Living in the Wild, Wild West!

Maddington is the place to be......

2009-05-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=142481

The Gypsy Jokers Club House is in the next street to where I work!!!

WA rejects Daylight Saving

2009-05-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/814643/sun-sets-on-wa-daylight-saving-debate

Can't say I'm surprised...... :(

The House is Almost Finished....

2009-05-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Now we just have to worry about the flooring, painting etc!

The fun of working in Maddington

2009-05-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Video of petrol tanker exploding at Maddington

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m-VgWwfh0c

The new love of my life.....

2009-05-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

My phone, the Nokia E71

http://www.nokia.com.au/link?cid=PLAIN_TEXT_1069088&2473PSEM

All Out of Love...... Air Supply Concert

2009-05-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

Tidy Burglars

2009-04-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

I think we were broken into by the tidiest burglars in the world. They took Sue's camera, 26 Wii games :o(, a mobile phone and my PDA but didn't make a mess....... So it could have been worse.

When we realised they'd taken Sue's smartrider and used it we thought we might be able to track them down but they used one of only two buses in Perth without a CCTV camera.....

Anyway insurance claim a settled now

Giant Quokka invades Fremantle!!!

2009-04-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

First crop of peppers and chile's

2009-02-15T03:50:00.000-08:00

Not a bad first crop, loads more still to harvest :)

Stone the Flammin' Crows its Australia Day!

2009-01-26T02:13:00.000-08:00

Rodeo

2009-01-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

Best pic from the Rodeo, it was certainly and interesting experience... We both had fun :)

Cowboy John

2009-01-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

All ready for the rodeo, well we do live in the Wild West!!

And now the bricks have been delivered

2009-01-25T21:50:00.001-08:00

The concrete has been layed....

2009-01-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

Dilema

2008-12-31T01:06:00.000-08:00

How do I explain to the employment agency that placed me six months ago I'm looking for A$30k extra now.......

2008-12-30T01:12:00.000-08:00

Oh Sue, there you are.. I wondered what had happened to you :)

Still Here

2008-12-29T02:09:00.000-08:00

Well, John has posted a few blogs, so thought I would let everyone know that I'm still alive.

We had a nice first Christmas in Perth. It was a nice clear sunny day, we went for a 4 km walk along the beach/shoreline. (We were thinking about going a few days later, and would you know, that was the day there was a shark sighting and the beach was shut for a while)....

All the time in UK John never really fancied a traditional turkey dinner...would you know it...we're here and he wanted one, shame the turkey we had was ...for a lack of a better word, squelchie....so we ended up throwing it out and had a vegetarian meal.

As John says, the house is now in construction phase....they estimate the concrete slab will be down around the 7th Jan.

Was about to water the garden, as it's looking a bit parch...but remembered at the last minute, they have "water wise" here and there is a roster system for watering your lawn. The roster is based on the area you live in and the last digit of your house number....so it's not as though you can copy your neighbour...

Well, that's all for now...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.

Sue

Coming home

2008-12-29T01:08:00.001-08:00

I've finally booked my visit home, fly out of Perth on March 12 for a couple of weeks. Now if I can get the upgrade to Premium Economy for the Singapore - Heathrow leg :)

Farmer John

2008-12-29T01:02:00.000-08:00

In a moment of madness I thought I'd try and grow some chilli's and passion fruit. Hopefully future pictures will be more impressive!

The House has been started

2008-12-29T00:46:00.000-08:00

Our plot re-pegged in anticipation for the ground works to start. Concrete slab should be layed first week in January.

What was that spider in the bath?

2008-12-15T01:01:00.000-08:00

I saw this spider in the bath and thought nothing more of it but Sue - correction both of us thinks it might have been a redback!!

Sorry to the spider but we didn't take any chances and it's been well and truely sprayed...

Hopefully we'll update this blog a bit more often now!

New Place

2008-04-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings again...wow, been that long since we've updated the blog...sorry.

Well, the rental market here, is definitely a different kettle of fish. So you look on the net and find a place you like the looks of. You can go and do a reconnaissance of the area and of the house. Then you have to contact the agent...so far no difference. Here comes the catch....your name gets added to a list of potential people. They then schedule an "open house" viewing of the place. So you turn up at the allotted time, to find out there are others there too. Not just one or two, but could be around 20 to 150.... If you are interested, you approach the estate agent and get an application form. Now the form, is like filling in a job application, give referees, how much do you earn, etc. Now you go to the estate agents shop, drop off your application, along with an application fee (usually a week's rent, which on average is £150). Then it's a wait and see game. If your application isn't successful, you usually get the money back. If your application is successful, but you turn it down, you loose the money. If you accept, it goes towards your bond...usually two weeks rent up front, plus a month's worth for damage, etc. So basically, you have to be careful, as to how many applications you put in. Luckily, we were offered the first two that we put in for....if you listen to the locals and to the local news, it would seem we were lucky.

We are now in a villa with 2 bedrooms. The best feature of this place, besides coming fully furnished, is the veranda which overlooks a nature reserve with a lake. Now, when we moved in the lake was dried, but after a few good rain falls, it is starting to fill in again.

Just before we moved in, the owner of the property called and asked if we could come over, as they wanted to show us a "small burn" at the side of the property. Now, I'm thinking, oh the BBQ got over active...or they were burning some rubble and it scorched the side of the house. No, part of the bush behind the property caught fire on Easter Friday and it came within 10 feet of the property line....The peat was still smoldering over a week after the fire. The first Saturday we were in, it was smoldering quite a bit...well just to be safe, we called the fire department and explained about the smoke (about the size of a campfire). The fire department turns up and they are looking for the smouldering area....We are out on the veranda and call out to them and point to the area we were concerned about (about 50 feet from the house). Well, after they chuckled...they said, you called us out for this? Turns out, that because of the dry weather and the fire, the peat is likely to smoulder (for up to 2 months), until there is a good dose of rain. So, they kindly turned the hose on and doused the smouldering area, for a good 10 min. I asked, when should we call them out...."when you see flames.". ...you could almost hear the jokes back at the station.

Anyway, that's all for now, will update you all some more later on...will try not to let it go too long.

Arrival...

2008-03-02T23:48:00.001-08:00

Well, we arrived in Perth. Went through immigration....John's passport was fine...mine...yet again, had to be rescanned...new measure of nerves settling in...but the immigration senior, passed it without problem.

Now the next scarey part....for any of you who have watched Boarder Patrol on Living/Bravo, will know what I mean. You collect your baggage...but while you wait and cute little beagle, meanders around and sniffs his heart out...looking for...illegal substance....glad to say, nothing found with us. Then it was trying to get bags off the conveyor belt...why do people see you struggling with bags....decide they have to stand just where you want to swing it??? One of these days I might actually hit them....

So now going through quarantine/customs. Because I forgot to give the movers a kitchen knife. I packed it in my check in and declared it on the form. Really fun, getting to see your bags being x-rayed and then asked to come and point it out. They were really nice and friendly and thanked us for ticking the box and didn't make us feel like idiots.

Now finding a taxi for the ride to the hotel. $50 bucks later and we make it to the hotel. That is another tale in itself, the hotel room, but will save that for another blog.

I went out and grabbed some grub to keep us going, till the next morning and then we just vegged and cooled down in the room.

Next day, we went to the bank and sorted that stuff out. I had an interview with a recruitment agency later on the same day....nothing like going for an interview feeling jet lagged. Also went and got a tax file number...something you need if you want to work.

Meandered around the next day and on Saturday, friends came and picked us up to take us to their place, where we are currently escounced.

John had an interview with a recruitment agency on the Tuesday following our arrival. Had an interview on Thursday, 21st and had word on the 22nd that he got the job and he started on the 26th. I am still looking for a job, but my main priority now is finding us a place to live, as we can only stay here for a bit longer. Also, it will be nice to set up our own place, I can find a job and then relax and enjoy our new life down under.

More later on :)

Where Are We Now????

2008-03-02T23:40:00.000-08:00

Greetings. Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, but it's just been go go go.

We left Salisbury on the 11th of February and flew out on the 12th of February. Not without a bit of drama.....we checked in...nervous as we had an extra bag....no problem. Only gave us one boarding card...that's a bit weird....said we would get one in Singapore....fair enough. Went through to security, had breakfast. Brain wave....why not go to the information counter and see how we get our boarding card in Singapore. Girl looks at our stuff, thought it was strange and said the counter staff should've given it to us. She's working hard at sorting it out...then says...hmmmm, problem reading your passport....(mine...not John's of course). So she has to call and sort it out...seems the reader was having a funny five minutes. Mild panic attack was setting in....am I going to make it????

So we board the plane...that was a laugh...down some stairs and board a bus, to board the plane. Once on the plane, they sit us down, close the door and said, right...now we are going to wait. Due to fog, we were almost an hour and three quarters late taking off. Now in the air, we realise that we only have an hour layover in Singapore and we were going to miss our connecting flight..but more importantly, because John being the kind generous soul that he is, we could loose our upgrade to business....anyway, they held the plane in Singapore for us.

Business class....for anyone who has never done it....give it a go. You are treated like a human being, with names :) Very nice and the service was great!!!!!

Now arrived in Perth....more in the next blog.

Friday, 8th Feb

2008-02-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

Well the movers have been and gone.

More stuff has gone to the charity, have been told they have raised quite a bit of money, with the stuff we have already given them (so that's a nice feeling.). Didn't realise, just how much stuff you can hide in such a small space.

Now it's just the final sort and pack.

Been saying goodbye to friends and family.

Loose the internet and telly later on today....

More later :)

Monday morning

2008-02-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

First post on our blog about our move to Aus. Not a lot to say yet, details of cleaning, tidying and sorting isn't very exciting!

Unfortunately we're both suffering from a cold at the moment, great timing.

Monday, 4 Feb 2008

2008-02-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hi there

Getting excited now, a week left before we leave Salisbury and so many things to do, but hey, no pressure *ha ha*.

I strongly recommend that you all have a good spring clean/de junking, once a year...and we mean a good one, not a half hearted one where you just do your clothes. Never realise just how much of a hoarder I was. Feels refreshing, getting rid of stuff and donating to charities.

More later :)

Frankie Boyle

2008-02-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

For my birthday Sue bought us tickets to see Frankie Boyle at Salisbury city hall yesterday. Very funny, even if I did spend half the time thing "should I really be laughing at this...." I think the group of girls in the row in front of were more than a little shocked.

Frankie's website's

http://www.frankieboyle.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/frankieboylelive

Good bye Car!

2008-02-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

Well that really bought home the fact we're moving today when we gave away my car. Wish I'd thought to take a picture of it before it went, oh well never mind!