New blog address

We've starting a fresh blog, The Cunneen Clan. Eventually this blog will be transferred to the new web address. http://thecunneenclan.blogspot.com

we're here

We've been in Mackay for just over a week now. We feel winter is warm!

Almost there

Lots of packing.
Got a "new car". Actually a 1992 model. Nathan detailed it today so that it is clean and shiny for me and the boys.
He gets to drive a work ute up so we can take whatever will fit on the back and in the boot of the Mazda!
Still bits and pieces of our stuff all over the house, wanting to pack up the ute Sunday afternoon so that we're all ready to go Monday morning, arriving Mackay on Tuesday afternoon. Nathan starts work Wednesday morning.
We've applied to rent a furnished house 2 blocks from the beach. We should hear back Wednesday (because of the long weekend), and hope to move in on Saturday. Staying in a nice apartment until then on the Pioneer River, thanks to Nath's work :)
On the family front, Ryan is 3 months old, Daniel's vocabulary is starting to grow (yellow duck, mummy play, please, just to name a few).
Next update from Mackay.

We come, we go.

We're off to Mackay, about 12hrs drive north of Brisbane. Weather is similar to Brisbane, but more humid.

After 3 weeks of job-hunting, Nathan got his first call back on Tuesday morning. He had an interview 2 hours later, and we got a call back Wednesday to say the job was his! God is good. Nathan is getting great pay considering it's been a while since he's engineered, they are paying removal costs, and giving us an accommodation allowance. Mining is one of Mackay's industries, which apparently drives up rental prices. Nathan will be doing Quality Assurance work as Project Engineer on a road project. The company he is employed with is looking to expand quickly, which means there is room for promotion soon. We will be in Mackay for 6 months, after which there will be openings at Townsville or Brisbane.

It's been a whirlwind few days! Originally they told us they wanted Nathan to start in Mackay on Monday 7th! Thankfully that was wrong info. He starts work Monday in Brisbane, and then we'll head up the next weekend. Not sure of any logistics just yet. Trying to finalise quite a few things in Brisbane, and do some shopping in the 'big city'. We're sorting through the homewares we left in my parent's shed for 3 years. Some things didn't cope well with storage, and our tastes have changed a little too.

We've spent some time applying with Centrelink for government family payments, and we've received generous backpay so we have money to buy what we need. Nathan is out buying work clothes, safety boots, and getting new glasses. We've been offered a car which would need a little bit of work (1994 model), but would save us another big expense right now.

We've been catching up with family and some friends, but time seems to have almost run out :( I feel a little robbed of family time since we are going again after a month, but it is better than nothing, and we will at least be in the same state.

Citizens of Oz

We received Daniel & Ryan's citizenship certificates! We are quite surprised by how quickly they arrived, but very thankful. They are now both able to receive public healthcare, and we have begun processing family benefits to help us out financially while Nathan is finding a job.

Time flies

It's almost been 2 weeks in this beautiful land of ours!
I've not had much computer time, so am not able to keep up with distant friends as much as I would like. Barely enough time to check email once/day.
Nathan has gone this afternoon to play a bit of church-league soccer with some old friends. Still job hunting and hoping to hear back this week from some of his applications.
It's possible the boys' citizenship papers will come this week (I missed a registered letter from Friday's post, so we'll see what that could be on Monday). That will mean other red tape is a lot easier to tie up!
Looking foward to some play dates with friends' kids in the next week or two, and catching up with our old church on Sunday.

We've arrived

We're slowly getting over jetlag. Daniel is still getting up at 4.30am :( Hopefully that will stop soon! Ryan has been great, he's so little that he just does his thing. Starting to go longer periods of sleep now (around 5hrs), which is great.

Daniel has had so many changes - new home, new room, a big boy's bed, pets...He was really excited to see his grandparents. So excited that he didn't want to sleep despite being exhausted! His little legs were bouncing up and down and his face was full of smiles.

We had an insane amount of luggage. We knew that, but it still caused headaches for us.

• 9 suitcases
• 3 boxes
• 2 guitars
• 2 carseats
• 1 stroller
• 6 pieces of carry-on.
• 2 kids and only 2 adults

Ryan had a bassinette, but Daniel struggled with falling asleep. He was exhausted (we had an 8.30pm flight), but couldn't fall asleep because he is used to sleeping on his tummy. His cries of "mummy" were really pitiful, I felt awful not being able to help him.We ended up putting him on the floor once the lights were dimmed, and praying the air hosts/esses wouldn't see him. Thankfully he got 6 hours sleep that way.

The airline was helpful at Auckland, we had a golfcart to drive us from the plane to our next spot. However our stroller (checked in at the plane door) got waylaid, and we didn't get it back until Tuesday night. So we wasteda lot of time at baggage services.

Customs/security was really hard. I was carrying Ryan in a front-carrier, so Nathan did all the lifting and bag-moving. Daniel chose some poor places to be obstinate or run away. At Auckland he ran back through security - we were so glad we weren't somewhere like the US or Canada with tighter security. He also walked around behind the customs scanners, and we had to retrieve him on the other side. Lucklily Kiwis are nice people :)

On a positive note, we caught up with Nathan's grandparents at Auckland airport. They drove in to meet us at 6.30am in the morning, and spent an hour with us having cuddles with Ryan and playing with Daniel. It helped Nathan and I not to crash too soon, as we still had the 4hr flight back to Brisbane.

Arriving at Brisbane, we had to retrieve all our luggage. We had help and a trailer to get it all home, but we didn't know how to get it through security. We strapped Daniel into his car seat on the floor so he couldn't run away. We filled up 3 trolleys precariously with all our stuff . Apparently we were supposed to ask the airlines for help. One security lady pushed a trolley to baggage services for us to ask about the stroller, the baggage services man left his post to push a trolley to security, and a stranger pushed a trolley out the door. Nathan single-handedly put every piece of luggage through the scanner, and reloaded the trolleys again. I think that was the hardest part, especially knowing that our parents were only 10metres away through the thick glass. We were so close, but it seemed like so much effort to get there!

Our suitcases are unpacked, and we are enjoying having Nathan's sister's car at our disposal. We've taken a few walks outside in the gorgeous sunny weather (around 25 degrees), and are looking forward to catching up with a few more people next week once we are more settled.

I have photos, but haven't the chance to upload them yet from the camera. As we are trying to rest when the boys are asleep we haven't had much internet time either. Nathan is job hunting, and we have been sorting out health insurance and citizenship for the boys. We'll be at Nathan's parents' place for 2 months, so it's good to have a 'home' for a while until we know where we will work/live.