Strewth.......... Aussie chat thread

[ninedragons]

So we chatterboxes from the meet-up thread have had our knuckles rapped. Shall we have our own thread? I'll start, shall I?

I am a little Aussie lass
I come from Sydney town
I put my knickers on my head
And my shoes on upside down

Hey Cod - nice to see you online again. Was worried you had disappeared. See you are staying in in the style threads though - desperately need you to drop some one liners to make me laugh.
Have absolutely no idea about amazon - i would have thought you could do it though. have you tried?

I don't think there is an amazon.com.au. Dymocks.com.au is good for books.

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Hang on - xmas is months away....

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oh stupid me.
Maybe the postie is wearing the outfit..

eBay.com.au might be your best bet for things other than books - lots of direct importers selling new stuff. Or you can send the money to the child's mum and direct her to Paddington Market, where there is a shop that sells nothing but fairy costumes and accoutrements.

amazon.com lets you otder and send to USA form here.

Ninedragons tell me more about this place..Do you recommend the market in Paddington - haven't been yet but have od-ed on Rozelle market as live round the corner!

Oh god, you haven't been to Paddington Markets yet? It will empty your wallet faster than a Leicester Square pickpocket gang. Brilliant place for clothes (vintage, new and children's), jewellery, bric-a-brac, arty stuff, everything really. Last time I was there I bought an utterly fantastic hand-made SPF50 parasol. Great place if you need to buy Australian presents for people back at home for whom a coin purse made out of the scrotum of a kangaroo just won't cut it.

Right I must go to bed.
Before I go, ladies, can you tell me why sheets are called "manchester" over here? I'm so confused.

Weird, isn't it? I think it's from the 19th century when linen was exported from there. "New shipment from Manchester" on shop signs presumably just got shortened to "Manchester".

I can now sleep well on my manchester. thanks ND!

wish you hadn't told me about how good paddington market is. I'm going next weekend now!

another sunny day... through the clouds somewhere! eidsvold... phonics yup going strong here, dd started them in nursery so is a bit of a pro! they also do cued articulation which dd has somewhat missed the boat on because she has a good grasp of letters and sounds! but still points her fingers here there and every where for different sounds! and her teacher had a special clap that meant they all had to sit or listen ect.. like trained monkeys.. tried it at home and failed badly!

You'll end up deciding ah bugger it, who needs a pension? and drawing it all out, brightongirl.

Is the Saturday market at Balmain church still going?

Bama, Lilyfield and Annandale are both on bus routes to Sydney Uni, IIRC, and very pleasant suburbs. Erskineville is on the other side of the campus (beyond Newtown) and has recently undergone a renaissance. It's now a lovely little gay village full of lesbian parents and cafes with rainbow flags outside that serve babycinos and organic fig salads. Erskineville and Newtown are on the train line into the city, but Lilyfield and Annandale have excellent bus services.

Yes - balmain mkt still going. Keep meaning to go but then Rozelle beckons..saying that I'm not sure i could buy any more glass there as am getting hints from DH that the clutter is beginning to pile up again...

G'day cobbers

I'm living in Adelaide, have been here for 2 years - had 2 year anniversary yesterday! Got a bit depressed tbh. Actually mostly all going good. DH is an Aussie native, and I'm a Brit. We have 2 dd's, 3yrs old and 9 months. Have just spent this morning enrolling the 3 yr old into local Kindy and School. Makes me feel VERY wierd as having to put entry dates of 2010 and I cannot believe that we will still be here then - although only 2 yrs away it sounds like a sci-fi date. Peculiar.

So jealous of your Paddington Markets, you sydney people. Here in Adelaide the shopping is dreadful. We are from Brighton (hello brightongirldownunder) originally, I was back there for holibobs last month and couldn't believe how totally fantastic it was compared to here.

Don't worry about the flight - having just done it on my own with 2 kids - it's not so bad, let the airline know you will be travelling on your own and they will be very helpful. Drugs are good although Phenergan not recommended any more for under 2's. It's only 24 hours, it goes. Good luck xx

Afternoon ladies - just quickly dropping in the short time between putting ds (2yrs) down for a nap and having to wrestle him to sleep. It's pouring down today in Canberra, makes me think of home!

Ninedragons, thanks for the info. We've been scouring domain to get an idea of what we can get for our rental dollars (i.e. not much) Dh is prepared to walk at least 30 minutes to Uni so I think that should give us some scope. I like the sound of Erskineville will have a look.

Brigtongirl - are you in Oz permenantly? If so, keep accumulating! We've just spent the last year thinking we were going back for good in August so have not really been able to buy much. This has somewhat changed in the last few weeks..! I'm very much looking forward to the shopping in Sydney. Canberra is ok but is pretty much 'high street' stuff.

Ah well, sound like the boy has escaped (record time). ttfn.

I have friends who live in Erskineville and it's very good value. I think they pay in the region of $400-500 a week and have a superbly renovated two-bed terrace with a huge and gorgeous kitchen, skylights (those Victorian cottages can be very dark), lovely original floorboards and neat little back garden. They cycle into the city for their jobs.

chloe dd1 does the 5 L's for looking, legs crossed, hands in Lap, listening and one more.

She also does the count down 5 - 0 to being quiet and listening.

Dd1 also does the hands up with fingers on lips.

She is pretty good at school - so tried it here too like you and no success. I guess 20 others doing it helps

Just a tip, you should try Phenergan out before you fly, it can have the opposite effect on the minority of children
dd1 had been on loads of international flights between 3mths and 5yrs. She never once needed Phenergan, I had it as a back up though, just in case she lost the plot
Have you been to Changchun Ninedragons? My sister moved there in Jan with her family.
Definitely agree with the earlier comments, I think I will always miss the UK, now we're living back in Brisbane, like I missed Australia, whilst living in the UK for 11yrs. I do wish it was closer, so we could do more 'cultural' things, and visit friends. Oh well, when we win lotto

I'm going to risk it I think and take DD on plane without giving her anything. Is phenergan on prescription? Sounds to me like it contains an anti histamine which is why medised and calpol night have been banned for under 2's in UK.
Admittedly I gave DD some calpol night tonight as she's suffering so badly with teething and I've exhausted everything homeopathic. I think as long as you don't overdose they're fine (though I do wonder what it does to their little systems).
I'm still homesick - some days are worse than others, especially when its raining, but i think people will notice a real difference in DH, DD and me when we go back. Its made us all much more confident. Babamama - we've got permanent residency thanks to clever DH (v.proud). We're just going to take each year as it comes. family will slowly come over to visit and we'll go back every year until DD is at school age. Will always be a Brightonian though - miss the North Lanes and all my buddies as was born and bred there.

Brightongirldownunder Phernergan is available straight from the chemist but it is stuffed full of anti-histamine which is why it is not recommended for under 2's. Talk to your doc or the pharmacist about it - they may have some other ideas. But deffo try it out before you get on the plane as can send the little darlings hyper-active so best to know before you are 30,000 feet up.

Ooooo i too miss the North Laine, it was so fantastic to go back there in April. I lived in Brighton for about 20 years and absolutely loved it. What made you come over here Brightongirl? How long have you been here etc etc?

We got PR through DH as well Brightongirl, but we sold our house and our eldest is at the stage that we can't keep changing school systems (he's 14) so it's definitely no going back for us. We have no plans to visit either as a trip "home" would involve Brighton/Ireland/France to cover all the family. We're thinking Bali or back to Thailand next year instead.