The mess of moving

With our lifestyle moving to another country every few years, it would be wise if we would stick to a minimum amount of stuff. But we don't. With the stuff we have we better promis each other never to move again. We have enough books to fill a 20 foot container. The house we rent in Sydney is not small but it's impossible to fit everything in. This morning, five weeks after we moved in, I again had to spent time on emptying more boxes and deciding what to do with all the things we don't really use but we may use one day in the future. Any suggestions?

This is what our hallway looked like a few weeks ago. I'm happy this mess is gone but other areas in our house like the garage, still need a lot of attention.

Jetlagged

It's now 5.30 am and I'm awake. It's very quiet in the house. The kids obviously don't suffer from the jetlag. They are still in bed. It must be my age. When I went to bed yesterday I was so tired from all the unpacking and running after the kids, I thought I could easily sleep the entire night.

Yesterday, I visited the new school of the children. We received a warm welcome from the principle and she gave us a tour of the school grounds. The principle has Dutch parents and still speaks some Dutch. A funny coincidence because the principle at the school in Mumbai was also from Dutch origin. Sebastiaan and Julia now think that school principles everywhere in the world speak some Dutch. Two more weeks to go before the school starts. That's the beginning of the new school year which is nice for the children because everyone will be new.

The Sydney life

This will be my first Sydney post. After a flight of over 24 hours we finally arrived in Sydney on Friday ready for a new adventure.

My recent stay in Holland was great but when I landed at Sydney airport I realized it's time to move on. When we walked out of the customs area the first thing we saw was Marcel. He actually was crying when he saw us!! For me it was a weird feeling that Sydney will be my home for the next few years. We have been here before as tourists but that's different from living here.

Marcel brought us to the car. It's not just a car, it's a very big car. I've given it the nickname 'battlestar Galactica'. It's not really a city car but an outback car made for very rough terrain and to be save for very big kangaroos which may jump in front of the car. That's not something that will happen here. I'm sure it looks cool from a men's point of view. I already put a 'small decent city car' on my wish list. We then headed for our new house which is a 20 minute drive from the airport. When we turned into our driveway I noticed a few boxes in front of the garage. I then suddenly realized that the movers had already come and that we would not have to camp. That was a great surprise!! A lot of the boxes are still unpacked but that does not matter. At least it feels a little bit like a home.

The house is great! Lot's of space, an outdoor deck with a big dining table and room for a barbeque and a garden. We already had our first encounter with Australian wildlife. Our landlord used to feed the kookaburra on the deck and these birds also expect food from us. Bad luck! They seem to be even more aggressive then the crows in Mumbai. When we had dinner outside yesterday one of the birds tried to steal food from Marcel's plate.

This morning Marcel left for work on his scooter. That way it only takes him 15 minutes to get to the office. My program for today: entertain the kids, unpack boxes, and meet with the school principle to get the kids registered.

Moving: we have a date!

When we arrive in Australia next week Friday we only have to 'survive' in our house without any stuff for three days. This morning we heard that the movers will come on Monday, 15 January. Time wise that would be perfect because we then have three days to recover from the jet lag after our 1 day and 2 nights around-the-world-trip.

We will leave Holland at 9 pm on Wednesday and will arrive around 9.30 am in Sydney on Friday. With two young kids, I'm sure I will be having a great time! So will my fellow passengers in the seats close to us...

Container arrives in Sydney tomorrow!

Today we received an email from the moving agent in Sydney with the great news that our container will arrive on 30 December. That's tomorrow! I'm so exited.

Customs clearance will take approximately 10 working days which means that we could have our stuff when I arrive with the kids. Hopefully the customs people won't drink too much champaign for new years causing delays.

In India, we made a lot of effort selecting the right moving agency. We looked at four different companies. At the end we choose to work with UTS - B.R.Shastry. Why? They provided us with a reasonable quote from the start. Also, the guy from Shastry who we met the first time to discuss our move, Roshan, told us he would be our contact person during the entire process. The three days the movers were in our house to pack everything he was there as promised. It sometimes happens that you meet the first time with a commercial guy (usually a smooth talker) and when the actual moving day is there he is no longer around and you have to deal with someone who is useless or you don't like.

It's a weird process. We spent a lot of time selecting a moving company in the country of origin, in our case India. The moving company in the country of origin decides who they work with in the country of destination. We don't have a say in that. In other words, we don't have a clue which company we end up with in Sydney. Yesterday, we had our first email correspondence with the Australian company, Chess Moving. We don't know anything about them which is a bit scary. I checked their website and it looks OK. I keep my fingers crossed that the move will go smoothly and that I can sleep in my own bed when I arrive in January.