Calling all Adelaide/South Aussie mners

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

There seems to be a few of us here now . . . does anyone fancy a real life meet up? Or is it too wierd?

Whaddya think?

Ha! Yes, you're right! I'm so pleased we have a reputation for being family friendly in the wider world.

Sidonie, I've thought of that before, too, simply for the maternity leave. Don't tell GC.

Okay, ozzie, fess up - I'm guessing ME or DW.

Well in that case tortoise I probably do know you - or you probably know me, as I actually used to work at GC in Sydney!

I really wanted to transfer to Adelaide when I moved here (and was in fact told that I could by the Sydney partners!) but then when the time came for me to move, the Adelaide office had just taken on someone else.

But this is a bit weird as we possibly do know each other, so just don't let on and neither will I!

I'd love to meet up with some fellow South Aussie folk. Evenings or daytime with kids fine for me too.

Excellent, the more the merrier. That way the rest of you won't get bored when ozzie and I spend our time bitching about the partners at our firm/s.

Hey there neighbours . . .

How about a meet up early March? I can do any evening apart from Thurs - am starting an evening class, which I think goes on for abaht six weeks.

We could do drinks/food somewhere on the Parade in Norwood - or go for a pizza at Goodlife on Hutt St. What do you think?

Hello

Parade excellent for me! Generally any night except a Tuesday. Will we all wear a red rose so we can spot each other? Or a mumsnet secret password or something?

I think ozziegirly could only do Tues and Thurs?

I can do any night really but Wed and Thurs are best. Hutt St or Parade both fine (but would need to beg lift home if Parade, Claudia)

Cool, lets hear from Ozzie . . . and anyone else who may be interested.

Happy to give you a lift home Tortoise.

Good point Romalo, obviously we'll all be in Boden and have the mn haircut. But maybe we need to all wear hats or something

Yes, Parade or Hutt ST both fine by me - Tues or Thurs best but could do Wed if it's the only free day.

By the way - where the fuck do you buy smart maternity clothes from in Adelaide?

I need a work skirt and I have been to "Mother & Me" in Rundle Mall (mainly all crap, shiney and tight things), "Egg" on Unley Rd (nice, but no skirts) and "Baby Belly" on Unley Rd - (again, nice stuff but no work skirts).

It needs to be a smart, suit style skirt really and I am now drawing a blank!

Does anyone have any suggestions for any nice places that would do the equivalent of Blooming Marvellous? So, not crazy pricy but not with the target market of "knocked up by local grease monkey".

I just thought I'd crash this thread even though I'm in NSW and am a bit that most of the MNers I had identified as being in Australia are in SA! Ah well, never mind - I'll have to meet up with the people I've just "met" on PomsinOz instead then...

Have a lovely meet up and remember me if you're ever planning a trip to the Hunter Valley - we're only about 40mins from there

I found it a REAL struggle to get decent maternity wear here in Adelaide Ozzie. I've emailed a few preggers or recently sprogged girlfriends to see if they have any ideas for you. Will let you know if/when they get back to me.

I basically went the Egg route with a smartish dress, and Target which was all terrible fabrics and looked awful or had stuff left over from previous pregnancy in the UK.

I think there is a real dearth of good maternity shops here. Actually a dearth of really good clothes shops full stop.

You could try getting stuff on-line from the UK as a last resort, risky tho without trying it on first.

Hello Thumbwitch hop on a plane luv, we'd be more than happy to have you along.

It's annoying because all I really need at this stage is a work skirt - I am coping with my belly belt and general loose tops otherwise (luckily I am a fan of baggy in pre pregnant life).

I wasn't planning on buying loads anyway - just a dress or two, 3-4 tops for work/casual, a pair of jeans and a couple of nice tops.

Baby Belly had loads of lovely things, and I won't struggle for casual stuff, but I'm only in casual 2 days of the week, and i'm in a suit the other 5.

I may have to resort just to buying a work skirt in a bigger size, but this seems madness as I reckon I'll have to go through about 3 before I go on maternity leave.

I can get away with a smart dress for work, but not really when I'm in court, when I do need to actually look smart.

In all the shops they keep offering me these grim stretchy shiny things, even though I say "what I need is this ( gesturing to my skirt) but in a maternty design". I was imagining I would find something with an adjustable waist.

Surely there are some pregnant women who work in offices in Adelaide?

While I am on the topic Claudia - where is the best equivalent to mothercare in Ade?

I need to buy all the baby stuff at some point (which I am v excited about) but don't really know where to start - prices seem to vary so much.

We have $250 in Myer vouchers (thanks PILs) which will get us probably lots of tiny cute babygros and blankets and maybe nursery bedding, but where is the best place for cots, prams, slings, that kind of practical stuff?

I want to find a place with a large selection of prams and a sensible non pushy sales assistant who can talk us through the advantages and disadvantages of the various prams.

Pumpkin patch had some nice stuff when I was pregnant. But expensive.

Thankfully I kept the clothes from dd1's pregnancy, so only needed a few bits.

Surely there are some pregnant women who work in offices in Adelaide?

Hahahahahahahahaha

Surely you've worked out that you live in a city of Stepford Wives by now Ozzie

Working is men's business y'know. Not for us foolish females.

Ozzie...to my knowledge there isn't an equiv of mothercare here! I had to buy stuff all over the place.

Babyco is on Sth Road, haven't been there (didn't know it was there until recently) so not sure what they carry. www.babyco.com.au/locations.asp?active_page_id=81

bugalugsbaby is in Mt Barker. Maybe a bit out the way.

Have been there, stocked some good stuff, quite a few different prams etc.

But they were expensive for me.

Claudia

I know. Stepford is about right...

None of the wives of the male partners here work, it's bizarre.

It's things like this that make me miss London

differentname thanks for those, I'll have a look in babyco and the Mt Barker one - I don't mind travelling.

The very nice woman in Baby Belly said all the Unley mums (of which I am not, I just happened to be shopping there) all have these $4000 cots and the latest prams, but then said, semi conspiritorially "you know, Hagglebaby do all the same stuff, and no one knows once you're out of the shop".

So do you know if Hagglebaby is the shit emporia that I imagine, where I will have to elbow chain smoking pregnant teens out of the way, or if it's just a handy way of getting bargains?

Never been to hagglebaby. There is one down this way (southern burbs) My local one is Noarlunga

This shows that they have all the brands

Maybe I'll pop in and have a look. I am quite happy to buy things from anywhere as it seems a shame to spend for the sake of it.

If it's too terrible I can always back away and no one will ever know....

When I needed a travelling buggy to go on the plane with DS, the best place to get it ended up being Toys R Us, of all places. Worth a look if you have one - also K-mart for baby essentials like vests etc (although they're not as cheap as they used to be here - I have just got back from the UK and brought a whole load of short and long sleeved bodies from Tesco as they are at least 1/4 the price they are here, if not less.) If you have rellies in the UK, might be worth getting them to send some over for you?

(I shop at the cheap end of the market, btw - can you tell? )

I'm happy with the cheap end! I figure as long as it's comfy and doesn't look awful, a cute baby can make anything look good.

I might get onto Tesco and ask my parents to send some things over - they'll be pleased to, they're already talking about shopping.

RIGHT, I must get back to work, or I won't need the work maternity skirt!

Thanks for all your help everyone!

ooh, also, M&S do some quite cheap baby vests and stuff and I think they have a blanket shipping cost of about £10 to Australia - the more you buy, the more it's worth it - you can shop online with them as well. Of course I haven't looked at their site since just before Christmas so it might have all changed but it seemed quite reasonable to a cheapskate like me then!

Ozzie, I bought mostly from Mother & Me, couldn't really afford Egg although it's lovely, and a bit of Pumpkin Patch although I found it very hit and miss - love it for baby clothes though.

Finding a work skirt was my Waterloo as well.

I bought a couple of skirts a size up which lasted me till about 20 weeks (and I thought would be useful as I was returning to ppweight after the birth - they weren't, but it's something to keep in mind), then I bought a straight black knee-length skirt from Pumpkin Patch in maternity but I never really liked the way it looked. Agree that the M&M ones are horrendous!

In the end, for work I bought 3 pairs of work pants and a wrap dress (all M&M) and just went with that. Just looked nicer in pants, I think, because my legs/arse didn't change size, whereas skirts made me look like a sack of potatoes. And there's no dress code saying you have to wear skirts to court. I think decent black pants, low heels and a maternity shirt will do you ok. I used to wear a suit jacket flapping open in the breeze near the end!

Claudia's right, there's no Mothercare equivalent, it's ridiculous.

For prams and things - I went to a couple of the big baby stores (Your Child's Nursery is on Grote St, nr West Tce, they're probably the best one I can think of) and made them talk me through all the prams and car seats and things. I bought our prams (I have a Valco and a McLaren) there, and our car seat which is a convertible from birth style.

But they charge a premium at those shops, so once I knew what I wanted I got the other stuff from:

• the Target and Toys R Us at Tea Tree Plaza - both are good for baby stuff like play gyms, nursery furniture, bedding etc. I think there's a Babys R Us that's opened recently somewhere too? Can't remember suburb, you'll have to Google but that's definitely worth checking out.
• Red Cross hires out baby buckets, good for the first six months
• Nature's Cradle is brilliant for slings, cloth nappies, organic toys and clothes. It's really, really hard to find slings generally, apart from the Baby Bjorns and the occasional Ergo there's not much sold around here. I bought a Connecta from England and had it sent over.

That's all for now, but hit me up if you need further advice - my daughter's only 14 months so this isn't too far in the past for me.