talk to! XxX Night, Lyn & Thanks again - just keep putting one foot in front the other...

 

X (Don't forget Herbster's a BEAR & as such he's very boisterous & Upbeat, I can't always keep up with him, but it's fun trying, I guess! Does anyone know which one he is yet?!)

 

[Guest Daisychain]

Hi

 

I totally agree with what you are saying and I so wish it was me where you are. My husband is in the joiner trade and after next week he may not even have a job and I am so scared about that as he is to he is so low and the credit crunch everywhere you go it there.

 

We are trying to sell our house to move to Oz can you tell me is there plenty work there for Joiners and that it has not been affected in some way by the credit crunch.

 

We need to money from the hosue so we can go to an agency we have been dealing with ang get on our way.

 

Thanks

Liz:sad:

[Herbster]

Hi

 

I totally agree with what you are saying and I so wish it was me where you are. My husband is in the joiner trade and after next week he may not even have a job and I am so scared about that as he is to he is so low and the credit crunch everywhere you go it there.

 

We are trying to sell our house to move to Oz can you tell me is there plenty work there for Joiners and that it has not been affected in some way by the credit crunch.

 

We need to money from the hosue so we can go to an agency we have been dealing with ang get on our way.

 

Thanks

Liz:sad:

Welcome to PIO Daisychain:

 

I'm sure it depends where're you're going but there still seems to be work around... House prices have risen here the last few years, fairly steadily, but not all areas are crazy as they were in Britain, I think the more Glam places are always going to command higher prices... My sister is in the same state - but just wants to release her equity, which is vanishing before her eyes, she's not a spring chicken, having grand kids & all, so I feel a bit guilty feeling glum when she has so much junk to put up with... Although I'm not sure about OZ, I know I AM glad we got out when we did, as the way things are going in Britain, & the way the Press hype it all up, it's making for very worrying & unsettling times....

 

I think all you can do is focus on what you do every day - with one eye on the future - perhaps if you have had your home for some years there is a chance it will have realised some improvement - but I think people have to forget about those big gains that were possible even 12-months ago, the market's readjusting itself, which means a lot of pain for some peope who were counting on making something from their property. I did hear that the Government are going to be encouraging house building in the UK, which should be encouraging news to your hubby, just so long as that translates into real help for home builders - & not just the usual rethoric...

 

You just have to find little things to cheer your self & keep positive - but it is not easy always trying to be strong, smiling when you feel like weeping and putting on a brave face when all you want to do is run scared... I'm sure your perserverance will prevail & your husband appreciates your strength - just recognise that OZ isn't necessarily the answer t o all your problems, but it may offer Opportunites & chances that the UK doesn't seem able to at the present time. Just hope your property sells & hubby keeps his job. I'm sure in the end - if you keep the Faith, everything will work out for the best... Better treat your self to a cuppa & a nice choccy biscuit - while you can!

X

[Waitingawhile]

Hi Herbster that step back eh? glad to hear you found the brazils - 5 almonds also work too especially if you try and have them every day. Dont forget having got over your cold you will be lacking in energy and low too. My family comes from Devon and I so love it Dartmouth was my Grandfathers fav place to be. We always got Beenleigh red wine for xmas/new year -it is made on the banks of the river Dart and nothing surpasses it. Bet you dont miss the traffic in high season lol trying to get about when there are lines of tourists every where it was always such a log jam. It must be so hard to keep your chin up when your OH is feeling so low and struggling with his own problems- I hope you get the live lawn mower such a healthy form of transport which means you have to get up and go even when you dont feel like it every morning- think of trekking around your new boundary yippeee! lizx

[Herbster]

Hi Herbster that step back eh? glad to hear you found the brazils - 5 almonds also work too especially if you try and have them every day. Dont forget having got over your cold you will be lacking in energy and low too. My family comes from Devon and I so love it Dartmouth was my Grandfathers fav place to be. We always got Beenleigh red wine for xmas/new year -it is made on the banks of the river Dart and nothing surpasses it. Bet you dont miss the traffic in high season lol trying to get about when there are lines of tourists every where it was always such a log jam. It must be so hard to keep your chin up when your OH is feeling so low and struggling with his own problems- I hope you get the live lawn mower such a healthy form of transport which means you have to get up and go even when you dont feel like it every morning- think of trekking around your new boundary yippeee! lizx

 

Thanks Liz! Actually in view of the vendors being a little tricky OH really doesn't want their pony; he is only a mini anyway, so just the lawn mowing, feeding, grooming, vet part would apply (even though I wouldn't mind that, I like horses, all animals, really, but... I suspect he's right, he's just naturally suspicious & these people have been quite perverse, very hard for Officials to get hold of them, etc.,They've had this pony a while & never had it's feet trimmed... It's all very over-grazed, so we're thinking probably better to let the grass grow up 1st. Get ourselves a dog, that we've wanted for 7-yrs! And then when I'm earning properly I'll find a horse/pony/Alpaca... At least next doors have ponies & a donkey (V Noisy one!) that I can say Hello! too, but it will be so great to have a dog - for keeping the possums off the apricot trees...

Yes I like almonds too. I went off them a bit when I thought they were making me ill - I like marzipan, but thought the nuts were the cause, but it was the raw egg!! I do try to eat a few Brazil's every day & I swear by them!

 

Yes S Devon is lovely. my family have a big business there, encouraging even more tourist's!! Where was your family from, are they still there? Dartmouth is lovely, & actually when I was there in May, there were some lovely new shops, but the parking is horrendous... Imagine there's even an M&S (metro) where the Co-op used to be & my Dad's in heaven now as they've just opened a Sainsbury's opp the old Helipark (with an Aldi or Lidl too), so just 5 minutes now for them to shop, no more hassling in Totnes - another, at times, even worse Nightmare....

 

You're right I never miss the crowds, the hassle, the politics of tourism! No it's weird, just some days you just plain feel old! I think the flu was very hard, even though I walked around Salamanca for only a few hours yesterday - today just putting one foot in front of the other is hard! However, it doesn't help, I suspect when I wake up at 7:15am thinking it's MONDAY, saying Oh NO! The alarm didn't go off - you're late for work! And the poor soul had gone to work yesterday as it was!! Welcome to my Mad World!!

 

Well there's certainly plenty of work to do at our new house - now we've seen it Plans can be Made! Close a day earlier, get in the carpet cleaners, me clean the kitchen & bathroom before the mover's bring our stuff over... can't wait to think about the garden too, & brightening it up with some shrubs & flowers - the flowers around Tassie are amazing now & I treated myself to a pack of Pride of Madeira seeds which do so well down here, (now I know what they are!) so will get them in as soon as we move in & the big geraniums, the possums don't seem to like them, so I'll probably have to get some!!

 

Hope you're OK? It was warm here earlier, Summer's not far away - but I'm finding this Christmas/Summer thing very incompatible!! :err:

Hugs,

X

[Waitingawhile]

I am doing ok thanks Herbster just found out my employers willing to sponsor me for permanancy and in the meantime extend my 12 mth visa to 4 years-it really spooks me to commit to this although it is what I have wanted to achieve for so long I guess it is still ealry daya and so will definitely go for it!

 

My family were from Exeter and also lived near sidmouth in south Devon for a number of years-devon is close to my heart-took my sons to north devon every year near Bideford for the surf!

 

The economy thing is scaring me a bit at the moment especially with the talk of reducing immigration numbers but i guess there wont be much of a back lash here in WA/pomsville lol!

 

you must be so excited planning for the new home and making it all truly yours.

 

it is a bit unnerving about how neglected the little pony sounds poor thing perhaps they will just leave it to you

 

lizx

[Herbster]

Well that's good news about your position Liz: whether you decide to stay 4-yrs or not is up to you NOW! You have the option! So, did you pack up everything in UK if you thought you were just here for a YR? I couldn't IMAGINE doing that! Although Spnsrd means sticking w/yr employer but if it suits you you wouldn't be thinking of moving anyway? (Are you in Health care?)

 

So do your family get to the beach now more than when you used to go to Westward Ho! - or where ever in N Dvn?! That's a weird place! I used to love going there from Somerset, as a kid, but never quite understood why my parents didn't like it that much - apart from the fact it was a beast to get to - the beach was so fab - mother hated it! The only real holiday I ever had some friends took me there for a week w/their girls staying in one of those big trailers! Brill! But, the rain on the tin roof, what a racket! (Maybe have that to look forward to again?!) I rode the beach every day, (I think the stables are still there) in the rain, in a skirt, as I didn't even have jeans in those days that's how much I loved to ride if I could! But as a town, it has no prom, not even a center & when we went there a few years ago I couldn''t believe how down at heel it was - now if peeps lived there & came to OZ, they wouldn't be saying OZ is in a Time Wrap!!

 

Moving - I spent all day packing yesterday, so I've made a bit of a dent in it, will repeat today... But there is more needs doing at the House than anticipated... People are kind of right when they say OZ is like living in the 70's, in as much as I've been in loads of different houses (also ckd out on the net) & so many have had nothing done to them since they were built - So GREAT if it was last year (hopefully) & not sooo bad if it was Turn of This Century lol!! But then you start slipping back thru' the years... and you find places like this rental - 1-power outlet per room, (have you noticed the swirl of extension cords most peeps have?!) no internal staircase to downstairs (what's that all about?!) no rads in the bedrm - BUT in the HALLWAY?? And of course no insulation, no dble glazing... Thankfully our New Home is mid 90's (still no insulation or dble glzg!) :cry: - & the kitchen as original is low quality spec - could have been Tassie Oak or something of value; I wouldn't have bought it in '95 - it was old then - so it's darn ugly now, worn out & of course with no overhead cabinets! SO I'd love to get in there & rip it all out & replace, as w/the flooring, the carpet needs to GO! But until I start earning PROPER $$$.... :cry: Gonna have to live w/it & the horrid tiles in the bathroom with the browning baskets of flowers decals...

 

But hey ho! It's ours, it'll be a work in progress I said we must look out some interesting fabrics/quilts for wall hangings as I know all that cedar (inside) will drive us nuts too!! Maybe now I know why they were only there a couple yrs! The wood drove them mad! Pony doesn't look too bad, just lonely & needs a gd groom - it gets fed alfalfa/Lucerne so is quite spoilt really! & it has pony friends nxt dr, it's just I bet it hasn't been wormed, vaccinated or feet clipped & as it's sooo over-grazed Pony will be better somewhere else - we'll get a dog first then hopefully - in the Way of the World other things will follow - at LEAST we have the space - Yes!!

 

Oz is a Strange One - you said Secret Harbour is all new - so are you actually living in a NEW house? Does it have all mod cons - apart from NO insulation & dble glzg?! How was your elec bill in the end??!!

 

Gina X

[Waitingawhile]

Hi Herbster the electric bill was ok in the end we managed not to need to take out another mortgage!

 

The house is very modern but you know I doubt the quality- my oh used to work in a kitchen factory in the uk so we always had a nice one and cheap but the ones here are jus really chip board ith no design it is so sad when the kitchen is such a focal point that they do it in crap quality stuff- the lack of plug sockets and light switches also amuses me-why build a house and not think this through?

 

Westward Ho is going up market let me tell you, they are building on the sea front lots of similar high rise flats which are blocking the view of the tradditional holidy camp sites and making the owners a mint it is becoming a boho beach bum yuppie type place on the quiet!!!!

 

The house sounds lovely it has character from what you say and needs you to bring it to life again sounds like you are going to be busy for some time.

 

I came on the years visa with the intention of going for a regional sponsored temp visa as my way in -if i liked it but........ to get to apply for perm residency and have the 4 year sponsorship too means i can stay and make proper plans and put down roots. We didnt pack everything up as i still have my sons living in my house in uk and a job to go back to -this was an adventure for the two of us and a chance to get out of the uk to see if it suited us i was convinced it would but the impact of moving across the world and starting from scratch is incredible and without my sons very hard - it is oftentimes exciting and sometimes overwhelming. i think it is the sense of belonging for me that is so much more important than i had realised. i really miss the history you have on your doorstep in the uk. However we did get to go to the immigration museum in Melbourne on our second day here - it was emotional and moving looking at the pictures nd items and seeing so many people with stories of dreams to fullfil and hardships and escapes and survival whilst at the same time the indigenous people were being displaced and controlled and duped out of their land- how recent this all was really hit me i had not appreciated the enormity of it and how raw its impact still is today.

 

Anyhow most days i feel lucky and happy to be here doing a job i love and not hearing the doom and gloom and political backbiting

 

lizx

[Herbster]

Hi Rocki: Westward Ho! with Hi-Rises? What ever next - clean sidewalks in Torquay??!! Good heavens, we were only there a couple years ago & no sign of cranes then!

 

Well, it's very disappointing to hear about your new build... See this is what I don't GET about Oz! When I lived in US, because of accidents in the past, peeps burning their homes down & being incinerated due to over-loaded wiring, laws were bought in so that homes had to have a power outlet every 6'= 2ms - it makes perfect sense, so you know any relatively modern home is going to have adequate power sockets for starters! In that country, it's anything for an easier/cheaper/more efficient life, where here it does seem to be whatever is cheapest... and that's it! But what I find hard to fathom, is with the huge influx of Brits this past 10-yrs, now so USED to having improved homes w/all MOD CONS, that improvements haven't been made just to meet their demands...

 

At least our home-in-the-round has reasonable power outlets by Ozzie standards - but everything else - kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, windows (even the surplus cedar walling) will all have to go at some point! I know it costs to Improve, but I'm not wasting my hard earned $$ on heating/cooling the outside world!

 

It is an eye-opener isn't it what our predecessors went thru to get here...

 

Just heard from my sis, my other sister's been in a head-on crash - must go - there's snow in England - in October... :no:

X

[Guest jogrant3232]

Hi all I got my 457 visa and came to WA a the end of July- it has been all I dreamed of for a number of years and yet sometime before I got on the plane I began to rebel I could not acept I was leaving the UK for good. After the main flight we had a few days in Melbourne which I loved (flying this route was cheaper at short notice) then came to WA. Well I have not been so cold in a long time at night -living in a house wih no central heating or double glazing brings you down to earth. I started a 3 month training course for a job I already have and have 9 years experience in- not being uppity just truthful!

 

No matter what I was shown or learnt I kept comparing it to the uk negatively- I was horrified at TV and the lack of Political Corectness and anyone who has seen `hole in wall` where by grown ups try to make themselves into the shape of a hole in a wall and not get pushed into a swimming pool will surely share my dismay. Anyway once we got a rental and my OH saying we will just stay for the year I then went through a process of trying to recreate my routine looking for the brands I knew -going to the hairdressers (she came from the uk early this year and does my hair as good as I have had it) and searching out english sweets - $3 for a cadburys twista bar exorionate but when you need a chocolate treat to pick you up you will pay it -the chocolate here is awful and cakes worse.

 

 

Anyway two months in and I feel a litle bit different admittedly. I now know about Rennai gas heaters (worth every penny of $550 but better to buy second hand) and every bedroom has an oil filled radiator on special from Target. I dont eat my Twistas often perhaps once every couple of weeks- I buy fresh not ready meals as they are crap! The english butcher provides the best meat ever and fish is out of this world-I have never had a bad meal out just one bad burger from a fast food outlet will be nameless-they just dont do conveniance in the way the UK does but......my bin gets emptied every week even when there is a public holiday and the green bin every two weeks for recycling as well not instead of! .....I have lost a stone........ work is so easy compared to what i was doing in the uk I can`t remember feeling so relaxed and........to my OHs delight they have drive in bottle/liquor stores (OH said they think of everything! bless), OH cooks breakfast every weekend on the barbie. I have come across some of the nicest people and once or twice the worst.

 

Reading the news I am so glad to be here and not listening to the credit crunch day in day out in the uk. Now I sort of feel in a midway place not really a full on Aussiewannabe at heart but dont want to go back to the uk either - perhaps this will continue to change as I get more and more settled but am really interesed in how other people have felt a few months in? I know some have felt quite desperate and I could really relate to this in the first few weeks- in fact I was so upset and confused initially I could not post until now when things are starting to feel a bit better. I hope this makes sense

lizx:twitcy:

Early days for me as i am just into week 2, I move up to Singleton next Monday and will be doing hairdressing myself. Hope to settle as well as you any advice will be very welcome.

[Waitingawhile]

Hope everything is ok Herbster with yur sis. let us know she is ok wont you

 

Hi JoGrant funnily enough just dropped a colleague off in singleton today it is lovely! Anything I can help with let me know although I am not an expert yet, I cant believe how fast the time has gone and it seemed like every day has been so full. if you are moving into a rental ask them if grass cutting is included and make sure you go through the house and mark down every mark scratch and fault! Hope you have a good moving in lizx

[Herbster]

Hope everything is ok Herbster with yur sis. let us know she is ok wont you...lizx

 

Hi Rocki: Thanks for your concern… We hope she’s OK, I know she gave sis#2 a fright, as she called her from the ambulance - being so far away, unable to come to her aid. Seems a young Foreign National, driving his father’s car, poss DUI, thought he was still @ home (I s’pose) being on her side of the road, giving her nowhere to go, so he hit her head on. Her airbag deployed & probably lucky she was in the BMW, as she walked out, minus shoes, but w/bag & laptop…! Taken to ER ranting & traumatized, but released (went bk to her flat) so hubby (who had driven the 200mls in short order) then drove her home in a nr blizzard… She was complaining about her head hurting so they gave her drugs, but I’ve insisted she at least get straight to her chiropractor to assess her neck/head (like me she has probs there anyway) – Just cos your not bleeding doesn’t mean your not injured! The car was totaled, but trusting she’s OK, as I’ve not heard from her…

Last wk my bro-in-law was airlifted to ER in anaphylactic shock after a hornet sting, & no one (mom) told anyone, ie: sis#2 (I have 3) who was understandbly upset, as that time she could have sat w/our youngest sis at the ER only 15 mins away… I suppose this illustrates the types of Dramas that carry on regardless of where you live, but when one is SOOOO far away, causes very mixed feelings… :wubclub:

 

[Waitingawhile]

Hi Herbster glad she is ok nothing can make up for not being there - this is what scares me but I guess you have to manage and getting there is not as hard as when our ancestors first came lol, it is just so hard not being able to respnd immediately-anyway good job for airbags I say!!! what made you choose Tassie given it is so quiet? some of the guys i am working with, clients and colleagues, see WA as the end of the world and you can see it is soul destroying for them I know I will be bored at some point too but the weather has been glorious and it is free to go out and enjoy the coast and scenery with free parking unlike the uk where every thing seems to have a price even hospital car parks!

[Mongrel]

Hi Herbster glad she is ok nothing can make up for not being there - this is what scares me but I guess you have to manage and getting there is not as hard as when our ancestors first came lol, it is just so hard not being able to respnd immediately-anyway good job for airbags I say!!! what made you choose Tassie given it is so quiet? some of the guys i am working with, clients and colleagues, see WA as the end of the world and you can see it is soul destroying for them I know I will be bored at some point too but the weather has been glorious and it is free to go out and enjoy the coast and scenery with free parking unlike the uk where every thing seems to have a price even hospital car parks!

 

Hi

 

Dont speak too soon hossy carparks here you have to pay and they are wising up to the car parks on the coast see some pay to park coming

 

Mally from Kally

 

ex Rotherham where the sun never shines only from Mcshanes arse

[Herbster]

Hi Herbster glad she is ok nothing can make up for not being there - what made you choose Tassie given it is so quiet? some of the guys i am working with, clients and colleagues, see WA as the end of the world and you can see it is soul destroying for them - the weather has been glorious and it is free to go out and enjoy the coast and scenery with free parking unlike the UK where every thing seems to have a price even hospital car parks!

Hi There Rocki:

 

Trust all is well back in UK - probly never can be certain - it's often not till sometime later that ALL the facts & the truth of matters are revealed! BUT we CAN be certain they will NEVER stop charging U to park your car in most popular places - & YIPPEEE if you're sick - then you've got no OPTION but to PAY!! (Swines!) :cry:

Tassie - well for one we don't like heat - but chking weather stats for our new locale, yesterday it was 77F - pretty well at our limit!! Earlier @ the turn of the year it was 99F - we wouldn't like that!!

P&Q(Peace & Quiet): Actually we like it quiet... but?! My OH, (much younger than me!) isn't keen on crowds, so will walk out of a place empty-handed if it's too busy!

When you've spent too many nights trying to leave Torquay having danced the night away @ Claire's, it's nice only to worry about Wallabies & possums in the road! How I like to reminisce: firstly trying to avoid the over-zealous advances of delirious, Happy Ravers, or planning my escape route to avoid the drunken ravings of distraught soccer fans, then trying to figure out how to avoid being dragged into arguments between strangers from different sides of the street, (did I look like I had an opinion?!) & I SOOO MISS having to watch where I put my feet in case someones up-chucked or otherwise relieved themselves in a shop-front doorway, pavement, toilet or the bench I'd like to sit on to eat my late night Cornnetto (NEVER could do kebabs!) then having to detour up side streets to escape the raucous renditions of Old Macdonald or some other dreadfully recited dirge, thinking perhaps a lovely walk along the seafront in the early hours would be a romantic way to end the night, spoiled by hooligans throwing whatever's to hand - maybe (with luck!) even themselves, onto the beach or water below! Oh Joy! Then, having eventually make it back to my car, hope it's still in one piece in the car park (which even at night I had to pay for!) & hope again, someone hasn't used it as a urinal or borrowed my wing mirror to adjust their makeup.... OK, now I had to run the gauntlet of Taxi-less Clubber's trying to flag me down, as no self-respecting Taxi driver would let them within 2 meters of his cab! So, having driven the 1/2 hr or so from Torquay to Totnes, I was never quite certain I had escaped the Madness - usually all the litter bins would have be dragged from their locations, their contents strewn across the High St (How the residents put up w/this week after wk I'll never understand, nor why the bins weren't emptied last thing Fri?!) Then, one night/early morning I reached the top of the Bypass, under the trees, where it is especially dark & dangerous, with no illumination from lights or moon, and there were maybe 1/2 dz kids in the middle of the road, some actually lying in the road!? This is an A-rd, that could expect late night driver's to be going 70 - yet there were teens (did their Mother's know where they were?) playing fast & loose with LIFE in the middle of the road :arghh:.

The local paper here, having nothing more dramatic to Report, complained about the antics of some late-night revelers - I think it was just a slanging match over a girl - yet you'd think Hobart was on the rd to RUIN - I think the bar @ the center of the dispute, is closed, whether for good or too cool it, I don't know! - But compared to what passes for a weekend's revelry in your average British Town/City, it's positively sleepy - some might say comatose! So that I don't miss, I do hate that drunken madness that prevails over some UK places on the Wkends, & used to love the happy, friendly atmosphere in Spanish & French towns @ night - what makes peeps act so irrationally??

 

I had to laugh really, I took the only bus the other afternoon to Kingston (pop 15K), most of the passengers were school kids, mainly juniors, with mid-teens in back... The back seat was full of expletives & baby talk(?!) & from the front was the traditional girl/boy banter with the modern twist of mobile-phone camera pointing & joshing about putting the pics on the net! I thought typical - KIDS, involved in the same drivel, if not somewhat lower-key than UK - for a similar trip, the kids there, would be virtually attacking each other, dragging their bags/clothes away from their owners & chucking belongings out the windows, with streams of putrid language.... this was positively polite, by comparison - but after some 5-mins of this subdued Who-Ha - the bus driver had had enough, at the next stop he tore into those kids, with the backing of an adult passenger, who both told them they'd be in Big Trouble if they didn't quit... The offenders were mildly chastened, but I did wonder what those adults would think had the school run been between Torquay & Totnes instead of Peppermint Bay & Kingston, Tas! It really is another WORLD here!! I just hope TAS won't follow in all ways the paths well trodden by so many places in the UK... There are some places a country/state just doesn't need to follow!

XxX

[Waitingawhile]

Oh how I remember it well - going the shop last thing at night and fighting my way through teenagers drinking and messing about- who cares if the shops shut early a least we dont go through that and ......coming from Doncaster if you thought torquay was bad you aint seen nothing when it comes to a friday or saturday night in good old Donny- the alcohol epidemic is frightening in the uk-although alcohol is easily available here they have stamped down on alcopops and I really think it was a good idea once i got over the price lol. so whats left to miss ......I know ......intellectual conversation and good weekend papers!!! god this sounds really snotty but I going to say it where are all the intelligentia ....there is no political discussion or philosophical debate in my opinion..just to experience a bit of it once a month would do!

[Mongrel]

Oh how I remember it well - going the shop last thing at night and fighting my way through teenagers drinking and messing about- who cares if the shops shut early a least we dont go through that and ......coming from Doncaster if you thought torquay was bad you aint seen nothing when it comes to a friday or saturday night in good old Donny- the alcohol epidemic is frightening in the uk-although alcohol is easily available here they have stamped down on alcopops and I really think it was a good idea once i got over the price lol. so whats left to miss ......I know ......intellectual conversation and good weekend papers!!! god this sounds really snotty but I going to say it where are all the intelligentia ....there is no political discussion or philosophical debate in my opinion..just to experience a bit of it once a month would do!

 

Nowt wrong wi Donny round market and greyhound now Rotherham:arghh:

You say they have stamped down on the premix so the kids just now mix there own I know this sounds barmy but Id rather have em on booze than chrystel meth or owt like that

 

M

 

Mally from Kally

[Guest Shazza]

hi Rocki, i so relate to everything you have just said as we have been before and we felt really bad at this stage and ended up going back to grotti uk! But it was so a mistake as iv'e regretted it every day since, you just need to give it time and i know how hard that is when you are going through it but it is the only thing to do as you will hate yourself if you come back here, big time. We are in the process of trying to get our RRV because we didn't keep it updated due to problems with illness with family, that obviously came first but now we can't wait to get back. My daughter Hannah (who is on here a lot) has got hers and is flying out in December so it will be nice to go and be near her. Keep your chin up it can only get better as here is far worse, ive been there and done it ok. Shazza

[Herbster]

Oh how I remember it well - going the shop last thing at night and fighting my way through teenagers drinking and messing about- who cares if the shops shut early a least we dont go through that and ......coming from Doncaster if you thought torquay was bad you aint seen nothing when it comes to a friday or saturday night in good old Donny- the alcohol epidemic is frightening in the uk-although alcohol is easily available here they have stamped down on alcopops and I really think it was a good idea once i got over the price lol. so whats left to miss ......I know ......intellectual conversation and good weekend papers!!! god this sounds really snotty but I going to say it where are all the intelligentia ....there is no political discussion or philosophical debate in my opinion..just to experience a bit of it once a month would do!

 

Actually, Rocki, my OH would say that sounds like working in Newcastle! If you had an opinion people looked at you X-eyed! :goofy:They just didn't want to know - but it was a big factory - very much stuck in the 70's... although he did have some very decent, switched-on co-workers, but there were many others stuck safely in their Time Warp - & this is Newcastle, UK - not OZ! Oh Yes, I've been to Doncaster - it's one one of those places that sounds like it is - sorry!! When I returned from America in '93 i couldn't believe the drunken jobbery on the streets of Britain; the 1st time I went back to Torquay, we had to duck for cover as the streets were full of drunken Soccer fans be-moaning some loss or other, so this is 15 yrs gone! And all that's happened is things are worse; the problem w/a place like TQ1 is, that we just don't have our OWN Local problems to deal with, but all the riff raff from everyplace else gravitate to a town like TQ1 so we get all your probs too & then some!! It's gd to remind ourselves sometimes just why we are HERE!!! Another day - don't have to worry about nonsense!

However, having a good chat/conversation... Hmmmm, bit of a problem for me too, being I never see a soul beyond the few hrs when I'm at work! Oh, though come to think of it I have started talking to myself...!? :GEEK:

 

Enjoy your day - Be Free to be the best that you can BE!

 

X G

[Waitingawhile]

Well Mally the market at Donny holds some very special memories for me lol those were the days however Donny is now one big pub and everytime they close a shop they open another one!!!!!

 

One of my ozzie friends asked me after watching Jamie Oliver in Rotherham if it really was as bad as that! I of course said yes hahahahaha but.........I also said there were as many who knew how to cook too and better than Jamie.

 

Anyway having gone through the excitement at work for the Melbourne Cup today I feel really spoilt that I come from good old Donny with its brill racecourse.

 

Shazza it really means a lot to hear what you are saying and thanks for taking the time. I just feel so up and down with it all I really dont want to go back but am not fully settled however i did hit a new milestone last week as when I woke up I no longer felt I was in a strange bed in a strange room if you know what I mean.

 

Herbster I reckon any conversation you have with yourself will be particularly interesting at least to you lol. Newcastle is the land of my father and where I got my two beloved dogs from so in my book has at least something going for it and the Angel of the North is still moving to see even though I first thought it a monsterous construction. Did you know they actually did bus trips to Doncaster for randy singles to pull, it was known as the knocking shop of the North!!!!!!!!!!! At least Torquay had the sea and was two-four degrees warmer in winter

[Herbster]

Herbster I reckon any conversation you have with yourself will be particularly interesting at least to you lol. Newcastle is the land of my father and where I got my two beloved dogs from so in my book has at least something going for it and the Angel of the North is still moving to see even though I first thought it a monstrous construction. Did you know they actually did bus trips to Doncaster for randy singles to pull, it was known as the knocking shop of the North!!!!!!!!!!! At least Torquay had the sea and was two-four degrees warmer in winter

Actually I like Newcastle, nowt wrong with the place, (I've also been to Rotherham - nuf said!) from what I remember of the Toon in the 70's, I think it's got a lot going for it now, some splendid architecture, some good shopping, friendly people with quite a lively buzz, surrounded by fabulous countryside & coastline, but it's just those 6 or 7 degrees that you really do miss... we were in Northumberland nearly 4 years & never put our coats away, every time my folks came up from Dartmouth, mother would sit indoors with a fleece & jacket on & hog the fire!! It was ironic that the factory where my OH worked was actually built in the 1980's! But it's proud Heritage goes back to the Good old Victorian Pioneers of Industry...so why it was sooo old fashioned???

 

Yes, a good sign indeed, that you are feeling a little less unsettled! Honestly, it does take time, it's a cliché, I know, but even if you'd moved to.... Hull (?) you might be feeling just as unsettled... Maybe - really sick - sorry - there must be worse places... But in all seriousness, some days we love life & others we wonder how we can make it all seem worth the effort - then we carry on, grateful for what we have & appreciative that we have taken the opportunities when we could... In the end, it really does come down to that other cliché that Life is what we make it, even peeps living in what we think are hell holes, can still love their life & the place they're living it - all a matter of perspective, attitude, familiarity, complacency....?! At least you don't HAVE to stay here if it turns out it's not for you, but you've done it, lived the dream, you'll always have this time to look back on & as you are going home (?) soon for a nice Christmas - you'll appreciate the cold & dark then! - you'll be in a great position to re-evaluate your options... It might even mean trying another area/location in OZ - when you think of all the places you could end up in the UK, not all of them would be your (or my!) cup of coffee!

 

Hope tomorrow is even better... :yes:

And I hope you're not implying I'm full of hot air!! :spinny: Even, Herbster would take offence at that! I actually got to speak to some living people today - the Post Master & the Shop Keeper, did cheer me up! Actually have to laugh - my folks sent me a package back on Sept 9th - it never arrived. It was just some hand-carved painted wooden tulips from their trip to Holland, & all her post cards & a Devon Life... I expected the package today was for my OH's B-Day, but no it was the missing parcel! We both speculated on it's travels - sure enough it had been inspected by C&Q, QLD, & once I could read Father's description, I understood perhaps, where the parcel had been - he'd simply described the contents as FLOWERS - to Tasmania... EEEKKKK!!! They've probably been in the fumigator for the last 6-weeks!! Bless him!

 

Group Hug!