Well it's a new year, and what a wonderful one it is!

We landed in Brisbane after a 25 hour flight via Dubai and Singapore. Man, it's long!! A week later we are slowly getting off the jet lag.

So far I have discovered the following:

1. The Aussies are hyper efficient. In four days we have successfully applied for 2 tax numbers, registered for family assistance and medical aid, purchased school clothes for 2 kids, been inducted into the school, opened 6 bank accounts (between all 4 family members), already recieved 2 of the four debit cards, purchased a car and blown R10 000 (exlcuding the car)! My new employer has even contacted me already even though I only start there on 1 Feb.
2. Aussies are very friendly. Yes, it may only be superficial, but it still makes you feel at home and at ease. A lady at the bank spen about 1 1/2 hours with us listening to all our problems and discussing the best aproach to solving them. And she did not appear to get irritated for one moment! The lady at the medical aid centre was also extremely helpfull beyond the scope of her work. The chap who we purchased the car from gave us his business card and told us to contact him at any time re. anything we needed. He even offered to give us info the good schools in the area.
   
3. Housing, clothing and food are very expensive. I guess everything is relative, but for us, coming from SA, those items are expensive. I was looking out for a new pair of sandals and saw a nice pair for R350 in SA, but as I was waiting in the checkout I turned them over and noticed that the souls were molded plastic!! Not your ideal material for longevity and grip. Got here to Oz, and got a similar pair on sale for the same price. They do not have any leather on, but do have reflective straps so you are visible to vehicles at night and they do have genuine rubber souls! Also got a Toyota Carolla 1.8L for about R50 000 cheaper than in SA and cameras for the kids for R1 200 (Nikon S210, foes for R1 895 @ Orms in SA). My son replaced his battered mobile with a SonyEricsson W910i for only R1 333. My conclusion is that the more expensive items are better quality than the one's you would have gotten in SA.
4. Mobile airtime! Now there is a hornets nest! If you think SA is bad you ain't seen nothing yet! There are 4 major networks and a host of value added providers that appear to ride on the backs of the big ones. In general the smaller ones have cheaper rates but their coverage is sorely lacking! Data on mobile pre-paid is almost non-existant. If you can get it it'll cost you around $15/MB!!!! (VirginMobile). Telstra seems to charge $2/MB. Makes R2/MB extremely cheap. The minimum contract is around $30 pm (R210). On the other hand, if you sign up for ADSL you get very good deals. Cheap and very fast! The Telkom equivalent here offers 12GB for $70 pm (R470). I have seen an add on TV by one of those small value added providers for 50GB for $50pm. They will probably throttle you and have many T&C that apply :-) But even if you go with a USB modem using mobile technology and are prepared to sign a 1 or 2 year contract you can get 1GB for $15 at HSDPA speeds.
   

Today is overcast with a pleasantly cool breeze. It is most welcome after yesterday's sweltring heat! So, it's off to Redland Bay we go (to view a couple of houses and take a dip in the Pasific ocean).

Later, mate!