1 week to go , keeping it stress-free is the challenge

We've recently been cleaning up ( read : eating ) the freezer. Some stuff in there would have better gotten thrown away so we feel a bit nauseous from the spaghetti two days ago. Decided not to clean up the freezer and just throw away everything : Much safer this way. We'll buy some veggies and some breads to clear this last week. I have a tendency to get sick in planes when I don't sleep enough or eat fast food, so we'll go to bed at 21:00 every day from now on, then wake up at 07:00 so that we don't feel bad when we stand up at 08:00 on the departure date. We have ordered a Hotel at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam within walking distance of the Terminal. It's well worth saving ourselves the hassle and stress of standing in traffic jams, or worse a car breakdown or flat tire.

Our dog and cat are due to leave in two days from now, we'll miss them to bits !

I got back one application response and this was a very positive one : The unfortunate part is that the job is offered in Darwin, which would completely change our plans and preparations so far, so I have declined the job offer/interview for now. I hope to find something in Brissie or Sunshine Coast. Once there, things will hopefully move faster and I'm sure that once we settle we'll get into the mouth-to-mouth job market and opportunities will arise that aren't on seek.com.au and mycareer.com.au.

The choice is really a simple one :
- Follow our hearts = Sunshine Coast for the lifestyle and beaches and nature
- Follow our heads = Brisbane City for the job opportunities and the money

They say there are many ways to get rich and only one of them is made of money.
That said, we don't want to end up without a job either. This recession doesn't make our choice any easier. We have also been playing our heads with starting a new company in Australia, something that we have been thinking of doing for quite a while. We fully understand the risks and the time involved because both our parents had their own companies, so we're not going in completely blind.

Choices choices ...

2 weeks to go : Bring it on !

We still find it hard to believe that in 2 weeks we will be in Queensland ! We still haven't decided where to go to but we're pretty sure that it's somewhere in the region of Gold Coast - Brisbane - Sunshine Coast. We have been thinking hard about what we really wanted out of this move and we both concluded that we want a change in lifestyle. Ideally we hope to settle on the Sunshine Coast. I have sent three job applications so far and Kim has sent in one. We can always find work in North Brisbane and drive back and forth until the recession is over. We are pretty confident of finding work in Brisbane. Our big adventure is about to start !

European Health Insurance Card + International Driver's License ordered.

Today we ordered our European Health Insurance Cards through www.ehic.nl and they should arrive within a week from now. These passes are accepted in Australia as official health insurance cards. Let's hope we won't need them ! I also got my International Driver's License from the local ANWB shop ( 13 euro's ). As soon as we arrive in Australia we will convert both into Australian versions but at least we will be fully covered during our flight and arrival. My all-year-round travel insurance will cover any money lost and / or motored vehicle accidents during our initial days.

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.