Almost seeing Sydney-Hobart yacht race

We both thought it would be cool to watch the tail-end of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, particularly as there was a bit of a battle between the two leading contestants; Wild Oats XI and Skandia. However, two factors put us off: -
1. The expected time of arrival at Hobart battery point (finish line) was dawn.
2. Tasha decided to have a dodgy belly overnight.

Factor number 2 was bad, but number 1 was the outright winner. Not so bad if you've started partying the night before at 2am and exited the club at 6am, but a tad too much if you've been attacking the home-made margarita ice-cream and red wine whilst watching a crappy lat-night film!!

However, we managed to make it to Hobart during Sunday (reasonable hours) and did have a sticky beak at the yacht's in the harbour. None of the crew were around - they were all in the pub!

The Taste of Tasmania

Every year 'The Taste' comes to town, with a wide variety of food 'n' booze stalls, live music, art, street entertainment and other stuff. So, doing our bit to support the cultural heritage, we hoofed on down to the docks area of Hobart to see what all the fuss was about.
We have to say that it is a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon, especially as the weather was pretty fab and the food 'n' booze is top notch. Most stalls provide the opportunity to sample their wares, and all offer a reasonably priced range either for scoffing then & there, or to take away. The selection of (locally grown) tempura mushrooms was a hit.
The good news is that the event is on until the beginning of Jan, so we have plenty more time to attack the other stalls.

See the link'u'like section for the web-site.

Where's wally?

In our garden, that's where. A little pandemelon (a type of small wallaby) has taken up residence in our garden. Pretty surprising seeing as we live in suburbia 15 mins from downtown Hobart. He's spent all day hiding under a bush, only disturbed a few times by Smoke, Tasha and us as we didn't know he was there. Now we don't know how to get him to leave. Smoke has tried chasing him out of the garden (which isn't fully fenced), but he just returns. Any experts on wallaby behaviour do get in touch..

Yes, it is nearly Christmas and having temperatures in the mid 20's C (or high 70's Fahrenheit) and long daylight hours is mighty strange.
Anyway, seasonal greetings from the other side of the world. I hope Santa brings you what you wish for.

Meeting with Bob the builder....

.... OK, his name is Rowan but Bob sounds more exciting!

J and I had our first meeting with Rowan and his dad Bill, who will be our architect, to start to plan our new house. It was exciting to discuss what our ideal house would be like, but of course we can't afford that! It was also interesting responding to Bill as he asked us questions about how we live our lives and use spaces within the house to help him to think about the design. We will be meeting again, probably between Christmas and New Year, to discuss his first draft. We get to look at it, talk about with him and Rowan and then if we aren't completely happy Bill goes away and modifies the design and this process continues until we are completely happy and the plans are submitted to council. This is sooooooo exciting.

Back from the Brissie storm

It was amazing to see the destruction the storm had caused. Looking at hills full of trees you could see the path it had taken as some had lost their leaves and branches, whilst others remained untouched. It was the same with houses, this one with a tarpaulin on the roof covering the damage, the house next door with no damage at all.

The work was physically demanding (mainly coping with the heat and humidity!), the hours were long and I loved it and would volunteer to go to the next emergency in a second. It's a sad fact in Oz that it is a matter of when rather than if. The Red Cross volunteers and staff that I met were all lovely people. Was it because we all had the same value set and all wanted to make a difference that helped everyone to get along so well? Part of my time was spent on outreach - knocking on the doors of those affected by the storm to see if people needed help and information on where to get the help they needed. How amazingly resilient and kind people are. Most I spoke to were more concerned about their neighbours than themselves, a few were still deeply traumatised 2 weeks after the event. Whilst extremely tiring, the days were deeply fulfilling and passed quickly. I returned to Tassie grateful for the cool weather, at least or a while, proud to work for the Red Cross, and thankful that Tassie isn't prone to natural disasters in the way that some of the other states seem to be.

I'm off to Brisbane

2 weeks ago there was a severe storm in Brisbane causing a lot of damage. As I now work for the Emergency Services Team at the Red Cross I'm off to Brissie for a week to work on the recovery effort. Planning to catch up with Alan McAlpine, another ex CRACite and expat while I'm there. It's 30 degrees there - brill!!!!!

Get 'orff my laand!

We are now the proud owners of a piece of Tassie - just copy/paste the following address into Google Maps

24 Cliff View Drive Allens Rivulet Tasmania

Just love the Oz home (and land) buying process. You like the look of somewhere, you: -

• sign a contract stating how much you are offering
  
• state what conditions you have, e.g. subject to us being allowed to build on this plot,
  
• when you are going to pay, e.g. one month, two months
  

The vendor rejects or accepts one contract and that's it.

OK, you still have to employ a conveyancer to check stuff, but there's no gazump/gazunder, no chain falling apart!

Scary mary - offering on a plot of land

Yes, we have decided to offer on a plot of land we like. The vendor has already signed a contract with another buyer but, we understand, has some clause that allows them to review other offers. It all sounds rather mysterious but we hope they accept our first offer, although suspect they won't.

It is just over 3 acres, although I am convinced that the measure of an acre here is smaller than in the UK, so it looks like 2 acres to me!

Picture included below

Apparently I'm in Malaysia

Well, according to my bank account anyway! Although statistically it must only have been a matter of time before someone cloned my debit card it was still somehow disturbing to see the money disappearing from my account! Thank God it's just a matter of a phone call to the bank and the money is returned and the card stopped.

Julie's got a job

Started at the Red Cross on Friday. I'm working part time (3 days a week) until July training volunteers who help out in emergencies/disasters in team leadership. I already love it. Lead my first training session next week, which will be a little daunting, but fun. I'll get to travel around the state which will be a great way to find possible holiday spots! Not too many nights away from home though, which is also great.

A lot of jobs here are contracts rather than permanent so I assume that I'll have an array of jobs over the next few years. An exciting prospect......

Monthly retrospective

Observations on the nature of things here in Tas: -

1. White cars - why oh why are 75% of the cars/commercials here painted white? Who knows! I can understand them not choosing yellow, or Nissan-pink, but there are other colours in the rainbow.
   
2. Advertising immaturity - more Pearl and Dean than Saatchi and Saatchi, most of the TV adverts involve the voice-over man shouting about the product. As if I really needed a deafening broadcast about polypropylene water butts.
3. Catalogues - it appears that retailers regularly produce a catalogue showing a small selection of their stock; think Richer Sounds or John Lewis brochures. But, rather than having an 'on-line' web-store containing a full stock list with prices supported by e-commerce facilities, they scan their 'catalogue' and shove a PDF copy on their site. Crappo.
   
4. Seasonal veg - the small population of Tas, and probably Oz overall, results in limited buying power compared with, say, Tesco or Sainsbury. In contrast to the fairly stable prices year-round in the UK, the quality and prices of fruit and veg here rises and falls in line with the seasons.
   
5. Cold houses - not sure of the figure, but we guess 90% of the houses here don't have double glazing or thermal insulation or central heating. They tend to have a wood burner and/or air conditioning units that either heat or cool. With Winter and Spring temperatures not much more than the UK then houses can get cold. One more reason to build our own.

He's having a laugh!

Smoke is finally taking his first steps outside this week. Although the amount of time he spends outside is increasing he comes in at regular intervals to check we're here and to say hello which is sooooo sweet. We have also noticed that he goes out and then comes in to go to the toilet before going out again! We had left his litter tray down whilst he got used to using the cat flap, but now he's just having a laugh!!

To buy or to build

When we arrived we thought we would probably buy a house and so have set about seeing houses that vaguely meet our criteria:
- Strong, secure roof (an unfounded residual concern leftover from Rarotonga where some houses had there roofs held on with ropes over the top of the house secured as you would a tent!)
- 2 good sized bedrooms, the main with ensuite
- Study
- Decent sized living area
- Water-hole or bore-hole (remember the drought – how else will we water the veggies). Water-holes are quite common on rural properties here, but not all of them now have water
- Workshop with power for J’s woodworkCar port/garage

We also thought we should consider exposure to the elements. Tasmania is renowned for the wind, called the ‘Roaring 40s’ that blows in Sept/Oct. The channel, or western shores, where we would like to live are also very hilly and some houses don’t get any sun at all in the winter and we don’t want that. So we have now looked 4 houses in the following order:

189 Watsons Road, Kettering
Watsons Road is the most beautiful and picturesque road we have seen and we would love to buy a house on it. The view from the house and the outside of the house are beautiful, but inside the house is a mish mash of rooms around a central staircase. We’ve seen this house 3 times and discussed buying it, but the layout of the house was too much of a compromise. If they’ll just drop the price by $200K and we can knock it down and build the house we really we want!
We took this decision after I took Rowan the builder to look at the house, but more of Rowan later….

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=104921447&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=34069298&s=tas&snf=ras-hob&tm=1225243242

Presenting a house for sale is not a concept many Tasmanians grasp. This is the ‘craft room’!!!! The House Doctor would have had a field day!

40 Old Bernies Road, Margate

Beautifully renovated, but small. The owners are moving interstate and we could have had the 3 sheep and 4 chickens at no extra cost. OK, this almost swayed me!!!!



http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105191327&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=6017626&s=tas&snf=ras-hob&tm=1225243615

Manuka Road, Kettering
We both really liked the potential this house has. It’s on 5 acres and although there are other houses around it’s completely private and it has a view of the ocean! But it’s in a rain shadow which means that the ground is already dry and we both believe the drought will get worse over time. Add to this that all the properties we are looking at are not on town water which means that all the water you use is rain water that you collect in tanks. So you see being in rain shadow is not a good idea. If it hadn’t been I would have bought this property – I think we could have been really happy here.


http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105120880&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=34069298&s=tas&snf=ras-hob&tm=1225243242

48 Jamiesons Road, Margate
Really above our budget, but this is definitely a buyers market. The view was absolutely amazing, the house was dated, but just needed a little TLC. BUT you could hear the road noise from the road below. This is the main road for this area and is well used and we didn’t move to Australia to live on a main road so this one strikes out.


http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105260872&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=6017626&s=tas&snf=ras-hob&tm=1225243615

Bob the builder
(OK, he’s name’s actually Rowan, but Bob sounds better!!!)

I met Rowan at the Watsons Road house and after our discussion J and I decided not to put in an offer. Rowan builds houses and took me to 2 of the houses he has built and they’re amazing. They’re eco homes – properly insulated (some houses aren’t insulated at all), double glazed (really rare here), solar hot water heating, the sewerage system (yep – no town water, no town sewerage) works in a way that means you can water the garden with the output, which is amazing. The houses are completely solar passive, so you don’t really need heating or air conditioning at all. Of course they are more expensive to build, but really cheap to run. Sooooo, on Saturday I took J to meet Rowan and to see one of his houses and he’s hooked and although we are still interested in looking at houses our discussions lean towards when we build rather than when we buy. So I’ve been looking at plots and here are is our top choice, I’ll take Rowan to see what he thinks:

159 Woodbridge Hill Road
1.75 acres of slightly sloping block with an amazing sea view. The only problem is there is electric power lines to the house behind that dissect the plot, but after speaking to the owner they are moving the power lines and this would be included in the contract of sale.


http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=2539780&f=0&p=10&t=lan&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=92070420&s=tas&snf=ras-hob&tm=1225241730

By the way it’s easy to tell here where a house or plot of land is on a road. If it’s on the right hand side it will have an even number and on the left it will have an odd number. The number itself denotes how far up the road it is, so 159 is on the left 1.59km up the road – simple!

To give you an idea of what we might build (only smaller!), here’s a house Rowan has built that is for sale.




God, I love this kitchen. Less of an island unit, more of a continent!!!

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=104934613&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=80944519&s=tas&snf=ras-hob&tm=1225244681

My daily routine

We’ve been in our rented house in Kingston now for a few weeks and are settling into a routine. We get up and have breakfast and then I chauffeur J to work. This is a 15 minute drive, part of which is down a long sweeping hill which affords us an amazing view of the yachts in the harbour just outside Hobart. So beautiful when the sun is glistening on the water. That’s the main difference between the weather here and in the UK, although it’s spring and the temperatures can be cool the days are mainly clear and sunny – brill.
Anyway, I drop J off to work then drive the 15 minutes back to Kingston up the dual carriageway, or slightly longer if I take the coast road, and stop off at the beach to take Tasha for a walk. Dog walking is quite regulated here. There are only certain places that you can take dogs for a walk other than on the street and most of these you have to walk the dogs on the lead. The beach at Kingston is an amazing place for dogs. There are loads of them and they all run around like mad things playing with each other. All of them, that is, except Tasha. Never hugely social with other dogs whilst Molly was alive, Tasha is now reticent to go near any dog that isn’t a Jack Russell (she loves them – just wants to play!). Some days I have to practically drag her onto the beach. The dilemma is do I just walk her on the lead or force her onto the beach and mix with other dogs – all advice welcome……
After the beach I set about my chores for the day. These obviously include the usual of course – washing up, clothes washing etc, job applications, looking at houses and/or plots of land to buy, time at the on-line centre at the library (we will have broadband at home one day!!!) before I set off to pick up J at the end of the day. In reality I spend far too long driving about looking at potential places to live, but it is such fun……

Two go mad in Bruny

One of the reasons we moved to Hobart was the easy access to the countryside. So our aim is take a trip every Sunday, or at least every other Sunday and enjoy all that Tassie has to offer. So last Sunday we took the car on the ferry over to Bruny Island.
Up quite early to catch the 9.30am ferry only to find a long queue of cars and commercials in front of us. Fortunately we were the penultimate vehicle allowed on, followed by a girl who had driven 2 hours to catch this particular ferry crossing. She looked particularly relieved, as the next ferry involved a wait of an hour and a half.
We stopped at the Bruny Island Cheese Company shortly after unloading to grab a coffee, and were easily persuaded into cheese tasting followed, obviously, by cheese purchasing.

Enjoyed scoffing our picnic lunch sat on the beach listening to the surf and sea-birds, and then took our time to motor around some more of the island. We vowed that we would come back and camp so that we had more time to explore, including an overnight observation of the Fairy penguins.

(see http://www.brunyisland.org.au/attractions/details.php?product_id=9036603)

Long nose and noisy come home!

We were both really excited as we drove to the airport to pick up Tasha and Smoke and there they were, both in cages loaded on the back of a trolley. Smoke started meowing when he saw us and Tasha stopped shaking. She was so thin, not as thin as when we’d first got her, but she’d lost a lot of weight and had found quarantine distressing as we feared she would. At that moment I thought we’d done the wrong thing bringing her here.

On the way home we stopped at a beach to give Tasha a walk and although she didn’t run with joy she was clearly happy. Whether it was to see us or just to be free we weren’t sure. On arrival at home Tasha went straight to sleep and Smoke explored the whole house, every nook and cranny in a way that only a cat knows how.

It is now a week later and they have both settled in. Smoke is still clingy and wants to be with us wherever we are, but has at least stopped howling outside our bedroom door at night, thank god! We did let him in one night, but he spent the time stomping all over us or meowing at my head. As you can imagine the next night Smoke was firmly located on the other side of a closed bedroom door!

Tasha is her old self, as mad as a hatter, asking every morning for a walk, letting us know when she wants something and asking to sit on the sofa with us - OK, we’re softies! She is gradually gaining weight and I know we did the right thing bringing her rather than re-homing her.

As I type this the sun is streaming through the window behind me and Smoke is asleep beside me, where else but in the sun. I know that if I sit here long enough Tasha will join us, although 3 of us on the sofa can get a little busy – Tasha wiggles!

Mystery of the dead scorpion

Why we ask ourselves is there a dead scorpion in one of the wardrobes of our new rental house? More worrying is that when I mention it to locals that stock response is: -

‘It’s only a little one isn’t it?’ Followed by
‘They won’t kill you’

Both of these were said with a slightly bemused look on the speakers’ face! Needless to say we haven’t seen one, alive or dead, since.

Fran at the Oyster Cove Chalet

We stayed at the Oyster Cove Chalet for 2 weeks when we first arrived and Fran was our host. It’s a beautiful location. At breakfast we would look down the lawn and see the Cockatoos waiting to be fed or the so called “Turbo Chooks” running around with their babies. I don’t know what Turbo Chooks are actually called, but they’ve got really long legs and could challenge Usain Bolt at the 100m.

Fran is an amazing woman, really friendly and kind. Originally from Adelaide, she moved here 8 years ago with her partner Gary and they set up the business 5 years later. Fran has been showing me the ropes and has introduced me to the fact that it’s not what you know, but who you. The prices in shops are just a guideline if you know the right people. Shopping with Fran can be $100 cheaper than if I had shopped by myself. When we come to buy a TV, or spare bed (so you’ll have somewhere to sleep when you come and stay) Fran will come shopping with me.

Men at work

Just a note to say that we will be posting new content any day now - have been having issues with internet access.

Note: posting title is for those that remember the rather sad record called 'Land down under' by Men at work.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Intuitively we have complied with Maslow's theory and focused our immediate effort on the 'physiological' and 'safety' aspects of life, e.g. food, water, sleep, employment etc.
We already had a limited period of self-catering accomodation and hire car booked before we arrived, but we have spent a lot of time over the past week in finding and securing a house to rent (that accepts pets), and buying a secondhand car. We found that we were short of the usually expected identification, e.g. previous Oz utility bills; Oz drivers licence; etc but have managed to bluff our way through this. What also helped enormously is an offer of employment for me (J) following a third and final interview with the CEO of Etech Group www.etechgroup.com.au. I start work on Friday 3rd - gulp.
This certainly will help offset the financial haemorrhage that appears to accompany the process of emigration to, and set up in, another continent. The spreadsheet-based budget is a constantly evolving picture at this stage!

We have taken a little time to drive around the environs of Hobart and, once we have proper internet connectivity (rather than snatched time in cafes), we will post some more pictures. Here's one of the esplanade at Margate to keep you going - bit too expensive here for a house though!

Kiwi Can't

After a very early start to catch a plane from Auckland to Melbourne, we find ourselves stuck in a metal tube with wings which can't fly. As we sat there it became apparent that we would miss our onward connecting flight to Hobart. Ironically this is the only time we had a connecting flight!
Air New Zealand's response to our, and others', predicament was to provide us with the use of one mobile 'phone between 5 passengers whilst they fixed and retested the engines. Unfortunately, our Melbourne - Hobart carrier weren't up at 7am to deal with our call so we had to forfeit our tickets.
After arriving at Melbourne airport we then had to re-book new tickets at additional cost to us - not very satisfactory all round! We finally arrived in Tasmania, our final destination, tired, relieved and somewhat later than expected.

Kiwi Can

Overwhelmed with the hospitality extended to us by friends MJ and Alex in Auckland, NZ. This included the use of their car, mobile 'phone and broadband along with great food, accommodation and comedy banter.
Can't get much better than that!

Also managed to get to see the bone doctor (Chiropracter) to sort out my dodgy back, not just once but twice in one day. Bit sore afterwards, but well worth it.

Horses and Hospitals

We agreed that it would be quite nice to go horse riding together on Rarotonga, so booked to go on Friday morning. I was looking forward to a gentle plodding walk through the lush countryside, onto the beach, past the waterfall and back. Unfortunately, the reality was somewhat different, with much trotting/cantering, much to Julie's delight but less so mine.
15 minutes in and my recurring back problem flared. After declining to continue any further I left Julie and the rest of the group to trot/canter to their hearts desire and hobbled back to the start point. Nearly two hours later I arrived back to find them waiting, with our guide out on his scooter looking for me.
Saturday morning found me in increased pain and after popping Neurofen we decided to take a trip to Rarotonga Hospital knowing there wasn't a chiropractor on the island. There is an Asian Chiropractor who visits a couple of times a year, stays for a week and gives free consultations. He had, of course, just left.
The hospital structure was OK, the free range chickens in the car park added a nice touch! Rarotongans are renowned for their love of DVDs. The waiting area therefore consisted of chairs facing a TV. We watched the end of Alvin and the Chipmunks and the beginning of the The Fellowship of the Ring extended version - an eclectic mix!
The doctor was nice, acknowledging her inability to help beyond provision of pain killers which at least enabled me to be mildly mobile.
Another day, another country and today we're in Auckland and have already been to see Barry the Chiropractor with another visit scheduled for this afternoon.
Julie and I have agreed that in future she will go riding alone!!

Speedy Gonzales

After taking my Cook Islands driving 'test', involving presentation of my UK driving licence, and intimating to the very nice islander that I had much experience of driving all types of vehicles, we have hired a very simple moped for a few days.
I have been overtaken by virtually everyone, including young school-kids, grandmothers with bags of shopping and all other tourists. My excuse is that I am adopting the Cook Island time philosophy, which centres on the premise that there is no need to rush anything!
This life experience has taught me that my potential to win the next Moto GP is, shall we say, 'limited'.

Rarotonga is amazing!

Arrived yesterday at 6am, then waited until 12 for our room whilst extremely jet lagged. Never mind, our room has the most amazing view over the ocean and the reef and our jet lag has been cured by a good nights sleep. Just have to explore the rest of the island....... pics to follow, having a few technical difficulties with the pc in the backpackers we are staying in.

Pleased to say that we are having our usual affect on the weather and the sun hasn't shone for more than 10 mins since we arrived - unusually bad weather!!!

The delights of Terminal 3

Only a few hours to go until the adventure begins. It's a shame to be spending them in Terminal 3. Perhaps next time we'll book our airline by which terminal they use at Heathrow rather than by cost - as if!!!!

Dogs in space!

Well not quite dogs in space, but Tasha and Smoke (our dog and cat) are now at 28,000 feet. We were told it would be more stressful for us than them, let's hope it's true! So they arrive on Friday morning and we leave the UK on Saturday. Not long now........

Update: Both safely arrived and enjoying (!) the hospitality of the Australian quarantine service.

Cathartic clearing

As this week comes to a close, I have found it very beneficial to clear my work-desk and white-board ('to do' list) knowing that it won't gradually build up with yet more tasks or paperwork.
If it does, then they will be for someone else!

On the flip side, I got my P45 and final salary slip which draws a very solid line under UK £income :-(

This week we have mostly been selling stuff

Trying as much as we can to keep our final shipment to the absolute minimum but still taking stuff we need. Just a thought, since it's not going by ship but by air(freight), shouldn't it be "final airment"?
Tasha and Smoke have been keeping a low profile as they are trying to avoid either being packed in a box or sold on Ebay.

Our journey to, and life on, another continent.

Not to be confused with incontinence ;-)