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| Topic Started: 5 Dec 2007, 10:08 AM (559 Views) | |
| ValeSpark | 5 Dec 2007, 10:08 AM Post #1 |
Addicted Member
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Hi Everyone, Just thought I would let you know how we are doing. Having arrived very late on 25th November, we were taken by pre-booked taxi to our rental in Williamstown. The house is great, although not having a door on the ensuite bathroom is a little strange. Day 1. Woke up to have breakfast, and wandered down to the sea front, upto Coles for milk and just generally tried to adjust. Day 2. Made contact with my employer, and picked up a temporary company car. Fitted the Sat nav, and drove to Werribee to look at the car I had bought (paid a deposit for) on the internet. Car is all good, couple of little bits that they agree to fix, so we finalise the deal, and will take delivery on Friday. Took a drive to Eltham and arranged to view Glen Katerine primary school the next day. Day 3. Last day before work starts for me. Sorted a couple of PAYG cards. Works in my phone fine, but Ruth's phone is locked to Virgin UK and won't accept card. Its my fault...... Virgin never used to lock their phones and I had checked before leaving UK. Meet Ruth's cousin Michelle who lives in Altona, which was great. Into the city to finalise bank accounts, as only I have access at the moment. Westpac seem fine (so far). Drove to school in Eltham, and had a good look round. The school is nice, but we decide Eltham is too far away from my work, and the traffic on the ringroad at the times I would be travelling would be more than I won't to tolerate. We head back to Williamstown, deciding we need to stay west. Day 4. Its Thursday, so first day of work. Work is fine, and what I expected, following my visit in September. Girls spend the day in Wiliamstown enjoying the beach and cafes. Sorted out car insurance for Ruth's car through AAMI. Not as cheap as Budget, but we don't have proof of no-claims from UK yet, so limited on options. AAMI, accept your verbal declaration. Day 5. Get a call from Car dealer in Werribee. Car is all ready, and he will deliver to us tonight at 6pm. Girls call in on Williamstown primary school, but get the brush off from reception, as no proof of being resident in the area. Being in a short term rental, we have no lease agreement etc, and therefore are not considered to be resident locally. Car gets delivered at 6pm, few minutes to do paperwork, and the jobs a good'un. Ruth much happier now she has some wheels....just have to wait and see how long it takes for her to build up courage to drive it. Day 6. ITS THE WEEKEND !!, but being a new arrival, that means driving around house hunting. :mah: Drove out to Sanctuary lakes, saw a house and thought, ok, lets go to the agent and pick up some info. Get to agents and they close at 2pm on Saturday and don't open on Sundays at all. WTF! Found another agent in the Point Cook / sanctuary lakes shopping centre and go the low down on how agents work over here. Day 7. Having collected a number of the booklets from outside of agencies, we check the Open For Inspection times and drive to see a couple. Typically they seem to be open for about 30 minutes. We finally get bored of driving round streets, so head to Highpoint for some retail therapy. Day 8, 9 & 10. Well its back to work for me. Ruth has spotted a rental she is keen on, but we can only view it this coming weekend. She has spoken with the school in the zone, who will accept Jasmin, once we have proof of address. Ruth and Jasmin will visit the school on Monday for the guided tour. Well thats about it so far. Somewhere in there we also applied for TFN, and found out that work provide the ambulance cover as part of a corporate scheme. So far life is ok, as long as we look forward and not back. Spoken to the folks at home a couple of times which is hard, but we remain positive. I am sure that once we have secured somewhere to live, we will start to feel more secure and be able then to start to see what Melbourne is all about. Hope to see some of you in Eltham. Pete, Ruth and Jasmin (8). PS, If you are in Williamstown and have time to get in touch, that would be great. Jasmin is missing having her friends around and would love to spend some time with other children. :waving: |
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| Trish | 5 Dec 2007, 02:23 PM Post #2 |
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Peter Great to hear how things are going for you. We leave in 14 days and will be in the CBD for 3 weeks so if your around at all a coffee would be fab. Like you we also will need to secure a rental within 3 weeks of arrival so can only imagine what your going through. Best of luck with everything. Trish (ex TA site) |
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| Andy&Dawn | 5 Dec 2007, 10:53 PM Post #3 |
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Pete, Ruth & Jasmin Glad you are "settling in" we will be arriving on the 17th of December into Williamstown so we may see you soon. You'll be able to see us wandering around looking for things Andy, Dawn Ryan (14) and Josh (10) |
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| koalakim | 6 Dec 2007, 07:38 AM Post #4 |
Legend
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Hi Pete & Co Sounds like you've had a whirlwind time since landing! Good luck with finding a rental, I'm sure you'll all feel better once you are in somewhere. Hope the calls back to the UK aren't too painful but at least these days it's much easier to keep in touch. Hopefully get to meet you on the 16th! Kim |
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| Lindsay Clan | 6 Dec 2007, 02:27 PM Post #5 |
 
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Welcome to Melbourne! :waving: Finding a rental is one of the biggest and most stressful things you'll have to do. Keep at it and the right one will turn up. Good luck. |
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| Amanda & Simon | 6 Dec 2007, 02:32 PM Post #6 |
Braiiiiiinnnss
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Valespark gang, we know exactly how it feels. We're over your direction a couple of times a week on cat visits, so if you want to meet for a quick coffee and compare notes on respective first couple of weeks PM us. |
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| Chapmans | 6 Dec 2007, 04:39 PM Post #7 |
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Hi Pete and family If you are looking at Sanctuary Lakes we got offered a couple of houses there but decided to move east. BIG TIP is if the house 500 or more a week you can negotiate them way down cos they can't shift them in that price bracket. So you can definitely get more house for your money. Good luck for this weekend and hope to see you in Eltham next weekend. Sharon |
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| mother of 2 | 8 Dec 2007, 07:39 PM Post #8 |
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Hi Pete, great to hear you all made it over. Good luck with finding a rental and sorting the schools out. The calls home will be hard, Mike's away this weekend in Nottingham. He's finally telling his mum about our move. Look forward to more posts from you and I hope we can meet up again hopefully around April. |
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