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In the immortal words of Supernatural... The Journey So Far...


SDTCPT

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Wishing you a soft landing.....

 

Cant wait to read your first post fro Australia

Edited by JackoFam
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:ilikeit: you can do it!!!

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Hope you've had a smooth landing so far, all the best for the next few weeks.

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So we have landed....

 

Been here since Saturday evening, but only managed to post now.

 

Damn flying JHB to Dubai and then on to Perth is a cast iron female dog. Must say I was glad to have booked the room in the hotel. Being able to have a shower and a good sleep was great and well worth the expense. My wife also enjoyed the massage I booked for her at the hotel's spa so that's a big plus :).

 

So what have we been up to since we landed.

 

Saturday - Drove from Perth to Bunbury. Slept.

 

Sunday - Went with the family to do some shopping and check where we would need to go on Monday for banks etc. Bought two Optus sims, turns out both are data sims :oops:. So 1 went into the tablet and the other to my SIL. Slept.

 

Monday - Activated our bank accounts and ordered our bank cards (the banker assigned to us no longer works at our bank so the 2 weeks heads-up I gave her fell on deaf ears :(), should get them in the next couple of days. Did some shopping (for some or other reason neither Coles nor Kmart accepted my ABSA credit card, but I could use it in Dubai and at a Westpac ATM). Got the girl at Optus to get the tablet to connect to the internet (ego got a big knock as I could not get it to work, I blame it on jetlag. But it took her a couple of minutes as well as she had to change the APN settings... who buggers around with those?) and got two phone sims. Slept.

 

Tuesday - Woke up feeling as sick as a dog. So Medicare, Centrelink and drivers licences had to wait. Slept the whole day.

 

Wednesday - Spent most of the day at home, still not feeling great but better than yesterday. Will sort out Medicare and drivers tomorrow. Can find anything on how to register with Centrelink or even if we should as we would not be able to access anything for 2 years anyway. Wife had some good news today, she might have a contract job for a couple of weeks. Just waiting for feedback. The job is in Sydney, but hey its a job. So all thumbs and toes are being held at the moment. Even though it is only a short contract, it might lead to something a bit more long term... I joined CPA today as an Associate and sent my CV off to a contact at Deloitte, will see what comes out of that. Applied for our TFN online with the ATO.

 

Anyway, enough rambling for one night. I just need to check what ID we need to take along to DoT tomorrow and then I am off to bed.

 

 

 

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Seems like you survived it? Well done. ;) 

 

Sterkte vir die volgende week of so, dan behoort julle ingesettle te wees met al die aanvanklike admin, en dan kan julle kans kry om rond te kyk. Geniet die rondkyk!

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Hope you are feeling better, over the admin and starting to enjoy your new beginnings :)

 

Great news on your wife getting a potential contract job - hope it all worked out. Who knows, perhaps Sydney is where you are meant to land up? WA might just have been your 'soft' landing to be with familiar faces, and help you acclimate to your new environment .

 

Hopefully you have a great first real full weekend in Aus and get a moment to take it all in, instead of sorting life out!

 

All the best!

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So... Hello from Sydney.

 

What a hectic two days. My wife got informed on Friday that she had to start on Monday in Sydney. Took us and the company she is gonna be working for by surprise. Apperantly when their client saw her CV they said they want her in Sydney asap. Threw everybody's plans out of whack because the company thought they would have at least a week to plan sending her out to Sydney. So after a lot of arranging we flew out yesterday at 05:30 to Sydney. Did not sleep much before our flight so yesterday was spent mostly in the hotel room. Went out today to find the office. Still feeling like warmed up roadkill, plus I lost my voice :stretcher:, also not really helping the sleeping situation. Popped into a pharmacy to get something to help and I hope it does...

 

So I will be exploring Sydney for the next 2 to maybe 3 weeks while the wife is at work. Hope to do the hop-on, hop-off bus tour with her next weekend and maybe go tour the Opera House as well. So far I find it a very busy place (we are staying in a hotel right next to Central Station) and it is only the weekend. Tomorrow will be fun... Then we head back to WA. Will see what happens after the wife's contract is up...

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Congratulations to you guys,hopefully Sydney will do you good and won't return to Perth ?

 

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Congratz to you SD. I think getting out of Perth is a good idea, for alot of people its dead in terms of employment although having family and friends around is great. We also started off in Perth but moved to Melbourne as my husband got work here, was a bit of panic stations initially but sorted everything out and loving it here.

 

Enjoy exploring Sydney ? your new home

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Wow, that was quick! Fantastic news on your wife's employment!

While it's not where you thought you would be, it's a great foot in the door, and can only lead onwards and upwards.

Hope you get better soon, and can get to explore as much of Sydney as possible. Who knows, maybe a job opportunity will find you there too :)

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Cool! So your wife will earn an Aussie reference, and you will be able to look around in a 'work rich environment'?

Wish you all the best!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok time for an update...

 

So first thing first, feeling better but still on medication as I am not really back to full health. Made my first trip to an doctor in Aus. Kind of a different experience I must tell you, coming from our GP who was a lecturer at Tygerberg, who always listen to you explain what was wrong and always told you what he was going to do, why he was going to do it and what he found. This guys not so much, was still explaining why I was there and he shoved the light thing in my mouth, so basically I just had to shut up and let him get on with it... (not saying it is the way all Aus doctors are, just this guy). On the plus side the meds he prescribed does seem to be working. Thank goodness...

 

What have we been up to the last couple of days? Moved out of the hotel to an Airbnb apartment in Surry Hills, then moved back to the hotel and then back to the apartment. The apartment was booked for the long weekend, but we are here now till the 7th and then we move to another Airbnb apartment closer to Darling Harbour for what might or might not be the last week of my wife's contract. It started as 2 weeks then it was 3, now it's at least 4 with a possible 5th or 6th, but we will discuss it with my wife's boss on the 10th. Will see what comes out of that dinner, as it will hopefully give us a bit more direction as to whether we stay here in Sydney or head back to the family in WA and take things from there. What ever happens we need to go back anyway as we left some of our stuff their as we were only supposed to be gone 2 weeks... Must say I am very glad she got this job as fast as she did as it means we have some money coming in, but more importantly she will have a Aus reference (three actually, as she is working for one company, who has contracted her out to another company who in turn is consulting for another firm who is the contractor on the project. Engineers are a special breed :) But they are treating her well so I won't complain :))

 

Until I am back to full health and we have a bit more direction as to where we will end up, I find it difficult to actually start applying for jobs. Do I look for something here in Sydney or do I look for something back in Perth. Hopefully things work out for my wife in terms of getting a bit more clarity on where she stands with the company she is currently working for. Do they see a future for her with them or not... then we can take it from there...

 

We were able to make one of my wife's dreams come true last Friday, well kind of anyway. She always wanted to go see an Opera at the Sydney Opera House. So we were ale to book tickets for one of the last showings of Turandot  by the Handa Opera on the Sydney Harbour. It was not in the Opera House it self, but the Opera House and the Harbour bridge was part of the backdrop. She really enjoyed that. I was just glad the rain kept away as it was an open air performance and I was still not feeling great at that stage. But all in all the production was very good.

 

Sunday we took the train from Central to Circular Quay and walked around there for some time. Around one side toward the Harbour Bridge so that she could take picture of it and the Opera House across the bay and then back towards the Opera House so she could take pictures there. Then we walked back through the Botanical Gardens and took the train back to Central from Museum.

 

This coming weekend we want to go check out some of the other sights. Saturday she want to go check out the Maritime museum. So we will go to Darling Harbour and check out what is to see there. Sunday we might go do the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour, but we will see. Might even go back to tour the Opera House as that is something that she would really like to do

 

So lots has happened since we landed, mostly very good stuff. For that I am very, very thankful!

 

 

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What a great update - fantastic that your wife's contract has been extended, albeit somewhat frustrating for you in terms of where to job hunt for yourself etc.

 

Sounds as if you are exploring nicely too :)

 

Re the Dr experience - I think it's not an Aussie thing, just a person thing. We're on Dr #3 in Australia now . First one was an Eastern Block country emigrant, who along with her Dr hubby, gave us the creeps ( scary people ), the second was actually a Saffer, but so ditsy that we just didn't trust her, and now we're with a local Aussie Dr and honestly he is the best Dr we've ever had.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sydney here we come... oh wait, were here already...

 

So it's been decided, we are going to try and make Sydney our home for the time being. My wife's contract ends today, but the people she was contracted out to contacted her boss and asked if they could contract her for another 4 weeks on another of their projects that starts next week. Which was great news:ilikeit:. We also had a good chat with her boss and another of the company higher-ups on Tuesday. Seems they are in the process of trying to establish a Sydney office, as there is more work for them here (they are based in Perth) and they really want her to be part of it. Although they can't give her a permanent job offer yet, their aim is to do that as soon as the Sydney office is up and running. Well that was what they told us, along with assurances that they are doing everything in their power to ensure that she is kept busy until such time as they can make her employment more permanent. I must say I believe them, they seem very nice and so far have done everything possible to make her feel welcome in the company and they are also paying for our accommodation so far and for the next 4 weeks.

 

I will be heading back to Bunbury next week to get the rest of our stuff (we prepared for only two weeks in Sydney and so far it has turned into 2 months :oops:). Then when I get back we will really start to looking for a flat (I went to check one out yesterday) and I will start the job hunting process. Now we just have to figure out which areas are ok and which one are to be avoided. I will tell you this much, it is going to be interesting...

 

 

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Awesome news, good luck with the house hunting and all the best with your job hunting am sure you will be as lucky as your wife.

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:ilikeit:

 

All the best for the more official Sydney leg of your journey!

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  • 1 month later...

Honey we're home.... well almost...

 

Jeez where has the time gone, seems like just yesterday that I did my last post in this journal...  I blame the house hunting. Where is House Hunters International when you need them... Would have been so much easier to only have to go look at 3 places than at 2 - 4 every Saturday and more during the week for good measure. What a process! At least we got to see a lot of areas in the city, some very nice and some that had my wife wanting to get back on the bus before we have even seen the flat :) After all that we decided that while some of the places in the outer suburbs may be a bit bigger and a bit cheaper, we want to be closer to my wife's work in The Rocks (I say hers, because alas I am still firmly in the unemployed section of the population...). Had some very busy inspections, the most people that we saw at one was about 30!!!

 

After all that searching we have finally found a place we both like and so we will be moving in this weekend. Will be a bit of a mind shift and tetris game living in a 2 bed flat, as we have never done so before :oops: (If you don't hear from me again, the experiment did not work and I was killed by wife in a moment of claustrophobia induced madness... :stretcher:)

 

Anyway...

 

Since our stuff is still in good old RSA, I have found a place to rent the big stuff we need and the small stuff we will go and buy. Now to the matter of choosing an energy supplier... If, like me, you like to compare the market before buying anything, you are sure in for a treat (translated... too many choices, especially when you come from having to only deal with the local municipality and good old Eksdom). I made the mistake of using my mobile number instead of my e-mail for contact details when I used one of the comparison websites and boy, did they phone me a lot to get me to use their service... After a bit of a hassle (don't know if stuff got lost in translation or what) I decided to apply direct with one of the energy companies today. Now we will just have to wait and see if we will able to cook and more importantly see what we are cooking when we move in :whome:

 

So one more step on the way to actually settling in, in our new home country done.

 

Next on the list of things to be done, getting our licenses converted and getting private health cover (oh yes we need an internet connection as well, but that's a whole other barrel of monkeys) but that can wait till next week... (I know, I know, they are supposed to be Week 1 priorities, but you try doing that when you leave the state you landed in after only one week and then not knowing if you are gonna stay in the new one or go back to the first one. It WILL get done, I promise. I really don't want to have to do my drivers test over again if I don't have to... :()

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Good luck :ilikeit:

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Great to hear that you are putting down some roots! I hope a work opportunity knocks on your door soon......it's quite a testing journey finding employment but the reward for perseverance is good!

 

I had to laugh at the 2 bedroom flat comment - can relate to that all too well. We love where we live in terms of location and amenities on our doorstep, but as to living in an apartment.......not so much. I am counting the days until our lease is up in November, and can only pray that in the meantime I don't become the building's serial killer! I don't mind the downsizing in terms of space, but I do mind feeling that I live in a Frat house with kids that just don't give a damn..... 

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Ok, so I have sorted out the health insurance, just waiting on BUPA to get back to me regarding our application. Internet is also sorted...cable is great, much faster than my old 4mb ADSL connection in RSA (about 25 time as fast) which means I can reliably shoot the :censored: out of the enemy in World of Tanks and Red looks great in The Blacklist on Netflix :ilikeit:

 

Tomorrow we head in to Service NSW to do convert our licences. Hopefully after that I only need to sort out job... 

 

Hope you guys are having a good one.

 

Cheers

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Oh, Em, I forgot to mention...

 

We stayed in a hotel, a high rise and a small apartment block since we arrived and I so get where you are coming from. In the last place we where before we moved into our new flat, we had what seemed like a Boeing engine above us. I don't know what those people did or if they had some kind of exercise machine going but it really did sound like a plane revving up above us.

 

Our new place is built almost like a terrace house, but we share a garage and there is just 3 units and a small kid clothes shop in the block. Luckily we only share one wall with our neighbours as we are on the corner and mostly the only time we hear anything from their side is when they use the shower, I think the pipes run close to our living room...

 

Beaconsfield is a small little suburb squashed in between Alexandria, Rosebery, and Zetland, but it is not to far from the Green Square train station, so getting around is much easier than when we where in Earlwood. For starters you don't have to climb Mount Everest on you way home from the station in the evening :). There are not really many shops or Cafes/Coffee Shops around (that I have found so far) but there are some and so far the bar one the coffee is not too bad :ilikeit:

Edited by SDTCPT
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8 hours ago, SDTCPT said:

 

 

Beaconsfield is a small little suburb squashed in between Alexandria, Rosebery, and Zetland, but it is not to far from the Green Square train station, so getting around is much easier than when we where in Earlwood. For starters you don't have to climb Mount Everest on you way home from the station in the evening :). There are not really many shops or Cafes/Coffee Shops around (that I have found so far) but there are some and so far the bar one the coffee is not too bad :ilikeit:

Sounds like you could be neighbours with Matt (AfreshStart). I hope he has pointed you in the direction of all the good spots. 

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34 minutes ago, rozellem said:

Sounds like you could be neighbours with Matt (AfreshStart). I hope he has pointed you in the direction of all the good spots. 

 

SDTCPT,

 

Welcome to the neighbourhood!

 

Beaconsfield itself doesn't have too much to offer in the way of eateries, though there a couple nice ones. Our favourite coffee roaster is here, The Coffee Roaster on Botany Rd on the border of Alexandria/Beaconsfield. Their TRC22 Blend was the Gold Medal Winner at last years Royal Easter Show and they sell wholesale.

 

Most of the little spots are around Zetland and East Village, there are couple great spots in Rosebery like Koskela Kitchen and Black Star Pastry.

 

Danks St near us in Waterloo is also great spots Devon, So.9 and our favourite, Kepos & Co and Kepos Kitchen.

 

Surry Hills has even more options, almost flavour/cuisine can image.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

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Crossing fingers that with the start of the new financial year tomorrow, you will have some great positions to apply for and a job placement in no time !

 

Have a great weekend in your new home and little corner of the world. ( and the uber fast internet - hubby is happy that his numerous Steam purchases on the summer sale came down in hours,whereas it would have taken days back in RSA )

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