Well it was bound to happen and to be honest i'm surprised its taken this long, but not much has happened this week. As per usual I was in work all week and its really busy so I've been quite tired every night when I've got home.
The weather has also been a bit off and dropped off last week down to about 17C which actually felt a bit cool I understand that its been similar in the Uk and your all in shorts, still its improved a bit over the past couple of days and it was 24 today and its gonna be 26 tomorrow settling at 22 for the rest of the week which is nice.
I ummed and ahhed about going to the Grand Prix all week on Saturday my decision was made for me, as our faithful little netbook which has been absolutely hammered since we got here started throwing in blue screens of death which signified one thing it was facked (See I'm learning Australian already) So we had to go and get a new laptop which is what i'm typing on now.
So instead of going to the grand prix we'd been asked to go around to a mates for afternoon tea. They have 2 boys aged 2 and 4 so the intention was to take James around to have a play. To be fair he had a whale of a time the kids played great together and he even ended up having tea there. They are a really nice family who have been here for 2 1/2 years so I have roped Dom (the dad) into being a regular Thursday night drinking buddy (never let it be said I'm not a creature of habit) and Sue is going around there tomorrow so James can play again. There is also talk of arranging another Poms in Oz night out in the upcoming weeks so we seem to be slowly but surely building a small circle of friends and a large circle of aquantainces.
James has also started kindergarten this week, he did 3 hours on Friday and absolutely loved it, Sue said she was a bit upset when she left him there but soon got over it. Its quite nice really because we both had to work in the UK Sue never got to take him on his first day of nursery so this made up for that to a certain degree.
Our furniture arrived in Melbourne on Thursday so our couches are only 100Km up the road, although we can't touch them yet its comforting to know they are here they should be delivered after they have been checked by customs etc on the 7th April. The countdown has begun.
Our other furniture that we have ordered from here will be delivered to our new house so I have a few days of flat pack building to look forward to next week. But at least we get our keys to our new house on Saturday so I think we'll settle much more when that happens.
So that's about it for this week I haven't even got a food of the week because we haven't been out, Or any new pics so sorry its a bit boring it should be better next week. Although I did have to fill the car up today and the price of petrol is rocketing it cost us $67 for more or less a full tank.
Look after yourselves
The Nuttalls
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Up and down
Well to be honest not a lot has happened this week which I suppose is a bit inevitable after a while plus there was a little bit of homesickness nothing too bad but we got some news from the Uk on Friday which I won't divulge but it made us realise how far away we actually are, but we came up with a plan, and that is to treat every weekend like a holiday and let the humdrum of weekdays (which will get better when were in the new house and have our stuff) look after itself.
So with this in mind and with Sue deciding she wants Ugg boots for her birthday we headed for Melbourne. After doing a bit of research online ( and me trying to get them as cheap as possible) it came to my attention that UGG australia (the ones everyone in the UK wears and pays a fortune for) aren't Australian at all they are owned by an American company and the boots are made in China. UGG is a style of boot nothing more. So the best make for australian UGG style boots is a company called EMU. Anyway I digress we went up to Melbourne on the train as it probably works out around about the same price as driving and we headed to an outlet mall. This took us straight past the ETIHAD stadium very impressive it looked a bit like the Everton Stadium at the kings dock was going to look (letting that go is probably Mr Kenwrights biggest cock up through his Everton Tenure). Then we found ourselves in Melbourne Docklands which has all been done up with restaurants and hotels etc and I have to say it is lovely and Harbour town the outlet village looks like a slightly older Liverpool one so much so that it made us think L1 might have been based on it. Anyway after traipsing around there for 3 hours we hadn't bought anything and headed back to the train station.
We were a bit early so we found another Mall that is built onto the station this was much more impressive and had plenty of shops that we recognised unfortunately we didn't have time to look around there as we had to get the train and we were knackered. So the upshot was we didn't buy anything.
This brings us onto Sunday, we promised last week that we would go looking for koalas and Kangaroos. So first off we headed down to Torquay to check the surf shops for EMU boots which we found so we bought them that was that done. We then headed of down the Great Ocean Road to a place call kennetts river where there were rumours of wild Koala's. I know I go on about this road a lot but it is quite simply stunning and gets better the more times we travel down it. The first stop was split point lighthouse. This light house was the place where legendary kids show Round the Twist was filmed so we saw that and took in some of the views from there. Beautiful.
We then carried on down the road towards Kennetts River and as we were driving we saw what we thought was a rotten palm leaf in the road... Then it started wriggling it turned out to be a 6ft eastern brown snake apparently the 2nd most venomous land snake in the world and it was big.
So we trundled down to kennetts river which is a small town of 100 people and turned off onto a dirt track that steeply rose into the bush forest ( I was suddenly glad we'd bought a 4 x 4) Then Sue spotted something in the tree tops. It turns out it was a Koala so we stopped and had a walk around and spotted a few more and took some pictures. which are displayed below:
We then headed back towards Geelong and had heard that Anglesea golf course had been a popular place for kangaroos so we stopped there on the way through and sure enough there they were so photo's again:
It does have its ups and downs here homesickness will come and go I'm sure but I have to say that when its good its fantastic the landscape is just stunning and the people are great. When its bad its not too bad if you know what I mean you just feel a bit down and miss certain things and people.
Chris' Food Of The Week
This week its a bit boring but just look at the size of it:
Problem is it was shite but hey ho
Look after Yourselves
The Nuttalls
So with this in mind and with Sue deciding she wants Ugg boots for her birthday we headed for Melbourne. After doing a bit of research online ( and me trying to get them as cheap as possible) it came to my attention that UGG australia (the ones everyone in the UK wears and pays a fortune for) aren't Australian at all they are owned by an American company and the boots are made in China. UGG is a style of boot nothing more. So the best make for australian UGG style boots is a company called EMU. Anyway I digress we went up to Melbourne on the train as it probably works out around about the same price as driving and we headed to an outlet mall. This took us straight past the ETIHAD stadium very impressive it looked a bit like the Everton Stadium at the kings dock was going to look (letting that go is probably Mr Kenwrights biggest cock up through his Everton Tenure). Then we found ourselves in Melbourne Docklands which has all been done up with restaurants and hotels etc and I have to say it is lovely and Harbour town the outlet village looks like a slightly older Liverpool one so much so that it made us think L1 might have been based on it. Anyway after traipsing around there for 3 hours we hadn't bought anything and headed back to the train station.
We were a bit early so we found another Mall that is built onto the station this was much more impressive and had plenty of shops that we recognised unfortunately we didn't have time to look around there as we had to get the train and we were knackered. So the upshot was we didn't buy anything.
This brings us onto Sunday, we promised last week that we would go looking for koalas and Kangaroos. So first off we headed down to Torquay to check the surf shops for EMU boots which we found so we bought them that was that done. We then headed of down the Great Ocean Road to a place call kennetts river where there were rumours of wild Koala's. I know I go on about this road a lot but it is quite simply stunning and gets better the more times we travel down it. The first stop was split point lighthouse. This light house was the place where legendary kids show Round the Twist was filmed so we saw that and took in some of the views from there. Beautiful.
 | ||||
Have you ever... ever felt like this (theme tune for round the twist)
|
We then carried on down the road towards Kennetts River and as we were driving we saw what we thought was a rotten palm leaf in the road... Then it started wriggling it turned out to be a 6ft eastern brown snake apparently the 2nd most venomous land snake in the world and it was big.
 |
| Not the actual snake just for illustration purposes |
So we trundled down to kennetts river which is a small town of 100 people and turned off onto a dirt track that steeply rose into the bush forest ( I was suddenly glad we'd bought a 4 x 4) Then Sue spotted something in the tree tops. It turns out it was a Koala so we stopped and had a walk around and spotted a few more and took some pictures. which are displayed below:
 |
| Koala very unusual for them to be active during the day |
 |
| In their normal pose they sleep 19 hours per day |
We then headed back towards Geelong and had heard that Anglesea golf course had been a popular place for kangaroos so we stopped there on the way through and sure enough there they were so photo's again:
 |
| Finally proof they exist |
It does have its ups and downs here homesickness will come and go I'm sure but I have to say that when its good its fantastic the landscape is just stunning and the people are great. When its bad its not too bad if you know what I mean you just feel a bit down and miss certain things and people.
Chris' Food Of The Week
This week its a bit boring but just look at the size of it:
Problem is it was shite but hey ho
Look after Yourselves
The Nuttalls
Monday, March 14, 2011
Melbourne and fun runs
First off sorry its late but its bank holiday here so its still the weekend. We haven't done a lot this week really work has been busy and Sue is fitting into the housewife routine nicely. Most of our time now is taken up trying to sort things out for the new house getting the bits of furniture together and all the small stuff cutlery pots and pans etc. So we decided to take a drive up to Ikea in Melbourne. NIGHTMARE
First off we decided to drive up there just as a storm decided to roll in so it bounced down all the way there. we did get to drive over the westgate bridge which is pretty special and it would have had fantastic views had it not been for the rain. Being the prudent type of fellow I am we decided that toll roads are for mugs and driving round is by far the best way to go......This train of thought was wrong.
We ended up driving straight through the centre of Melbourne I'm sure most of you have seen/heard about Oxford street or Tottenham court road on a busy shopping day and you get some idea it also turns out there was a big street festival on which made it all a bit worse however it gave us a chance to see a bit more of Melbourne than we've seen previous which was interesting. Ikea however was pretty much the same as the UK a conveyor belt of people slowly trudging around crap displays, however it has to be said we did get some bargains which ticked a few more of our stuff to get boxes. The main problem was somebody in their infinite wisdom had decided to put the customer collection point on the exit ramp of the multi -story car park this resulted in chaos, but we lived through it and the car passed its first big test and it was a good chance to experience driving around Melbourne which we won't be doing again.
James also completed his first sporting event, there was a fun run organised for local charities which involved a 100m fun run racing against Thomas the Tank engine, it went really well Jam.es loved it he completed the fun run and came in in the middle of the group smiling all the way. He ended up getting a certificate and a goody bag we he liked and they had a load of other things to see fire engines police cars etc so James loved it.
We have also enjoyed our first nights out, I went on Friday with the fella's from the group that we met a few weeks ago, and Sue went out with the girls on Saturday. Good times were enjoyed on both nights which I have to confess to being the most inebriated out of the 2 of us as I was nothing short of a mess which I suffered for on Saturday Sue was fine after her night. It was nice to be able to get out without having to worry about James
Chris's Food of the Week
This week I have discovered the taste sensation that is Sushi, King prawn with Avocado, and Teryaki chicken to be precise wonderful.
Sorry its a bit dull this week we are going on a search for Koalas next weekend so that should be a bit more interesting than Ikea.
Look after yourselves
The Nuttalls
First off we decided to drive up there just as a storm decided to roll in so it bounced down all the way there. we did get to drive over the westgate bridge which is pretty special and it would have had fantastic views had it not been for the rain. Being the prudent type of fellow I am we decided that toll roads are for mugs and driving round is by far the best way to go......This train of thought was wrong.
We ended up driving straight through the centre of Melbourne I'm sure most of you have seen/heard about Oxford street or Tottenham court road on a busy shopping day and you get some idea it also turns out there was a big street festival on which made it all a bit worse however it gave us a chance to see a bit more of Melbourne than we've seen previous which was interesting. Ikea however was pretty much the same as the UK a conveyor belt of people slowly trudging around crap displays, however it has to be said we did get some bargains which ticked a few more of our stuff to get boxes. The main problem was somebody in their infinite wisdom had decided to put the customer collection point on the exit ramp of the multi -story car park this resulted in chaos, but we lived through it and the car passed its first big test and it was a good chance to experience driving around Melbourne which we won't be doing again.
James also completed his first sporting event, there was a fun run organised for local charities which involved a 100m fun run racing against Thomas the Tank engine, it went really well Jam.es loved it he completed the fun run and came in in the middle of the group smiling all the way. He ended up getting a certificate and a goody bag we he liked and they had a load of other things to see fire engines police cars etc so James loved it.
 |
| Just got his number Flying the flag |
 |
| Start Line lots of competitive dads |
 |
| First certificate |
We have also enjoyed our first nights out, I went on Friday with the fella's from the group that we met a few weeks ago, and Sue went out with the girls on Saturday. Good times were enjoyed on both nights which I have to confess to being the most inebriated out of the 2 of us as I was nothing short of a mess which I suffered for on Saturday Sue was fine after her night. It was nice to be able to get out without having to worry about James
Chris's Food of the Week
This week I have discovered the taste sensation that is Sushi, King prawn with Avocado, and Teryaki chicken to be precise wonderful.
 |
| mmmm Sushi I like the Soy sauce bottles |
Sorry its a bit dull this week we are going on a search for Koalas next weekend so that should be a bit more interesting than Ikea.
Look after yourselves
The Nuttalls
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Its a trap
Well we thought it might be too good to be true, our one mouse had disappeared but then came back and he brought all his mates. So the traps were out again we caught a couple but saw a few more. So we threatened the landlord that we were leaving if he didn't sort it out. We had a pest control fella out the next day ( who bizarrely also used to work for Pilks) and as yet we haven't seen sight nor sound of them since, Although we occasionally get a whiff of mouse fart one one particular couch so one might be dead in it. but hey ho the smell is receding and its not my couch so I don't really care.
There has been an air show on this weekend we thought about going but then saw the price $55 each seeing as we don't have any interest in planes whatsoever we thought sod it we won't go. However I received an email on Friday afternoon from Geelong council offering us free tickets in their VIP runwayside chalet with free drinks and free food, so whilst we have no interest in planes we have a very high interest in free food and booze, so off we went and I have to say it was very impressive the food was lovely and as much free drinks as you could fit in your belly plus we got some free programmes and caps etc and there were plenty of kids for James to play with. We also met some other recent immigrants and exchanged phone numbers etc. Sue is going out on Saturday with some of the girls from the people we met next week so she invited a Canadian girl she met today along too as she's here on her own ( Very Brave) I also met a few people, and as luck would have it one lad from Manchester is a mechanic for Renault excellent. Oh and there was some planes.
On Saturday we had a drive down to Torquay again and worked our way along to Bells Beach this is one of the best surf beaches on the surfcoast and the pictures below describe it much better than I ever could so I won't even try.
We have also ordered Foxtel to be installed on the 9th April just in time for the premiership run in which looks like it might be quite exciting. We've also ordered our Furniture i.e spare bed and our bed and mattresses, so when we get them and were settled please feel free to come and see us we'll put you up no problems.
And a new feature I'm adding to the blog as it appears to have become a bit of a regular feature anyway is:
This week its;
It's lemon meringue LOVELY
Until next time
The Nuttalls
There has been an air show on this weekend we thought about going but then saw the price $55 each seeing as we don't have any interest in planes whatsoever we thought sod it we won't go. However I received an email on Friday afternoon from Geelong council offering us free tickets in their VIP runwayside chalet with free drinks and free food, so whilst we have no interest in planes we have a very high interest in free food and booze, so off we went and I have to say it was very impressive the food was lovely and as much free drinks as you could fit in your belly plus we got some free programmes and caps etc and there were plenty of kids for James to play with. We also met some other recent immigrants and exchanged phone numbers etc. Sue is going out on Saturday with some of the girls from the people we met next week so she invited a Canadian girl she met today along too as she's here on her own ( Very Brave) I also met a few people, and as luck would have it one lad from Manchester is a mechanic for Renault excellent. Oh and there was some planes.
 | ||
| A plane |
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| Same plane different view |
On Saturday we had a drive down to Torquay again and worked our way along to Bells Beach this is one of the best surf beaches on the surfcoast and the pictures below describe it much better than I ever could so I won't even try.
 |
| Bells beach from the car park |
 | ||
| View of the Coast looking towards Torquay (not the one in Cornwall) |
And a new feature I'm adding to the blog as it appears to have become a bit of a regular feature anyway is:
CHRIS'S FOOD OF THE WEEK
This week its;
Until next time
The Nuttalls
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| Bells Beach |
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