Arriving in Australia!

Having left the UK, here's some news about our stopover in Singapore, a side trip to the Maldives, our arrival in Aus for Australia Day and our first month downunder - crikey mate, a month already....?!?

Feb 18th - Feb 22nd, 2007
Spent another week with our new landlord friend, Matt, in Melbourne tying up yet more official stuff. Collected our first batch of business cards and, I still don't believe it, we managed to get our new phone number wrong! It was all going so well.... Then the final job before we left for Perth, we met an accountant. We had to laugh because he's been developing his own accounts software in Excel so we asked whether he would like it finished off as a database. He suggested that we contact him when return, so we might be able to get some money off an accountant for a change!

Feb 9th - Feb 16th, 2007
We arrived back in Melbourne to the news that Paul and Michelle's baby has arrived. Her imminent arrival was why we weren't able to stay with them and the reason for us turning up on Matt's doorstep! We stopped by the hospital and were introduced to Ella, at only 7lbs she is the smallest baby we've ever seen!

On the 11th we took a trip to Mordialloc, another Melbourne suburb, to take part in a meeting of ex-pats which had been arranged via one of the web forums we belong to. Typically, when a group of Brits arrange a day out, it rained. But it waited until we had arrived, dressed for a sunny day so we all froze. But it was a fun meeting and we'll be keeping in touch with all the guys we met.

During the last week we have acquired our Aussie driving licences, been vetted by the AIPP (the Australian Institute of pro photographers) prior to applying for membership and booked our flights back to the UK for our July/August trip - hopefully we'll get to see some of you!

Feb 5th - Feb 9th, 2007
A quick question. Can you guess where these photos were taken?

Yes, of course, it's Sydney. Amazing how a building can be so instantly recognisable! These aren't old photos, we treated ourselves to a 4 day trip just to take these for you.......

Well, actually we decided to fly over to Sydney because Kim had the opportunity to meet up with a couple of business contacts plus we had the offer of a day's work to research a venue for a planned photo library trade exhibition to be staged by a UK acquaintance of Kim's. We are hopeful that this exhibition might attract the large libraries from over here and further afield and it would be a good way of making new contacts in the business and renewing others.

We also took the ferry to Manly, near to Freshwater where our friends Nat and Ian used to live. I say 'used to' because when they heard we were moving to Australia they promptly moved back to the UK! It did seem strange visiting Manly without being able to call in and see them! However, we caught up with some other friends Sion and Fiona and as they run their own catering company we hope to involve them in the plans for the exhibition.

Jan 27th - Feb 4th, 2007
Have spent this week doing the tedious official stuff - visited a goverment office to register our business names (not something we had to worry about in the UK) and registered for our TFNs (tax file numbers) so we can now pay Australia some tax! Great! That's assuming we earn enough to pay tax of course! We also managed to register for Medicare (the health service) and, MOST IMPORTANT, we applied for ambulance insurance. We were amazed to find out that this insurance is needed but if you require an ambulance trip to hospital you can get billed for hundreds of dollars - unless you require a helicopter ambulance, in which case you can expect a bill in the thousands of dollars! So, $130 poorer we can now get whisked to hospital from anywhere in the country for no further charge. Sensible idea we thought, thinking of our planned trip across the desert!

Jan 26th, 2007
AUSTRALIA DAY! Awoke to find another fabulous day, clear sky and warming up nicely. Many businesses closed today so unable to get an internet connection, AGAIN. Took a tram down to the beach at St Kilda, one of our favourite suburbs and one which is on our list of places to live. It's quite bohemian, like Brighton, and we feel at home straight away! Had hoped to meet some other Brits at a pre-arranged meeting on the beach but we hadn't managed to get sufficient info to find them! So we spent a couple of hours at a beach bar then retired to the beach to catch some rays! In the evening we took the opportunity to see the incredible public firework display at the riverside in the city - some of the fireworks were sited on the top of city office blocks and looked spectacular, especially when it appeared that the tallest tower had a massive fire blazing on it's roof - actually maybe it had.....

Jan 25th, 2007
Our first whole day here! After a lie-in we walked the local high street to find a phone shop and managed to get a deal on Aussie SIM cards for our mobiles - cheaper phone calls at last! Then we found our bank and sorted out various debit cards etc, starting to get the official stuff sorted.... At last, an internet cafe - able to check emails etc. Had felt like really cut off without access to the internet, it's amazing how quickly you get to rely on the availability of a connection!

Jan 24th, 2007
WE ARRIVE IN AUSTRALIA!! Our Melbourne friend Paul collected and delivered us to his mate's apartment. His friend Matt is a typically laid-back Aussie and has offered to put us up for the 2 or 3 weeks we expect to be in Melbourne before heading off on our walkabout in Western Australia. Matt's place is in South Yarra, a posh suburb of the city and very well placed to easy access to the city and the beaches. Only one problem, Matt doesn't have either a phone OR a broadband connection.... arrgh, how will we cope? Must investigate internet cafes tomorrow!

Jan 22nd - Jan 24th, 2007
Flew back to Singapore and this time we stayed with our friends Nick and Vivian at their lovely apartment right by the Singapore Botanical Gardens. On the 5th floor we looked out from their balcony straight into the canopy of the surrounding trees, a lovely peaceful location so close to the city!

We decided not to do too much this time - we normally spend our days in Singapore wandering from one photo opportunity to another. So we had a gentle walk around Chinatown which is gearing up for Chinese New Year - what a shame we'll miss the celebrations, apparently they are stunning. In fact in all our visits here we have only experienced one major occasion, Christmas 1995.

Jan 18th - Jan 21st, 2007
Flew into Male in the Maldives late in the evening and were sent via a mad speed boat ride to Anantara, a new island resort which only opened 4 months ago. What a stunning place, we'll add a few pictures shortly. We're managing to get lots of rest which we feel we need after the madness of the last few months. This seems to be the first time we have had to actually sit still for a few days and reflect on what we're doing!

In the meantime though, this page is being updated as I sit looking at the Indian Ocean from the patio of our beachfront villa. The waves are lapping at the sand only 15 metres away, the temperature is in the 90's and it's another perfect day. In fact I'm wondering why I'm working instead of relaxing!

Jan 12th - Jan 17th, 2007
Arrived in Singapore and immediately felt drawn to the shops in Orchard Road, the usual effect that this city has on Kim! We also met up with Tony and Emma at Raffles, they are also planning to move to Melbourne so it was good to exchange experiences and thoughts. On day 2, RAIN.. plus we felt a little dazed with jet-lag so we stayed around the hotel and lazed. Day 3 we managed to get to the holiday resort island off Singapore called Sentosa which we haven't visited for a number of years - lots of new things to see there, just as there are all around this fast changing city. Day 4 we were off exploring the city and updating photo stock as many new things to photograph had appeared since our last visit. Day 5 was a lazy day by the hotel pool, another hard day then!

cheers for now, Steve & Kim