Continental Drift - Our Journey

[Toitjie]

12 November

We have the week off, we visited some family in Cape Town over the weekend. Now we are on a cruise ship somewhere on the ocean en route to PE and then Durbs...what a lovely getaway from the stress of family-farewells.

I have applied for 2 rentals in Nicholls and expressed an interest in another and got all 3! It is NOT difficult to get a rental. there are many and they take long to get tenants, so dont fear that. What I did was get all my docs ready, scanned them and keep them in a folder. When I apply its the application form, 100 point check if they ask for it, then I wrote a personal letter about our family and how we as previous home owners understand the importance of good tenants, with photos of our house and the wooden flooring we put in ourselves etc, and also a photo of Lucy the Scotty and how she is a sweet and good dog

Then I have 2 reference letters from my brother and a friend who both reside in Oz and for whom I have managed properties. I also got a reference letter from my current landlord in SA that said we are good people, pay on time and animals are well behaved.

This must have sealed the deal. I will say this, hats of to the agents who I worked with now, they were all so polite, friendly and helpful that I kept on thinking I am dreaming!

The only problem now is I have booked temp accommodation and paid in full so I will have to cancel and if they dont get new people for those 10 days I will lose the money.

If anyone wants to take over my fully furnished accommodation in Kaleen from 23 November to 4 December please let me know.

Edited November 12, 2013 by Toitjie

[Mikeleigh]

Ha well done, coming together now, please keep us upto date with pet friendly contacts you have made think we may have to move after this lease if not willing to take our dog

[Toitjie]

Hi Mike - PRD Nationwide is a very nice agency, but what I did was indicate on every application form that we had an animal so they know before hand. Just assure them that Roxy is a sweet well behaved little lady All owners want to know is that there will be no damage to their property

[Lyn]

That's great news - see it had nothing to do with your accent. You now have a roof over your heads, and wheels to explore - and you're not even here yet.

Are you counting the sleeps ? NINE sleeps - and you will be a Canberran

[Toitjie]

jip...countdown has begun Lyn - tomorrow in a week's time we will be at the airport

[Toitjie]

15 November

My pension fund finally paid out (not a moment too soon!) but now Standard Bank is giving me the runaround.

I wanted to lift my EAP limit in order to transfer the money to Exchange4Free but since yesterday they have been dodging me and saying they cannot allow me to just transfer such a big sum. they have to investigate it first, due to all the corruption and when they are satisfied they will allow me to transfer....wtf?!

I nearly blew a gasket today when I heard this. Even Tanya from E4F said this is utter nonsense...but if they refuse what can I do? Has anyone else had this issue?

[Eyebrow]

Wow. It is really getting close for you now. Good luck. We look forward hearing from you from the other side!

It will be ok!

[Toitjie]

thanx Eyebrow....I had sleepless nights and literally fought with standard bank officials in my dreams and went to my branch yesterday. the whole time I was in the queue I was playing the argument in my head (like us females do) and working myself into a tizz...when I got to the consultant I stated my request and held my breath..yeah sure he says...no problem...he lifted my EAP and that was that.

The money has been transferred to Exchange4Free (Tanya is awesomely efficient) and will reflect on Thursday in my ozzie bank account! whoohooo!

so all is running smoothly...we have a house, we have a car, funds will be there soon...now just to get the final week behind us. this is where it really becomes hard. I dread the last goodbyes...but Im so excited that we will board in less than 5 days!

[McCabes]

YAY! go Tanya! I'm glad you didn't have to have the argument outside of your head - but isn't that always the case that when you walk in armed and dangerous they never let you draw your weapon hehe

shew... good luck for this week Toitjie - I'm thinking of you, can't wait to see the first Journal from you on the other side.

[Toitjie]

18 November

I have NEVER been this tired in my entire life. And I suspect the worst is yet to come

the container is coming tomorrow, so of course I waited until the very last day to bolt upright and realise..damn...I have not done anything yet!

So I cleaned, spray painted, scrubbed, de-rusted and packed. 3 suitcases down...9 to go..although one of the three weighs 35 kg's. I just don't have the energy right now to unpack, will do that tomorrow

I have black spray-paint all over my nails and my back feels like a 70 year old's.

even after we moved to our rental from our house and threw away LOTS of stuff, we still have lots of stuff...where does it come from? It just never ends...

and oh my gosh, the shoes! I scrubbed all of them. I did not realise I have so many shoes. Im not someone who spends a lot on shoes but I keep them forever and lately I have bought a few through Zando..quite addictive, but now they are clean (hopefully) and packed.

Will see how it goes tomorrow, but hopefully if they have loaded all the rest, it will start getting quieter again.

Now...off to bed...my back told me he will quit if I don't lie down right now

[Lyn]

Glad to hear Std Bank didn't give you any more hassles. I remember leaving their branch and telling them where they could stick their credit card.

I can imagine how exhausted you must be from cleaning and running around - but the countdown is well on its way.

Canberra is looking lovely at the moment - rather green from a bit of rain - Christmas decorations are up - and people getting into the festive mood. Its lovely out and about, the weather a little unpredictable - some days warm 27ish and others below 20.

[Toitjie]

I have been contacted by connect now and they want to connect our services but I have no idea which service provider to choose!

does this sound reasonable?

Electricity - Actewagl

• Connection fee: $32.50
• Service to property charge: $0.734800 daily
• Billing frequency: quarterly
• Peak rate: 20.13 c/kWh

Gas - Actewagl

• Connection fee: $32.50
• Service to property charge: $0.640000 daily
• Billing frequency: bi-monthly / every two months
• Peak rate: first 41.0959 MJ at 2.7764 c/MJ, next 2704.11 MJ at 2.5608 c/MJ, next 10964.4 MJ at 2.4970 c/MJ, remainder at 2.2825 c/MJ

I think the above are non contract. Should I rather take a contract? It says it should be cheaper but no rates or prices are given

Edited November 19, 2013 by Toitjie

[Tebbutts]

Good luck with the last few days, Toitjie! Nearly there!

[Lyn]

I had a look at my bills - and they are very similar - just a few cents cheaper - but then I have "bundled" my gas, water and sewerage, electricity and home phone and get a small discount. I think this is what you may mean by contract ?

There is not much shopping around you can do - we don't have much of a choice in the ACT. If you don't like getting whopping bills in the mail every few months, try and get your accounts sent monthly - I think you can do this now - I just haven't bothered - but it can be quite stressful when they all arrive at once and you have to cough up over $1000.00 just for utilities - I'm guessing your water account will be included in your rent ?

[Mikeleigh]

Hang in there, this place is amazing.........just did my first aus gas barbie........

[McCabes]

Hope your back feels better today Toitjie!

What's with everyone cleaning shoes? is it a condition of immigration that you have to have spotless shoes? How have I missed this!?!?!

Good luck with everything today!

[HadEnoughofJuju]

Hope your back feels better today Toitjie!

What's with everyone cleaning shoes? is it a condition of immigration that you have to have spotless shoes? How have I missed this!?!?!

Good luck with everything today!

It's the first place they look for dirt/mud/sand. Gardening equipment and camping gear also top the list for natural debris.

[Toitjie]

19 November

Thanx for the well wishes, my back is skew...whenever I bend down I cannot straighten immediately I walk like someone looking for firewood for a few steps

The ExecuMove guys are brilliant. I have never seen such packing. It is such a relief to give over to them..I will admit...I dont think I had it in me to pack a movecube myself. This is HARD work. And I still work, packing out what goes and putting what stays somewhere else...so Im very thankful for them.

They will finish packing today and load tomorrow. Slowly but surely our stuff is getting less. Of course, on the other side, a lot of unpacking awaits there were a couple of boxes that we still had to sort, and stuff I threw in a box when I cleared out my office. They have packed these as is...wrapped the whole thing and its gone...no sorting for now

McCabes - I have read about the shoes, but they have never checked our shoes at the airport, but since we are not moving with 2 pairs each, but rather a whole 23kg suitcase full of shoes, I want to be on the safe side. I just cleaned the underside to ensure there is no ground, dirt or leaves and stuff. I swore a few times last night with hubby's Cats' - those that look like trekker tires beneath. they gather a lot of things

Lyn - the connect company gave me a username and password on their website and then I can add my own services I would like to have. When I can choose elec it says contract but when I wanted to choose it, it said sorry that service not available for your area. So now I have the, I guess, pay-as-you-go version.

Mike- you are too quiet! what have you been up to?

[Sunnyskies]

[quote name="McCabes"

What's with everyone cleaning shoes? is it a condition of immigration that you have to have spotless shoes? How have I missed this!?!?!

[Mikeleigh]

Hi T. Been home studieng through piles of manuals and online training. Going to Sydney for 4 days training early December. Then they finally let me out of my cage into the big wide world. Heaps of red tape to get onto a multinational companies system. You will know being in HR. We now have 2 cars. One on car allowance for work and one for wife and kifs to buzz around in.

All good though settling in well. Kids a handful. Need school to start. Amaroo school is amazing. All sorts of things to do here and on the coast too. We are staying in and around Jervis Bay this weekend hopefully.......

Hang in there.........people drive pretty fast here and most dont stick to the speed limit interestingly enough.......

[Toitjie]

21 November

Our container left yesterday, today is final frantic runs and goodbyes and tomorrow we are off to our new country.

I have a few choice tips for those in process of moving (please excuse me, I am tired, irritable and a little miffed right now )

1. EAT! The last couple of days hubby and I stopped eating completely. We dont have an appetite plus we dont have stuff in the house anymore (kids eat at school and in the evenings I make them something small), but I dont want to eat and this is affecting me - it makes me more irritable and moody.

So yesterday, hubby did not eat a crumb of food and we had dinner at friends. He had only 2 whiskeys but were so affected by them that he promptly lost our rental's keys. We had to have had them because he unlocked the door when we got home but he cannot remember where he put them and the house is nearly empty!

On top of everything else needing to happen today, I had to go somewhere and get new keys cut, get a new remote etc. I was not impressed. The stress is really awful and small things like this really affects you in a big way. All good now, but this morning early I felt murderous.

2. Order your forex weeks before you fly. I thought, hey, Oz is a popular destination, so a day or so is fine. Not. American Express has by far the best rate but they had a small amount which I took, the rest would come next week - too late! Standard Bank was able to order yesterday so I could pick it up today. If I had done this last week I could have relieved some stress. On the other hand - I am so paranoid lately having our passports, tickets, laptop, camera, wallets etc with me and fearful that they will be stolen, that I think if I had foreign currency too I might have died from a heart attack.

Just this morning I put my passport in the car with other docs for the bank, and it slipped onto the mat below, and just before I found it, had a few heart stopping moments.

3. When the container people come, know that they will pack anything in sight. I thought I had it all under control but they are so fast. I bought those plastic thingy's that you vacuum seal stuff in so save space - well they were packed as they were in their boxes, in the container, so I cannot use them now very silly of me not to have taken them somewhere else. Luckily I put my whole folder with stuff and passports in the boot of the car when they packed. I dont need that kind of stress right now - to realise your passports are in the container

anyway - I think I will be ending this journal soon and start a new one for our landing. See you in the "Under Down"

Edited November 21, 2013 by Toitjie

[Mikeleigh]

Shew chill chicken we'll see you with a bottle of wine when you land.......good luck when do you land ?

[Toitjie]

lol....Saturday late

[Barbara1]

21 November

Our container left yesterday, today is final frantic runs and goodbyes and tomorrow we are off to our new country.

I have a few choice tips for those in process of moving (please excuse me, I am tired, irritable and a little miffed right now )

1. EAT! The last couple of days hubby and I stopped eating completely. We dont have an appetite plus we dont have stuff in the house anymore (kids eat at school and in the evenings I make them something small), but I dont want to eat and this is affecting me - it makes me more irritable and moody.

So yesterday, hubby did not eat a crumb of food and we had dinner at friends. He had only 2 whiskeys but were so affected by them that he promptly lost our rental's keys. We had to have had them because he unlocked the door when we got home but he cannot remember where he put them and the house is nearly empty!

On top of everything else needing to happen today, I had to go somewhere and get new keys cut, get a new remote etc. I was not impressed. The stress is really awful and small things like this really affects you in a big way. All good now, but this morning early I felt murderous.

2. Order your forex weeks before you fly. I thought, hey, Oz is a popular destination, so a day or so is fine. Not. American Express has by far the best rate but they had a small amount which I took, the rest would come next week - too late! Standard Bank was able to order yesterday so I could pick it up today. If I had done this last week I could have relieved some stress. On the other hand - I am so paranoid lately having our passports, tickets, laptop, camera, wallets etc with me and fearful that they will be stolen, that I think if I had foreign currency too I might have died from a heart attack.

Just this morning I put my passport in the car with other docs for the bank, and it slipped onto the mat below, and just before I found it, had a few heart stopping moments.

3. When the container people come, know that they will pack anything in sight. I thought I had it all under control but they are so fast. I bought those plastic thingy's that you vacuum seal stuff in so save space - well they were packed as they were in their boxes, in the container, so I cannot use them now very silly of me not to have taken them somewhere else. Luckily I put my whole folder with stuff and passports in the boot of the car when they packed. I dont need that kind of stress right now - to realise your passports are in the container

anyway - I think I will be ending this journal soon and start a new one for our landing. See you in the "Under Down"

Good luck Toitjie, it's been a pleasure getting to know you through your journal and I look forward to reading your new one. I wish you all the very best in your new home. Although we are following closely behind, if there is anything you need for Lucy, please let me know. I will be happy to check on her for you. I was one of the lucky ones who got to take my four pawed "baby" out of quarantine when the new laws changed!

[WattFamilySydney]

Hey Toitjie! I have been out of limbo with an op and recovery thereof, but you and your Groot Trek never left my mind and thought today that I just need to check-in, just as well as you might be out of touch for a while! You have been in such a state of chaos, no matter how organised one is, nothing can prepare you for it! Our moving agent advised us to keep everything we do not want packed locked up in a bathroom/room to ensure nothing goes wrong', she remembered a case where a very old gentleman forgot and had all his belongings packed except the clothes on his back!! We will be following shortly in early Jan and I'm not even half as organised as you but these will be stories we will be telling generations to come and I welcome that! I'm sure once you are on the plane where you can be served your appetites might pick up albeit more for the whiskey than anything else!!

I must admit I've been loving the journeys everyone allows us to share with them and feel a bit heart sore that we cannot be there with you to experience everything that awaits you but wish you and your whole family only the best experiences, memories and love, smooth sailing!! Pls keep us updated when you have the chance to do so!