NEWS & UPDATES

One Week on....... and things are good :) Gradually remembering how to function with only one arm, the other being occupied by a little somebody. We are slowly persuading Craig out of his nocturnal ways and he's responding well. Seem's to be settling into a 3 hour routine which is much better than the sleep all day and be awake ALL night that he thought he'd start with.

House News:
Understandably there has been no progress on the house this week, oh except that the "grey water system" (posh way of saying huge plastic bucket and drainage trench) have been finished and all of the drain pipes put in under the house ready to connect up to the bath showers etc when they get installed. Pictures Here

Web News:
There has been some further development. The Guest book now looks like part of the site, thank you to everyone for their lovely messages. I've added a local time and weather indicator to the news page (left hand side under the guest book button).
I've started working through the stack of pictures (Latest Here) that have been scheduled for the site but have never quite made it
A couple of pages have also been added to the Camping Adventures section for anyone that's interested in seeing where we've been so far.

Yep I know it has been way to long since the last update, many thanks to everyone that has been checking for updates over the last few months.

Ok big news, this update has been inspired by the birth of our son. Craig 9lb 1/2Oz born 4:15am 5th September
Pictures Here

A very quick update (I'm tired, it's been a long day :) ) Lara's brother came over at he end of Feb for 3 Months and contributed to the house progress immensely, I can't thank him enough for everything he achieved. Our friends James & Emma also came and spent some time with us, they volunteered some time before heading North and then West taking in some of the fantastic sites of this great country.

Current house status:
Plumber has been out and done the first fix and has just started installing the drainage. The Electrician has also completed the first fix. I am currently plaster boarding, and it seems to be taking forever.... However I now have a few weeks off work between contracts and hopefully can crack on and get a few things ticked off the "to do" list.

Right that's all for now, told you it was going to be brief. I've got loads of stuff to add and will get it posted over the next few weeks.

Almost forgot, the Guest Book has been fixed. Still needs to be made to look nice but is now working so feel free to leave a message.

Seasonal Greetings to you all, although it's to blinking hot to be a week away from christmas. It is so strange having christmas in the middle of summer. Plastic icicles and snow flakes are just wrong when it's 42 deg in the shade.

House News...... We have got all the bits of paper together and the plans have gone to council for approval, there's even a slim chance we might get them stamped up before they shut down for crimbo. The house delivery has been penciled in with the supplier for the beginning of March. A little later in the year then we had hoped but I suppose them being busy is a good thing. I'm expecting to get some pricing info on the getting the steel stumps in the ground ( we've decided to get some professional help with this as concrete doesn't stay fluid for very long over here.

We've bought a tent :) Pics Here We've not slept in it yet but we're hoping to go away for a few days before I'm back to work in the new year

The park held a shared meal / crimbo party / BBQ which was great fun. Much beer and merriment, there was a free light show in the form of a distant thunderstorm that considerately passed around us so as not to rain off the evening. The kids put on a little show, and some of the more talented grown up's ( Lara included ) played some christmas carols. Some Pics Here

Well I doubt I will get another update in before christmas so have a good one.

Once again it has been to long since the last update, my humble apologies. Right well straight into the news. Erm well, you would have thought I'd have something to write about after all this time :) I guess as we settle into our new lives they will become less and less eventful.

Firstly our lot has nearly fully recovered after the little fire incident nice green pictures available here in fact we're going to have to get some sort of grass cutting machine ( it's already knee high in places )

We have Ozy driving licenses now. Not to stressful, although we nearly had to walk to the test center to stay legal. As we moved over on a permanent visa are uk driving licenses were valid for 3 months, and we kind of put it off for a bit, typical last-minute.com Anyway there was no practical test just a theory, I went with a gun-ho attitude of "how hard can it be" and promptly failed :) Oh dear. So the next day (only allowed to take it once a day) after a spot of revision and another $16. I went back and passed. Lara came with me on my second attempt and she also took the test passing first time.

My new job is keeping me fairly busy, partly responsible for the lack of web updates. We had a Ozy style team meeting last week which was all good. Everybody met at the beach. We went over a few things then had a swim and a BBQ. The kids all got on well and it was a really good weekend.

Lara's doing her bit to contribute towards the community spirit off the park and has started holding sewing mornings, giving advice on making close and all things haberdashery. ( Good excuse for me to get some fishing done up at the local Lake, still not caught anything that's big enough to keep though)

We have our first visitors. James & Em have arrived from England. They've brought the rain with them, but that's all good when you rely on it. They've been really busy earning their tucker chopping up wood and tidying the block ready for some house building.

Talking of the house.......Not really got any news, It's in the land of bureaucracy The structural Engineer is due to send back his report/specification early next week. I've rounded up all the bits of paper and have now applied for my "Owner Builder" Number. That should also be back in 7 days. I spoke to the nice man at the council and discovered we are still a report missing.

As you may or may not know there is no sewage facility for the house so everything needs to be processed on site. Because of the issues over the water supply we have decided ( after a lengthy investigation which involved a toilet tour of the park, you'd be amazed about how passionate people are about there poo disposal methods over here.) to opt for a composting toilet. The technology has come along way and they seem to work really well, (no shoveling of anything resembling poo required).

This leaves us with the issue of what to do with all the grey water ( grey water being everything that doesn't go down the toilet) Eg shower, laundry, sinks. Apparently the council don't appreciate "Well I was gonna dig a trench, over there a bit and she'll be alright" approach. So I've had to pay $500 dollars for a "Scientist" to look at the plans, look at the site plan, and say "well you need to dig a trench, over there a bit and she'll be alright" You gotta love this country :D

Well that's about all for now.

Some More New Pics Here

A bit of house news. The results from the Soil Survey have arrived back. Our site has been designated 'H' for Highly reactive. Hmmmmm, It's not as bad as it sounds, the site contains a lot of clay and so is highly reactive to water swelling and constricting. As I understand it it's quite common around here and it just means the stump holes will probably be a bit deeper and the concrete pads a bit thicker etc.

Also the proper plans for the house have arrived ready to go to the structural engineer and the council etc.

Oh and are lot caught fire today :( Most of the trees have survived but everything dead went up in flames, except the pile of tree tops which needed burning. The park fire brigade, the Rural fire brigade and a fire truck from town attended and thanks to their quick response the fire was contained to our Lot. A big thank you to everbody who helped put it out.

Pictures of the aftermath

Just a quick news flash...... Apparently we now own lot 81 Yay !!!!

I say apparently because although we've paid for it and the solicitor phoned and said we'd completed he hasn't sent out a copy of the title. He seems to have gone back to being all quiet now we've paid. Hmmm not overly impressed with the solicitor to be honest.

On a different note, I have had more details on my job, well actually my new business, as a contractor I've had to set up as a sole trader, and because of the turnover I need to be GST (ozy VAT) registered. But we had a nice chat with an accountant in town and he went through the basics and brought Lara up to speed and seemed to think we'd be able to cope with the tax returns. 3/4 of an hour of FREE advice ( very nice accountant ).

We went fishing up at Lake Monduran, a huge lake about 20mins drive north of us. Pics available here

G' day everybody. Hmmm trying to think what's happened since the last update it was ages ok so presumably quite a lot. Lara has a job :) she's working from home making curtains for a shop in Bundy (that's the local name for Bundaberg). I've been offered a 6 month contract working from home as a programmer, I'm waiting to hear when I'll start etc. I've finished all my college courses, I have a "blue card" which means I'm allowed to work on a construction site, that's handy. Bit hard to build a house without being allowed on my own site. Also have a certificate from the owner builder course, I'm now allowed to be the "Principle Contractor". Quite a scary legal obligation as it turns out :(but in true oz style "ah, she'll be alright").

Right what else have we been up to. oh yeah, the land still isn't ours yet the solicitor is waiting to hear back from the Foreign Investment Review Board. Given our permanent residency this should just be a formality where they stamp the form and send it back. As a permanent resident you don't normally have to bother but the special council zoning of the park means the purchase has to go via the review board. But hey we got bored waiting so I've started anyway :D !!!!! There's now a 20m trench running through the lot, waiting for the power & phone cables to sit in. An electrician is going to come out and stick a meter box on top of a post so we can have electricity on site. I've also been playing with my new toy, chainsaws are great :) a couple of ill placed trees have been turned into a firewood pile. Only little one's though, there are a couple of bigger trees that need to come down but I might wait till the land purchase actually goes through before I tackle those.

We have signed the contract for the Kit House and payed the deposit, So the plans for council approval should be here soon. The soil survey was done last week but we're still waiting for the results hopefully they will arrive around the same time as the plans and then they can go to the structural engineer, who will tell us how deep our stump holes need to be. When the plans arrive we'll know the stump hole spacing and can start marking out the site properly.

The kids have been off school for their two week Spring Break. So they've been having lots of fun and we've been to a different beach photos here

Yesterday was excellent, We were invited by some friends to join them on a 4 wheel drive trip to the beach. So our first 4 wheel drive trip in the new car and also our first trip to a real beach. I had a swim and the girls had a good splash although Lara and the locals thought it a bit chilly. I've uploaded some new photo's here.

But it's not all been fun and games we've been busy too. Ok, no we haven't I'm fibbing, this chilled out Queensland lifestyle is contagious. We did make a trip down to Surfers Paradise (that's on the Gold Coast, South of Brisbane) to have a look at a showhome by the people we are buying our kit house from. It was very nice and we've chosen the kitchen and bathroom and everything so hopefulyl we can sort anything else out over the phone (it's a bit of a drive). We've been to see the solicitor that's looking after our conveyencing signed a few forms and things and apparently we should complete on September 13th. We've also been quite busy marking out where we think the house should go, and then moving it a bit and then moving it a bit more. Infact I don't think there's much of our plot that hasn't at one time or another been our house. But I think we have finally decided on a location.

There are a few bits now in the "house" part of the website for those that our interested.

Think thas all for now :)

Wow, so much has happened since the last update I don't know where to start.

We have somewhere to live !!! We have been really lucky and are renting a house on the park for less than it would cost us to have a caravan on the campsite.

We have bought a car, well a bad boy 4WD Ute. Yet to be taken off road, but it has already come in handy bringing the furniture home from the shops.

Our land purchase is going through. We had a look at a few other blocks of land for sale in the area and decided that the park was the right choice for us.

The girls have started school, they get a 10 minute ride on the school bus. Which to quote Steph "Is awesome !" and they seem to be settling in ok.

I've enrolled on and have received the course material for the owner builder permit course, which is actually very informative and may well end up being worth the $300

Before we moved up to the park, we spent a day at Warner Movie World, which was fun. Steph went on her first REAL roller coaster. We needed medicinal chocolate afterwards.

I think that's about everything for now. There are some new photo's here.

Big drive upto Bundaberg yesterday, we managed to find our way out of Brisbane without to much trouble and spent the night in a motel. We saw the park for the first time today and it looks very good.

Picked up the hire car today, Oh it's erm automatic, Oh erm ok. Luckily it's a very nice car and now we can explore.

Yay we arrived safe and sound along with all our stuff and our staying here for now.

and the view of the river is fantastic

Well this is it, today we fly wish us luck, I hope they let all our luggage on.

Yet another monumental day in our emigration adventure. Lara and I are both left work today, and the kids broke up from school.

Today was our leaving party. A very good night if not a little sad, many thanks to everybody that was able to make it.

House sale completed today !!!! Yay