Tuesday 25th March 2008
We woke up early today because we need to get the kids back into a routine ready to go back to school tomorrow. After breakfast we went to a car paint and panel shop to arrange for the last piece of work that should have been done by the dealer in Clarkson to be done to the car. The work that needs doing is only minor and you can’t help but think that if they had any sense they would just make us an offer that we might accept and walk away without all this aggravation, but they are insistent that the job is done so we will have to let them do it although the bit that will hurt them is the cost of car hire while the work is being done.
We met a carpet salesman at the house this morning and on the way there we dropped Marisa off at one of her new found friend’s house. We are hoping to have virtually the whole house re-carpeted before our belongings turn up on 9th April so we are pushing it a bit bearing in mind that because of the amount of carpet required it will have to be ordered in which can take 2 weeks, still a little bit of pressure never hurt anyone.
After that we went and saw another carpet guy and arranged to meet him at the house in the afternoon before picking up Marisa from her friends and going to the Café to catch up on emails and have some lunch.
The Café was heaving and we managed to get the last table, Carolyn and the kids went in and ordered drinks while Ian went round to the bank to have a few words about our fax being sent to the Café, they were suitably apologetic and assured us that it wouldn’t happen again.
After lunch we headed for the house and met salesman number 2 who measured up the entire house muttering this is a bloody big place as he wandered from room to room, it sounds like it is going to be expensive but we intend to be here for a few years so we need to make sure we get it right first time. When he had finished measuring up he said if we pop into the office on the way back he will have worked out a price. The kids who had got bored with the whole thing had taken themselves off to the local park while he was measuring, so after we had locked up we drove round to pick them up and found them having a great time playing with a load of other local kids, needless to say we got a load of whinging from them because they wanted to stay but they will have plenty of time for that when we move in.
We went back to salesman No 2’s office and found that our initial fears had been proved right, it doesn’t help that Carolyn only feels comfortable on a certain type of carpet (an expensive one), but as they say you get what you pay for and we want something that will last. We haven’t got the quote from salesman No 1 yet but he is one of the guys that can afford to plague us with adverts on TV while we are trying to watch a good film so we don’t imagine he will come in cheapest. We do have salesman No 3 going in tomorrow morning, he is from a town centre Furniture, electrical, carpets, anything household type store so we may get a result there.
We then had a look round another appliance store in town and were assured that virtually everything on show was available for immediate delivery which put Carolyn’s mind at rest. When we were staying at Sharon’s house she was telling us how in that part of WA if you wanted major appliances or furniture like fridges, cookers and 3 piece suites you could be waiting up to 8 weeks for delivery, fortunately it does not seem to work like that in Busselton.
We have come up with a theory on this phenomena which may or may not be accurate or of any interest to you but it shows that we have thought about it, some might say that we have too much time on our hands but we like to think that by studying and analysing the local customs and habits we are learning about our potential customers and will hopefully be able to utilise what we have learned to benefit the business.
This is it; Busselton is a well established area which has catered for a fairly large population over a large area for many years, during that time fashions have come and gone but there has always been a market for traditional appliances and items of furniture, things that people have grown up with, know how to use and have great faith in, things that they know will last. This has given the retailer information on trading patterns over many years and although there is a fair amount of building going on in the area we reckon the local retailers will be able to tell within a couple of units what and how many they will sell within a given month.
North of Perth there is so much building going on, it is all being sold at inflated prices to migrants who for some reason will not live in the area that they work. These migrants have come out here because they are fed up with the UK, commuting to work in Manchester or London or wherever they may come from and think that they are now going to be happier commuting for a couple of hours a day to Perth in 40 degree heat. They then spend the weekend partying with their new found friends, also from the UK, who also needed a lifestyle change and are now commuting to Perth on a regular basis. Anyway enough of that, these migrants come from so many different backgrounds, have different priorities, are swayed more by fashion and keeping up with the Jones’s than the local population and have money to burn which is great for the migrant but an absolute nightmare for the retailer who is dealing with mainly new custom. Because the population is so young and a trading pattern has not yet been set up the retailer uses his head, he has a huge selection of showroom models but nothing out the back because he can’t afford to hold stock that might overnight become unfashionable and in turn become unsaleable. So the punter places the order with the retailer, the retailer places it with the wholesaler who is pretty much in the same position as the retailer but who knows the name of the rep at the manufacturer who then places the order with the manufacturer who is running on such tight margins that they don’t dare hold any stock and only manufacture to order. Hence the 8 week wait just to live happily ever after in little England, north of Perth, in fact isn’t that the way the system works in England? Amazing really.
We think we have made the right decision coming south where the economy is more stable but then we would say that wouldn’t we, after all when we order our fridge and washing machine we are going to get it the next day nah nah.
We hope you enjoyed that little bit of waffle and should we ever receive any awards for our observations we will have to dedicate them to the TV advertisers of Western Australia without whom we would have been watching a good film uninterrupted and going slowly brain dead.
Early dinner tonight and early to bed because the kids are back at school tomorrow and they are still looking forward to it so they went to bed without a peep, bless’em.
Showing posts with label Buying a Car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buying a Car. Show all posts
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Flopped and Shopped
Monday 10thMarch 2008
Had a lazy day today waiting for business to turn up by courier, it turned up mid afternoon so it was to late to go out anyway. The sun was fierce again today although the temperature only reached 32C but it is due to be very hot tomorrow.
In the late afternoon Ian and the kids went shopping for food and swapped the car while they were out, the garage still haven’t done the final bit of detailing, and we haven’t cleaned the car since we got it so hopefully we will get a nice shiny car back by the end of the week. The Courtesy Car they gave us is a Toyota Camry Estate and is nice to drive.
Ian made the evening meal again, Roast Chicken with an assortment of salads, we can’t believe how much salad we’re eating out here, most of it has more flavour than in the UK but we think that it is only a matter of time before we get fed up with it, although it is too hot to muck around cooking vegetables at the moment.
Hopefully tomorrow we will get the offer accepted on the house and then we will be able to get everything rolling with the Business and the House. While we are waiting for paperwork to be moved around we cannot pack our things, get down there and start doing the groundwork for both House and Business.
Had a lazy day today waiting for business to turn up by courier, it turned up mid afternoon so it was to late to go out anyway. The sun was fierce again today although the temperature only reached 32C but it is due to be very hot tomorrow.
In the late afternoon Ian and the kids went shopping for food and swapped the car while they were out, the garage still haven’t done the final bit of detailing, and we haven’t cleaned the car since we got it so hopefully we will get a nice shiny car back by the end of the week. The Courtesy Car they gave us is a Toyota Camry Estate and is nice to drive.
Ian made the evening meal again, Roast Chicken with an assortment of salads, we can’t believe how much salad we’re eating out here, most of it has more flavour than in the UK but we think that it is only a matter of time before we get fed up with it, although it is too hot to muck around cooking vegetables at the moment.
Hopefully tomorrow we will get the offer accepted on the house and then we will be able to get everything rolling with the Business and the House. While we are waiting for paperwork to be moved around we cannot pack our things, get down there and start doing the groundwork for both House and Business.
More meetings and another offer
Tuesday 26th February 2008
We got up early today because we had loads to do including checking out of the Chalet and driving back to Sharon’s. Having packed the car, checked we haven’t left anything behind and picked up the deposit for the keys we headed for Busselton. On the way in we rang the Realty Agent to let him know that we wished to put in an offer on the house and we arranged to meet at 11.30am.
We stopped at Vasse Primary School on the way who confirmed that even though they have small class numbers at the moment the would not entertain the idea of taking in pupils from out of area.
We then went into town and confirmed with the Accountant that we wanted him to act on our behalf, he took down details of the Company name that we want and has confirmed that it is now reserved for us, HoJo Management Pty Ltd and he is going to check over the books and start work on building a Company and Trust set up for us.
Then we went to the Settlement Agents to let him know that we wished to use his services and then went to the Realty Agents so that we could fill out the form to make the offer on the house official.
At 11.30 we met the Realty Agent and we talked about our proposed offer and during the conversation we realised that we had got the wrong end of the stick when he said the Bank had put it on the market and that this is quite often the case when dealing with a Deceased Estate and the Beneficiaries do not live close by, so we had to quickly reassess the situation but decided that we would still like to submit an offer , only for the figure to be a bit higher than we had originally planned.
So, with the help of the Agent we filled out the Offer form and he told us that he would send it off that day and get back to us when he had a reply.
We were late for the other appointment to view a house this morning and we weren’t sure if the agent would be there but we thought that we had better turn up just in case he was. Fortunately we did go because there he was sitting patiently in his car waiting for us. Although we had put in an offer on another house we felt that we should look at this one as the viewing had been arranged the day before.
The house was immaculate, the rooms were big, the garden was big, everything about it was right except it was on the wrong side of the Highway, but that was why it is so much cheaper than the other house that needs work doing to it. If we went for that one, we would get very little growth out of it whereas the one close to the beach should hold us in good stead for the future.
When we had finished all that could be done at the today we started the long journey back to Sharon’s, stopping in Bunbury on the way to drop off one sacred set of Business Sales documents with the agent that could tell us nothing, and getting back just in time for an evening meal.
The Car Registration Document arrived in the post today.
We got up early today because we had loads to do including checking out of the Chalet and driving back to Sharon’s. Having packed the car, checked we haven’t left anything behind and picked up the deposit for the keys we headed for Busselton. On the way in we rang the Realty Agent to let him know that we wished to put in an offer on the house and we arranged to meet at 11.30am.
We stopped at Vasse Primary School on the way who confirmed that even though they have small class numbers at the moment the would not entertain the idea of taking in pupils from out of area.
We then went into town and confirmed with the Accountant that we wanted him to act on our behalf, he took down details of the Company name that we want and has confirmed that it is now reserved for us, HoJo Management Pty Ltd and he is going to check over the books and start work on building a Company and Trust set up for us.
Then we went to the Settlement Agents to let him know that we wished to use his services and then went to the Realty Agents so that we could fill out the form to make the offer on the house official.
At 11.30 we met the Realty Agent and we talked about our proposed offer and during the conversation we realised that we had got the wrong end of the stick when he said the Bank had put it on the market and that this is quite often the case when dealing with a Deceased Estate and the Beneficiaries do not live close by, so we had to quickly reassess the situation but decided that we would still like to submit an offer , only for the figure to be a bit higher than we had originally planned.
So, with the help of the Agent we filled out the Offer form and he told us that he would send it off that day and get back to us when he had a reply.
We were late for the other appointment to view a house this morning and we weren’t sure if the agent would be there but we thought that we had better turn up just in case he was. Fortunately we did go because there he was sitting patiently in his car waiting for us. Although we had put in an offer on another house we felt that we should look at this one as the viewing had been arranged the day before.
The house was immaculate, the rooms were big, the garden was big, everything about it was right except it was on the wrong side of the Highway, but that was why it is so much cheaper than the other house that needs work doing to it. If we went for that one, we would get very little growth out of it whereas the one close to the beach should hold us in good stead for the future.
When we had finished all that could be done at the today we started the long journey back to Sharon’s, stopping in Bunbury on the way to drop off one sacred set of Business Sales documents with the agent that could tell us nothing, and getting back just in time for an evening meal.
The Car Registration Document arrived in the post today.
The dog did 3000km in 2 weeks, not bad
Wednesday 20th February 2008
Another quiet day today, we read and sent some E-mails before going to Whitfords Shopping Centre to do some shopping for kids clothes, had a bite to eat while we were there, the kids go for Subway every time.
In the afternoon we got a call from the car sales rep, Peter, he apologises for it taking so long to get the car ready but it will be with him at about 5pm if we want to pick it up and could we bring a cheque to pay for it.
We have done about 3,000 km in the 2 weeks that we have had the dog of a courtesy but that means it will be a bit longer before we have to service ours. At 5pm we get to the garage, the car is there and Peter the rep is distraught, the guys that had knocked out all the little dinks and touched up the paintwork had been right the way round the car making sure it was spotless except for the rear drivers side door which they have missed completely, Peter said that he will get it done within 2 weeks and while it is in we will be able to have the use of another courtesy car. We agreed to it and whilst it did a job, the dog of a car was nowhere near as nice to drive as the Zafira.
Another quiet day today, we read and sent some E-mails before going to Whitfords Shopping Centre to do some shopping for kids clothes, had a bite to eat while we were there, the kids go for Subway every time.
In the afternoon we got a call from the car sales rep, Peter, he apologises for it taking so long to get the car ready but it will be with him at about 5pm if we want to pick it up and could we bring a cheque to pay for it.
We have done about 3,000 km in the 2 weeks that we have had the dog of a courtesy but that means it will be a bit longer before we have to service ours. At 5pm we get to the garage, the car is there and Peter the rep is distraught, the guys that had knocked out all the little dinks and touched up the paintwork had been right the way round the car making sure it was spotless except for the rear drivers side door which they have missed completely, Peter said that he will get it done within 2 weeks and while it is in we will be able to have the use of another courtesy car. We agreed to it and whilst it did a job, the dog of a car was nowhere near as nice to drive as the Zafira.
Visiting Fremantle
Saturday 9th February 2008
Malcolm works for the RAC over here so Ian goes with him to the Car Showroom to check over the Zafira and he is quite happy with it other than the Wheel Alignment needing adjustment and the Key Fob battery needing replacing.
10.30am meeting in the City with another Business Agent and this one has got quite a lot to show us, from Lunch bars to Kiosks in the Main Bus Terminus in Perth. So we have a good long chat with him while the kids trash the Reception area and then leave him to clear up.
At 1.30pm we have arranged to meet Kel the owner of The Carriage Café in Fremantle, we are running a little bit early so we have a very brief look at a couple of other Businesses on the way but are not impressed with them.
1.30pm and we meet Kel, what a lovely chap, gave us one of his Homemade Burgers each for lunch, gave the kids a lolly and told us all about the business, it did sound quite impressive but we have to take into account that it is in his interest to sell it.
He is so helpful; he has even offered to rent his second house to us while we look for somewhere to buy if we buy the business from him.
We like the look and feel of the Carriage and feel that we could do well there, but Kel is being a little bit too helpful and friendly and giving us doubts that may or may not be founded. We will have another look on another day.
We drove home from Fremantle, had a bite to eat and then went down to the beach for a nice relaxing evening swim. The water is so warm and the kids have a great time playing in the surf, we were there until about 9pm, it was great and we all felt better for it.
Malcolm works for the RAC over here so Ian goes with him to the Car Showroom to check over the Zafira and he is quite happy with it other than the Wheel Alignment needing adjustment and the Key Fob battery needing replacing.
10.30am meeting in the City with another Business Agent and this one has got quite a lot to show us, from Lunch bars to Kiosks in the Main Bus Terminus in Perth. So we have a good long chat with him while the kids trash the Reception area and then leave him to clear up.
At 1.30pm we have arranged to meet Kel the owner of The Carriage Café in Fremantle, we are running a little bit early so we have a very brief look at a couple of other Businesses on the way but are not impressed with them.
1.30pm and we meet Kel, what a lovely chap, gave us one of his Homemade Burgers each for lunch, gave the kids a lolly and told us all about the business, it did sound quite impressive but we have to take into account that it is in his interest to sell it.
He is so helpful; he has even offered to rent his second house to us while we look for somewhere to buy if we buy the business from him.
We like the look and feel of the Carriage and feel that we could do well there, but Kel is being a little bit too helpful and friendly and giving us doubts that may or may not be founded. We will have another look on another day.
We drove home from Fremantle, had a bite to eat and then went down to the beach for a nice relaxing evening swim. The water is so warm and the kids have a great time playing in the surf, we were there until about 9pm, it was great and we all felt better for it.
A dog and a birthday, but not the dogs you understand?
Thursday 7th February 2008
Got up early and after breakfast we went up to the Car Showroom to test drive the Zafira that we saw yesterday. It runs like a dream, low mileage, full service history and apart from a couple of minor scrapes on the rear bumper is generally in good condition. We have a bit of a barter, agree a price and they agree to respray the bumper and tidy up a couple of scratches, and to top it all we get them to give us a courtesy car while we are waiting for ours to be prepared and made ready for collection.
The courtesy car is a bit of a dog to drive, a Nissan Pulsar which has obviously been massively abused by its previous owner, but it means we have a bit of independence and do not have to try and fit everything in around Sharon’s lifts to and from work.
12 noon and we have a meeting with a dodgy Irish Business Agent that has been advertising in the papers for the last couple of weeks that he has got an abundance of Café style businesses that will make their new owners very rich people. He spent just over an hour telling us to avoid dodgy Business Agents and when he could see that we weren’t impressed with his well rehearsed patter he said that he would get back to us when he had found something that suited us, obviously he felt that we did not want to be very rich people.
3pm and another meeting with a business agent, now this guy obviously specialises in the most Expensive Cheap Businesses in Perth, but then his office is in the City Centre so the rents must be high therefore he would need the extra commission to pay for it. He showed us 4 Businesses that he had on his books and we took the details away with us to peruse at leisure.
If you want details on a business over here you are expected to sign a confidentiality document before you receive any information whatsoever, half the time you sign one of these documents and then find out that what you thought was a Café Called the Lunchbox is actually a Wholesaler selling Male Underpants, it’s infuriating but that’s the way they do it.
It’s Sharon’s Birthday today so we took her and Malcolm up to the Local Pub for a Meal and a Drink the food was very good and plenty of it but we were kicked out of the dining area when they stopped serving at 9pm and they said that Children aren’t allowed in the Bar area so that brought the Family gathering to an abrupt end. Carolyn, Sharon and the kids went home while Ian and Malcolm had a couple more pints in the bar until Carolyn came back to pick us up later. There was a band playing in the bar and they were not very good to say the least, they were obviously not very popular as including Ian and Malcolm there were only 6 people in the bar and 2 of those were so drunk they probably didn’t know they were there, but they were very loud, we think they were practicing for a Gig at Wembley Stadium just in case they ever got one.
Got up early and after breakfast we went up to the Car Showroom to test drive the Zafira that we saw yesterday. It runs like a dream, low mileage, full service history and apart from a couple of minor scrapes on the rear bumper is generally in good condition. We have a bit of a barter, agree a price and they agree to respray the bumper and tidy up a couple of scratches, and to top it all we get them to give us a courtesy car while we are waiting for ours to be prepared and made ready for collection.
The courtesy car is a bit of a dog to drive, a Nissan Pulsar which has obviously been massively abused by its previous owner, but it means we have a bit of independence and do not have to try and fit everything in around Sharon’s lifts to and from work.
12 noon and we have a meeting with a dodgy Irish Business Agent that has been advertising in the papers for the last couple of weeks that he has got an abundance of Café style businesses that will make their new owners very rich people. He spent just over an hour telling us to avoid dodgy Business Agents and when he could see that we weren’t impressed with his well rehearsed patter he said that he would get back to us when he had found something that suited us, obviously he felt that we did not want to be very rich people.
3pm and another meeting with a business agent, now this guy obviously specialises in the most Expensive Cheap Businesses in Perth, but then his office is in the City Centre so the rents must be high therefore he would need the extra commission to pay for it. He showed us 4 Businesses that he had on his books and we took the details away with us to peruse at leisure.
If you want details on a business over here you are expected to sign a confidentiality document before you receive any information whatsoever, half the time you sign one of these documents and then find out that what you thought was a Café Called the Lunchbox is actually a Wholesaler selling Male Underpants, it’s infuriating but that’s the way they do it.
It’s Sharon’s Birthday today so we took her and Malcolm up to the Local Pub for a Meal and a Drink the food was very good and plenty of it but we were kicked out of the dining area when they stopped serving at 9pm and they said that Children aren’t allowed in the Bar area so that brought the Family gathering to an abrupt end. Carolyn, Sharon and the kids went home while Ian and Malcolm had a couple more pints in the bar until Carolyn came back to pick us up later. There was a band playing in the bar and they were not very good to say the least, they were obviously not very popular as including Ian and Malcolm there were only 6 people in the bar and 2 of those were so drunk they probably didn’t know they were there, but they were very loud, we think they were practicing for a Gig at Wembley Stadium just in case they ever got one.
House Hunting and the Ocean
Wednesday 6th February 2008
9.30 am had our first house viewing close to where Sharon lives, we had only booked it to see what you could get for your money and I think it was a bad example to start off with, it was a pit and when the Rep realised that we weren’t totally impressed she offered to show us another only a little bit more expensive, another pit, they must think we have just fallen out of the trees or something, cut the price in half and stick the house in a nice area and they might have a chance of getting rid of it.
11.30am and it’s time to meet the Banks Home Loan Specialist, this was great, sat there chatting about how much money we could borrow and what little documentation we would need and we didn’t have to have an income to pay it back. We worked out that we could buy a House on the Seafront in Millionaires Row and get away with living in it for about a month after we couldn’t afford to pay the first repayment. It was interesting but it would be too easy to take the full amount and suffer later and the nice lady was going to arrange an appointment for us to see the Business Loan Specialist because although we would be looking at taking out a combined loan the different bank departments are not allowed to work together.
Came out of the Bank and straight in front of us was a big sign informing all that cared to look that the Chef in this establishment had just won the best Pie and Pastry competition, I think the competition must have been held in his Café and between him and the Cleaner because it was awful. We aren’t having much luck with this Australian Fayre at the moment but give it time I’m sure it will come good.
Looked at a few cars this afternoon but didn’t see much that we liked, all at such ridiculous prices although we did see one that we thought might do, a 2004 Holden (Vauxhall) Zafira but again very expensive, may go for a test drive tomorrow.
It’s been a hot day so Sharon, Carolyn and the kids go down to the beach for a swim in the evening, they stayed down there until about 8.30pm while Ian and Malcolm sat at home chatting and downing a few tinnies.
9.30 am had our first house viewing close to where Sharon lives, we had only booked it to see what you could get for your money and I think it was a bad example to start off with, it was a pit and when the Rep realised that we weren’t totally impressed she offered to show us another only a little bit more expensive, another pit, they must think we have just fallen out of the trees or something, cut the price in half and stick the house in a nice area and they might have a chance of getting rid of it.
11.30am and it’s time to meet the Banks Home Loan Specialist, this was great, sat there chatting about how much money we could borrow and what little documentation we would need and we didn’t have to have an income to pay it back. We worked out that we could buy a House on the Seafront in Millionaires Row and get away with living in it for about a month after we couldn’t afford to pay the first repayment. It was interesting but it would be too easy to take the full amount and suffer later and the nice lady was going to arrange an appointment for us to see the Business Loan Specialist because although we would be looking at taking out a combined loan the different bank departments are not allowed to work together.
Came out of the Bank and straight in front of us was a big sign informing all that cared to look that the Chef in this establishment had just won the best Pie and Pastry competition, I think the competition must have been held in his Café and between him and the Cleaner because it was awful. We aren’t having much luck with this Australian Fayre at the moment but give it time I’m sure it will come good.
Looked at a few cars this afternoon but didn’t see much that we liked, all at such ridiculous prices although we did see one that we thought might do, a 2004 Holden (Vauxhall) Zafira but again very expensive, may go for a test drive tomorrow.
It’s been a hot day so Sharon, Carolyn and the kids go down to the beach for a swim in the evening, they stayed down there until about 8.30pm while Ian and Malcolm sat at home chatting and downing a few tinnies.
First day of the rest of our lives
Tuesday 5th February 2008
We appear to have lost a day, but we think we did the right thing by not getting too much sleep on the plane because we all woke up at a reasonable hour and are feeling good. The warm weather, the relaxed atmosphere, it feels like we are home. It is hard to describe, it is not like a holiday feeling, and we realise that there is a lot of work ahead but there is something about the place that oozes a laid back feel. It could of course be that we are recovering from having almost no sleep for 2 days followed by a really good nights sleep.
Time to start work, Sharon has put us on her car insurance so we leave her looking after the kids while we head for Joondalup to sort out our Bank Account. We had opened the account on line from England because according to their advertising Blah, Open an Account on line and although you will not be able to touch the funds in it until you go into the branch and offer positive identification, everything will be set up and ready to go, Debit/Credit Cards, Cheque Books etc. Wrong, you turn up and make an appointment to talk to a Customer Service Bod which we do for that afternoon.
So with time to kill before our afternoon appointment we decide to sign up with Medicare which apparently has reciprocal agreements with the UK, now I’m not knocking it because I haven’t tried it but it would appear that if you are an Australian in the UK and you need emergency or other treatment you will get it. If you are British, are in Australia and need emergency or other treatment you pay for it except for the Ambulance journey to the Hospital in the case of an emergency only, and I think you only get that because the chances are you will be in a public place when you need one and bodies lying around decomposing can be quite off putting when you are trying to go about your daily routine. Anyway signing up for Medicare was a piece of cake, but we are about to start paying them for providing us with nothing until we become citizens in about 10 years time, so it is in their interest to make it simple.
Having done that and with time to kill it’s off to the Shopping Mall to have a look round and try out some local delicacies in the food hall. Everything over here in the Big Shopping Malls is either part of a massive chain like Woolworths (a massive food supermarket over here) or part of a Franchise Network and it is very rare to find a One Man Band operating. Anyway after a quick look around the shops we head for the Food Court, the number of different Food Operators represented was quite impressive, Carolyn had a Sumo Salad which she thoroughly enjoyed (nice crisp salad washed down with a smoothie) and Ian tried a Bucking Bull (and will not be trying another one).
Time for our appointment at the bank, the Customer Services person that we are going to see is a nice young lady by the name of Carolyn and is as mad as a sack of monkeys, it took the first 5 minutes for her to get over the fact that Carolyn had the same name as Carolyn, apart from the Hoyle-Johnson part of course, although I think if that had been the same as well even we would have been impressed, and not only that but they both lived on the same planet, although Ian was starting to doubt this towards the end of the meeting.
The banks over here are so amazingly helpful it is incredible, they were absolutely desperate to lend us so much money that you could almost guarantee going bankrupt and being sent back on the first plane to the UK, so we pointed out to them that had enough money in their bank at the moment but we would like to be able to get at it and while we are here we would like to pick up our Debit/Credit Cards and Cheque Books etc just like it said in the advert. No was the reply, when the bank have taken copies of every possible bit of ID that you could think of then we can order your Debit/Credit Cards and Cheque Books etc and we can get them delivered to you within 10 working days, in the meantime we will sit on your money making interest and should you have an emergency and need to withdraw money or need a Cheque for something it is not a problem, just ask at the desk and we will be happy to help you and all for only $15 per transaction. Anyway by this time Carolyn from Customer services was getting so excited by all the different services that the bank could offer us that we were beginning to wonder whether her bladder would hold out much longer and after agreeing to see a Home Loan Specialist and also a Business Loan Specialist she let us go.
Having almost killed ourselves with laughter coming out of the bank we decided that we needed to get a car ASAP as it was going to be quite inconvenient to borrow Sharon’s for much longer, so we headed for Mullaloo Road where we had been assured we would find some Second-hand Car Dealers, and lo and behold we found them. The price of Second-hand Cars in this Country is outrageous, we are looking for a People Carrier type car but over here the seem to deal mainly in 4x4 off road vehicles if you want 7 seats and you could get one about 10 years old in no better than average condition for about $37k or £18,500 so we left it for the day and went home to try and work out a better plan.
We got home at about 7pm to find the kids in a state of excitement and Sharon in a state of exhaustion, in her wisdom she had decided to take them to the Zoo and was now feeling the after effects, but the kids enjoyed themselves so that was the main thing.
Once the kids had gone to bed we sat around chatting, catching up on the gossip and downing a few tinnies. An average can of Beer to take home, assuming you are buying it in Case quantities works out at the equivalent of £1.50 per can, imagine that in the UK, all the alcoholics would have to go out and get jobs to pay for it, although the Government would probably just let them have it on prescription. If you want to drink a pint of average Beer in a Pub it could set you back $7.40 = £3.70, we have decided to give up drinking almost.
We appear to have lost a day, but we think we did the right thing by not getting too much sleep on the plane because we all woke up at a reasonable hour and are feeling good. The warm weather, the relaxed atmosphere, it feels like we are home. It is hard to describe, it is not like a holiday feeling, and we realise that there is a lot of work ahead but there is something about the place that oozes a laid back feel. It could of course be that we are recovering from having almost no sleep for 2 days followed by a really good nights sleep.
Time to start work, Sharon has put us on her car insurance so we leave her looking after the kids while we head for Joondalup to sort out our Bank Account. We had opened the account on line from England because according to their advertising Blah, Open an Account on line and although you will not be able to touch the funds in it until you go into the branch and offer positive identification, everything will be set up and ready to go, Debit/Credit Cards, Cheque Books etc. Wrong, you turn up and make an appointment to talk to a Customer Service Bod which we do for that afternoon.
So with time to kill before our afternoon appointment we decide to sign up with Medicare which apparently has reciprocal agreements with the UK, now I’m not knocking it because I haven’t tried it but it would appear that if you are an Australian in the UK and you need emergency or other treatment you will get it. If you are British, are in Australia and need emergency or other treatment you pay for it except for the Ambulance journey to the Hospital in the case of an emergency only, and I think you only get that because the chances are you will be in a public place when you need one and bodies lying around decomposing can be quite off putting when you are trying to go about your daily routine. Anyway signing up for Medicare was a piece of cake, but we are about to start paying them for providing us with nothing until we become citizens in about 10 years time, so it is in their interest to make it simple.
Having done that and with time to kill it’s off to the Shopping Mall to have a look round and try out some local delicacies in the food hall. Everything over here in the Big Shopping Malls is either part of a massive chain like Woolworths (a massive food supermarket over here) or part of a Franchise Network and it is very rare to find a One Man Band operating. Anyway after a quick look around the shops we head for the Food Court, the number of different Food Operators represented was quite impressive, Carolyn had a Sumo Salad which she thoroughly enjoyed (nice crisp salad washed down with a smoothie) and Ian tried a Bucking Bull (and will not be trying another one).
Time for our appointment at the bank, the Customer Services person that we are going to see is a nice young lady by the name of Carolyn and is as mad as a sack of monkeys, it took the first 5 minutes for her to get over the fact that Carolyn had the same name as Carolyn, apart from the Hoyle-Johnson part of course, although I think if that had been the same as well even we would have been impressed, and not only that but they both lived on the same planet, although Ian was starting to doubt this towards the end of the meeting.
The banks over here are so amazingly helpful it is incredible, they were absolutely desperate to lend us so much money that you could almost guarantee going bankrupt and being sent back on the first plane to the UK, so we pointed out to them that had enough money in their bank at the moment but we would like to be able to get at it and while we are here we would like to pick up our Debit/Credit Cards and Cheque Books etc just like it said in the advert. No was the reply, when the bank have taken copies of every possible bit of ID that you could think of then we can order your Debit/Credit Cards and Cheque Books etc and we can get them delivered to you within 10 working days, in the meantime we will sit on your money making interest and should you have an emergency and need to withdraw money or need a Cheque for something it is not a problem, just ask at the desk and we will be happy to help you and all for only $15 per transaction. Anyway by this time Carolyn from Customer services was getting so excited by all the different services that the bank could offer us that we were beginning to wonder whether her bladder would hold out much longer and after agreeing to see a Home Loan Specialist and also a Business Loan Specialist she let us go.
Having almost killed ourselves with laughter coming out of the bank we decided that we needed to get a car ASAP as it was going to be quite inconvenient to borrow Sharon’s for much longer, so we headed for Mullaloo Road where we had been assured we would find some Second-hand Car Dealers, and lo and behold we found them. The price of Second-hand Cars in this Country is outrageous, we are looking for a People Carrier type car but over here the seem to deal mainly in 4x4 off road vehicles if you want 7 seats and you could get one about 10 years old in no better than average condition for about $37k or £18,500 so we left it for the day and went home to try and work out a better plan.
We got home at about 7pm to find the kids in a state of excitement and Sharon in a state of exhaustion, in her wisdom she had decided to take them to the Zoo and was now feeling the after effects, but the kids enjoyed themselves so that was the main thing.
Once the kids had gone to bed we sat around chatting, catching up on the gossip and downing a few tinnies. An average can of Beer to take home, assuming you are buying it in Case quantities works out at the equivalent of £1.50 per can, imagine that in the UK, all the alcoholics would have to go out and get jobs to pay for it, although the Government would probably just let them have it on prescription. If you want to drink a pint of average Beer in a Pub it could set you back $7.40 = £3.70, we have decided to give up drinking almost.
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