Home

06.06.2014
We had a week in Canberra to relax before flying to Melbourne on the morning of the 19th to pick up keys and officially become residents. Unusually, things went without a hitch and everything was planned with precision. It involved picking up keys, picking up van, finding and driving to Ikea to pick up some essentials for our unfurnished flat (we are still waiting for all our stuff from the UK to arrive, it should land in Sydney on the 12th June), pick up a TV, return van and build furniture.

The first few days here were taken up with interviews, admin and setting up home. I signed up with Aquent in Melbourne and met with my agent who turns out to be English, funny as my Agent in the UK was an Aussie. It all sounded quite hopeful and there were a couple of jobs that were suitable for me, I just had to be patient and wait for the usual process to happen.

The flat we’ve moved into is brand new and in quite a large block in a very large development. We were some of the first people to move in and there have been a few teething troubles. Firstly, there are two large sliding glass doors that make up the entrance to the building. Early in the first week after a trip to the local supermarket we came back home and used the key fob to open the doors, the first door opened and we went in, only the second door didn’t open and the first door closed – trapping us between the doors. There is button between the door to open them in case people get stuck, but it wasn’t working. We were basically trapped like a weird art installation, with a weeks shopping (including toilet roll and broom), for everyone passing to look at. Thankfully, I had the number for the building manager and we were rescued after about 10 minutes. And then a couple of days later the smoke alarm in our bedroom decided to go off at 2.30am. Danielle had an interview the next morning at 9am. It ended up wrapped on our balcony wrapped in a towel.

Danielle’s parents were our first guests and they brought some of our stuff over from Canberra.We had a good few days exploring Melbourne by tram, seeing the sights, visiting the markets and having cakes by the beach. After they left the reality of our new life started to sink in as it was the first time since we arrived that we were on our own. And thankfully our patience payed off. I’ve got a 3 week booking, working for a kids mental health charity, which starts on Tuesday 10th June. And Danielle starts a 3 months booking for MYOB, in their internal design department, on the same day. Thank you Aquent!

So, this is it! It’s pretty much exactly 2 months since I left TfL and we are up and running. I can’t say that it’s been easy and we’ve had our ups and own, which I guess is all part of the process, but I’m pretty happy that we’ve got so far so quickly. The only thing left now is the arrival of our stuff from the UK which still has to go through customs, I’m sure there will be a tale to be told about that.

Sunset over Melbourne