Just a quick heads up that Channel 4′s  A place in the Sun Down Under will be visiting Sunny Perth in Western Australia this Friday (16th January at 8pm)

During the 60 minute episode, Amanda Lamb helps Dave and Joan Todd from Liverpool use their £400,000 budget to start a new life in Perth. Will the family find the home of their dreams?

With a £400,000 budget, I recon they’ll find a decent house with some change to spare. What people need to remember though it’s not just about the bricks and mortar, it’s more about the place! Stick an identical house in the middle of the UK and it would be a very different place to live indeed!

Anyway, interesting viewing I’m sure and hopefully more entertaining then the BBC’s wanted down Under program based on some recent reviews from our community!

How to take part in Channel 4′s A place in the Sun?

Easy as ringing a number apparently! Register your details on Channel 4′s dedicated line 020 7739 9357.

Edit: Apparently this number is not currently working so in the mean time if you think you might fit the bill, call Natalie on 0161 235 6542 or email natalieg@fftv.co.uk

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I’ve noticed recently that quite a few folks have been hitting getting down under via search engines  using search terms such as Sky TV in Australia and How do I get SKY TV in Australia?

The only reason why I’d imagine Google and co are presenting  GDU in these results is because of the the article I wrote whilst back in the UK titled ‘How to cut your SKY TV costs in half’?

Within this article I basically wrote about how willing the folks at SKY were to offer us great deals when we told them we were going to cancel our subscription.

In hindsight there wasn’t  a lot the poor buggers could do really as we were moving to Australia for good, still it shows that they are willing to drop their proverbial pants to try and keep the business.

Anyway, to provide a slightly more useful article for those looking I thought I’d write an entry to really answer the question: Can you get SKY Satellite TV in Australia? Read the full story

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Australian big brother has been running for the last 14 weeks.

Just Like big brother programs running in other countries the concept pretty much rests on a very strange, hand picked cross section of the general public being chucked into the confines of the big brother house and being filmed 24 x 7 for our viewing pleasure.

The Australian version of big brother had some good twists which I’ve not seen on the UK version which is running now apparently.

firstly, when all the housemates moved into the house on the first day big brother joyfully announced that there was going to be no prize money.

The contestants ended up having to ‘grow’ their prize pot by competing in a series of games with the pot growing to a quite handy $425,000 (approx £185k) by the end of the program which was won by a 24 year old, blonde haired Aussie chick called Aleisha!

Another nice feature that I liked was the fact that all the contestants had to give a proper reason for nominating their fellow housemates for eviction otherwise they risked being put up for eviction by big brother himself. Non of this ‘I vote for Sheala because I don’t get on with her as well as I do Bruce’.

Perhaps the most entertaining viewing though, came last night; eviction night!

The votes were ‘so close’ that the presenters had to pad for over an hour before they could announce who the winner was. I’m sure the media may well report on the real reason for the delay but I’m pretty sure some serious computer cock ups were to blame.

You could almost hear the voices of the TV executives screaming at the techos to sort out the issue. You could slice the tension in the air, the presenter even had a rubber chicken thrown at her head by a member of the audience. Rubber chickens! Classic!

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The first race of the Formula one season took place this weekend and I watched the TV coverage live from Melbourne on channel 10.

I’ve always enjoyed watching F1 coverage on television although the frequency of my viewings has reduced somewhat since ITV won the rights over the Beeb and choose to introduce ads at inopportune moments.

I also missed Murray Walker who decided to hang up the headphones and retire from F1 commentary back in 2001. Since those days watching a race had never really been the same either.

How positively delighted was I then, when I heard Murrays dulcet and yet familiar tones at the beginning of Channel Tens coverage.

Yes, it would seem that Murray didn’t hang up his microphone for good back in 2001 but has instead signed a deal with Channel ten to cover the Australian Grand Prix

Sure, Murray won’t be doing 18 or 19 races a year with lots of long haul flights in between, but he did make a special effort to cover the Australian Grand Prix and for that I am very grateful.

Some of my Favorite “Murrayisms”

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A while back I made a post about uk censorship gone bad. Its all to do with the scantily clad female pictured to the left (Laura Bingle). Nothing to do with how she looks (which kinda goes without saying ) but how the ad ends.

“We’ve saved you a spot on the beach – so where the bloody hell are you?”

Just browsing the web and I’ve just found out that the decision has been over turned (I wonder why I kept on seeing the full uncensored ad on tv).

The original decision not to show the ad resulted in a hurried flight to London by federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey and the delightful Laura Bingle , who, amid a blaze of priceless publicity, complained the English had lost their sense of humour.

I’m glad we’ve seen sense and everyone in the world can get on with their daily lives.

By the way, clicking on the pic opens a larger image if you want to admire the colour of the sky…cough..

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Well g’day from down under

I was hoping that I may still be able to post small updates and it looks like, due to the wonders of technology I can.

Well, actually, thanks to the wonders of smartphone technology.. For anyone remotely interested. I’m currently using my SPV M2000 to post updates to getting down under (google SPV M2000 for more info).

I had roaming activated on the phone so I’ll be posting via the Vodafone Australia network. I wasn’t sure if the roaming had been activated in time as I never got the SIM update I was promised but thankfully it appears to have worked.

Not sure how much the GPRS roaming costs will be but the posts won’t be that big since using the small thumb keypad on the m2000 isn’t particularly conjusive to typing massive entries.

Anyway, here I am in Sorrento Perth. Its 6:50 am which is a whole 2 hours later then it was when I woke up yesterday morning. Jet lag is a curious thing but I slowly appear to be getting over it.

Staying at the London Heathrow Hilton was an interesting experience. Nice hotel but damn, very expensive. The plan was to use the Hilton to reduce the stress of rushing to the airport first thing in the morning. The hotel links directly to terminal 4 at Heathrow airport so you can stroll over from your room, check in and then stroll back to your hotel room to relax until about an hour before departure where you can then wonder on back to your departure gate for your flight.

Only problem was, Singapore Airlines departs from Terminal 3 at Heathrow airport. Doh!

So, one train ride to terminal 3, a taxi back to the hotel to check out and a second train ride back to terminal 3 later, we were checked in.

Then we had to wait 45 minutes to get through security (due to some increased security checks…cue increased stress levels) culminating in a 1 mile run to the gate (literally).

The gate was displayed as ‘closing’ as we made our final dash and we could only run so fast due the the limited sprinting abilities of our 3 year old little boy. .

It reminded me a little of an old TV program that I used to watch called ‘treasure hunt’ presented by Anika Rice (spelling!) where she had a set amount of time to find clues which she would do before shouting ‘stop the clock, stop the clock!’ But we made it, and theres nothing like getting yourself, hot, bothered and sweaty in preperation for a 17 hour plane journey!

The flight itself was excellent. We have flown with Singapore Airlines 6 times now and I would highly recommend them. The inflight entertainment is excellent although with a three year old to look after, we didn’t see that much of it.

The flight time was a little shorter then I was expecting. Just over 12 hours from London to Singapore and then 5 hours flat from Singapore to Perth. It’s longer by about 2 and a half hours on the return (something to due with jet streams apparently).Our little boy slept for approx 4 hours of the first leg and 2 hours of the second which really helped us with the flight. Last year when he was just over 2 he didn’t sleep at all! Saying that, neither myself or the missus slept this time, however, reduced inflight stress made this flight a much better one and we were both really proud of how well our little boy did this time around

So, we’ve landing in Perth, go though immigration and get our visa’s stamped. Two years of blood sweat and tears and we’ve made it. We are now officially Australian Residents!!

I actually thought our Visa’s (the sticker they insert in your passport) would be stamped. However the lady in immigration just stamped our passports as normal.

She explained it’s the date on the stamp which is this important thing. The paper Perminant residency Visa is the Actual Visa but the date on the stamp in our passports validates the visa as it was dated within 12 months of issue.

We now have a further 5 years to settle perminantly in Australia although we know it will be much sooner.

So, the perminant residents pick up the hire car from Hertz and drive the 45 minutes north from Perth Airport to the beautiful town of Sorrento.

The drive was great and we were thankful for the aircon. It was 32 degrees C when we arrive at 2:30pm but who’s complaining. After the miserable weather we’e had in the UK of late it was a seriouisly refreshing change.

The layout of the highway network in and around Perth seems really well organised and pretty logical, almost modular. With my co-driver/primary navigator at the side of me, it wasn’t long before we came over the brow of a hill and caught our first glimpse of the Indian Ocean and Hillarys boat harbor…Stunning!

Off to the estate agents to pick up the keys for the house were renting here in Sorrento. Get to the houe (nice!) drop the bags off, back in the car again to find a shop for some grub (it was getting near dinner time) and some wine of course! Back to the house and time to finally sit down and relax.

First impressions of Sorrento? Fantastic. Compared to the East Coast of Australia Sorrento seems so much more chilled out. Lots of people chatting and walking along the beaches. There are mainly residential areas lining the beaches in Sorrento. Dee Why beach near Sydney where we stayed last year by comparison seemed alot more commercial. More cafes and shops.

I know there will be places more like Dee Why in Western Australia to, but for the time being I’m liking what I’m seeing.

Time to check out now, typing on this small ‘thumb board’ is going to leave my thumbs permanently deformed if I’m not careful. However I’ll post further updates as our Aussie adventure continues.

Small sidenote: My roaming charges came to over £100! Next time I’ll get an Australian SIM card

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The primary basis of Australian culture up until the mid-20th century was Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia’s Asian neighbours.

Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime.
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