Tag Archives: moving UK to Tasmania

One Year On

September 1, 2014 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , 13 Comments

Hobart Tasmania

This time a year ago exactly, we were spending our last full day in Harpenden.

DorkySon had toddled off to his wonderful nursery for the last time, and he would come home a few hours later laden down with gifts and cards and photos of himself hugging the staff. I went for one last trawl of the local charity shops to see if I could find any bits and pieces for the flight – I got lucky, and picked up a collection of Shirley Hughes stories and a huge bag of toy cars for a couple of quid.

Our flat was a mess. The removal men had arrived that morning, and it was hard to move for all the sheets of packing paper, cardboard boxes, and enormous rolls of bubble wrap. That night, cupboards bare and crockery packed, we went for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Somewhere between the tagliatelle and the tiramisu, immigration officers raided the place and started interrogating the kitchen staff. We headed home for an early night.

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Moving Across Town

November 14, 2013 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , 12 Comments

red brick church Sandy Bay Road Hobart

You might have guessed from the silence on here that we have been mid-move again.

Believe it or not, the short move across town has been a lot more challenging than the move across the world was.

In part, that’s because of the physical scale of what we’ve been doing. Rather than walking into a dinky little furnished cottage where we needed to do little more than empty three suitcases into the cupboards, we have been unpacking the contents of a forty-foot container, some of which we only packed up nine weeks ago, but some of which we haven’t seen in over two years. (Hello DorkySon’s old playpen, and random wooden medicine cabinet that I don’t remember ever buying…). We have been trying to fit nearly forty large boxes of books into a house with just one built in bookcase. And for the first time ever, we are in a house with a flight of stairs, which is helping me discover all sorts of new muscles I didn’t even know I had. Continue reading →

Two Weeks

September 21, 2013 By in Photography, Tasmania Tags: , , , , 17 Comments

We have spent two full weeks in Hobart, now. This time sixteen days ago we hadn’t even landed. What an odd thought that is.

It feels like we’ve achieved a lot in a short space of time. We have bankcards, health coverage and – after much wrangling – a landline and internet connection. DorkyDad has already been to his first spoken word night. We’ve had the gap under our front door fixed, thanks to Rick the Handyman. The iPad that we lost in Dubai is on its way back to us, thanks to a wonderful woman called Rasika who works for baggage handling at Melbourne Airport. Life got immeasurably easier when we had a second set of house keys cut. All the pieces of the puzzle are fitting into place.

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Top things to do when you move to Tasmania

August 31, 2013 By in Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 24 Comments

A young boy taking photos of the boats at Hobart waterfront

I have been poring over Tasmanian blogs and guidebooks for the last few months, trying to get a feel for the place and pick out a few activities for us to do in Hobart early on. My favourite way of getting to know any new place is just by walking around it and stumbling upon things – so I’m sure that once we’re there this list will be hastily revised – but for now this is what I’m looking forward to.

Fullers Bookshop: My book addiction has already been well documented on this blog. Spending the last two years living in a town with NO BOOKSHOP AT ALL has been painful, and has filled me with near rage every time I’ve walked down the high street. So what a joy it will be to move to Hobart where there is a much-loved indie bookshop that holds events and discussion, publishes its own titles, blogs its recommendations and generally does all the good and lovely things that a bookstore should do. Our bank balance is not going to be happy, but I sure am. Continue reading →