I'm suffering now after 2 nights of excess, particularly last night. I took close family and friends out for a lovely meal at Emilio's, an Italian restaurant in 'posh' Bawtry. There were 17 of us in all. It always amazes me how Bawtry has managed to turn into such an upmarket village given it's … read more

I went out for a few beers with a couple of mates last night in Doncaster. It was pretty quiet for a Friday night - the torrential rain might have had something to do with it although that doesn't usually put off the Donny folk. I can't say I'm going to miss Doncaster, or Worksop for that matter … read more

Everything went to plan yesterday and we handed over the keys to our house. We spent 6 years in that house and we have a lot of very good memories, not least the fact that it was the home we brought Lauren back to after she was born. The neighbours were great and we've swapped e-mail addresses so we … read more

I've just finished my last day of work in the UK. I can't express how good it feels. It was such a relief to unburden the workload - passing it on to some other unlucky contractor. We had a 2-day handover period and by the end of it the new contractor looked like he was ready to do a runner. I don't … read more

After a very busy weekend we have finally fully packed up and moved out. The shippers came today and carefully packed and boxed the items we're shipping, taking them away to await the next shared container bound for Brisbane. We officially hand over the keys to our house on Thursday. We're staying … read more

We've booked our Hotel for L.A. We're going to be staying in the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel which is right in the heart of Hollywood - with the Walk of Fame, Mann's Chinese Theatre, and other attractions literally on our doorstep. Our itinerary isn't fully decided yet but at the moment we're … read more

I nearly had heart failure watching the penalty shoot-out to see Liverpool reach the Champions League Final. I'm now going to have to find somewhere to watch the match in Brisbane at 05:30 in the morning! I know that theoretically things could still go wrong with the house completion but we took a … read more

We've had confirmation today that we will exchange contracts on the 3rd May with a completion date of the 10th May. And I'll be finishing work on the 11th May. So much to do, so much to do! Don't panic, don't panic! read more

It's starting to hit home that we're leaving now after a busy weekend inventorying, packing, and selling. We're not actually shipping that much to Oz in terms of furniture, but our personal items alone equate to half a shipment crate (roughly £1500). For a while now, I've been using www.listal.com … read more

I made the mistake of leaving it late to book my hotel for this week, with the result that I have ended up having to take a smoking room. As a non-smoker with a very sensitive nose, this week has not been a pleasant experience to say the least. The room is clean, but there doesn't seem to be any way … read more

We've just started to put a number of items up for sale on ebay - items which we either don't want to ship to Oz or which it wouldn't be economically viable to ship to Oz, like our dining room table. It breaks my heart to let the dining room table and matching lamp table go for such a low starting … read more

Must admit, this nearly brought a tear to the eye... http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=425293 read more

The couple who are buying our house came around at the weekend to look at some of the furniture we're offering for sale (heavily discounted). We've been very cautious up to now to not start putting any plans into action until we've exchanged contracts, because we know the house sale could fall … read more

I just thought I'd do a bit of research into the job market in Brisbane, and suddenly it's 3 hours later and I'm even more confused than when I started! Everything I'm reading tells me that Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra are all better for IT Security jobs than Brisbane. That doesn't mean to say … read more

Great article comparing the weather between the major cities. Rach is set on that we're moving to Brisbane but I'm still open to the possibility of trying out other areas. I guess I better make my mind up soon, if all goes well we've only got 3 months to go! read more

Finally started the to-do list, no doubt this will get updated many times over the coming weeks as we remember other requirements. This is the pre-emigration list, I still need to do the list of all the things we need to do when we get to Oz, e.g. find a job! So here goes... Should be doing now Dig … read more

After loving 'Yes Man' by Danny Wallace, I've bought his earlier book 'Join Me' the story of how he started a cult, which I'm finding to be equally as funny and entertaining. I think the reason I like his books so much is because like him, I enjoy stupid pointless things, and believe things which … read more

Here's some video I took of the waves at Mooloolaba beach on the Sunshine Coast in Australia when we went out there to validate our visa over the new year. [youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QQl3CusIA8&w=425&h=350]) Soon this could be a regular weekend activity for us! … read more

It seems funny that it's a year since my last post where I rejoiced the fact that we had finally received our visa, and yet it's only now that we're in a position where we're confident it's actually going to happen. The reason it's been a year is simply because that's how long it has taken us to … read more

I'm now on holiday in Oz - more about this later. This post is just to say that we finally got the Visa!!!!! We checked our e-mail while we was in Singapore and we've got an e-mail to say the visa has been granted. What a relief! After 18 months of hassle we can finally put the house up for sale and … read more