We're finally here!

[wislon]

Hi eveyone,

It's been a couple of extremely hectic weeks, and with no reasonable internet connectivity it's been a bit tough to get online for any reasonable amount of time, but we've finally managed to get ourselves sorted out. Unfortunately keeping the forum apprised of our day-to-day has been a low priority, for obvious reasons .

Firstly, a really big THANK YOU to Nilo and her DH for collecting us at Brisbane airport and delivering us to our temp accommodation in one piece. We arrived completely exhausted, in a strange city halfway around the world, essentially knowing no-one. They have been absolute stars and have really gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and help us out with advice and information.

Tho we have now eaten so much of Nilo's awesome fudge I may never be able to look it in the eye again. Mel doesn't appear to have this problem

Basically our last week and a half has been something like this (and this is not the detailed version, trust me! ).

Mon 19th May - Left Jhb, SA, after lots of tearful goodbyes from family and friends. That is NOT something I'd like to go through again!

Tue 20th May - Arrived in Sydney, all baggage was cling-wrapped and intact. Woohoo! After a brief sojourn in customs, where Mel had half her snack pack from the airline confiscated (it contained nuts and dried banana apparently, but no worries, seems to be a common thing), we stopped briefly at the transit lounge and then got on the flight to Brisbane. Landed in Brisbane after a 1.5 hour-or-so flight and were promptly collected and ferried to where we've been staying for the past week and a bit. I would have said "whisked to where we've been staying", but Brisbane traffic is apparently legendary, and we experienced it first hand, up close and personal, immediately. NOT something I would have liked to do in a rental car with no gps. And forget using a map. Got in, unpacked the basics, showered, ate and crashed.

Wed 21st May - Up at about 7am. Did the dumb tourist thing, wandered around and gawped at everything. Queen Street Mall is amazing, not only because of the number of sidewalk shops, and the 8 to 10 malls which branch off it, but the sheer volume of people (especially around lunchtime onwards) has to be seen to be believed! We organised a SIM card for Mel and some airtime for both of us, and had a look at some of the internet access options. We need it to be mobile, so had to look at the 3G/HSDPA stuff. I don't have a phone that does it (it's ancient). Most places wanted a contract, but after a brief call to a friend in Perth, he advised me to look at the "3" network, and see if I could find a shop for them. And there it was, about 20m from the vodafone store. These guys offer a couple of plans, and if you buy their $199 USB 3G/HSDPA modem outright, there's no contract. Suits me just fine. Got back to the hotel, hooked my eee PC up to the hotel network to get access at $24/day (wow, that was expensive!) to check some things out. Spent the rest of the evening looking at car websites, trying to decide what car to get.

I think we finally crawled into bed around midnight. With no better idea of what we wanted to buy

Out of bed again at about 06h30. This whole jetlag thing doesn't help, and isn't much fun...

Thu 22 May - We went and activated my bank accounts and stuff, and Mel opened an account. Commonwealth bank. It took about 5 minutes, all they wanted was a passport and an address to send the card/pin/password to. Then I went back to the "3" shop (all major communications players have shops on QSM) and bought the HSDPA modem. I took the (linux) eee PC with to make sure it works (it does!) and went on their cheapest plan of $29 for 3GB. They have others, e.g. $49 for 5-6GB, so even in terms of cellular internet access, it's waaaaay cheaper than SA! Thrilled to bits. Download speeds of about 100k/sec on average where we are. I didn't even get that at work in SA with their 1Mbps line.

Then we bought a tomtom gps unit, since we had to find our way around some streets to get to the car dealers. A word to the wise: get the one that does text to speech (e.g instead of saying "Take the exit", it says "Take the exit to Elizabeth Street".). It costs a coupla hundred dollars more, but will be well worth it. When you're in town, or suddenly have to cross 2 lanes in peak traffic on the motorway to what appears to be the exit you should be taking, only to discover that the one you should have taken is 200m further on... yeah... you get the idea. This may have been obvious to some of you, but I've never actually needed a gps before we got here, so it was a learning experience!

We spent the Thursday afternoon playing on the public transport, trying to get out to the area where all the car dealerships are. We got off at the wrong station (my fault) and hiked, and hiked, and then hiked some more. We went from dealer to dealer, some of them wouldn't even look at us, others had priced themselves way out of our range. But eventually we made it as far as a Holden dealership, and nothing was too much trouble for those guys. I told them our budget, that we had some severe time constraints (we do and did, for reasons I won't go into), and they really went the extra mile for us. Found us a brand new Holden Barina sedan for just under what we were able to afford! Had to put down a fairly sizeable deposit (almost 15%) because we're new in the country, but other than that all they wanted was proof of bank account (with money in it), proof of address (statement of account on letterhead of where we are staying) and an indication that I am employed (letter of employment from my sponsoring company was just fine). We weren't able to take the car immediately (it needed to be detailed, rego done etc.), but they promised to try and have it ready for us by the following day. They did warn us that it usually took 3-4 days minimum. I thought "yeah right, we'll most likely hear back from them next Wednesday", but by then we were committed. Started heading "home", found the station we should have got off at (barely 500m up the road) and took the train back to the city. Got off in the middle of rush hour... as people were packing themselves onto the trains. That part is gonna be fun when I start working in a few days...

Lesson learned: Drink lots of water, carry a water bottle, it's easy to get dehydrated here without realising it. By the time you have a headache it's too late.

Lesson learned: then try and figure out where the public toilets are. There's lots, but not always where you'd expect them

Fri 23 May - We were heading off to play on the trains again, when I got a phone call. The Holden dealership. The car was ready, and when did we want to come and get it? I was completely shocked, hadn't expected to hear from them again until the next (this) week. We killed some time, ate our first Hungry Jacks burger (not bad actually, way better than McRats) and then headed to the Holden dealership (got the right station this time). Got everything signed up, attached the trusty tomtom to the windshield, and off we went. Never looked back! Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on the net, trying to sort out where to go and look for a rental property. Based it on distance, whether it's across the river and price. Found a few spots to go and look at, and hit the hay.

Mel's pants are looser from all the walking. She has to keep hiking them up .

Sat 24th May - Another early start. We took the eee pc with the new 3G modem along (just in case), filled the first batch of addresses into the tomtom and off we went. We tried north of the river first, but a lot of the places we looked at within our critera were just not for us. After checking out a couple of queenslanders, we decided to check out some of the more modern places as well.

At this point, the gps was worth more than its weight in gold, I cannot imagine trying to do this with just a map if you don't know the area really well! And we really don't!

The tomtom got lost a couple of times, but always managed to figure out where it was eventually. At one point we stopped, had coffee, and then Mel hit the realestate/domain.com websites again, to see if there were any new showings in the area. Found a couple, loaded them up into the gps, and discovered that, again, these were also really not what we were interested in. These queenslander homes are...um...a little quaint. Most were old and falling apart, tho the insides are lovely, with shiny wood floors, looked the kind of place I stayed in when I was a student.

We wanted something a little more modern, so out came the pc again, and on a hunch (and some nagging), Mel directed us south of the river.

We've been warned (by "northerners") to not live on the other side of the river because of the traffic, but by this time I was a bit despondent and getting irritable. My time constraints to find a rental were tight, and we don't have an unlimited budget. I was seriously not looking forward to doing this day in and day out for the next week... yes, I know, looking for one day hardly constitutes a major effort, but I was still down in the dumps... it'd been a looooong month up to this point.

We continued south, drove through some areas. And then we found it. A stunning little unit/townhouse in a relatively secure complex. We went through it with the manager of the complex, with a couple of other groups of people. We were really hoping we'd be able to get it, but I thought there was probably no chance. But it appears that we asked the right questions, made the right noises, and when we filled out an application form it turned out we had all the right documentation (because of this forum (and mrs mupersan's attention to detail in particular), we had all the right letters and confirmations).

Then I discovered we didn't have enough cash to cover the full bond, so I thought that was the end of it. The manager had a brief discussion with another chap who was also interested (but who didn't have his docs and money ready), and apparently the chap said something which turned the manager off him, and then the chap left. Even tho we didn't have enough money on us, he was happy enough to take 3 weeks instead of the full month, provided we paid the rest in the following week. I think he liked us, actually. He's dealt with saffers before, and it sounds like likes the way we think and do things. And that was it. Done and dusted. We signed the first set of docs which essentially gave us the right to the place, and agreed to return in a couple of days after we'd paid the balance, and sign the lease. We were overjoyed!

And it turns out there's a regular bus service (every 15 minutes) to the city. It apparently takes about 30 minutes in rush hour. It takes us 30 minutes by car when the traffic is free flowing (max speed limit of 100km/h), so this is a huge bonus. And there's a train station about 4km away, takes about the same amount of time. They have working transit lanes here, lanes designed for buses and car-pool and motorbikes. Properly designed. Not like that mess they've made of the N2 in Cape Town. And there are no frikken taxis! I know everyone says this, but the full impact of not having to deal with those damned autocratic, arrogant taxis Every Single Day won't sink in until you see and do it for yourself. That is immediately one stressor which has gone.

Sunday 25th - we just chilled out. Went and visited Nilo and her family and had a bbq. Lekker ribs and sausages and salads, it was awesome! The most relaxing day we've had since we got here! Mel took copious notes about where to buy stuff, where not to buy stuff, and all sorts of useful information like not to buy sheets below a certain thread-count

And...yeah... that's about it. The past week I've been to a meet and greet with my 457 sponsors (I've only ever spoken to them on the phone and via email). Discussed what I need to do (like medical insurance, getting a tax file # etc.) and what I am going to be doing. Need to get my A into G as well, and soon, wrt starting work.

And since Tuesday we've been backing and forthing between umpty-zillion furniture and white-goods stores, comparing prices and specs and bargaining with salespeople to get our new place kitted out with the basics. We finally have our lists of stuff, how much it costs, where to get it, and tomorrow we'll be hitting all those places and buying it all up, setting it up to be delivered when we move in next week.

Another word to the wise: this shopping takes a hell of a lot longer than you think. No matter how long you think it will take, it takes longer . Ikea, by itself, is about 4-5 hours if you're looking at kitting out a place with bed, lounge suite, desks etc. Take a notebook and a pen to all these places too, and make notes about makes and models and prices and dimensions, coz after you've looked at your 10th set of washing machines, you can't remember how much the similar (but cheaper) one was at that store you were at yesterday. Thursday night "late night" (till 8pm) shopping is also cool, it gives you a bit more breathing space (most shops seem to close at 5pm here. Yes, even the ones in the malls). I must admit I think we are spoiled by having shops open till 8 or 9pm every day in places like Canal Walk or Eastgate in SA.

Mix the 5pm closing time with the rush-hour traffic which starts about 15h30 onwards, and your late afternoon is a complete waste of effort... unless you own a motorbike or you actually LIKE sitting in traffic

Public transport in and around this city is really jacked up tho. It'll be even more jacked up once we actually figure it out properly...

I'll admit that things seem to have gone really easily for us so far (tho it may not have felt like it at the time, I will never shop for furniture again, Mel can do that part!).

Quite honestly, I'm almost suspicious about how easy it's been, and how quickly things have gone for us!

That being said, a lot of the information we gained on this forum has helped us immeasurably! The collective feedback and updates on how to do this, where to do that, what you need to do so and so, is priceless. I honestly feel really sorry for any recent immigrant to this country who hasn't had the benefit of the collective wisdom of this site. The "due diligence" thing we've been doing since before we got here (make sure you have all your letters and confirmations printed and copied multiple times, and always keep your passport handy) has stood us in really good stead.

And you also have to pretty much go out and get it. We've been up around 7am most days, and been going to bed around 12pm most nights (calling family, researching stuff on the net, looking up places to go on whereis and google... the list goes on).

My impressions so far...

It's really fantastic not being hassled by black-bag-selling hawkers, and hard-eyed beggars at Every Single Corner and Every Single Traffic Light. There's no one wandering by your car with a "you owe me money because I'm poor" kind of attitude, no one tapping on your window and shaking a snotty, sick-looking baby at you. There's no-one loitering on street corners, doing nothing but giving you hateful looks as you drive or walk by. You don't feel the urge to close your window every time you stop your car, or cycle-look through your mirrors, covering the different approaches to your car when you stop at a dark, deserted traffic light. That part alone makes me happy that I've done the right thing by moving here.

One does have to keep one's eyes open (there was an oriental guy who seemed to have an unhealthy interest in my bag at one point while we were eating lunch on a picnic bench in the midst of a mass of people), and use some common sense, but at no point have I ever felt unsafe since I got here. There are cops everywhere, in groups of 3 or 4, especially around places where people are drinking and being loud and obnoxious, but their presence seems to be enough to dissuade most trouble.

The place is clean. Everything works. And if it doesn't, there's someone fixing it. LOTS of construction work going on. Like Melbourne and Perth, this place is booming! And I am sure the other cities are too.

It's still weird to me, to see 5 guys on a large construction site, monitoring a bunch of machines that are doing all the work, instead of having hundreds of low-cost, low-skilled labourers doing it. Case in point: when we were out looking at rentals, we saw 5-6 guys ripping up a street. A proper 3-lane road. One guy was doing the orange cones, and waving the stop/go sign. One was driving a weird looking machine about the size of a grader, with tracks like a tank, which was literally eating/gouging up the road as it went. Another guy was driving behind him, with a truck to catch the resulting gravel pouring out of this machine. The fourth was a cop. I stand to be corrected here, but it looks like every time I see them actively working on a road where there's a lot of traffic, there's a cop there too. And there were a couple of guys who looked like handlangers, just doing general support. In the space of the hour it took us to get to the one area, and drive back, these guys had covered a good coupla hundred meters, just by themselves. I couldn't help thinking that back in SA, they would have had 20 guys with pick-axes and pneumatic drills doing the work of this one machine. And they'd never have been able to keep up with it

The people are friendly, and enthusiastic. Sure, some of them may not want to serve you, but if so, then they make a damn good job of faking it. TV is boring. There's no baby rapes on the news, or xenophobic attacks, or farm murders. Nobody knows who Manto is, or cares whether Zuma will be the next president. Not many people seem to know (or care) who Jacob Zuma is. Which is the kind of boring I can live with. They had a 10-second insert on the army being deployed into some or other township (?) in SA, a coupla days after we landed, but by the time I realised they were talking about SA, they'd moved on. It's interesting walking past travel agents and not being able to see the ZAR listed for comparison against the dollar (even down near the bottom). Most people who have asked where we're from don't even really know where Cape Town is (tho some know it's down south in Africa somewhere).

It's eye opening and refreshing, in a strange way, to realise how little SA really matters in the scheme of things over here. No one cares, and I think I am starting to understand why. I think it's a question of scale, and quite honestly this country seems to be going places so fast that it doesn't have time to sweat about the doings of a little third-world country at the bottom of a vast, starving, war-torn, third-world continent

Anyhoo, I think it's time for bed. Another early start tomorrow... just for a change!

J.

Edited May 30, 2008 by wislon

[Jordy]

Thanks Wislon. That was interesting reading. It really is all so amazing isnt it. Actually it is amazing how quickly one forgets about the bad stuff in South Africa. For example I hadnt even thought of a car guard until you mentioned them.

Edited May 30, 2008 by Jordy

[Ready2go]

Hi there Wislon

Thanx for the post.

Love reading about forumites settling down. You sound happy - which gives the rest of us here hope.

Now whats this about Nilo's fudge ? I looooove fudge too Nilo.

No car guards, you serious ? Yay !!!

Good luck in your new home.

[Brissy Bessies]

Thanks for your efforts guys, really enjoyed the post

[Martinp]

Hi Wislon,

I am so glad for you guys!!!! Excellent hope everything that has to be done gets done easily! Good luck with all the stuff you have to do.

Please keep us updated! Good luck with the new job and new people and enjoy every moment of this new journey!

Martinp

[Narms]

Hi Wilson

Thanks for the very interesting post - Sounds like lots of hard work but the end result is very worth while.

All the best with the new job and new life.

Keep us posted

Cheers

Narms

[Nilo]

John and Mel are a great couple!! Wanna know why things have been going so smoothly for them? They have the right attitude!!

Good on ya guys!!

Cya soon

N

PS: John you'r dates are wrong!! Monday was the 23rd May!!

Edited May 30, 2008 by Nilo

[SHIRLS]

I have a good attitude too Aunty Nilo,just keep making that fudge we are coming to claim ours soon!

[De Kat]

Wow, nice one, Wislon. Keep this info safe somewhere, you will love reading it in a couple of years, letting the memories flow back.

I really enjoyed this post.

[catz]

PS: John you'r dates are wrong!! Monday was the 23rd May!!

Huh??? TOday is Saturday the 31st... so yesterday was the 30th.... so the 23rd woulda been last Friday?

[No Worries Mate]

Hey Wislon

Great read and glad that you are having a great time exploring!

Keep us posted!

Andre

[Carrie]

What a fabulous post! It's great sharing experiences with those who have landed... so nice to hear all the positive feedback from down under. I must say that I also battled to find any negatives while I was there.

Can't wait till it's our turn.

Take care guys and I wish you the best of luck and happiness in your new home!

*hugz*

Carrie

[Nilo]

Huh??? TOday is Saturday the 31st... so yesterday was the 30th.... so the 23rd woulda been last Friday?

Catz it's me thats stupid!!! It was Dales 21st on saturday the 17th not the 21st silly me. You see Daryll's birthday's on the 21st of March so guess what I did?? It's hormonal not age!!!

Sorry Wislon!! OOOOPS

[De Kat]

PS: John you'r dates are wrong!! Monday was the 23rd May!!

Nee jong Nilo, die 26ste Mei was 'n Maandag, my grootseun PJ se verjaardag! Te veel fudge fumes, blame dit daarop

[wislon]

Nee jong Nilo, die 26ste Mei was 'n Maandag, my grootseun PJ se verjaardag! Te veel fudge fumes, blame dit daarop

Definitely the fudge fumes . I just had another piece now, while reading the replies, and my sugar levels have just skyrocketed...

I kind of feel like that squirrel in "Over the Hedge" when he drinks that energy drink

[Leigh MC]

Hey John!

Thanks so much for a fantastic post - really informative and filled with stuff we need to hear.

Sounds like you and Mel are settling and finding your feet nicely. All sounds very exciting - and getting to buy new stuff is also fun!

When do you starts work (is it today 2 June)?

Keep us up to date with how things are with you. Looking forward to hearing how it goes with your new company...

Leigh

[PROzzie]

Thank you for your positive feedback.

It would be our turn in July and it is good to know the light at the end of the tunnel is not a fire started to keep warm. The sun is really shining!!

[owenss]

Geez John,what an informative post.

You've missed absolutely nothing. Makes the experience all the more special when everything has been recorded.

Glad to here you guys are settling down and I m sure you are finding your feet by now.Has tour GPS given you any wrong directions yet

Cant wait for our turn .We fly on the 23 June to Brisbane so it will be great to get tog with all the Saffers there.

This is where our new lives begin and the right attitude through the whole process,and it doesnt end once we arrive either, is the best advice anyone can give.

Good on you guys.

Eileen

[AllisonW]

It is great that you guys are all settled in. Well done. Nilo, you sound like an angel! You are great to help out so! Cant wait to see you al.

Allison

[Polyanna]

Thanks for a great posting. It made good reading.

We didn't diarise our "settling in" process at all, and now 10 months on, all those little details escape me.

(Wish I had captured it all).

[Rissiepit]

Brilliant! I love success stories ... well done. May you create many awesome memories in your new home and good luck with the new job too

[Arleneg75]

Wow, what an interesting read. Good to hear you are settled in nicely.

[Fern]

Fantastic post

Good on you!

I am so very happy for you and I hope a normal routine will come soon

Good luck with the salt mine

again great read. It's not all luck you made your own luck

Fern