Nearly time to go!

Won't be long now!!

Yesterday saw our house packed full of friends, old and new with plenty of laughter, food and music. It was great to see everyone...in fact we didn't realise how many friends we had!!! Thank you for all the contributions of food, wine and champagne.

Thank you also, for all your good wishes, cards and other gifts. It means a lot to us.

The girls went to school this morning with puffy eyes after a late night, but they had great fun with their friends dancing to "Amarillo" and "The Macarena".

Well, better get back to the packing, and I STILL need to clean the oven for the tenants. I've been putting it off for days.

We're off to stay with relatives the day after tomorrow, and then we'll be almost half way there this time next week.

Bye for now. Will post again from the other side.

Emotions

Well, it's now just 16 days until we board that one way flight to the other side of the world. It feels very strange. Sometimes it's exciting and sometimes it's very worrying.

It has become very real over the last few days. Until now, it hasn't felt like it was going to happen really, but now we can only plan for the next two weeks. We cannot see past December 5th and have no idea what Australia is going to be like. The girls are coming home from school singing Christmas songs as both schools have started rehearsing for the seasonal performances. I feel sad that they won't actually be in them this year. The "Good Luck" and "Sorry You're Leaving" cards are starting to arrive now, so this has made us feel sad too.

Apart from the anxiety that's creeping us on us, we have had a great few weeks since returning from Florida. We are thoroughly enjoying everyones desire to spend time with us before we leave.

Kevin is still working a few nights shifts on his temporary contract to cover the bills at home. I'm not quite sure what has happened to the idea of me working? Um........too many invitations to lunch probably!

Have a nice day!!

It might be nearly midnight on 31st Oct, but I had to make an entry tonight just to have an October entry in this blog. I just haven't had a chance before now to update our page.

October has been a very busy month. We spent the first two weeks preparing for our removal and fortunately it all went smoothly. Our stuff was wrapped, packed and moved on 13th October and when I called the firm earlier today, they confirmed the boat left with our container on it yesterday!

We have just returned home from a two week holiday in Orlando, Florida. We had a fantastic time. The weather was gorgeous (despite hurricane Wilma!) and it was a well earned break for us all. 'Have a nice day'!

So, 5 weeks today we fly to Brisbane! Getting quite excited now all the furniture has gone. We are living here with all borrowed items from friends and family. It's amazing how little you can manage with when you have to. I am missing my washing machine though!

Just a few last minute things to get sorted before we leave, but we are hoping that November will be a month to spend time with all our friends and family before we leave on 5th December.


Bye for now.

We have visas!

It's really happening!
Well, it really is happening. Today we got that email that we have been waiting for "I am pleased to advise that your visa's have been processed and you and your family have been granted permanent residency to Australia"! What a feeling? Somewhere between shock and disbelief I think!

It's exciting hearing about others getting their grants, but when your own comes, well, words fail me really....Kevin had to print off the email incase it disappeared when we turned off the laptop!!

So, 10 weeks today we fly. At least now we can relax and enjoy our last few weeks here in the UK without the worry of whether the visa's will arrive in time or not. It's like a huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Relief!

Stress!!!

Despite the title of this entry, you'll be pleased to know that I am feeling a lot better this week. Those close to us will know all about the marathon phone calls to Singapore Airlines last week, and the stress of worrying about, and trying to change all our travel plans!

The hospital in Brisbane where Kevin will be working were very understanding and have given him a new start date.

We will now be flying to Brisbane on 5th December 2005. Things seem to be picking up in Adelaide where they process the visa's and many May applicants have had correspondence from The Department of Immigration regarding their applications, so hopefully it will be our turn soon!

We have re-booked accommodation and will be staying in a fully furnished house between 6th and 27th December.

In the meantime, things are less stressful, as there is not the pressure to have everything sorted quite as quickly. We will still be shipping all our furniture and wordly goods in just over 3 weeks time, so "YES PLEASE MUM", we will borrow your Dyson!

We went out and bought a lap top computer last week too. Can't bear the thought of no internet access!

It won't be long before we have a two week break abroad. Kevin and I both finish work in just 3 weeks time! Unemployed! How scary is that? Having said this, we have actually changed our contracts to "as & when" rather than terminating them completely, therefore we can still make a living while we wait for those visas.

There you have it, our latest blog. You'll be pleased to hear also, that we have bought the girls new school shoes!

Until next time...........

Decisions

I thought that today would be a good day to start our diary on here because things don't seem to be moving as quick as we'd thought, thus we might not be leaving for Australia in November and this is a good way to let you all know!

The visa processing times for our category visa seem to be around the 5-6 months mark at present (it was approx 3-4 when we applied). We lodged our application at the end of May which means that five months for us is the end of October. Currently we have flights booked for November 9th, but we're starting to think what will happen if the visa hasn't been granted by then...well, quite simply, we won't be able to go! This means we'd have accommodation waiting for us that we won't be able to use and also Kevin won't be in the country to start his job on time!

We are contemplating moving everything back by approx one month to give ourselves that little bit of extra time and this will take the pressure off somewhat. I feel that it's much easier now to defer things for one month rather than try and rearrange everything last minute,and possibly not being able to travel until the new year if we can't get accommodation etc.

We were supposed to be having a leaving party at the end of this month, so that would have to be cancelled. We will also have to contact the hospital to make sure Kevins job will wait for him. Then we'll have to re-book the flights and find accommodation.

Our current plans are to move out of our house here in five weeks time on 13th October and ship our worldly goods to Australia. We are planning to rent our house from this day too and move in with family until we leave. Maybe we'll just stay here for a few weeks longer and have our furniture stored until the visa arrives? I'm sure there are a few of you out there prepared to lend us some essentials until we go? (hint hint). It would probably do us good to live "minimally" for a few weeks and appreciate our stuff when we meet up with it again on the other side of the world!

There is always the chance that our visa could arrive in good time, but that's a risk we are going to have to take. Another month is nothing when we've been waiting this long. There are benefits of sticking around here a bit longer: the girls can stay in school (and I can justify buying new school shoes if they are going to wear them until December!) So, how do you fancy having us here until early December? (that's approx 13 weeks as opposed to just 5).

Anyway, that's enough for a first entry....I will post again when we've made up our minds!