Can you believe it. We arranged to see a couple of houses early that day. We loved the second place we saw, put in an immediate application, paid the bond and picked up the keys that afternoon! It's a 3 bedroom house on a gated community in Carina - a really nice part of Brisbane. We've got a garage … read more

I wish we had chosen a relaxing beach stopover in Hawaii! We're all absolutely exhausted after a long weekend in LA, much of which wasn't that great if I was honest.

Disneyland was pretty good yesterday, although we nearly never made it (more about this later), and we enjoyed Santa Monica pier, but the rest of the experience was generally overrated and disappointing. I haven't got time to go into now as the battery on my laptop is about to run out and Rach has packed away the travel adaptor in one of the cases, which are in storage until we head off to the airport later today, and I can't be bothered to go searching for it.

Next stop Brisbane!

I'm pleased to say we've safely made it to L.A. with all 7 cases. I admit it was a bit of a nightmare yesterday. Why oh why did we take the train and not get a hire care or taxi (my fault)? I'm just glad we made the decision to get the earlier train. We left Retford at 9:30. The train arrived into … read more

We've said the final goodbyes today and now we're all packed and ready to go. The taxi is booked for 9am tomorrow to take us to the station - us and our 7 cases. That's going to be fun and games tomorrow getting to Heathrow. I thought it would be fun (for Lauren) to get the train instead of getting … read more

I've said goodbye to my family and friends, with much heartache, and now it's time for the worst goodbye of all - I have to say goodbye to my Lexus! It's the first really nice car I've owned, albeit only on a 12 month lease. It's the new Lexus IS 220d - it has a Start button and everything! Given … read more

We've just said goodbye to my Mum and Dad as they set off on their hols to the Dominican Republic. It's bad timing on all of our parts but I guess we had to say goodbye sometime, it wouldn't have made any difference whether it was today or Thursday. I've been feeling sick all morning knowing what … read more

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

Happy birthday to my Mum who is 50 today! We're all off out for a Chinese tonight to celebrate (or commiserate?). She doesn't know yet but I've bought her a Virgin Balloon Flight with my Dad which I hope she'll love. read more

Here's an example of the kind of battle I have on a daily basis trying to get people into a security mindset: Me to Relationship Manager (RM): Can you please ask the client to complete the attached Business Impact Analysis (BIA) template so we can understand how valuable their data is in order to … 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

In what could be a landmark case, next week, a young barrister will take on Natwest over his £2000 unlawful bank charges. What's different about this case if the fact that Natwest have already offered him a full refund, but he is arguing that as well as the refund, he is due a claim for damages … 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 set to be an interesting fortnight in UK politics. Will Labour get the kicking everyone expects in the local elections next Thursday? Will the Conservatives manage to get the magical 40% share of the vote - the target which analysts believe would be needed by the tories at the next General … read more

I've just discovered Finetune. It struck me today that while I've now got quite a large collection of music on my iPod, covering lots of different musical genres, I'd say 90% of the music is what you'd call commercial from well known artists past and present. I'm often reading reviews of great music … read more

Why didn't I think of that? Website DoMyStuff lets you outsource your tedious tasks to people in your area who bid on your to do's. So for instance, you could offer out payment for someone to clean your car, do some painting, gardening, etc and the person who bids the lowest amount gets the job. … read more