19th
August 2012
Hello
Everyone, it has been soooooo long!!
I
have been very bad at keeping in touch lately as so much has been happening. However
Mick and I are alive and kicking and in great form.
So
how are you? I hope everyone is doing well and that all is going good for you
in your lives. Email me your news as soon as you can, I love reading it and
makes me feel like im at home!!
Right… where do I start…
Well
firstly, we will be seeing you at Christmas if any of you are about!! Wooooo!!!!
Our cunning plan to put everyone off by saying we were heading to New Zealand
for Christmas didn’t last long. A family wedding, a christening and retired
parents all got in the way, but we were only too delighted to let the news out
and tell our families we were coming home- especially to celebrate these
events- means so much to us. Keeping that big of a secret that we were coming
home was just too hard. We had booked our flights in February and since then have
been counting down the weeks until we fly. We will be home on the 20th
December and will fly back again on the 17th Jan – so we have a good
month to catch up with everyone. We cant wait to see our families and all I can
say WATCH OUT PENNEYS!!! Bring on Christmas eve drinkies, steves night and New
Years…CANT WAIT!
Our
second piece of news is our most important- I have been officially sponsored with
Reckitt Benckiser and Mick as my partner so we are now both on a new visa- the 457 visa which means we can stay here and work until 2016. (And I don’t have to
do the regional work) We found out on July 17th when we got the official
notification and to say we are over the moon is possibly the biggest
understatement. In two years time- in 2014 we will be able to apply for
Permanent residency which is the ultimate goal at the minute. I got the
notification just in time, two days in time in fact… I only had two days left
of the 6months Working Holiday Visa allocation in RB and if I hadn’t heard anything
it would have meant that I would have to stay at home unpaid until it came
through but thank god that didn’t happen. I just carried on as normal. I didn’t
even realize that it could have been an issue.
Too
say that the minute we heard about the visa everything changed is also an
understatement… immediately that same day I applied for an apartment. We hadn’t
applied previously as you need to have an employers reference and it was better
to have one saying I was a permanent staff member rather than a contractor....
and the following day we found out we had been accepted. Weeks before Mick and
I had been apartment hunting and checking them out. I had found one in Balmain
that was partially furnished, which suited us down to the ground only to find
out that once we moved in the furniture would now be ours and we could do with
it what we liked. EXCELLENT!! Within a week we were out of the sharehouse
(THANK GOD) and now we are in our own place. It is fantastic. Dont get me
wrong, the sharehouse was great for what it was but I cannot stress enough the
following : 1. Being able to leave your toilet roll in the bathroom and it not
to be stolen 2. Being able to have a clean kitchen 3. Being able to watch TV
when you want. 4. Being able to leave your food in the kitchen and it not being
stolen and finally 5. Being able to leave your cups on the draining board and
no one taking them. Oh and also having a steady supply of knives and forks in the
cutlery drawer!!! It took us a full day to move and clean out the sharehouse
room and then another day to put it all way. I cant believe how much stuff we
have accumulated already – correction how much I have accumulated. My parents
will be able to understand this!! So since moving into the new place we have
been decorating and preparing for our soon to be housemates- Gary and Fiona! So
bring it on ;) And having our own place is BLISS beyond BLISS. The peace is
unreal!
Work
wise all I can say is that my job has exploded and so far im loving it. Im
still half packaging half master data but its going to go more into master data
in a big way over the next few months… im liking the challenge and of course
its keeping me busy. Mick has changed jobs and is now back bricklaying and is
happy out. So all is going well for us and we have been very lucky so far. Fingers
crossed it all keeps up!!
Otherwise
we don’t really have much more news if truth be told. We are just working and
living. We have been exploring Balmain going to a few pubs and cafes and
walking around at the weekends. Yesterday we went to ANZ Stadium and saw the
Ozzies play the All Blacks. It was a great experience and not too cold. The
Ozzies lost booo. But the All Blacks are the All Blacks… sure you know
yourself! We spent yesterday in IKEA getting a few final bits for the apartment
and today we headed to Manly Beach for fish and chips. Yummy. (I think I got a
wee bit sunburnt!) And now I finally get to contact you guys!
And
with that I will bid you goodbye! I will try and make contact sooner the next
time. I look forward to your emails.
Much
Love
Karen
