The leaving, the arriving, the settling.....

So, I promised to start writing a blog about my time here in Australia. Now I’ve got my internet up and running, now seems to be a good place to start.....I’ll try to be as honest as I can J

So, the week leading up to leaving was very emotional. If I could have twitched my nose and skipped the goodbyes, I would have done.  Arriving at the airport, I had a ‘little’ issue with the weight of my large suitcase, so had to quickly buy another suitcase and redistribute some items. Thank god my sister was with me.  Dad, Pat, Stu & Sue all arrived at Heathrow and we sat and had some dinner, whilst we were waiting for me to go through to departures.  At one point, I had a slight ‘panic’ about going and had one of my family members asked me not to go, I would not have got on the plane – that’s how serious it felt. It suddenly dawned on me exactly what I was doing and I questioned at that point whether I could do it.

The goodbyes had to come at some point. I was doing okay, until I got to departures and my dad held out his arms to me. I literally sobbed my heart out. I don’t think I’ve cried that much and that hard since losing mum. I couldn’t let go of my dad and he kept telling me that I can do this and that they’ll all just be at the end of the phone and if I want to come home at anytime, I can. Stu was very brave and just told me to go out to Oz and kick some ass. Then it came to say goodbye to Kim. And I lost it again. All she whispered to me was ‘I can’t say anything’ and I said ‘then don’t, I know it all already’. And I just clung to her as if my life depended on it. 

I got through to departures and I couldn’t really function properly. The heaviness I felt in my heart about leaving my family and friends hit me like a freight train. All I wanted to do was to run back through departures and get into Kim’s car and come home. All the braveness that I had about coming to Oz over the past year deserted me. And here I was, in Heathrow, on my own.  I can’t seem to put into words what that felt like, but believe me, nothing will ever be that hard again as getting on that plane was.

The first leg of the flight was fine – slept most of it (thanks to a cracking sleeping tablet) and I was seated between two blokes – Ben (who was 30) and who was moving to Oz to be with his girlfriend of 8 years and John, who lives in Manly, and who was returning home after visiting the UK. They were lovely and we kept each other entertained. The 2^nd leg was tougher, as I seemed to be all ‘sleeped-out’, so I tried to keep myself occupied by watching about 5 films!

Got to Sydney and was greeted by Bernadette and Dan – was excited to be there but, typically, it was raining! Got back to their apartment and I felt all out of sorts......just the thought of being here, finally, was hitting home.  The jet lag kicked in, so I went for a sleep – got up 2 hours later, could hardly string a sentence together, so went back to bed. Finally got up at 6pm and we all went to the pub for some food. I was a little low, trying to put a smile on my face, but failing miserably.

On the Monday,  I got up and thought ‘right, need to find somewhere to live’. Walked into Balmain town and tried to register with a number of estate agents, but they were all so rubbish! All of them told me that it would take me 3-4 weeks to find something and once i did, I would have to put an application in and then its up to the landlord??? Saw one apartment, which was a two bed, but it was awful. Smelt of mould and was quite gloomy (not much natural light), so this then set me back a few paces. Got a call from an estate agent I had been in touch with when I was in the UK and she asked me to go and see her. I turned up and she took me for a walk to show me an apartment which was coming up for rent in a few days. I took one look at it and loved it. Got the paperwork to her and it was mine by the end of the day! Apparently, I’m now in Sydney folklore as no one finds an apartment within one day J

Now I had the place sorted, I just needed to find the furniture. Bern mentioned that ‘Radio Rentals’ were still in business over here, so I looked on their website, rang the store and got it all ordered for my moving in date! I know that sounds very easy, it was, but there was a lot of paperwork to do which i won’t bore you with. Needless to say, without the help of my boss, the estate agent and bern & dan giving me references, I wouldn’t be sitting in my gorgeous flat now. Managed to do a lot of shopping at Target, Big W and Ikea......the retail therapy worked wonders :)

I needed to also find my way around Balmain/Sydney – so managed to find the bus routes and off I went. I spent a lot of my first week just walking down Darling Street (the main street in balmain) and also walking round Sydney city. I even managed to get myself over to Manly and spent an afternoon sitting on the beach, watching the surfers (where I managed to lose two of my favourite rings, when I took them off to reapply suncream and forgot to pick them up again). Dammit!

Went in to meet the new team – our office is just on the corner of Darling Harbour and the views are immense! Its kind of like a regus office, but its so central, it’ll be handy when I’m doing my ‘coffees’ with new clients. The team were awesome – Ed is my boss, he’s originally from the UK and he’s been here for over 7 years. He’s married to Tamara, who does the HR/Marketing side of the business. And lastly, there’s Adam. He’s originally from Newcastle, so it was hilarious to hear a Geordie twang inside an aussie accent.  They made me feel so welcome, and I couldn’t wait to start with them.

So the rest of the week was just in limbo – I didn’t want to be a burden to Bern & Dan (they have been phenomenal to me), but I also didn’t have the luxury of having a) a car or b) a list of people to meet for lunch or to have drinks with. That’s a tough lesson that i’ve learnt too. Moving to a new country and a new city is exciting, however, the people and accessability I had to my friends and family I think I may have taken for granted. I know that I’ll meet new people and get my own circle of friends going, but right now, not having that network here is a brand new experience. Not necessarily an enjoyable one (!) but I know that will change once I get into work.

However, the txt messages, the emails and the phonecalls I’ve had with my family and friends have made the first two weeks much happier. There have been times I’ve been crying with laughter at drunk txt messages I’ve received and I’ve been laughing down the phone, having random conversations - and thank god for the amazing technology of skype!   

And I’ve realised that, although  I may be 11,000 miles away, I’m always close to peoples hearts and in their minds. And for me, that’s enough.

(thank god for facebook!)

xxxxxxx