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June 15th until June 21st 2004

Australia Migration

Tuesday 15th June 2004

Today there was 36mm of rain in Adelaide. Even though it rained, it was sunny and warm.
I had two interviews at recruitment agencies today, one of them was pre-arranged, and the other I managed to get by calling them up and requesting the interview that day. Both went well, with a good feedback that it would not be long before I was employed. I hope that it is not too long before I start working, as I don't want to end up becoming too relaxed - life in Australia is so good, I could very easily get used to not doing anything.
I was impressed to see on the news today that they give advance warning of where the traffic police will be setting up their speed cameras. The TV news gives the road name of each place where a speed camera will be - about 20 places around Adelaide. Strangely, I also saw in the newspaper today (front page news) that the police are starting to put speed cameras inside rubbish bins - a little slot for the lens and the flash, and then it is put by the side of the road like a normal wheelie bin. What a contradiction!
Now that I am remembering wheelie bins - I like the way that the rubbish is handled (mmm...) here. They have three bins with different lids - one for garden waste, one for recycling class, plastic, paper and metal, and the last bin was considerably slimmer and for general rubbish. Then, when the rubbish is collected, the bins have to be left on the kerb facing the right way, because when the truck comes along it just pulls alongside and a robotic arm pops out, grabs the bin, and tips it into the top of the truck, and then drives off. No crowd of sweaty filthy men smashing bins around and making noise at 6am - just a little robotic arm to grab all of the mixed recycling.
Ann took us to another shopping mall today. Ingle Farm is more like a traditional British out of town shopping area, just with a covered (and air-conditioned) 'street' where the smaller storefronts can show their extensive wares. I popped in to the "bottleshop" where we got some wine and I walked into the large refrigerated room to get some Australian beer. Excellent service and huge selection - just like the rest of Australia.

Wednesday 16th June 2004

Today we decided to be touristy and go up into the Adelaide hills to enjoy the views. Have a look at the

slideshow and enjoy the views that we saw. Despite a couple of wrong turns, we managed to find the scenic route to Morialta Falls to hike up the path to see the lower falls - swelled with the recent rains.
It was no more than 10 minutes out of central Adelaide before we were winding up the hills into what seemed like untouched countryside. There are a lot of nature reserves within the hills, but there are also homes and a few vineyards and fruit groves. I was struck by how European much of it appears, with pines and broadleaf trees mixed in with the variety of gum trees. There were open fields and magnificent views, and only a few minutes later there were views across Adelaide to the sea.
By the time we got over to the falls (no more than 1 Km from blocks of houses and schools) and parked, it had started to gently rain. The rain was soft and in some respects also warm, and I did not feel cold at all. We wound up the hill through the gorge, crossing the little stream that was the product of the falls through simple bridges that made the walk very easy with the pushchair. Once we arrived at the falls, we were the only people that were on the path and had the ballistraded walkway all to ourselves. Thomas really loved the waterfall, as he is so excited by water.
The trip back was during 'rush hour', when there seemed to be few cars on the roads. We only stopped a few times at traffic lights before we got back. I am impressed more and more by this country - let's hope that it does not wear off.

Thursday 17th June 2004

Last night Thomas laughed himself to sleep. He was giggling gently as we put him to bed, which makes a change from the screaming that we had been having the last few days.
Being tourists, we decided to go up to the Barossa wine area. It's only about 45 minutes from Salisbury, so we drove up past Gawler towards Tanunda. The intention was to go to the new wine centre at Jacob's Creek, where we tasted a few wines and had a quick coffee. Although it was only 9°C today, it was bright, and I managed to get a few

photos of the Barossa valley and Jacob's Creek vineyard itself. As it is a winter weekday, the roads were empty as was the wine centre. We passed lots of other wine estates, but decided that it would not be advisable to go in to every one to taste all their wines and then drive home!
When we drove home, I noticed how huge all the trucks are, more American in appearance and often with one or two trailers. In some places it appeared that these leviathans were about to touch some of the overhead cables that seem to criss-cross all the streets and take out the power or phones to the homes nearby! It's a pity that the attractive houses and architecture of many streets is obscured by masses of overhead cables.
Ann and I decided to do some pre-shopping for large items. We wanted to work out how much we would set aside to spend on a washing machine, fridge, freezer and of course the vital big-screen TV. The funny thing about Australians that strikes me as I come from England is the frequent use of the word "cheap" without it being considered as an insulting or derogatory term. The extensive roadside signs stating that cheap whitegoods are available seem to be almost as common as bus stops. Ann and I chose a few models of each item that we needed and noted the price for the same model in each store. Now when we get our first place, we don't need to do the footwork to find those vital items.
Having brought so many electrical items from the UK (because the electricity is the same here), we have a little problem with plugs. I counted up how many new Australian plugs that I need to put on existing kitchen appliances and lights (and of course my computers and TV items), and came to a frightening total of 35 plugs needed! I have never seen a house that has 35 sockets, so I am going to have to spend a bit of money on basic electrical adapaters and extensions so that we can actually used most of the items that we are having shipped over...

Friday 18th June 2004

Thomas started screaming at around 2am today. We have no idea what it was, but he eventually went to sleep, but it was scary. He has been absolutely fine today, which is a relief - I just hope that he sleeps through tonight.
Today we did the tourist thing and went to the Adelaide Central Market. There are 12 aisles of assorted fruit and veg, delicatessens and butchers. We had a few tastes of locally grown olives, local cheeses and meats and saw a butcher that sold nothing but kangaroo meat. It was busy at lunchtime when we arrived, but it emptied up a bit so after we had had our latte and foccacia, and then we had lots of attention from all the storeholders throughout the market, which felt different from England, they were not being pushy, they were just being friendly. I took plenty of

photos when I was going around. There was lots of produce that I had never seen before, and such variety that was quite overwhelming. I cannot ever remember seeing 14 varieties of prawn before.
We found out today that our International removal should arrive in Adelaide on or after the 15th of July. That's just 6 weeks from when we moved out. Ann and I are going to have to get a move on and get a house rental sorted out, otherwise we will have nowhere to put all of our stuff! We also found out that the house sale has progressed in England, with exchange having happened a few days ago and completion expected on the 26th of June. It has been annoying waiting since we accepted the offer in early March, but at least it has not all fallen through!
A little annoyance that might catch us here is that the financial year in Australia ends on June 30th. This means that most companies are having big stock clearance sales before that date, where there are some great deals on things, but we are not going to be able to take advantage of it, as our money may not arrive until July. We may be able to catch it if we are lucky.

Saturday 19th June 2004

Today they forecast hail, but we didn't see any of it.
Today the local newspaper runs adverts for rental properties, which is a mixture of houses where you have to call an agent or the owner, and something which is new to me - open inspections. The ad states the full address and a time where you can turn up and have a nose around the house. So, needless to day, Ann and I had a good look around a few places where we were interested in finding a house to rent. All the prices are by the week and it was quite a change to see three bedroom houses that can cost under Ł450 a month. We saw some 'old' 100 year old properties that had lots of character but not much practicality, and some very lovely tree-lined streets that had real appeal (but more expensive). We thought that one particular place was really good - up at Golden Grove in the hills overlooking Salisbury Plain and Pooraka, right next to Cobblers Creek nature reserve. The house looked good from the outside and we are going to see it tomorrow.
It's been cold and wet today, with a biting wind that makes us just want to stay inside all the time. So we ended up watching the adverts, interspersed with TV breaks. We watched some programs, like Absolutely Fabulous, The Bill, Parkinson, Jonathon Creek, Born and Bred, Frasier and tried to avoid the Australian Big Brother. Australian culture seems to be a blend of English and American with their own down-to-earth view of life. I am impressed by the way that there is no mollycoddling of thoughts and sensibilities to protect some ephemeral downtrodden masses, as there is in England. Here, they are real and refer to "dole bludgers" rather than "the long term job seeker", and will have adverts that say "good deals from good blokes" instead of trying to avoid upsetting anyone, as is happening in the UK. Here they call a spade a spade and don't try and call it a "soil removing implement for used by any gender".
We went into Myer, which is a department store throughout Australia. As we have decided to get on with finding our own place, I decided that we needed to get some of the essentials that we are going to need on the day that we move in. So, we were looking at pots and pans and came across a selection of "top of the range" pans that were exactly what we were looking for - then when we worked out the price to buy everything and came to $267 which is only Ł100 for 4 pans. I love it here, particularly when I work out the prices to pounds! I just cannot see that I will be able to move the family back to England. We are here to stay.

Sunday 20th June 2004

Another cold but bright day. Thomas woke up in the middle of the night, but there was no apparent reason for it, so I just tucked him in to his cot and he eventually fell asleep.
Today I was in a little bit of a strange mood. I was so keen to see the house and ensure that we were able to rent it, that I could not sit down for long. The house was due to open at 2pm, and I said that I wanted to be there by 1:30 so that if there was a lot of interest, we could get our chance to say that we would have it before anyone else took it from us. So, as the time approached, I was trying to get everything ready so that we would have no delays before we got there. Then, Ann and I got in the car, I turned the ignition key, and nothing happened. Our first thought was that the new car had got a flat battery, and then I tried the alarm, and then called out Ann's parents so that we could get some jumper leads out to get the car started. We were both frustrated, and I was getting worried that we would miss out on this house that we both wanted because of a silly flat battery. The tension was palpable and I was ready to snap. Liam decided to give it a go, and sat in the driver's seat and turned the key. The lights on the dashboard lit, but nothing happened. Then he moved his hand down to the gearstick, where he found that it was just slightly out of park - as soon as it was clicked in, the engine turned over. Unfortunately the alarm had armed itself, and the siren started - causing a certain level of panic in Liam, and massive humour in the rest of us.
So, then we got started and drove up to Golden Grove to see the house. It was only an 8 minute drive, so we arrived at 1:45. Ann wanted to sit in the car at a small parking area near the children's playground and the park, but I was on edge and so walked around the park to see the view of Adelaide and the surrounding hills. Unfortunately the rain had made the grass slightly wet, and I found myself stuck in a muddy patch, with only mud to walk through to get back to the car. Anyway, I had not managed to kill enough time to get to 2pm, and saw other cars coming down the road, so I tried to persuade Ann to go with me to stand in front of the door. Ann was having nothing of it, and so I just decided to grab Thomas and started walking to the house, just as the owner pulled up their car and unlocked the door. We had a good look around the house, and pretty quickly came to the decision that it was right for us. I walked into one of the bedrooms, and did not know that the carpets had recently been cleaned, and were still a bit wet - and so I left little muddy footprints as my mark on the house. The owner was quite good about it, but I don't know if that will affect our chances.
After being so keen to get in early and look at the house and say that we would have it, I was a little shocked to be told that we had to fill in a contact form to "express interest" and then the owners would decide and let us know tomorrow.
After looking at the house to rent, we had a look around the rest of the estate and saw another house that was for sale and had a "open inspection", where we just wandered in and took the particulars from the estate agent who was standing at the front door. We had a poke around this family home, and found it really quite good - the price was "offers over $270,000" - could be affordable when I get a good job.

Monday 21st June 2004

Today I had an interview at a small IT company in Adelaide. I was very disappointed when the first words of the interview was that I was over-qualified. I was still interested in the job, because I can see the potential to get in to the company just before some large growth. Still, it's disappointing to have worked myself up for a job and then find out that they had already decided that I was not applicable. I have a second interview next Monday, maybe they will decide that they should make a new role for me.
Still no call from the landlord to say if we have been chosen to be the tenants on the house in Golden Grove. The pace of life in Australia is much slower, and so I will have to just get used to it! Ann called the owners of the house in the evening, and they said that they had not yet made up their mind!

Something else that is different about Australia is the banking system. Whereas in England a bank will allow you to access your money and do what you want with it, in Australia you get charged for every withdrawl - including a charge of $5.00 for going in to Ann's bank and doing a withdrawl over the counter. One good thing is the version of "Switch" that is available here - direct payment from your bank account for goods is done through EFTPOS, where they swipe your card and you type in your pin - no signing required. It's not the same for Credit Cards, where you have to sign. Also, the banks charge a monthly fee - even if your account is in credit...

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