Melbourne and the heat

Melbourne is the most European city in Australia, its rich in art and culture and has some of the best restaurants in the world, It is also home to many smaller neveu riche cafes and restaurants. Which makes it one of the top 10 most livable cities in the world...........

At least thats what the guide books say, we don't know as we haven't been yet, our planned trip on Saturday fell too bits when Sue started puking up at about 3am on saturday morning. We had gone out after work for a few drinks and something to eat then we came home and had some more to drink so naturally the food did it, although to be fair she had been ill earlier in the week, so she might actually have been sick. So we decided to stay local and went for a bit of a walk which turned into a 5 mile walk in lovely 28 - 30C sunshine. we headed for the place where we think we'll get our next house Belmont its up on the hill and has a great shopping centre and if you get the right house it has views right across the city.

We were warned that the heat would arrive on Sunday with temperatures would get to around 42C this like the weather forecasts back the Uk was wrong it reached a mere 39C, although I didn't know much about it as the pissing out your arse and puking out your nose bug had reached me so i stayed in the house/bed. Although Sue did go to the supermarket for a couple of bits. When she came back she was a similar colour to a well ripened tomato she described it as a fan oven outside because there was a hot wind involved. This was hot even to the Ozzies. we also found out that the aircon in the house is shit unless you've got your face on the fan outlet. So hopefully we won't get many days like that before we get our new house.

Work is getting better as i'm starting to find my role and settle into it. Sue is settling more and more we all have the odd off day but provided you realise what it is and its just a down moment its better to embrace it. We need to find either a kindergarten or at least a playschool for James as he's starting to play up a bit so he might be getting a bit bored. He has really come out of his shell here and is much more confident on the playgrounds and the big slides and climbing walls. So its great for him.

I have included a couple of pics of eastern beach from our evening walks. And could any of the fishermen who read this please tell me whats in the last pic?

Until next week The Nuttalls

A week of work and Sue home alone

Hello again from the future. I started work this week which meant us starting to settle into our new life, i started in work on Monday and arrived nice and prompt on my first day, and was introduced to my new workmates they are all how i'd expect them to be it is a glass factory after all and the world over they don't change much. Although I have to say they have all been very friendly and supportive and i think i'll be ok there, the job is slightly different but that will make it more interesting.

My main concern at this point was leaving Sue home alone with James and what she'd do to combat boredom and homesickness. Its fair to say on monday she struggled and broke down on monday night, after that small glitch though she has got more and more comfortable, we have been trying to arrange some parent and toddler groups but they don't start until the schools go back which is the beginning of next month. Although she has been keeping herself busy and has manged to meet a couple of people and has met a lady called Kim who has a 3 year old daughter they have exchanged phone numbers with promises to keep in touch which is a very promising move. She is also meeting up with some of the mothers from a parent and toddler group that she spoke to so thats all very promising.

James as per usual is still loving it he runs around like a loon on the playgrounds then tires himself out and goes to sleep. Although he had an off night on wednesday and was a bit sick, but he was fine on Thursday so nothing to worry about.

We gave the hire car back on wednesday and also picked up our box from Melbourne airport (cheers Brain) so since then I have been bussing it to work, although with views like this on the way into work i'm not really complaining.

Generally after work we go for a bit of a walk in the evening sun which is very pleasant.

There is also a big regatta on this weekend so there are stalls of stuff everywhere and a few stages with live music, culminating in a big fireworks display at the end of the night, all free which was great and rather than the usual stalls selling burgers and hot dogs etc. I had calamari and chips and sue had paella which is something you don't get from stalls at home.

 

Geelong Donkeys

Today we were invited to My new bosses house for a BBQ, first thing I can say is WOW the house was like something out of Grand Designs. It was huge with games rooms amd a pool table. It hit home what can be achieved here if we stay.

So in summary so far so good were settling in nicely job is going well and were finding our way around. Next week were off to Melbourne to meet up with Simon and Ben so we'll what thats like. It looks like were going to have to invest in a car the place is a bit too spread out.

Until Next time

Settling in

After the Hectic couple of days when we first got here and all of the rain, we decided to have a bit of a break from doing boring important things and thought we'd have a couple of days just enjoying and exploring the city we've moved into. We decided to have a drive down towards the Great Ocean Road. We set off in bouncing down rain and drove towards Torquay (Not the one in cornwall that would be ridiculous) Flash floods aplenty all the way but when we arrived at Torquay the cloud was breaking and the sun started shining Lovely;

This improved our mood no end, and we decided to go for lunch. Cue as soon as we arrive in Torquay town, I hear a moan from the back of the car 'Where's me sunglasses' disaster Sue had left her Oakleys at Torquay beach we drove back and retraced our steps and luckily enough we managed to find them Hurrah.

So Lunch was very pleasant ( I had a chicken and mayo butty) and we decided we would try and make the house of doom a bit more homely so we headed back to Geelong for some photo frames and odds and sods of things. On our way back the flash floods had gotten worse so the road was closed luckily enough iphone tomtom guided us safely back.

When we got back we walked down to the shopping centre then I hear a moan from next to me  'I think a birds just shit on me 'ed' I looked and she was right a bird had shit on her head and shoulder. Well as you can imagine I erupted James joined me and Sue nearly cried. Brilliant that was a turning point though because since then things have just got better.

Saturday we arranged to meet Sue's cousin Simon and his mate Ben at Werribee open Zoo, unfortunately because of the rain only half of the safari part of the place was open, fortunately because of this it was half price, Result :-) It was great to see other people and the Zoo itself was excellent. Hopefully we'll meet up with them again soon (Simon and Ben not the animals) Because James loved them ( both the animals and Simon and Ben)

Today we thought we'd just stay local although we went and did a bit of shopping this morning and had to cross the barwon river it is in flood on quite a major scale, luckily its in a dip with boathouses being the closest thing to the edge of it so nobodies house has been flooded. So we shook our heads at it a bit and tutted and then went to the beach.

The last time we went to an open air pool James wasn't having any of it, it was too cold and he was fightened well he's not anymore he went straight in and absolutely loved it. The place was busy but not too bad we stayed in there for about an hour and then walked the approx. 3 yards to the beach. He spent his time playing in the sand although he did have a small amble into the sea which was toasty warm. While me and James were doing this Sue was spending her time burning. After this James had an hour in the playground.

Then an amble along the front.

The weatther here has made a massive difference although it has coincided with our jet lag wearing off. The house is a problem for Sue but our little changes to it will help and its only for 11 more weeks. Other than that we've really started to appreciate what australia is all about, at this moment in time I love it here the lifestyle ticks all of the boxes for me, James also loves it he even loves the house I suppose its a bit like the batcave for him. Sue Likes it here too but as mentioned shes not a fan of the batcave. I start work tomorrow so the realities of living here will start to set in this week.

I will try and update the blog on a sunday night and thanks for all of your kind messages.

The Nuttalls

The leaving of Liverpool and arrival in OZ

Its very hard to imagine saying goodbye to everything you know and love until you have to do it. Saturday 8th January 2011 this is exactly what we did, and let me tell you as sad as you expect it to be times it by 20 and even then your nowhere near. The only word I can use to describe it is Devastating. Not just for us but for our families too. The guilt that was felt came over like a tidal wave, we had sort of planned for this by arranging 2 days in London before we set off to calm ourselves, this helped until late on the Sunday afternoon we realised that we ( ok I) had worked out our baggage wrong cue more stress and panic and loading up yet more relatives with our stuff.

So off we went with the hire car to Heathrow dropped Sue and James off at the airport with all the stuff and i went off to drop the hire car off, this was a job and a half just trying to find the car rental place, eventually i found it and all was good including the shuttle back to the terminal Sue was getting stressed as she stood there with all our luggage. Then was the test had the bathroom scales been accurate enough, had we brought too much? Would they refuse to take the car seat? All questions that only Qantas check in could answer. So we handed all our documents and other stuff over and loaded the cases on the scales whilst looking at the floor and shuffling about trying to look inconspicuous. Then..........all accepted no extra baggage fees woo hoo.

 Then the flight, our flight was to Hong Kong then on to melbourne after a 2 hour stop. I have to say the flight was excellent the staff were excellent and more than that James seemed to love it and the time didn't bother him. So much so that he only fell asleep when we boarded the Hong Kong flight.



The rest of the journey passed without incident apart from not being able to find the car seat when we got our luggage. (there is a seperate oversized luggage conveyor) then we got picked up by the hotels shuttle bus and got to our room for a good nights sleep. James unfortunately had other ideas and had us up at 4:30 this gave us a chance to get some internet and book a car and realise it was pissing down.

We left the hotel and got the car, got it loaded up and set off for Geelong. First stop was the estate agents for the keys which we got then set forth to our new home. This was the part I was dreading we had only seen the house online when we decided to take it so had no real idea of the condition of it. Its fair to say it was better than I expected but it hasn't been lived in for a while which is given away by the musty smell and the few bugs we've seen. It is also sterile and the furniture is old and antwacky so our next challenge is to turn it into a home for the next 3 months. that being said its location is fantastic it is only 3 minutes to what I have to say probably the best waterfront i've ever seen, it is stunning and with fantastic facilities for kids and adults alike. I suspect a lot of time will be spent in the kids pool teaching James to swim.

Geelong itself and the shopping centre is very charming it reminds me of olde world england with lots of seperate little independant shops, and it has a very modern and very nice shopping mall. All within a couple of minutes walk.

There is no doubt that we underestimated the impact that emigrating would have on us, that partnered with the jetlag and all the rain has made our first few days a bit surreal but throughout all of the emotional turmoil we haven't said that we can't make this work, we can and we will Australia has a lot to offer and James although still suffering with jetlag absolutely loves it, the place is made for families with all of the facilites set up for family activities. There are kids playgrounds on nearly every corner, and the australian people are very friendly whenever you come into contact with them and are happy to help you this makes everything easier.

So i'm just settling down with a beer now off to the Zoo to meet up with Sue's cousin tomorrow which will be good.  I'll tell you all about it in my next thrilling (or not) installment.

Oh and this is just genius