Paulkyville

With Christmas rapidly approaching I am coming up to the first of my UK lasts; the last UK Christmas! The last cold, wet, grim, sitting-in-front-of-the-telly-'cause-there's-nothing-else-to-do Christmas! Christmas 2010 will involve being on a beach at some point in the day! Mrs Paulky tells me she has never been on the beach at Christmas, so I think it's time to start a new tradition! I'm sure it will still involve copious amounts of food, only cooked on the ubiquitous BBQ! Just a little over four months until I make my visa validation visit and the house should go on the market next month, so things are starting to move in the right direction: i.e. southwards!

Much to my surprise I find that this month I am featured in the current issue of Australia and New Zealand Magazine . I did a bit of a blog post on their website a while back on how lucky I was to get my visa (I find out recently that the criteria for all migrant visas changed in September and mine would probably have slipped down the pile somewhat; some visas are not being looked at until 2012, and the world may have ended by then!). There was also some feedback from another poster there and my replies to her, all of which have ended up in the Mag! So anyone coming here after seeing that, welcome! There really isn't much to see here, but leave a comment and I'll try and help if I can. I'm not a migration agent, just someone who went through the Spousal visa process and came out the other side, victorious! No other news to report at the moment, just gearing up for my last UK Christmas!

Just a quick update on the previous post; I've now found that you can take a one day excursion from Port Lincoln in SA that costs about A$500. However, you still have to get to Adelaide, transfer to Port Lincoln and pay for accommodation, wetsuit etc. So I may still save up for my 50 th birthday and go on the four day cruise!

Following on a bit from my previous post, I did a bit of research into being able to get in a cage amongst the Great Whites. There are trips that can be made in South Australia with a company founded by Rodney Fox , himself a victim of a Great White attack (you can google him and find pictures; it's not for the squeamish). They take you on a boat out of Port Lincoln to a seal colony, where you can go in a cage on the side of the boat, or if you have scuba experience, in a cage that is lowered onto the ocean floor, where you apparently get even better views. I was quite pleased to hear of this , as I thought such trips were only available in South Africa, so I quickly scanned their website for pricing information and got a bit of a shock; it costs A$2,995 a trip, which is 4 nights aboard the boat. I've decided I'll start saving once I get to Oz and go on my 50 th birthday, by which time it will probably cost double! 2024 edit: I did, in fact do the four day trip for my 50

I have a fascination and admiration for the Great White Shark, even before the film Jaws came out in 1975. There is something extraordinarily primeval about it; this perfect killing machine, built for speed and strength, that glides through the water with an apparent effortlessness, seeking out its next meal. It has always been an ambition of mine to dive with them (within the safety of a shark cage, I must add!!). Until I read this ; a Great White, 10 feet long, was the apparent victim of another Great White, twice its length . That is a big fish! Though in Australian waters, it's on the other side from Perth, off the coast of Queensland , near Brisbane. The largest ever specimen reliably recorded is 21 feet, but there are tales of even larger sharks out there. Much as I'd love to see one, I don't think I'd want to get that close to such a big, and potentially hungry, fish!

I've noticed a lot recently that when people talk to me about my move to Australia, they seem to follow it up with a moan about some aspect of their own life, be it job, house or relationship. It occurred to me yesterday that complaining about it solves nothing but to make you miserable. So today my advice to those people is to stop moaning and start doing! If you don't like something, change it! Don't like your job - get another one! Not easy in a recession, but they are out there. Register with a recruitment agency and bug them until you get an interview. Don't like your house - sell it! The property market is starting to recover so it's still a good time to buy and sell. Don't like your relationship - get a new one! I never understand people who have affairs or complain about their partner. How anyone can exist in a relationship where there is constant arguments and bickering is beyond me. So come on people; take control of your life and do what you wa

A year ago I was in Perth, having the time of my life. Little did I know that one year later, I would have permanent residency and be starting the process to go and live there! Had you said to me that I would be at this stage a year ago I would most certainly laughed in your face. I wonder where I'll be one year from now... Hopefully already there and enjoying life! And to add a little colour and interest to your Friday, here's a little video clip from Down Under of Great White Sharks eating a humpback whale calf (I believe the whale had already been injured prior to the sharks eating it.). This took place just off Floreat beach, which is one beach along from my favourite City Beach. My mother -in-law also saw the sharks first hand, though not up close and personal! I have walked this beach myself and feel somewhat aggrieved to have missed it!

Well, let's be honest; this is all fauna, but adding the flora bit makes for a nicer title! Living in the UK, about the only animal you really have to worry about is being bitten by a dog or trampled by a cow or a horse. The only indigenous, venomous creature we have is the adder, which is very rare now. But once I move to Australia, I have to contend with some of the most venomous creatures known to man. Like this fella: This is a Tiger snake; according to Wikipedia , the fifth most venomous snake in the world. Apparently Mrs Paulky's cats once caught and killed one of these in her Mum's back yard. Which is where I have stayed and will be staying. I never saw any snakes whilst I was there, but... Next up is another snake, the Dugite , another deadly poisonous critter I hope never to become acquainted with! I'm starting to think I may never leave the house! But if I don't then there's always the chance I could run into one of these beasties: This is a red back

I have returned from my holiday in the Lake District, and very nice it was too; some fantastic scenery and lovely weather for the most part! The Calling did indeed kick in, as the apartment we were staying in was lovely, but as expected, by the end of the week I was ready to go home again; I am nothing if not predictable. It looks like house prices are starting to rise again, so am cautiously optimistic that when we come to sell the house we might actually get more than we paid for it. Now I just need to pray that the Aussie Dollar to Sterling exchange rate gets out of the gutter in time for us to actually make the most of what little money we'll get!

I'm sure you've been on holiday somewhere and said to yourself at some point "I could live here". For me, I usually do it every time, about three days in. However, by day seven, I usually say "I'm ready to go home now". It was exactly on the three day mark, as I stood on the beach pictured at the top of the page and took that sunset shot, that I had what I call The Calling; that moment when you feel completely at home somewhere and say those words "I could live here". However, unlike on all my previous journeys, this time I knew it would stick. Virtually the last thing I did before I got on the plane to head back to the UK was to walk again on that beach. I was thinking of everything I could do to avoid getting on the plane, including feigning illness! I realised that that would be silly, of course! But when I finally took off that evening, and looked back on the beautiful City of Lights before I sped across the immense black of the India

Gentle and patient reader, apologies for not posting much recently, but work has been full-on and I just haven't had a moment to bring up you to speed on what's been going on. I have booked my flight to Perth for April next year. It was one of my visa requirements that I travel to Australia before July 7th 2010, so doing this gets it out of the way so I don't have to leave it all to the last minute (and I don't really want to go in the middle of the Southern Winter. I got a reasonably good deal on the price and am flying with Qantas, going via Singapore. Oddly, I believe I will be travelling on the very jet featured in the Exit Strategy post from a while back, the new Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane ever built. It actually looks too big to fly! Hopefully it isn't. In other news, Mrs Paulky and I have decided to put the house on the market after Christmas in the hope that the property market has picked up enough to get the price we want. I have a meeting ne

Though I don't follow sport, I couldn't help but notice that England won the Ashes from the Australians. Now I'm a bit torn; on the one had my home team actually won something (unusual, in itself), but on the other my new home team (well, not quite yet!) lost. So well done England on your victory! And the Aussies will thrash you next time! :-)

No reports for a few days as I've been fighting off a tummy bug. Nasty. Today it is very hot and I'm not looking forward to the train journey home. Not that I ever particularly enjoy the journey anyway, but I suspect this one will be especially unpleasant.

Despite my hopes for a colourful, holographic visa, I get a dull orange-brown thing that looks like it was typed up on a dot-matrix printer. Still, it will get me in to Australia, so I shouldn't complain. Though for the amount of money it cost I would have hoped for something with a few more whistles and bells!

Well, I've got my residency visa. Yippee and all that. But what now? Well, there's quite a bit to organise so I thought I'd make a list and see how we get on: Visit Australia . One of the stipulations for my visa is that I must travel to Australia by 7 th July 2010. This date is not negotiable. So I'm on the look out for as cheap a flight I can find; I want to go at either the end of Feb, March or April (before the Southern hemisphere winter kicks in). I can't do it this year as I don't have enough holiday remaining. It will be a 10 day solo trip (Mrs Paulky and I agree it's a waste of money having to go, but the AHC disagree!) and I'll scope out recruitment agencies, open a bank account and get an Aussie mobile. Sell the house . We want to wait until the Spring of 2010 to put the house on the market; we're waiting for the recession to finish and confidence to return to the housing market before we risk trying to sell. We obviously want to get

Yesterday my passport went on a trip without me, which I think you'll agree is quite unique! Now I have my permanent residency, I need to have the visa applied to my passport, hence its journey. So off to the post office to send it on its way. I always worry when you have to send important documents by post, as the Royal Mail is not always the most efficient service. But I have sent it by special delivery and it will come back the same way, and everything else I have sent that way recently has reached its destination unscathed, so hopefully this time will be no different. I hope it will come back from its solo trip in a few days with a shiny new, full colour holographic stamp, rather than some black ink, barely legible ink blot. After spending over £600 on it, it had bloody better.

Yesterday I received an email from the AHC confirming that my application for permanent residency had been successful! To say I was pleased was quite an understatement! I have to go at least once before 7th July next year, otherwise I have to begin the whole process again, so am planning a quick trip (or as quick as a whole day's travelling there and back will allow) sometime next year, probably March. I think I have now done the easy part; everything that comes next is far more complex and complicated and requires untold bureaucracy and inevitable faffing, as it will involve the British government, as well as having to sell the house for a decent profit and quit my job and say goodbye to friends and family. But for now, there are no more hoops to jump through and I can relax a bit, before the scramble begins. Oh, and Yippee!

This week I attended three of the BBC Prom concerts at The Royal Albert Hall. The RAH is a wonderful building whose only black mark is the appalling aircon, but luckily so far this hasn't been the bane of previous, hotter years. On Saturday there was music by Holst, Elgar and Delius, and we had a similar line-up on Sunday. All very competently played by the relevant orchestra. But it was on Tuesday we have something very special, courtesy of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. They played a 20 min plinky-plonky piece by someone who's still alive (always something that gives my sister and I pause for thought when booking, as invariably it will be an atonal piece. When will the organisers learn that people go for classical music, which has a tune, rather than the orchestra playing some great tunes, but not necessarily the same one?). That aside, they followed it up with a fantastic performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.2 in G major, with Simon Hough on piano. Absolut

The fact that I couldn't get the weather gadget to accurately forecast anywhere other than New York has finally got the better of me and I have canned it. Perhaps at a future juncture I will resurrect it, but for now, it's toast. I suggest if you want to know what the weather is like, look out the window.

Whilst I await word from the AHC, I thought I'd share with you my plans for when I (hopefully) get my permanent residency status, a plan I refer to as my Exit Strategy. Once all the hard work of selling houses, closing bank accounts, moving pensions and so forth is done and Mrs Paulky and I have our bags packed, the plan is that we will travel to Australia via the US. There are several reasons for this: It breaks up the mind numbing journey. It enables us to catch up with friends and relatives. We'll get to see a lot of the country. We'll be so broke afterwards we'll never attempt a journey like it again. If all goes well, our first port of call will be on the Sidewalker family , who live in New Jersey. We'd use their place as a base and visit New York, possibly going up to Niagara Falls too. Then it's down to Florida to visit a cousin in Miami. Having been to Florida before, I'm not too fussed about going to the theme parks, so it will likely be a few days

Aside from being one of my favourite Crowded House songs, this post title is alerting you to a new gadget I've added, which shows the weather in Perth, WA. Bear in mind it's currently the middle of winter in the Southern hemisphere, so don't gloat too much over rain and cool temperatures! It sometimes struggles to get above 18 degrees Centigrade in the summer in the UK! EDIT : It would appear my shiny new gadget is stuck in New York! Despite my changing it! Anyway, I'll leave it up for now in case it's a glitch, but in the meantime by all means click on the edit option and type in Perth, then select Perth Australia if you want to see how the weather is doing there.

Well, it's been a quiet week on the migration front, with no new directives from AHC on what more they require of me. I suppose this is how it will be over the next few weeks, or even months, as they go over my application with a fine toothed comb. In some ways I feel strangely detached from it; after all, I can't influence or change anything and mentally pacing, awaiting news, in not going to do me any favours. I shall just sit, and wait. There are plenty of things to keep my mind occupied, not least of which is work, which is busy as always, and naming random people on the train, of course. The BBC Proms start tomorrow and next week I am off to a few concerts, so I'm looking forward to that. It's something I do every year and have done for the last 22, and is perhaps one of the few things I will miss about living in the UK. And yes, I know you can listen online, but nothing beats actually being there.

There's a random ramble coming! OK, so I spend about three hours a day travelling to and from work, and after a while you get to see the same people every day. Now because I'm English I don't speak to any of them, which I know is strange, but I refer you to the start of this sentence. So every day, same train(s), same people. Over the years, to while away the time, I have come up with names for the regulars, which, in a moment of boredom, I choose to share with you. We have Mac, so called because, in winter at least, he wears a...go on guess...no, try again...YES! A mac. Now Mac has a Harem; a little coterie of woman of a certain age who congregate around him and are always dressed to the nines. Mac isn't a bad looking bloke, about late Forties I reckon, and clearly his Harem think he's something worth preening over. I often wonder what his wife would think if she saw him with them. Then there's Miss Plain, who, as the name suggests, is a dowdy, dumpy woman who

One of the items I was required to read when I made my application was a book about "Life in Australia", and one of the items that caught my attention was the use of slang. Now most cultures have their own unique words, Quid for a pound, for example, but I don't think we in the UK can hold a torch to the prevalence of use of slang in Australia. Even their politicians use colloquialisms . Can you imagine Gordon Brown telling the populace that he's going to have to tax them a few quid more to get us out of the doldrums? No, neither can I. So the Australians have stubbies (small bottles of beer), sand shoes (trainers to you and I) and thongs. Now, to most of us, a thong is a piece of floss that you wear as underwear, but to an Australian it is a pair of flip flops. I'm assuming everyone knows what flip flops are. They also like to shorten words and stick an "O" on the end, such as derro (a derelict or tramp). So when in doubt, shove an O on. Though not

A note to those without a blog account, I have now changed the settings so that anyone can leave a comment, should you wish to.

Looking at my ads is really depressing me now, so in this post I hope to redress the balance. I love going to the beach; it's one of the (minor) reasons for moving half-way round the world. Beaches don't come much better than in WA. Here's a picture of a sunset taken on City Beach. So I look forward to the day when this is always available, though like many things in life, when you can have something nice on your doorstep you invariably don't use it. We'll see. Hopefully this brief post talking about beaches and sunsets will get the bloody ads about lung cancer screening off. Here's hoping!

Well, an unexpected consequence of my last post has emerged; I now have ads about lung cancer, asbestos and other health related issues! What the hell happened to the banjos?

Two bits of good news to report today! The first came through yesterday, with the arrival of my Police Certificate. This is a mandatory check you have to undergo to prove you don't have (or confirm you do) a criminal record. In my case it came back with the words "No Trace" emblazoned in the middle of the form. A quick read of the accompanying notes reveals this means that there is no trace of a criminal record for me in the Police National Computer. This is what I was expecting, of course! But knowing my luck there would be another Paulky out there with a similar date of birth or something who was banged up for an armed blag (I watch too many cop shows) and they had gotten the two confused. But for once everything has gone smoothly and my un - blemi shed record is confirmed by the boys in Blue! My other bit of good news comes from the Doctor, who confirms my second lung X-ray is normal so I am not dying of something horrible. Phew! So the AHC should get my medical in

Well, rather disappointingly , there are no ads for Banjos, Porsche's or Space Shuttles. So here's my own for the Space Shuttle ; think of the possibilities ! It would be the world's greatest garden ornament. Be the envy of your friends! And a snip at $42,000,000. I think I'll get two.

When I make a post I often glance it over once published, just to see if it looks "right". And sometimes my eyes flit across to the ad banners on the right of the page (click on these, good folk, for they make me money). And I notice that, rather cleverly, they latch on to something I've posted (key words, I assume) and tailor the ads to match. I ranted on about printer ink a few weeks ago and Hey Presto!, I have ads that take you to sites that sell them. So I'm wondering if I make a post that mentions banjos, lots and lots of banjos, and those fine cars made by Porsche, you know, like the Porsche 911, whether I'll get ads for those too. It's just idle curiosity on my part. Space Shuttle. Sorry, forgot to mention that one. I think they are actually for sale as NASA is ditching them due to their age. So you might get an ad to by the Space Shuttle shortly.

I called the Doc today as I'd heard nothing back regarding the second X-Ray I had last Friday. Typically, she had left for the day and is not back until Friday. However, a nice lady at the clinic confirmed they had the second X-Ray now. Then, for what it's worth, she told me, " unofficially " (i.e., don't sue my if you die of lung cancer) I had nothing to worry about. Had she been a trained health care professional , I would take great comfort in that. But, by her own admission, she's not, so I'd probably have as much luck offering up a diagnosis on this. I should stress that I haven't even had the luxury of even seeing the damn things in the first place, otherwise I mightn't be so anxious. However, I suppose it's a step in the right direction (at least I know they have both X-ray's now) and I await the call on Friday that will either put me out of my misery or stick me further in it. Being a glass-half-full kinda guy, I'm expecting p

Regular readers will have seen a post last week mentioning that my original X-ray had shown some "Thickening" on the lung(s) and the Doctor (after leaving a message telling me not to worry; duh!) asked me to get another one done, from a different angle. Unfortunately the blog goblin seems to have eaten that one. Anyway, on Friday I went back to be bombarded with lethal X-Rays again (do you think if I have one often enough they will actually give me something to worry about?), this time for a lateral view X-ray. So once again I am in the Star ship Enterprise. I am told to stand side on the the machine this time, and adopt what I can only describe as the brace position you are shown on airplanes, only this time standing up. So I have my hands on my head and my arms forward and I look faintly ridiculous. Two pulses from the X-ray and once again I am cooked. Once again the radiologist goes off to check the image and once again says it's OK. I think she means it came o

Another day, another procedure. Yesterday it was the turn of the radiologists to get their hands on me. So off to a posh location in central London for my X-Ray. As always seems to be the case, there was more form filling to be done, but little waiting this time ans I was rushed straight in to a darkened room by a matter-of-fact-old-school type nurse who stood me in front of something that looked like it had just been in the latest Star trek movie, told me to take my shirt off and stick my chin on the little rest. She then positioned my hands on my hips (I thought I was about to do The Time Warp ) and then retreated behind her lead-lined screen. A few seconds later, my upper body bombarded by radiation, she goes off to check the X-Ray is clear, before coming back and telling me it's all over. I went to sign the form and then she handed my my passport with a big smile. Except it wasn't my passport. Ah. So off she goes to find mine (suddenly my mind starts coming up with all

Yesterday was the day of the medical. Not one of my favourite things to do, but it had to be done, so off I went to a little place in London to probed and prodded! The AHC give you a list of approved doctor's, so you can't just roll up to your GP and ask for an MOT. No, you have to spend £160 to get a stranger who has no idea of your medical history to ask you a few questions during a 30 minute exam, on which the rest of your life depends. Hmm . So first they give me a little jar in a plastic bag, and I know what's coming next. Now, on the few occasions I've had to do this, I'm always in a quandary as to how much is enough; do you fill the whole thing, or just a little? Unlike previously, when the container has been very small and you have to be very precise with your aim, this was quite a generous sized receptacle and so my dilemma was increased. Just how much do they want? So I retreat to the little boy's room (though in this case it's the little girl

Just a quick note to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day, wherever he may be now. Miss you.

We are pursuing a bit of the old Blitz spirit here at Paulkyville . As we will (hopefully) be moving to Oz next year, we decided to try and put up with what we have rather than replace things, such as TVs , white goods etc. Apart from the different voltage in Australia compared to the UK, things such as TVs tend to be cheaper as they are closer to the source (i.e, the Far East) of manufacture. Of course, having decided this, fate bowls a googly. First our kettle dies, so we buy a cheap replacement. This tends to make a suspicious buzzing noise when it's not in action, so we now make a point of switching it off at the mains when not needed, less the house burn down. Then our colour printer ran out of ink. Well, no problem there, buy an ink cartridge ! So off I trot to WH Smith and buy a black and colour cartridge, which cost £61! It was only when I get home that I realise you can actually buy a completely new printer for that. So I take the cartridge back and we buy a new pri

So I've had time to digest what's required of me, and I have to make a (very expensive, I suspect) appointment with a doctor recommended by the Australian High Commission. This involves blood tests, X-Rays and other medical probings. Oh how I look forward to that. (That's sarcasm, by the way.) I also have to have Police checks carried out to make sure I am not some hardened criminal (which, as someone pointed out, used to be the only way to get in to Australia!). This costs me £35. And finally I have to provide further evidence that Mrs Paulky and I are a bona fide couple; this one enables me to skip the Temporary Residence visa and skip straight to Permanent, so it's worth doing. Just now have to gather together suitable evidence, which makes my decision to have a clear out last month of all old documents suddenly seem unwise... One good thing that all this clarifies is that, assuming I get the visa, I have to make a trip to Australia before the medical and p

Well, strike what I said yesterday about my application being put into a big pile! Today I get an email for the Australian High Commission asking me to go for a radiological exam and a medical and to have my police checks done withing the next 28 days. I thought I might have to wait a couple of months for the request, so was a bit surprised by this. I also have to provide a bit more info on what Mrs P and I have been up to for the last five years. Still, a step in the right direction and a lot quicker than I had hoped! Will keep you posted!

According to the Royal Mail, my application has been signed for at Australia House. Even now, someone has carefully placed it in a huge in tray along with several thousand others.

There are all manner of reasons for leaving the UK and going to live in Australia. I've already mentioned the weather, the living conditions, the people. But, for me at least, there's another, far more trivial reason. And that is the Cherry Ripe. Manufacture by Cadbury's in Australia but bizarrely not available in the UK, it is a dark chocolate coated, coconut enshrined piece of cherry goodness. Quite by far the best chocolate bar I've ever had, and I consider myself a connoisseur. If you've never had one, believe me it's worth trading continents for. Yes, it's high in everything that's bad for you and I expect I'll put on a couple of stone once subjected to one every day, but I'll exercise. Or something. They say the devil is in the details and this is one of my details. Of course I'm looking forward to everything else Australia can offer me, but this is the icing on the cake.

Finally , after more than three months of planning and eight months since I stood on that beach, my application for permanent residency in Australia has been sent. Someone asked me recently if I was excited and the answer is no; my fate is now in the hands of others and I can't get excited until I get the official notification that they have granted my visa. Until then there will be much fretting! I still have medical checks and police checks to undertake and I may still be called for an interview. And there's always the possibility that I've missed something or done something wrong on the form an it all gets sent back. So keep your fingers, toes and any other appendages you may posses crossed for me please!

Do people who design official questionnaires really think about the questions they ask? I'm going through the Spousal Visa application form and there's a question on there which says something to the effect of "Did you marry just to gain entry to Australia?". Now think about it. If I answer the question YES, what do you think my chances of actually getting in will be? Now in my case the answer is an unequivocal NO, and as I've been married to Mrs Paulky 16 years on Friday, I think I can prove it. Unless of course this is all part of some secret master-plane I have been hatching for a decade and a half. It's right up there with the questions they used to (still do?) ask when you arrived in the US, the classic one being "Are you a terrorist?". I know an intelligent terrorist is an oxymoron, but I think even they could grasp the answer to that one.

Look at that. Beautiful, isn't it? It was whilst I was standing on this beach that I realised there was more to life than Southeastern Trains, ignorant English and depressing, gloomy weather. So I made the decision that this was the place I could spend the rest of my life; a place blessed with 360 days of sunshine, wonderful white sand beaches, friendly locals and it was CLEAN! I know what you're thinking; get in the queue!

I have no idea why I'm doing this. I have always been a bit ambivalent regarding blogs; unless I was President of the USA, a serial killer or Britney Spears, I just don't think my life is that interesting. And yet... I am beginning the process of leaving the UK after my first four decades to go an live in Australia. It occurred to me that this might actually be something worth writing about. I have no doubt that there will be other random, useless thoughts along the way, but for now, this is it. On Friday I submit my application. Wish me luck!