| A blog on my journey as a WORK AT HOME MOM and my WORK AT HOME BUSINESS |

26 December, 2010

Settling Down in Brisbane - Part 1

It's been slightly more than two weeks since we arrived in Brisbane. We had done so much in the last two weeks - from house inspection to test driving various cars, it's been a busy time for us.

We are quite comfortable in our serviced apartment in Kangaroo Point during this transit period and using a rental car to get around was a breeze with the help of a GPS. It was a change for each one of us and it would take some time before we get used to a daily routine. After a few house inspections, DH decided that he preferred a townhouse over a big house and it was a contrary to what he used to say. Being a city folk for so long, he finds living in a stand alone house very quiet and maintaining a yard is just too much for him. God is good and He provided an available townhouse in Solito Carindale, who happened to be an area I was eyeing on. Months before the arrival, I had contacted the resident manager and she said that she would keep a lookout for me should there be a vacancy and she contacted me few weeks before our arrival on one.

DH liked the place and it is conveniently situated opposite Westfield Carindale, one of the bigger and nicer malls in Brisbane. It was quite fun inspecting houses and finding our way around suburbs with the GPS. Now comes the car. I was eyeing for a Volkswagen and we test drove the mazda CX7, the toyota Rav4, the Subaru Forrester and lastly the VW Tiguan. The Mazda CX7 impressed DH the most and the price was good too. In Malaysia, we would need to cough out RM260,000 for this car but in Brissy, we managed to get it at less than AUD$37K after all the stamp duties and insurance costs. Now we have to shop for a cheap car insurance when everyone returns to work.

Christmas here was a quiet one as everyone celebrates with their family and friends. We had a simple dinner of hot chicken from Coles, a simple salad and roasted potatoes. Though simple, it was meaningful as we dined together overlooking the Brisbane River. It's boxing day today and it's going to be packed in the malls and shops. We are without a car for the next few days cos the car rental companies had their cars all booked out. So we will be moving around in city ferries until our car is ready next week.

More Brissy updates coming soon as we settle down in our new haven.

11 December, 2010

Hello Brisbane

The day is finally here and after staying in this lovely home for ten over years, it's time to bid farewell. We had used this house as our home office for more than five years and we are so thankful for that.

We had done all our packing and the movers had finally completed the packing. They were so fast in clearing our furnitures, kitchen ware and personal boxes, we couldn't keep up with their pace at one time. After three days of buys packing, cleaning and clearing, we left our home of ten years and said good bye.

It was great staying at The Gardens Residences for four nights and I was so happy that my close friend from Singapore had come to visit. She came to spend some time with us before we leave for good and we had a nice time catching up, shopping and doing some girlie things. I did my last facial and massage at mid valley during that time too.

The day had finally come for us to leave Malaysia and I was too busy to feel emotional about the entire move. All I knew was, I was thankful that God had opened doors for us and we managed to settle all our stuff before the big move. We discovered that we were seriously overweight few days before our departure and had to ship out 2 boxes of personal things vis Pos Malaysia so as to avoid being charged for excess baggage at the airport.

On the day of departure, we arrived at the airport early and was told that our flight had been retimed. We are therefore four hours early to our flight time and I knew God had a purpose for this delay. Before we had time to feel upset our the retime, we found out that we were 20 kgs overweight and thus, they wanted us to pay almost RM1K for that. We managed to negotiate our way out of this since we were told about the retime so late. To cut the story short, we managed to get on the plane with no charges to pay and finally got into Brisbane.

The Docks at Goodwin is located in Kangaroo Point and we got in at 11pm. The one bedroom was neat and cosy though I wished they have a bigger bed. The bathroom was small but the bathroom faucet and basin was big. We will be here for two weeks and hopefully we can get a more permanent home by next week.

So much for the updates, it's time to wind down, get more sleep and start the day early tomorrow at the city and Southbanks. Good day, Brisbane and good bye, Malaysia.

08 December, 2010

Updates on the Big Move

After three tiring and long days of working with the movers, the boxes and all our furnitures had gone to the warehouse and they will be out in the sea very soon. I can't believe that everything was done and we had even handed over the house.

In a few days' time, we'll be in Brisbane and our new journey will begin. I don't know how and what it's going to be like but I know that God is faithful. He has provided for us and opened doors in many ways and I'm thankful that everything is looking good. The problem now is, we might be overweight as we had many baggages to bring along with us. We would need these things for the next one month before our container arrives on the first week of January. Just a moment ago, I was still trying to unload some stuff to be ship by sea to avoid being charged at the airport.

I would need to shop for few small things before flying off on Friday. A friend has asked me to get some natural diuretics for her and I'll be stopping by that cute shop that sells only ballerinas in the Gardens. Then I'll be spending some time with my close friend who had come all the way from Singapore to see me off. I'm going to miss her and a few more close friends here.

That's it for the updates. All I need now is a good snooze....

03 December, 2010

Looking Forward to Gardens

In few days' time, we will be at the The Gardens Residences and I'm so happy that my best friend is here to see us off. She'll be here with her girls and nephew and it will be a good time catching up with her before I leave.

She's been a good friend for 25 years and I can count on her for lots of things. After going through a bad patch in her marriage, I'm happy that she's moving forward to something better. Friends are strange.... you don't need to see each other that often and you can still maintain the closeness.

I'm still packing up my beauty stuff and there's still the suitcases that are left untouched. After tomorrow, things would be better and I should be able to go for a last facial and massage before flying off on Friday. I need the therapist to help with pimple popping and getting my stiff muscles loosen after all these work.

We should have arrived in Brisbane the next time I post, and there'll be more things to do before we can truly settle down.

The Big Move is On!

It's been non stop packing in the last couple of weeks and there are still a little more work before we can finally sit down for a rest.

The movers are here this morning and will be doing the same in the next three days. It is a mess in the living room and we are expecting a few furniture deliveries today. The first batch is here and there will be three more in the afternoon. Amidst the very busy schedule I was able to catch up with some good friends are stocking up the things I need for the next 1-2 years. Things are moving so fast and I'm glad to secure a few home inspections upon our arrival. We are excited.

Though we are busy with the big move, we are able to get out to run all the necessary errands and stock up a whole lot of stuff from Daiso! That is a great place to stock household items at a great price. It's RM5 here and I was told that it is AUD$2.80 is down under. We have been warned that things are expensive in Australia especially repairs and manwork. I suppose medical should be fine if you are covered with a good insurance which allows you to claim from dental and eventreatment for depression.

OK... movers are downstairs and I'm off to clear up the necessary.