I made it!

So after nine months of planning, financing and strategising, I made it back to the Sunshine Coast on Monday 7 Jan 2019. What an amazing feeling!


The flight over was super, great decision to fly business class for the one and only time in my life - it was symbolic of the end of one chapter and the start of another. Great quality food, superb service and first entry and exit on the boarding! If I could afford it, I’d ALWAYS fly business because I felt well-rested by the end of 20 hours in the air; I’d been able to lie flat in my little compartment and to sleep for several hours. 


My first night in Australia I stayed at the Kingsford Smith Motel, where the staff were really helpful and suggested a great place to eat that night. I spent ages watching the tv ads and listening to the accent!

Once I picked up the hire car the next day, and started the drive north up the M1, it became much more real. Arriving at my cousin Liddy’s house in Bli Bli was also a great moment- I’d last been here in 2017 when I was deciding whether I could see myself retired here.... and now, here I am, two years later, doing a few years of pre-retirement life!

I won’t bore you with day to day stuff, but since I arrived, I have:

• Secured my Medicare card (like NHS in the UK)
• Secured my QLD driving licence (wow, that was hard - having two surnames made it tricky and it DID take two visits!)
• Bought a car (Toyota Corolla, world’s safest car they tell me) and organised car insurance, as well as “Rego” (registration, like DVLA) - you have to do the Toyota "jump" when you buy it, for their PR!
• Rented a town house in Caloundra West for 12 months lease (I liked it because it has a secure cat run with steel mesh keeping them in!) - I'm moving in on Friday of this week
• Joined a gym and been going three times a week

• Had video of cats from quarantine and from pre-flight checks in Melbourne

• Collected the two fur babies from Brisbane Airport freight centre - they had a few dodgy days of vomiting etc (probably the heat?) and now they are on fine form... caught and killed a gecko on Monday night, so must be back to normal

• Registered with supply agencies along the coast, mainly for faith schools
• Registered with Queensland Education's TRACER system, for finding supply and jobs in the state system
• Found and used a great hairdresser! She managed well with the mad colours!
• Found and used a great nail technician - see pic of beachy colour nails

• Swum at Currimundi, where I learned to swim as a youngster
• Walked to Buderim Falls through the forest - went to birthday parties here in the distant past
• Begun my consumer life: got loyalty cards for Velocity (with air travel points); for Woolworths, BWS and Big W
• Organised internet for new house
• Bought bedroom suite (in the twice yearly sales - need to remember there is another one in July!!)

• Bought fridge (huge, with ice and drinks tap thing obviously)
• Bought 2 x TVs (no idea how to set them up, that will be interesting)
• Bought swivel sofa/chair (pic shows two, I bought the mocha colour one)
• Drove to Bris Airport and collected gorgeous daughter and son-in-law for their second Australian leg of their epic honeymoon

• Drove up to Bundaberg with the young people and spent evening watching loggerhead turtles hatching (about 90 of them running to the sea!) and a mummy turtle laying her 120 eggs!

• Eaten two Cherry Ripes (the world's best chocolate bar)
• Drunk lots of Australian/NZ wine
• Tried the sarsparilla (twice) which I remember from childhood
• Found and used Australian Amazon AND Ebay!
• Registered with the Australian Tax Office
• Registered with QLD Education for online CPD - we have to do 20 mandatory hours before setting foot in a classroom this year!

So, two weeks and two days after I landed, all is well - I'm loving the sunshine (not dropped below 30 deg), reconnecting with my Australian family branch of cousins and beginning to feel Australian again.  I'm so glad that the cats survived and are beginning to thrive (poor gecko) and that I'm almost prepared for working as term starts next Tuesday.

This weekend, I'm moving into my little unit and then I'll be enjoying all things Australian for Australia Day on Saturday and the subsequent bank holiday on Monday. I plan to visit the street markets on Sunday and of course, take in a beach or two.  

Thank you to all those friends and colleagues who have been texting, Whatsapping and ringing - it's been a monumental move and I've obviously had a couple of moments where I've thought "what the hell have I done". Luckily there is so much to do to get settled that I haven't been able to dwell on that - and using Skype and Whatsapp to speak to my special people has been a life-saver. You know who you are.

4 sleeps....

So now just 4 sleeps to go until I fly. Amazing how fast it's come around! It feels like "groundrush" - my best friend Chrissie explained this is the term when you are coming into land and it all goes v.fast!

Since my last blog it has been a sea of tears. Truly I'm an emotional wreck! On Sunday my little one got married and she was a truly awesomely beautiful bride. Little Sebby (puppy) was perfectly behaved throughout the ceremony and the afternoon/evening reception. What a clever puppy! She wore her bow tie with style.

It was fantastic to be there with all of the young people to celebrate such a fab couple. It was of course super-sad to say goodbye to the Scott tribe, I won't see them for a long time - no other weddings on the horizon!


And great to be there with my best mate, Chrissie, who had travelled down from Berwick for the day - we spent many hours giggling and reminiscing, as well as enjoying the big day. My sister Jane also flew in from the Isle of Man with gifts from my mum for the happy couple.

Bridesmaids and ushers were all fab and it was a very cool event - lots of stylish arty designs and photos, as you'd expect from a graphic designer!


So lovely to be a mother-in-law again - twice in six months!

 And these are my special two -- both married off now and living their lives in London. So proud of both of them. They are delightful human beings, with genuine hearts.

So, at the wedding I had to say goodbye to my sister and to Chrissie, who I won't see for a year at least. I'll have to get used to the time difference and use Whatsapp/Skype to keep in touch and cackle away as we do.

And then on New Year's Day I drove up to Pickering to see my lovely friend Vanessa and her new house - a huge and very unique house, steeped in history and with a massive garden which she will enjoy in the summer I'm sure. So sad to say goodbye to her too, and again, I'll be using Whatsapp to keep in touch.

And the final tears this week - my cats went off this morning on their drive down to London to catch an evening Qantas flight to Singapore. I've put my pjs in their crates so they can smell something of home - they have two very long noisy days now before they get to quarantine in Melbourne. I can track their journey online from 9pm tonight, so I'll be checking how they are. They've been living on raw steak (Squeak) and roast chicken (Pip) since I came back from the wedding - spoilt because I feel so guilty at putting them through this trauma! I'm so looking forward to collecting them on 14 January from Brisbane - their last flight hopefully!


The packers came early too, so the house now looks like a packing depot with boxes everywhere. They have been taking the p*** out of me for the huge number of shoes and clothes...!  I'm chief tea-lady - I'd bought Kitkats and Twix bars for them so they're happy. Already today I've been to the tip and recycle depot to take cat transport boxes and more rubbish - it's bin day but with the removal truck in the way they might not get down to this bit of the estate.

I've also paid off a big chunk of the mortgage today with the off-set account funds - feels better to see a figure now only 5 digits!  I've managed to FINALLY cancel the energy account - they wouldn't talk to me until it was 2 days before the move! And I've been in touch with the tenants about taking on the energy, and telling them I've left cat food pouches and bix as I can't take it to Oz.

I'm trying to stay as calm as possible and just do one thing at a time - I've got a couple more calls to make to Inland Revenue so will just sit in a queue! I've had lots of lovely messages by text and on LinkedIn, wishing me well. I still can't quite compute in my head that on Sunday I'm going - but I know I'll be back for long visits and that people will come and see me. This is one heck of an adventure!