It is big...

Jessie says everything is big in America. It should be called "Burger Country." Burgers are served everywhere...(For those who are not aware, so is COFFEE - even Safeway has StarBucks!) She says she is happy but she doesn't know why...

Cynfor says it is a big place and has lots of people. They are mad about sport - especially in Portland. We get to watch lots of TV shows here before Australia does...(The home of 50,000+ channels and nothing to watch...)

Tara says people here are very nice (so far). They are helpful and patient with us. We had time to explore downtown by public transport which is quite convenient and free in certain areas. (Mainly in the downtown area.)

We finally made it...

Well, here I am, sitting at my new desk (which has a great view of the campus lake out the window). I have been at work for two days now, and so far everything has gone well.

We set out on Friday morning, Melbourne time, knowing that we would be held up in the airport due to the scares with plane travel that have occured in the past week or so. We arrived at Los Angeles around 1 1/2 hour later than we should have, and sadly got redirected to a much later flight to Portland. This would not have been so bad, except that the change meant that we were stuck in the airport for at least 5 - 6 hours. (Not so good for the kids - who were teriffic through the whole flight - people on the plane even mentioned how good they were!)

We eventually got into Portland around 9pm, and after getting our baggage and rental car, we were in the appartment around 10 - 10.30pm. We were so tired, we just all got unpacked and slept.

The weekend we pottered around the area, getting a feel for where we were, and headed out to buy the essential items - milk, bread, etc. (By the way - discount cards are a big deal here, and we managed to get a Safeway card, saving us around $USD20 off our grocery bill, and 6c/gallon off "gas" - Petrol for those outside of the USA.)

We are still not set up at home yet for broadband, we had a glitch with the cable modem that means it needs to be replaced. Hopefully I will get a chance to do that tonight before heading home. That will then mean we can start uploading some pictures, etc.

The news is all GOOD !

Today (August 4th) we finally received our passports back from the consulate. The VISA issues have all been sorted, and at this point in time, our estimated date of departure from Melbourne is Friday August 11th. (One month after our initial intended leave date.)

We are all very excited, and looking forward to the big move. It has finally hit us that we are leaving, and the enthusiasm is back, and we are ready to go.

First challenge will be to find a house for the family and school for the children (not necessarily in that order)...

This week will be one of good-byes to our friends in Australia, and almost a welcoming to our new friends in the USA.

We do have some things to share that we have been doing in our time waiting for the VISA process to complete, which we will post after we are settled. At the moment, getting access to the internet is brief, as we are borrowing other peoples internet connections.

USA Here we come !

Delay

We are experiencing a VISA processing delay at the moment. We don't know when we will be leaving Australia. Our furniture and home contents are on their way to the US. We are living in four suitcases and staying with Darren's parents. This is unexpected but we just have to wait and be positive at this stage. Keep your fingers crossed!

More Wedding Photos

Many people have seen the previous set of photographs that we posted, and have asked to see some more. We are pretty tired at the moment, with all the packing and so on happening, but we have grabbed some time to put some more pictures up. Please feel free to take a look.

We don't know if we will have much time to put more pictures up and online until we get to the US, as we are have the movers in this Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully we will be able to post comments, but maybe not many pictures!

The time is closer now, and we hope to be leaving July 10th. Monday should give us a better indication if that is going to be possible or not! (This is our appointment with the US Consulate for the VISA's.)

Wish us luck! Let us know what you think of the pictures.

The big day...

Our "big day" has been and gone...We have a heap of pictures, and some are below. We will post more soon, but figured that people would like to see some of the happy couple, and of the bridal party. We hope you like them... (we will post a few more later.)

So, all started well for the bride. Early up to get made up, and a lovely "hair do" - then get dressed.

After dressing everyone, a gathering for a family photo. "Girls only please..."

The kids, also looking a treat!

The groom and his bestman (my brother Stuart), the bride and her happy father, the happy couple after the ceremony, the bridal group posing for a picture !

Preparation for the "Big Day..."

This week is a big week for the whole family. This Sunday is Tara and my wedding. Although the trip to the US forced the issue a little, it has been a long time coming. Tara and I have been together for around 5 years now, and we had the intention of taking the "step" into marriage, but never got around to it - but the US Visa process kind of meant we needed to do something about that! So here we are.

It is Tuesday of the week of the wedding, and most things are done in preparation. Only little things to sort out for the rest of the week, picking up all of the necessary items - such as the suits, the gifts to the guests, and the rehearsal on Friday.

Things on the US front have slowed a little while we enjoy the wedding, although it appears that all is well on that front also. We are ready for our Visa interview - which will now take place on the 3rd of July 2006. Once that process is complete, we are pretty much ready to get packed and go!

Well, today's post is just to let everyone know where we are at. After the wedding, we will be sure to post some photographs of the big day, and hopefully the next post will be to tell everyone that we are almost ready to get on a plane out of Melbourne and off on our adventure finally.

Not much about anything....

We have not added much to the blog lately, but today we thought we would let you all know that we are working hard on getting our details finalised for the wedding (June 18th.) Everything is under control, we have our VISA appointment on June 20th, and hopefully should be on a plane either the last week in June or 1st week in July !

The start of a new begining...

So, here we are ready for our big adventure to the USA. The idea behind this blog is that we will be able to share information with our family and firends, who will also be able to post comments back.

We will head out around the end of June, and are presently busily preparing for our wedding on June 18th. Both Tara and myself are very excited by the idea of the new move, but there is so much to do before we get there. I think we are both wishing that the time would move a little faster, but obviously we need to wait for things to get settled before heading off. (e.g. selling the house, cars, etc.)

Anyhow, we will work to keep the site up to date with the news of what is happening, as more and more people get to know about the site, hopefully they will be able to share in our fun !