Moving to Adelaide - settling in tips please

[gotosleepplease]

Hi,

We're moving to Adelaide at the end of July with two boys (4 and 1) and I'm getting a bit nervous about how I'll manage in those first few weeks! Husband starts his new job 3 days after we land and I have to find us somewhere to live with the help of a relocations consultant and my two lively boys! Any survival tips you can pass on will be most welcome, especially if you live in Adelaide and have advice on what to do / where to go with jet lagged kiddies during the day! Thanks.

Hello

Lucky you to be moving to such a wonderful city . We have been living in Adelaide since last July but it was only a temporary move and we are returning home to the UK at the end of next month.

Have you visited Adelaide before? If so, you will already know that it's a relatively easy place to find your way round but unless you're based in the centre a car is pretty much essential.

I've found the city to be very child friendly and you shouldn't be stuck for ways to keep your boys entertained. There's a good zoo, plenty of parks and lots of great playgrounds all over the city and people here are very friendly. I'm not a naturally outgoing person but I've made lots of friends here. Do you know which suburb you will be based in?

Feel free to send me a private message if you want to know more or if I can be of any help. Also, we are going to be selling all of our stuff prior to leaving (car, furniture, household appliances etc) as well as offloading a large amount of our son's toys that he's accumulated this last year. Let me know if you might be interested...

Oh, one more top tip...bring plenty of woolies with you. It gets freezing here in the evenings and we got caught out last year when we arrived!

My advice is try to meet as many people and do everything. I sort of treated making friends like dating. Ask somebody in the park where the library/swimming pool/cafe is and then this starts up a conversation. Australians are lovely and friendly so they usually say "I go to a cafe on Thursday morning with my next-door neighbours aunt, if you would like to come" and then you go. That's how I met people. You meet lots and lots of people when you first move and you like some more than others and slowly they become your friends.

You have a sort of back-story and an excuse to talk to people for about 6 months - so take full advantage of it!

We landed in the morning and my children didn't have jet lag at all. The excitement carried them through the first day and they went to bed a little early that first night, and then they were fine.