Six Months

It has been six months since we packed up and moved north!

So what have we learned from our experience so far? Here are my top ten things to consider when packing up and moving interstate...

1. Rent before you buy. If you must buy then...
2. Fly up and do a full inspection in the week prior to settlement and detail all things that require attention prior to settlement.
3. Don't plan to move until at least a week after settlement, give some time for the little things like contract settlements to get done properly!
4. Pay a little extra for a quality, specialist lawyer/conveyancer, if issues arise it will save you in the long run!
5. Don't sweat about your kids settling in, they adapt quicker than you could ever imagine.
6. Make the effort to keep in touch with friends and family, social media and blogs help no end!
7. Make the effort to meet and socialise with your neighbours, kids friends parents and work associates, it is a great way to meet new friends and like minded people.
8. Get out and explore your new surrounds, see the sights and take it all in.
9. Thoroughly check out where you want to live and why, we did and we are enjoying the results.
10. Do it you won't regret it.

We got a little more work done in the back yard on the weekend, we stacked another 500kg of rock into our gabion wall, it is now near enough to complete.

I had a call from a friend in Ballarat through the week, they wanted to make a purchase on eBay and asked if I could do a pick up. I was more than happy to go and collect the item, especially given its sheer size and weight would more than likely mean the would be visiting to collect it at a later date!

Any way Charlie was quite interested in it as you would expect...

The girls took a swim this week, the locals think we are mad, but the water temp is not too cold and the air temp of around 22 deg C is warm enough for the Pullenvale Penguins to get wet! In fact it was warm enough to coax Karren into the pool on Sunday, she jumped in then straight out - happy enough to say she had been in.

I have started the long process of educating the girls on how to perfect pool shenanigans. Starting off slowly with the basics e.g. The pin drop, the bomb, the sit, banana or horsie, back spray and so on. Rosie and Emily have progressed well and got the basics all most locked away, both are struggling with some of the more difficult manoeuvres. At the moment the banana is proving to be the most problematic, any efforts to attempt the banana are resulting in landings more reminiscent of belly flops. Still practice make perfect.