(Okay, not more boxes, so much as having our boxes to unload)

On Tuesday 27th, we got up ridiculously early to head from our serviced apartment to our new house as our furniture was finally being delivered. Our new landlord was there to meet us and show us how it all works and after a little bit of a wait, lorry one arrived.



Nothing much else to say apart from a day spent unloading - Colin pulled the slightly easier job as he had to sit and tick off the box numbers as they were unloaded (although as the temperature was pushing 30, being indoors in the air con was actually a nicer option) - Colin also didn't want the pressure of making sure all the furniture and boxes were in the right room.

Adam and Emily did their best to "help" and did manage to generally keep out of the way



Emily enjoyed all the stickers that had the item count on them

Adam was also delighted to have all his "soccer" equipment set up

Again, nothing much to report apart from more roads, a few "are we there yet"s, a submarine



(we weren't even by the coast:



View Larger Map

One thing we did notice was that Victoria is definitely a little more sunburnt than NSW - more red earth and everything felt just a little more bleached - with the rain in Sydney this winter, the dam levels are at 64% but Melbourne didn't get the rain so the dams are at 34%.

By late afternoon, we could just make out the skyscrapers of Melbourne

So, once all the boxes were packed, house cleaned (not by us, by a cleaning company - all our stuff was in a truck!), we loaded the car and started the drive to Melbourne.



(this makes it look like we didn't take too much stuff in the car but we also had a fully laden roof box)

Nothing too exciting to note on the drive apart from nice, empty (well, when clear of Sydney suburbs) and very very very straight roads.



Oh, and giant sheep



We were contemplating driving through to the NSW/Vic border but we probably wouldn't have got there until well after 11 and we were concerned that we wouldn't have a place to stay (we hadn't booked as we really had no clue how far we would drive - or how long in the car the kids would tolerate being in the car) so after driving on a bit from this pretty sunset, we found a very nice motel that had a family room.



Adam was very excited about having three beds in one room and suggested we just live there and never mind going to Melbourne - Emily didn't care as she had fallen asleep about half an hour previously. Adam was so excited and pleased, he made himself at home by unpacking his birthday cards.



Before going to bed we completed our breakfast order and the next morning the motel manager brought it to our room - Colin was most amused that he was called Bruce (like all Australians!)

After a good night's kip and our room service breakfast, we were ready to finish the 600km or so to Melbourne

Whilst we have secured our new house, we still needed to arrange for our furniture to be delivered from Sydney and then on to our new address. We asked if we could get it delivered this Friday but were told unlikely but Tuesday is an option but they would get back to us. At 8 this morning they got back to us saying 2nd Feb was the only option as apparently everyone is moving house!! Between then and late lunchtime today, we have gone through the following options:

Move on the 2nd and be done with it
Move this Friday and rent furniture, etc until our stuff arrived - too expensive and the minimum rental term is normally a month
Move on 30th and our lovely new landlord volunteered to leave us some furniture, sheets, towels, plates, etc (we love him now)
Try to get our containers from the current removal company and get it delivered by another company

It was, to be honest, not a very pleasant Wednesday morning.

Thankfully it has all been sorted and the (original) removal company are delivering our furniture on Tuesday.

(FYI: The first day of the school term is the 2nd so we didn't want to move house and have Adam start school on the same day)

On Wednesday, our fourth move in two and half years started with the removal men coming to pack the house - Colin and I found it very disconcerting and spent most of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday wandering around aimlessly working out what to do - we didn't need to pack anything, although I draw the line at the removalists packing my clothes so did them myself.



By late afternoon they were pretty much done, just leaving us beds, the TV and the computer - we had been without a fridge for two days as ours needed to defrost but we did have our little camping fridge (we still went out for dinner as by this stage we had about four glasses, three knives and one plate).

On Thursday they loaded two 20 foot containers as our stuff was going by rail to Melbourne. This is the final item being packed, my scooter



This had been preceded by Colin and Mick syphoning the petrol out of the tank - Mick was the brave sole that started it off - bleurgh!

By 3.30, the two containers were packed, the car packed and we were ready for our 900 km (560 miles) trip

If the jungle drums haven't reached your corner of the world yet . . .  we are moving to Melbourne - in about 4 weeks time - eek!

After moving to Sydney for Colin's job, we are now moving to Melbourne for mine. We want to move before the end of January so that Adam can start his next year at school with everyone else. We have managed to narrow down the areas we want to live - inner east or Bayside.

I found an excellent website that not only compares Sydney and Melbourne suburbs but also compares them to shoes!!!

We successfully moved house last Wednesday but have not been so successful in keeping our internet connection - it seems tele-co companies are equally useless the world over.

Our new house is good - lots of positives - separate room for kids toys and study/dumping ground, no noise from neighbours, close to fabulous cafe for all day breakfast - and some negatives - no dishwasher!!

We have a new house and move in two weeks!! It is in Balmain but still close to where we are just now (2km)

We have just been told that we have to be out our house by 5th January so we will be doing nothing for the next few weeks apart from house hunting.

Unfortunately, apparently loads of other people are also looking for houses - so keep your fingers crossed for us.

We have been in our house nearly a month now and really love it - still a few things to be sorted like the garden and air con, but otherwise it is great.

We are meant to be maintaining the garden but as it is a total weed-pit just now, the agent is going to send a gardener round to fix it so we have a good starting point.



Although our garden is not huge, it is nice and flat for the kids (apart from the stairs - left of BBQ - down to the back lane/garage) the balcony/decking bit with our table and chairs is actually above our garage (which we get into from the back lane).

As you can see we have one big open plan living room - the kitchen is deceptively large and with plenty of storage - the door in the right hand corner is the laundry room/cupboard - and we have a dishwasher. The fridge freezer is ours - we had to buy one as our last house had a fridge freezer included.





Emily's room is quite dinky but still fits her (toddler) bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers and as many pink toys as she can fit in - she is conforming to every stereo type and loves Disney Princesses.

Adam's room is much bigger as you can see it easily fits his giant bunk beds, car, horse and mountains of toys - his room also has fitted wardrobes.



Our bedroom is also a good size with en-suite and fitted wardrobes (although those are not big enough for my liking!) We also have a really nice balcony overlooking our back garden and with views of the city.

Just in case it isn't marked in your diaries, as of last weekend, we have been here a year!

We have found our new house - and are delighted as it is the one we wanted. We are only moving to the next suburb along - Lilyfield. We get the keys on the 15th and will move on the 21st - so yes the packing has started all over again - good thing we never got round to dumping the boxes after our move here from Glasgow!!



This shows you the route from our old house to our new house - less than 5kms.

It is a three bed (ours with en-suite and small balcony) townhouse with garden (bigger than our current garden - although this couldn't be hard), a garage (which is separate from the house but accessible from the lane behind our house), huge kitchen/living room (what the Americans call a "great room" as it does everything) plus study/tv room. The lovely estate agent is letting us in on Saturday to measure as we need to get a fridge freezer. It has wooden floors downstairs and carpets upstairs as well as reverse cycle air con (blows hot and cold air) - it also has a water tank to recycle rain water for the garden and solar panels!!

Adam is happy as it met one of his house selection criteria - it is red - we decided that his other two criteria were not going to be met - that he had a "mountain" bed like baby jaguars sleep in (from the TV prog Go Diego Go) and that we have one big bedroom but with three beds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This could have been ours....




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6282247.stm

imagine the horror of seeing our furniture washed up on a beach!!!!

On Monday morning at 7.30am (!!) a lorry arrived with all (yes, all - no boxes have gone missing from his shipment) 198 items that were loaded back in Scotland.

Our stuff got through customs and quarantine relatively easily - a pair of shoes had to be steam cleaned (Colin's gardening shoes) and a Christmas decoration has to be gamma irradiated (it has dried holly berries on it). So all Colin's great effort in steam cleaning the bikes, gold clubs, etc, was worth it. (The Christmas presents that were hidden in our stuff also made it - none of the customs people were tempted to open them!!)

It took nearly 4 hours for everything to be unloaded and put in the right room and for all the furniture to be unwrapped. The removers also unpacked a few of the boxes - until we had run out of workspace for them. Adam and Emily found it very exciting, especially as their boxes of toys were amoung the first to be unloaded. The removers let Adam unload those boxes - at one point he had crawled all the way into the box to get the toys - it was very funny to see just a pair of legs sticking out.

We then spent the next day and a half unpacking - and in fact we still have a few boxes that have been opened to check the contents are okay but we haven't managed to put everything away.

The Scottish removers had done another amazing job with wrapping everything. For every box that we emptied, we filled another with wrapping paper - Adam and Emily loved playing in these boxes, like it was snow or fallen leaves!

Among all the unpacking, I managed to take Adam to his swimming lesson and this time he got into the pool with no tears!! Although there were some tears when he realised a plaster he had on his arm had come off and, in the logic that applies if you are three, his arm was suddenly sore.

It is really fabulous having all our stuff around us now - the living room feels a lot more homely and the kids have been playing in the playroom a lot more.

The whole process was/is very tiring and Colin and I both managed to sustain some unpacking related injuries but now that we have a more hospitable looking home, we have great plans for BBQs!!

 

We have a provisional date for our container of furniture, etc to be delivered... the 20th November - two weeks tomorrow - I CAN'T wait.

The kids and I are about to start our last week of freedom; I start work on the 8th of November. Having said that, the kids will be in nursery for a few hours this week to start getting them used to it.

I have had two social outings this week - not bad, for only three weeks in the country. The first was out to Castle Hill (about 45 mins away) to meet with Lisa and her two kids (19 months and 10 weeks old). I was introduced to Lisa through the Newcomers club  - she is a Kiwi who moved here with her husband about five months ago. It was great fun but a shame that she lives so far away as it is not so easy to meet up.

The second occasion was to go out for dinner with a group of people from KPMG (plus two interlopers - a PwC'er and an EY bod). I know one of the group through ICAS so had emailed him to let him know I was in the city and he invited me out. We had a really great evening - dinner and drinks on the Bondi beach front.

We also tried Playgroup this week - not the most welcoming bunch of Mums/Dads and Nannies so we will try another Playgroup this week - thankfully there a good number of them within 10 minutes of us.

Adam is still going to swimming lessons and still screaming his way through them. Maybe this week will be better, I hope - sitting with Emily in the cafe watching Adam screaming for me for half an hour is not much fun.

Colin took Friday off work this week and we went to the motor show. It was absolutely huge - five halls of the exhibition centre with everything from Holden's (Vauxhalls) and Hyundai's to Ferrari's and Maserati's. Adam was very taken by the Utes - pick-up trucks - and scooters. The show was at Darling Harbour so we also went to the aquarium - the advantage of being members!

BROADBAND - don't you just love it. Now that we are connected - Colin on his work laptop and me on our rented laptop -  you can expect a few more entries.

If you don't want to check the blog every day - yes Oli, I mean you - you can subscribe by clicking on the subscribe button on the top right hand side of page and you can get email notification when we add a new entry.

We have been here two weeks already and it seems like a lot longer. While I have been busy at work, Leigh has been busy getting the house sorted and stopping the kids from destroying our rented home.

 

The first week was frantic, sorting out all the immediate tasks. Getting a phone, cable, car, visas stamped etc. All of course without a car. The buses in Sydney are excellent, well compared to Glasgow anyway. We can get a 431 bus down Glebe Point Road and straight into town, takes between 20-30 mins depending on traffic. The best thing about the bus…. It comes past the end of our road every 10minutes. During rush hour it seems more like every 2-5 mins.

 

We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Aquarium on our second day; I have attached a few more photos. The weather was scorching that first Sunday. Being the sensible Scots that we are, we plastered on the factor 20 and set out with a bottle of water to get the train, (we finished the bottle within the first 30mins and bought several more throughout the day). We nipped through the park and ran the last 100 yards when we saw the train coming. 10mins later you are in Darling Harbour and right in the heart of Tourist Central.

 

The aquarium was loads and loads of fun. We saw lots of brightly coloured fish and sharks. Plus of course the deadly sting ray! We bought a yearly pass that gets us unlimited access and discounts and various other benefits. We just need to go three times in a year and we have made our money.

 

Monday – Friday was work, work, work, stress, stress, stress and quite a lot of late night phone calls and early starts. The only good thing about being busy at work is that the weekends come round quicker.

 

The next weekend we went to the ZOO! I love the Zoo and took a ton of photos; I have uploaded a very very limited selection. Again we bought a yearly pass which we only need to use twice and again we have made our money. Given the weather we are much more likely to spend our weekends outside and the kids just love all the animals. The highlights of me were the gorillas and the tigers. The zoo is in an amazing setting, lots of covered areas and a great view over the city. You can get a cable car up and down to the ferry terminal which travels over the entire zoo. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the weather was 37 degrees. Fortunately for us that is very rare in October, and it actually made the headlines on the news. Leigh bought me a weather station for my birthday, so expect some weather updates as the blog continues.

 

Sunday was a little more sedate; we walked down to the local mall and bought some supplies and a double buggy. We realised that we are likely to do a lot more walking and even though Adam is pretty good, he gets tired after several miles.

 

Monday – Friday for me was again work dull work. Leigh bought a car! We got another Honda CR-V sport. Very similar to our old car but with a few subtle differences. It’s a 2.4 litre instead of 2.0, its got leather seats, but strangely only air-con and not climate control. We got an excellent deal on the price mainly because it is WHITE! Looks a bit like a large Police truck, but fortunately there are a lot more white cars here, so doesn’t stick out too much. We also had to buy a new car seat for Emily as they have different standards here and the seats attach into a hook on the roof of the car. We are considering getting the windows tinted to get that Drug Dealer look. But here it’s useful to keep out the UV rays too.

 

We also got a rental laptop supplied by the delivery people that lost our one. It’s not too bad and at least means that Leigh can check her mail and search on google for various different things. We have to use dial up at the moment, broadband gets installed on Wednesday. I had forgotten what it was like… you may as well get a drink and a bite to eat while waiting for a page to load.

 

The weekend ticked along pretty quickly again and we decided to make use of our new car and toured the city shops little. We were trying to find SatNav and found a good one in our local mall and got it all up and running. “Betty” as the lady in the machine has now been named, is very helpful. It makes driving in a large strange city much easier and has given Leigh more confidence to find places without needing to pull over to consult maps. There are a lot of “no right turns” in Sydney so even though you plan your routes on the map you can get there and find that you cant go the way you want. Betty makes is much easier.

 

We used our new found directional sense on Sunday to go out to Manly Oceanworld, (we get in free with our Aquarium passes), and see the beach. The aquarium is not a big and impressive as the one in town, but they have lots of sharks and a giant turtle. They also have all the spider and snakes to freak you out. It’s slightly different from Edinburgh zoo when you think that any of these could be lurking in your back garden.

 

We had a quick wander along Manly beach and a look in the surf shops before driving home.

 

Been trying to think of anything amusing about Ozzy life… bananas are still $2 a go…. Oh and they abbreviate everything, some examples:

 

Doco – documentary

Soco – Southern Comfort, I jest not… its even on the billboards

Rego – mandatory car insurance, a bit like a car tax.

This Avo – Yes they do say this, its not just in Neighbours.

 

I am sure there are loads more which I will update you on.

 

Weather Report:

• Current temp: 20.6°C
• Recorded min: 10°C
• Recorded max: n/a
• Feels like: 20.6°C

• Humidity: 51%
• Rainfall since 9am: 0.0mm
• Wind: ENE 13km/h
• Wind gusts: 17km/h
• Pressure: 1028.9hPa

• First light: 04:39 EST
• Sunrise: 05:05 EST
• Sunset: 18:15 EST
• Last light: 18:41 EST
• Moon: Waxing crescent
• Days until DST starts: 6

We arrived at our lovely new house at 7.30 am to find our rental furniture all in place, groceries in the fridge and 30 boxes of air-shipment… If you have read our earlier entries you will notice that 31 boxes were sent by air – unfortunately our laptop has gone missing – the various shipping, removal and courier companies are trying to pass the blame but either it will be found or we can claim on the insurance.

 

We then started to unpack, and unpack and unpack. Every item had been wrapped in about 5 sheets of paper - even our bin bags and the kids plastic plates!! Adam and Emily loved rolling around in the paper and stuffing the empty boxes. We managed to finish unpacking most of the boxes by late morning – although we still had our suitcases and most of the boxes that had our clothes in them as we didn’t have enough hangers!

 

That afternoon we walked down to the Broadway centre (http://www.broadway-centre.com.au/home.asp) to buy some more essentials – kettle, toaster, iron, salt and pepper, pasta, etc – and then got a taxi back to the house. Emily had slept for a couple of hours in  the morning and slept for another couple of hours in the afternoon in her buggy but Adam didn’t want to go to bed and didn’t have a buggy to fall asleep in so he fell sound asleep in the 10 minute taxi drive. We let Adam sleep for about two hours and then decided to wake him for some food and a bath before having a proper sleep – oh my goodness, what a nightmare. He pretty much cried for about an hour – after it taking us 20 minutes to actually get him awake – if you turned your back on him for a minute he was back asleep again. He eventually had some toast and then caught sight of his new Cars bed sheets and suddenly was happy again. Emily was more bearable after having had snoozes in the afternoon.

 

In between shopping, we managed to unpack a couple of the suitcases – well at least moved the clothes into the relevant rooms if not actually put away.

 

The kids slept well – until 5.30 for Adam and 6.30 for Emily. Adam slept on for a few more hours once I had calmed him down and climbed into bed with him which meant I had a couple extra hours sleep. Emily and Colin meanwhile had been for a couple of walks exploring the local area and finding the local Bakers Delight so we had fresh croissant and pain au chocolat for breakfast –very civilised.

 

We decided to stop unpacking for a few hours and went on the light rail to DarlingHarbour and the aquarium. Adam and Emily (and Colin) were very excited to see the seals, Nemos, croc, huge cod and sharks.

 

Unfortunately, Sunday night meant back to normal for Colin as he was in work on Monday morning, although it wasn’t that normal – we were all in bed by 8.30!!

We left a very grey and wet Glasgow at 4 o’clock in a massive people carrier for all our luggage. We got checked in (our massive hand luggage trolley case slotted beautifully into the BA frame) and nearly had a heart attack when the check in girl said we had 20 kilos of allowance – we had been working to 30 – but it was all sorted and we even came in under our allowance – 110 kilos!!

 

Apart from a 20 minute delay and the excitement (!) of Michael Aspel being on our flight, the rest of the first leg of our journey was fine. The lovely BA even put the buggy in the cabin instead of the hold so that we had it for getting to terminal 4 at Heathrow.

 

We managed to get through Heathrow with no trauma and then went to the business class lounge which was fabulous – they have a small room called the toybox with two comfy seats, a TV and some toys for the kids – the best thing was the door – it meant we could relax without worrying about Emily running off.

 

We didn’t have long to wait until our flight boarded and the real part of the journey began. Our seats were great as we were the first row in the middle – and we didn’t get too many dirty looks by the other business passengers – a few amused looks though when Emily tool off running down the plane. Once we were airborne, Adam was very excited about his flat seat and his blanket and was quite happy to snuggle up in his bed. The air steward(es)s were all very nice and tried to help Adam enjoy/endure the flight – Emily was happy with her supplies of bread rolls.

 

Emily went to sleep lying on top of Colin at about 12 UK time and Adam, in an amazing show of will-power was awake until two. When they were both finally asleep, Colin and I managed to get a few hours sleep. Unfortunately, the kids didn’t sleep all the way to Singapore so we had a couple of desperate hours of trying to keep them entertained – I think Adam watched Cars about three times.

 

Singapore business class lounge was not as great as Heathrow – no toy box – but plenty of space for the kids to burn off some energy.

 

The last leg of our journey started off brilliantly well with Adam falling asleep before the seat belt sign was off – he slept for 5 out of the 7 hours of flying time. Emily was not as peaceful but after using the infant lap belt to stop her wriggling, she also fell asleep. 

 

We finally arrived in Sydney and unfortunately had a really long walk, with no buggy for Emily, before getting through customs. The queue at customs was not too long but with two very frustrated kids, it was the worst bit of the journey.

 

After getting our cases, and eventually finding the buggy in the oversized luggage section, we went through to quarantine and I swear, they let us through as they didn’t want to try and wade through all our luggage. After that, we met up with our taxi service – a people carrier and a trailer for our luggage – and it was a short drive to our new house.

 

At 3pm today all our possessions were finally loaded into the container on its way to Sydney, via Grangemouth, Rotterdam and Singapore.

It should hopefully arrive by 31st October and then we can have all our furniture in our new house for Christmas.

The packers started at 8.30 yesterday (Tuesday) morning. They have wrapped and packed the air shipment - some tricky decisions for Colin as we originally had 1080lbs of "stuff" but we were limited to 1000lbs - so we have no Dyson, no stool, no pram - we have a small buggy though - for about six weeks. It turns out we also have no iron - the iron board got packed but not the iron!

Whilst two guys were doing the air shipment, the third had started on the sea shipment - Adam's bedroom, the playroom and our room - so that by the end of yesterday, only the lounge and the dining room were untouched.

Inevitably there are some things that got packed that shouldn't have - we managed to rescue Colin's work shirts that he is wearing this week and when we come back from Spain, but Emily's sleeping bag and Adam's backpack with his toys for Spain have been packed and there is no way of getting them back - by the end of today you couldn't actually get into the playroom as it is filled solid with boxes.

Today the rest of the house has been blitzed with only about three items of furniture left to be wrapped - absolutely everything has been wrapped in paper (including toys) and put in boxes. There were 31 boxes for the air shipment, I cant wait to find out the final tally for the sea shipment. I am very pleased that we have another "vendor" unpacking for us in Sydney as I think it would take us months to unpack otherwise.

We have found out that our sea shipment is due to arrive on 31st October so, as long as it doesn't get stuck in customs, we should have our furniture at the latest by the middle of November.

I have stopped two of my three jobs (Neighbourhood Networks and AF&J!) and am very much counting down my last ICAS days.

On the 19th September (two weeks today - AHHH!) the removal company arrive to start packing up the house. We have to separate all our stuff between air shipment (will be in Sydney in two weeks) and sea shipment (will be in Sydney in 8-10 weeks). The removal company have to pack and wrap everything - apparently the sofas will go in giant Jiffy bags - can't wait to see that! On that same day we will be moving in with Mum and Dad (!) although I will be coming back to Bargeddie to tell the removers what to remove.

On the 21st, our 40ft container will be delivered  - should be interesting seeing the lorry getting round the speed calming measures in our scheme - and apparently it will only take a few hours for our entire house to be packed into it.

Then for a bit of calm, on the 22nd the four of us and David, Sally, Ryann and Dave all head off to Menorca for a week for the Walker family holiday (or hodilay as Adam calls it!):

http://www.styleholidays.co.uk/anite.q.p.ST16.29010.q.x.REGIONNAME.Balearic%20Islands.q.x.REGIONCODE.27905.q.s.2542507.html

The big day is Thursday 6th October - our flight to London is at 6.30pm, then it is 12 hours to Singapore, a couple of hours in Singapore airport and then about 9 hours down to Sydney. Hopefully by then some of the hand-luggage restrictions will have been lifted - I know BA business class provide lots but I don't think they will be able to provide the same volume of toys, distractions and bribery and corruption (sweets and snacks) that I had planned on taking on board. We will arrive in Sydney at 5.15 am on Saturday the 8th and the relocation company will have the keys to our house which should have all our rental furniture arranged in it and our air shipment waiting for us.

Have not managed to rent out our house yet but we are still hopeful - if you know anyone who wants a house pass on the details!!!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-8127022.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent

 

Have made it back... of course my luggage decided to take its own route home, felt like doing a bit of extra shopping in Heathrow Terminal 4 and would meet me at home a day later.

Flight was as you would imagine being stuck in a seat for what seemed like 3 days straight. It wasn't helped by the fact that you can only take a small bag as hand luggage.

I also managed to carry a whole load of weights in my bag bringing it to the sum total of 32 kilos. Unfortunately the maximum allowed is 23. But British Airways (possibly the nicest people in the world) thought it unfair to charge me £500 excess baggage and let me off.

The first flight to Bangkok was pretty good, a quick 8 hours. I had no one in the seats beside me so managed to get a little sleep. A quick stop and then off again. Of course the obligatory roll to start of runway, turn around, roll back to the stand, off load an ill passenger and their luggage and then off again.

Next leg was a very very long 10 hours. Three teenagers sitting beside me, 2 movies, the last 5 episodes of 24 and a few vodkas later and I was back in the UK.

Then the most torturous part of traveling anywhere in the world. Negotiating Heathrow Airport. According the the lovely transfer map they give you. Getting off your plane in Terminal 4 to getting to your gate in Terminal 1 should take 75 minutes, I had 90 to spare before my gate closed. This is great when you don't have heightened security alerts and a collection of the most inconsiderate and down right stupid, jet lagged, fanny bag wearing American tourists to deal with. You also have to magically make you reasonably sized hand luggage transform so that it fits through a space the size of a shoe box.

Again with the help of British Airways staff, I repacked my bag three times while lining my pockets and wearing as much of its contents as possible. This is so you can then get through security only to put it all back into your hand luggage. I passed through security wearing two pairs of head phones, all my documents and money in my pockets, wearing all my changes of clothes and carrying my book and two magazines. What a JOY!

I then ran the entire way to the gate, making it with 5 mins to spare. Found my seat and prompting passed out in my seat. I then sat back and felt quite smug to have beat Heathrow Airport. Of course it had the last laugh as the pilot announced that due to the delays in the flight transfer area, we would be delayed an hour while we waited for these people to catch up.

Oh well.. a short 55 minute flight later and I was back home.

I was greeted by two small smiling children and one very tired and worn out Leigh.

Any way.. lovely to be back to the drizzle.. only just over 4 weeks until we leave for good.

After what seemed like an even longer flight on the way home - probably because I didn't get an upgrade this time - I got home at 10.30 am on Monday morning. The kids were very pleased to see me and I got great hugs from Adam - Emily just sat on my knee and refused to move. Apparently they were both very well behaved at Nicola's and Mum's although Adam was apparently a little teary on Sunday night.

No dramas on the flight although it did take ages getting through passport control in Heathrow as they were searching so many bags and still making people take their shoes off. I had to ditch the travel moisturiser and lip balm I bought in Bangkok but that was what I expected - some people had to go and check in some of their hand luggage as the internal UK flights still have the restrictions on the amount of hand luggage - here's hoping that is lifted for October.

I have found out that our air shipment - kitchen items, clothes, sheets, towels, duvets, etc - can be delivered to our new house before we arrive so the relocation people will unpack them and we can arrive to a semi-stocked house.

It is all getting a bit real now - only 6 weeks to go!!

Today we took the car down to Bondi Beach. It was much busier that the other beaches yesterday and lots of surfing shops.

We saw a bit of a surf competition. The waves were much larger than the northern beaches we saw yesterday. As there are loads of people out in the water and everyone has a black wetsuit the competitors each wear a different coloured t-shirt so the judges can tell them apart.

Bought the kids a couple of cute t-shirts and dropped the car off. It must have been the worst hire car in the world. A Hundai Pants! No power and no style. But it didnt use much petrol and had air con, so did the trick. We must have driven a good hundred miles and only added in 12 dollars (£5.20) to fill it back up.

I have added a whole load of photos from today and yesterday by the beaches.... bear in mind this is the equivalent of a Scottish February Day!

Thursday morning we did dull tax stuff and I met with KPMG HR to get my contract.

After I had seen the lovely house in Glebe the day before, we made another appointment so that Colin could see it as well. We also asked the relocation agent to come along for a second opinion, and to get her opinion on whether we would be able to arrange a move-in date to suit us (the advert said move-in 15th Sept but we wont need it til the 6th Oct, anyway long story short, we both liked it, the area was perfect - about 10 minutes from the city by light rail, a nice stroll to a park and the water, and an easy walk to some nice little shops, cafes, etc - so we arranged to put down a deposit to take it off the market.

It is four bedrooms with an open formal lounge/dining room, an absolutely massive walk-in wardrobe, a family bathroom (which is also ensuite to our bedroom) as well as a second shower-room and cludge. The best bit is the open plan (huge) kitchen, living room and dining room which has glass concertina doors on two sides that leads onto the decking and (small) garden. There is also a double garage and attic storage (it is a bungalow). As it is an old property the ceilings are really high and it has lovely wooden floors. There is also, most importantly reverse cycle air-con - basically air con and heating for the winter. The kitchen is huge and has tons of cupboards although as the ceilings are so high, I will need a step ladder to get to the top cupboards. No pool, but I am sure we will survive.

We also have managed to secure a nursery place for the kids - in the city so we can drop the kids off on the way to work.

It hasn't been all work, on Thursday evening we went to Cirque du Soleil, which was absolutely amazing.

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/varekai/intro/intro.htm

Then on Friday evening we went to 360 restaurant - a revolving restaurant about 88 floors up - the food was fabulous and the views amazing.

http://www.sydney-tower-restaurant.com/frlevel1.htm

Today (Saturday) we hired a car and drove up the coast to Palm beach and watched the surfers. We also visited Freedom (Australian Ikea) and Colin's favourite - BBQ Galore!!

On Monday morning we met with our re-locations agent for about an hour to discuss where we want to live, nursery and our plans for when we first arrive - will probably rent a furnished apartment for the first two weeks until we find somewhere more permanent. She gave us a huge amount of information, including a huge street map that is so detailed, it shows all the red lights, and speed bumps. We were also given an excellent book - Sydney for the under 5s.

We then had a veerrrry long session with the cultural training consultant who talked about where to live (again), a bit of Aussie attitude and other cultural stuff.

Tuesday was KPMG day and I met with my future boss as well as the rest of the department - they all seem very nice and very excited that I will be starting in November.

The other excitement on Tuesday was the hail - it started as a nice sunny day but by about 4pm, it started to get really dark and then the rain and hail started - it was so bad, with thunder and lightning that I took refuge in Starbucks - even I found it too wet to make a run for it.

Today (Wednesday) was the first day of house-hunting. Another consultant from the relocation company showed us two houses - same price but in two very different areas - to help us decided which area we want to live in.

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=4884684

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=3899333

The second one, which is a bit further out of Sydney but still only 25 minutes by train, was much nicer - super modern but not very practical with steep steps up to the front door.

The consultant then drove us round some other areas in Sydney to see the sorts of areas we could live in. We also went to see two nurseries - or long daycare as they call it here - one was very average and in a business park; the other was great - in the city but with huge outdoor area and a very enthusiastic Director who really sold the centre to us. It is two minutes from KPMG's office so I can easily drop the kids off on the way to work.

This afternoon I went to see a beautiful house in Glebe - not too far from the city centre - which was stunning, so much so, we are going to arrange a second viewing.

This evening we were invited for after work drinks with the hotel in the penthouse apartment, so we had a couple of lovely glasses of champagne whilst being schmoozed by the hotel management - I think they thought Colin was important as he is here for a month.

Tomorrow is KPMG x 2 - one meeting for tax advice and one for me to sign contracts.

 

I had an easy start to my visit as we had no plans for Saturday and Sunday so we wandered around Sydney City seeing the sights and getting our barings. On Saturday we walked up to the Rocks and visited the market which was lovely. The city is amazingly clean and everyone is very friendly -all offering advice where to live.

After changing my mind about six times, I finally decided to get the train down to London as the man from BA wasn't able to tell me whether the internal flight was going to run or not.

 

Got the express train down which was fine, on time but very busy - suitcases everywhere as everyone else had the same thought as me. Arrived at Heathrow terminal 4 at about 6.30 (my flight was at 9.50) and after a bit of confusion by BA staff, found out that check-in for my flight wasn’t even open yet so was told to go outside to wait. About 7.30, we were told to go to check in area A, which thankfully had the smallest queue. There were ground staff handing out plastic bags (for passport, wallet, tissues, prescription meds, and travel documents only) as well as sandwiches and water so no-one was too grumpy, generally all the people I spoke to were glad the flight was running.

 

It took about an hour to get to the front of the queue and I thought there was some problem with my flight as the check-in lady made a call and asked about my ticket, but then she uttered the fabulous word... upgrade!! From then on, everything was perfect and was even worth the 4 1/2 hour train journey. I didn’t even need to queue in the 100+ security line, just the 20+ fast track line. This took ages to get thro as everyone had to take their shoes off and everyone was checked as well as the poly bags going thro security. The good news was that we could buy things in duty free as long as we kept receipts so we could show that we had bought them after security, although it wasn’t till we got to the gate that we were told that no liquids would be allowed so a lot of people had to throw out bottles. 

 

Once I got to my seat (on the upper deck) I was handed a glass (glass not plastic) of champagne - which as I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch was not the best idea but never mind.

As my seat was a lie flat, I was able to get a good amount of sleep. When we arrived in Singapore, we were told there were no further restrictions on what we could take on board so I bought a bag - I was seriously fed up carrying a plastic bag around with me - and some toiletries. As the incoming flight was delayed there was very little time in Singapore so I was back on the plane in no time. Again I was able to sleep so arrived in Sydney feeling remarkably well.

 

After I got through customs, as I was one of the first off, two TV crews asked me some questions about Heathrow and the flight - I think they were a bit disappointed that I didn’t say how I was terrified of terrorists!!

 

So that was me in Sydney and ready to shop... for handbags, shoes and houses!!!

Went out for a few drinks last night... first went to the Cruise Bar:

http://www.bestrestaurants.com.au/booking/select_rest.asp?id=542

It is right on circular quay and the bar is beside the bit where all the cruise ships come in. Had a couple of schooners of Tooheys New. They dont drink pints here so drinks come in schooners and middys.. very weird. A schooner is 425ml and a middy 285ml.

Then went on to the establishment:

http://www.merivale.com/establishment/estbar

Its very lilke October cafe or Arta, lots of guys in suits and women a little bit too old for their dress... place is really nice inside and I have been told very busy at the weekends.

Anyway, drank a little too much and had a little bit too little sleep. So feeling the affects today.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day... got up late and bought some food for the next few days.

Then decided to wander up to Darling Harbour. You have to walk along Kings Wharf to get there which is pretty nice. Lots of bars along the waterfront.

Darling Harbour itself is pretty touristy, lots of people and loads of things to do. Went to the Aquarium and saw the sharks and crocs then grabbed a big of grub. They have people cooking away on outside bbq's the place spent amazing.

I then wandered round past the IMAX and Maritime Museum and went to the Casino. They have a huge American style one with hundreds of slot machines and tables, had some success on the roulette wheel and then learnt how to place craps.

As the sun started to go down I wandered back with aching feet but a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Finally made it....

Took what felt like 3 days to get here but was only 36hours. Unfortunately my bags were left in London when I got on the plane, so I got them a day and a half later. Meant I got to buy some new clothes and bill BA for the pleasure.

I have since been to work a couple of days and seen a few of the sites.

Have a look in the photos section for a few snaps.

Back to work tomorrow.