A little update for you.
We have had the final inspection on the house, had a leaving party for the kids and around 20 friends at the local pool, we had a little get together at Occys Brewery with our Scouting friends including live music from our very own DJ Macca and his band Soul Survivors which was lovely. Had a great time catching up with people we usually only see for a short time each week.
We had 2 garage sales, on 2 Saturdays, and sold pretty much everything. Just a gas fire and a fridge and freezer and some kids toys left. Most will go to charity shops, the fridge and freezer we will ship if we don't sell them this week and the fire.... I need someone to buy a gas fire. It won't work in England!
Ians Car has gone :o( bye bye A GUNNER he was a nice car. Mine is sold but the buyer is letting us keep it till we are in Perth and ready to leave which is pretty cool, thanks Dan!
Tonight is the last scouts, last night Marisa said goodbye to her Drama Llamas, next weekend we are on our own (yippee) Marisa is in Perth doing YWAM, helping the homeless for her last few days of school and the boys have a final Scout camp. We will be left surrounded by boxes and possessions waiting to be backed by the movers next Monday and then we are off on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Depending on when the camel delivers our $$ to the bank!
We have organised a few drinks with friends which should be fun, we have already been out to dinner, again, with 'our' staff we miss them, we have been out to lunch with lovely friends we met as customers in the cafe a long, long time ago :o) a handful of catchups to go and we are done.
I think we need to rename the blog, I'm pretty sure 'There and back again' has already been taken.
Showing posts with label Moving House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moving House. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Saturday, March 29, 2008
White v stainless
Wednesday 26th March 2008
Ian got the kids up early today and made breakfast in bed for Carolyn again, she is going to struggle when he has to go out to work early and she has got to get the kids ready for school every day.
The kids all looked a bit tired this morning so after school we fed them early, made sure they read a bit and did whatever homework was required for tomorrow before putting them to bed for an early night tonight.
After we dropped the kids off at school this morning we went to the Café for a change to check up on our emails, we were also expecting to see an electrician there checking the equipment for us because he had told us that he had made an appointment to do it today. When we asked the owner if she had seen him she said that she knew nothing about it and had not had a call from anybody to arrange an inspection. Marvellous.
After coffee we went to the Settlement agents office to sign some documents for the house before rushing to the house to meet carpet salesman No 3 who had already measured up by the time we got there. We explained to him what we wanted where and he showed us some swatches of carpet and vinyl so that we could make sure that we were all talking about the same thing and he said he would ring us with the price. He was smiling so it doesn’t look good.
After that we went to a household appliance store and spent about ¾ hour trying to work out which home phone, mobile phone, satellite TV and internet networks would be best for our needs, when we had worked it out it turned out that the store could only help us with the mobile phones as that was the only bit they are licensed for. We need to go to another telecom store 200 yards down the road to get the rest sorted out which we will try and do tomorrow.
While we were there we got a call from the Café letting agent asking us to go to Bunbury on Monday morning for an interview and to talk about our business plan, also we had a call from carpet salesman No 3 and it wasn’t good news, Carolyn must have really liked that carpet for it to reach that price.
We then went to another department within the same store and spent the best part of 2 hours looking at White Goods although we were going to go for Stainless Steel Goods at one point, but after careful consideration (stainless steel is dearer) we decided to go with white. The salesman must have thought that he had got a result dealing with us; a couple of Brits, new to the country and not bringing much over with them as far as electrical goods was concerned. So it was that nearly 2 hours later having discussed the benefits of every Fridge/Freezer/Dishwasher/Washing Machine/Dryer/Iron/Kettle/Toaster and Vacuum Cleaner in the store we had produced the list of goods that we wanted and agreed a price which the nice man duly printed off for us.
Tomorrow we are going to a similar store, prices in hand, to see what they come up with and then expect to go back to the first store to renegotiate the price that we had just agreed. Lets face it as a salesman he was able to give us some quite large discounts without seeking permission so there has got to be room for a bit more negotiation yet, also we have got nothing better to do while we are waiting for the house and business to go through so we might as well make somebody work for a living.
After we left there we popped into the Café to let them know that we have got an appointment with the letting agents next Monday in Bunbury, while we were there they told us that the electrician had turned up unannounced about ½ hour after we had left in the morning and had done the inspection in less than an hour which is a little bit less time than the “all day” that he had told us it would take. It will be interesting to see how much he charges for labour.
We then had a coffee in one of our competitors’ establishment before picking the kids up from school, they were absolutely shattered so we fed them as soon as we got home and sent them to bed, Kristian was in bed by about 5.30pm and the other two by 6.30pm and they all went to sleep quickly. We also had an early night to make sure that we are fit and ready to do battle with the white goods salesmen tomorrow.
Carpet Salesman No 1 still hasn’t come back to us with a price, he’s probably too busy making more TV adverts for us to watch while he is away on holiday in Thailand next week so that he can justify the price he is about to quote. Alternatively he may have spent so much money on adverts that he has had his phone cut off and can’t let us know how much it costs. If we tried we could probably think up all sorts of stupid reasons why he hasn’t called but we would get bored typing it and you would get bored reading it so we’re not going to bother, perhaps we aren’t posh enough for him, oops there we go again. We shall say no more on the subject, that is unless he comes up with a reasonable or unreasonable excuse for taking so long in which case we will let you know as soon as we do.
Ian got the kids up early today and made breakfast in bed for Carolyn again, she is going to struggle when he has to go out to work early and she has got to get the kids ready for school every day.
The kids all looked a bit tired this morning so after school we fed them early, made sure they read a bit and did whatever homework was required for tomorrow before putting them to bed for an early night tonight.
After we dropped the kids off at school this morning we went to the Café for a change to check up on our emails, we were also expecting to see an electrician there checking the equipment for us because he had told us that he had made an appointment to do it today. When we asked the owner if she had seen him she said that she knew nothing about it and had not had a call from anybody to arrange an inspection. Marvellous.
After coffee we went to the Settlement agents office to sign some documents for the house before rushing to the house to meet carpet salesman No 3 who had already measured up by the time we got there. We explained to him what we wanted where and he showed us some swatches of carpet and vinyl so that we could make sure that we were all talking about the same thing and he said he would ring us with the price. He was smiling so it doesn’t look good.
After that we went to a household appliance store and spent about ¾ hour trying to work out which home phone, mobile phone, satellite TV and internet networks would be best for our needs, when we had worked it out it turned out that the store could only help us with the mobile phones as that was the only bit they are licensed for. We need to go to another telecom store 200 yards down the road to get the rest sorted out which we will try and do tomorrow.
While we were there we got a call from the Café letting agent asking us to go to Bunbury on Monday morning for an interview and to talk about our business plan, also we had a call from carpet salesman No 3 and it wasn’t good news, Carolyn must have really liked that carpet for it to reach that price.
We then went to another department within the same store and spent the best part of 2 hours looking at White Goods although we were going to go for Stainless Steel Goods at one point, but after careful consideration (stainless steel is dearer) we decided to go with white. The salesman must have thought that he had got a result dealing with us; a couple of Brits, new to the country and not bringing much over with them as far as electrical goods was concerned. So it was that nearly 2 hours later having discussed the benefits of every Fridge/Freezer/Dishwasher/Washing Machine/Dryer/Iron/Kettle/Toaster and Vacuum Cleaner in the store we had produced the list of goods that we wanted and agreed a price which the nice man duly printed off for us.
Tomorrow we are going to a similar store, prices in hand, to see what they come up with and then expect to go back to the first store to renegotiate the price that we had just agreed. Lets face it as a salesman he was able to give us some quite large discounts without seeking permission so there has got to be room for a bit more negotiation yet, also we have got nothing better to do while we are waiting for the house and business to go through so we might as well make somebody work for a living.
After we left there we popped into the Café to let them know that we have got an appointment with the letting agents next Monday in Bunbury, while we were there they told us that the electrician had turned up unannounced about ½ hour after we had left in the morning and had done the inspection in less than an hour which is a little bit less time than the “all day” that he had told us it would take. It will be interesting to see how much he charges for labour.
We then had a coffee in one of our competitors’ establishment before picking the kids up from school, they were absolutely shattered so we fed them as soon as we got home and sent them to bed, Kristian was in bed by about 5.30pm and the other two by 6.30pm and they all went to sleep quickly. We also had an early night to make sure that we are fit and ready to do battle with the white goods salesmen tomorrow.
Carpet Salesman No 1 still hasn’t come back to us with a price, he’s probably too busy making more TV adverts for us to watch while he is away on holiday in Thailand next week so that he can justify the price he is about to quote. Alternatively he may have spent so much money on adverts that he has had his phone cut off and can’t let us know how much it costs. If we tried we could probably think up all sorts of stupid reasons why he hasn’t called but we would get bored typing it and you would get bored reading it so we’re not going to bother, perhaps we aren’t posh enough for him, oops there we go again. We shall say no more on the subject, that is unless he comes up with a reasonable or unreasonable excuse for taking so long in which case we will let you know as soon as we do.
In search of magic carpets
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.
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.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
School, shopping, swimming, this is tough
Thursday 20th March 2008
This is probably our first day back in the real world (almost), we were up early to get the kids ready for school before driving them in and after that we headed to the Café to catch up on our emails before doing the weeks shopping early to avoid all the tourists.
After taking the shopping home we went out doing bits and pieces for the business, dropping off forms etc, we contacted the Gas, Electrical and Water people to make sure we know what we have to do to set up our accounts before we moving in.
We then went to see a carpet dealer to try and arrange for carpets to be fitted before our possessions arrive on 9th April. We are meeting the carpet man on Tuesday morning which will be nice for the kids because for some reason they have got the day off and they want another chance to explore the house and fight over who gets which bedroom. Back in the UK if the kids had an extra day off either side of a school break the school used to tell us it was for staff training, over here none of the teachers have a clue why they have got the extra day but the forecast is good so they’re not going to knock it.
We then went to check out some White goods just to get an idea of sizes and prices. We went to one of the biggest chains of Furniture and Electrical goods suppliers in WA, every time we went from one department to another we were pounced on by a salesman who would ask us if we needed any help and when we said no, would say “if you see anything you like don’t take any notice of the price tag because we can sort out a better price on that” so after walking around for about an hour we haven’t got a clue how much anything costs although Ian did find a BBQ that he liked, it is actually more like an outdoor kitchen than a BBQ really, fitted with a sink and fridge as well as all the cooking bits which may or may not cost around $1995.
We picked up the kids from school at 3.05pm and they were as happy today as they were yesterday and after dropping all their school stuff off at home we went for a swim down at the seafront for a couple of hours before picking up a couple of pizzas for our evening meal.
This is probably our first day back in the real world (almost), we were up early to get the kids ready for school before driving them in and after that we headed to the Café to catch up on our emails before doing the weeks shopping early to avoid all the tourists.
After taking the shopping home we went out doing bits and pieces for the business, dropping off forms etc, we contacted the Gas, Electrical and Water people to make sure we know what we have to do to set up our accounts before we moving in.
We then went to see a carpet dealer to try and arrange for carpets to be fitted before our possessions arrive on 9th April. We are meeting the carpet man on Tuesday morning which will be nice for the kids because for some reason they have got the day off and they want another chance to explore the house and fight over who gets which bedroom. Back in the UK if the kids had an extra day off either side of a school break the school used to tell us it was for staff training, over here none of the teachers have a clue why they have got the extra day but the forecast is good so they’re not going to knock it.
We then went to check out some White goods just to get an idea of sizes and prices. We went to one of the biggest chains of Furniture and Electrical goods suppliers in WA, every time we went from one department to another we were pounced on by a salesman who would ask us if we needed any help and when we said no, would say “if you see anything you like don’t take any notice of the price tag because we can sort out a better price on that” so after walking around for about an hour we haven’t got a clue how much anything costs although Ian did find a BBQ that he liked, it is actually more like an outdoor kitchen than a BBQ really, fitted with a sink and fridge as well as all the cooking bits which may or may not cost around $1995.
We picked up the kids from school at 3.05pm and they were as happy today as they were yesterday and after dropping all their school stuff off at home we went for a swim down at the seafront for a couple of hours before picking up a couple of pizzas for our evening meal.
275kms closer to the South Pole
Saturday 15th March 2008
We were all up early today in anticipation of shoehorning all our worldly possessions into the car and to make sure that we say goodbye to Sharon and Malcolm before they went to work.
We managed to leave at 10.00am which was the time we had planned and set off towards the Freeway and beyond. We had been driving for about 10 minutes when Carolyn announces that she couldn’t remember bringing in the washing off the line, so after doing a U-turn and heading back we found ourselves locked out of the house because we had to leave the keys behind and too short to be able to see over the fence, Marisa to the rescue, and delighted to help as usual if only to make sure she is not left out of the loop, Ian picked her up, she looked over the fence and confirmed that the washing line was empty and we were able to start our journey all over again, if only life was always this easy!
So on our way again and looking forward to the 3½ hour drive ahead the kids decide it is time to let us know how much they enjoyed their Indian meal last night, the smell is horrendous but the kids think that the sight of their parents retching in the front of the car is great fun. After the fist ½ hour the mist started to abate (I hate to think what their Easter eggs are going to taste like) and the rest of the journey went by quite peacefully and 275 kms and 3 hours closer to the South Pole we were driving into Busselton, the sun was shining, the air was clean and we felt good to be there and starting the next chapter of our adventure in Australia.
We headed straight for the letting agents to pick up the keys for the house that we are going to be stopping in until our house purchase goes through. The agent Kay was very helpful and 20 minutes later we were outside the house, keys in hand. Unfortunately the keys in hand are not the ones that fit in door, so off to see Kay again, she explained in detail how the owners of the property had mixed the keys up when they stayed last and promptly gave us all the keys associated with the property and asked us to bring back the ones we don’t need. This time we’re in and a nice little house it is, a small 3 bed house on the edge of town but tidy and comfortable, we would need a bit more room to be able to live hear permanently but this is just what the doctor ordered until we move into our own place.
We unloaded the car and while Carolyn, Marisa and Kristian were unpacking Ian and Fraser went shopping to get the essential supplies, remember we are getting rural now and if you don’t get your shopping by 4pm on a Saturday afternoon you are in danger of starving by Monday. It’s not that bad really it just feels like it has got its priorities right, and on a Saturday afternoon everything starts closing up early because the people working in these places have got a life and intend to make the most of it. In truth you can go shopping on a Sunday in Busselton but it doesn’t feel like the sort of place where you should.
After Ian and Fraser had dropped off the spare keys with the agent and had returned with the shopping we went for a walk down to the seafront to stretch our legs, on the way we stopped at a park and let the kids run wild for ½ hour or so before continuing to the front and a route march along the Jetty to build up an appetite. Busselton is famous for its Jetty, at 2000 ish metres long and with an underwater observatory at the end is the longest Jetty in the southern hemisphere and by our reckoning which may or may not be that accurate, must be about as long as Southend Pier.
There are however some major differences, this one doesn’t appear to burn down as often although it does look like it has had a few lumps taken out of it over the years, this one only has railings on one side (and it was probably the Health and Safety Executive that made them put those up), this one wobbles a lot more than the one at Southend but only when people are walking on it or the water underneath is washing against it. And alas some similarities, despite this Jetty being a major part of the tourist attraction to the area it does need
$25 million spent on it to restore it to its former glory and the government appears to be doing everything it can to ensure that it isn’t the one that pays. Perhaps politicians don’t like these things to be too long just in case they are ever made to walk the plank for their sometimes misguided attempts at ruling us poor minions and don’t want to have to swim too far to get back on dry land.
After our stroll we went out for dinner, it had been a long day and we couldn’t be bothered too cook, we went to the only Pub/Restaurant in town and had a lovely meal. Fraser finished his meal first and on the table next to him were a couple out for a meal but with a baby that didn’t want to sleep, so Fraser stood there and pushed the baby back and forth whilst singing to it while the couple enjoyed their meal in peace. When we left to go home they gave him $5 so he was quite chuffed as he hadn’t expected anything.
The walk home was a bit slow because by this time the kids were a bit tired but we got there in the end and they all flaked out very quickly.
We were all up early today in anticipation of shoehorning all our worldly possessions into the car and to make sure that we say goodbye to Sharon and Malcolm before they went to work.
We managed to leave at 10.00am which was the time we had planned and set off towards the Freeway and beyond. We had been driving for about 10 minutes when Carolyn announces that she couldn’t remember bringing in the washing off the line, so after doing a U-turn and heading back we found ourselves locked out of the house because we had to leave the keys behind and too short to be able to see over the fence, Marisa to the rescue, and delighted to help as usual if only to make sure she is not left out of the loop, Ian picked her up, she looked over the fence and confirmed that the washing line was empty and we were able to start our journey all over again, if only life was always this easy!
So on our way again and looking forward to the 3½ hour drive ahead the kids decide it is time to let us know how much they enjoyed their Indian meal last night, the smell is horrendous but the kids think that the sight of their parents retching in the front of the car is great fun. After the fist ½ hour the mist started to abate (I hate to think what their Easter eggs are going to taste like) and the rest of the journey went by quite peacefully and 275 kms and 3 hours closer to the South Pole we were driving into Busselton, the sun was shining, the air was clean and we felt good to be there and starting the next chapter of our adventure in Australia.
We headed straight for the letting agents to pick up the keys for the house that we are going to be stopping in until our house purchase goes through. The agent Kay was very helpful and 20 minutes later we were outside the house, keys in hand. Unfortunately the keys in hand are not the ones that fit in door, so off to see Kay again, she explained in detail how the owners of the property had mixed the keys up when they stayed last and promptly gave us all the keys associated with the property and asked us to bring back the ones we don’t need. This time we’re in and a nice little house it is, a small 3 bed house on the edge of town but tidy and comfortable, we would need a bit more room to be able to live hear permanently but this is just what the doctor ordered until we move into our own place.
We unloaded the car and while Carolyn, Marisa and Kristian were unpacking Ian and Fraser went shopping to get the essential supplies, remember we are getting rural now and if you don’t get your shopping by 4pm on a Saturday afternoon you are in danger of starving by Monday. It’s not that bad really it just feels like it has got its priorities right, and on a Saturday afternoon everything starts closing up early because the people working in these places have got a life and intend to make the most of it. In truth you can go shopping on a Sunday in Busselton but it doesn’t feel like the sort of place where you should.
After Ian and Fraser had dropped off the spare keys with the agent and had returned with the shopping we went for a walk down to the seafront to stretch our legs, on the way we stopped at a park and let the kids run wild for ½ hour or so before continuing to the front and a route march along the Jetty to build up an appetite. Busselton is famous for its Jetty, at 2000 ish metres long and with an underwater observatory at the end is the longest Jetty in the southern hemisphere and by our reckoning which may or may not be that accurate, must be about as long as Southend Pier.
There are however some major differences, this one doesn’t appear to burn down as often although it does look like it has had a few lumps taken out of it over the years, this one only has railings on one side (and it was probably the Health and Safety Executive that made them put those up), this one wobbles a lot more than the one at Southend but only when people are walking on it or the water underneath is washing against it. And alas some similarities, despite this Jetty being a major part of the tourist attraction to the area it does need
$25 million spent on it to restore it to its former glory and the government appears to be doing everything it can to ensure that it isn’t the one that pays. Perhaps politicians don’t like these things to be too long just in case they are ever made to walk the plank for their sometimes misguided attempts at ruling us poor minions and don’t want to have to swim too far to get back on dry land.
After our stroll we went out for dinner, it had been a long day and we couldn’t be bothered too cook, we went to the only Pub/Restaurant in town and had a lovely meal. Fraser finished his meal first and on the table next to him were a couple out for a meal but with a baby that didn’t want to sleep, so Fraser stood there and pushed the baby back and forth whilst singing to it while the couple enjoyed their meal in peace. When we left to go home they gave him $5 so he was quite chuffed as he hadn’t expected anything.
The walk home was a bit slow because by this time the kids were a bit tired but we got there in the end and they all flaked out very quickly.
Monday, March 17, 2008
How not to impress a customer
Friday 29th February 2008
Had a meeting with the Lavazza Rep in Mindarie and everything that could go wrong with the Coffee did go wrong, while the rep was explaining about the best techniques for making nice Coffee the staff in this place were determined to get it wrong and by the end he was almost pulling his hair out.
We will probably use Lavazza when we open as they seem to be willing to work with us in pushing the brand in order to push our business and are willing to offer merchandising support including Crockery and Umbrellas etc. Also there are no other businesses selling the Lavazza brand in Busselton.
Carolyn phoned the Removal people today to get a new quote because on the original move from the UK it only included delivery up to 30 Km outside Perth and we are going to be closer to 200Km outside.
Our first offer on the house was turned down and we put forward another offer, the Trustee has come back and said that they will send a Valuation officer in to get an accurate valuation on the property, according to the agent this could be a good thing bet we are not likely to know before Tuesday because there is a bank holiday this weekend.
Ian has started making salads in practise for when he is working in the Café, one of our ideas is to have a selection of fresh Homemade salads available each day.
Had a meeting with the Lavazza Rep in Mindarie and everything that could go wrong with the Coffee did go wrong, while the rep was explaining about the best techniques for making nice Coffee the staff in this place were determined to get it wrong and by the end he was almost pulling his hair out.
We will probably use Lavazza when we open as they seem to be willing to work with us in pushing the brand in order to push our business and are willing to offer merchandising support including Crockery and Umbrellas etc. Also there are no other businesses selling the Lavazza brand in Busselton.
Carolyn phoned the Removal people today to get a new quote because on the original move from the UK it only included delivery up to 30 Km outside Perth and we are going to be closer to 200Km outside.
Our first offer on the house was turned down and we put forward another offer, the Trustee has come back and said that they will send a Valuation officer in to get an accurate valuation on the property, according to the agent this could be a good thing bet we are not likely to know before Tuesday because there is a bank holiday this weekend.
Ian has started making salads in practise for when he is working in the Café, one of our ideas is to have a selection of fresh Homemade salads available each day.
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