One month in

[Guest Admar72]

After quite an emotional goodbye at Heathrow airport on 30th May, Our family of four landed early on 2nd June and was met by Sean ‘Homes down under’ who took us firstly to pick up our hire car at ‘Aussie car rentals’ and then onto Boomerang house (our home for the next four wks) Tamara was there to greet us and show us around the house etc. It’s a lovely place in a good area and I would highly recommend anyone coming over to consider staying there. The complementary welcome pack was very much appreciated!

 

After chatting with Tamara & Sean for a while and settling our stuff in we headed up to Noarlunga centre to the ‘good guys’ to purchase a sat nav. We spoke to Glen who gave us a good deal. After that we popped into Woolworths to pick up our first lot of groceries. That was enough for our first day and so we went back to the house to settle in and relax after our long journey across the globe. Now, the plan was that we all stay awake for as long a possible, ideally till about 6pm, to minimise the jet lag. Hmmm, think we were all gone by 3pm (that is apart from Jordanne, who by this time had already gone out with a friend she had gone to school with in Milton Keynes) so as you might expect, we were all wide awake at about 2am! Still, it gave us chance to catch up with family and friends on Skype.

 

Day two we managed to get along to our banks (we had already set up our account whilst in the UK) Lynda over at Seaford Westpac was a real darling and the service by all the staff there was second to none. We also sorted out tax file numbers for all four of us, Medicare and took a drive up to Adelaide to get Carl his bus ticket for his working trip to Naracoorte (he would be leaving us on the Sunday) Adam also looked into getting his tradies licence and white card for work. I think we ended up going down to Christies Beach later that day and were blown away by it! We were grinning like kids at each other!

 

By the Thursday I think Jordanne was already in touch with another friend of whom her parents we met through P.I.A so she was off again doing her own thing “Thanks Hannah, Lorraine, John & family for making her feel so welcome”

Sunday came and it was time to take Carl to the bus station for his journey to Naracoorte. As excited as I was for him, to be honest, I was feeling quite gutted that my boy was in a new country and leaving home for the first time too (mums for you!) I think that both myself and Adam found it quite emotional seeing him go off and as I remember I booed most of the way home. He had a bit of a nightmare when he arrived as the person that was supposed to be meeting him and taking him to where he would be staying didn’t turn up so Carl ended up booking into a motel for the night. Still, things got sorted out the following day and I can report back that he has met lots of good friends and although the work isn’t easy he seems to be having a great time and gaining his independence.

 

Over the next week we bought a car, joined up with the RAA, got our car insurance and applied for our driving licences. In this time Adam had been speaking to a few subbies about work and got a start. We were over the moon as money really does drain quickly when your setting up all over again and as well as that Adam was ready to get back on the trowel after not working for a month or so. We were also looking at rentals and booking in some open inspections. Someone had warned that we were in for a bit of a shock when viewing some of the rentals. How right that person had been. Some were quite grim, dated and, in our opinion, asking too much for the property. But we continued looking and found a few that we really liked on Sheidow Park and so put in an application for both of them. We were fortunate to be accepted for one of them and we moved in on Thursday just gone!

As we only only booked ‘Boomerang’ house for 4 wks it left us three days short of accommodation so we called around and was lucky enough to book into a standard cabin at ‘Brighton Caravan Park‘. Basic but ok for a few days. And right on the sea front. Absolutely beautiful view! Apart from the Tuesday when it poured down all day, still, the following day was once again glorious. Now that’s not bad for winter eh. Especially the one that we had just had in Blighty!

 

Another thing we have been pretty busy doing is buying new furniture. Fortunately, due to the end of the financial year, we’ve managed to pick up some real bargains. ‘Classic Timber Furniture’ on the Anzac hwy had some lovely stuff. Most of the things we bought from there were already reduced but anything that was full price, we were given a better cash price for. We managed to save about $3000. ‘Good guys’ was another place we bought quite a few bits from and again we had some good savings.

 

We got to meet a lovely couple Jim & Mel who were on a reckie here with there two children, Mollie and Alfie. We enjoyed their last evening here with a Barbie and many drinks! Sad to say goodbye after only knowing them for a short while but very much looking forward to their permanent return.

 

We haven’t done a great deal of getting out to visit Adelaide attractions/places of interest but we did go over to Brisbane for the wk end to visit some good friends that made the move 2 years ago. We had a fantastic time with them and spent one of the days at Australia Zoo. We saw Teri & Bindie Irwin which only added to the experience. Another place that we have managed to get along to see is Victor Harbour and Granite Island. That was beautiful and we’re looking forward to getting there again when our friends visit in September.

 

The next thing on my list of things to do now, once we’ve settled into the new place is job hunting!! Think I’m going to look into care work as I spent the last two years supporting male adults with Aspergers Syndrome and really enjoyed it. Adam’s looking to buy another car which he can use for work and Jordanne can learn to drive in. And I’ll have the family car to get about in, that’s the plan anyway………….

 

Maria

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

Love reading posts like that, keep up the good work.....

 

HG

[Guest clare]

yea luvin that youv had a busy month but sounds like things are goin good 4u all. good luck with the rest of your journey, let us know how ur getting on xx

[Guest kangomik]

Awesome, welldone guys.

 

If you get a chance take the trip down south to Naracoorte, nice place and travel on to Mt Gambier.

[Guest Carolandcraig]

Great post, and glad to hear things are going well for you, i dont think people reading these threads realise just how quickly the money goes but its all worth it in the end.

[jtct]

Well done - looks like you've made a brilliant start to your new life.

[lorluc]

Maria,

 

I know how busy its been for you...cant believe you guys have been here a month already!

 

Glad things are coming together....

 

Lorraine

x

[Riponian]

Wow I love reading these stores and thanks so much for sharing it with us. We are also on Sheidow park and it as lovelly place to start your news lives at.

Hope things continue to go well for you.