Our Journey so far

[Guest wen66]

Happy days!

[samandcraig]

Safe journey xx

[Amit Malhotra]

Safe travel and enjoy the last few minutes

[etch123]

And we are here! Just got to the apartment, going to get some groceries and to the bank, and hopefully pick up my car! Like the cooler weather!

[Amit Malhotra]

Nice

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

And we are here! Just got to the apartment, going to get some groceries and to the bank, and hopefully pick up my car! Like the cooler weather![ATTACH=CONFIG]9118[/ATTACH]

 

Welcome!

[Guest wen66]

Welcome guys!

[etch123]

End of day 3! Loving it here in Adelaide and the south in general. Weather was certainly better today a little warmer but coming from a tropical island we need to adjust to the colder weather, they say that "winter is coming" :-) can't wait for the season premier of game of thrones on Monday ha ha! We had a fantastic interview with the principal of port noarlunga primary, the kids were accepted and they begin on the 27th, what a beautiful school. Kids were really happy with the campus and so were we! Went around to Harvey Norman, jb hifi and good guys ended up getting some of the things from Harvey Norman because they were more willing to bend the prices to my liking, in the afternoon we drove up to Adelaide and ikea but didn't buy anything as yet as we need to gauge the size of our long term rental on Monday. Btw it took us 45 minutes in "rush hour" to get back to Christies beach from ikea! Sheesh! That's not traffic! That was a cake walk! Ha ha maybe everyone went home early? We left ikea at 5pm and got home at 5.45! It kept moving mostly and compared to what I'm used to back from Colombo, it's great! Meeting Sri Lankan friends for dinner tomorrow, but the kids want to see some roo's! Any leads on where we could spot some in the wild in the south? Again it's early days, but we already love it here!

Edited April 10, 2015 by etch123

[Guest wen66]

You're in the swing of things already:-)

You'll see roos on Commercial Road, from Port Noarlunga to Seaford. There's a big paddock area on the left, usually roos about.:-)

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

End of day 3! Loving it here in Adelaide and the south in general. Weather was certainly better today a little warmer but coming from a tropical island we need to adjust to the colder weather, they say that "winter is coming" :-) can't wait for the season premier of game of thrones on Monday ha ha! We had a fantastic interview with the principal of port noarlunga primary, the kids were accepted and they begin on the 27th, what a beautiful school. Kids were really happy with the campus and so were we! Went around to Harvey Norman, jb hifi and good guys ended up getting some of the things from Harvey Norman because they were more willing to bend the prices to my liking, in the afternoon we drove up to Adelaide and ikea but didn't buy anything as yet as we need to gauge the size of our long term rental on Monday. Btw it took us 45 minutes in "rush hour" to get back to Christies beach from ikea! Sheesh! That's not traffic! That was a cake walk! Ha ha maybe everyone went home early? We left ikea at 5pm and got home at 5.45! It kept moving mostly and compared to what I'm used to back from Colombo, it's great! Meeting Sri Lankan friends for dinner tomorrow, but the kids want to see some roo's! Any leads on where we could spot some in the wild in the south? Again it's early days, but we already love it here!

 

You sound like you are settling in just fine

If you drive towards Seaford / Port Noarlunga South there is a vacant reserve on the left (Commercial Road). There are usually Roos at the side of the road there. It's only a few minutes from Christies. If you would like a scenic walk there is an area to pull over and park (on the left) and you can walk down to the Onkaparinga river estuary...you may see some Roos in there too.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

You're in the swing of things already:-)

You'll see roos on Commercial Road, from Port Noarlunga to Seaford. There's a big paddock area on the left, usually roos about.:-)

 

Great minds think alike:biggrin:

[chrisda]

Bloody great thread. Like the ones of yesteryear. You sound like such a go getter, positive bloke. Welcome and all the best. You should be fine in that area as you have everything within easy reach. All the best mate.

[snifter]

Good to hear things are going well. Sounds great re the school, glad its all worked out and you were happy with it. Hope the rental move goes smoothly too

 

Re the traffic last Monday, if I am correct it was Easter Monday you were meaning. If so many businesses were closed as were offices etc. Normal Monday traffic at that time along that route is probably going to be slower. I travel Tapleys Hill road quite often and it can be choc a bloc once you hit Glenelg and very slow.

[clarkes]

OMG this is such a good read. You sound like you are so focussed. Wishing you all the best.

[etch123]

Thanks for all your good wishes! We have been out and about during the past 2 days sorting out Medicare and private health Insuarance as well sorting out our furniture for our long term rental, looks like everything we want/liked needs to be ordered and not in stock, some pieces we liked needed 16 weeks to be delivered! Yikes! Isn't that the duration of our 190 :-) ha ha. Note to anyone thinking of getting new furniture, we had to go for furniture that was in stock or could be delivered within the next 2 weeks and you may need to settle, rather than get what you really wanted. Our bed arrives in the middle of May! Sleeping on a mattress in the floor maybe fun for a few weeks!( had to spend a lot more than I thought for the mattress from snooze, though the price was worth it as it is an investment) We got the beds and mattresses for the kids from ikea and thankfully it will be delivered tomorrow (as most ikea furniture is in stock) dining table and chairs from super A mart, living from fantastic furniture (off the show room floor)we also organized the gas and electricity through direct connect who put us into origin energy they are getting us set up tomorrow. We need to sort out contents Insuarance though, and was advised by relations in Victoria to go with their equivalent of RACV which over here in SA is the RAA, that being said I compared online and RAA was the most expensive, but apparently they are hassle free when it comes to claims? Also love the weather over the past few days! Did any of you catch this evenings sunset! I can get used to that!

[samandcraig]

Loving following your story, we have been here 4 weeks on Saturday and move into our long term this week, we are awaiting our container, which should arrive Friday, and then we need to wait for it to be released. So completely understand what your saying about furniture best of luck to you

[Blossom]

My insurance is with the Raa. My car is an import so I don't get much choice of who to go with. I've had to put one claim in with them. Firstly, when I took out the insurance I was told it was a $900 excess, I asked why do high and the guy said it had to be for imports. It turns out he was wrong, and you can have a $500 one.

I didn't find that out until after I had to make a claim though. That was a real pain as they sent someone to the garage to access the claim (it was a twisted chassis after going over a pot hole, don't even start me on how crap that makes my car lol). The guy turned up in a suit, chatted to the mechanic about it, didn't get under, didn't ask for it to be hoisted. He then said to us that he couldn't see the damage, and we'd have to pay to have the thing take to bits, so he could go back and decide if they would pay out. Now, I had to point out that even I, knowing nothing at all about cars, could see the damage, and that I could send him photos.

We ended up having big arguments trying to get him to go back and look at it without them taking the whole chassis out. The garage wouldn't, as we couldn't afford to pay for it if the insurance wouldn't pay, and it would have taken up a lot of space that they needed. I asked the guy why he didn't just get under the car and have a look, or ask for it to be hoisted, but he said they didn't offer. :-/

After I sent the photos of it and pointed out I'd only had the car 5 months, and paid for a garage to look over it, and it wasn't there back then they finally agreed to pay out without them having to pull the thing apart first.

[Blossom]

A positive about the Raa though. If you have anything with them, breakdown cover or insurance etc, then they will fit or check your child seats for free, and the guys who do that are just amazing. :-)

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Glad to see lots of new arrivals and that you are all getting on great!

[etch123]

2 weeks and a few days now... We decided to drive down to Melbourne over last weekend, we left at 6am and it was totally foggy over the Adelaide hills and until we got close to Murray bridge, but it kept raining right through the drive which made the trip slower. We got into the outskirts of Melbourne around 3pm but got stuck in terrible terrible Friday evening Melbourne traffic!!!! It took us another 90 minutes to get to our destination! The traffic reminded me of the jams back in Colombo! It was that bad! Thank goodness we are in Adelaide! Spent time with the relo's (do I sound Aussie yet? :-p ) and drove back on Tuesday, left earlier and was back in Adelaide by 2pm! Good drive all in all, would advise anyone thinking of doing the same to leave Adelaide early so you don't get stuck in Melbourne traffic! 5am should do the trick! We moved into our long term rental yesterday! Great to be home! My sister flew from Melbourne to help us, so I needed to pick her from the airport. My Sarnacki has been routing me through the main south road via the southern expressway every time we made a trip into the city/ikea etc, but for some reason it routed me through Marion road yesterday! Which I liked better than the south road, maybe because it was wider and felt less industrialized? Anyway I'll be using that road from now on. That's it for now! Looks like it's going to be a windy weekend! Here's a pic we took of the Adelaide hills on the drive back, when the weather was much better!

[snifter]

@etch123 Lovely to hear from you Glad you enjoyed the trip to Melbourne and found the drive doable. We'll be driving down at some point in the coming months to visit family there.

 

When heading to the airport I sometimes use the route you mention. I tend to scoot round and take Diagonal Rd usually though as it avoids a lot of traffic and lights and then I head via Glenelg and Tapleys Hill Rd. Usually it'll depend on where you are coming from as to the road you get on to take in to the airport. I'd rather the train line at Oaklands/Marion for a few minutes in non rush hour than heading down Marion most days. Its a lot busier and a fair number of traffic lights. The nice thing about Marion Rd route is you just stay on the one road till you turn off for Sir Donald Bradman Drive.

 

And good to hear you are moving into your long term rental. Enjoy settling in there. I look forward to hearing how its going

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

2 weeks and a few days now... We decided to drive down to Melbourne over last weekend, we left at 6am and it was totally foggy over the Adelaide hills and until we got close to Murray bridge, but it kept raining right through the drive which made the trip slower. We got into the outskirts of Melbourne around 3pm but got stuck in terrible terrible Friday evening Melbourne traffic!!!! It took us another 90 minutes to get to our destination! The traffic reminded me of the jams back in Colombo! It was that bad! Thank goodness we are in Adelaide! Spent time with the relo's (do I sound Aussie yet? :-p ) and drove back on Tuesday, left earlier and was back in Adelaide by 2pm! Good drive all in all, would advise anyone thinking of doing the same to leave Adelaide early so you don't get stuck in Melbourne traffic! 5am should do the trick! We moved into our long term rental yesterday! Great to be home! My sister flew from Melbourne to help us, so I needed to pick her from the airport. My Sarnacki has been routing me through the main south road via the southern expressway every time we made a trip into the city/ikea etc, but for some reason it routed me through Marion road yesterday! Which I liked better than the south road, maybe because it was wider and felt less industrialized? Anyway I'll be using that road from now on. That's it for now! Looks like it's going to be a windy weekend! Here's a pic we took of the Adelaide hills on the drive back, when the weather was much better!

 

OMG you are so brave driving for so long with children in the car! My grandkids start to moan after 20 minutes! I was in Melbourne at the same time...good to be back to Adelaide even though the weather is foul today. Thanks for the invite...will pop round whenever you are settled.

For trips to the city take the expressway every time. It used to be one way and all my sat navs don't recognise the expressway either as I haven't had map updates done. Pick it up at the top of Beach road and ignore the sat nav on this occasion!

For trips to the airport and Ikea take the coast road...Lonsdale road...past Hallet Cove, Glenelg, etc. The only hold up is the Glenelg area and it's 80 / 100 km most of the way.

See you...

[etch123]

Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since we arrived, and I cant believe how much we've been able to get done! Kids started school yesterday and are loving port Noarlunga primary school, everyone from the principal down have been so welcoming, but here's the winner! my Son's teacher was born in Sri Lanka, she migrated when she was 5-6 to Adelaide, but it gets better still, I know her cousin's son back in Sri Lanka! what gives? ha ha what a small world we live in! what are the odds? anyways we got Foxtel connected over the weekend (got my priorities correct ;-P ) We also drove to the Barossa as my sister was visiting from Melbourne, it was such a beautiful place and the drive back was amazing! we spotted over 100 roos on a paddock. Also saw what the recent fires had done to the area near the adelaide hills. The adsl connection by telstra was sorted out today, not too happy with the speeds though, speed tests show its around 5 mbps which slower than what we had in Sri Lanka, it may get better when NBN gets connected to port noarlunga? did notice that NBN was available in seaford. Popped over to the Rundle mall in the city today as I wanted to go to the apple store, wish we had more time to explore..... what amazes me is how quickly you can travel between all points of interest here in Adelaide and the south in general. A good example would be was when I gave in my car for a service at the Toyota dealership on beach road and walked back home, all 800 meters of it, in 10 minutes! Coming from a country where we had drive in bumper to bumper traffic to get anywhere to do anything, here in Port Noarlunga everything you need is at your door step, and we are spoiled for choice. Wish we had arrived a month or 2 earlier though as we could have enjoyed the world class beach at our door step!

[chrisda]

I love reading that you are making things work and settling in. It does counterbalance those who dont feel that the move was right for them.

Please let us know how you fee when youve experienced it a bit more. Wishing you all the best mate.

[etch123]

I love reading that you are making things work and settling in. It does counterbalance those who dont feel that the move was right for them.

Please let us know how you fee when youve experienced it a bit more. Wishing you all the best mate.

 

Thanks Chrisda, I think staying positive has a lot to do with it, I'm only just starting to look for work so only time will tell. However I think I should share one very negative situation I faced, at the outset let me say I don't expect everything to be tikiti-boo! but being a migrant from Sri Lanka I guess I may get asked questions others may not :-) We are looking to settle in a church in the area and this Sunday we visited 2, after the very lovely service ? I was asked sheepishly by a well meaning congregant if I was from a detention centre? I am well aware that many hundreds of Sri Lankan's have chosen that route, but I was taken a back? don't people know that there is also a legal way of migration to Australia for qualified people with the skills that are supposedly required in this country? I was very upset after this but I brushed it off as ignorance on the questioners part. BTW lots of people I speak with don't know about the PR system and that the state sponsors you etc....