Warm Winter

We are enjoying a warm winter here in Perth! Hope that doesn’t make my family and friends back home in the UK too envious as I’ve recently been hearing moans about the drizzly weather there. What a difference a dose of vitamin D makes over the winter season though!

Now July is here, we’re in the height of “winter” and yet we are absorbing temperatures of 21- 22 degrees and are surrounded by clear blue skies mostly every day. I’ve discovered that a prescription of warm winter sun helps to lift my mood when I’m feeling a little low or missing home. I often take myself for a brisk walk along the river and just five minutes away, I feel like I am enveloped in the country surrounded by lots of different species of birds, it’s lovely and you wouldn't think the city is just 20 minutes away. I have decided that we have to buy some bicycles in the near future and follow many others along the cycle path. There are cycle tracks all around us and I often see individuals, couples and families taking leisurely cycle trips along the river.

However not all of Australia is relishing in a mildly warm winter. Over east (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra), temperatures are mostly in the teens and it sounds pretty chilly from what relatives/friends say. The weather in Western Australia is one of the highlights of living here which sets itself apart from other states in the country.

I haven’t been up to an awful lot recently which sounds pretty boring. Work continues to be pretty full-on and stressful and in all honestly, I feel like it's taking over my life which isn’t a great because firstly, I’m actually not enjoying it very much now  and secondly, I didn’t come to Australia to be get bogged down with work, work, work the whole time! So I need to reshuffle my work/life balance and also look into improving and/or changing my work situation in the near future.

Anyway, here are some personal things I am looking forward to in the next week or so:

- Dinner with new friends Roland and Kate

- Attending my first Pilates class

- Attending my first Yoga class

- Meeting a new friend in Fremantle for a wonder around the town and its vintage shops

- Catching up with loved ones on Skype

- Continuing to enjoy the winter sun for as long as possible!

Unpacking, done. Settling in, getting there…

When you relocate to a new country and move into a new home, right up there on the to-do list is unpacking your belongings into your new home. For me, things happened in a slightly different order. I never thought I would start a new job here before unpacking my belongings, that’s for sure. Three months after moving to Oz and I have just about finished most of my unpacking, my new job has been keeping my very busy. It took a good month after arriving in Perth for our shipping boxes to arrive from the UK and when they did I was so happy. To be reunited with all of my clothes, shoes, bags, my huge box of make-up and lotions and potions, books and even just little things like photo frames and scrap books after three months apart was a joyous occasion. Unwrapping items individually from their bubble wrap or tissue paper felt like Christmas had come early especially when I’d also forgotten that I’d bought things back in London that I knew I wouldn’t find out here. Micky was equally excited to receive his new Jamie Oliver kitchen knives. With the exception of a broken bottle of nail varnish, everything was delivered early and undamaged. We were very happy with the service provided by Freedom Shipping. It’s good to say that all 19 boxes (except two) have been emptied.

As for our home, we’re living in a suburb called Ascot in the Ascot Waters area just a stone’s throw from the Ascot Race Course. Our apartment (or “unit” as the Aussies choose to call them here), sits beside a little Marina and faces the Swan River. It’s one of the newer suburbs to the east of central Perth with gorgeous newly built houses surrounding us. It’s a peaceful area with lots of species of birds circling the estate. We’re in a two bedroomed open-plan apartment with two bathrooms - I could get really used to having his and hers separate bathrooms! Very different to our last two small flats in London.

The flat is still a work in progress but we have been so fortunate to take it over from Micky’s sister who generously left most of her furniture for us before relocating to Canberra in April. The timing was perfect for all of us. We’ve only made a couple of trips to Ikea for some essential furniture; new chest of drawers, book case... I am settling into my new home and we are exploring our new neighbourhood. It’s taken a couple of months for me to feel settled but I am getting there… Putting our stamp on the place and finding “homes” for my belongings at home has helped. Now I need to get back to the bigger task and adventure of settling into Aussie life. 

Ascot Waters marina

Another week away on the road...

Work sent me back down to Margaret River again for another full week of client meetings on the road which was unexpected and this time I really was on my own!

I was even more nervous this time, not sure if the driving down there alone, (at least last time I had Micky to accompany me), or the pressure to conduct meetings to new clients, was more daunting.

On the Sunday afternoon drive down from Bunbury to Margaret River (luckily we’d spent the weekend in Mandurah so that was a quarter of the route already done), I found talking to myself helped. Don’t they say that’s a sign of insanity..? Anyway, I needed to hear noise it was eerily quiet on the road. No iPod connection in our car for a little musical company and I haven’t owned a cassette tape since the mid-nineties to play in the cars’ cassette player. The car is Micky’s parents’ old car which they kindly gave to us when Micky arrived. I kept thinking ‘just don’t run over any kangaroos!’

My week wasn’t as successful as the first but I did manage to win some premium new clients such as; Gabriel Chocolates, (a lovely boutique chocolate shop), Arimia Wines, (a lovely little cellar door winery and restaurant with a lovely owner who came up with the vineyard name from her two daughters; ‘Ari’ and ‘Mia’), Wise Vineyard and Restaurant, a winery and restaurant in an amazing setting with gorgeous scenery nestled in the hills overlooking Eagle Bay and the ocean. I had another incident with farm animals, this time it was chickens! I visited an artist and when I met her on her organic farm she led me into her studio which was a five minute walk out into the field. I’d forgotten to take some magazines from the car for her so I insisted I walk back to the car to get them – I wish I hadn’t. A dozen or so chickens start to follow me so fast that I start to walk faster and then I ran and as I did they scurried along faster behind me, I was a bit scared. Why are you chasing me chickens? Surely you're not after a copy of Scoop magazine! By the time I got back to the studio I was so out of breath from running away from the chickens chasing me that my client said “did you run back?” “Yes, your chickens were chasing me!" I replied. "You can tell I’m not from the country can’t you!”.

I gained confidence each day on the road, I honestly surprised myself so much that I hope I can now maintain this confidence and calm in Perth where the driving is a bit more challenging on the busier roads. I even kept up to the speed limits, 110k/hour on some roads. I stayed in the same accommodation as before and spent my evenings cocooned up in my hotel room as I’d be pretty exhausted from the day. Must admit I felt relieved to come home at the end of the week. Whist it’s always good to get away and explore a beautiful region here in WA, being away on two work trips for two weeks over the last month has meant that I haven’t managed to do much else socially or even personal things for myself. I intend to get more settled in Perth now that I’m back at home, including unpacking the rest of the shipped boxes that arrived from the UK two months ago…

Arimia

Nice setting for a work meeting at Arimia :-)

Brookland Valley winery

Driving along scary roads

My Aussie wheels

View from Wise Winery

New job at SCOOP Publishing.

The last few weeks have been crazy as I started a new job, hooray! I was amazed to find myself in full-time work just two weeks after arriving in Australia - no time off for the POM! It all happened pretty quickly from having an interview lined up the week after I arrived, to being offered the job, to starting the following week…

I’ve managed to stay within the magazine publishing industry so that’s good. The company is called SCOOP Publishing and they publish eight premium magazines within lifestyle, design and travel in Western Australia and are renowned for their high quality and style. SCOOP is the flagship and the main title I’ll be working on although I’ll be working on the entire lifestyle series including SCOOP Traveller and SCOOP Functions & Venues. SCOOP is a quarterly lifestyle mag with an editorial content focus on the very best in fashion, food and wine, health & beauty and events and entertainment for the coming season in WA. The advertising reflects that by profiling the best brand names and businesses in WA so my clients will fall into all of these categories. I’ve had two weeks of training and job shadowing and the last week or so has seen the real work begin. There are 50 or so members of staff within the company. It’s so refreshing that the editorial, production and advertising teams sit near each other and interact with each other – this is the first time I have experienced this and it’s so much better. For example, I can go and have a conversation with the Style Editor before a meeting with a fashion client and talk to the Entertainment Writer about an upcoming meeting I had with a Perth theatre with complete ease.

The SCOOP offices are based in the western suburb of Subiaco, right in the centre. It’s about a half hour drive or a twenty minute train journey from the nearest station which is a five minute drive away. Subiaco is a quaint little suburb with elegant buildings and beautiful houses. It has a cosmopolitan feel with lots of boutiquey shops, cafes and restaurants along its tidy tree-lined streets and it’s just a few kilometres from the city centre so the location is perfect for me as I like to feel like I have lots going on around me. It’s not quite Oxford Circus by all means, which was a five minute walk from my London offices, but it’s great in Australia standards.

My new working day starts quite a bit earlier at 8am (I was used to a late 9:30 start in London) but with the good weather (so far), rising a little after 6am isn’t as bad as it sounds. Today was a great day as I won my first new client: a beauty clinic for Scoop for the full year! So all in all, a busy but good start on the work front…

Next week I’m travelling down to the Margaret River region (about four hours south of Perth) for a week of meetings for Scoop Traveller magazine. Very nervous about driving around a huge wine region and on country roads but I’ll let you know how I go….

Hello Sunshine!

I’ve been in Perth for over a week already and what a week it's been!

The jet-lag took a good few days to overcome but it hasn’t taken me much time at all to acclimatise to the weather (on average 35°C).

Apart from the obvious reunion with Mr W, the sunshine, hot weather, warm nights and breakfasts on our sunny balcony overlooking the calm Swan River, have put an instant smile on my face. Perth is the sunniest capital city in the world after all. In between settling into our new temporary home and assigning myself with the initial tasks on my emigration to-do list; (new Oz bank account, new Aussie phone number, Medicare and  job hunting), we’ve packed in a few trips to the beach including one to Yanchep Lagoon which is close by to where a friend lives. It’s a beautiful stretch of white sandy beach north of Perth city. And with the exception of the lifeguard, not a soul in sight…

D & M reunited

Apart from almost missing my flight, my journey to Australia was surprisingly smooth and restful (even if I did lose my iPod somewhere between London and Singapore!)

It was 1am when I landed in Perth. I wasn’t really tired, the excitement to see Mr W after three months apart kept me awake and energised, so much so that when I passed through customs and collected my luggage, I hurried my heavy trolley along at a joggers’ pace through the arrivals exit searching amongst the crowds of people for his familiar face.

There he was sitting ten or so metres ahead, “Sweetheart!” I yelled and waved as I pushed my trolley and hurried towards him with all of my belongings.  I was surprised he could see my head poking out behind my stacked suitcases and bags on my trolley. I was so caught in the moment rushing along to embrace him that my trolley was still in motion in a different direction when we reached each other and hugged. “Welcome to Australia sweet”, he greeted me.

Farewell family and friends...

My final week in the UK has been full of goodbyes, finishing work, and packing; in fact, lots of packing, unpacking and repacking!

Going back to the goodbyes…. There have been many, every day for the last couple of weeks and some haven’t been easy, but I knew that was coming. I feel very lucky to have such incredible people in my life who care a great deal and have been so supportive in my decision.

Leaving my job after almost four years felt surreal. We’d organised some leaving drinks at a local Latin bar the evening of my penultimate day which was fun. I was given a great send off on my last day with cards and presents and a farewell speech.

After finishing work, I had just two and a half days to organise myself and pack before I flew out to Oz. I was lucky to have my mum on hand to help. Y’know a 30kg luggage allowance is really not enough when you’re emigrating, even if you have already shipped two dozen boxes two months earlier! Mum had bought some weighing scales to measure my case to ensure we’d keep within the allowance. If only we’d known that at check-in at Heathrow I would be so fortunate to encounter a very friendly (and chatty) Singapore Airlines member of staff who not only gave me complimentary Priority tickets for my luggage and overlooked the 1.5 kg I went over by, but also offered me 10kg extra for free! Off mum went back to the car park to pick up my ‘emergency’ suitcase which was originally brought along for the unlikely scenario that my case was underweight so I could add my ‘reserves’ or, in case the old worn-out suitcase I used exploded, so this was a bonus.

Having said goodbye to close family and friends earlier today and having just bid a long farewell to mum at the airport terminal, I am waiting to board my 22:05 flight to Perth via Singapore. Excited, nervous, happy, sad, scared and energised sums up all of the mixed emotions I am feeling. Relieved and exhausted also as I had trekked to gate 18 for 20 minutes laden with my three heavy pieces of hand luggage having looked up the wrong flight with the same departure time, only to retrace my heavy steps to the correct gate number 3 with tears rolling down my cheeks thinking that there could be a possibility that I would miss my own flight having looked at the flight information screen to see red texting flashing Flight Closing and also thinking of the life I am leaving behind...

I am very much looking forward to being reunited with Mr W in Australia and starting our new Aussie lives together. And now I am literally off! I'll be in touch from the other side of the globe when I eventually get there - it's a loooong flight!

Surprise!

After a busy week finalising work duties, getting through my ‘Emigration to-do list’ and seeing various friends and family members, I was looking forward to some chill-out quality time with my sister before I leave.  She’d told me that she wanted to take me out for a meal to a recently opened French restaurant in her neck of the woods, coincidentally called Sister (I should have cottoned on then) and stay over at her place for the night.

Little did I know that on arrival at her place, my close friends and sisters’ friends were huddled together in her living room like excited little koala bears waiting to explode on me with a firework of surprises!!! Aussie flags, Aussie signs, balloons, a blow-up kangaroo and Aussie snacks decorated her living room!

 Wow, what a surprise!  An Aussie inspired leaving party just for me – I felt so touched.

Thank you to all of the girls and especially my sister, who made the night a fun and memorable one. I will miss you all…. x

Countdown...

Two weeks and two days….

This is how long I have left until I bid farewell to my life and loved ones in London and join my boyfriend in Australia for a new chapter living Down Under!

Around three hundred and sixty five days is how long we’ve been considering/planning/organizing the big move. To those who don’t know me, some background info: I am a twenty-something British born Turkish-Cypriot girl-about-(London)-town kinda girl working in advertising for an international magazine publishing house and have been dating my Aussie boyfriend for five years shy of three months…

It was way back in November 2010 when feelings arose on my boyfriend's part about the prospect of moving back (and in my case, emigrating), to Australia. I cannot deny that I was particularly reluctant, apprehensive and fearful of the idea and it took many months of contemplation and conversations between us and with friends and family to come around to the idea and his way of thinking. After nine years in London, my boyfriend believed it was the right time for us to make the move and improve our lifestyle to a better one of less stress, slower pace and warmer climate and with the current economic climate here, the opportunity to further our careers in better paid jobs as well as to be closer to his native Australian family.

I am very excited about the big move but the nerves have also kicked in… A new life in a different country, in fact, on another continent, with a different culture and lifestyle and being 9,000 miles away from loved ones is a daunting prospect. For the first time in my adult life, I have no plans for the year ahead or even for the next month… Those who know me well know this is unheard of! From March 2012, my diary is empty. No knowledge of a work schedule, social arrangements or travel plans. It does however, feel quite liberating.

So with my partner visa finally in place, my boyfriend already there since December, our belongings on a ship somewhere between here and Oz, and having resigned from my media job, I am slowly but surely preparing myself for one of the biggest rides and adventures of my life…

I know that my life is about to change quite radically yet, I’m not sure how exactly. This blog is to share my new journey with friends and family and anyone who may be embarking on a similar journey to mine, or anyone who just wants to come along for the big, rollercoaster ride.