Ok lets widen the search **** all antipodeon mums living in the UK****

[quokka]

Lets have a new thread the other was getting a bit long!

All expats are welcome, I come from Perth WA and have been here for 8 years, married a pom and live in West London with my ds1 2yrs and ds2 1yr. No plans to move back to Oz but we are thinking of moving to Singapore for a couple of years. Well the weathers got to be better than here, and it will be further away from the inlaws

[doormat]

is luna park still open
and does the melbourne show still happen

this thread has brought back some memories

fave food was twisties

and i still use 'dunny'

[slug]

I'm another ex Wellingtonian (Upper Hutt to be precise), now living in SE London.

[cinnamontam]

Hey doormat

Luna Park has had a makeover and its open. Melbourne Show still happens. You can get twisties from the Australia Shop in Covent Garden

Melbourne rocks! I miss it lots - particularly the coffee

[doormat]

thanx cinnamo

good to know some things dont change or just get refurbished LOL

i keep on meaning to order the twisties but never get round to it

[cinnamontam]

Ok - who knows what I mean when I say... 'Not happy Jan' and 'Get ya hand of it!' or even 'How's the serenity'

[cinnamontam]

'Get ya hand off it' sorry not of

[Mellin]

"How's the serenity" is a classic!
The Castle was on tv the other weekend and I got my fill of Aussieness for the year.

[Mellin]

Has anyone flown with their kids from the UK back home? I am going for a visit to Oz in March with dd who will be 5 months. I am already stressing about the flight
Anyone got any tips for travelling with a bub?

Quokka has already mentioned the medised

[quokka]

Mellin you'll be fine, just make sure you get a skybed for dd. Have taken my 2 on flights before and they haven't even screamed when taking off or landing. Not sure if you have booked your tickets yet, but I wouldn't reccomend BA. They didn't provide any food for ds1 even though I had ordered a kids meal.

I'm so out of the loop, I've got no idea what 'Not happy Jan' and 'Get ya hand of it!' mean. I do say "look at me kimmy, look at me", but thats because I have a friend called kim.

I will never forget the look on my polish cleaners face when she tried a vegemite sandwich - obsolute horror. She couldn't understand how the kids could eat it!

[sunshinefairy]

Yep sookie la la and not happy jan and get your hand off it are favourites of mine...

I love kath and kim. I say to my son when hes in a strop 'look at me look at me' with that strong aussie twang gets him laughing. You can't get much more australian than Kath and Kim its on living TV.

I have got passionfruit from waistrose as well, I don;t think I have ever seen it in a tin only real ones and my local super tescos seem to have stopped stocking tim tams, when i am home i spend about 1-2 hours just in the biscuit aisle Arnotts biscuits I miss them and twisties and Boost Juices and and !!! i could go on and on.

Mymama Brisvegas or Brissy is a big country town. I think you should stick to the home counties with a commute into London of up to 1 hour, you get more for you money. Home counties are BEDS, BUCKS, HERTS.

So can I ask do you feel more English than Austrailan or still a bit of both. I have spent the majority of my adult life in the UK and if they could be side by side countries I would be very happy indeed. but deep down I'm Australian so much so I have bearly lost my accent even after 12years on the odd twang here or there What about you guys?

[Katsh]

Sorry for crashing - my dh is from Brissie, so I'm very familiar with the slang. He declared Ugg boots were a total no on account of their bogan and bevan - ness. Mellin - have done the uk to Oz flight with a 4 mth old and a 2 yr old. Much less awful than I anticipated. Jet lag on arrival is bad, but 3 days and it will pass. We actually flew BA/ Quantas, and all was good - especially the accessible any time snacks which kept the 2 yr old happy when it wasn't a mealtime.

[sunshinefairy]

sorry for the typos
meant to say I have barely lost my aussie accent only have a few words that sound English. What about you?

[cinnamontam]

Hey Katsch - if you are married to an Aussie that makes you one you realise
Very impressed with the use of bevan - ness

You ladies have given me hope on the passionfruit front. I have to make it this Saturday so that gives me a few days to check all the shops nearby in the hope I can find some.

I've only been in the UK 2.5 years and I'm way more Oz than I was when i was in Oz. Probably in response to all the Englishness around me. I've found it quite hard to settle here to be honest and it probably doesn't help that we will definitely be going home at some point in the next 2-3 years

[cori]

Hello everyone, I lost this thread for a while.
Mellin I went back to OZ when DS2 was 4 months. Only advice is get a night flight if you can and make sure you have ordered your skycot. Other than that it probably wont be too much of a problem, oh and medised is a god send.

For all the newbies. I am 36, have two DS' 5 and 8months. I have been here for too many years to count . I am married too an Aussie (whom I met in a hostel whilst backpacking). I live in Harrow, NW london.
We have finally decided to move back to OZ, but wont be for another couple of years yet.

[superloopy]

We took our DD back to Oz when she was 6 months old and it went really well.

We flew with JAL and they were fabulous!! The staff were so kind and couldn't have been more helpful. Loads of food and toys for DD.

We also had a sky cot which was great. Make sure you get a flight leaving at night time then when it is natural for your LO to sleep. Our DD slept for 10hrs of the 12hr flight to Tokyo!!

I would also recommend a stop over on the way so you can all get some rest.

The ultimate best part of our trip was that we got upgraded to business class for the flight back! Wahey love JAL!!

[O2BMe]

We flew back to Oz last Sept when DS was 4 mths. All flights were night flights so DS slept most of the time. I prebooked the skybed and it was a blessing. DS tucked up asleep and not on your lap and there was the added bonus on having somewhere to put your bits and bobs.

We flew BA/Qantas and I have to say BA surprised me with just how fantastic they were. It was Qantas that disappointed me. Will definately fly BA again.

Also stopped over in Singapore on the way there and Bangkok on the way back. Highly recommend it. Spent 3 days in Singapore and in that time we were able to adjust our body clocks so when we arrived in Oz there was no jet lag. (there is only 2 hours difference between Singapore and Aus).

Have had to explain what a Ute, Tinny, Stubbie and Esky are to fellow Brit workers. Oh as well as when someone is a Dag or a Sook. What about Fair Dinkum or What do ya reckon!

[eidsvold]

LOL at the slang and memories on here.

Spent four years living and teaching in the UK - where I met dh and had dd1. Returned home bring my two poms with me and 20 weeks pregnant with dd2.

Now live in Brisbane but spent three years at uni in Rocky back in the 80's!!

I lived out of London - rare I know - spent two years in southend on sea area and then moved to a little village outside of Chelmsford - Essex county. So dd1 is my 'Essex' girl.

My students had real fun with aussie slang - had to explain so much to them that I just used in conversation - quite hard at times.

Another one I used which cracked my friend up -

up shit creek ( in a barb wire canoe/without a paddle)

dag is a hard one to explain.

The nurses at the London hospital where my dd1 had to have surgery were mainly aussies so that was fab - like a slice of home - they used to laugh at me as I would call dd1 things like 'pumpkin', or possum or bloss! One nurse said I reminded her of her mum!!

[eidsvold]

another vote for the aussie shop - only cause they delivered - easy for me....

aussie shop

[eidsvold]

flying to Aus - we found Singapore the best - we took two trips with dd1 - one when she was 8 months old and then again when we emigrated - she was almost 2. That second trip we had a 5 day stopover in Singapore which was fab.

[cori]

We flew with Gulf air, they were pretty good. They also have on board Nannies to entertain older children.

[Mellin]

Wow so many people have done the long haul trip with their little ones, feel like a sook for being worried about it! Thanks for all the tips, we are flying with BA because we need to stop-over in Hong Kong on the way back. Have ordered the skycot and packed the Medised already so hopefully it will be sweet (said in true Aussie style - saaaaaahweeeeeet).

[quokka]

the medised is more for toddlers who are refusing to sleep, your dd will be fine mellin. Travelling with a toddler is hard work, babies are usually a breeze - are you still bf?

[Astrophe]

People here have asked me what they're meant to say when I ask "How y' going?" A few people have answered me by telling me where they are going!

Here in the Midlands they say "Y'all right?" which is essentially the same, but they don't seem to see that!

My friends think its funny when I say to DD to "hop off the...", and some of their kids say it now too.

I have also had very strange looks re 'singlet'!

I have definately picked up a lot of Brit words and phrases, although not the accent really (I don't think!). Just today I was saying about a friend's DD "Oh shes fallen asleep bless her!"

My DD (2.8, and we have been here just ovcer a year) has a real Derby accent, even our brit friends think her strong accent is hilarious.

Agree, 'dag' is very hard to explain.

Oh, and has anyone else noticed the liberel use of the word 'naughty' here? Everywhere I go I hear parents telling their kids how naughty they've been...but maybe its just my neighbourhood!

[quokka]

Naughty is a well used word here. I too use the word singlets but no one gets me, much better than vests!

I fear I sound more English than Aussie. When I go back to Oz I don't really feel at home, and everyone tells me I have lost my accent. When I'm here I don't feel at home because people ask me where I'm from - because of my accent?????!!!!!!