Productive Day December 30, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia.add a comment
Hubby and I went into the City today (leaving Baby Evie with the grandparents for the day). Mostly we had to go to various places to get ourselves registered.
First stop – Citibank. We went to show our ID and get our bank account set up so we can transfer our money in (ouch, the exchange rate appears to be only A$2.16 to £1).
Second stop – Medicare. The systems were down in Sutherland (the local regional branch) so we went to the main one. Massive queue. Eventually we got to the counter and were told that as it’s been over a year since we were granted our visas that we had to fill in a Returner’s declaration which has to be witnessed to explain why we haven’t signed up to Medicare yet. We validated back in March but only stayed 10 days so decided not to bother signing up for Medicare as it takes a week from entry into the country before it appears on their systems. So word to the wise for any other future migrants – if you do have to validate then register for Medicare when you do, rather than when you actually migrate.
Third stop – RTA (what is known as DVLA in the UK). We sat in the queue for over an hour. At least it was air conditioned though so a nice relief from the early afternoon sun intensity. We were a bit worried we didn’t have proof of residential address (as they want utility bills) but I had a council bill addressed to our Oz address (even though it was from Charnwood council). It appears as long as you have any council bill with the correct address on it’s OK, even if that council is not even in Oz? So it took about 10 mins of computer entering on the part of the customer service person and out popped our NSW driving licenses from the printer. Excellent.
THE “Twang” December 27, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, WTF?.add a comment
Oh dear. We appear to be adopting “the twang” already. It’s been less than a week and our accents are going skewiff! I expected mine to go quite quickly as I always seem to change easily but I thought hubby would keep his northern english accent for quite some time. Today I caught him saying “sevenny” with a rising inflection. “WTF” I exclaimed. It took him at least 5 minutes to realise what he had said before he said it again and shocked himself. It was a like a child saying their first word and looking surprised at themselves that such a noise should come out of their mouth! Ha ha. Now we feel more Aussie.
Now must remember when we get our broadband sorted out that we don’t ask for a router in the wrong way (apparently u can’t pronounce it roo-ter as thats buggering).
Happy Upside Down Christmas! December 25, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Family, Life in General, Parties.add a comment
It’s Christmas – hurray. Thank you Lord for sending Jesus to be our Saviour! and thankyou for bringing us all safely to Australia.
It is very surreal having a Christmas that is sunny. We woke up this morning to an very unusual Christmas breakfast – leftover chicken curry on toast with cherries. My brother said that this is a traditional Aussie Christmas brekkie, but I think he is lying!! We opened presents around 10am. We got mostly cheques and Aussie dollars as everyone knows we need money to get ourselves set up here. Evie got a bucket and spade set. She was so excited waving the spade and fork thing around she almost clobbered her Daddy in the face. We got Evie some Baby Rice. She’s 5 months old today and we decided to try her on her first solids today. The advice is to exclusively breastfeed till 6 months, but the latest news coming out that 6 months is too late and their stomachs won’t develop. Hmm so how do you wean and not wean at 6 months at the same time??? ’tis impossible. We decided to split the difference and try her at 5 months to see if she’s ready. She very much enjoyed sploodging baby rice around her mouth and over her face. She had about 5 watery teaspoons worth – but I think only 2 of those actually made it into her stomach 
We had a massive Christmas lunch – even had a roasted turkey. My brother over cooked it and it was the consistency of biltong. Lucky Mocha got a lot of the turkey leftovers. DzE (my brother’s cat) got the leftover smoked salmon. Such pampered pets!
We went to the beach for a swim and play in the late afternoon. Was lovely. Evie paddled a bit in waters. Mocha enjoyed jumping in and out of the waves but didn’t want to swim to us. We had to keep carrying her into the water then she swam back to shore and shook herself all over the other families (oh dear).
Christmas Day – church in the morning, pressie opening, massive spread for lunch, Wii on a 15ft screen, beach fun in the afternoon, sleeping in hammock afterwards, Skyping friends and family back in the UK in the evening. I could really get used to Christmasses like these
Twas the Night Before Christmas December 24, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Mocha dog.add a comment
We picked up Mocha out of quarantine today. Yay – our precious mongrel pseudo baby has done her time and is allowed out of her 30 day incarceration. Hubby went to pick her up from Eastern Creek this morning. She was so excited when she saw him that she ran straight into a glass door. Stooopid puppy. Apparently there was face/nose/tongue print on the glass and everything
Mocha was so happy to see us. She seemed no different to when she was in Loughborough. Her same usual maniacal self. She got a big bowl of fresh roast chicken trimmings and all was forgiven. So far she’s run around the house checking all the boundaries. Checked on the baby every half hour. Patrolled the swimming pool shouting at the cockatoos. And slept in the midday sun (stoooooopid puppy again).
I’ve missed my little puppy dog.
G’day Australia December 23, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia.add a comment
I am officially an expat now! We ticked the Migrants box on the landing cards and arrived for the first day of our new lives.
It’s not as humid as Singapore but still as hot. We had a quick nap in the morning once we got in. Sooooo much baggage that we had to get a taxi estate car and my brother’s car back to the house. Went shopping in the afternoon and spent the whole evening putting things together and putting things away into cupboards. So nice not to be living out of our suitcases after 2 weeks of being effectively homeless. We put together the cot we got from Freecycle Flora. It’s lovely and Evie really enjoyed playing in her new prison
After 2+ years of planning and form filling (and draining on wallets) we’re finally here. So the only question is…. now what do we do?
Hello Singapore December 19, 2008
Posted by graciek in Life in General.add a comment
We survived our plane journey to Singapore – hurray. I must say it was very comfortable on the A380. We were upstairs economy in seats 72 D and E I think. We were at the front because we had a bassinet for baby Evie. She actually loved it in the bassinet – I really wanted to take a photo of her in it but hubby wouldn’t get the hand luggage down from the overhead compartments. She both lay down in it (she took up about 2/3 of the length of it) and sat up propper against the edge watching the little TV screens. Evie was so well behaved. No crying. Just playing and being cutesy to anyone she could get eye contact from!! She just loves an audience.
It is so humid in Singapore, quite a shock to the system from 0deg in London. We’re staying at the Changi Beach Hotel – which is lovely and very reminiscent of it’s colonial past (when all the expat soldiers would come drink here). The rooms themselves are really dated and in the process of being slowly updated. There was a brand new toilet and sink and beds, but everything else was very old. So many light switches and dials from daygone years’ worth of old air con systems.
As soon as we got to my Uncle’s house we started with the gorging! Every trip to Singapore is like being treated like a fois gras goose. Can feel my liver fattening up already
House Sold December 15, 2008
Posted by graciek in Life in General, Loughborough, Money.add a comment
Woo Hoo! We completed on our house sale today. Thank God! We have almost 6 figures in our bank account (well, not so much if u take off the student loans) – should be a great deposit to use to buy our next house in Australia. We left the new occupants an information pack about the house as well as a bottle of bubbly to welcome them. It does feel ever so sad as that was our home for 6 years, but in the same way it’s about time that we moved on to pastures new. I hope that we can find a house and home we can be equally, if not more happy in.
Last Night in Loughborough December 11, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Going Out, Life in General, Loughborough.Tags: moving house
add a comment
Oh how sad. Tonight was our last night in Loughborough. After over 11 years spent here it’s finally time to move on. We went out to a restaurant called Red Chilli with a few close friends. Was really lovely just chatting and eating (as usual) it all felt quite normal till it came time to leave. I was saying bye and as usual just said “see ya later”. Which was a bit strange as it’ll be a lot later when we see peeps again. Driving back home was strange as it’ll be the last time I come home (at least to this house). So in summary – I’m quite sad, I’m still partially in denial, and I’m also really excited about going (and finally finishing emptying out the house!).
First Trip on the Bus December 8, 2008
Posted by graciek in Life in General.add a comment
I took Evie on the bus into town today. I strapped her into the baby carrier/papoose. Wow she’s really grown since I last carried her in it, I had to let the straps out. Timed it perfectly for the bus and wandered off to do the last minute banking and some Christmas shopping. Was quite nice just wandering around – she was busy sleeping and it felt a bit like I was by myself. Got stuck in the slowest queue in Somerfield. FFS there were only 2 checkouts open and when I joined the damn queue there were another 7 people in front of me. The checkout lady was a right jobsworth. I think she thought she was being really good and providing extra special customer service, but really, commenting on and chatting about every item going through the checkout. It was like someone reading out a recipe to you (including instructions for using the menu). Took about 20 mins just to get through the checkout, typically by which time they had opened another 3 checkouts and there were no more queues anymore. The lady behind me stuck it through with me and we were both looking exasperated, especially when Evie woke up and cried. I wouldn’t have been quite as bothered if I didn’t just have one pack of butter and a pot of double cream!
Saying Goodbyes December 7, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Family, Life in General.add a comment
We went up to visit hubby’s clan today for the last time before we emigrate to Australia. It was lovely to see them and Evie had a wonderful time playing with her Nana and Grandpa as well as her cousins. It’s awful to think that they are going to miss so much of her growing up. We have webcam so at least we can still talk, but it’s not the same as having a geniune 3D cuddle 
