Hot! Hot! Hot!

I think we're starting to come out of Winter as it's been slowly warming up this week, rising to a high of 29 degrees today.

At lunchtime I went out and sat in the gardens of a Cathedral across from where I work and basked in the sun. I only lasted for about 20 minutes though. Boy was it hot!

The funny thing is, we're in the middle of flu season here. It seems like half of the company I'm working for is down with flu, many of whom I work with and who still insisted on coming in to work, so I'm amazed I haven't caught it.

At least in the UK a lot of companies have cottoned on to the fact that it's false economy encouraging people to work even if they're sick, as it only increases the likelihood of others getting it. That mentality doesn't seem to have reached Australia.

A lot of my preconceptions about hot countries have been shattered since moving here. I certainly didn't think flu would be a problem in Queensland!

Today (Saturday 25th May)

We've spent most of today shopping for our new house.

We went down to IKEA first thing, arriving for opening time at 9am. The IKEA in Brisbane is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and is absolutely huge. What's more it was pretty quiet and quite an enjoyable experience, unlike the last time I visited the Leeds IKEA!

We managed to pick up a bed for Lauren (which she chose herself) along with decent mattresses for us all (no good buying a cheap matress if you value your sleep!), a coffee table and other bits and bobs.

We got back to our new house at lunchtime to await the delivery of our new bed, which arrived on time just as they had said.

We then went to Cannon Hill Shopping Centre in Brisbane to look for a fridge/freezer and washing machine. We managed to pick these up at what I think is a really good price after a bit of haggling. The Salesman welcomed us with open arms and quickly told us he is Welsh, from Cardiff, even though he has lived here for 25 years!

We also bagged ourselves a real bargain. We had no intentions of getting a Dining Table set yet but we saw one we loved on a Manager's Special. It's a dark wood table with 6 dining chairs with Suede back, and what's more the whole lot only cost us $499 (2 hundred British pounds (I'm going to have to work out how to input the British Pound symbol from these Ozzy keyboards)).

We returned at 5pm to our new house to await delivery of the Sofas which again turned up on time.

So far, touch wood, everything in Australia has been a breeze. The people are fantastic. Everyone is friendly and can't do enough to help you. It must be the sun. It's so uplifting waking up to clear blue skies and glorious sunshine every morning.

It's quite funny really. It has been about 25 degrees each day while we've been here but the ozzies have been moaning that it's cool while we've been sweltering. Some are even wearing coats!

Anyway, this looks like being our last night at Cath's. She's been great letting us stay her (again) and I know Lauren's loved it playing with Bonnie and their dog Lucy.

Tomorrow's going to be another busy day building our bed and other flat pack furniture, while we're awaiting our IKEA delivery. We're also going to have a look for a telly. I very nearly bought a 40 inch Plasma with built in HD tuner today but I decided to be sensible. We may have made quick decisions so far with everything else but I'm not taking any chances with a telly, I'm going to have a good look round.

I suppose I also ought to think about looking for a job so I can pay the rent on our new house in the coming weeks!

Our third day in Oz (Friday 25th May)

Can you believe it. We arranged to see a couple of houses early that day. We loved the second place we saw, put in an immediate application, paid the bond and picked up the keys that afternoon!

It's a 3 bedroom house on a gated community in Carina - a really nice part of Brisbane. We've got a garage (with remote control electric door and everything!), a separate laundry room, en-suite master bedroom, the second bedroom has got it's own balacony, fitted kitchen with dishwasher, the lot. There's a shared pool near enough next door to our house along with a BBQ area. Only problem - it's unfurnished.

After picking up the keys we immediately headed down to Capalaba to a couple of furniture stores we had been recommended. Within the 2 hours we had before they closed we managed to buy a really nice sofa (or lounge as they call them over here) and Queen size bed. We actually got 2 sofa's - one 3 seater and one 2 seater, both in Coffee coloured suede fabric.

I'll post photo's when it's all set up. We managed to get free delivery for the sofas to be delivered the next day.

We stayed another night at Cath's and managed to stay up until 10pm this time!

Our second day in Oz

I got up at 4:30. I had already planned to do this because I wanted to be in Fortitude Valley to watch the Liverpool v AC Milan Champions League Final. Someone had told me on BritishExpats.com that I’d be able to find at 24/7 Sports Bar in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane which would be showing the match.

Having never been to Fortitude Valley before I wasn’t fully sure where I needed to be but I looked all around there and could I heck as like find a sports bar that was open. There were a few restaurants that were open at that time in the morning, strangely enough, but no sports bars.

I quickly jumped back in the car and headed back to Cath’s as I new it was being shown on terrestrial TV on SBS. Why didn’t I just get up and watch it on the telly in my wangers in the first place rather than venturing into Brisbane in the middle of the night trying to find a sports bar! It was about a 20 minute drive back to Cath’s so I searched the radio waves trying to find a radio channel where I might be able to listed to the match while I was driving. I did find a channel, but unfortunately the commentary was in Italian. I couldn’t believe it, I was in Australia and the only radio channel that I could listen to the match on was in Italian!

I was pretty pissed off (with myself) but I figured that at least I’d make it back to catch the second half. However, I had made another fundamental mistake. I had assumed that we were 10 hours ahead of the UK as last time when we visited in January, but I didn’t take into account British Summer Time. So we were in fact only 9 hours ahead. Meaning I got back just in time to see AC Milan score their second goal 10 minutes before the final whistle. Liverpool lost and I went back to bed. I’m strongly considering following Aussie Rules football from now on!

Later that morning we went into Brisbane CBD (Central Business District (city centre)). I opened a bank account with Bank of Queensland. This was pretty straight forward and only took about 20 minutes, as opposed to the 40 minutes it took when I went into Worksop to close my Barclays account before we left the UK. We also went to a Starbucks where I got online and applied for a Tax File Number for me and Rach. A TFN is like a National Insurance number in the UK and is needed for everything in Australia. We also had a quick search for rental houses and wrote down a few numbers to arrange a viewing for the following day.

Cath made us a lovely meal in the evening with an obligatory bottle of wine. We were still jetlagged though and in bed asleep for 9pm.

Our first day in Oz

We didn’t do much at all on our first day in Oz. I think we were in bed before 9pm that night (even though we did have a bit of a kip as soon as we got there). Jetlag had fully kicked in!

Ecstasy!

I nearly had heart failure watching the penalty shoot-out to see Liverpool reach the Champions League Final. I'm now going to have to find somewhere to watch the match in Brisbane at 05:30 in the morning!

I know that theoretically things could still go wrong with the house completion but we took a small gamble and booked the flights over the weekend. We're now booked to fly to Oz leaving on the 17th May. It's a bit earlier than we originally planned and it has come as a shock to some friends and family, but now that the house sale has gone through fairly quickly we just want to get off. Of course we're going to miss everyone, but we've been waiting for this for a long time. The whole visa application process took an age and then when we finally got the visa last March, and popped open to champagne, it has taken us another 14 months to sell the house!

We've decided to go the opposite route to our previous trips, choosing to have a 4 night stopover in Los Angeles. It was originally going to be a 5 night stopover but I realised that we would be in the air during the Champions League Final. Ever the optimist I changed it to 4 nights, much to Rachelle's dismay. Just because we're moving to the other side of the world doesn't mean I'm going to stop supporting Liverpool FC.

I wonder if Rach would consider changing our flights to go via Athens??

Smoke-free zone

I made the mistake of leaving it late to book my hotel for this week, with the result that I have ended up having to take a smoking room. As a non-smoker with a very sensitive nose, this week has not been a pleasant experience to say the least. The room is clean, but there doesn't seem to be any way of getting rid of the stench of stale smoke, short of re-painting the walls and replacing all the soft furnishings. On the first night I emptied an entire spray can of Oust into the room, covering everything - ceiling, walls, carpet, curtains, bedding, the lot. The effect lasted for about 10 minutes before the stench began to fill my nostrils again. Don't get me wrong, it's not a particularly strong smell, but it is there - it is noticeable, and it is bugging me!

I've tried each night to move rooms but I seem to have chosen a week when everything is booked solid. If I was staying in the UK I'd definitely consider building a business case to open up a new hotel in Manchester as there's clearly a shortage.

Smoking is yet another reason on the long list why I can't wait to move to Australia.

I already new that smoking was banned in pubs in Oz but I wasn't aware of the extent of the smoking ban in Queensland until I read this post by a Brit family in Oz talking about their visit to see Robbie Williams play Brisbane, where he (Robbie) was fined $150 for lighting up on stage.

I'm now extremely pleased to discover that as well as eating and drinking venues, smoking in Queensland is banned in 'outdoor public places where people gather as groups, and particularly where children are present', including:

• Patrolled beaches
• Artificial beaches
• Major sports stadiums
• Children's playground equipment
• Building Entrances

I love the fact that it is illegal to smoke within 4 metres of a non-residential building entrance. So not only do smokers have to go outside, they have to smoke away from the entrance so we don't have to walk through it when entering or leaving the building.

Full details are here

I went on a stag weekend to Dublin shortly after the ban was introduced there and it was so nice to be able to go out on a drinking session and wake up the next morning not smelling of smoke.

The Wetherspoon chain of pubs in the UK has already made 146 of its 673 pubs non-smoking, and many of its other pubs have non-smoking areas inside. I used to think Wetherspoon pubs were crap because they don't play music, but now being a thirty-something I actually find it quite nice to be able to have a pleasant conversation (cringe!).

Where does the time go?

I just thought I'd do a bit of research into the job market in Brisbane, and suddenly it's 3 hours later and I'm even more confused than when I started!

Everything I'm reading tells me that Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra are all better for IT Security jobs than Brisbane. That doesn't mean to say there aren't any IT Security jobs in Brisbane, there are - they're listed on www.seek.com.au and www.jobserve.com.au, there's just not as many as in the other cities.

I'm also getting the picture that the agencies aren't quite as efficient as the ones in the UK. Apparently in Oz many recruitment agents don't see it within their role to keep you updated - you have to chase them - constantly!

The general consensus is you're either lucky, and pick up work straight away, or you'll end up applying for about 100 jobs and have to wait 4 months before landing one. I just hope it's the former, because if it gets to 4 months I'll be starting to twitch and Rach will be in full-blown panic mode!

Contracting doesn't to be as lucrative either, so it looks like I may have to go back to being a permie (heaven forbid!), and permanent rates don't look that attractive either. Oh well, money isn't everything.

No seriously, it is standard of living, not income, that counts. All I'll need in Oz is a bit of petrol money to get down to the Gold Coast every weekend, or up to the Sunshine Coast, or over to North Stradbroke Island. Oh, and the big house with swimming pool, and sailing yacht moored at the bottom of my garden of course. I can but dream!

Brisbane Zombie Walk

The annual Zombie walk has taken place in Brisbane today. I might join in next year. I won't need any make-up - I always look like that first thing in the morning. I'm not a morning person!

Oz weather

Great article comparing the weather between the major cities. Rach is set on that we're moving to Brisbane but I'm still open to the possibility of trying out other areas. I guess I better make my mind up soon, if all goes well we've only got 3 months to go!

How our weekends will change

Here's some video I took of the waves at Mooloolaba beach on the Sunshine Coast in Australia when we went out there to validate our visa over the new year.




Soon this could be a regular weekend activity for us!

Not being used to waves like that, it was daunting at first. I soon got into the swing of things though and quickly became addicted to jumping the waves. Rach never really got used to it because she's not a very strong swimmer, but I'm sure that will all change when we live there.

And so it begins..

It seems funny that it's a year since my last post where I rejoiced the fact that we had finally received our visa, and yet it's only now that we're in a position where we're confident it's actually going to happen.

The reason it's been a year is simply because that's how long it has taken us to sell our house. In fact, it's been longer than that because we originally put the house on the market when we first started the visa process, then took it off again because it wasn't selling, and then finally put it on again when we got the visa. What a nightmare! But finally it is sold (subject to contract):


The buyers aren't in a chain so it looks like we could be emigrating in weeks, rather than years which it was beginning to look like. I suppose it hasn't really sunk in yet. I guess I ought to start planning - we're not just moving house, we're moving life!

Now things are actually happening and I don't feel in suspended animation anymore I guess I'll finally have something to write about. Actually I'm kidding myself, quite a lot has happened in the last year. For a start, we went back to Oz a second time at the end of last year. Mainly out of necessity than the desire for a holiday. When you receive your PR (permanent residency) visa you have a year to validate the visa or it expires. What that basically means is that we each had to get a stamp on our visa in Australia, and because the visa didn't get granted until we we're in Singapore on our way out to Oz the first time, it was too late to get the visa included in our passports for when we entered Oz - bummer! Of course, we completely expected to have sold the house within a short time after returning from our recce trip so didn't think the validation deadline would be a big issue. How wrong were we! It's not even as if they take the date as being a year from when the visa is granted - it's actually a year from when they received the medical and police checks prior to granting the visa, which for us was the beginning of Feb - 6 weeks before getting the visa.

We could have done without the expense of having to take another trip to Oz within a year. Don't get me wrong, we had a fantastic time again, but it was £££ that we could have used for settling into our new lives. The whole reason why we couldn't emigrate before selling the house, i.e. not rent it out instead or leave it on sale while we start our new life in Oz, is because we need the equity in the house to pay off our debts and cover the risk of going to Oz without a job lined up prior to landing.

Besides taking a second trip to Oz, I've also finally left my cushy permanent job and started IT contracting under my own limited company - something I've been wanting to do for ages but until now have never had the balls to do. I'm now halfway through my first and what looks likely to be my last contract, at least in the UK anyway. It's been a good experience, and there's definitely some upsides to contracting - some downsides too, which I roughly summarise as:

Upsides

• Financially lucrative: the rates are excellent and it will definitely give us that extra bit of money to cover us for a few months in Oz, just in case it takes me time to find a new job
• New learning experience: I'm consulting for a large company so I'm learning a lot about how large companies work and I'll be able to to take that with me for future jobs
• Different work relationship: because I'm not a permanent employee of the company there's no expectation to stay late or do overtime as there is with permanent positions, they're basically paying me for a given number of hours and if they want any extra I have to agree to it, at my rate

Downsides
The major downside is I couldn't find a contract near where I live so I'm having to work away during the week in Manchester. I suppose you could look at the positives of this because I'm beginning to realise that Manchester is a cool city, however, I did my stint of working away from home when I was in the Navy for 7 1/2 years - I'm a home bird now. Plus, I've now got a 5 year old daughter as well who I'm only getting to see at the weekends, as well as Rach of course. I'm actually writing this now from the loneliness of my hotel room, sob sob.

There's been other stuff of course which has happened in the last year but really it's the future that matters - so I guess I ought to start writing my Emigration Action Plan!

We got it!

I'm now on holiday in Oz - more about this later. This post is just to say that we finally got the Visa!!!!! We checked our e-mail while we was in Singapore and we've got an e-mail to say the visa has been granted. What a relief! After 18 months of hassle we can finally put the house up for sale and make serious plans for leaving.

Of course the added bonus is that while we're here on holiday we can do a proper recce knowing we're actually going to be living here.