LAND DOWNUNDER

[CarolineM 0]

She really is beautiful! How are your girls dealing with a baby sister?? Has Scott found a good teaching job??

I miss you and Sean!! Things are the same here! I am sticking around to continue to inform people about DCF - like you did for me Saved my life!

Congrats Mellie! Want me to bring back some Cherry Ripes for you???

[Ameristralian 0]

Hey ladies, missing you too. We're going back to Oz probably around October 2007. Maybe later. Good stuff. Maybe I'll start job hunting...ha. Not yet.

[mellie 1]

Well, Scott tried to do the teaching thing at the beginning of last school year, but he didnt have all of his degrees verified or whatever yet, so we are looking at him starting that next year, but he IS working and happy, so life is good!!!

YES bring me back some Cherry Ripes, if you dont mind!! I will even send you money for them just email me your address!!!!

I didnt save your life girl, you saved mine!! You were the one who convinced me to do the DCF, and Aussiewench, It just happened that I went before you!! So in essence, you saved me, and then Sean saved us both with his treasure trove of DCF knowledge, and then I HELPED you with what I knew.... however much that was... lol

[Kath 0]

hey there mellie

was thinking of you the other day to how you were going..also checked if you had posted anything anywhere else..she is so gorgeous i just wanna pinch those cheeks on her...and what a lovely name too...how is the new place going all settled in now..love that wedding pic of you guys on the beach too....

it was so good to see you in here again...keep in touch with us please we do miss you...

i think we are all jelous of those who are going home for a visit...we havent even talked about it yet..but would love to see the family an friends again...

hi ameriaustralian...good to know your still kicking too...

it is good that the thread is still going after all this time and with new members too...smiling big time here to some of the oldies back in here....

say hello to melbourne for us caroline ...hope scott is doing well mate..

take care and as caroline said keep posting...

kath

[mellie 1]

Funny thing happened last night, which coincidentally brought me back here actually, aside from missing you all of course...

I had a dream last night that all of a sudden we had to lift conditions on Scotts Visa and I hadnt even started yet and they made him go back to Australia..... NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! lol

I know we are a ways off yet, but Im already thinking about it. though I guess now it would be hard for them to say that we didnt have a legitimate relationship... lol.

[David A. 0]

Kath, yes the picture helped. We actually just walked there (consulate) from our hotel in Darling Harbor. We stayed in the 4 Points Sheraton... apparently it was a quiet week for them and they upgraded us to a suite with outdoor balcony looking down into Darling Harbor, I swear, the aquarium was right below us. We were on the 14th floor on the left and the 15th was the highest, so you can guess how high we were. It only took us 2 minutes to walk down to Darling Harbor. From our hotel, it took about 10-15 minutes to walk to the consulate... and after the interview we just decided to walk down to the Opera House and view the Harbor Bridge. After that we took a fairy back to Darling Harbor to get a view of the entire area. We walked through the Aquarium but didn't want to go into the Zoo to view the animals. My wife told me that she'll be taking me to Cleland Park in South Australia where you can actually pet the animals.

From there, we went to visit some friends in Melbourne... got to see almost all of it, all the way down to Portsea and on the ocean side of that peninsula. We even stopped by Just Fine Food and had Sorrento's famous Vanilla Slice, it was delicious, the area was really nice. Downtown Melbourne wasn't as large as Sydney, but still a pretty big city. Our friends even drove us down to The Great Ocean Road. Before we got to the 12 Apostles we stopped by this rainforest where you walked down some wooden steps to this view of a waterfall, it was beautiful... the ferns were huge too! If you've never seen the 12 Apostles, it's a really gorgeous view. We only drove down to Port Campbell and didn't get to see what's left of the London Bridge. We were too tired to go any further. We left at 630am and got back in Melbourne by 7pm.

When we finally got to Adelaide, she warned me of how tiny it was compared to Melbourne and Sydney. It's still actually bigger than Pensacola, Florida where I'm at right now (if that answers you question Karo). We went up to Mt Loftey and Cleland Park. Cleland Park was my favorite because I actually got to hang out with some kangaroos. They ate off my hands and one of them actually kissed my wife while we were taking pictures. The big red kangaroos are very intimidating too but as long as you don't try and scare them, they're very approachable. The reds are so solid when they're lying down and have their arms crossed infront of them... you can just see their muscles. We had a chance to pet the Koalas but didn't actually get to hold them. If we stayed a couple of hours we could have but it was getting too hot. When I was in Adelaide, the temperatures were around 100F or 40C and very dry!

On a different note, Kangaroos do taste good by the way... and so does Vegemite! They didn't think I'd like it, but I actually did. I'll post some pictures of the trip.

Edited December 12, 2006 by David A.

[David A. 0]

One last thing... I know I've posted this before but lost the information on this site...

Anybody from South Australia ship anything to the states, boxes, etc... My wife wants to get her things ready. I'd like to know which shipping company to go with, there were quite a few in the phone book.

PM me if you can, I'd really appreciate it!

Edited December 12, 2006 by David A.

[David A. 0]

One last thing... I know I've posted this before but lost the information on this site...

Anybody from South Australia ship anything to the states, boxes, etc... My wife wants to get her things ready. I'd like to know which shipping company to go with, there were quite a few in the phone book.

PM me if you can, I'd really appreciate it!

Nevermind, I found it!

[David A. 0]

Here are some of my recent pictures... couldn't post anymore than what you see here.

The view of Sydney from the flight in...

View from inside our hotel room.

View from the balcony of our hotel room.

View of the MLC Building from the Sydney Tower.

The start of the Great Ocean Road.

View of a few of the Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell.

Photo infront of the Twelves Apostles.

My new buddies at Cleland Park, South Australia.

"Wake me up and I'll kick your a$$"

Granite Island in Victor Harbor, South Australia

[CarolineM 0]

OMG DAvid - that hotel is Sydney is the same one we stayed in!! ISn't it nice!! I think that was the one I actually recommended to you!! Your pics are great!! Stew and I did all the same things Ocean Road, 12 Apostles, etc etc!!

Mellie - Don't stay gone so long this time!! This place misses you!@ AND YOU TOO SEAN! Remember - we have to all plan our return at the same time so we can all be there together! That was the plan!

To everyone else - I have to run to work, but I'll be around later! I love this thread! It makes me all happy!!!

[CarolineM 0]

oh and I forgot to tell you, David...that rainforest place...was where Stewart officially "proposed" - at the top of the highest place!! It was sweet.

I was looking for the photos, but they aren't on this computer.

Ok off to work for real.

[ausqueen 0]

Hi guys,

could someone please send this to aussiewench, or ask her somehow to come and look in here! I tried to PM her but the site tells me my mailbox is full, which is bulldust since I've deleted all but last 9 msgs I have. I am getting a bit desperate here, getting ready to fly out on Fri and working till last minute! Thank you!

"hi aussiewench,

sorry to budge in like this. I was hoping I will see you in aus thread but no luck last few days

But you are such a helpful and smart sweetheart of VJ... I had to chase you! LOL

Can you plese help me with police check from NSW?

I've been talking to my local PS, even to a Sgt from HQ. They tell me I will have to wait for the letter from the cons before I can apply for police check and it gets sent directly to us cons, not given to me!!!

Everyone else in our thread done it before hand, and took it themselves to interview but they all seem to be from Melb. Couldn't get anyone there tell me of their Syd/NSW experience. Someone told me you did yours in Syd.

If you get a minute, could you pls tell me how it goes? I am here another 2 days before my trip for Christmas, I was hoping to apply for it before I go.

Also, wish me luck at the SF airport on Friday!

I'm taking letter from my boss, letter from real estate agent (I'm renting) and payment ledger - paid up to end Jan '07, plus 2 bank statements to show I have some money here! Enough? Hopefully they won't look even at that

Have a nice day over there, sydney got a "cold shower" yesterday, looks like it's gonna be fresh today as well. But it's only 6am now. Gotta get ready for work, leave in half hr!

Thank you so much, it will be great help if you manage to write back!

ausqueen... or

vik"

[Kath 0]

hi ausqueen

i sent your message to aussiewench for you....im wondering if a copy of the actual police check instructions would surffice for you...it has all the police details on it...

david what instructions did your wife get from the consulate about the police check..did it have a newr listing for the police check...if you could ask her it might help ausqueen....

i know how you are feeling at the moment ausqueen its frustrating when you know what you need to get but they wont do it for you for some reason or another...

well if you dont get it done before your trip..enjoy your holiday..and you will be fine im sure going through SF...safe journey...

kath

[densusan 0]

David your pictures are GREAT! I am an Adelaide girl and it made me very homesick looking at them but put a smile on my face too.........thanku. My husband loved Cleland but thankfully it wasn't 40c when we were there!

I used Allied Pickfords to ship my things. It was extremely expensive because I had some furniture shipped too but they are very good. I have a friend in Adelaide that deals with shipping companies I will email her and see if she can make some suggestions.........it's been 10 months since I organised mine so I don't remember who else she suggested to us.

Take care everyone.

SUSAN

[Lunamel 0]

Congrats Mellie -- she is a beautiful baby! And glad to hear you like vegemite David -- you'll can be an honorary aussie now, I think!

Ausqueen, I'm not sure if this is going to help you, but if you're having trouble with the NSW cops, have you thought about going through the AFP again? That's what I had to do, as the Vic police repeatedly told me they don't do police checks for immigrant visas. I asked the consulate what I should do, and they said just get it from the AFP, as the information is the same. I got my fingerprints done by the Vic police, though you can also make an appointment to get the AFP to do them. I then sent them off, together with the relevant form, to the AFP, and I got it back within 2 weeks, no trouble at all. You can find the AFP info here. PM me know if you want any more info.