Living out of a suitcase!

We flew in from Singapore on February 25 at 6.30am .... and we have not stopped running around since!

Monday 27th saw us in Ballan meeting with the tradesmen and organising the work that needs to be done for our 'new home' to be made habitable. 

So far we are having it repainted, all new light fittings and power outlets, garden totally cleaned out so we can start with a 'new canvas', carpets completely removed and all the floors (except wet areas) are being replaced with mocha coloured Bamboo Flooring. All of this will be completed by March 30th and then we wait for the shipment to arrive.

Our shipment is on board the cargo carrier: APL BAHRAIN and is expected into the Port of Melbourne on March 19th. Then our container needs to sit at the docks until the customs and quarantine people have done their inspections.

In the meantime, we are LIVING OUT OF A SUITCASE!!

But even though it does get messy at times, we are not complaining. We are lucky that my brother has allowed us to use his caravan (House Trailer) at the back of our property in Ballan. This allows us to still be 'on site' as much as possible. At other times we stay overnight at their place in Langwarrin. Its quite a drive back and forth and we have had to slow those trips down as the cost of fuel to do the two trip each way is getting out of hand.

We are well into the autumn weather here with crispy cold mornings and beautiful warm sunny days .... but must admit I do love looking at the BIG BLUE SKIES every day. Have taken far too many photos, but they really are stunning. Its not till you cannot see the "big blue skies of Australia" that you truly appreciate them.

This morning when we woke it was a chilly 9 degree's, but we still managed to get out and go for a long walk. Looking forward to exploring this little village by foot!!

below is as we drove into Ballan for the first time:

The street where we live and our house is at the far end on the right:

a street sign in the main area of Ballan:

But the funniest sign of all I saw today was:

                                  A large snake has been seen at the roundabout, 

                                       please be careful as it is large and swift.

Well, perhaps not so 'funny', but its a sure sign I am back in Australia!!!

plan ahead, plan well ahead!

No one really needs to be told to 'plan ahead' when packing or moving, just maybe one or two reminders?

*this blog post is off my other blog, not all of whats here will be relevant for those departing Australia, but am reposting it in case it may be of help to others that are packing to move overseas anyway*

We started our planning and sorting last November so that we did not have a "last minute panic". So far this has worked fairly well.  Yes, we have had many obstacles and brick walls to climb over, by by planning ahead we seemed to have been getting over them a little easier.

When repatriating home, you will find there are many things to think of and it will be a lot more difficult than when you first arrived into Singapore. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Plan ahead by looking up the customs and immigration site of where you are moving to. For us this was the Australian Customs and Immigration site. So much to read, so much to learn and so much to absorb!

But my immersing yourself in this knowledge then (hopefully) there will not be too many surprises once you start the packing or unpacking process.  We certainly did learn what we could take back and what we couldn't. We also know that anything purchased within the past 12 mths will be taxed at the other end. We strongly disagree with this, but "thems the rules".  Our disagreement is because we have purchased items here in Singapore for our personal use and paid tax, GST etc here, so why the need to pay extra tax at the other end when it is still for personal use?

So yes, keep those receipts!

Scan and copy all your receipts if you have to...... the originals can be shipped, but do keep a copy of anything purchased within the past 12 mths to show the removalist company. This certainly applies for Australia, not sure of elsewhere and this is why its a good idea to read the website of the country you are moving to. Be well prepared. We have actually kept aside anything that we need to declare and the boxes are marked as "to be declared". The removalist or packer will need to repack these boxes, but we have put aside the items, not actually 'packed' them.

If you can, scan all your documents. Believe me, there will always be that one piece of paper that you have packed and sealed, then suddenly find its needed.  For us it was one of Oscars bits of paperwork ....  the Kennel Company phoned yesterday asking if we had the letter for "XYZ".

Most of our paperwork has been scanned and we have copies on our HD, on the portable HD and on the IPad. We always have hardcopies of our passports in our suitcase and in our carry on luggage, then the removalists phoned to make sure we have a copy for them on the day of packing. Just as well we had a couple of spare copies on hand.

We keep copies of documents on our IPads that we may also need in transit. As we carry the IPad with us constantly, this comes in handy.

As usual, all our important documents are on the HD, but as we will not have access to our computers till at least mid April, John has done a complete back up - as he does every few days anyway - and he will have the portable HD with him. This allows us access to our full computer system on the MacBook while in transit.

All items that we need to 'declare' for customs has been set aside for the removalists when they arrive on Wednesday. There is a chance - or so we are told - that if there is a hold up with the shipment at the other end, they can clear the rest of the items for shipping to the final address and just hold back the items that are being declared for checking and processing.

There is a high chance of most of it needing to be fumigated as well. So all timber furniture is also being set aside so it can go in the container together.

If you are unsure if an item is to be declared or not, declare it. Be safe.

I have copied the pages from the website and highlited the items of concern. In particular, the part that says for Musical Instruments, I have a Djembe with goat skin. I know that it should clear customs OK as there is no hair attached or on the drum itself. But quarantine will still need to check it. I have copied the appropriate page, highlited the part about the musical instruments and added my own note to say it was originally purchased in Australia, came to Singapore in 2007 and has not been to any other country. Hopefully they will allow it through!

Another 'item' to allow time for is the viewings ... yes, viewings of your apartment. That is if it is leased. The agent is likely to contact you at least 4 times a week for viewings, you can say no, but its better to compromise with time. If its not convenient for 12 noon, then ask if they can come at 11.00am. Be flexible if you can. But do allow for these times .... especially if you are in a 'packing mess' and need to hide some items and do a quick clean up!

Plan ahead for bathroom items ..... by about the final 4 - 6 weeks, no longer should you be purchasing the larger bottles of body wash, shampoo, conditioner or Listerine!  Try to ease down to just a small amount by the final week, otherwise you will be throwing out too much. This also applies to the kitchen. Do not even think of buying the 25kg bag of rice in that last month .... unless you have a huge family that is!

Organise the phone. internet, TV disconnection. The change of address's all those things that need to be done even if you are moving just 5 klms away.

For anyone moving OS, then start to organise the phones, internet etc for connection to be made on arrival, find out about the 'phone plans' that are available. Start to think of what your needs maybe. For us, this phone call to the Telco in Australia took one hour and 45 minutes.

Consider your "checked in" luggage a couple of weeks before departure. What will the weather be when you arrive at your destination? Consider cooler weather means jackets etc!  Then make sure that jacket is not going to be shipped. Keep aside the items you need for your flight and what needs to be in your 'checked in' luggage. If you are constantly changing the items around, then weigh it every few days, keep track of that weight! If flying Qantas, check their new baggage allowances.

If by chance you know you are repatriating 'next year' and are going home for a visit before then, take extra your clothes to leave behind at the next visit. That way on final departure you will not need to carry so many things with you ... or at least it will allow you to carry more souvenirs perhaps!  We did this over Christmas, we went home for a few days and took shoes and clothing we could leave behind. Now we don't have to wait till mid April when the shipment arrives for most of our clothing!

Plan ahead for the 'handover' too ... like curtains will need to be dry cleaned, walls may need painting etc. I should do a new blog post for 'handover' time with regards the apartment. This is perhaps the most stressful part of moving out of any apartment in Singapore as we - and many others - very well know. My blog post on our handover from The Jade is HERE.

As our handover is on Friday and we depart Friday afternoon, I think I will leave that blog post for another time. Suffice to say, be prepared for anything!

When its time to organise a removalist / packer, start getting quotes at least three months ahead of the time needed. Think about your needs and what you want, get to know the company and if you feel comfortable with them, with their staff and what they are offering. I had four companies come out and chose one that I was very happy with. The staff are excellent and they don't even mind coming out again if you have any questions. But do plan ahead so you feel comfortable with the choice you make too.

PS: do not always go with the 'cheapest' either .... make sure you have everything in writing. Our move ended up being a disaster and we removed the blog posts (with their name) until it was settled ..... but nothing was. They told us we lied when I showed them the images of broken and damaged items. It really ended up being far too stressful all because we chose the 'cheapest' and yet as we all know, you get what you pay for .... and we did!

Plan head for any eventuality and even allow extra days for the 'unknown'. 

.... as an example, Oscar was to fly out today (Feb 20) and his final medical check was booked for last Friday. Then we were informed that they had to delay the flight by 24 hours. Which  meant we had to rearrange the final vet check for today (instead of last week) the flight is now tomorrow (21st) and the removalists that were due here on the 21st now had to be rescheduled for the Wednesday 22nd as we will still have Oscar here at the time they were originally to be here. Everything we had planned for this final week now had to be delayed by 24 hours. 

With hindsight, I think I should have blocked off two days each week 'just in case'!!

Often people will say "there are not enough hours in the day" and this will apply to repatriating too, but by planning ahead, hopefully there will be enough hours in the day for everything you need to do.

We set aside the final two weeks as a 'wind down' time. Still with things to do of course, but we have tried not to full every minute of every day.  People will be wanting to meet with you, have lunch, catch up with you and you will be wanting to set aside time to be with them too. Have some times available that is flexible for you to spend time with your friends.

But just as important, if not more so - take some time out to spend with your partner.  With all the things that need doing, you do need time to be together. Cross off a day in the diary, this 'date' is not flexible. Spend it going for a walk, having dinner, lazing by the pool, beach or wherever. No cell phone, nothing ... just yourselves.

Our day was last Thursday when we spent three hours at the Buddhist Temple in Chinatown and the afternoon at Spa Botanica on Sentosa.  The blog post is HERE on where we went.

main thing to remember is to plan ahead and relax!!

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a little time out

As we prepare for our move to Australia, life is hectic here in Singapore with packing, sorting, organising and of course the many farewells.

But for tomorrow, it is our day for "time out", a day for ourselves, a day to be together, a day without stress and without thinking about "the move"!

First we will visit The Temple in Chinatown before heading over to Spa Botanica on the island of Sentosa.

We need time to just 'be together'. When life becomes hectic as it is now, this time out is so important. Not just for the two of us, but for all couples.

We are looking forward to our time at Spa Botanica.....

  

The Labyrinth

Set in a classical spiral with one way in and one way out, our labyrinths invite you to explore their secret calm. A walk through the labyrinth is a simple exercise to clear the mind and revitalise the spirit. Take your time to reflect, contemplate and emerge with a renewed sense of energy to face the world.

The Mud Pool

The high mineral content in the volcanic mud that is packed on a pedestal by the mud pool has an energising and purifying effect on the skin. Apply a generous coat onto the skin before lounging under the sun to let it dry. Once dry and powdery, the mud can be brushed, massaged or washed off in the mud pool or under our outdoor rain showers.

The Float Pool

Grab one of our float mats and relax as your body is gently massaged by the varying water pressures of the cascading waterfall as you drift on by.

The Swimming Pool

Unwind by our swimming pool with a good book and a refreshing fruit juice from The Garden restaurant before or after your spa massage and treatment.

The Spa Teahouse

Situated in the middle of our spa gardens, the spa teahouse is the ideal place to sit down and enjoy the sounds of water and nature as you sip a hot cuppa tea. The teas served at Spa Botanica boast beneficial properties such as improving digestion, removing wind and lowering cholesterol to enhance and supplement your spa treatment at one of the best luxury spas in Singapore.

   

We all need time together to reconnect.

10 sleeps ......

still in Singapore and its now Tuesday Feb 14th.....

So not long before we depart, in fact just 10 sleeps.  Oscar flys out next Tuesday evening and arrives in Melbourne at 6.00am on Wednesday Feb 22 when - hopefully - the Australian Quarantine people will be there to pick him up and take him to Spotswood Center.

He will be there for one month, not sure how we are going to cope with that, let alone Oscar!!

 

 Oscar in the crate in the lounge here in Singapore!

We have the crate here in the lounge so he gets used to it being around and by the time he needs to spend at least 10 hours in it, he will be used to it and it won't be too stressful for him. Though we know he will fret as he will not be around us and he needs his people, be it John, myself or Yvonne.... he has always been around people and after losing his brother in July last year he is even more dependent.

But we are doing our best, so fingers crossed he will be well enough to travel and strong enough to take the flight and the 30 days of quarantine.

In the meantime, we are doing last minute purchases of items we cannot get in Australia and if we can, it would be too expensive!  The removalists arrive on Wednesday morning of next week and apparently will take about 5 hours to pack. We have a 20' container and will probably take up about 17 cbm ....  can't afford to buy anything else anyway, so thats it!

The shipment is packed on the 22nd, then it goes back to the removalists warehouse to add our shipment from Batam - furniture from our villa there - then the container will 'probably' depart Singapore by about Feb 28th. We have been told it will take just on 3 weeks for it to arrive in Melbourne but it will sit on the docks till the Australian customs can get around to checking everything. Which apparently is about 2 weeks. If there is nothing needing to be done like fumigation etc then we should be expecting the shipment at our home in Ballan by the first week of April.

This will be the exciting part, the removalists will be unpacking of course so all we need to do is 'supervise' where everything is to be placed. At this stage we really don't have much of an idea as to where everything will go as we have only seen the house once and that was last December when we spent an hour or so just going through everything and measuring rooms.

Its hard saying goodbye to all our friends here, but we know we will see most of them again at some stage ...... but we need to look to our future too and start to think of new friendships and settling in to our new home.

Will keep you posted on events as they happen......

map of where Ballan is located ... Melbourne is to the right off the map. That's for all my friends here in Singapore!!

one door closes another will open!

we are still here in Singapore sorting, packing and generally getting ready to repatriate to Australia .... and then on to Ballan.

We were very apprehensive about moving to a small town after the vibrancy of Singapore, but starting to come to terms with the move and just today we talked about the new adventures that await us ....

its a bit like as one door closes another will open!

There has been a lot involved in the move back to Australia, there is the sorting through all our belongings and arranging for a removalist to get everything shipped back.


We have a villa in Indonesia and there are quite a few things (including furniture) we need from there that has to be shipped to Singapore in time to be shipped to Melbourne with the rest of our things on February 21. But the hold up is on the Indonesian end .... so we wait and wait .... and wait some more, for they need to decide when this is going to happen. In the meantime we are getting a little stressed as each day goes by and the time is getting closer. We want some definite dates!

I have recently uploaded a blog post on packing - or more to the point - what not to pack on my other blog. You may care to read that posting here: Living in Singapore.

John has been extra busy getting his business up and running. With his deep appreciation of cultural diversity in Asia and Australia's changing role in the region, I can see his  business leaping ahead!

John Fabre and Associates is a boutique agency focused on how consumers and businesses can genuinely benefit from our changing world. I choose to work with associates in applying creative, communication and business management skills to align brand aspirations and consumer needs in an experience consumption driven world. We all bring different skill sets.
 

 

                                 Oscar

Oscar (our Tenterfield Terrier) now has his flight booked for February 20 and will be in Quarantine at the Spotswood Quarantine Station for one month.  This particular part of the move has been incredibly stressful for us both .... Oscar will be 14 years old in March and has a few health issues. The Australian Quarantine were not happy to allow his entry into Australia, citing his health issues on such a long flight. We have written to them explaining in great detail that even though he is old and has health problems, he is quite 'the fighter' and will survive the flight. We have agreed to a private vet assess him on arrival and accept all conditions they have placed on the permit that we now have.

We came to Singapore with two Tenterfield Terriers - our boys were brothers, they had the same parents - but Pokey died last July  we know that Oscar really has to go HOME and if we don't try, we will never know. We feel it is worth the risk, so long as he is not in any pain.


If you could see him running up and down the stairs here, there is no way he looks 'old'. The carer (from K9 Kennels) came today to bring the crate for Oscar to get used to. Even he was saying how healthy he looked and was playing with him. We are praying all will be well for him to travel home on February 20 and that he survives the following month in quarantine. We are allowed to visit him twice a week ... that is going to be hard on the three of us ... but lets hope that time goes by very quickly!!

Once he is out of there it will be party time ...... for it will be his 14th birthday!!

So yes .... we are packing and sorting getting ready for our move back to Australia and eventually to Ballan.  There is a lot of planning still to be done, but as one door closes another will open!  We have no idea what that open door will show us......

but we are ready for that next adventure!