Frustration.. but staying positive

Been a while since last post and a few things have happened...

The car I talked about last time failed its mechanical inspection so, as advised, we walked away. We immediately went searching again, this time at main dealers and have found a similar vehicle - another white Pajero. Have paid a deposit on it and an committed to buying if it passes its mechanical test tomorrow (Tuesday 27th).

On the house front we are one of 4 applicants on the house I emntioned last time - and we will here if our application is successful tomorrow. It is amazingly competitive to rent a family home here - which has really surprised me.

On the social front - I joined a group of 4 english lads and one australian went to watch the queensland soccer team play Sydney on friday evening. Cant call it footbal here as that is aussie rules football ! Bizarrely it was my first visit to a professional soccer match ! Highlight of the players was Dwight York playing for Sydney who got a suitable amount of abuse. Good crowd - really good evening - had two aussie meat pies washed down with multiple pints of lager !

On Saturday Charlotte and Steve came to visit and we had take out "Song Song" noodles... nothing intersting to report on the wine front.. the local Bottle"o" was doing special offer on Lindemans Reserve Chardonnay @ $10.99 - and I know I like it so I bought a case (12) working on the theory that if I have them in the house it will keep me away from the shops so I wont be tempted into something special at $30 every night! Have managed to polish off about 4 already though...

Sunday morning we went to visit Rachel's 95yr old grandfather, and then went on to lunch at her uncles place. Her uncle is in fact in his forties and has a son who is 3 and half, who Maddy really enjoyed playing with. Traffic is so light and the traffic management is very clever (sensors on all the traffic lights) so it only takes 10-15 minutes to get to these places which when looked on the map seem miles away. There a few photos here on Rachels cousin Nicola's website of Maddie and Rory playing http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nicandjus/family.htm.

Had an interview with Rio Tino (www.riotinto.com) today whoch was going very well until they asked me whether I had ever held a safety officer role or had much to do with health and safety.. I referred a small stint of being the fire office for my floor at cap gemini and then quipped that the only time we saw a health and safety officer at DrKW was when someone moaned about their back hurting at their desk... the room fell eerily silent and I was informed that safety was the number one priority and along with profit is the one of the biggest concern of the company. Should have thought they might be a bit keen on safety being a mining company! The attitude changed after that which is a shame as the role actually seemed quite good - was for a programme manager for all their IT infrastructure projects. Hey ho - good interview practice !

We are all feeling a bit fluey at the moment - the girls were coughing and sneezing all weekend (it never ceases to amaze me how much snot can reside in an toddlers noose - and how much can come out in one sneeze - making them look like a walrus with snot tusks!) and now me and Angela have sore throats and constantly sneezing.

Anyhow off now to cook some snapper that has been marinading in garlic and lemongrass, and see if that, a bit of sweet chilli and a quart of chardonnay can shift this cold !

Cheers

Stephen

maybe maybe

News of the last couple of days is that we may have found a car, we have a viewing of what looks to be a good house on saturday, and I have an interview with Rio Tinto on Monday and have had some interesting agency meetings yesterday and today. Amazingly the agency person I saw yesterday used to live in Guildford, the one I saw today used to live in Tunbridge Wells, and the one I spoke to on the phone today used to live in St Albans... it seems Australia is lacking in recruitment consultants !?!?

We picked up the potential car today.. a white pajero (shogun). It looks like it should have UN stencilled in big letters on the side - and am concerned it is accident damaged - some of the panel gaps look to big and uneven and it is missing it "3500 V6" decals that all the petrol Pajeros have.

Talking about petrol, the biggest conversation piece at the moment in Brisbane is the price of petrol. It has gone over $1 a litre.. as the exchange rate is 2.4 AUS$ to the pound they are getting it cheap I say !

Went to a nice restaurant yesterday evening with Rachels cousin and husband - Nicola and Justin. Restaurant is called Rapide (http://miettas.com/Australia/Queensland/Camp_Hill/Rapide.html) and is staffed by one of Brisbane's TV chefs. Food good but odd - had fillet steak served with a mushroom canneloni on top. Made all the more pleasant by a Louis Jadot 2002 Pouilly Fuisse - which was excellent. As we made quick work of that had their house chardonnay which was very good as well - obviously have someone there doing the buying that know what they are on about...

Anyhow - tomorrow take the potential new car to a mechanic mate of the in-laws to get the once over - and assuming it is OK will buy it for AUS$26990. Hopefully house on saturday will be good... have a look here http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&s=qld&c=90350458&tm=1127392557&id=401783888&f=0&p=10&t=ren&ty=&snf=rbs&ag=&cu=&fmt=&header=

Will keep you posted !

Stephen

test drive..

We have been focusing on cars last few days as at the end of the week we have to give back Robs Mercedes ML 4x4 we have been borrowing. Test drove a Toyota Prado (colorado) "Snowy"edition yesterday.. terrible shakes whenever you brake in it - the dealer said the discs just need machining.. we walked away...

Spent a couple of hours with a Toyota and Mitsubishi main dealer and have decided we like the 2000 onwards Pajero (shogun) over the old shape Prado - so we are test driving another that was found by a mate of Rachel's dad on thursday. Seems to be the way things are done here - everything has to go through a mate or a contact.. you don't just look up someone in the yellow pages and use them - everything has to be through a contact...

Houses have been disappointing. Saw a few on Monday but nothing to our liking and all very expensive Bizarrely the one we like the most of 5 doors down from Angela - which is a good and bad thing. It is still not want we want but we may just have to live with it for 12 months until we found a house to buy.

Am being put forward for a Project Management role at Suncorp which is good - and am meeting another agency for a coffee tomorrow to discuss things further - amusingly the agent I spoke to was from Guildford!

Have been cooking the last few evenings and enjoying some cheap chardonnay - Lindemanns Reserve 2003 chardonnay - nothing special and a big Aussie taste but good value at 30% off to $10.99 (about 4.50 GBP). Need to go to another "bottle-o" as have exhausted the $20-$30 range at the local one and have not been that impressed.

Keep the emails coming - always good to hear the news in blighty !

Cheers

Stephen

Captain Maddy at the helm with a little help from Rob... 

Broadband is here...

Just a qucik post to let everyone know that we are now broadband connected at Angela's house.. so will be able to check emails more regualrly etc. Still no house, car or job but looking positive on all fronts at the moment.

Will try and post some photos as well now we are fast connected !

Captain Maddy !

Another hectic few days... have been looking at houses, cars and jobs as we have neither at the moment. No joy on the house front yet and no real joy on cars either. Had good meeting with agency and they were very positve about me getting a good Project Manager role and were talking quite high numbers so that is all good.

On Thursday we went out on Rob's (Rachel's step-father) boat - an 80 yr old 32ft bay cruiser. Really enjoyed ourselves, cruised for an hour to stradbrooke island - everyone having a go at piloting the boat including Maddy - and mored off the beach. Went ashore on the dinghy and had a really nice picnic lunch surrounded by wallabies.. all very Australian.

Went out last night with Jamin, Tracey, Charlotte and Steve for drinks and tapas. Amusingly after a round of not so good tapas at one restaurant we moved to another for another round of tgapas - which was very good - washed down with a cheapish white rioja - which left me with a little headache.

People are very concerned about petrol prices here, but luckily if you spend more than $30 at the local off-licence you get money-off vouchers for petrol. So I am on a mission to spend $30 on wine as often as possible !!


We are off to see what could be a very nice house on Monday - so hopefully will be able to post positively about houses after that - otherwise it is a tather depressing subjetc. fotr an average 3 bed house the going rate is $400 per week - $1800 pcm. for a nice-ish $500, for agood one $650 !! When my take home is going to about $4500 that is a lot to be spending on accomodation...

Anyhow off to see another house now and then tea with Ian and Elaine (Rachel's Dad and partner) then a barbeque with Sarah and Ollie (Ollie is English and just emigrated in August) which I am looking forward to...

I will try and host some pictures somewhere. If anyone thinks they are any good at basic web design and has a few spare minutes, I have a registered website which Mat is kindly hosting on his server, I just dont have the skills nor a quick enough connection to do a good job - so if anyone wants to volunteer I will zip some photos and some commentary across with the username and password to the site...

Cheers

Stephen

Slow progress

Been a few days since posting - was down the "Gold Coast" yesterday and got caught up in cricket excitement on Monday night.. stayed up until England were 300 ahead and then went to bed knowing we had done it !

Monday evening we went to Rachel's cousins, Nicola and her British husband Justin. Very nice food and I brought along a bottle of Chardonnay made just down the road - the only Queensland wine I have seen sold commercially. Unfortunately it was slightly corked - not much but enough to notice and take any pleasure away rfom drinking it - but think I still did anyhow...

At the Gold Coast we went to "Seaworld" as Maddy has been talking about the dolphins in "Stralia" as she calls it for weeks now... One of Charlotte's friend's cousins is a dolphin keeper there and she kindly organised it for us to visit a couple of dolphins and have a touch of them which was brilliant. A good day had by all topped off by a very nice meal at Rachel's step-dad's - Red Emperor fillets with a macadamia crust - washed down buy a veritable melange of different white wines - as we were joined by Elaine and Phil (Rachel's Aunt and Uncle - not that we are allowed to refer to them as that !) and Charlotte and Steve. Am concerned that Maddy has developed a crush on Steve - at the age of 2! She is very excitable whenever he is around and is always wondering where he is.. does not bode well for the future !

Today we have been looking at cars - in our efforts to destroy the environment with big gas gussler 4WDs we are looking at old Pajeros (Shotguns in UK) and Prados (Landcruiser Colorados in UK). Still need to spend $25k (12k sterling) to get an ok one from 1998/1999.
I also have an meeting with an agency today who do a lot of work with SunCorp he are one of my preferred employers - so hopeful good stuff will come of that.

I also have a new mobile number - was wary of posting it on the interweb but not sure who reads this any how ! It is

0410 175398

Off now to don the suit and scrub up for this meeting

Cheers

Stephen

Internet connected at the in-laws

Have got dial-up internet working at Angela's house... you forget how slow it is when you have been used to broadband for years! However it does mean I can post more regularly and Rachel and I will be able to check emails regularly.. so all good.

Had a great evening at Jamin and Tracey's last night.. barbeque out on "the deck"... all very Australian and am looking forward to finding a house with a big deck over looking a pool with a massive barbeque ! Enjoyed a 2000 Hunter Valley Semillon - Mount Pleasant Elizabeth - not as good as I thought it should be but pleasant enough !

Off to sort out losts of stuff today.. shopping list reads

trousers
mobile phone
car
house

Cheers

Stephen

We're here !

Finally made it...

Apologies for the lack of posts and the brevity of this one... but no interweb access at in-laws though I am working on it.

Flight over wasnt that bad at all. The girls slept most of it and when they weren't sleeping were ok. I didn't sleep that much however and nor did Rachel.. so have been a bit tired and grumpy. We had a very short stop-over at Singapore so did Heathrow to Brisbane in 23hrs. Getting to heathrow was a bit of a drama - took 3 hrs as there had beren an "incident" but we got there ok.. and this may have been a blessing in disguise as it meant goodbyes were brief as my parents and brother and family had to get back home at a reasonable hour. So less tears than there could have been which I think made it easier for me.

The enormity of what lies ahead is starting to sink in.. I am like a fish out of water and as am a bit of a control freak it is a little un-nerving... but we shall cope !

More later from Rachel and I will post again as soon as I can..

Stephen

We had a lovely evening last night with Jo and Anthony at Fifteen. Again, good food, good wine, good company. I think everyone is making it as hard as possible for us to leave.

A few last minute things done today. The cleaners were in doing the big clean before the tenants move in. The boiler man was in, keys were cut. All that boring stuff. We also took the girls to their last St Disgustings Toddler Group and then on to lunch at Wagga Mammmas. Emily put on the "last supper" for the children this evening which was lovely, if somewhat tinged with sadness. The children ran amok - I shall miss the mayhem and madness of four toddlers and three (almost four!) babies all demanding attention! Rachel had to say good bye to Gus, Helen and bump, and to Caroline. Needless to say, many tears were shed. The TW gang gave us a lovely print of a London cab which we can add to the NYC collection.

Our last evening has been spent at Stephen's parents place with Waitrose steak, chips and salad. Stephen's choice for his last meal. Maddie was up late again, singing songs for our enjoyment.

Last day tomorrow. Think we are going to have to keep ourselves busy with a few last minute things. Otherwise leaving for the airport at about 4.30/5.00.

It may be a few days before we post again from Australia. Love, peace and happiness to you all.

Shippers have been and our stuff has gone...

After a very hectic few days, all of our stuff has been packed up and squeezed onto a container - there was literally only room for one more small box!

We are now staying with nanny and grandad Wilkinson and living out of suitcases - but thankfully the girls are sleeping OK-ish.. Maddy was up with nanny and grandad till quite late last night while we were round the corner at Sarah's for dinner - another farewell meal with fine wines. Which reminds me that on Sunday we drank the two bottle s of wine that the guys at work bought me as a leaving present. A very nice 2002 Puligny Montrachet and an exceptional 1988 Chateau Suduiraut ( http://www.bbr.com/US/db/producer/47/Chateau-Suduiraut?ID=null ).

Better news on the job front - now have 3 agencies actively wanting to talk to me so that is all positive.

Of now for final clearout of the house (fridge contents etc) and then dinner this evening at "15" with Anthony and Jo (my brother and sister-in-law)

Progress - and procrastination

Friday 02 Sept 2005

Cleared out a few things to the dump - and took two car loads of stuff to my parents place. So progress on that front. Both Madeleine and Imogen have colds which is not so good.

Went out with the Tunbridge Wells Mums and Dads to "Hotel Du Vin" in TW.. food excellent, wine excellent, company excellent We were supposed to be doing the great goodbyes but have hilariously while drunk put that off to Monday - hope the couple who volunteered to help remember !

If anyone has subscribed to this via an RSS reader then please let me know as am not sure I have faith in my HTML\XML skills...

stephen.wilkinson@gmail.com

Stephen

Rachel's B'day - one week to go!

Thursday 1st September

Rachel's birthday today. Woke up dreadfully hungover after leaving drinks for Stephen's last day at work. We made the dreadful mistake of going for a late night curry so feeling very sorry for ourselves this morning.

All packing plans went by the wayside although we did manage to throw a few of the girl's clothes into a backpack. We cleared out the last of the bottles and cans from the party on the weekend and also took down the balloons so all evidence of the festivities now removed.

Big day tomorrow - lots to achieve after a non productive day.