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1st week in Adelaide - Our thoughts !!

Angela

By Angela
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Angela Newbie

Angela

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Its been one week & 3 days since we arrived & so far everything is good. Just wanted to give you an update so far:

 

Singapore Airline

Had a pleasant flight over with a stop-over in the Novotel at Clarkes Quay, which I would definitely reccommend.

 

Jetlag

Yes we had this to. Although we all felt quite fresh when we arrived for some reason we couldn't sleep properly, unlike last year we were falling asleep at tea time, this year we were wide awake & couldn't sleep at all !!! But IMO that might have had something to do with trying to think what to do next.

 

OAA & Meet / Greet - Christie Downs

Dennis & Irene met us at the airport, they are absolutely brilliant. They take you to your accommodation, no hassles & they spent almost all day with us, shopping for linen & food. You get given a load of SA information which is also useful, maps etc & a UBD which is a MUST !! to get around Adelaide with.

 

The house was clean & tidy. We only spent a couple of nights there as unfortunately 2 nights in there were some youths throwing bottles, not directed at any house, but it was outside ours :sad:, they were noisy & it did disturb the children as they were loafing about on the train lines only a few yards from the OAA. This put me off almost immediately.

 

Rental

Luckily before I left the UK I had been in contact with a family about a rental in Hallett Cove, which we now live in. Its only for 3 months & the agreement is very informal, but the location is good with sea views & its furnished with most things we need for now.

 

Schools

This is a difficult one for me. I am finding this incredibly hard. Basically most primary schools will take you out of the zone but the next school up, high school, you need to be living in the zone. Its early days & the boys are desperate to get back to school we are now into their 8th week off & they both keep asking to go back !. Hallett Cove East looks like a good school, unless anyone can tell me otherwise, the boys like it & so do we. We are hoping to reach a decision soon although there are only 2 more weeks left then the schools have a 2 week holiday. I did want to enrol them for at least a week before this holiday but I don't want to rush into it & make the wrong decision. We are also viewing private schools.

 

Friends

We have met up with some great brits from the forums, who have helped us enormously, thank you loads !. Even the brits in the shops give you their telephone no's, how friendly is that !!

 

Roads and Cars

Its mad !! We rented from Brian Thredgold for just under a week, he was helpful to. We spent a day & a half looking at car garages (up & down the South Rd) We we finally chose a Nissan X Trail, so far so good. You do need to have your wits about you on the roads. Ashley has done most of the driving, thank god, it takes a little getting used to.

 

Eating Out & Food Shopping

Some great places, friendly & reasonably cheap (probably until we earn the $). Woolworths, Coles & Foodland are a few of the main grocery places I have found in & around Marion, Noaralunga & Seaford. The shopping malls are all really clean & its late night on a Thursday which is good.

 

TFN/Medicare/Banks/Driving License

We verified ourselves on day 2 of arriving, that was simple enough with Westpac at the Seaford branch - although our cards are still not here !! so we have to go the the branch with our passports to withdraw money. TFN can be done online, still do. Got the forms for Medicare from the local shopping centre which only need to be processed with our passports - thats next weeks job. We plan to swap our UK license over to an aussie one next week to, straight forward at Christies Beach.

 

1st Impressions/Beaches/Suburbs

Have to say we all love it so far. We have driven around Brighton, Hallet Cove, Port Noaralunga, Seaford, Moana & Aldinga. Briefly around Flagstaff Hills & Aberfoyle Park. Our preference is coastal although the latter 2 are rural IMO, bigger plots & very beautiful but I don't think its for us, although I am not ruling them out just yet !

 

Jobs

Ashley has 2 interviews lined up Monday & Tuesday, so fingers crossed. He still needs to sort out the process for obtaining a license, however, the interviews are with 2 companies & he can work under theirs to start with. Me, well, I'm a housewife for just now & I will be looking for a job within a few weeks after the kids have settled at school.

 

Homesick/Internet/Phone Connection

They love it, no home sickness yet. We can only get dial up internet in the rental due to location (?) but its ok now I have it working. Telstra connected the LAN line the same day I rang them for $59 so that was easy enough. We have brought a $10 cheap international rate ID from the local shop, you get about 700 minutes worth of talktime, this has been brilliant for ringing family back in the UK. Mobiles were easy enough, we unlocked them in the UK & then opted for Vodafone SIMM cards with pay as you go jumbo cap rates, you pay $29 & get $130 worth of talk time plus 100 free texts, very cheap we thought.

 

Kids

We got them a 13ft trampoline for $242 at Big W, which is a good price at the moment & this keeps the kids happy. Plus skateboards, as there are some good parks around & also 2 hermit crabs for pets !! I must be mad, but they are tiny creatures in a tank, quite amusing & at least they stop asking me for a dog !!

 

:D:D:D

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Guest mOZzy

Guest mOZzy

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hi angela :cute:

you sure sound organised - and thanks for the update!

it sound like you are settling in nicely and good to hear that the kids enjoy it and want (!) to go to school :D

 

fingers crossed for the interviews!

 

 

 

gosh, you all make it sound so easy :nah:

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ianb Newbie

ianb

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Angela and Family,

 

Great to hear fom you about how well you are settling in, sounds like a busy time. Thanks for posting alot of your findings and what has happened so far its very interesting to all of us still to go.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about how well your settling in.

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Guest chillyanna

Guest chillyanna

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thanks for the great post, lots of info about the areas, cant wait for your next post.

making me real jealous reading it, cant wait till it is my turn to be tourning adelaide finding things out.

thanks for the insight, keep up with the good posts and best of luck in adelaide.

paul

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Guest Obedoh

Guest Obedoh

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Hi Angela,

What a great post! Fantastic to get such an insight into first impressions. Hopefully that will be us soon enough if the SA governement can get things sorted and we can get our sponsorship applied for!!

 

Duncan

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Guest sarahsmartiepants

Guest sarahsmartiepants

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Hello angela

We live in hallett cove, I know lots of people with little ones that go to HCeast, they love it. I have friends whose bigger kids go to the R-12 too they sayits good. Mine go to Aberfoyle pk high and they like it there so do I (not that I go) Its only 10 mins to get there.

If you have any other qs ask away or pm me.

sarah

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Guest dglamoore

Guest dglamoore

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HI Angela

 

Nice to see you back online :cute: Glad you got your trampoline sorted, will keep Bradley and Thomas amused for a while!!!! Did you have fun putting it together :biglaugh:

 

Glad you are all settling so well and enjoying your life here - so nice to have you near now :wubclub:

 

Lisa x

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Guest Aussiebound

Guest Aussiebound

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Hi Angela

 

Sounds like you have been busy! Shame about the OAA, at least you had the other rental lined up ready! Hope it all goes well with the interviews and school searching!

 

Have fun!

 

Sarah

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Guest Django

Guest Django

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Hi Angela,

 

Great to see you have arrived and doing the do. Even better that the oiks haven't put you off the place. Glad things are going well. I have made a list of all the things you have mentioned as 'things to do' when we get there. Its a pain that when you need to be on the ball to sort things out you are slowed down by jet lag. Deffo looking forward to an update. Thanks for posting this as it will be a great help when we get there.

 

Pete

 

there were some youths throwing bottles, not directed at any house, but it was outside ours :sad:, they were noisy & it did disturb the children as they were loafing about on the train lines only a few yards from the OAA.

 

Fantatastic:D No chance of me getting homesick then. Sounds like a a normal evening in Gainsborough. :biglaugh:

 

Even the brits in the shops give you their telephone no's, how friendly is that !!

 

I think you'll find that happens here Angela, only if the people here miss you they put there cards in the phone box for you to ring them.;)

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Guest nikkiandlee

Guest nikkiandlee

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hi,

 

what a great and informative post, sorry your oaa was not up to much, but great news that you have other accomodation!

 

keep in touch, can i ask did you have an unsettled feeling when you arrived? if so how long did it last? (or do you still have it).

 

Do you have any advice for us still in the uk?:)

 

good luck with everything,

 

Nikki

 

xx

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Guest jetskitony

Guest jetskitony

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Hi,

really pleased every thing is going well for you,can you tell us what you meant by Adelaide not being like you thought it was?good luck with the rest of your life,look forward to reading more of your posts.

Myrtle,Tony,Callum

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Guest massive

Guest massive

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Hi angela

good to hear its all going well as someone still waiting for the go a head its great to see another good report we're looking at hallet cove coz we've got friends there although we've never been they've been there 10 years and love it for the kids etc

Good info in the tread keep it coming enjoy good luck with the schools and house hunting

 

Cheers Debbie;)

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Angela Newbie

Angela

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Schools

Both the boys have been enrolled into All Saints Seaford. The schools were the hardest thing of all, everyone both private & state are happy to advise & show you around, ultimately the decision is yours & the kids. Like most who have recently arrived there is a 2 week holiday coming up & Term 4 starts mid Oct, so that is when the boys will attend full time. We've met the teachers, principal etc they are all really nice. Brought the uniform, which was not to pricey but then you do need a winter one next year to so the costs do add up, the bags thank goodness were not compulsory at almost $50 each & given they are almost the same size as Thomas we opted to get 2 cheap backpacks that both can actually carry :wacko:.

 

Work

Ashley is into his 3rd day at work currently in the city. Everything is going okay although on day 1 his cap was taken & day 2 his cap replaced & now is coolbag has gone missing..I think someone is playing silly bu*****. He doesn't seem to mind, more him than me. I suppose tradeys are used to that though :unsure:.

 

Weather

Recently it reached 32 which was really hot, if you have undercover areas its great & a definite must if the weather gets warmer through Summer.

 

So far so good. The boys feel happier now that they KNOW when they will go back to school & for me well I can't wait :cute:but I will miss them, of course !

 

Angela

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Guest Aussiebound

Guest Aussiebound

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Sounds like you really have settled in well!

 

Bet the boys so excited about going back to school. Is All Saints a private school?

 

Pleased Ash settling in at work, with all the fun and games! :unsure::D:unsure:

 

Can't wait to catch up with you all.

 

Sarah

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