Success at last!

We signed the lease on the house this morning!  Hooray, a place to live!  It is much smaller than we have gotten used to living in, especially with 3 kids, but it is a nice place with nice neighbors.  We met the couple that live in #3 and the lady is totally in love with the kids.  Just wait until they are on the scooters in the drive at 8 am on a Saturday morning. . . we'll be having a glass of wine with them when we move in, for sure!
We also finished the school clothes shopping for the girls today.  Navy socks and black trainers (tennis shoes) for both.  Just like the states, starting school mid-year means some items are low in supply, shoes in this case.  Payless shoes saves the day today though!
Appliances have been purchased for the house-fridge, washer, dryer, and microwave are set to be delivered on Monday.  We have not heard about the rental furniture situation and are hoping that this is approved and can be delivered next week.
The car has its inspection on Monday, and if we like what we see, we'll get it on Tuesday!  Things are coming together!
Went to Dominoes to pick up pizza for dinner tonight.  Pepperoni and Hawaiian.  Yum!  The large is the size of a medium here.  Portion sizes are a bit more in line with reality here.
If you want our new mailing address, email me, or if you know my parents, they have it too.  I won't post as this is not a private site.
Tomorrow, relax and try to settle on an internet provider.  We don't have cable broadband, so will have to order a phone line dedicated to the internet connection.  Oh, for my Vonage so I can call family again!

And I spoke too soon!

In keeping with our now normal state of chaos, the lease did NOT get signed this morning.  It appears we were caught in a rental real estate management tug of war.  Bear with me, it may sound a bit confusing.  The townhome we are renting is 1 of 5 in a row.  It is popular here in town to sell your single family home lot for a tidy profit, or tear down the home you have and build townhomes/condos on it as investment property.  Nice as we don't really have to worry about owners coming back and wanting to move back into their own home!  I digress though.  The units were sold to a new owner this week and they have their own rental property manager.  The property managers we were working with were supposed to close the lease today, but the new managers came and got the papers yesterday.  Somewhere in there, someone did not call to let us know about all this, so we showed up promptly at 9am expecting to get paperwork and keys.  Egg on several faces so say the least.  So, now tomorrow at 9 am we will sign and get the keys.  Then commence to do the appliance shopping, shoes and socks for the girls for school Monday, and get everyone where they need to be when they are supposed to be there!

The car we bought will have an inspection on Monday, and if we like what we see, we can take possession as soon as I can get back downtown to the bank and draw another bank cheque to get the car.  That will be another adventure for Tuesday's entry.  It will involve dropping off the rental car downtown (my gut wrenches every time I think of that trip!), catching a bus or train north of town to the dealer and then getting it back either to the temporary apartment, or if we are super lucky, to the house with temporary furniture!

Wish us luck. . . it is coming together.  Sort of.

What a difference a week makes!

So, today was yet another whirlwind day!  The kids are thinking this is the new normal, and so am I.  Everyone tells us that 6 months here and we won't be able to imagine anything else, and I believe it.  Today's accomplishments-went to the kids' new school, Camp Hill Infant and Primary school!  Girls are outfitted with their uniforms both everyday and sport (PE day).  We need to buy black trainers (tennis shoes) and navy socks this weekend to complete the sets.  They look adorable!  Pictures soon!  Ian was so ticked he didn't get a uniform too!  Next year buddy-he starts Prep (Kindergarten) in January/February when the next school year starts.  Paperwork for school enrollment-done!  Alex's EpiPen and benedryl will go in for Monday as well.  They don't require a doctor visit and approval as she already has the EpiPen, and I can create her medical plan online-sweet!  Kids will start there on Monday.

Second accomplishment is that we bought a car today!  It is a Nissan X-Trail, 2007.  Very similar to a Nissan XTerra in the states and feels a lot like our Jeep Grand Cherokee.  We like it!  It even has a hitch on it (should have kept the bike rack with us Dad-it fits the one we had!!)  I did the test drives, Lyle took point for the price haggling.  He did great.  We're having the RACQ (kind of like AAA on steroids) do an independent inspection and are hoping that the wire transfer I put in 2 days ago goes through tomorrow!  They'll wait as we put a deposit on the car anyway.

So, tomorrow.  We sign the lease on the house at 9 am, do the condition inspection with our relocation agent at 10, Lyle needs to be back to work at 11 (we'll see how close we get) and I am hoping to get a check from the bank for the car as well.  This weekend, appliance shopping for the house-a fridge, washer, dryer, and microwave.  Hope they can deliver on Monday!  We have rental furniture coming early next week as well to tide us over until the stuff comes from the states.  Good news there as well-we may have on September 1!  Just got a tentative schedule on the email today.  We also hope to get an internet connection of our own started-would be nice to Skype family and take them on a tour of our place via the laptop!

Love and miss you all!

School Hunt!

We spent the day today meeting with 4 different schools to try and find a good fit for the kids.  We are not thrilled with the choice given to us for the neighborhood school, even though it is a K-12 school, or Prep-12 as they call it here.  We have 3 great choices and will have a hard time choosing.  Each school offered us spots, which is very flattering.  The kids did great, especially considering the very long day we had!  We left the hotel at 8:20 and returned at 3:30.  We took a 20 minute break for PB and J sandwiches in the park and pushed on.  Public school here is quite different than in the US.  Uniforms are in all schools in the metro area, except for 1 public High School.  Keep in mind this is a city of 3 million people.  That's a lot of uniforms!  Girls wear dress/shorts/skirts/skorts/long pants depending on the season and activity, boys get knee length shorts or long pants, shirts depend on the chosen style, either polo or button down.  Hats that protect the face and neck from sun are required-no Hat, no Play policy in all schools as well.  Also, no make-up, nail polish, or artificially colored hair.  If longer than shoulder length hair must be pulled back in a school approved hair tie or band.  Boys must have hair above the collar and no longer than 4cm in any area.  Girls may have stud earrings, no more than 1 per ear and no other places in the body.  I'm loving this!  The kids in the schools we saw were well mannered, and even though 1 of the schools had a very diverse economic area to draw from, you'd never know it by the dress.  Just think, no gang attire, no more pants patrol in the halls in the morning, no more boobie issues with tank tops, etc.  It simply isn't done here.  Uniforms are available in the school, and are priced fairly.  Nice to not have to think about what to wear to school tomorrow!  Your choice is the sport day uniform (PE day or intramural sports day) or the standard day uniform.  We hope to start them next week!  Next-purchasing a car. . .

1st real weekend

We took a long breath this weekend and relaxed, at least for us.  We spent Saturday at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and got to touch lots of native Australia critters.  The kids loved it!  My favorite was the sheep dog demonstration-those are some intelligent dogs.  We got Lyle in the car on Sunday to drive a bit around our new neighborhood.  Good news is he has an express bus stop about 300 meters from the house.  This means he'll have about a 20 minute ride into work!  It's not a ferry or a citycat, but at least he doesn't have to drive!  I have to call the local bank today as I still don't have my pin number for the account, see if the wire transfer is in so we can put the deposit on the house, get the check to the realtor, look at cars, and check on driver licensing.  All that to get going today!  Yes, we will post pictures when we get our own internet connection.  Miss everyone!

Crazy day. . .

I know many of you think we were off our rockers doing this move, today I am starting to think we are.  Got the rental car out again today and drove over to look at a car.  We'll pursue that more next week once we have some $$ available in Aussie accounts to spend!  Now for the crazy-I didn't get lost!  Really!  The navigator works just fine and I just have to learn to go with it.  It does recalculate if I get off the path.  Yay!  Found the shopping center, got a charger for Alex's DS gameplayer, had lunch, did the grocery shopping-you would not believe this mall!  It will be nice and cool in the heat, that's for sure.  Then the fun began.  I got a call I had Alex take from our relocation organizer-she told me they needed the deposit on the house TODAY by 5!  What!?  The agent said next week was fine as we were waiting for the wire transfer!  I pulled over (don't you DARE talk with your phone to your ear over here) and called to verify and sure enough.  Oh, the thoughts going through my head.  Get back, park the car, dash for the cross river ferry, (keep in mind dragging 3 kids through all this too) find the currency exchange and hope the debit card goes through with all the transfers we have had to make.  Got back to the apartment, called again and she said next week was fine.  WTF?  Apparently the office manager is fine with next week, the rental agent wants it today.  Guess who won that one?  So, panic done.

WRONG!!!!  Our states based bank account was locked down due to the transfers!  FYI-the number on the back of your credit and debit cards to call collect if you are overseas DON'T WORK.  Take 2 credit cards with you just in case!  You have to use one to pay for the phone call as the locked down account does not clear. . . After forever on the phone with them, we got it worked out.  I had to call from a payphone down the road-they still have those here!  They are as bad of quality as I remember too.  Can't hear anything, but at least no one had peed or puked in it recently.  That will most likely change as there is a HUGE rivalry Aussie rules football game broadcast on Saturday night.  The bar on the corner will be hopping!

We also had a great night last night-dinner with a family downstairs who are moving from Australia to Bangkok, Thailand.  He works for PepsiCo as an agricultural buyer and will even be in little old Pasco next month!  Their 2 girls and our kids have been hanging at the pool and wanted a movie night.  It turned into dinner for everyone and 2 bottles of wine for the grownups on the balcony.  We all needed it!

School interviews for the kids on Tuesday next week.  I'll write more about that process next week.  Enrolling in Australia is a bit different than the USA!

Sign the lease on Friday next week as well.  Have to find large appliances for the house as well-renters have to provide their own fridge, washer, dryer, microwave.

And this weekend-our 17th anniversary on the 23rd, let Lyle have a go with the rental car driving on the left, got tickets to see Harry Potter on Sunday at 10 am, and hope to get to the koala sanctuary on Saturday.  Whew!

Miss you all terribly.  Days like today I need a stiff drink and a good cry with my mom or dad or a friend.  Big breath, again, again, and tomorrow is another day.  Everything does work out, whether I go bonkers with stress or just breathe!  I just have to remember the Aussie motto-No worries Mate!

We have a place!

We have a townhome we'll be signing the lease on the end of next week!  Yay!  I'll send out the mailing address via email, but in the meantime, please continue using the gmail account or my hotmail to keep in touch.  Looked at rental furniture today to tide us through until the container gets here.  It is scheduled to get into Brisbane on Aug 13, but the Customs takes nearly 3 weeks!!! to go through it.  So, sometime the 2nd week of September we should have our things.  We are also doing the look at schools interviews early next week.  Apparently enrollment areas are a big deal here.  If you don't like what you have, pay for private school.  Some are reasonable, i.e. the same costs as the public school (yes, you have to pay fees here for public school-in addition to school uniforms you have supply and levy costs) and some are over $20,000 per year per child.  Ouch!  Uniforms-will take getting used to.  Boys wear a button down shirt either short or long sleeved depending on season with knee length shorts and socks to the knees, dark shoes and brimmed hats.  Girls have dresses/skirts/bouses with sweaters, socks to the knees, dark shoes, brimmed light colored hats with the dark school color as a hat band.  The younger kids (Ian and Annika's ages) have more of the knit polo with shorts look going on.  More comfortable for them I imagine.  I am so looking forward to getting their 1st day of school pics once we get them enrolled!  In the meantime, I have a rental car to pick up in a couple of hours.  Wish me luck driving on the left!  And once the wire transfer clears, we'll have money in our local bank account.  What a zoo!

House Hunting and fun

Well, we think we found a place!  We put in our application on Saturday and should know on Monday.  Everyone has a basic form to fill in, each adult has to apply individually and must have 100 points of information such as driver license, passport, tax receipts, pay stubs, utility billing, etc.  We also have a letter of reference from our relocation agent, so hope that puts us on the top of the list!  The place is great-the end of a 5 unit townhome complex with a huge balcony off the living/kitchen area.  2 car covered garage and an extra concrete parking pad to the side since it is the end unit.  Love it!  Yes, smaller than the house, but bigger than most places we had looked, and NO dead roaches on the floor.  Alex was super grossed out about that one!  Today we headed to South Bank for a wander and hoping to get into a morning showing of Harry Potter-serious bust on that one (but we weren't surprised) so we people watched, played at several playgrounds, had lunch (kebab sandwiches-like gyros but on flatbread-yummy!) and took the ferry home.  Met some kids at the complex pool-their family is relocating to Bangkok so are living here until the end of the month as well.  We traded mobile phone numbers and will meet up with them again as all the kids got along well and had a blast at the pool.

Place Hunting

Ok, so the 1st day of looking for a place wasn't too productive.  Saw 3 places in the same complex that were fine, but not so good for Lyle's commute.  Saw more today and liked more of what was available-good space, good schools, close to train for Lyle, etc.  He gets to go looking tomorrow while I go grocery shopping with the youngers.  They were nightmares the 1st day, but so much better today.  We went to the corner store for ice cream cones and thinking I will send Lyle to the craft beer store down the block for us! Miss everyone at home terribly this week.  I hate having expensive, and thus limited internet connection and can't use my Vonage to call my mom.  Sad face!  But working through the issues that come with relocating regardless if the move is overseas or the next town over.  We also have mobile numbers finally-I can text (if I can figure out how!) internationally cheap, so I may surprise some of you sometime!

1st day out

The kids and I went across the river on the ferry to the downtown district for grocery shopping and see about getting a mobile phone.  Got SIM cards, tried in our phones, no go.  Will have to buy phones today and get charged up, then connect the SIMs.  My Visa credit card was frozen-oops!  Forgot to tell them we would be down here indefinitely.  Took care of that this morning and good to go.  We'll meet Lyle about 10 am at the ferry stop to then go to get an account opened at a local bank.  Hope to meet with our relocation agent later this week and get serious about getting a place of our own.  It's also colder here this time of year than I realized!  Long sleeves and sweatshirts are definitely needed, especially in the morning or on the water.  Brrrr!  Thought I had packed a pair or 2 of jeans and sweatshirts, nope!  They are on the slow boat to Oz, hopefully!  Haven't heard much about the stuff getting packed up to ship since we left it on the truck last week.  So much to do!  Kids passed out about 3:30 yesterday after our big day and pretty much slept until 4am today.  Think we'll be pretty well adjusted by the end of the week.  Miss everyone, but getting adjusted.

We're here!

What a trip!  The kids did great on the plane-slept and watched movies, slept more and then we landed.  Cleared customs pretty easily, got a hire coach to get us to our apartment, and managed to find a small store for some basics to eat for the day.  Today, headed across the river to the CBD to go get a local cell phone, locate the Citibank, get a couple of jackets (a bit chilly here yet!), and some real grocery shopping.  Miss Wenatchee, but this is going to be fun!

Ready, Set. . .

And GO!  The starting gun went off last week, and the last lap is beginning.  We've been living amongst stacks of boxes and it is now time to roll up the house and put into the dressers and the last/first boxes.  We got the travel arrangements last night-leaving from Boise on Friday, July 8 at 3:00.  We'll get into Brisbane about 6:30 am on Sunday, July 10.  Love the International Date line!  We think our stuff will take a month or so to get to us, and in the meantime we will have a furnished apartment to base out of while we find an apartment/townhouse for the family.  Once there we have to immediately negotiate the medical insurance activation, obtain tax identification numbers, open Australian bank accounts, and get a car.  We have about 3 months before we are required to obtain a local drivers license!  Time to go back to drivers school!  Except now everything will be on the wrong side of the car.  I wonder if we will qualify for a full license or have to start with their version of a supervised license?  While reading their drivers manual we noted that it takes a minimum of 4 years starting at age 16 to earn a full license.  We will have to take a written and driving test too.  Wonder if I can take it with the kids in the back seat under normal-for-me driving conditions?  Don't think the observer would survive the experience. . .