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It’s happened, we finally own our own bricks and mortar here in Australia.

We got the call from our conveyancers that the settlement had been completed just after lunchtime yesterday. What a relief that was!

We picked the keys up and it felt so great unlocking the door and setting foot in our very own home for the first time.

The in-laws who are over from Sydney helping the missus out, post caesarean section also came to have a look and gave it the big thumbs up!

I know at the time it was an absolute pain in the arse but despite the masses of forms that had to be filled in for both the mortgage docs and also the conveyancers we found the whole thing a pretty straight forward exercise. Continue Reading

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Well, the last 6 weeks of stress and form filling should culminate today in the settlement on our new home.

I know it should be a relatively straight forward process but it’ll still be really great to finally get the call telling us that we now own our own bricks and mortar here in Western Australia.

Since arriving here in Perth in November last year we’ve lived in Mindarie keys, the suburb of North Perth and Finally our current spot here in Kinross.

All have been pretty nice houses but because we were renting these properties you never could really call them home. Continue Reading

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Once you finally made it down under the next thing that many folks will want to do is gain their Australian Citizenship so that they can become a ‘real aussie’

Getting Australian citizenship has recently got a little harder, not only do you need to be a permanent Australian resident for four years instead of two, from the 1st of October 2007 you also need to take the Australian citizenship test.

To help support this, The Australian citizenship website has launched a number of resources that will help those in preparing for and taking the new test.

The first is a new resource book

The resource book, creatively titled; ‘Becoming an Australian Citizen‘, is supposed to help you prepare for the citizenship test. Continue Reading

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Well, it’s been a while since I last wrote about the new house we are buying up in Quinns Rocks.

Despite being a little busy recently having a baby, things have been progressing well in the last few weeks. Forms have been filled in and duly returned back to our bank and conveyancers and we are still on track to ‘complete’ this coming Tuesday.

Today we have a final inspection. This is something a little alien to me as it’s not something that really happens back in the UK but like many things Aussie it makes perfect sense. Continue Reading

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The towns and cities in Australia by UK standards are pretty spotless.

Rubbish is kept to a minimum and there seems to be quite a large army of street cleaners that help keep the places looking nice and tidy.

This applies to the suburbs to. You don’t see blokes riding along on their ’super sucker 2000′ street vacuum cleaners but they must exist in some form as any rubbish spied on one day is quickly tidied away by the next.

An interesting sign appeared on our street the other day. It was erected by someone from the council and simply had ‘Junk Week’ written on it in big bold letters with some simple instruction advising the local residents to leave their junk out for collection. Continue Reading

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Well, its been 5 days now since Junior number 2 and the missus came home.

Although the missus had a cesarean section, she was thankfully able to come home after only two days.

Although Joondalup Hospital was great and the staff were friendly and efficient it still didn’t beat the comfort of your own home so it was really good to welcome the latest addition to our family back home.

The check-out procedure from the hospital was straight forward enough. The midwife completed the last bits of paperwork and we were free to go. When Junior was born in the UK we were escorted out of the hospital by one of the nurses so we didn’t become suspected child snatchers. Continue Reading

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Ok, so it’s not quite like a book review but I thought I should write down a few first impressions following the birth of our beautiful, gorgeous, gushingly perfect daughter yesterday

Two words :- Dogs bollocks!

Ok, that may not mean to much to our Amercian visitors but let me just say this, the quality of the care and facilities we have found in Australia compared to those experienced in the United Kingdom has been fantastic!

Sure, the Joondalup Health Campus is still a pretty new hospital but the people who work there have been fantastic.

Ironically, I’d say there were more English people working at the hospital in Joondalup then there was in Halifax in the Uk which is the hospital where Junior number one was born. Continue Reading

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Well folks, since my last post I’m am ecstatically happy to announce that junior number two turned out to be a girl (we have one of each now)

Baby daughter (hee hee) and mum doing really well!

I feel so completly knackard as it has been a veeeeeery long day! I promise I’ll provide more detail later (once I’ve had a sleep) Continue Reading

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OK, 6 days ago we thought that it was time for baby to make an appearance but nothing ever happened.

This time I can say with all certainty that this time tomorrow junior number two will be here.

Unfortunately during the check up that the missus had today, they found that she had early signs of Pre-eclampsia.

As a result she has been booked in to Joondalup Hospital for the night with the expectation being that she will have a cesarean section at approx 2:30pm today, Australian time.

When junior was born, even though it took nearly 18 hours he still ended up being born via an emergency C section.

This time around the missus was really hoping to go the natural birth route but it really looks like it’s not going to happen (unless something happens in the next few hours).
There are benefits to going the Cesarean route though: Continue Reading

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I’m really not sure how current this news is (it was passed on by a friend of mine) but it transpires that the BBC are going to be doing a second series of Wanted Down Under very soon and are looking for candidates to join them.

I’m not sure if this second series of Wanted down under will be as popular as the first as this new series looks like it will be concentrating on folks looking to emigrate to New Zealand.

Still, the official line from the BBC is as follows: Continue Reading

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Well, after the events of last Friday it looks like junior number 2 has attached crampons to its hands and feet and is well and truly hanging on in there.

The missus recons it ‘feels a little lower’ today but if that means it’s ready or its just chilling out in the lower uterus who knows.

A colleague of mine who professes to be pretty much the oracle of everything suggested that the missus should drink a large glass of icy cold water.

The logic behind such a suggestion is that the chilly water will make junior number two struggle around in such chilly delight that it would cause the missus waters to break and therefore induce labour.

I mentioned this suggestion in passing to the missus last night over dinner. I mentioned it more as a joke than anything else but my better half is now literally getting to the stage where she will try anything to help GET IT OUT! Continue Reading

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Although I’ve not able to post any pictures of our new house in Quinns Rocks yet (by virtue of the fact that we still haven’t paid for it) I thought I’d post a picture of our local beach which is about five minutes away

As mentioned earlier today we decided to go down to the beach this arvo for a Fathers day picnic and what better beach to go to than the beach closest to our new home.

As you’ll see by the photos (which aren’t that great as they were taken on my phone but should still give you an idea) the Indian Ocean is starting to turn that really nice turquoise blue colour (click thumbnail for a bigger picture). The sand is still a little full of the seaweed chucked up during the strong winter tides but this will clear in the next few weeks leaving a spotless beach behind. Continue Reading

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Wow, well that’s winter out of the way. September brings with it the first day of Spring and it certainly seems like spring is well and truly here.

We had a great day at Kings Park yesterday, the sun was shining and the temperatures rose to the early twentys.

Junior had fun playing on all the climbing frames and playing on the park at the synergy Parkland as we chilled out in the Spring sunshine drinking latte’s.

Yep, yesterday was a very tough day indeed and it was nice to get out in the sunshine again!

I’d almost forgotten what a great place Kings park is! It’s been a while since we have been to Kings park and due the missus condition she has avoided going there alone just incase something should happen on the baby front.

I’d heard that the flowers in Kings Park were pretty impressive during the springtime but I hadn’t fully appreciated that they would be out so early. Continue Reading

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Well, its the first of September and the changes to the General Skilled Migration Program become effective today. (Note: applications lodged on or before 31 August 2007 will not be affected by these changes).

It looks like the IELTS test is going to make or break some Australian Visa Applications from now on and I wonder how this will impact the numbers of migrants coming in from Non English Speaking countries.

My personal opinion is that it’s pretty damn important that anyone coming into Australia is able to speak a reasonable level of English. I’ve already struggled trying to get to destinations when travelling to other cities with work. Continue Reading

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Well, I can’t believe that it’s September all ready!

If you want to know what the current processing timelines are looking like then have a quick look at the information below. No real improvement or catch up since last month by the looks of things.

If you have sent your own Australian Visa Application during September, why not post to our September 2007 Applications thread by clicking here and join other members on your same timeline

The ASPC admin section is currently processing Visa Applications as follows:

Onshore Applications: receipting applications received on 14 August 2007 and acknowledging applications received on 14 August 2007.

Offshore Applications: receipting applications received on 16 July 2007 and acknowledging applications received on 31 May 2007. Continue Reading

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Its been a while since I last updated the look of the site and to be honest I was getting a little vexed by the busyness of the old template and after the stresses of baby stuff yesterday I wanted to get creative.

I’ve updated the theme to something a little cleaner and hopefully a little more pleasing on the eye.

Its always a little difficult to decide whats best when deciding on the look of a site. I guess I’m just basing the layout on my own personal preferences (which can often be described as a little obscure to say the least).

Over time, I’d like to integrate our forums and Photo Gallary a little more with the general feel of the site but I guess I’ll need to look at doing this when I have a little more time!

As always, you, our dear readers are the people that matter so if you have any comments or suggestions then post a reply Continue Reading

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