| Monday 7th |
| Today was the big day when the removal company came to pack all the
belongings we are sending to Australia, oh and left the back account
around £2500 lighter !!! They landed around 9.00am and were all
done by 1.00pm, we did not send all or possessions as we still need to
live here for 3 weeks so we kept the bare minimum here. Ship
leaves Liverpool on the 20th Nov and is due to arrive in Brisbane on the
24th Dec.
 |
| |
| Friday 11th |
| Julia went out on her first works leaving do to the Tall Trees at
Yarm and a good time was had by all. She couldn't get out of bed
the next day as she was ill and so were several of her colleagues, Julie
and Lesley in particular. |
| |
| Wednesday 16th |
| Julia had the second of her nights out and went for a meal at the
Chilton Lodge with office staff. Again another good night, good
meal and good company and not so much of a hangover the next day! |
| |
| Friday 18th |
| We decided to finish Jonathan at school today as his class are
rehearsing his christmas play and he hasn't got a part due to the
impending move. Julia went into the school and took lots of
photographs of all his friends and Jonathan gave everybody a party bag.
Julia then went into Jonathan's final assembly which was really nice.
Jonathan got the Star Award and also the Headteachers award and
everybody said bye to him. We were worried that he may get upset
but he took it all in his stride. |
| |
| Tuesday 22nd |
| The last of Julia's works nights out .... she won't dare come home
after all of these leaving do's she has had. Went to her friend
and work colleague Julie's house for an 'Australia Night' which included
eating marshmallows hanging from hats and pin the tail on the Kangaroo.
Again this was a rather drunken night and unfortunately for all you
reading this from Dekura there is photographic evidence which you can
all see on the photo gallery. |
| |
| Wednesday 23rd |
| Julia had a quiet night at her mams with 'the girls', Julie
(friend), Karen (sister), Alison (sister and floozy ... won't mention
the stockings!), Aunty Marian and Barbara (long lost cousin!).
We had a chinese and a couple of drinks and a good laugh reminiscing
about all the daft things we have done. |
| |
| Friday 25th |
|
Tony was asked to visit his old workplace (NSK Bearings)
to receive his 20 year service award where he was presented with a Seiko
wrist watch in front of a few of his old colleagues (yes most of them
are old now as you can see).
|
|
Saturday 26th |
|
Had our leaving do at the Melrose in Shotton and had a fantastic
time. Lots of family and friends attended. Alison and karen
did a great job in decorating the room with Australian flags and not to
forget the blow up kangaroo. Thanks to everyone for making this a
night to remember. |
|
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|
Sunday 27th |
|
Our last night in England, we were sleeping at mams house and Colin,
Karen and Alison came over with the kids for tea and to say final
farewells. Tony decided to try and get the cases in the car ready
for our departure the next day. We had tried the cases in the car
earlier to find out which ones would fit in better however we did
this when they were empty - it was a different story when they were
full! We decided that we had to put some of the luggage on the
front seat which left Julia travelling in the back of the car with the
kids to Gatwick. |
|
|
|
Monday 28th |
|
D Day, we left mams at 9am and were waved off by Tony's mam and dad,
Julia's mam, Paul Dawn Gavin Samantha and Chloe. We made a hasty
departure as everyone was beginning to get upset, however we only got to
the top of the street before we realised we had left the travel
documents behind ... wouldn't get far without them. Drove to
Gatwick without any problems despite snow showers as we set off.
Flight was very long but we all had tv screens with films and games etc
which helped to pass the time. |
|
|
|
Wednesday 30th |
|
Arrived at Brisbane airport at 6.30am and went straight through for the
suitcases. Unfortunately there was one case missing and this
caused a major stress attack as we worried about what might have been in
that particular case. We reported the incident and noted that
there was another similar case left on the carousel so assumed someone
had taken ours in error. We finally cleared customs at 8.30 and
went out to meet Uncle Kevin, Aunty Christine, Janette and Alison.
We went out to put the cases in their cars when Julia spotted a familiar
suitcase on someone elses trolley. What a piece of luck, we
couldnt believe it was our case - Julia hijacked the poor bloke and told
him he could find his case at left baggage. What a relief. |
