The de Freitas Clang's journey

[Willa]

What made us decide to leave for greener grass?

Well it wasn't something specific. Nothing bad happened to us (yet), we just made a conscience decision for a better life. We love our country, there is still nothing like the smell of the bush early in the morning, or a beautiful sunset, or the smell of rain pouring down.

We were on holiday at Oesterbaai, and suddenly realizing that our son is going to High School and with the changes currently in the schools we do not want that for our kids. The chaos that they experience with the new curriculums, the marking of papers and the chaos that is being experienced there. University degrees not being recognized world wide anymore. This is not the way we grew up.

The constant thinking that no matter how hard you work, your dedication and loyalty towards the company you will never go further. The BEE candidates jump from one job to another without getting proper experiences and in the end you still have to do their jobs.

The corruption (not there wasn't anything prior to 1994) in Municipalities and cabinet, spending of money without countability, the politicians that reign without conscience or the blatant disrespect towards the citizens of this country where taxis reign the highways, intimidation when there is strikes, and the total chaos that place when negotiations is not met.

Nothing is always easy, the euphoria when the application was successful, and then the realization sets in. You are actually leaving.

We did the LSD trip in February 2009. We didn't book in advance for anything, we stayed in the different states, booked flights the day before departing to the next state. We booked all our stays through wotif and took there specials. Never dissapointed because with the specials you didn't know where you would stay, but you had an idea of the area. Stayed in mostly 4star hotels, but very cheaply.

Our first impressions wasn't very good on the other side. We visited each state, stayed a couple of days and drove around the cities to get an impression of what it would be like on that side. Sydney was totally overwhelming, Brisbane was great, Melbourne very dry, loved Adelaide and Perth didn't do it or us either.

After a week we looked at each other and said "No way!" And we still had a long to go. You would find the most beautiful houses with nice kept gardens and the next two blocks would look like "Danville" nothing is kept tidy. The garden will look like the bushveld.

We started talking to people, realizing that their way of life is totally different from ours. What's important to them is not necessarily important to us. We had to adjust our way of looking at things. It was a culture shock to us, but we adapted.

We then started to see the beautiful side.

We know what awaits us on the other side. To go blindly would really be difficult for me, I'm glad we did this trip. I

'm not the sort of person that always see the bigger picture, or the other side. I do adjust to change very very very difficulty, and without friends even worse. Getting our PR visa's was the next euphoria, we waited 2.5 years for this. Once we had the visa's in our passports it hit me, THIS IS IT! It was scary as hell. What are we doing? You sit with this feeling in your stomach and it just doesn't want to go away. You feel joyous, you feel scared, you become an emotional wreck. The kids is emotional (for their own reasons) and you start to question yourself again. Are we doing the right thing, packing up, cutting the strings of family, friends and everything familiar. My son has a very good realationship with his grandfather, and for him going fishing with Oupa is the highlight of living. My DH don't fish, so this move is difficult because Oupa taught him everything about fishing. He accepts it, but the other night he broke down and after a long discussion with him the only thing he wanted to know is can he come back to SA when he's done with school. He also wanted to know why can't we make a difference here. We are not going to give up our citizenship of SA because if our kids want to come back they'll be able to do so. We will give them the tools and proper education so that they can make an informative decision when they want to come back. Maybe they will be able to make a difference that will change the course of our beloved country. Who know's, it usually takes that one person to start.

It's a month since our visa's came through, and I must admit I do question myself less. We have lists of what to do, who must do what and when. We started this past weekend and cleaned all the camping stuff, never did the camping equipment shine so brilliantly before. DH can vouch for the hard work, he did most of the work, I scrapped.

The challenge that lies ahead can only be dealt with all our strenght and conviction that this IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. We have six weeks left and I'm sure it will be a bumpy ride, but a ride that will surely not leave us unchanged.

[Zaffergirl]

Thank you for your insightful post.

So many people go through the same motions and some move over here and just can't survive others are determined to make their new life work. I'm not sure why some succeed and others not as it's difficult for everybody, but I do know that it helps to be positive and to "see the bigger picture". Don't always remember the good things back in S.A (once you're here), always keep in mind the reasons why you left. And once you're here in Australia, don't always look for flaws and faults, but look at the good things and why this works for so many South Africans.

I know your journey ahead is going to be very difficult, but know this, it IS possible to have a happy and fulfilled life here in Aus.

We love it here, still miss our friends and family back in S.A, but this is home now and we're not going anywhere soon except on holiday!

I wish you and your family the very best, and hope that your journey will be successful and pleasant.

[Dirtbikerider]

Good luck guy's and We are in a very similar boat to you.....7 and a bit weeks to go ....where are you going to?

We are going to Gold Coast, Brisbane.

Hilton

[Willa]

Hi Hilton, yes luck we certainly will need, but we will certainly survive this.

We will be moving to Melbourne, Doncaster area.

Willa

[miran]

We still have a VERY long wait ahead of us before we get our 175. Somedays we are 110% sure we want to leave as soon as possible, but other days you really question yourself, if it's really the right thing to do. I actually want to go because I'm sure my kids would probably end up overseas, and I don't want to be stuck here without them. Ironic....... Well, we just have to make the most of our time still here and who knows.... in 2 years time South Africa could be paradise...NOT....

You guys just go ahead and pave the way and I wish you best of luck for your future

[Impatient]

Hey Willa

What a great post! We're leaving on the 13th of September for Melbourne and I've been battling with the "Oh my goodness, what are we doing?!" feeling for the last week.

Good luck to us all - see you in Melbourne!

Mel

[Eva]

Thanks for sharing!!

[Willa]

When we left SA I had no feelings, by that I mean saying goodbye to everybody was just that . . . goodbye. No emotional or heartbreaking feelings. I said goodbye and left. At the airport with my brother and best friend it was the same. No feeling of sadness of even joy. It was as if I'm leaving but will see you again feeling, just like when we left for Greece or Mauritius. I felt strange not having that kind of emotional feeling, surely I thought there must be something wrong not feeling sad or glad or anything.

We arrived in Sydney and I was fine, bit depressed but didn't think about it again. We bought our cars and that was a mission it self. Nothing seems to get the sales people moving. You get send from one person to the next just to come back the next day and to start over with the process. I really had to "byt op my tande" through this whole process. How is it possible that anything can get done with all these delays. It took the sales person nearly two hours just to show me two different colours that is available immediately in the type of car that DH wanted to buy. My kids actually fell asleep at the dealership, and that out of boredom. The next day it took the dealership nearly four hours just to get the paperwork signed and to take the bank cheque for the deposit. I mean really.

We arrived in Melbourne, went to our furnished rental and had a lovely supper with friends. Our kids at that stage were still a bit apprehensive about the whole move, but after a few minutes with familiar faces they actually enjoyed themselves. We started to look at rental properties the next day. This is also a mission, but something that we were aware of beforehand. Trying to get your kids enrolled in a school seems to be a even a bigger mission than buying a car. Firstly you can't enroll if you don't have a permanent rental for longer than 12 months. To find a rental is a complexed thing. (Don't have a better word yet, my English still have to improve). To find a rental without paying at least six months in advance is also tricky. To find a house big enough for the family is even more tricky. Moving from a 6 bedroom house with 4 bathrooms in SA into a house with 4 bedrooms and only 2 bathrooms in Melbourne is even more a type of "byt of jou tande" situation. We actually need a schedule for the kids and the bathroom / toilet. Sharing was not part of their vocabulary previously, it had to change quickly. We eventually found a rental and yipee it has 3 toilets. This is a huge improvement, but still only 4 bedrooms. The twins will share once again. Finally got the go ahead from the school although private, they will start school on Monday at Donvale Christian School. Couldn't get them in to a government school, but happy about the school that they will attend. Even the kids feel comfortable about the school, and that in itself is a positive for us. Must say they didn't feel so comfortable about the government school.

We went to the South African shop in Templestowe and the owner is great. We chatted and chatted while the kids got frustrated by the minute. Why is it that kids can get so irritated with their parents so quickly. I wonder . . . The owners is such a friendly guy and he gave us some good pointers.

So two weeks in Australia and we actually managed to accomplish some things and not others, but hey its early days. Let's see what the next week will bring.

[rozellem]

Ai Willa, ek dink jy is te hard op jou self. Niemand gaan vir jou punte gee vir hoe "goed" julle hierdie ding deur maak nie. Julle het verbasend baie bahaal in n kort tydjie. Weet jy, en miskien is daar n les te leer uit die andersheid, stadigheid en kleiner huis ens. Julle gaan terug kyk later en sien dat jul geleer het om te deel en geduldig te wees en dat die kinders hul self kan vermaak as dinge boring raak. Ek is seker n blinde optimis maar ek moet vir my self se dat moeilike dinge op my pad kom om my iets te leer, anders sal ek al lankal op n hoop gaan sit het. Sterkte, en vat dit rustig!