12) Moving Day.

Jonathan and Siân had very kindly said we could borrow their second car for as long as we needed to. It is a Ford Laser, not new, but in good condition and a wonderful help to us. Jonathan and Siân said that they did not really need it but we were sure that it was a sacrifice for them to let us have it. We are so grateful to them both. Early in the morning of Saturday 18th January 2003, Dominic arrived at Jonathan and Siân’s house to collect our few belongings. He was towing his friends trailer and was ready to pack it with our things. Of course the largest item, the bed went first and then our Council Pick Up chairs, along with our borrowed pots and pans and our suitcases. We led the way in the Laser and Dominic followed.

In Gosford we collected the keys from the agent and then unloaded all our things. As we were living on the top floor everything had to be carried up the stairs so Jonny and Dominic worked very hard that day. Our new fridge was not expected to arrive until the Monday morning but it would not have been much use to us anyway because when we got into our house we discovered that there was a power failure and we had no electricity. By the time we had unloaded it was very hot, a truly scorching day. I remember listening to the news on our borrowed portable radio and hearing that there were big fires blazing in Canberra. They had started burning in a nature reserve but were now blazing out of control and heading for private homes.

Once we had put everything in place we took a trip to the shopping centre at Bateau Bay to buy some food and a few basics. We found that the power cut was quite widespread and that the electricity was off in the shops too. The large supermarkets had generators to keep their fridges, freezers and tills going but there was not enough power to light the shop properly. Have you ever tried to shop in semi-darkness in a strange shop, it was pretty hard? Some of the other smaller shops were trying to battle on without the electricity. They were using candles for lighting but the biggest problem was the cash registers and the credit card machines. The ones I felt most sorry for were the hairdressers. They had customers with wet hair waiting for the power to dry it. In one of the hairdresser the boss had opened a couple of bottles of champagne and served it to his wet headed customers. It looked as if it was turning into quite a party, at least those ladies would have pleasant memories of the day the lights went out at Bateau Bay. Most of the smaller stores had just given up though and shut up shop and gone home.

After we had eaten our supper the three of us took a walk on the beach. It was a lovely evening after the heat of the day and we felt privileged to be living so close to the sea. A five minute stroll and then down a flight of steps and we were on the beach that we thought and we still think is one of the loveliest in the area, (maybe the loveliest in the whole of Australia)

Later in the evening we listened to the news on the radio and heard how the situation in Canberra had deteriorated quite dramatically, with fire spreading to many residential areas. Different reports gave different numbers of the homes that were destroyed some said 430 and others said it was as many as 530. It was certain that 4 people lost their lives that terrible weekend. Canberra had been founded in 1913 and had a history of powerful bushfires with major ones in 1926, 1939 and 1952 but none of them caused such a loss of property as the fires of 18th January 2003.

11. Council Pick Up

Once we had a house to rent and knew where we would be living we got in touch with the furniture removal company to tell them our new address. We were very disappointed to learn that our furniture was still in a warehouse in South Africa. We were told that as we had negotiated to have a shared container and that there had been no one else wanting to send their furniture to Sydney we would, unless we wanted to pay the extra costs, have to just wait until the container was filled so that our belongings could be sent on their way. We found this rather hard to believe, as we were sure that the majority of the people who move from South Africa to Australia would use Sydney as their port of entry even if they did not intend living in the city. Unfortunately when one is so far away there is nothing much one can do, so we just had to accept it and ask that they sent our goods as soon as possible. It was half way through January and they told us to expect delivery about Easter time.

As I have said before the houses in Australia have stoves and curtains so these were not a problem and we had just bought a brand new bed and a new fridge. Dominic gave me a small dinner service and couple we had met at Dominic’s church offered to lend us a kettle, some pots and pans and a radio so we were getting somewhere. Then we learnt about Council Pick Up. When people in Australia have things that they no longer want they put it outside their house and the Council will collect it and dispose of it. If anyone passing by sees something that they would like amongst all the refuse piled up ready for removal they can if they wish take it for themselves. There are often television sets, computers, bicycles, mattresses, chairs, tables, old fridges, microwave ovens and all sorts of other household items. Dominic had a dinning room table and four chairs that he had picked up from the council pick up and he offered them to us until our own furniture arrived. It was then we realised that there are often useful things to be had along the road if one took the trouble to look properly. While in the car with Siân one afternoon we spotted a couple of lounge chairs. Feeling a little embarrassed we got out and had a look at them. They were in fair condition and so we loaded them into the car and took them. When we got back to Cowan we unloaded them at Jonathan’s house. We felt pretty pleased with our acquisitions and continued to look at the piles of refuse put out for the Council in Cowan. Across the road we saw that some people had decided to throw out their garden chairs. Having done this once before we felt a little bolder now and went and inspected everything that was on offer. There were four plastic chairs and three aluminium ones. We collected these and stacked them on Jonathan’s veranda along with our two lounge chairs.

Now we were ready to move, we had a bed to sleep on, chairs to sit on, a table, fridge, a kettle and pots, pans and dishes so what else did we need. Dominic arranged to borrow a trailer from a friend and Saturday 18th January was designated as the day we would move.

10) My first Australian birthday

Jonathan and Sian had arranged to take some leave during January. They were leaving Cowan to go camping with the girls a few days before my birthday so they very kindly took Jonny and I out for dinner the day before they left. They took us to a restaurant in a little village called Brooklyn on the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. We had visited Brooklyn when we were in Australia on holiday in 1998. Then it was a rather run down rough little fishing village that was reputed to have a drug problem. In the intervening five years Brooklyn had been “discovered” by people who wanted to live close to Sydney without having to pay Sydney property prices. Now Brooklyn was much smarter and more up market, with restaurants, some new houses, and very many attractive boats moored along the jetties. There are a number of oyster farms along the Hawkesbury and I suppose these also contributed to the upswing in the little town’s economy. In the restaurant we sat out on the terrace over looking the water and watched the fishing boats and pleasure craft sail past on the water below us. It was a lovely warm summer’s night, the food was good and we had a wonderful time. We sat talking until closing time and as the staff cleaned up around us Siân and I decided to go to the ladies before we left. While we were in the cloakroom all the lights went out and we found that we were locked in. I must say I got a bit of a fright, imagining that we would have to spend the night there. Of course Jonny and Jonathan were waiting for us in the foyer and when they saw the manager locking the outer doors of that section of the building they told him that we were still in there and so within a few moments he came back to let us out. We all had a good laugh over that and then we went for a stroll around Brooklyn to finish off a very pleasant evening.

On the evening of my birthday Dominic asked what I would like to do and I asked to go into Sydney for a drive. At that time Dominic was still not very certain of his way around Sydney and we got rather lost but we eventually found a car park in the city and walked along looking in the windows and enjoying the shops. We found our way to Circular Quay and to the Opera house. We had a meal at a restaurant in the shadow of the famous building, close to the Sydney harbour bridge, know here as ‘The Coat Hanger ‘. As we were right on the waters edge we could once again watch the boats. Here of course it was much busier than at Brooklyn, there were the large ferries that criss-cross the harbour all day long and late into the night. They carry people to and from work and together with the bridge and the harbour tunnel enable people to travel back and fro between the North Shore and the South Shore without having to drive right around the huge harbour. There were the Jet Cats, also ferries but smaller and faster and I assume more expensive for those who are in a hurry to get where they are going. There were harbour police patrolling in their boats, tugs, dredger craft, delivery boats and many many pleasure craft of all sorts and sizes. I don’t think I had ever seen Sydney at night until then, it is a very beautiful city even in the cold light of day but at night with the softer lighting and the more relaxed pace of all the passers-by it is truly enchanting. I think it is wonderful and any time spent there is a great treat for me. I don’t suppose I would like to have to live there or to have to go into the city every day but on the rare occasions that I do venture into the great metropolis I really do appreciate it.

9) Spoon Bay Road

The house that Margaret showed us was not as big as it looked from the outside. In fact the property was actually two dwellings. There is a one bedroomed unit on the ground floor and a two bedroomed unit on the second floor. (There is another Australian word – I would have called them flats but the Australians say units.) I think Jonny and I were impressed with the place as soon as we went up the stairs to the front veranda and saw the lovely view. From there we could see out over the Wamberal lagoon and across the Tumbi Valley to the hills in the distance. On the other side of the lagoon is the Wamberal cemetery but we were not worried about that as we were sure they would be quiet neighbours.

Inside the house there are two bedrooms, a shower room, a lounge, a dinning room. a small kitchen and a nice large sunny room at the rear that Margaret called the “Family Room”. Downstairs there is a laundry, a storage room, a shed and a large carport that we have access to. There is also the small one bedroomed unit and an out building that has a spa bath and a sauna which is for the sole use of the owner and we do not have access to these. Margaret told us that the owner of the house used the unit as a holiday cottage and that he had only spent about 13 days there during the previous year so we need not worry that he would be there the whole time. Most of the time we would have our privacy and not be disturbed by anyone.

Once we agreed to rent the house the paper work had to begin. (Australians are always over burdened with paperwork) We went back to Margaret’s office and started filling in the forms. There were two things that were against us, we had no credit ratings or reference in Australia and we did not have a regular income but there were things in our favour too. We did not have young children or pets, we did not smoke and did not have any criminal records and just by looking at us Margaret could see that we were unlikely to hold wild parties in the house. She did tell us that the credit ratings and references could be a problem but that she would put our application to the owner and see what he had to say. She rang us the next day to tell us that the owner was prepared to rent his house to us and could we come and pay our bond. This caused us a bit of confusion at first as to us, coming from South Africa a bond was what we called the loan one got when buying a house but Australians call that a mortgage. To them a bond is the deposit one pays to ensure that the owner is covered for any damage that the tenant might do to his property. Once we had clarified that the house was for rent and not for sale and everyone understood what everyone else meant we paid our ‘bond’ Margaret then told us that there had been a few other people interested in the house and we had got in just in time. We arranged to take occupancy about ten days later on January 18th to give us time to get the phone and the electricity transferred into our names. Having done these transaction many times in our married life I found that it is much simpler in Australia. It was all done over the phone, quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

As our furniture had not arrived from South Africa we did not have a great deal to move into our new home. Dominic arranged to borrow a trailer from one of his friends from church so that we could move in on the appointed day.