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Final post - for now?

We've decided to make this our final blog post - at least for the time being - partly because we have now completed our original aim of getting a permanent visa, but also because the blogging system we use is being discontinued after the end of April (thanks Google!). This means that we will have to migrate the blog to a new web address and so it's probably a good time to take a break and if you want to keep up with our time here, you'll need to do so via email!

Thanks for reading so far!

Permanent visa

Towards the end of the working day today, I received an email from the Immigration Department, which was short and to the point - our permanent visa had been granted! There was an attached letter with more details about how to get our passports stamped with this new visa, which lasts for the next 5 years before it needs to be renewed (or we can apply for citizenship after the next 2 years).

So it's been just over 7 weeks since I first submitted the application file (and since October when I originally started the process by applying for sponsorship from the NSW Government). I had to submit further paperwork for verification several weeks ago, but getting this confirmation now is a great relief - at least we can determine our own future rather than be on a set timetable. I was having some concerns during the recent process and, if there had been a problem with the application, the last 3 1/2 years would have been a very expensive holiday!

However, we can now relax a bit more and plan our future with some more certainty.

Laura's weekend return

Laura came back from Wollongong for the weekend to attend a friend's hen party - mostly revolving around a harbour cruise in a 'party boat' on the Saturday night, followed by a stay at some serviced apartments. However, Laura and some friends returned home in the early hours, rather than cope with 22 of them trying to fit into a room with 2 double beds!

She seems to be settling into the university life well and has established a good circle of friends, both from her nursing course and from the campus accommodation. She also seems to have a lot of lectures, which is good compared to some courses, and will undertake some practical work in the next term. She has ordered her nurses uniform and we're waiting to see photos!

It was a sunny weekend again but not too hot. The sea is a good temperature at the moment so Sue and I went to Warriewood beach for a swim on Saturday morning, which is close to the house that we first stayed in when we arrived in 2006. The waves were quite strong but we managed to cool off after a short walk around the headland. We went back to Shelley Beach on Sunday for another snorkel although the visibility wasn't that good again due to the swell, but I managed to see some shoals of cuttlefish swimming around, which were fascinating.

Camping on the Central Coast

Clive and I have just about returned from a camping trip which we finally got to do over the weekend. The weather on Saturday was lovely, so as I was working in the morning, we loaded up the car after lunch with tent, sleeping bags, Esky etc and headed north out of Sydney.

We’d decided to visit The Entrance, a small town on the Central Coast at the entrance (surprisingly!) of a large salt water lake. Clive had found a small campsite on the web that he thought would suit us, and we were keen to test the self-inflating mattresses, having found the hard ground impossible to sleep on when we camped in the Hunter Valley a year ago (yes, we’re really, really keen campers!).

The Entrance was buzzing when we got there at about 3pm. Unbeknownst to us, it was the weekend of the annual country music festival, and cowboy hats were everywhere! The crowds were mainly over a certain age though, so we didn’t feel threatened, and milled about enjoying the music with all the other tourists.

At 3.30 we watched the daily free show where pelicans are fed. This goes back years – a fishmonger began throwing left-overs to the local pelicans and they’ve been demanding fish at the same time every day since. Very politely though, not like greedy seagulls – they all gather behind the feeding ladies with their bills in the air and only get excited when fish guts come their way. Then it’s every pelican for himself!


At 5pm we decided to head for the campsite and get the chore of erecting the tent over and done with, so the important business of the day (eating, drinking, relaxing) could begin in earnest. First impressions were good – the site was small, across the road from a lake, and we had a choice of pitches. We opted for one opposite a young Asian couple who looked like they may have been students up from Sydney. At least, they drank beer like they were students!

We got the equipment out of the car, and then the rain started - so it all went back in and we joined it. Luckily, the rain didn't last for long and so the second attempt was more successful and we soon had a cosy-looking shelter ready, with mats inflated and ready to go! Time for food!
Sadly, the local pub had a private function going on, and as we’d had a couple of glasses of wine by this time, our only option for food was to walk to the local pizza place, or starve. The pizza tasted very good, eaten in the dark by the light of the shower block and with the last of the wine. We know how to enjoy ourselves!

The evening passed and it was time for bed. Excitedly, we crawled into the tent (you have to do that with a 2-man one!) and tried to sleep. And tried, and tried! Only then did we realise that the roads (there were 2 nearby) were very popular up until at least 2am, and we should have also noticed the bright campsite light when we were choosing our pitch. Consequently, no sleep was had that night. The mattresses were a great success though, and I really didn’t want to get off mine in the morning!

We spent the Sunday morning having a lovely 2 hour coastal walk, despite our lack of fitness at the moment. This was followed by fish & chips for lunch in Terrigal and then a quick visit to Avoca Beach further down the coast, where Clive had a quick dip in the sea where he quickly got flattened by the big waves. Then we headed home, dreaming of the great nights’ sleep we were going to have! What a lovely mini-holiday!

Beach time

Although it's getting towards the end of summer, March tends to be a good month for warm but not too hot weather. The previous weekend we managed to get down to Curl Curl beach for a swim, which was the first time this season, unlike last year when we made it to the beach more often - I guess this has mainly been due to a combination of weather and illness! On the Sunday we'd been invited out to the farm near Windsor, about 70k inland, for a tennis 'gathering' which we'd been to the previous year. It was much hotter inland, despite there being some cloud, and we had a chance for a cooling swim after some games and lunch.

This weekend we had planned to go off camping again for a night - no doubt inspired by Lesley & Dave's tour around New Zealand. However, we'd been meaning to go for some time to try out the new 'self inflating' mats we'd bought after the last experience. However, in the end Friday was wet and both girls were out late on Saturday night so we thought it best to postpone the trip, maybe to next weekend before the nights start getting too cool!

So in the end we had a couple of trips to the beach to enjoy the warm weather - Saturday we were as Queenscliff beach for a swim, the first time we'd spent some time on this beach. Then on Sunday morning we went snorkelling at Shelly Beach near Manly, before the usual crowds arrived. The water was quite cloudy in places due to the swell from the ocean waves, but the number and variety of fish here is the best we've found - it always surprises me how many fish are so close to the beach, once you look under the water!

AC/DC

Well the AC/DC concert finally came around last night, having bought the tickets back in June last year. Although this bunch of ageing rockers aren't seen as that fashionable, they have been touring for over a year and playing to huge stadiums across the US and Europe, with their Australian tour also getting a lot of hype. This was their third and final show in Sydney.

I used to love the original band in the late 70's but had never followed them as much after the original singer died just over thirty years ago in 1980 (from alcohol!). Coming to Australia has exposed me to their music again as they are often played on the radio here (or at least the stations we listen to) and I was intrigued to see their show - having previously seen them in a small venue in Bristol in November 1979 and had ringing ears for 3 days afterwards!

Sue reluctantly agreed to come along with me and it helped that we had seats in the stands. They were playing at the Olympic Stadium and so the special events buses were in operation - a great system with routes across Sydney to try to reduce traffic chaos. In fact we ended up being the only ones on our bus all the way to the stadium due to the number and timing of the buses, but we felt very grand!

We missed the support acts but found out seats high in the stand about 30 minutes before the show started. It was a very hot night and almost packed out - an amazing view around the stadium, especially when the main lights went out.

In the end, I didn't enjoy the show as much as I expected, whereas Sue enjoyed it more than she thought she would (but this was helped by having ear plugs, as it was very loud!). It was an impressive spectacle and most of the songs were from 'my era', plus the lead guitarist is still quite incredible, particularly for his stamina in that heat. However, I still don't like the 'new' singer as much and being high in the stands lacked some atmosphere, but it wasn't a bad way to spend a Monday night!

Caroline's 18th and Laura leaves home

We've been an uncharacteristically 'sick' household for the past few weeks, with Sue still suffering from her shingles pain, and me having had bad toothache prior to dental treatment during the week. On top of that, Rebecca's had a bout of asthma, so we've been having a low key time of late and limited exercise. However, this past weekend has been an active one, with Laura going off to University and Caroline's 18th birthday on Saturday.

I took the day off work on Friday so that Sue and I could take Laura to Wollongong for her course enrolment and to move into her student accommodation. It was a hot day but the journey was reasonably fast at just over the 1.5 hour mark. Laura went off to enrol on her nursing course, where she's still classed as an international student due to our visa type, but it seems to cause all sorts of problems with the system!

Sue and I had a walk around the botanic gardens which is next to the University campus and then met up with Laura after she'd finished her tasks. The campus is very green and open, on the outskirts of the town and at the base of a large hill / escarpment that dominates the landscape and coastline.

We then found her student accommodation, eventually, and moved the first load of 'things' into the room - quite spacious and comfortable enough. She's living in 'flexi-catered' accommodation for this first year and the largest one for the university, so lots of students around and it all seems very welcoming.

We all then returned home for a takeaway family meal in the evening, prior to Caroline's birthday the next day. Saturday was spent busy preparing for the party Caroline was having at the house in the evening and Rebecca also started her new job at a pharmacy chain in the local shopping mall in the afternoon. The party went off well, with about 35 friends turning up - it was noisy and we were glad when it was finished but Caroline enjoyed it and there wasn't too much to clear up afterwards!

Then on Sunday we all drove back down to Wollongong to leave Laura there with the rest of her stuff. We had a quick look at the local beach, which is near to the accommodation, and then left her to sort her room out before various social events started in the afternoon. She's really looking forward to getting started and making new friends and it seems like she's picked a good environment to live and study, which gives her the independence away from home, but not too far away.

Permanent visa application

With just over a year to go on our temporary visa, we are posting off our application for a permanent visa today, with a big file of paperwork heading off to Adelaide.

After getting the confirmation on sponsorship from the NSW Government, I have had to compile a lot more forms and information about us and the business, as well as get the accounts redone for a different 12-month period - since the length of time to get the sponsorship meant that the accounts period fell outside the required time period for the main application. We also had to get a lot of paperwork certified, but there is a good free service at the library each Saturday where JPs will do this for you (and it took a few visits to get all the items done).

There are little things that arise during the process that I hadn't considered in advance, such as the accounts period being different and the time it takes to get police checks done, both in Australia and the UK. We have been waiting for the latter ones for the past 2 weeks to get everything finalised and so we should have sent off our requests for these sooner with some better planning! It's also been a tight process to get everything in before Caroline turns 18 in two weeks' time, as that would mean a further batch of forms to be completed, but it's possible we may still need to do this is the application isn't reviewed until after this time.

Hopefully the application won't get lost in the post so that we have to do it all again! Not sure how long it's going to take now and we're hoping we don't all have to get medicals and X-rays done again, especially as Laura will be in Wollongong soon. It's now just a case of wait and see, and eventually we will have some certainty, one way or the other!

Washout

This past weekend seems to have been a continual rain storm / shower, with Saturday being the worst - apparently over 70mm fell in Sydney over a 24 hour period, and northern NSW is also under flood alerts. Which means that Lesley & Dave timed their visit here very well, and we had a quiet weekend indoors!