Amazingly enough we hardly had any jetlag. The day before last we arrived at 14.30 at Perth airport. The actual immigration procedure didn't take any extra time at all. Just a simple stamp in the passports was all. After arriving at Louise's place we had a nice dinner and a nice chat. We were able to stay up untill 22.00 before crashing into bad. A good night sleep, and we were up and running the next morning.

Yesterday we went to the bank to change our addres and arrange some more account and bank cards. Also Peter bought a new mobile phone and a pair of sunglasses. At the end of the afternoon we had a look at a Ford dealer and saw an interesting (demo) Territory. This morning we went back for a test drive. After that drive and some tough negotiating we bought it !! We didn't expect beforehand that we would buy a car this fast, but we did...

When we will have some decent access through a broadband connection, we'll upload some photo's..

In Singapore

A short update: We are now on Singapore Airport. Local time is 06.30 am. Our connecting flight to Perth will leave in 3 hours. Just had a nice cup of cappucino. So far the flight was pretty much oke. The plane was filled only half. More news later...

Moving Day

At the end of a tiring day we are now sitting in an empty house to post this post (;-). The movers were gone by 3 pm, which was a bit earlier than expected. We have made over a 100 photo's today. You can find a few of them here.

Early this morning we have been measuring the weight of our suitcases and boxes. That was a shock, a total of about 115 kilograms. We are allowed to take 80 kgs with us. A quick call too Singapore Airlines learned that every kg above 80 would cost us 55 euro's. So, we were lucky that the movers were still working downstairs, so we had some time to empty some boxes and put stuff in the 'container' room. At the moment we have a total bagage weight of 78,5 kgs. And now we are hoping that at checking in they will agree on that...!

Our last working day

Tuesday, March 28 was the last day for me (Peter) to go to work and Thursday the 30th was Ellen´s last day. Not that any work has been done on these days, since they were our last ones! This were the days to say goodbye and farewell to our (Peter´s & Ellen´s) colleagues. The rest of this month is all holidays.

So, the situation that we won´t have a job at all will only occur if we do not find a job by May 1st. Even then, a few extra weeks of ´holiday´is not that bad either.....

Moving impression

The last days (more than a week in fact) we are busy organising all our stuff as a preparation for the actual moving day next Monday. We´re going through all the stuff to decide what we have to take with us on the plane, what can be thrown away (emigration is a very effective activity to really start sorting all your old stuff out ;-) and what can be sold or be given away. And of course what stuff has to be packed and loaded in the container by the moving company. Have a look at this short impression.

Farewell friends

Last Saturday we organised a little party to say farewell to our friends. Have a look at some photos here. We are still very amazed to find that the farewell´s still do not feel like a farewell at all! We´re still too anxious to get on the plane and get to Perth ;-)

Last Sunday we had our farewell dinner with the family at the Paradijs (Paradise), a local Chinese restaurant. As you can imagine it was a bit funny because on one hand this was not the very last time we´ll see them, but at the same time it is probably the last time (for some years at least) that we´re all together in this setting.
But the food was oke, and we´ll be saying the final goodbye´s (again, only for some years of course ;-) to all family members later this week or beginning next week.
Have a look at some photo´s made during this dinner.

Time is drawing nearer (not fast enough for us, really ;-). The last two weeks we have spent a lot of time in cleaning up and sorting out the stuff in the attic and in the garden shed. Some of the agreed stuff has already been picked up by our neighbours. Since last Sunday we have no more plants in the house!

Little over a week ago we went to our favorite restaurant (Japanese restaurant Kyoto in Veldhoven) where we had our 'last' dinner cooked by Ming. If you're ever in the neighbourhood of Veldhoven and like to have a very nice meal, do have a meal at Kyoto's !! Here are some pictures of our last meal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perthpete/sets/72057594080993709/

Some more goodbyes coming week are saying goodbye to our hairdesser, Maartje. She has been cutting Peter's hair for maybe close to 20 years. Thanks, Maartje!

Although it's only three weeks from tomorrow before we'll be flying, we are still pretty busy with all the cleaning up, sorting out, plan activities etc, which prevents us from getting nervous!

Slowly but surely we are starting to say goodbye's. Peter's cousin and his wife came by this afternoon to say goodbye (ok, one month earlier than expected, but what the ... ;-).

After the dinner table and chairs and some smaller plants where picked up last week, today our big palm-plant (2m high) has been picked up. Another new empty spot in the house!

A lot of times we are asked why we are emigrating to Australia, and although it is not very simple to explain it, the following link does cover a big part of it:
http://www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com

Another link that we would like to share with you is the following one. This Sunset Cottage is the house that we will be renting from the end of April till the end of June (and after that, who knows, maybe stay there a bit longer, maybe we'll be looking for a house to buy of our own):
http://www.ozstays.com/7896

SOLD - SOLD - SOLD - SOLD - SOLD - SOLD

Hi all,
As of today it is formal, the financial condition has passed without the buyers making use of it! (See the picture, for the non-Dutch readers: VERKOCHT means SOLD).

So, this morning we have also booked the (one way !) tickets to Perth. Yesterday evening we have been looking into possibilities about leaving as early as possible. We found that if Ellen works 3 Fridays (we normally do not work on Fridays) we can even leave a week earlier than our last plan.

So, we expect to arrive in Perth on Thursday April 6th, 2006. Scheduled arrival time 14:35.
Of course, we´ll probably spent some time at immigrations before actually leaving the airport ;-)