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chaosathome - The Murphy Family

The Murphy famiy all 7 of us are about to leave the UK and emigrate to Australia. We have been planning this adventure for over a year now and with our visas approved and the house now sold we are leaving for warmer climes and are going to live in Brisbane. Kevin and Alex have already started there jobs and have moved into our new home! We have an exciting itenary planned travelling via USA Japan, China and then onto Australia. We are very sad to be leaving all our friends and family behind and will always be thinking of them. We hope they will follow our journey and experiences along the way and enjoy reading our blogg to keep in touch.

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Joined on: April 6th 2008
Last Login: September 18th 2009

Blog Entries: 59
Photos: 446

TB Code: [blogger=68074]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by chaosathome, order by Date newest first.

By chaosathome
September 14th 2009

Diggers at Dawn Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

Drains, diggers and dirt!
You are looking at what will be Tristans bedroom, the laundry and bathroom!

Living in the garage is now entering the sixth week and we still have a few more weeks to go……………….. In all building renovations you really need to double the estimated time to complete a job in order to get a better idea as to what you are in for. Well in true form everything has had to be chased for quotes and meetings and then arranging a time to start, not as easy as you think especially as many of these small contractors are managing three or four other jobs at the same time and cannot commit to one! [View Full Entry]

A trip to the loo now is a major military operation!

By chaosathome
August 15th 2009

Having a Whale of a Time! Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Hervey Bay

A quick flip of the tail
This was a rare glimpse of one of the few Humpback whales flipping its tail and this has been zoomed in!

One of the many suggested 'must dos' in Australia is to visit Hervey Bay and take a day cruise out into the bay to watch the Humpback Whales congregate in the warm waters and have their calves, before swimming back down the coast to Antartic waters later on in the year. So with the opportunity of a two day holiday, mid week, thanks to Brisbanes' Annual Ekka Show Day, similar to the Newbury Show we decided to drive the 4 1/2 hour drive north after work and stay in a B&B reccommended to us. The drive out of the city was [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
August 1st 2009

One Roof, Ten Shells and a Million Tiles. Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour Bridge
In the distance you could see people walkong the Harbour Bridge. The ferries were constantly docking in and out of the harbour it was the main hub of the city.

There are times in your life when you find you need to pinch yourself to make sure you are awake and not imagining things, well today was one of those moments. We were about to realise a dream and see the iconic Sydney Bridge and Sydney Opera House, only ever seen until now on the BBC and in travel brochures. Kevin and I had found some time to meet up in Sydney following a business trip Kevin undertook two days previously enabling me to fly down after work on the Friday and have the opportunity to explore some of the city [View Full Entry]

The Sydney Opera House from Milsons Point

By chaosathome
July 27th 2009

We have Lift Off! Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

Ace Restumping.
Recommend the company if you are interested!!!

After three false starts we eventually got the green light on Tuesday July 22nd and Murphy Mansions Mark 2 started its journey to a new position on the plot and a closer position to the sky! It was a very exciting day and one that we wondered if we would ever make with all the hoops we had to jump through with the Town Planners, Surveyors, Structural Engineers, Electricians and one stressed Architect! It is a whole different experience doing it the Aussie way. The sooner we get a builder on board who can organise and line up all the different [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
July 26th 2009

Getting Ready for the Lift Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

Getting ready.
All removable structures had to be removed before the builders could come and lift the house,

Murphy Mansions Mark 2 is about to be launched and a new family home created in Brisbane. Easy we thought, we have done it before so we can do it again?! Little did we know what we were about to embark upon when we stood in front of the cream picket fence! 133 Morehead Avenue, Norman Park is a post-war building comprising of an external wooden structure supported by concrete piers and a corrugated tin roof. The first floor comprises of a sitting room, three bedrooms and a veranda that has been internalised to make a fourth bedroom complete with front [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
June 16th 2009

One Year On Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

A sign that gave us hope
We stumbled across this sign on a beach shack in NSW whilst we awaited a phone call for Kevin relating to a possible job offer. All through our travels we have been 'sent' messages to guide and suppor... [more]

How quickly this year has gone and I now find myself reflecting on the past years events. It is difficult to comprehend what has actually taken place over the past twelve months and that we have made it through the first year and have begun to set down new roots and make new commitments. It has been a pretty busy year a bit like riding a roller coaster with high and low points! No matter how much research and conversations with people really prepares you for the paperwork and correspondence, the confusion and frustrations and the adjustment you have to make [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
May 18th 2009

A Year On and a Return Visit Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

An informal shot
Trying to get a good shot of all the boys together was impossible.

A big Hi to all my friends. It is difficult to think that two weeks have gone by since I returned to Australia and said good bye to so many people. It was a fantastic trip made all the better with everyone making me feel so welcome. I know many of you had a little chuckle about my planned itinerary and thought I was a little too organized but as it turned out it enabled me to see and do so very much and cram a lot into a few days. It was not until I reached my brothers house in [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
January 27th 2009

Murphy Mansions Mark II Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

The New Murphy Residence
Behind those grins I wonder if we really know what we have just purchased?!

So for the third time in a year we have packed our home and moved house and are surrounded by packing cases and stacking boxes and left trying to squeeze the basic essentials into our ‘new house’ Murphy Mansions Mark II and placing the rest into the huge garage at the end of the garden, later to become the boys ‘gym!’ We are reluctant to unpack too many boxes as we will only have to wrap them up again when we start our building renovations in the next couple of months. The move went relatively smoothly with each box colour coded [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
January 4th 2009

The Fifteen Days of Christmas! Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

On the First day of Christmas..
My true love sent to me.. My best friend from the UK.

Our first Christmas in Australia and what a special one it was too. Our friend Nikki Robinson and daughter, Emma flew over from the UK to meet up with Alex her son and to spend two weeks with us. It was great to see them again and the reunion at the airport was quite emotional. We had an action packed fortnight planned and was keen to do as much as possible in the short time they were over here. So with military precision we managed to travel down to the Gold Coast before Christmas and camp for four nights at Pottsville, [View Full Entry]

By chaosathome
December 24th 2008

Christmas Eve - Midnight Service Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane » Central Business District

Midnight Service 2008

Our first Christmas Eve in Australia and we chose to attend midnight service at St John's Cathedral in the City. The sandstone building is not yet complete and the interior is fairly stark and ordinary, particularly by comparison to St Nick's in Newbury where we have attended Midnight Service for so many previous years. By contrast, the life-sized nativity figures sculpted in cardbord were beautifully made in representational form. The three Kings stood majestically opposite us. We arrived 30 minutes early for the 11.00pm service and we got seats about two-thirds of the way back down [View Full Entry]

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