So Aussies - what's been going on?!?

[Arfishy]

How is everybody and what have you all been up to

Hello arfishy.

Keeping well, thanks

Busy, busy, with unwanted house move last year, which seemed to take over our lives. I bogged up a Melbourne meet I suggested and didn't follow up! .

Citizenship swearing in or whatever it's called, in a couple of weeks' time.

Oh, and doing that very overseas thing of wishing one's life away, as oldest friend coming over at Christmas.

Well, finishing off growing a baby. Maternity leave started on Monday and since then I have barely stopped. Between supervising a new bathroom being fitted, various medical appointments, cleaning and final shopping I reckon I was less busy at work.

Enjoyable though.

Hello everyone,

Still here in Hornbag. RL overtaking MN time unfortunately but I'm a regular lurker.

Just said goodbye to friends who had come over from Scotland for three weeks, sobfest at the airport but sis et al will be here in 18 months time to get married, woohoo!

Isn't is blardy freezing this week? On Sunday I thought Spring had sprung!

enjoying the winter weather! but all set to change tomorrow.
for the first time since moving wishing i was in uk as my dad had a heart attact yesterday ( he seems fine now) glad we have skype!

Gosh, Ben that's awful about your dad.

Ozzie congratulations on your nearly-baby, how very exciting, how much longer have you got to go?

Arfishy, how the devil are you and where have you been for the past 2 years?

All is fine here, I have spent the last 2 years shepherding my dh through his mid-life crisis, I finally broke last week and had a mini one of my own and had my nose pierced

We may or may not be leaving dull glorious SA and heading for Sydney/Melb/London depending on where dh gets offered a $$$$ job.

So maybe big changes afoot . . . or maybe not.

ben sorry to hear about your father - I think that's always the worry with being so far away.

Claudia thank you - I have 2 weeks left! And at the moment the house is in comeplete chaotic disarray as we have been having bathrooms done up and we're having a new carpet put down this afternoon. BUT it will all be finished tomorrow so I have instructed DH that we are having a weekend of cleaning and organising.

I only feel stressed if I think about it too much - I also figure that even if I went into labour now, DH could clear up while I was in hospital....

It's exciting that you're thinking of pastures new. We are moving back to Sydney in October. DH basically applied for every job in his field in Adelaide and three of them asked if he would come back to Sydney, so we have decided to bite the bullet, rent out the house and head back.

We had assumed that we would at some point but were thinking it might be in a couple of years, but the jobs were too good to turn down really.

I'm sad to be leaving our house but I do really like Sydney so I'm not overly upset, especially as we have quite a few friends in Sydney.

Well, we're packing up to move back to the UK! Our house goes through today and the packers were in last Friday so that lot should take about 6 weeks to make it back to Scotland. We fly back on Monday.

Mixed feelings but we're on the next step of our adventures.

Ben5 - hope all is well with your dad.

Oh, and tefal; bon voyage. ;)

Bugger:

Hello all!

Ben, that's a worry about your Dad - I have the Fear of something similar happening to mine too :( although he seems fairly fit at the mo. But he is 77 this year so it still concerns me.

Ozziegirly - woohoo! nearly there, you must be so excited by now! I'm sure you'll be posting beforehand but if not, hope it goes really well for you.

Tefal - I can see you say mixed feelings but overall is it a good thing? Was it your choice to move bakc or circumstances?

Arfishy - nice to see you again! Can't remember where you are in Oz - which state, even!

Claudia - still up in the air? LOL re minicrisis and nose-piercing - for heaven's sake don't get a cold!!

It's nice to see everybody again .

Congratulations on your citizenship Echt!! I've managed to keep a number of 457 visas going but it's time I think to go for PR. They're telling me that it takes 4 years at the moment .

OzzieG - when is your baby due? If it's any consolation I moved house when I was 38 weeks pg. I dimly recall the best I could do with nesting was to cull our mug collection. As it turned out, I had to lumber about the house for another 4 weeks before DD arrived anyway.

VFemme - I am a regular visitor to Hornsby! I have friends there - actually my old flatmate from London, she lives there now with her husband. How have you been, do you get down to Sydney much? Do you hear from BrightonGirl at all? What about NineDragons??

Hello ThumbWitch - I'm in Sydney - you'll have to remind me where you are too, I need a big reminder about everything I think.

It's good to see you all here .

That's right arfishy. We hurried up with our application to beat the deadline, about end of June this year, when the rules changed.

This week we get to sing the song and be given a potted native plant, something they give to all new citizens in Victoria.

Arfishy - I am up in the Hunter Region about 1.5h north of Sydney. Good for visiting the Watagan mountains, the Hunter Valley wines, Lake Macquarie etc.

How long has your friend from London been in Sydney, and does she have a small DD? just asking because a friend of a friend moved out from London in Oct/Nov last year for her DH's work and it wouldn't surprise me if it was the same person - I've been having a lot of etheric coincidences recently, the most bizarre being that one of my school friends has just got engaged to one of the few men on MN! I found out through FB and was when I realised it was the same bloke; so funny. It won't out you in the slightest if it is the same person - I don't know her well enough to know who her friends are but I do know that she had some friends and acquaintance in Sydney when she came here.

not much with me. Two dds in school, dd3 started day care so I can go back to work one day a week.

Busy with life waiting for spring and summer to come. Actually counting the days down to the end of the year. Sad I know.

Ben - sorry to hear about your dad. Hopefully things are much improved.