12 months, 1 day and 23 hours in Oz

We've waited a long time to say that. 28 years to be exact. It's been a year of surprises, a roller coaster of emotions and lots of adventures.

When we arrived at Brisbane airport last March with our 7 suitcases and not much else, we had just gone through more than 2 years of red tape that is the immigration application. There were lots of hurdles to get over and after jumping each one there was always another hurdle waiting for us. We had also gone through a very strange set of emotions saying our goodbyes to family and friends. Because we had been kept so busy with each step of our application we hadn't thought how we would react to this. I felt very guilty when Kenny's sisters and brother were upset. I felt as if I was taking him away from them and that they would resent me for it. I don't think that is the case (is it Noreen, Ann and Tommy?!!!) but it's funny the things that go through your head. Hopefully we will see them soon when they decide to come over for a holiday.

After a 2 week stay in a lovely holiday apartment in Kirra we found our first long term rental in Elanora. Paul started school after the easter holidays and we set about looking for jobs. Little did we know how fruitless that would turn out! More about that later.

Elanora is on the Gold Coast which is in the south east corner of Queensland. We are about 15 minutes from the border with New South Wales which can be very confusing at times as they have daylight savings and Queensland doesn't. Should be back to normal now as their clocks changed this weekend :-) We're 100 kms south of Brisbane and about half an hour away from the Palazzo Versace where all the 'I'm a Celebrity' people go when they are booted out! The nearest beach is about 3 minutes drive away if the traffic lights are in our favour and we're within a 10-15 minute drive from the hinterland and rain forests. It's a lovely place to live.

When we arrived it was early Autumn and the day time temps were averaging 28 degrees. We were showering twice and three times a day because we just weren't used to those temps on a daily basis 7 days a week.

We were amazed at the wildlife here. There was a family of possums that used to visit us every night at our first house. We watched the baby grow from a tiny thing on it's mums back to just about the size of it's mum and still on her back. Hope the new tenants have been looking after them. Mind you, the locals are not so keen on them. They can be pests if they manage to get into roof spaces and thump their way round the roofs during the night. We also had a HUGE spider in a web in our back garden. We whacked it down with a big stick and killed it. When we told the real estate people they couldn't believe what we'd done. They said that Golden Orb spiders are good to have as they eat all the mozzies. NOW they tell us :-( We've seen a couple of redbacks and disposed of them right away as they bite and can kill small children and pets, and we don't want that to happen to our pussycats do we? Especially after the small fortune it cost for them to be transported over here!!!More about them later too. For the first month or so we always checked under the toilet seat for any spiders that might be lurking but we don't even think about that now.

We've seen kangaroos lazing in the sun and bouncing in front of us on the roads, and we've just recently seen our first koala in the wild. They haven't been doing so well here as they are often injured or killed by cars, dogs and cats.

We went to the Anzac Day parade on April 25th at Currumbin RSL and were amazed at how patriotic the Aussies are for their 'diggers'.

Between the months of May and November Humpback whales swim up the east coast of Australia on their way to breeding and birthing grounds. We went on a whale watching trip in May and saw them. Didn't manage to get any good photos unfortunately.

In July Janice, David and Neil came to visit. We had a lovely time together showing them some of the Gold Coast. It was much more difficult to say goodbye when their time came to go. We also had a visit from Jean from New Zealand who is Kenny's distant cousin and we also had Kyle's friend over for a visit only last week.

In August, after lots of failed job applications, Kenny decided to take a trip to Kalgoorlie to see if it would help his chances of finding a job in the gold mine there. He flew from the Gold Coast to Sydney to Perth with an emergency landing at Adelaide because of a cracked windscreen!!! He hired a car and drove the 600km+ to Kalgoorlie and handed in his resume. He came away thinking that was a lot of time and expense just to hand in his resume but had a good feeling about it.

After hearing nothing from Kalgoorlie we thought we would have a trip up north in October and a stop off at Gladstone where Kyle was working on a fishing charter boat. It took 8 hours to drive to Gladstone and nearly another 8 took us up to Mackay. That was when it hit us how big this country really is. 16 hours and we were only half way up the east coast of Queensland. It gave us a chance to see what some of Australia looked like away from the suburbs,(lots of roadkill too!). We took a crazy boat trip out to Lady Musgrave Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Crazy because the sea was wild. The waves were going over the boat and I have never felt so sick in all my life - as did most of the passengers. The crew were running up and down the aisles with sick bags. However, the destination was like something out of a movie. The sea was calm as we were surrounded by the reef and the water was turquoise. We toured the island and snorkelled on the reef - one of my ambitions ticked off!

Back home in Elanora and things were hotting up for summer. We had just gone through a winter with average daily temps of around 25 but cool nights of about 15-18. I had been working at Kmart since July and still had no success finding admin work. Kenny had no success finding work either. Despite these setbacks we were still enjoying our new country and settling in to our new way of living. We moved into another house in the same street which had a pool - something we had always promised ourselves - and we're making good use of it ;-)

On my birthday I had a wonderful present. Kenny got the phone call he had been waiting for. He got the job in Kalgoorlie and was to start on January 6th.

We spent Christmas day on the beach at Kirra straight across the road from the holiday rental we first lived in. I think we will always think of that apartment as being a special place. Instead of the roast turkey and trimmings we had a cold buffet and spent the rest of day playing board games with the kids (and having a wee drink now and again).

We were invited to a new year party by Angela and Peter from Newcastle (in England not NSW!) who came over a couple of months after us. We knew them from a discussion forum we had all used about moving to Australia from before we all came over here. We've made some good expat friends which is nice as we all know what each other is going through.

3 days later Kenny was off to Kalgoorlie. His work put him up for the first couple of months until he found his own place. Now we had a bit of security though not quite what we had planned for our new lives here.

The next 3 months were more of the same - Chloe and Kyle completed a bar and gaming course and are ready to get to work! Paul is enjoying his school and has made some good friends. He has become very patriotic and now is the very proud owner of a full kilt outfit exported from Kirkcaldy would you believe! I'm still working at Kmart though now in the cash office which is much more interesting for me.

I attended a citizen initiation ceremony on Australia Day (January 26th) just to be nosey. It will be a few years before we can apply for citizenship but I really wanted to see what goes on at these ceremonies. Australia Day is a popular day for them. Family and friends can come along to watch everyone taking the oath and being presented with their certificates and Aussie flags. We then had Lamington cake, Anzac biscuits and tea to keep in with the theme of the day :-) No vegemite sandwiches though!

The move over here has been quite a revelation. It has taught us alot about ourselves. The hardest thing for me has been realising that I don't enjoy my own company quite as much as I thought I did! If you want to make friends you have to go out there and look for them and not just wait for them to come to you. I've joined a quilting club (and made some good Aussie friends there), a running/walking club, I'm going to swimming lessons at our local outdoor pool being coached by an Olympian gold medalist's wife (!), I'm the secretary of the Parents and Citizens group at Paul's school and I've recently joined a public speaking forum group - mainly to help with interview techniques for when I finally get an interview! So I am trying!

The second hardest thing is communication. I might be speaking the same language as the natives but you'd never know it. I know that this is something I will have to get used to but I do get exasperated at them at times!!! I didn't think I had a strong accent but apparently I do. Kenny never has this problem. I spoke to a Scot the other day who had 3/4 Scots accent and 1/4 Aussie. She said she'd been here 40 years!!!!!! It's braw (;-)) when I can speak to another Scot but they are few and far between.

Every day, when I drive by the ocean, I appreciate my new home. I have a beautiful coastline with golden sandy beaches 3 minutes from my front door on one side and rain forests full of wonderful wildlife on the other. My only regret is that we didn't do this a long time ago.

A Year Down Under!!!!

A year ago today we arrived in Australia from a freezing cold Scotland. What a whirlwind it's been. Only seems like 5 minutes since we left Edinburgh. I'll have to write a post on our year here. Watch this space ;-)

The Mother Tongue

While I was at work today a customer overheard me talking to another customer. When we finished our conversation he came over to me and said "How'z it gawn?".

I can't explain the relief it feels to be able to talk normally to someone without having to slow down, or spell my name out as L E U R E because they think an 'A' is an 'E' and vice versa.

We had a guid auld blether about the mother country and all the snow (hee hee) they've been having back home.

He told me that one day, when he was in a shop, there seemed to be someone following him and his wife all over the place. They were very intimidated and felt like shop lifters. Eventually the couple stopped, turned round to the stalker and asked what the hell was going on. The answer they got was "I'm from Whitburn and I just wanted to hear your accent!" The couple have been in Australia for 26 years and he still sounds like he's just off the boat.

I must admit, it is like meeting a long lost friend when you hear another Scottish accent. Thing is, they might not even be the type of people you would have as friends back home. But it still feels good.

I think it will take me a long time to get used to heads turning whenever I speak. Even if they do tell me constantly that they love my accent!