April 2009 News

The two big news items this month is that we have applied for Permanent Residence (PR) and I bought a dual cab 4x4.
I bought what I could a-FORD and yes, I have finally gone off my trolley and bought a Ford! Mind you Fords are quite popular here in Oz and are the 2008 V8 Supercar champs and leading the present series. I must say that I am presently surprised with my UTE (that is Ozzie for bakkie). The models are essentially the same as in South Africa but the trim levels are a bit different. Only two levels here and mine is the base one: 2003 Ford Courier Dual Cab with 85000km, steel rims, rubber mats, crank handles for the windows, radio-tape and central locking using the key in the door, not remotely. It has an additional spare wheel, canopy, roof racks, Roobar (Bullbar), spotlights and snorkel. It still makes my heart bleed because if I convert the money I got for my Nissan Hardbody 4x4 DC, this is what it bought me (4 years older, 2x the km’s and the base model with a lot less power)! But at least I can now venture into the outback to explore a bit off the beaten track. Fortunately the endangered birds and sea life have evolved incredible survival skills and decided by “majority democracy vote” to nest and breed on beaches where cars can’t go in Oz and the South African Shoreline so we have some beaches to play on with our 4x4 toys.

The company nomination for PR was approved and Carina handed in the visa application forms on the 28th. We still have to write the IELTS exams on America Day and I must get my Military Release Documents before we can complete our application. We should get PR in a Month of two.

Carina decided to take the train in to lodge the application and when she got to the station I received a frantic call: “HELP, I got stuck in mud at the station”. I explained how to lock the front hubs and select 4x4 and then there was this amazed and excited shriek over the phone as she just drove out of trouble. She is now so impressed with our Ford!

We attended the Barossa air show and it was the typical rural affair on a dirt runway with model planes, aerobatic planes and other thing that burn petrol like vintage cars, old Lister Engines and tractors from yesteryear and some serious off-road vehicles to promote a mud, dust and music weekend in the outback some 3 hours from Adelaide on the Murray river. I decided to give the bike a bit of run through the hills while Carina and Michael joined our Polish friends Thomas, Isabella and Philip in their car. The girls and boys were treated to a short helicopter ride and we had a picnic lunch. The bike ride was enjoyable but it just again emphasised how balanced and good my Honda CBR-600 was as they Hyosung is very unpredictable in corners. The windy roads are also very narrow and you have to do a left cornering move as close to the white line so that you don’t hit your head on the railing.

The cost of skiing in NZ was a bit much so we are now going to join up with our Hungarian neighbors and we booked a house for July. We will be 8 people and the snow has already fallen heavily in that area.
We met grandpa Sydney and Alex, our Time for Kids boy on Wednesday evening. What a delightful fellow he is and before long him and Michael were playing like old pals.

We will be fostering Alex one weekend per month. Time for Kids is an organisation to give kids exposure to different households and give parents/grandparents/carers a break if they are struggling to give the required “time” to these kids. It is typically for kids growing up with grandparents or in a large household with overworked parents or where another child takes up all the attention of the parents due to illness or disability. It will also provide Michael with a mate for the weekends and hopefully the two will get along very well in the long term and he can become a regular addition to our family over more weekends. We are very excited to get to know Alex and hopefully we can influence each other in a very positive way.
The month ended pretty gloomy with another batch of posts being made redundant at work.