Sideshowdeb Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Well, we've been here a week today and it has flown by in a whirlwind. I have no idea how anyone ever managed this without smartphones and satnavs but all in all its been a brilliant week. I don't know how or why but there haven't been any tears. We spent the last day and night in London with my in laws and had a lovely time. We had a picnic in Kensington, the kids played in the memorial playground and paddled in the fountain. We had a lovely meal that evening and said our goodbyes at the airport the following day. MIL had a little cry but there wasn't a scene and the children were fine. The flight was delayed which meant that at Singapore airport we had to go straight to board the Perth flight, which was then also delayed. In the end we arrived to glorious Perth sunshine only 40 minutes late. We found our rental and the owner was waiting for us with some fresh food to get us started. That's pretty much the last clear memory I have... From that point on it's all a bit of a blur. I don't feel like our feet have touched the ground. We've been to a few beaches and countless parks. We've viewed about 14 properties, 2 schools and I don't know how many cars, but it's all been worth it. We were approved on a beautiful little house in Fremantle this afternoon and we pick up our car tomorrow morning on the way to return the hire car. We've chosen the schools and we're off to sort that out on Monday. I've been to see the hospital and meet the few members of the team that have been recruited so far and they couldn't have been nicer. So much so that I'm probably moving my start date forward a week to help out. It feels like an odd mix between a holiday and home at the moment but I think once we move into our own place with our own things around us the holiday feel will disappear. The kids have been brilliant and I'm so proud of them. They've been dragged around all week looking at one thing or another and we've hardly heard a peep out of them. Ethan was playing football at the beach today with God only knows who? French backpackers apparently, and Bella, well she's pretty much gone native. She's mostly barefoot and when I met them at south beach today after work she ran out to greet me wearing only her shorts, a smile and a fairly heavy dusting of sand. I've probably missed out lots but I just wanted to say we're here, we're having a lovely time and thanks to everyone who took the time to answer my questions and share their experiences. These last few weeks would have been very different without that, and we are all very grateful. Debs x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midwife momma Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Well done on a seriously packed week. Sounds like you've achieved so much already. I'm not surprised you are proud of the children. I shall look forward to more updates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkis2000 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 So glad you guys are settling in well. I know you have to get into work PDQ but don't forget to take time out at weekends or on days off to enjoy it. Believe it or not that holiday feel can last a bit if you let it. We've been here 7 months this week and I was still pinching myself today as I sat out on the grass at lunchtime enjoying the sun! Look forward to hearing more of your updated and maybe meeting you at one of the get togethers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Glad you got the rental. Hope to see you at the meet up end of month if not before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 So glad you guys are settling in well. I know you have to get into work PDQ but don't forget to take time out at weekends or on days off to enjoy it. Believe it or not that holiday feel can last a bit if you let it. We've been here 7 months this week and I was still pinching myself today as I sat out on the grass at lunchtime enjoying the sun! Look forward to hearing more of your updated and maybe meeting you at one of the get togethers! We will. We're picking up the car first thing tomorrow morning then we've promised the kids they can call the shots until they start school. I think the weather is supposed to be nice over the weekend so hopefully we can get out and about. Ethan and Rich want to have a go at paddle boarding and kayaking and Bella is dying to get her hands on a koala or see some dolphins. I'll be at Ikea for coffee if I'm not at work and we'll definitely be at Kings Park at the end of the month so I'm sure we'll catch up soon. I can't wait to start putting faces to names x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 We will. We're pidog up the car first thing tomorrow morning then we've promised the kids they can call the shots until they start school. I think the weather is supposed to be nice over the weekend so hopefully we can get out and about. Ethan and Rich want to have a go at paddle boarding and kayaking and Bella is dying to get her hands on a koala or see some dolphins. I'll be at Ikea for coffee if I'm not at work and we'll definitely be at Kings Park at the end of the month so I'm sure we'll catch up soon. I can't wait to start putting faces to names x I was like a big kid when I first saw some dolphins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocolevi Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Goodness what a whirl wind. It's great to hear that you've settled so well and the kids are doing great so quickly that makes life so much easier x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 So good to hear your update and so pleased every thing is going well and you have all settled so quick, will look forward to hearing more and good luck with everything :smile2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7cdb Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Sounds perfect,I'm sure they couldn't have done it without mum. Good luck with it all off topic,we will be looking for a new motor when we arrive. I know they all have "drive away" prices advertised. Is there still room for a bit of a reduction,also is it just pop in,pick your car and pay your monies? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild rose Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Phew! That sounds crazy! But it's all part of the excitement I imagine :-D Once all the boxes have been ticked life will slow down a little and you'll be able to enjoy your surroundings even more. It sounds like you've gotten off to a great start. Good luck for the future xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
<Dan> Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 That sounds like a week we have planned for our first week so glad it worked! On your rental, how long from viewing -> approval -> moving in? if you dont mind me asking. We have a B&B booked for two week with a one week contingency if we need it. Where abouts did you rent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Sounds perfect,I'm sure they couldn't have done it without mum. Good luck with it all off topic,we will be looking for a new motor when we arrive. I know they all have "drive away" prices advertised. Is there still room for a bit of a reduction,also is it just pop in,pick your car and pay your monies? Cheers Well, I am probably the last person you'd want to ask about cars. It was actually Rich's friend on the east coast that found it for us. It was a really good bargain as we were about to buy the exact same car, 2 years older and a lower spec for the same price and that had been knocked down a bit too. The one we bought had a window sticker that was $4k more than he had advertised it online so we just snapped it up. I didn't even haggle. It may have been a ploy and time will tell if we've got a good deal but according to Stef, Rich's mate, we've got a good price. I found it very much like the UK but the sales men weren't as pushy. We have to do it all over again next week as I need a little runaround to get to work and back. I'm torn between going cheap and cheerful or getting a brand new car from a dealer as there seems to be some really good deals around on new cars. One thing I did notice is that lots of the cars we looked at had been in sake for a while. It doesn't seem that they more so quickly. If I'd known that I could have trawled the Internet before we left and made a plan of what to go and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou8670 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 It's lovely to hear about your week Deb. Wow, Fremantle?! That was a little bit of a surprise but I'm so pleased you've found somewhere you like and suitable schools for the kids. It'd be great to meet you if you can make it to our Ikea shop and coffee morning! But if not hopefully see you at Kings Park on 31 August x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) That sounds like a week we have planned for our first week so glad it worked! On your rental, how long from viewing -> approval -> moving in? if you dont mind me asking. We have a B&B booked for two week with a one week contingency if we need it. Where abouts did you rent? We booked our rental for a month. I wanted longer but Rich only wanted 2 weeks. The minimum was a month so we compromised with that. A year or so ago I was reading lots about how hard it was to get a rental, but it seems to have calmed down a lot this year. Most of the properties were already empty when we viewed them and ready immediately. I think 3 or 4 of the 14 still had tenants in but there wasn't anything we viewed that we'd have to wait for more than 3 weeks for. The booking system for open houses is all online and brilliant. If you haven't got it already get the Domain app. We would never have been able to see so many houses in such a short space of time in the UK. We saw this house Thursday morning, dropped our application in the office Friday morning and heard by 5 the same day. We could get the keys next week if we want. I'm by no means an expert but we certainly would have been fine with the timescale you mentioned. We rented in Fremantle in the end although we've looked at houses from Shoalwater to Leeming. Edited August 8, 2014 by Sideshowdeb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 It's lovely to hear about your week Deb. Wow, Fremantle?! That was a little bit of a surprise but I'm so pleased you've found somewhere you like and suitable schools for the kids. It'd be great to meet you if you can make it to our Ikea shop and coffee morning! But if not hopefully see you at Kings Park on 31 August x It was a bit if a surprise to us too I think. We really like Rockingham and haven't seen for ourselves any of the things we've read about but we started to wonder what we would do with ourselves if we lived here. It's just a bit too quiet for us I think. Schools became an issue as Ethan pretty much refused to commute to school on the bus which left us no option but to head north. We've got a nice chilled week planned next week though and it would be lovely to meet for a coffee or a drink if you're free at all? X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy little Vegemite Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Well, I am probably the last person you'd want to ask about cars. It was actually Rich's friend on the east coast that found it for us. It was a really good bargain as we were about to buy the exact same car, 2 years older and a lower spec for the same price and that had been knocked down a bit too. The one we bought had a window sticker that was $4k more than he had advertised it online so we just snapped it up. I didn't even haggle. It may have been a ploy and time will tell if we've got a good deal but according to Stef, Rich's mate, we've got a good price. I found it very much like the UK but the sales men weren't as pushy. We have to do it all over again next week as I need a little runaround to get to work and back. I'm torn between going cheap and cheerful or getting a brand new car from a dealer as there seems to be some really good deals around on new cars. One thing I did notice is that lots of the cars we looked at had been in sake for a while. It doesn't seem that they more so quickly. If I'd known that I could have trawled the Internet before we left and made a plan of what to go and see. I am dizzy just reading about your first week, well done for achieving so much in so little time! If you can hold off on buying a second car until you've started work it might be worth looking into getting one on 'novated lease' through salary packaging. I'm not entirely sure of the details but it is something like you can buy new or second hand and they'll get you a good price (maybe even tax free but don't quote me on that!) and sort out a monthly repayment that comes out of your pre-tax dollars (Disclaimer: I am in no way a financial advisor and may have the details completely wrong!). Someone else on here may have more experience of the system, salary packaging seems a bit like magic to me, not sure how it works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou8670 Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 (edited) Tbh I don't particularly like some parts of Rockingham which can be a bit rough. It's a bit of a mixed bag, some lovely streets/ areas and some not so good but we like some of the surrounding areas and love my eldest's school in north Mandurah. We've made lots of friends here now and become very involved with the local swimming and rugby clubs. I also want to buy a 4x2 or even 5x3 house but I don't want the big mortgage! (I don't want much eh?!?!) We're hopefully moving on Wednesday/Thursday into our own place so it'll be a bit hectic for me later this week. I would love to meet up for a coffee though and could do Monday or possibly Tuesday as I haven't got a lot to pack ; just keys to collect from the developer on Tuesday who I believe is in Balcatta. Let me know...send me a FB message as I'm not on here every second of the day as I used to be Hope to meet you soon Lou xxx Edited August 9, 2014 by Lou8670 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Tbh I don't particularly like some parts of Rockingham and it can be a bit rough. It's a bit of a mixed bag but we like some of the surrounding areas and love my eldest's school in north Mandurah. We've made lots of friends here now and become very involved with the local swimming and rugby clubs. I also want to buy a 4x2 or even 5x3 house but I don't want the big mortgage! (I don't want much eh?!?!) We're hopefully moving on Wednesday/Thursday into our own place so it'll be a bit hectic for me later this week. I would love to meet up for a coffee though and could do Monday or possibly Tuesday as I haven't got a lot to pack ; just keys to collect from the developer on Tuesday who I believe is in Balcatta. Let me know...send me a FB message as I'm not on here every second of the day as I used to be Hope to meet you soon Lou xxx Great. I'll FB you later X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 I am dizzy just reading about your first week, well done for achieving so much in so little time! If you can hold off on buying a second car until you've started work it might be worth looking into getting one on 'novated lease' through salary packaging. I'm not entirely sure of the details but it is something like you can buy new or second hand and they'll get you a good price (maybe even tax free but don't quote me on that!) and sort out a monthly repayment that comes out of your pre-tax dollars (Disclaimer: I am in no way a financial advisor and may have the details completely wrong!). Someone else on here may have more experience of the system, salary packaging seems a bit like magic to me, not sure how it works! Thanks for that... I had read about that ages ago but had completely forgotten about it. We can manage with one car and quite easily for the next few weeks so I'll ask about that scheme at work :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 I am dizzy just reading about your first week, well done for achieving so much in so little time! If you can hold off on buying a second car until you've started work it might be worth looking into getting one on 'novated lease' through salary packaging. I'm not entirely sure of the details but it is something like you can buy new or second hand and they'll get you a good price (maybe even tax free but don't quote me on that!) and sort out a monthly repayment that comes out of your pre-tax dollars (Disclaimer: I am in no way a financial advisor and may have the details completely wrong!). Someone else on here may have more experience of the system, salary packaging seems a bit like magic to me, not sure how it works! Hi Deb When you do your induction they give you all the info on getting a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Hi DebWhen you do your induction they give you all the info on getting a car. That's handy. I was planning on sharing a car with Ethan as he can start driving next month... Might need to rethink that? :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
<Dan> Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you @Sideshowdeb for the heads up on Domain. Just downloaded it and looks great, certainly going to be a great help for us when we arrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you @Sideshowdeb for the heads up on Domain. Just downloaded it and looks great, certainly going to be a great help for us when we arrive. Have you checked out hire cars yet? We booked one with Bayswater. $30 from the airport in a mini bus to the branch. They were super helpful. Great car. Only took it back today and there was no queue ether time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
<Dan> Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Have you checked out hire cars yet? We booked one with Bayswater. $30 from the airport in a mini bus to the branch. They were super helpful. Great car. Only took it back today and there was no queue ether time. Yep, we booked through them as they were half the price of ones at the airport. No sure if we take it back early if we pay less? Any apps for buying cars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideshowdeb Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 No, not that I found. I'd email them and ask though. We had to extend a day and we just did it over the phone. If you're confident you'll find something then maybe book less? Have you gone for the Rav4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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