Now for the Nursery....

Work is progressing well in the nursery with Beth doing ALL the dirty work (between rests!) ... I'm working real hard catching up from missing a week (1:45am here... just finished!)with the move so Beth has been left locked in the Nursery with the sander, emerging every so often covered in dust for a lie down. I'm not making her do it honest!!!!!

We're going to give everything a nice coat of paint, and set up the shelves (now expertly built by Beth) ready for the baby. Matt and Brett (fathers to be!)noted that their ladies started to bake cakes and clean everything ready for the baby (some kind of maternal built in nest building mechanism apparently!)... I think Beth has got the "gotta to get the paint off everything and rake up the leaves in the garden!" part of it! She's still doing great though....

It's not all sunshine you know...

As you move into Spring it seems that we are well and truly into Autumn. Beth and I have been in the spare room scrabbling around for jumpers! Its barely 17 degrees here today, a stark contrast to the weather we've had this week, yseterday was 48 degrees in the sun!

... Beth upset that she can't get into the garden today, now that she has her secateurs there's no stopping her!

Clocks go back and forward...

The clocks went back and forward this weekend. While in the UK you lost an hour we had an extra hour of sleep or bashing malfunctioning electrical goods! As a result we are now just nine hours ahead of you rather than the eleven. Although I struggle to get my head around the time difference thing I think it means that its easier for us to get in touch with you and for you to get in touch with us (although having said that it will only be a month or so before we'll be up at all hours of the day and night anyway!)

Two blokes in a Wardrobe...

Work has well and truely started on the nursery (about time to... only five weeks to go!). Matt and I went to get the wood cut so that we could line the existing wardrobe which is a "built in" Although the flower background (see pictures) has some attraction we've decided to freshen things up by lining the cupboard with wood so that its easier to clean. Then we can put our IKEA storage unit inside and find homes for all the nappies we've started buying (weekly specials!!!!) and paint it.

Matt and I have got the two biggest pieces of wood in and it was good to watch a real craftsman work, being an engineer helps I guess. Matt will often say "Some people will often do ....." and make a mistake, no Matt its not some people its me! :0)

It's good to have someone with the skill and the tools to do a job properly... I'm on a steep learning curve (vertical!) Thanks for your help Matt!

I'm so ******* ****** off!

I'm so ******* angry. Went to sort out some tunes for our Haiwian House Party next week and the only tune I'm getting is a annoying bleeping sound from my hard disc, which can only be described as a squeal of death! A google search lead me to a message board where over 180 other swearing and fustrated people had posted messgaes to say that their hard disc was now musical. The only response from the company who make them is that their hard drives don't make noises... We'll mine does you ******* *****!

I've tried everything suggested in the thread to get it working which some people found kick started their drives.... however after several hours of shaking and tapping it and then hitting it with a hammer it's still dead, and overnight stay in the freezer (as suggested) also resulted in no success!

There goes all my music collected over years and years, now seriously thinking of getting rid of the mixer and everything I'm so hacked off! My short DJ career consisting of two weddings, a house party and an illegal rave on a campsite in Cornwall could be over! :0(

I'm off to sweep up what's left of the drive and then wash my mouth out with soap!

More proof that pregnancy isn't ALL bad!

More proof today that being pregnant has its advantages as Beth disappeared off the the Ocean Baths again. Much better weather today so chance to catch some rays of sunlight and sit back with a coffee...

... would have taken some of what I was up to but pictures of me sitting at a laptop in a dark air conditioned room with all the doors and windows closed and the blinds down to keep the sun/heat out is about as interesting as watching me cut grass! :0)

Sorry about the black corner of the picture, no its not a thumb, its the lens cap of the camera which sometimes doesn't open all the way.... its just one of the many ailments that the camera is suffering due to age!

Barnsley FC vrs Dudley - Readhead FC

... Match posponed, pools panel say score draw.

Got a call this morning that our first pre-season game at Barnsley has been posponed due to a waterlogged pitch!!!!! We've been having some strange weather of late 30 degrees plus during the day and buckets of rain in the evening!

Training going well with "some" of the fitness coming back... three goals in training and one at indoor soccer mean that I'm on something of a goal trail ;0) I'm also still coming to terms with the fact that team mates can't believe I'm not old enough to play over 35's!!!... I had a really hard paper round you know!

The times they are a changing...

As Bob Dylan (note word Great not used... don't really rate him!) once said "The times they are a changing!", and there were more visible signs today. Beth had encouraged me to take a break from work and go out into the garden to hang out the washing... (She's gone for Coffee, cake and swimming!). After bravely removing the Huntsman Spider (insect spray from distance and very long stick!), that had decided that our washing line was a good place to hang out, I hung out the washing as requested!

There are little signs (all white ones in this case...!) that changes are coming.



I'm sure this will be a familiar scene for the next couple of years and beyond!



Reassuringly there are also some things in this world that never change! :0)

Water babes & babies...

Beth went off to the Ocean Bath's at Merewether on Tuesday and came back raving about it. She was there with Kate and Kelly and the three of them got some exercise (arms, legs and jaw muscles!) and some sea air. Basically the sea bath is a walled enclosure of sea water measuring 100m x 50m filled with you guessed it sea water. It's popular all year around and a safer alternative to the sea (calmer & less chance of being eaten/stung). Newcastle has two and they are popular with everyone it seems from families to old people who do that special not get their hair wet swim thing!

I think that Beth is enjoying catching up with the girls and sharing all her pregnancy experiences and issues (Most not fit for blog discussion!)Kelly (middle)is now overdue and Kate doesn't have long to go either. They will be causing further panic in the Ocean Bath (onlookers though they had come for a multiple water birth!) when they return on Thursday!

On the inside...

Now that things are starting to be sorted out we thought that we better take some pictures of the inside of the house (we'll at least the tidy bits!) The bedrooms are the bits still to be sorted, and work on the nursery starts this weekend...

It's been great this week to have time to sit down and enjoy the house, we still can't quite believe its ours!!! Still enough chat, here it is....

Happy Mothers Day..... (just!)

The Walker and Ivey mums had a nice surprise through the post over the weekend after Beth and I were alerted to the fact that it was Mothers Day! We hope that we could be excused for nearly missing it as we have been so busy, but the fact that Australia have Mother's Day in May didn't help!

All turned out nicely in the end, lots of love to our Mums, hope you had a lovely day... you deserve it!

IKEA...

Just when you thought it was safe!!! .. we managed to find one of the very few IKEA stores in Australia (Living in Exeter and Plymouth certainly had its advantages!). We thought we might as well give it a go while we were in Sydney, we know that John (Beth's dad) will be upset that he missed out but I'm sure we could fit in another trip when he flies back out!!!!

Shopping from 5pm until 7pm (Yes on a Sunday... it does make sense, gotta be better than sitting at home watching Heartbeat repeats!) we managed to pick up the rest of the stuff for the living room. We now have everything we need to get by in terms of furniture, and we also have space to store all the baby supplies that we are starting to buy!

As I type this Beth is banging away in the living room trying to create a filing cabinet from the bits that IKEA may or may not have packed into the box! (Building furniture in your pyjamas is not recommended!)

Georgia Rose...

Sunday took us down to Sydney for the christening of Georgia Rose. Brett and Annette had kindly invited us along to share the occasion. It was a long day with a party for Olivia (Georgia's big sister!) before the christening followed by some lovely food, and Rugby League commentary on the radio after!

Picture Perfect...

Now that we are settling in to the new house we want to put up some reminders of you guys at home, we have a big photo frame with lots of little windows in it ready to be filled by you lovely people. So what we want you to do is to send us a digital image of yourself (you can even let your partner &/or children be in it if you like!!)

Send pictures to ...

ivey dot paul @ googlemail dot com

... and we'll print them out and pop them in the frame!

We do miss you all and hearing our little friend Hannah Evans say "Hello Beth and Paul" today made our day. Happy 2nd Birthday Hannah... have a lovely day today and we hope you enjoy your party this week!

Summat Fishy going on...

There was definitely something fishy going on today as we got to grips (literally!) with the fish tank! It was something we purchased from the previous owner of the house. He was obviously fully aware of how difficult it is to move and so was more than happy to sell it to us. We knew that Matt and Sharron were after one and so we got it for their house by way of a thank you for having us there for three months.

Starting at 9am we drained the water and caught the fish (I'm suprised that anglers don't use plastic buckets... I had some sucess!), Matt, Beth and I then spent the rest of the morning cleaning all the glass, gravel, rocks, stones, filters and pipes. It was then time for the big move although we did have to call in the reinforcements to help lift the now empty tank... it was heavy being over six feet in length! Safely in the car Matt, Joel (No not the little one... Matt's friend!) pushed the tank upstairs. In its new home it will look stunning and we hope that the Walkers @ Gardners Street get a lot of enjoyment from it.

We were finished at around 6pm... Matt then help us move some living room furniture and its almost sorted. IKEA on Sunday then some pictures for you... honest!

Almost there...

We've been getting reports that because we've not posted any pictures of the inside of the house we are hiding the horrors within! (lime green wall in post below!) .... this isn't the case it's just that at the moment we're still unpacking! The good news is that as you can see from the picture of our garage we are almost finished! (those who have known Ivey/Walker garages in Exeter will see that its taking on a familiar appearance!)

Now that the move is completed (Wasn't the same without Lloyd, persistant rain, three flights of stairs and a sprial staircase!!!!!) we are really settling in. We just need to remove a fishtank to rival the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth and then we can start taking some pictures for you guys.

Mow Show... and Australian Shopping!

Having thought that I'd got a bargain in buying an electric Grass Cutter it soon became apparent that I was probably the only person in Australia not using a petrol one! I was quite happy with the 40metre extension lead but with second thoughts not that practical for cutting the grass on a 600+ metre corner plot.... so back to the DIY shop it went!

Petrol mowers aren't cheap and so we are waiting for some to come up on "special," apparently last time there was a big offer they were all gone in 30 minutes!.. Beth and I turned up a full four days later expecting to get one!

We've now changed tactics with some success. Here are our tips for getting a bargain.

1, Pick up leaflets tossed onto your lawn on the Tuesday/Wednesday (no letter box!)
2, Study leaflets... look for stuff you ACTUALLY need (Beth then files the leaflets in a folder!!!... this is for experienced bargain hunters only!)
3, Wait for Wednesday night... set alarm clock!
4, Thursday morning get to shops!
5, Buy items... (in this case entertainment unit for TV!)

6, Spend six hours in 40 degree heat in a garage trying to assemble the parts provided so that the finished product looks something like the picture on the box!

... Then there's nothing to do but wait for next weeks leaflets.

Don't let a lack of cash stop you shopping... oh no!... put them on "layby!" You pay a deposit and they look after the item until you can pay for it in full!

The only other thing to remember is never pay full price for anything, a useful phrase to use is "Strewth mate.... how much for cash?"

Anyway back to the grass... we borrowed Matt's mower and mowed the lawn! (Promise not to post any more pictures of routine household chores eg: Paul loads dishwasher, Beth's cleans bathroom etc!)

Little bit of politics...

Maybe this isn't the right place for politics but when it concerns us and our new lives in Australia I guess it's worth a mention.

The debate in Australia at the moment is simliar to that at home, namely the number of immigrants entering the country (legally/illegally) and how they conduct themselves when they get here!

Some reccent quotes from the Australian government include;

"People who do not want to accept local values should "clear off. Basically people who don't want to be Australians, and who don't want, to live by Australian values and understand them, well then, they can basically clear off."

"IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture."

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."

"If you don't like "A Fair Go" or Australian values offend you, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others."

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom,

'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here So accept the country YOU accepted."

... this seems a far cry from local councils in England banning St. George crosses on buildings during the World Cup etc so not to cause offence!

... as new immagrants ourselves this all seems fair comment! We've always wanted to come here and live the life, we don't want to change it or make our little bit of Australia little Britain!

If people are interested in jam making, village cricket, Summer Fetes and morris dancing then we'll share them but we're doing everything we can to be Australian citizens. :0)

Two's company... three's a Birthing Group!

The house saw its first guests last night. We bravely decided to try a new recipe (damn you Oliver!!!!!) and cooked for nine hungry mouths.... well six really as three are yet to truly arrive! We've missed people at home terribly and getting out and meeting people is hard while you both work from home... so it's been tough!

We joined birthing classes at the local Hospital and that has probably been the best thing we've done since we've been here. In true Australian style Matt & Kate and Brett and Kelly were friendly and welcoming. We're in the same boat as far as expecting babies so its been good to find out and share things together! Kelly should be first (far left!) Kate next (right!) followed by baby Ivey about four weeks later!

The support persons (not pictured) have more than being expectant fathers in common as we have also established that we have the same haircut!!!

It's a jungle out there...

We sat outside to eat our lunch today and looked around the garden. It's great to have our own little oasis outside our front door. We treated ourselves to some gardening gloves the other day (either that or I'm touching nothing!) and we got stuck into clearing the deadwood! Beth found a tree saw in the bargain bucket at the DIY store and foolishly gave it to me, it amazing how much damage a 40p tool can do! I started by chopping down a branch that came down with the classic, creaking and tree fall sound! Looking up at where the branches used to be I decided that it looked a little bare in one particular spot so I carried on, clearing a little further on either side. One hour later we had quite a pile of debris to clear!

Beth got stuck in to some weeding (remember the thirty minutes of something???) and then came in for a lie down!

Bumpwatch #6

So only three more Bumpwatches to go then and then its Bub Watch (sorry for the lack of imagination with the titles... can you come with anything better?)

Beth s filling out nicely and entering the uncomfortable not really sleeping that well phase that experienced parents are telling us is good prepration for when the baby comes along! All our friends from our parenting classes are starting to have their babies now and so we feel closer than ever!

This morning we had another hospital check up and everything still looks perfect so we're keeping fingers crossed that as baby settles into position everything will go well! Beth was like a pin cushion this morning with lots of needles putting things in and taking stuff out.

(just a little...) Down and Out

Got up at silly O'clock to listen to the match live on the internet. Not the result I was looking for although Argyle seem to have given a good account of themselves. The FA Cup run was starting to worry me as I promised to travel back to the UK to watch Argyle if they ever made it to the Premier League or an FA Cup Final (thinking it was unlikely!) ... the passport is back in the cupboard for a little while longer!

Anyway I'm not sure how happy Beth would have been if I had dissapeared back to England two weeks after the baby arrived! ;0)

Ollie has got the lads playing well so I'm not ruling out a return in the next couple of years!!!

... The blog colour has been changed to green to mark this years cup run!

On the outside...

We thought that we would put this little slide show together to show you what the outside of the house looks like. It's dificult to take inside pictures at the moment due to all the boxes we are sorting through, we promise to post something when we have sorted through the boxes. We hope you like the outside anyway?

(unpacking) Boxing Day...

On the Thursday we returned the truck and waited for our washing machine and fridge freezer to arrive... which they did. The washing machine is a top loader which is very much the go over here. It was plumbed in by yours truly and now stands proudly in the laundry room. The fridge freezer is massive by most English standards 520 litres, but not the biggest here... some have double doors, make crushed ice for you and one we saw even had a 16" television in it!!!!

After the fridge and the washing machine came the Pest Control man to treat the house and garden as we didn't know when this was last done. We have quite a big garden (yard!!!) here and we want everything to be safe for the baby, Liam, Joel and us! The man opened the hatch into the roof, but couldn't see anything (the roof is filled with pipes for the ducted air conditioning which enters in each room through a vent in the ceiling). He sprayed the ceiling space with dust............. it then rained three inch cockroaches through the vents for half an hour... at which point Beth decided to visit Sharron! He said that it was the second worse case he had seen!!! Cockroaches only come out at night but there were making a run for it due to the dust! Getting braver by the minute I managed to evict most of them. The Pest Control man then sprayed the entire outside of the house, garage and garden!

In the afternoon I managed to meet some of the neighbours who all seem really nice.

In the evening exhausted after two days of lifting and a game of football I had a shower and bumped into the biggest spider I have ever seen! Up on the wall in the Laundry the Huntsman didn't stand a chance against the power of the spray! Beth laughed because I used so much spray on it that it was completely white!... better safe than sorry!

The cockroach showers died off and they could be seen all over the garden... everything living or dead seemed to be on its back with its legs in the air!! Rich pickings for the magpies that live in our trees! (if you are wondering we saw three... so that's one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl!.. Beth now convinced!)

Beth is loving the house, I'm loving the house AND Bunnings Warehouse (imagine B&Q!).

The BIG move...

Well the time came and we went to pick up the van before picking up the keys to the house. The man who talked us through the truck didn't fill us with any confidence but it was cheap!... and despite rolling backwards down a hill in a line of traffic before braking and then engaging reverse (this vehicle is reversing ... beep beep!) it was all fairly straight forward. Beth had done lots of the hard work preparing to move the boxes to their new (and final!!!) home. Sharron and Joel helped load the van with almost everything we have here and it was off to the new house (we had to pick up the sofa by 5pm!). I unloaded all the boxes onto the decking including a double ma tress on my back like a turtles shell! Beth then got the call to get the keys from the Estate Agent (Real Estate.... here) and we were in and she was carried over the threshold. :0)

Matt, Liam and I then went to collect the sofa and the washing line while we had the van ... so at least we have somewhere to sit and to dry clothes! We also collected a sofa bed so that any visitors have a place to sleep!

Our first home together, we've spent so long renting that it was really nice to walk around our home making a list of all the little things that need doing.

I was a really tiring day for everyone... but everything went to plan.

House Move Eve...

So this is it.... we get the house on Wednesday afternoon. All the formalities are over, the deposit paid, the contracts signed and the final inspection of the house completed today!

We've spent today sorting through the boxes that have cluttered up Matt and Sharron's lovely house for sooooo long. I'm not sure how people emigrate with no connections this end (although they managed it!), it has been so nice to have such caring people to allow us to bombard them with constant questions, store all our stuff all over the inside (and outside) of their house and let us eat them out of house and home (we are eating for three!). Thanks to both of them for making our arrival and house buy as stress free as it gets.

This week we've also been scouring Ebay Australia for bargains, with some success! We bought an outside table and chairs for £82.80 and a washing line (a massive one of them whirly gig thingies!) for £4.20!

We'll be off line for a few days while we sort out the Internet connection and I recover from lifting all the boxes that Beth isn't allowed to lift! But we'll return with lots of house pictures, and a box by box account of the move. We'll also take lots of pictures of the house so that you can where we're at!!

See you soon....

Bloomin Blog...

We're having reports from a few people that say they are unable to see some of the video footage or even get on the blog itself! If you do have problems (you won't see this post so it's pointless!) do let us know so that we can do something about it! We wouldn't want you to miss out... particularly as things are just about to get exciting!!!

UPDATE...

The Bumpwatch live clip was removed but is now back! ... It seems as if there is a problem with Blogger rather with the computers having problems. I'll update later.... but if you know someone who hasn't been able to get on...

1. Tell them we're ok!
2. Tell us who they are!
3. Cross your fingers and hope that Blogger fix the bug!

UPDATE...

What's doing down under welcomes back some Telewest Broadband viewers who were having problems viewing the blog. Hopefully you can look forward to problem free updates. :0)

The New Address...

Just in case you were thinking about popping in for a cuppa sometime we thought we better give you our new address... then we thought better of putting it on here! Print out and keep pictures of the inside of our house alongside the address and details of when we're out of the house would have burglars from the world over booking flights!

So we'll send out emails... if we miss you we might have lost your address so you might wanna email me at...

ivey dot paul at googlemail dot com

.. I've typed it like this so that those "bots" that search the web for email addresses don't get mine and bombard me with spam emails about "performance enhancing medicines" or "services of an adult nature" that I could buy into! The Internet is a wonderful thing but has it's downsides!