Marshs Down Under

The boys have finally arrived, a little jet lagged but are recovering! Sam described the flight as ‘brutal’ and I’m not surprised, they flew 14 hours to Singapore, had 2 hours at the airport then hopped on another plane for 8 hours to Melbourne, I think that journey would even make a terrorist confess – it really is torture!

Sunday was warm but showery so we headed into the city, had drinks overlooking the Yarra river then did some sight seeing. We decided we would get something to eat and had read about a restaurant called Pelligrinos, an Italian that has been there for 50 years, apparently it is a ‘must’ to visit. We duly found it and walked inside, it was very narrow with bar stools and benches rather than tables and a bit dark and dated – Hhmm, but too late to change our minds, the Italian owner asked if we were eating and whisked us into the kitchen where there was a table with benches. Maria, the cook was stood there with all her cook pots and cooker making her dishes! There was no menu, we had a choice of spaghetti, lasagna, ravioli or minestrone. We sat in stunned silence for a few minutes taking it all in, then just started to laugh and couldn’t look at each other without laughing again as the orders kept coming to Maria and she responding in her fiery Italian accent!! What an experience..

Steve is working up until Fri then off for 3 weeks so I am entertaining this week.He has two Christmas nights out arranged for this week also, much more sociable here than his UK job! I am not working for the next few weeks but have booked to work 28th Dec as its a public holiday and so get double time, $80 per hour- 8 hour shift booked!

We went to the beach with the dog yesterday as it was a lovely sunny day and the boys are already getting a tan starting, the sea was so warm, then BBQ for tea!  Today is forecast to be 29 degrees so we will leave the dog at home and head to Brighton beach to see the beach huts etc.  We go to Sydney on Sunday then move house the day after getting back, so will be busy for the next week, then its Christmas.The boys say it just doesn’t feel like Christmas, even though all the decorations are up, just feels like we are on a summer holiday!

Went to the mall to get the boys cheap mobile phones yesterday, good deal for $39 got a handset and $120 worth of credit. Will keep them here for any UK visitors to use in the future. Electrical stuff is so cheap here at the moment with the dollar being so strong against other currencies, temptation to buy!

The weather here remains very UK like, some lovely sunny days followed by downpours. Maria and I had a trip into Brighton as the shops are supposed to be really good, but very expensive as it turns out. Well it is one of the poshest places to live in Melbourne! It was raining in the morning when we set out, sunny at lunchtime and we sat outside having lunch, then torrential rain on the way home. I have never seen rain like it, the sky went very black and it put over 100mm of rain down in one hour. We were driving along the beach road and had to stop as even with the wipers on fast wipe we couldn’t see a thing. There was a small saloon car in front of us and we could see the water level rising to over its wheels, people were knee deep in water trying to move their cars! We are now on flood watch, especially rural areas, NSW & Queensland are also affected – what the hells going on!!  When I got home following the storm I found that the wind had blown the window off the catch in the bedroom and the carpet was soaking, like a bucket of water had been poured over it, and really smelled. We have had to lift the carpet to let it dry, and now will have to use my carpet fitting skills to re-fit the thing. This house is jinxed I’m sure.

We have booked the movers for the 23rd Dec, but the landlord has said it’s ok to move some things in earlier, so are hoping to do that on Sat 18th before we fly to Sydney, then only the big things to move on 23rd. We have arranged for cable TV already as we have not had that all the time we have been here, and for broadband and a telephone line also, as the landlord here wouldn’t pay for the connection.

Ellie has now finished school for the summer hols, goes back at the end of Jan. She is planning to get together with some of her new friends, and the boys will be here from Saturday evening so we have lots of things planned. She is recovering well from her close encounter with the car outside school, most wounds healed now.

Work continues to be VERY boring, not sure how much longer I can do this job. No interesting illnesses or people, just giving tablets to old people and maybe the odd dressing if I’m lucky – wohoo. I may get back in touch with the practice in Brighton as she wrote me a really nice email asking me to get in touch if I changed my mind, sod the money!

We have been laughing at the Aussies and their reaction to the cricket, such sore loosers.Ste had the live cricket score on his computer at work and the Aussies had the live weather radar on theirs, desperately hoping for rain then it would be a draw!  They are analysing the match now and making changes as it will kill them if they loose against the Pomms in their own country, Ste and the boys cant wait for the boxing day test in Melbourne.

Well, off to have my hair done now, going to have something different done I think! I also have new eyes – well multifocal contact lenses. They seem OK and I can see again. I was fed up of changing glasses constantly when driving, then reading. I think Ellie was getting fed up of me asking her what things said also, like being reborn!!

I am pleased to announce we have found a house! Well hopefully, its all been verbally agreed, just waiting for the paperwork. Steve took great pleasure in serving notice on our current landlord. It is a lovely 2 year old house and modern interior with 3 beds and a study that is big enough to take a double bed so can be made into a guest room when needed, it also has a large area upstairs with room for another sofa and a wet bar with a  sink, fridge & dishwasher. The balcony upstairs is big and the current tenants have a BBQ up there as it has sea views and a good place to chill. It is in a village called Parkdale which is less than a 10 min drive from where we currently live, but Ellie can walk to her new school in 15 min, Ste has a 5 min walk to the train station and it is a 5 min walk to the beach, so ticks all our boxes really. I am sorry to be leaving Beaumaris but there just aren’t any decent rentals coming up, and Ste & Ellie have long journeys also from here.

The weather remains changeable, just like the UK weather really but hotter! You have 3 or 4 lovely sunny days then 2 – 3 days of rain in punishment, and it is no different from the UK in that everyone goes shopping when the weather is bad. Unfortunately the bad weather has been happening on the weekends and everyone is fed up of it now. We have just returned from Costco, people were battling for car parking spaces – crazy. Have started to buy a few Christmas items though, much chocolate and even got some Robertsons mincemeat for my mince pies. Its going to be a last minute Christmas for us though as it looks like we are going have to move house on the 23rd Dec, the agent wanted us to move into our new house asap but we have to pay rent here until 24th Dec so would be paying double rent. At least we wont have to suffer Christmas in this house, Ellie can decorate the tree in our new house while we sort the other things out! It will be tiring but we’ll get it done, at least Sam & Tom will be here to help, less than 2 weeks until they arrive now. Hope they get to take off on time as I believe you are all shivering in the cold and snow! I must admit that the warm and sunny weather doesn’t do anything to create the festive atmosphere. We are going to go into the city next Friday evening as there is a good evening planned with a few famous people attending, lots of carol singing, then when it goes dark they are going to turn the Xmas light on, so that should be nice.

Steve finishes work for 3 weeks on 17th Dec, he has completed his project and the manager called him and told him to take Thur & Fri off in reward for his hard work, and they let him just take this Thur off to view houses without using a holidays. They seem really good like that and they reward you with weekend away or meals out for your hard work, especially if your bid was successful and earns big money for the company!

I am still playing tennis and getting slightly better! We play for 2 hours every Monday morning, it was 30 degrees last Monday though, my god it was hot. It was so hot you couldn’t even sit out in it, it was just like opening the oven door when you went outside, then when it rained it was warm rain! Back to normal again now though, should be fine for tennis tomorrow anyway!

Here’s hoping the Pommies kick the Aussies ass in cricket as they are just bragging about how well they are doing at the moment, but if they loose at anything they don’t even mention it on the news – so funny! Ste and the boys are going to the boxing day test so watch out for them on TV.

OK, why does it always rain when anything to do with Melbourne is on the TV? We have just had a lovely week of 28 deg and sunshine, the masters golf begins and we get torrential rain! There was even a mini tornado Friday evening just 10 mins away, bringing down trees and powerlines – what is going on with this weather? We routinely switch the air conditioner from heat to cool on a daily basis, it can drop 15 deg in a day!

I have let the manager know that I wont be taking the practice nurse job, she was upset and offered me different shifts but they are still only 6 hours long and would have to work more days to make up the hours, I prefer to do two 8 0r 9 hour days and a half day Fri, then to the gym on the way home. I can also do any other days if I need extra money as they are always needing staff so it works well – and no commitment to work any of Christmas or new year for the first time in 26 years!! I am getting a lot better at finding my way around now and knowing the way things work, will take a good few months though according to the other UK nurses that work there.  I will put a pic on Flickr of me in my uniform with my car

Still not sorted another house but it is early days yet, I have half of Beaumaris looking out for potential properties and have registered for early notifications of any properties that come up for rent with the agents. I was speaking to an English nurse whilst walking the dog, her house is up for auction next Saturday. but if it doesn’t sell may consider renting it out – so here’s hoping it doesn’t go as it is lovely!  The house sales here are falling right down due to the high interest rates and prices so more people are considering renting as an option – lets hope so. We were actually quite cheeky yesterday as we wanted to view a house that may have been a good option but the agent said the current tenants didn’t want people round until legally obliged to do so, which is 2 weeks before they vacate. That would only be early Dec so Ste knocked on the door under the pretence of wanting to know what the area/house/neighbours were like really. We had a good chat and of course she let us in to view! Wasn’t any good though….. dark and dinghy and massive. Good way to get in though before other people, may use it again! Went to view a lovely little house in Hampton, an older property with open fireplaces in the downstairs rooms but the master bedroom was gross, tiny and the wardrobes were circa 1970, pity as it was in a good location.

We have booked our holiday for next June ( 28th) we are meeting Sam & Tom in Hawaii! It is a 10 hour flight from Sydney and about 13 hours from Heathrow, so a good meeting place. The Aus dollar is so strong against the US dollar everything will be cheap for us – so long as it stays that way. We have just booked flights at the moment, we may do a week in Wakkiki near Honolulu then on to Maui, a smaller island which has been voted the worlds most beautiful island for many years.

Ellie starts her new school on Wed for 2 weeks as an induction before starting at the begining of the new school year end of Jan. Her uniform cost me $600 so far, still needs shoes and books. Went to the school as there was a second hand book sale on, as you need new books each year so some Y10’s were selling theirs. We managed to get a few French books for half price, schooling is so expensive here. I have ordered all her English Lit/Lang books off Amazon to be delivered to Sam’s, then he can bring them over in 4 weeks, they are a quater of the price they are here. She still needs a Casio class pad which is $220, I see overtime looming!

Steve has been busy at work with a highly confidential project, didn’t get home until 11pm Wed night but is coming to it’s final stages now so should get some free time soon. Xena loves the sun but after a few minutes starts panting, she understands the phrase  ‘ in the shade’ means and trots off to find respite from the sun.

Can you believe that it is 6 months since we arrived in Aus? Ste & Ellie feel that we have been here a lot longer but I feel like we have only been here a few months still. It is only 5 weeks until Sam & Tom come over which does seem to have come around quite fast, as long as the A380 airbus gets the all clear as tha’ts what they are flying over on!

The weather here is picking up slowly and we are finding it quite changeable, and always carry an umberella as short showers are quite common. It was beautiful yesterday, but overcast and windy today. They say thats why so many Brits live in Melbourne because the weather is quite British! Must be so boring if you live in Perth or Brisbane and same old sunny weather every day eh? For those of you who watched England play Aus at the rugby last weekend you would have seen the torrential rain, we were undercover but the majority of spectators were out in the open and were sitting there with their plastic ponchos on, It felt so cold that I had to buy an England scarf to keep warm. At one end of the ground  were 2 huge Wigan rugby flags hanging from the stands but we didnt hear any Wigan accents or we could have had a chat with them. We were grossly outnumbered and the Aussies were shouting abuse about the Poms, but we had a good banter going with the Aussie supporters either side of us.

The weather continued to rain for the weekend but was much nicer when we went down to Rye on the Monday to meet up with Ellie and Caroline. It is a beautiful seaside resort, we walked along the beach to the centre and had icecreams overlooking the pier and sea watching some models do photoshots for a beachwear company, the background for the photos was stunning. Ellie decided to stay an extra night with Maddie and her family and came back on the Tuesday which is Melbourne cup day. Only in Australia is a national holiday declared for a horse race! We decided to place a bet as it is such a big event here and I backed the winner! It wasn’t the favourite so I got quite good odds, put a $10 bet on and won $130 – beginners luck I think!

My job is going OK though quite busy, I work 7.30 – 5  three  days per week and it is very busy. I was really fed up the other day as I had a lot of patients, two of whom were very difficult ( dementia) and wouldn’t comply with anything, one lady locked herself in the toilet and wouldn’t come out! I needed to order stuff and refer them but hadn’t been shown how to do any of this and dont have a mentor even as I am only casual, so had a real moan at one of the senior nurses to let them know how I was feeling. I am going to book a meeting with the manager as my induction only comprised of 2 days out with other nurses and then out on my own – not happy! As far as the other job that I have been offered – practice nurse, I am supposed to be starting tomorrow and I called in on Friday to discuss a few things. It turns out that the pay is actually less than what she thought, I am not entitled to any annual leave for 12 months, though some may be negotiated at 6 months, no tax relief  and they wanted me to sign a contract that says I will work one extra shift per week when the other nurses are on holiday- well seeing that there are 9 nurses each with 5 weeks holiday it seems that that will be every week pretty much, oh and the final straw was one of the shifts that needs covering is the one that finishes at 7pm on a Friday. Steve is not happy about that one as if we want to go away for a weekend makes things more awkward. So, instead of going to start my new job tomorrow I will have to tell them thanks but no thanks, not looking forward to that. I will continue to work for district nurses, the pay is very good and is pretty much tax free, I only paid $72 tax on my last fortnights pay!

We have just been out to Victoria market in the city with Michele & Patrick, drove in his new Audi convertible with the top down, Steve bought himself a kangaroo skin hat to keep the sun of, there are so many patients we see here with removal of skin cancers, about 1 in 3 people here get it, they don’t seem to be good at applying sunscreen routinely.

The mall here now has all it’s Christmas decorations up but I dont feel at all inclined to do any christmas shopping, it feels like July. Christmas day will be here and we wont have any presents! I have been looking online at the UK stores to see what I can get Sam & Tom to bring over, maybe stuff from Boots and Topshop for Ellie. We have just had to buy a new laptop as our old one blew up, probably from overuse as we have been continuously using it since we got here.

We went to view a house on Tuesday, a lady that was at camping with Caroline is moving with work for 2 years so we went to look, very good location and with a pool but very small bedrooms and bathrooms and quite dated, so we keep looking. Dont forget to watch the golf masters as our house backs on to the golf course, security is increasing though so I may not get chance to peep my head over the fence and wave at Tiger Woods as he walks past!

Well we had our hearing about the house finally, all very intimidating. We had to go to the court and be security checked and empty our pockets etc, just like the airport security. When we got into the waiting area the landlord was already there along with his workmen that had come to give evidence in support of him! We went into the courtroom and it was a female judge, which was quite funny because he has no respect for women, and had to swear on the bible that we would tell the truth. She then asked him why he hadn’t corrected all the outstanding issues and he launched into his speech about the some of the issues being under warranty and he has had workmen looking at some of the problems and he had brought them along to prove he had. At that point she cut him short and said ‘so they are still not fixed?’ Excuses came but she basically said he had not fulfilled his obligations as a landlord, she didn’t care for his excuses and we were free to vacate when we find a new house! To say he was fuming was an understatement, we agreed to be out by the end of Jan so have 3 months to find somewhere. He didn’t even get the chance to call his witnesses.

Ellie has managed to get herself a babysitting job, her friend Maddie asked her was she interested as Maddie babysits for another family, so she had a go. It is an American family, mum is a teacher and have 2 children age 3 & 7 and are really nice. The youngest was in bed when she got there but he did wake up, he went back to sleep after a story or 5! Anyway she got $60 which is really good, and she has asked if she can also do a couple of hours in the week so she can get some jobs done.

I have done my first couple of weeks in the job, it is going well and is as I expected so far. I am getting to know the area a lot better, which is useful as we are looking for a new place and may not end up staying in Beaumaris, there are lots of equally nice little suburbs. I have also been offered another job as a practice nurse in a very highly regarded GP practice. They have 13 doctors and 9 nurses ( all part time). I went to have my interview and a look around and it seems a lovely practice, they do minor surgery procedures, dressings, vaccinations and a little walk in centre so I think it will be interesting. The money will be slightly less as it is a permanent position, but you get paid holidays and sick leave, so I may end up doing bank work for the district nurses 1 or 2 days per week and 2 days per week in this new job until I decide what works best. I have decided that I don’t think ward work is for me, too much to learn after being out of the hospital for 12 years.

The weather here has been beautiful, clear blue skies and 27 deg, but in true form as every bank holiday weekend it started to rain yesterday and didn’t stop until lunch time today. Ellie has gone camping with Maddie and her family down in Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, so I think they would have had a very wet day yesterday! It is slightly better today but not great, we are off to watch the  rugby – England v Aus shortly, which will be shown in the UK, so you will see what the weather was like! We are going down to Rye tomorrow to meet up with Caroline tomorrow so hope the sun shines, otherwise I’m sure Ellie will be coming back with us  instead of staying until Tuesday.

Just to let you know that Ellie’s leg is a lot better, the antibiotics seem to have had the desired effect, still a little red but getting there. Apparently the whitetail spider is a shy spider and doesn’t normally bite unless it has no choice so I don’t know what she did to it!

The weather here over the past few days has been terrible, very heavy rain, 10 deg drop in temperature and gale force winds, there have been floods throughout Sydney, snow in some parts and 10 cyclones brewing off the gold coast in Queensland! It is predicted to return to 25 deg by Thursday though.

Don’t know whether you have seen any coverage on TV, but Australia had it’s first saint cannonised in Rome yesterday, it’s been quite a big event here and we kept winding Ellie up, telling her we were going into the city to watch the formalities – not something she was thrilled about. We were really going in to have a look at the Melbourne museum & Carlton gardens as the weather was overcast and not beach weather, and when we got to the museum there was a large crowd and TV cameras so we walked further to have a look and ended up stood right in front of all the dignitaries that had come for the formal ceremony for Mary McKillop’s sainthood, there was Julia Gillard the PM and Brumby (premier of Vic), a bishop and a few others, we turned around and there must have been a thousand people behind us! Talk about just wander into something randomly we had no idea the event was being held there. Ellie was mortified that her friends would see her on TV at religious occasion – no good for street cred! I went to the mall on Friday and there were Trinny & Suzanna doing a live show, they have a  TV series soon, I watched for a bit then left when they started asking for volunteers, see I’m mixing with the famous now!

Work has been going well, I went out on my own and did a few visits- thank god for sat nav. I am getting used to the main roads in the area but it is a large area we cover, say 4 times larger than the area I covered in the UK. I went to get my laptop as it is a paperless system but the IT for some reason couldn’t get mine sorted and the fingerprint security swipe wouldn’t work either, so they are coming again on Wed. It is a really good system though, like a cross between a laptop and I-pad, and we drive our Toyota corolla DN cars, same as UK though, a high percentage of clients are elderly. I am looking forward to my first payday on Wed, you get paid every 2 weeks here for some reason, even gym membership fees etc are all worked out 2 weekly, probably keeping someone in a job!

Some of you may have seen the photo on Flickr of Ellie’s leg – hope your not squeamish! What we thought was a mozzie bite continued to get worse, when I got home from work it was quite bad so the GP said to come straight away, after inspection under magnification they diagnosed a spider bite! You can see the 2 insertion sites, after a long consultation with doctors at the specialist hospital it was decided to give her a huge dose of antibiotics over 24hours, then review, if no better tomorrow she’ll have to go into hospital! Apparently its quite an achievement to get a spider bite in Melbourne, many Aussies haven’t seen one or know anyone that’s had one, they can only think she got it walking along the coastal path Saturday afternoon.

We had our first hot & humid night last night, but still got the winter duvet on, may be time to change it soon, we had a thunderstorm today so may clear it a bit.

We have just booked tickets to go and watch the England V Aus rugby match on 30th Oct, so make sure you watch it on TV, I’ll wave! They are also preparing the golf course at the end of our street for the Australian masters soon, all the seating etc is going up, so when it’s on TV you’ll know exactly what the weather is doing here. I think Tiger Woods is playing so I’m sure security will be tight, and no doubt traffic will be bad!

I finally did my first week with the district nurses, 2 days at head office and one day working with a senior nurse, they even have their own cars with the Royal District Nursing Service logo on them!  They cover a much wider area but the work seems similar, I am working 3 days with them this week so will have a much better idea after that. The pay seems very good, double time for Sat & Sun and long service leave – after 10 years you get 3 months off on full pay, increasing at every 5 year increment. Better than the 25 pounds Argos voucher my mum got after 30+ years in the NHS!

I had a lovely birthday weekend, thanks for all the cards and best wishes. Went for lunch with Maria on Fri followed by ‘bubbles’ at Caroline’s at 5pm. Tried to make it home before  Ste got back from Sydney and pretend I had been sat there in misery on my birthday but he beat me home! Sat went for lunch again with Ste & Ellie then went to explore the beach around Parkdale and Mordialloc, it was a beautiful weekend again – even starting to avoid the sun at times! Had dinner at a restaurant with Michele & Patrick Sat night. We did book a taxi but have now realised that taxi’s around here  are so unreliable, ended up catching the bus, not done that in over 20 years!  No wonder the Aussies drink & drive.

Played tennis again this morning, the other ladies seem really nice and are about the same standard – all beginners. He had us practicing serving also, that was such a laugh, ended up hitting fresh air most of the time. Ellie also went to tennis on Fri then to a ‘social’ at the tennis club Sat night, hard persuading her to continue with it just because she wasn’t born an expert in it!

The weather has been lovely everyday, but along with the heat comes the insects, particularly the mosquito’s. Both Ellie & I have bites so I have bought some repellent. We have fly screens on all the windows but not the doors so have to keep them closed, may have to investigate the options for the doors or even ask the landlord to fit them. He has been informed we are taking him to VCAT and has been in touch all over the weekend coming in to do jobs. The date for the hearing in Oct 25th, so we’ll see how things progress. Still probably go to the hearing as we have put up with over 3 months of hassle and a broken house and would move if the right house became available.

Just to say well done Wigan, fantastic win over Saints!!!!! You can imagine how Steve is feeling – followed them religiously over many years, the year he can’t get to see a match they win the final! Anyone know where I can get a DVD of their matches this season? Steve’s other team the Magpies won the grand final in Aussies rules footy & the pie eaters won the rugby – so we will call it the year of the pie!!

The weather here has been glorious, about 28 deg, much hotter in our garden though, it’s as someone has just turned the sunshine on, gone from cold and rain to HOT. Went to the beach in Brighton with the dog and there were lots of people in bikinis, some even braving the sea- we had to seek shade eventually and are starting to realise how hot is is going to get.

I played 2 hours on tennis this morning, the first time in over 8 weeks, still rubbish at it but at least my ankle was ok, thank goodness there was a breeze to cool it down a little. I start with district nurses TOMORROW, drove all the way to the city to find out it is Tue & Wed, Ggrrr…….

Steve has flown to Sydney today, staying until Fri, I think he is going to have a very busy week – working on a bid that has to be in on Fri, they only received the information last Friday.

Have just delivered the formal documentation to the agent, it outlines all the problems that we have experienced with this property, copies of e-mails etc, feels like I have been preparing the case for the prosecution – Marsh v Landlord! Apparently we should get a hearing date in the next few weeks, the agent said that she didn’t think  the landlord believed we would actually go through with the proceedings – he doesn’t know us then!