Well, here we are almost exactly 3 months after the last update - how are we getting on after the big move? To be honest, it's been a bit of a mixed bag.
The flights
The flights themselves were actually pretty good! We got to Heathrow with mountains of time to spare, and scooted through security without any major issues. Flying from Terminal 5 meant that there was plenty of space for the kids to wander around, as well as free soft play areas for them to tire themsleves out. (The soft play area was patrolled by the grumpiest / rudest attendent in the world though, which was a shame - not sure what he thought he was trying to achieve by yelling at us for some spilt milk that he would have to clean up, when we were literally on our hands and knees already cleaning it). Even after dinner and playing around, we still had a bit of time to burn before heading to the gate but the kids weren't that interested in sleeping. They handled it reasonably well given the circumstances, but navigating Heathrow Airport with three clingy children, 5 pieces of carry on luggage, a twin pram and toddler backpack is definitely not for the faint of heart!
(We did lose one of the kids backpacks somewhere in the airport unfortunately. 🙁 Luckily for us, there was nothing super important in it, it was handed in to lost and found, and a friend was able to cram it in their luggage when they flew out to Australia a few weeks later.)
Once we got on the plane though, all three kids perked up again for takeoff and dinner, and then fell right asleep and slept for the majority of the first flight (about 12 hours). This was very lucky for us, because once we landed in Singapore, no one wanted to sleep again for the rest of our travels - they stayed awake through our (admittedly short) stopver in Changi, and for the entirety of the second flight from Changi to Sydney. A combination of screens and books kept things manageable, if not exactly tranquil. 😉
That meant 3 exhausted and very grumpy little ones arriving at Sydney Airport at around 7:30 in the morning. We were fortunate to have a smooth run through immigration (where Claudia's provisional visa was activated without any issues!) and baggage reclaim. We also had a transfer waiting for us to take us to a friends house in Sydney, so we were actually all done by 9:30. My brother and family arrived about 2 hours later from Newcastle to drop off a car that they had bought on our behalf, so we could be self-sufficiently mobile from the outset, which was amazing! A mid-morning sleep and an afternoon trip to the park, and we were well on our way back to feeling normal.
The holiday
We spent the first couple of days staying with our friends in Sydney - they have two little girls of similar ages to ours, and they all had a great time with each other. We also caught up with some friends of ours from the UK who had moved back about 18 months before us, which was great to get a lie of the land.
After spending a couple of days in Sydney to recover (mostly successfully) from the flights and jetlag, we headed 2 hours up the road to Newcastle - our future home! This was the first chance to really put our new car through its paces, and to see whether it could fit all five of us and most of our worldly possessions. The result - just!
However, the Newcastle trip was just a flying visit to give Claudia a chance to drop in and meet her new work colleagues in person, and to actually properly say hello to my brother and his family. We were also planning on spending a bit of time looking around the area to get a feel for suburbs where we might want to live. This didn't really pan out though. The kids were still very much a full time job for the both of us, and with a very small Airbnb to stay in we spent most of the time at parks (or escaping the heat in airconditioned shopping centres).
Next, we went another 2 hours further north to a town called Arrawarra to meet up with my mum and have a holiday for a couple of days. This was a really nice time for us - we had a massive house all to ourselves with a huge lawn (plus a swing set and trampoline!) for the kids to really run around and tire themselves out. The beach here was also fantastic, with a creek and tons of nice areas for the kids to splash around. This was also the first time my mum had seen the kids in person since our last trip to Australia in 2022 - at that point, the twins were only just learning to roll over!
But all too soon, it was time to hit the road again for our final leg from Arrawarra up to Stanthorpe, where we would be basing ourselves for the next 6 weeks.
We spent all of December in Stanthorpe, apart from a couple of weekend trips to visit family and friends in Queensland. This gave us a great time to slow down a bit and recover from all of the manic planning, packing and travelling which had been a highlight of October and November. Mum took a couple of weeks off work too, and the girls loved having so much time with their Gran. It was also the first chance for us to start engaging with Australian beaurocracy, and.. well. To call it frustrating is a massive understatement, but that's probably for a separate blog post.
We were also able to make up a trip to Pittsworth to meet up with Dad's side of the family during December. This meant that we could finally introduce all three of the girls to their great-grandmother in person for the first time. A combination of travel restrictions and nursing home rules meant that my Nanna had not been able to meet them the last time we were in Australia. Nanna was pretty sleepy for most of our visit, but when she was awake she was watching the girls very keenly.
The house hunt
About two weeks before Christmas, Claudia and I were able to make a trip back down to Newcastle by ourselves to do some house inspections, with my mum, aunt and uncle looking after our kids for an entire weekend by themselves (not for the faint of heart)! This was also the first chance that Claudia and I had to get away by ourselves for multiple days in a long, long time, and it was absolutely amazing.
We had a list of about 5 properties that we wanted to see that weekend, but the first one was at 4:30pm on the Friday afternoon, which meant leaving Stanthorpe at about 7:30 in the morning (and we made it with about 10 minutes to spare). I'm very glad we did, because it was definitely the pick out of all of the properties we saw - and also the one we were lucky enough to have been accepted for!
That meant a separate roadtrip the following week just for one day to go and sign contracts and pick up the keys, but I got to spend the evening babysitting my niece and nephew in Newcastle, so not all bad.
As a result, we're technically living in Lake Macquarie instead of Newcastle, but for us it's the best of all worlds - we're about 10 minutes from the closest beach, 25 minutes from my brother, and we have a view of the eponymous lake which is pretty amazing.
Christmas
So, with a house organised and Claudia's job paperwork trundling away in the background, we were able to finally relax a bit and focus on a bit of family celebration at Christmas! We had an early morning phone/video call with Claudia's parents and sister too, which was bittersweet - it was great that we could share the morning with them, but it was the first time we haven't done Christmas at their house with the kids and that was a bit of a painful realisation and adjustment.
For the rest of the day, it was a big, multi-generation affair at Mum's house - my grandfather, mum, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins and niece and nephew. It was also the first time Claudia and the kids had some a summer Christmas - no roast dinners, but tons of delicious food and salads, followed by a paddling pool session and a BBQ in the evening. All in all, a fun and exhausting day.
The move
The New Year time was a bit of a funny period for us. Claudia was in Sydney to attend a christening, where she was asked to be godmother to one of the children of the couple we stayed with when we first arrived. So, she went down to Sydney on a solo roadtrip, and then started the process of kitting out the house. I stayed in Stanthorpe with my mum and the kids for New Year's, and then we headed down to meet up with Claudia on the 5th.
The car was absolutely jammed - I'm still amazed that we managed to fit a queen sized bedframe, two full cotbeds and mattresses, a computer, and various suitcases around 3 child seats (with children occupying them)! It did make for slightly awkward pit stops along the way though. Since Evie was sitting in the back row, any time she wanted to get out, we had to slide out the computer monitor, shift a suitcase and then get Evie to walk down the little walkway that created. But all of the girls were an absolute dream on that drive. In the entire 10 hours, I think we only heard about 15-20 minutes of crying the whole time. Other than that, they were happy looking out the window, spotting cars, and having chats or sing alongs. I really couldn't have asked for anything better.
Given that we had sold or donated most of our furniture in the UK, we were essentially kitting out the house from scratch. We managed to make the most of moving over the Christmas / New Year period by getting most of our appliances via Boxing Day sales. Claudia did a great job in those first couple of days by herself, and was able to find second hand furniture for most of the rooms, as well as coordinating deliveries of the appliances. By the time Mum and I arrived with the kids, there really wasn't a lot left for us to do apart from assemble the one bedframe and cots that we had brought down with us.
The grind
And so here we are - all moved in and ready to work! We found a daycare / preschool for the kids that we both liked, and they started there a couple of weeks ago. Claudia was due to start work this week, but has been held up waiting for her medical registration paperwork to complete (again, a rant that probably needs a separate blog post).
I've been madly applying for jobs since the end of December, but it has been slow going. At first it was understandable, given the Christmas / New Year period. But it's stayed relatively quiet throughout January - I think a big part of it is that I'm looking for a job that can be done mostly remote (I really don't feel like a 2.5hr commute to Sydney on a daily basis), but Australian employers are pushing for more people to be back in the office. Still, I've been through similar lulls in the UK and I just have to remind myself that something does eventually come along and I shouldn't jump on the first job that comes up in desparation.
Like I said at the top - the first couple of months have been a bit of a mixed bag - it's been great spending quality time with friends and family here, and finally ticking off items on our enormous list of things to do. But we both feeling a bit disheartened with how hard everything seems to be - individuals are welcoming and helpful, but the institutions and processes are definitely not!
I think we're also "mourning" our lives in the UK, if that is the right word. We had (have!) great friends, family and careers there, and right now we're just feeling adrift from all of that. I'm hoping this will feel better with time and when we start working again, but it's definitely something that plays on my mind a bit.
Anyway... Sucks to end the blog post on a bit of a downer, but that's where we are at the moment. Hopefully the next life update will be a bit more positive!
Yours etc,
Patto
P.S. One positive that has come out of the recent downtime is that I've finally been able to finish Baldur's Gate 3! Colour me very impressed.