Blog

June 22nd until June 28th 2004

Australia Migration

Tuesday 22nd June 2004

Today, Ann and I had decided that we were going to look at sofas, beds and house items that we would need to get once we get a rental property sorted out. I wanted to do the shopping around before we got the house, so that when we finally get a place, we don't have to waste time trying every showroom and discount centre to find the right deal. Anyway, we had planned out several large furniture showrooms to visit, and so stopped at the first place in Enfield, where there were two furniture stores. The first shop, Casual Living, we had a very helpful saleswoman who gave us some advice, and told us what to avoid and what to look for. We were also told that it would take over 4 weeks to get any sofa, as the upholstering is done locally. This would cause us a problem, but luckily the sale was on, and we decided to buy a display suite. So, for Ł1100, we bought a 3 seat, 2 seat and 1 seat sofa with ottoman, and it came be delivered in just a few days. We bought the first suite that we saw, so we did not need to do any more shopping around.
I popped upstairs to the other showroom, and Harvey Norman had an electrical section with TVs and fridges and computer equipment. I bought a cheap printer, as I threw away my old printer in England. Ann and I decided to have lunch in North Adelaide, in O'Connell Street. O'Connell Street is renowned for trendy bars and restaurants, and is the more historic and picturesque part of Adelaide. A nice lunch and a walk around yet another shopping centre (this was a good one with a great layout).
On the way home, I drove Ann past a house that we had seen in the newspaper. It is just a few streets away from where Ann used to live after her divorce, and it looks fine from the outside, but we will have to see what it looks like inside tomorrow. It looks big enough to take our new sofas.
I tried my new Ł40 printer today. I printed a photograph of Tower Bridge that I took with my digital camera, and it came out so perfect that it was hard to see any difference between a traditional chemical photograph and this digital printout on glossy paper. Now, I will be able to send some photos of Thomas to my mother, and other people who want them. It only costs around $1.10 per photo (45p) to print them myself.

Wednesday 23rd June 2004

I just added the menu to the left of this page, and I'm quite pleased that it works. It took a lot of work, so I hope you enjoy it.
I went in for an interview with one of the more executive focussed recruitment agencies today, and although he said that I was probably overqualified for the region, he still interviewed me. It turned out quite well, because he ended by saying that he knew of some major projects that were coming up in some specific companies, and that I might be applicable. So that is a refreshing bit of good news. Then, just as the interview was coming to an end, my mobile went and it was another agency saying that there was another prospective job for me, so I called them back after the first interview, and it sounds like the contract that they have is interesting and could be a great start to my ongoing career in Adelaide.
After the interview, Ann and I went to see the house that we had driven past yesterday. We took one step inside and immediately hated it. It was the worst place we had ever seen, and the agent felt the same way. Ann saw the pink and black patchwork bathroom tiles, but I would not go that far. We nearly ran out of the house, telling the agent "not what we are really after".
We drove over to see one of Ann's old friends from when she was working in Adelaide about 5 years ago. Heather and her husband Kyle live in Fulham Gardens, which is between Henley Beach and Mile End and Richmond - in other words, west of the city. Thomas was a little quiet when we first arrived - taking it all in, but then we all relaxed and Thomas was playing with little

Anna, who is 2. Kyle is into Star Trek and the Simpsons, so I was able to talk with him about his interests, and he started to introduce me to another one of his interests - Australian Rules Football. "Footy" is often considered to have no rules, because it appears violent and very fast moving. It looks very strange, with an oval pitch, and four vertical poles as goals at each end. The players can punch ("hand ball") the ball, kick it, or run with it for a few yards, but have to let the ball go as soon as they are tackled. It makes the game very fluid and it has lots of movement. Kyle has invited me to the Adelaide Oval next Saturday to watch a local game, a sort of "Vauxhall Conference" level of game, played in a huge stadium.
Ann and I had dinner out, which was a nice change from all the home-cooked meals we have been enjoying. It started raining hard as we got into the beachfront restaurant, and we watched the sea boil with the wind and rain lashing at the full height glass windows. It was good to watch from the warmth and comfort of the restaurant, but not fun to drive through - in the dark, in a new car with erratic windscreen demisting, on roads that I don't know, with Ann a little bit drunk and Thomas screaming in the back that his nappy is full. We got home safely though!
We need the rain in Adelaide, as the water reserves are depleted from last summer's heat.

Thursday 24th June 2004

More agency interviews, more house inspections. The agency I went to see today thought that I would be applicable for a couple of positions, and said that some future jobs that were in the pipeline might be applicable for me.
The house that we saw at 5:30 was

perfect. Just what we wanted, in the right position and available soon. The more that we think about it, the more that we want it. Three bedrooms, one with ensuite and walk-in-robe, two living areas and a dining area. Also it has a carport and a large driveway, and it is near the end of a cul-de-sac road. All for Ł88 per week.
The same agent also took us to another house, but she did not have the right keys, so we had to peer in through the windows - difficult in the dark! Anyway, we wanted the house in

Golden Grove that we had just seen. We got an "application form" that we had to fill and provide lots of paperwork.
Australia has an interesting system of identification here. They often (like on the rental application) require "100 points of identification" which means that each type of identification is worth a certain amount of points. So for the lease, we need to show our passports, driving license, a bill and 2 bank statements, plus birth certificates to make up 100 points. Both of us had to provide our own proof, so it became a little complicated. We hope they accept that we exist from the little bit of paperwork that we have.

I sent out an email to most of our friends and contacts last week. Most people have not replied, maybe it's because the blog is too long and they haven't finished reading it yet! It would be good to hear some news from the UK etc.. I have had some very good feedback from some people, with one person saying I should make this blog into a book! Only one git said that this was no good.

Friday 25th June 2004

We got up extra early to try and get our application for the rented house in. There was a storm last night, with "hurricane force" winds blowing through Adelaide, and the rain and wind was still heavy and strong. We also saw the house that could not be unlocked last night, and a house deep in the hills in a great rural location - the inside was very dated and it was a bit too remote, but most of the surrounding houses had flash cars.
This evening we went to a Quiz night for a charity with Linda and Ashley. The Catherine House charity had originally expected that they would sell 100 tickets for the quiz, and so arranged for Indian food and drinks to be served at the quiz tables between rounds. They actually sold nearly 400 tickets at $25 each for the Quiz, and they were proud to announce that the charity had raised $200,000 in the last few months, for providing a shelter for women who had become unexpectedly homeless.
The quiz went well, with our team coming (just) second. We won some wine, cinema vouchers and some other bits and pieces. I was really happy that I had been able to answer some of the questions in the quiz, mostly correctly...

Our house sale completed today. We should get our money by the end of tomorrow, and then we will be able to relax. That is the last thing left in England.

Saturday 26th June 2004

Today the solicitor for selling our house sent us an email about the transfer of our money from the house sale. The idiot decided to not to transfer the money to Australia as we had asked, but instead transferred the money to our English account. This is really annoying, as we have a limit of Ł5000 per day that we can transfer out of the account, and each time we transfer that amount to Australia, we get charged around Ł39. So it is going to take us another two or three weeks until we get all of our money over, and it is going to cost us hundreds of pounds in fees. We have complained to our solicitor, but the money is in our account now. We are not at all happy - we need the money NOW!

Sunday 27th June 2004

We went out for lunch today at a high hilltop restaurant, with views over Adelaide and Glenelg, called 'Windy Point'. We had a wonderful meal with great food and service. We all had so much to eat that we skipped dinner altogether.
Our solicitor replied to the email that I sent to complain that he had not put the money in the right place. He was very rude and said that he had done nothing wrong. So, I don't think he will bother to try and sort it out.

One thing that amazes me about countries outside of England (I am only really talking about Australia and America) is the prizes in gameshows. The Australian big brother has a prize for the winner of $1,000,000 - and each person who is evicted gets a completely new Mitsubishi Lancer sports car. In the "You've Been Framed" program here - which is called "Australia's funniest home videos" - each person who sends in a video gets $1000 (Ł400) and the funniest video of the week (voted by the studio audience) wins a package of home entertainment hardware including a plasma screen TV, video camera, DVD player, stereo and even an in-car DVD player. They get it all.
Along with the prizes, there are a lot of sponsorships in programs, where the product is shown or discussed within the program. Added to that, when the adverts start, you get a longer advert for the sponsor, and the number of ad breaks means that you see the same ad in a program about 9 times every hour.

Monday 28th June 2004

I had my second interview at Possum IT and they offered me the job.
I took the job, although the salary is considerably lower than what I wanted to accept as my minimum, but I can see the potential for the job to offer me more than just salary. We agreed that I will have a salary review after 3 months. The office is in the middle of an industrial estate with not much around, so maybe I won't get the social interaction that I was hoping for.
As I drive around Adelaide, it seems so strange that the prices of petrol change so often. Each day, the prices change. On weekends, most petrol stations charge $1.08 per litre, and then in the middle of the week, the same place will have dropped to 89c. It really pays to shop around.

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