I'm moving

Well, come Sunday it is time to move again. Today marks 6 weeks since we arrived in Canberra and the company only pay for this apartment for 6 weeks. So at the weekend we move to temporary accommodation for 8 nights or so before we move into the rental home in another state on the 12th. I have no idea what it if I'll have broadband after the 12th without going for a walk with a phone, a hotspot and a tablet! It could be a long walk... I know there is a signal on the mobile phone network I'm on but it's not a good one (they say no coverage!) but another network twice the price does have coverage but only a 3G signal at the house so I'm investigating satellite broadband options or at least will once I have sorted the electricity out... Most suppliers are saying the house does not exist. My usual problem....
 
Well one year ago tonight, in a long metal tube at 30,000 plus feet.
 
yep - this was the day we lost in the air. Tomorrow (not very far away for me now) is the day we landed. Sadly though yesterday, the day we left the UK, is also the day that the dog we used to pretty much live with and walked everyday, and dog sat for over 3 years, was the day (a year ago that is) he was put down after falling and shattering his shoulder and humorous. His health was too frail to withstand the operations needed to repair it. We had only left 3 days before... :(

But I have to say I would not have missed this for the world. I am so much happier than I was 12 months ago and my back has improved considerably. plus if I can get approval from my travel insurance (not the normal type of travel insurance but aimed at those on secondment) I may be able to get an implant (something called HF10) into the base of my spine to help control the pain and get me off the morphine I take (which they have changed here from the natural morphine to a more effective synthetic morphine and I am so very grateful here that they have taken me seriously as to regards my back pain and the problems I have with it including finally getting physiotherapy something I never managed to get out the NHS! (or them taking me seriously at any point as to the nature of my back 'injury' which turned out to be a birth defect I knew nothing about).

I don't regret moving one bit. And as my senior back consultant stated, moving to Australia would be the best thing for my back as well. It has been without a doubt.
 
Just watching a program about your flight out.

Okay, it may not be your flight, but same flight number, departure & arrival points
 
yep - this was the day we lost in the air. Tomorrow (not very far away for me now) is the day we landed. Sadly though yesterday, the day we left the UK, is also the day that the dog we used to pretty much live with and walked everyday, and dog sat for over 3 years, was the day (a year ago that is) he was put down after falling and shattering his shoulder and humorous. His health was too frail to withstand the operations needed to repair it. We had only left 3 days before... :(

But I have to say I would not have missed this for the world. I am so much happier than I was 12 months ago and my back has improved considerably. plus if I can get approval from my travel insurance (not the normal type of travel insurance but aimed at those on secondment) I may be able to get an implant (something called HF10) into the base of my spine to help control the pain and get me off the morphine I take (which they have changed here from the natural morphine to a more effective synthetic morphine and I am so very grateful here that they have taken me seriously as to regards my back pain and the problems I have with it including finally getting physiotherapy something I never managed to get out the NHS! (or them taking me seriously at any point as to the nature of my back 'injury' which turned out to be a birth defect I knew nothing about).

I don't regret moving one bit. And as my senior back consultant stated, moving to Australia would be the best thing for my back as well. It has been without a doubt.
Good to read about your positive experiences, challenges and changes.
 
Some of you may have noticed that I have been a touch quieter on here than normal recently :whistling: and could even be thinking yourselves lucky that I have been :laugh:.

Well the reason is that I am moving house very, very soon and whilst I am used to moving house - I won't say how many times I have moved but it is well over 20-30 times now and I should be used to it, it is the first time that I have moved house internationally and despite my bad back and me being in a wheelchair when out of the house nowadays (sadly the physio has said he recons that this is probably permanent but I intend to prove him wrong there; what my right leg has to say about this remains to be seen), I am the one who is having to organise everything and get everything ready for the movers.

It is also the first time I have movers pack for me which is a touch daunting because I don't work with a 'this box was in this room' approach but more a 'what is in that box' approach. Mind you that said, it is the first time I have used a removal company. To make life even more fun, not everything we own is going and obviously we have to keep some stuff behind for us to live with whilst all our stuff is on a ship somewhere for 3 months.

Combine all of that with the fact that we are moving to a country which I think has one of the strictest importation/quarantine laws in the world and well, I'm spending rather a lot of time cleaning things and almost as much time asking the removal company about the customs declaration form and exactly what little things like "Do your unaccompanied effects contain any of the following goods, subject to animal quarantine laws, or wildlife export and import laws? .... feathers...." :eek:

Errr... well in my sleepy haze of overdoing it, not enough sleep and too much morphine I was left wondering about the little things such as feather pillows, duck down sleeping bags (6 of), duck down quilts (more than I actually need I think at 5) and a down filled jacket... which then led me on to the wonderings of if feathers are included and I have to answer yes to this question, then list every item, what about anything woollen?

I'm so glad there is someone sensible at the end of the email address who is a) used to this and b) realises that I am too tired and not thinking correctly!

However.... and this is a big however, everything that has wood in it and I do mean everything, ornaments, picture frames, stools, the only bookcase we are taking, my coffee tables, my wooden spatulas, etc all need listing and keeping aside because they will need inspecting and then there is a section for stuff made from other natural products such as cane, bamboo, plant material. So whilst my seagrass and seagrass stools are allowed to be imported, they have to be listed and inspected. So that is another list to create, and even my cane banneton has to go on this list! Ahhhhhh

Time to fly,

well actually that date is set for less than 3 weeks time. Shipping of our stuff happens next week... and where, well we are officially moving to Canberra, Australia for 3-4 years. :woot:


@SatNavSaysStraightOn

WOW .. All my best wishes and good luck. Yes, on a whole moving / relocating overseas can be daunting !

All my best. And Speedy recovery wishes !!
 
Most suppliers are saying the house does not exist. My usual problem....

Nothing new there! I moved into my house in 1976 but when we went to look at it, we couldn't find out where the road was - even the local Council did not know, and it was a council house :whistling:

More recently, I received details of some new houses being built near my daughter. She'd never heard of the road, and I could not find it on any of the maps of the area. It turned out they were still being built on a small piece of reclaimed land. Seeing as the area is prone to flooding at the best of times, I passed :D
 
Nothing new there! I moved into my house in 1976 but when we went to look at it, we couldn't find out where the road was - even the local Council did not know, and it was a council house :whistling:

More recently, I received details of some new houses being built near my daughter. She'd never heard of the road, and I could not find it on any of the maps of the area. It turned out they were still being built on a small piece of reclaimed land. Seeing as the area is prone to flooding at the best of times, I passed :D
Given that the place was built in the 1970's it would be nice if people knew it existed though!
 
They did eventually, but the address (town) changes regularly - thank goodness for postcodes :D
Postcodes only apply to districts here so mine covers a massive area, not like the one I had in Surrey which applied to 10 or so houses spread out along one road over the distance of 2 miles!
Here I share it with ten of thousands of other properties literally! The local town (several thousand), plus all of the surrounding areas (we would call them villages but the smallest size here is a township and that is only a couple of houses in a small cluster - so the next level up is town which just feels wrong! It is amazing how much relies on the entire address here rather than the postcode and name/number in the UK. All of Australia is covered by 4 digit numbers and I think the postcodes match the telephone number system in that the area starting 02 for telephones covered NSW (inc ACT), and my postcode and the ones I have seen all start with a 2xxx but I could be wrong. It needs more looking into!
 
Postcodes only apply to districts here so mine covers a massive area, not like the one I had in Surrey which applied to 10 or so houses spread out along one road over the distance of 2 miles!
There's nowt as queer as postcodes. Our little road has its own postcode. Houses 1-11 and 13-23 are back to back, 2 and 4 are opposite 1-11, 6-36 are round the corner, and 25 is actually in the road ours is a turning off of. 13-23 have no road access either, and the houses built between 25 and 36 have their own postcode because that part of the road (which used to be an alleyway and the police car pound!) has a different name entirely. We often get people knocking on the door because they can't find a particular house. The road where my friend lives is even worse. Their houses are numbered in the order that they were built. So no. 33 is next to 42, 34 is a quarter of a mile away up the hill, 21 is next to 10, and so on. I first met her in the early 1960s and got completely confused by the whole idea, but their postman doesn't have a problem with it. They did build some new properties there in 1969, and just to confuse me even more, these were two low-rise blocks of flats. I had no intention of even looking to see what the numbers were, and I still don't know..
 
There's nowt as queer as postcodes. Our little road has its own postcode. Houses 1-11 and 13-23 are back to back, 2 and 4 are opposite 1-11, 6-36 are round the corner, and 25 is actually in the road ours is a turning off of. 13-23 have no road access either, and the houses built between 25 and 36 have their own postcode because that part of the road (which used to be an alleyway and the police car pound!) has a different name entirely. We often get people knocking on the door because they can't find a particular house. The road where my friend lives is even worse. Their houses are numbered in the order that they were built. So no. 33 is next to 42, 34 is a quarter of a mile away up the hill, 21 is next to 10, and so on. I first met her in the early 1960s and got completely confused by the whole idea, but their postman doesn't have a problem with it. They did build some new properties there in 1969, and just to confuse me even more, these were two low-rise blocks of flats. I had no intention of even looking to see what the numbers were, and I still don't know..
well in Australia the numbering system at first looks totally chaotic, but is actually very logical when you know.

You will get a round with say 5 houses on it like ours. There is a 225, 252, 280, 335 and us. there is no number 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. The very first house on the road is 225. Sounds totally illogical until you are told what it actually stands for. The track to the house is 2.25km exactly from the start of the road. Why, well its for the fire service. If there are 2 houses off the same track, they are A & B... in order. house 252 is exactly 2,520m or 2.52km from the start.... and so on. makes sense when you know. took us almost a year to find out!
 
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