Fire !!

Yesterday while sitting behind our computer at 22:00 we suddenly heard a very loud banging on our front door. It was so loud and hectic that we ran to the door knowing something was amiss. We saw the flashlights through the small side-door window and knew right away this was either the police or the fire department and that something bad was happening. First thought : The neighbors house is on fire : Poor them.
When I opened the door I saw a fire hose rolled out on our lawn and 2 firemen telling us that our house was on fire ! Blue flashlights from the huge firetruck completed the dreaded scene and of course all the neighbors were out to come and see what this noise was all about. Quite shaken we ran upstairs to check the fire out, and what have you : No fire at all ! We came downstairs and told the fireman that there was no fire at all. He replied that this has happened a few times in the last few days and they would go after the prank caller. What a night !

1 cubic meter

We bought our boxes yesterday. We totaled 6 Large boxes and 2 small ones, for a total of 0.96 cubic meters. We wanted to make sure we didn't go over 1 cubic meter, who knows what extra costs might be involved. Overall the 6 boxes LOOK more than 1 cubic meter, and we're quite certain that we can fit all the stuff we want in them. In all we decided to bring the following items :

- 2 Desktop PC's + 2 flat screens and cables and accessories = 2 boxes
- CD's and DVD's + some books + random small stuff = 1 box
- Tools + some power tools = 1 box
- Kitchen stuff ( pots and pans and cutlery ) plus some random small stuff = 1 box
- spare box for random stuff = 1 box
- 2 small boxes "just in case"

We'll keep you updated as we pack.

Boxes, tape and polystyrene

Today we're going to buy our boxes. After we order our boxes we will have the total size ( in cubic meters ) of our belongings and we will order 1m3 transport to Brisbane using www.onlineshipping.nu We calculated that 1m3 is about 17 medium sized boxes, which should be more than enough for the few things we want to take with us. We already agreed that we would leave all the furniture and our car back in Europe, and we'll buy everything new ( or second hand ) in Australia. We're hoping to find people who are doing the same in Australia, so we can buy their furniture and car.

We leave next month !

Our great adventure is about to start : Next month we will be on the plane to the other side of the world. The moon will look different, the stars will look different, we'll be leaving just after the summer and we'll be arriving just before the summer.
We have prepared and we're traveling lightly. We found a great website through which we will be sending 1m3 of stuff to Australia : www.onlineshipping.nu.
We calculated that sending 1m3 will cost us about 250 Euro's, which is quite acceptable to us. For this price, the shipper will pick up our goods ( boxes ) at home and do all the customs paperwork ! We will take the most important stuff in our luggage, which includes most of our paperwork. We really are looking forward to moving out of Europe and see some more of what our small world has to offer : After all, you only do live once ! ( except perhaps for James Bond ). I hope to update this blog a little more during our final preparations and after our arrival.