Our first few days (arrived 10th Oct 2010)

[Guest picklesmummy]

Hi everyone

 

Well, we've finally arrived in sunny Adelaide! We flew via Singapore and landed in Adelaide on Saturday (the 10th). The flight over was OK - my little girl is 18mths and she coped really well with the UK - Singapore leg and we enjoyed a few days stay in Singapore, but the Singapore - Australia leg was a nightmare, and the poor thing cried for most of the flight She barely slept a wink and so has been really unsettled these last few days, but thankfully she's starting to eat properly again and is sleeping a little better, so I think she's starting to settle into being in Australia a bit.

 

When we arrived at the airport we collected our hire car and headed up to Mawson Lakes - my hubby had already sorted out a rental for us here but even so, we had booked a few nights in a serviced apartment, just to give us chance to breathe and get our LO settled. Can definitely recommend Quest Mawson Lakes to anyone up this end of town - apartment is really cosy and the staff are great.

 

Sunday we drove back down to the Ikea and picked up a few things to keep us going until our container arrives - a highchair for our daughter, cups and bowls, etc. Then we went to our rental to start cleaning it - the previous tenants had left it in an OK state really, but everywhere really needed cleaning properly before we could move in. We also visited a friend of a friend over here who lent us a cot and gave us our first taste of BBQing Aussie style! Later in the afternoon we went food shopping and collapsed exhausted at about 7pm!

 

Monday and today have been shopping and more cleaning days - we're near Gepps Cross so we've just been making various trips out there to buy a bed / mattress, fridge, washing machine, linens and towels. Monday morning the electricity and gas to the house were switched on. Most places at Gepps Cross seem to do next day delivery (provided they have it in stock) which is great for us, as we move into our rental tomorrow and didn't fancy camping on the floor (I haven't seen a spider yet, but I'm imagining them to be lurking everywhere anyway!).

 

So, that's kind of where we are at - still need to organise a car and a car seat for LO, but for now we have the rental so overall we're doing OK. It's been much more stressful than I ever imagined it would be though, and honestly when I saw Adelaide for the first time I was horrified, although I've since learnt that the bit around the airport and the salt pans you pass heading north don't exactly do the city justice!!! We're looking forward to moving into our new home tomorrow and taking it easy for a few days - maybe going down into the city later in the week. I'm looking forward to sleeping properly and not waking up at 3am again too!

 

Best of luck to everyone else heading over soon (or recent arrivals!) x

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

What a great little update, good to see your settling in quite nicely....

 

HG

[Diane]

What a brilliant day to arrive on - best weather we've had for ages! Probably a bit early for you, but if you fancy it, there's a girls get together this side of town tomorrow night over at Tea Tree Gully - not sure if anyone else is coming from Mawson Lakes way but of course you are very welcome to come along. Details in the social section. If not, maybe the next one...

 

Shout out if there's anything you can't find/need on this side of town, and welcome.

 

Diane

[Guest picklesmummy]

Thanks Heaps Good and Diane - it's been stressful but we both feel that we've definitely made the right decision

 

What a brilliant day to arrive on - best weather we've had for ages! Probably a bit early for you, but if you fancy it, there's a girls get together this side of town tomorrow night over at Tea Tree Gully - not sure if anyone else is coming from Mawson Lakes way but of course you are very welcome to come along. Details in the social section. If not, maybe the next one...

 

Shout out if there's anything you can't find/need on this side of town, and welcome.

 

Diane

 

I won't be able to do tomorrow (I can't keep my eyes open much beyond 6pm at the moment!) but you can definitely count me in for the next meet up - thank you! It'd be great to meet some new people. We left Sheffield a few months back when our container shipped to move in with family elsewhere, so I've missed having my friends around. I'll keep an eye out for the next thread

[snifter]

Glad to hear you've arrived safely and are getting slowly sorted. Don't worry, Adelaide is a pretty city with old and new combined

 

I am sure give your daughter a few days to get over the jet lag and she'll settle into her routine again. Our son was 22 months when we were last over and we did it from London to Singapore than 4 hours on the ground there and back on the plane to Adelaide. He was fine and apart from going to bed early for a few nights and then waking early he was soon in the swing of things. Just stick to your new time zone, don't let her nap for hours in the daytime and she should soon be in the right sleep pattern.

 

And don't worry overly about spiders. I've been over a fair few times now and have yet to see anything worse than a type of house spider. In and around the city my husband keeps telling me its really a case of being aware and not just sticking your hand into the drain without checking first, that sort of thing. And he knows how much I hate spiders and I am ok with being there

 

Good luck and look forward to hearing more

[Guest Cornish Pasties]

Good Luck to you all...green with envy as I have another 18 months to wait......

[Guest Grahame68]

Hi

 

Welcome to Adelaide. We have been here since June and are loving it. Your story sounds similar to our. We travelled via Hong Kong with a 9 month old and a 2 and bit year old. They were both great on the first leg but my older boy did the same on the last leg. Was not a happy chappy. Just over tired from running around the airport lounge and didn't want to get back on another plane.

 

We are also in Mawson Lakes on Sanctuary side and like yourself our second home has been Ikea (gota love those meatballs!!) and the Homemakers centre in Gepps Cross. Is great that it is all in once place though.

 

Well as you close by if you fancy meeting up for a cup of coffee PM me. I am a stay at home dad with the 2 boys so am looking forward to the weather warming up and getting the boys out to the local parks. I think we are off to the Zoo tomorrow again which will be fun. We have a year pass which is useful.

 

Well all the best and hope the jet lag is subsiding a little :-)

 

Grahame

[Guest shella_n]

Hi

 

Just a quick note to say that we are in Mawson Lakes too. If there is anything I can help you with just shout, even if its just a cuppa

 

Michelle

[Guest katieb]

Hi,

 

Was only thinking the other day you must be over soon. Glad to hear you made it over here ok. Give me a shout if you want to borrow any toddler toys until your stuff arrives.

 

Hopefully meet up soon.

 

Katie

[Guest C&J]

Just wanted to say congratulations on making the move to Adelaide. my husband and I arrived in April and I cried all the way here on the plane, I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life leaving family and friends! I thought it would be easy but Iwas wrong.

My OH was out of work for a year in the UK and when we arrived he got a job in the first week and I got a job 4 weeks of arriving.

We brought our dog over in June and if it wasnt for him I would have booked my flight back home, BUT (here is the good part) I am so glad I didnt book flights because 6 months now in adelaide and I am really starting to enjoy my life here. I am making friends and my mum is coming in December. I have got that to look forward to and of course the good weather!

enjoy adelaide

Janet

[Diane]

Just wanted to say congratulations on making the move to Adelaide. my husband and I arrived in April and I cried all the way here on the plane, I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life leaving family and friends! I thought it would be easy but Iwas wrong.

My OH was out of work for a year in the UK and when we arrived he got a job in the first week and I got a job 4 weeks of arriving.

We brought our dog over in June and if it wasnt for him I would have booked my flight back home, BUT (here is the good part) I am so glad I didnt book flights because 6 months now in adelaide and I am really starting to enjoy my life here. I am making friends and my mum is coming in December. I have got that to look forward to and of course the good weather!

enjoy adelaide

Janet

 

Fantastic post - great to hear some good news, and just goes to show that if you give it time, things start to come together. We all hit the lows sooner or later, but I love to hear about people that have got through that stage and are really making it work for them. Thanks for posting.

[snifter]

Just wanted to say congratulations on making the move to Adelaide. my husband and I arrived in April and I cried all the way here on the plane, I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life leaving family and friends! I thought it would be easy but Iwas wrong.

My OH was out of work for a year in the UK and when we arrived he got a job in the first week and I got a job 4 weeks of arriving.

We brought our dog over in June and if it wasnt for him I would have booked my flight back home, BUT (here is the good part) I am so glad I didnt book flights because 6 months now in adelaide and I am really starting to enjoy my life here. I am making friends and my mum is coming in December. I have got that to look forward to and of course the good weather!

enjoy adelaide

Janet

 

Glad to hear you are finding your feet and settling in. It isn't an instant overnight thing and can take months to settle and start to feel more part of things so I am glad you are finding it better.

[Guest picklesmummy]

Thanks to everyone for your kind posts and sorry for being slow to reply - we're in our own place now and it took a few attempts to get the mobile internet thingy to work!

 

Great to hear from some people in Mawson Lakes; Grahame, Katie and Michelle - I'd definitely love to meet up for a cuppa soon, that would great - I'll PM you guys once I've got my LO settled down a bit! I think she's getting there; last night she woke up at midnight and was awake until 2am, but unlike previous nights she was happy to lay in bed and snooze on and off, rather than running around madly, so a little longer and I think she's be sleeping through again. I can't wait - I'm shattered! We had another busy day yesterday getting the fridge and washer in, and then heading over to K-Mart at Ingles Farm (? I think that's what it's called) for coat hangers and stuff - silly things like that that you forget that you might need basically!! Sounds daft but it was very weird sleeping here... the house is much vaster than that we had at home and echoes without furniture - we slept with half the lights on! Feels a little more familar and less weird this morning though.

 

Found a massive spider in my wardrobe this morning - very distressing and I cried for hours (definite 'I want to go home' moment!) but I think I'm OK with it now and am armed with bug spray so feel a bit more confident about dealing with them. No idea what it was - big house spider maybe? Just looked brownish with a fat bum, and about an inch across (it's ok - no one needs to tell me that that isn't massive by Aussie standards - ignorance is bliss here ) At least I've had a first encounter though, and perhaps further ones will be less scary. We also seem to have a lot of these little worm things popping up in the house - look like a cross between a woodlouse and a worm / centipede? They are big - about 1cm in length. They roll up like woodlice. Any idea what those are? We've brought these bomb things anyway and are going to use those tomorrow morning and go out for the day - I'd feel better knowing that we've treated the house in some way.

 

So - all in all it's going OK but we're really tired and I have this feeling that it's just adrenaline keeping me sane and level at the moment, and when that goes in a few days I'm going to crash and probably feel terrible and will think it's all one huge mistake! - fingers crossed it doesn't happen. Great post C&J - so nice to hear that it does get easier, even if it does take time x

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

Good Luck to you all...green with envy as I have another 18 months to wait......

 

 

Good things come to those who wait......keep the faith guys.....

 

 

HG

[Guest Grahame68]

Hi

 

You will get there. It wasn't till we got to our longer term rental that we started to feel more settled and then once our container arrived with all our stuff then there was no turning back..LOL

 

My wife has an aversion to spiders to. We bombed every room in the house basically before we moved our stuff in due to her fear of finding some of the 8 legged wildlife!! So far no sign of anything since but now I am tempting fate!!!

 

Yes just let me know on the coffee front. You are more than welcome to pile over with the little one. There are plenty of toys in the house as long as she likes playing with cars and the coffee machine is always on:-)

[jtct]

Good Luck to you all...green with envy as I have another 18 months to wait......

 

 

Know the feeling.

 

Glad you are settling in well - you lucky things:cute:

[Diane]

The black wormy things are Portuguese Millipedes - won't hurt you, just scoop 'em up and throw them out (or flush them down the loo if you can get them to sink!)

 

Black Portuguese millipedes (Fact Sheet)

 

The spider if it was browny colour may have been a huntsman - again harmless (but scary to look at!) - worth giving the place a spray anyway - or get one of those bug bombs you can let off in the house.

[Guest Cornish Pasties]

Good things come to those who wait......keep the faith guys.....

 

 

HG

 

Cheers HG..but I am a terror..patience certainly isn't one of my virtues! Think I will drive my poor hubby mad until I finally get on the plane. If it all goes quiet from me on here then I'm under the patio

[jtct]

Just wanted to say congratulations on making the move to Adelaide. my husband and I arrived in April and I cried all the way here on the plane, I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life leaving family and friends! I thought it would be easy but Iwas wrong.

My OH was out of work for a year in the UK and when we arrived he got a job in the first week and I got a job 4 weeks of arriving.

We brought our dog over in June and if it wasnt for him I would have booked my flight back home, BUT (here is the good part) I am so glad I didnt book flights because 6 months now in adelaide and I am really starting to enjoy my life here. I am making friends and my mum is coming in December. I have got that to look forward to and of course the good weather!

enjoy adelaide

Janet

 

So glad things are looking up for you Janet - you're doing well. Have a wonderful Christmas with your Mum. We found Skype/MSN was brilliant for keeping in touch - OK, you don't get the hugs but it helps to see each other face to face

 

Speaking as a parent/grandparent left behind in the UK, I was devastated when my daughter left and missed her and the grandchildren so much. I was ill with anxiety and stress for months but kept it from them as much as I could. But the first trip to see them all made a huge difference to all of us. I was so reasurred to see them settled and happy in their new home and both with jobs they enjoyed and they were pleased to see us. Now - 4 years on we are in the queue for a CPV143 to join them hopefully in 2012.

 

We are not going to be as well off as we first hoped but (as I've said before) I'd rather be poor and happy with the family than miserable in the UK without them! Good luck.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Great post glad that you have settled in.

Tamara

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

Cheers HG..but I am a terror..patience certainly isn't one of my virtues! Think I will drive my poor hubby mad until I finally get on the plane. If it all goes quiet from me on here then I'm under the patio

 

Its all normal....those of us already here have been through similar....

 

It will fly by.....

 

Than you be enjoying a few cold ones and some meat off of the bbq....

 

HG

[Guest css]

great post,almost feels like im on the journey with you ! we are just waiting for our visas,well just waiting for the smp to be announced really to see how quick we are going to get it. we have 3 children,7,4 and 19 months so i am definatley not looking forward to the flight over.where about in adelaide are you living and what is it like.hope you settle in quickly and hope your little one feels better soon,take care clare x