Gillan Street Our New Home

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Today was a memorable day in so much as I unpacked the last box from the second shipment and flattened all the empty boxes ready for collection by the removal company to recycle. Our Queenslander style house, No 45 Gillan Street is beginning to look abit more homely now with all our furniture and pictures around the place. It was not exactly the style of house I had imagined we would be living in, I will have to wait to find the ultra modern streamlined house for the future. So for now we have settled for a wooden structured building 'improved' by some not so great DIY enthusiasts! Guess we will just put it down to the whole new Australian experience!

The huge removal lorry arrived at 7pm pulling two huge container boxes and promptly got stuck in the street and managed to take out the telephone wires from the house opposite, not a good way to impress the neighbours! Amazingly only two guys turned up and managed to carry all the boxes into the house whilst Kevin ticked the numbers off as they went inside. A bit like bingo really but no prize though! There were boxes everywhere and all in the wrong places because initially all the boxes had been brought downstairs from all the bedrooms and placed in the one room so they were all marked up having been located in the lounge of playroom so we had to second guess the boxes as we juggled with them to find their new resting place. The task of unwrapping all the items was a task in itself and we soon found ourselves disappearing behind a sea of white packing paper as each box was emptied. The next problem was where were we going to put everything? It was like trying to fit a pint pot into a quart pot!!!! Still with a little creativity and juggling around slowly everything found a home. Sadly though many did not make it that far as we had a huge number of items broken or damaged whilst in transit and we soon found ouselves photographing everything to document evidence for insurance. It has been a huge task as we have logged up 56 items either completely broken, damaged and needing either replacing or repairing,so many of the items were special pieces of glassware or china all of which cannot be replaced. Furniture too has been ruined and crushed where heay items have been placed on top of them and all 8 of our leather chairs have been crushed and marked through careless packing. It would not be so bad but we are uncertain yet as to whether the insurance will cover replacement like for like and ship over new furniture from the UK and Sweeden!

It is probably best not to dwell to much on all the damaged items as we are dealing with the removal company and await heir comments, I did hear today though that the crew who packed our second shipment have been suspended so they are obviously taking our situation seriously. Best perhaps in future not to place a man who self confessed that he did not like packing kitchens in charge of that area as he did not do a very good job at all.

So each room has evolved and taken on a new identity and our furniture has been placed in the best configuration possible to accomodate everyones needs. The majority of the living space is upstairs and comprises of a large lounge/ dining room area which has bedrooms and a bathroom leading off it and a kitchen at the back of the house. Huge doors from both kitchen and living room open out onto a wooden verander with room for comfy chairs and coffee table and the wooden garden table with chairs along with bbq. This overlooks the back garden and the pool and beyod you can see the Creek which runs pass the bottem of the garden on its way out to the Brisbane River (all we need now is a boat!) Downstairs are two more bedrooms, bathroom and a second kitchen. There is also a laounge area where the boys have set up another TV and Playstation so they are happy. Alex and Anne have one of the rooms that open out on to the covered downstairs deck. All abit cosy but lovely to have everyone living in the house together, we are making the most of it, although with all the visitors we have been having aswell it has got a bit crowded at times!

The location of the house here at Norman Park could not be better, Kevin, Alex and Anne can all catch the bus at the end of the road and be at their desks in 20 minutes, the boys can also go in the opposite directiona nd get to school in 15 minutes. The CityCAt River Boat is at the end of thr raod so we acan catch the ferry into the city and be in the heart of the shopping centre or business centre in 20 minutes too! transport is also much cheaper than the UK and using your car is discouraged when going into the city, there is even talk of working a longer 4 day week to cut down on traffic and fuel consumption!! Cycling is also very easy here and there are cycle paths everywhere, the best one to date is along the river into the city which has taken me 40 minutes, not bad for a lapsed cyclist!!! There is a lovely area called Bulima where the streets are set out with interseting gift and book shops along with street side cafes and restaurants, there is also a cinema showing the latest films much to Dominics releif and at half the price to the UK so thats a bonus. Seb and Dominic also have part time jobs waitering and as a kitchen porter in one of the restaurants so both make a little spending money too. Tristan and Seb have also joined the gym, which is a 10 minute walk from the house so they are pleased with that too.

So with everything a little more settled and routines beginning to take place we are all slowly adapting to a new way of life, it is certainly more leisurely and relaxed, 'there is no worries mate' if things don't get done in a day we can be sure of a 'bonza day' so we just need to slip into the mould!?!?!?!?

Just be sure you too have 'a good'ay'

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