Our House!!

Ok so this is our house (well for the nest few years anyway!!) It is 4 beds with a study and games room and has a huge garden for kids to play in. As it is on one level it is bliss to clean and a far cry from the 2 flights of stairs I used to climb at our old house in the UK!!! So a guided tour!! Picture 1 the far right window is the master bedroom then the large window is the family room where there is entry to a further sitting room at the back. In the second picture the first window is Kennadies bedroom then Keirens bedroom, behind Keirens room is the study then the last window is the sare room and the games room is behind that. There is an outside pergola area where there are vines growing and I am sure will be fab in summer. I have lemon. orange, lime, apple, pear and bannana trees in the garden so will be very busy making jams and desserts!!! Thge family who own the house are curently in the UK and hope to stay for a few years, they moved out of this house the day we moved out of ours in the UK and they also have a son called Kieran!!! We are very happy here and would love for the family to decide they are staying in the UK and we would buy this house!!! There is a forest at the end of the road and a park at the bottom of the hill where it leads to a reserve where the kids and dog can play. The area is quiet and has views of the hills it is lovely and a far cry from the industrial hub of Bradford!!!

Cold Windy day at the Beach

We decided today to get out for a drive seen as we have had another good day weather wise and as I said previously its been raining for most of the week and as its schoold holidays the kids have been going stir crazy!!! We decided to drive down to Aldinga Beach which is about 30mmins drive south of us. Once you got out of the industrial type buildings on the main road you ended up driving in some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable. You have the niews of the southern ocean to your right and the magnificent hills to your left, beautiful!!! The sun kept popping itslef out occaisionaly and the rays shone on the sea and hills and made it look almost magical and it had a somewhat mythical mysterious feel about it. We would certainly live ther in a breath but it is too far to commute to work and schools for Darrena dn the kids. We went for a run on the beach (or rather sasha did!!) and pinched loads of pebbles for the house!!! Yhe kids loved running on the sands with the wind behind them. We then rewarded them with a hot chocolate in a cafe on the beach. It was the perfect end to a lovely day!!! (Apart from the huge sunday roast we had when we got back and the yorkshire puds were heaven!!!)

Day out at Belair National Park

We finally mamaged to get out of the house after a week of non stop rain and decided to head for Belair National Park which is 5 mins in the car round the corner from us!!! The scenery is fab there and you can walk as much or as little as you like we decided seen as we didn't get ther til after 2 we would do a 3k walk. Darren was working so didn't want to get lost alone with the kids!!! We saw loads and loads of cockatoo's as well as lorikeets and rosellas which are little parrots. There is a big adventure playground for the kids to let their hair down. We finished the walk and headed home to a nice warm tea as by the time we got there the weather had turned nippy!!!

2 MONTHS IN!!!

Ok so have been here 2 months now and thought I would update my blog and post on here to let you all know how things are going here for us.
Our container arrived on mums birthday 24th June and it was bliss to have our things around. The kids were so happy to see their familiar toys and stuff Kennadie even cried to be reunited with her beloved poo bear which she hasn't daparted with from birth and has travelled all over the worl with her, was accidentally packed by the shippers!!! It has taken over a week to unpack and distribute all our belongings and boy it is not an easy task but the house is finally taking on the form of our own.
Being reunited with your belongings does give you some sort of grounding and familiarity and helps you to feel normal again and not like some kind of hobo wandering aimlessley with no belongings and no home!!! The kids are now well embedded in school and have an established group of friends but alas no Aussie accent (I think thats my fault though telling them to talk propper english!!!) Darren is really enkoying his job and has now been doing bits of overtime to boost back up the savings we spent when we arrived.
So life in Adelaide is very nice, the people are friendly and always willing to help you with anything. We came here with no pre-conceived ideas and decided to tske Adelaide for what it offered and that is a good laid back lifestyle. However there are downsides as they are anywhere and the biggest surprise is the actual cost of day to day living. Shopping bills are roughly $250 per week, yes petrol is cheaper but I do 60k a day so have to fill up my car every week so it works out the same as home. The kids go to private school and yes I know we have to pay fees but when all bills fall on your rug at once with only 1 wage coming in you do get into panic mode. I know things will ease off and the spending of non=essential items will decrease and I hope it is bloody soon!!!!
So it is winter here and we have had a couple of weeks where the weather has been abysmall with torrential downpours but the past few days have been about 18 degrees and pleasant. What we didn't realise that as we are living in the hills it gets bloody freezing at night and I have been going to bed in fleecy pj's and bed socks LOL!!!!!
As for me well what can I say I have had a few down days but thats to be expected and its not the fact that I miss home and family etc is is basically the fact that I miss my independance, I miss work, adult conversation, using my brain, doing a days work where I feel satisfied and fulfilled, talking to people about things non child/wife related, being me just me!!!!! I think in reality the though of not working till after xmas is sheer bliss but living it here in reality is bloody painfull!!!!! The job market here for my work is very thin and kinda insular saying that they are a small team and no vacancies etc no encouragement no advice etc. Have applied for a number of jobs but as I am not a qualified social worker it is hard to get an interview. But never mind something will come along when it time.
Well thats all now folks until the next installment so keep checking back for more updatesThe Haighs on TourXXXXXXXXXXXXX