Another Busy Week

Well it's been another busy week for us. We have managed to move into Dan's brother's place alright. We did our first ikea shop the other day as Dan didn't have much as far as bedroom furniture went plus his mattress had seen better days. So we managed to outfit our bedroom a bit, although we brought home the wrong size bed-frame, silly us! Getting settled alright though. It's good to have Tonka round too. Dan's enjoying having him back. So fun!

We've also managed to get ourselves another car, a more reliable one for a good deal (Gemini will be Dan's back up car when it rains out). It's a '97 VW Golf, red (so it goes faster:) and in top condition. We'll be picking her up on Tuesday this coming week. I'm so excited! She's got air-conditioning! Ace :) Although it's a manual, so I'm going to have to learn how to drive her, watch out! Finally feeling comfortable on the left side of the road though, so it should go alright. Lot's of visiting with family and Dan's old friends over the past week also. Just got back from a family Christmas bbq. Was good to see everyone again and them recognize and welcome me :)

Still in the interview process of finding a job. I'll be hearing back from one tomorrow and then another interview on Tuesday, the other two I had didn't work out for different reasons. Hopefully find a job soon and get some money flow coming to us! Dan will be starting his job (back at the cemetery) either at the end of this week or the beginning of next, so that will be good! Slowly getting there I suppose. It's going to take awhile to get our lives more established here and settled in. Baby steps at the moment, be a bit easier once we both get jobs. It's been a real help having so much family around us, a bit of familiarity. I definitely feel a bit like a dear in the head lights at the moment with so many new things happening, a bit overwhelming at times. Good experience though.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you're all doing well in your own lives. Keep in touch.

Brenna xxx

We Made It!

Well it's been a very long time coming, but we finally made it down to Australia!

It managed to snow for us before we left Canada which was great! Threw a few snowballs and frolicked round in it. :) But I have to say that I'm glad to be in the warmer weather now and not having to wear so many layers. The flight over was a VERY long haul! It all went smoothly which made it a pleasant transfer, as pleasant as that long of a flight can be. I was completely exhausted when I got here, Dan not so much, I think he was just so excited to be home and see his parents! So not much got done the first day we arrived as you can guess.

Since then we have managed to; set up all the fun stuff ie; bank accounts, my medicare, tax file number etc, do a bit of shopping, had a dinner with one of Dan's brothers (Andrew) and family last night. I am going through an interview process at the moment with flight centre, it's pretty vigorous, so we will see. I have also started applying for a few other jobs just in case this one doesn't work out. Hopefully I will find something soon and get some income. Dan may end up back at his old job at Springvale Botanical Cemetery as a memorials installer, it's not the same position as he left, but same place. He finds out officially this Tuesday if he got the position or not, so hopefully he does fingers crossed!

I have driven our new Gemini a couple of times so far. Driving on the wrong side of the road isn't as horrible as I thought it would be, but it's still very awkward/weird. So a bit more practicing and then I may be able to drive without Dan in the car. It just feels so wrong! Our car also runs like a gem! Although it does leak when it's raining out (you need to wear gumboots when it rains b/c your driving foot gets soaked), Dan's going to try and fix that, but other than that, she's in great condition!! More than great actually!

Lots of visiting, shopping, finding a job, touring and getting settled in over the next little while for us. It's all been great so far! We've been staying at his parents place (which is out in the boonies, but very pretty and green) so far, we'll be moving into his brother(Paul) and families place next week sometime and will be there until we find our own place after we get jobs. We are both REALLY looking forward to getting our own place and space, settling in, having all of our stuff in one place, not three and making a home for ourselves!! It's going to be like Christmas when we start unpacking all of our stuff, I forgot how much stuff I actually brought!

Lots of crazy heavy rain on and off over the past few days here with some thunderstorms. I suppose it helps green things up a bit, but sucks b/c it makes all the flowers bloom that much quicker and bad hay fever! It's been nice and warm though so far, not crazy hot yet which is good and will allow me to climatize a bit before we get into the hotter weather! Lots of beautiful colorful parrots around the parents place. Got a few shots(below) of them for you as well as their beautiful garden. I can't wait to see more wildlife! So many new things to experience and get used too! So excited! I hope that all of you are doing well. Thinking of all of my wonderful family and close friends often. If you need my contact details, just let me know.

That's it for now, I'll update again when I have some more fun news and time. Miss you all already! Looking forward to moving forward with our lives and settling into/making a home. Keep in touch!

Brenna xxx

The Bell's beauty backyard!

The local wildlife. They come right up to you! It's amazing!

The snow just before we left Canada. brrrr.

This one is for my close friends & beautiful family.

A quote for my family and my good friends:

~“Even though we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change between us.”~

I have come to realize through the process of this past year how important family and good friends really are. After flying off to England to say my final goodbye to someone very close and special to me this past spring, I realized then that life is too short to not keep in touch, too short to hold grudges, for making excuses and not truly enjoying those special moments together.

It has been very hard having a family that is split so much by the physical distance between us all, but so heartwarming knowing how close we all are in our own hearts. Realizing my new life is becoming a reality, it has made me reflect on who I will truly miss when I'm gone and who are already gone that I have missed so much already. In your hearts you all know who you are and I love you. :)

I have managed to say my "hello's" and "see you later's" to everyone that is close to me this past year, which is a first to see them all, all in one year! And am so thankful that I have had this opportunity. This is not the end of this life, not at all! Just the beginning of a new adventure, a new chapter in the life of Brenna. :) I have been a wave of emotions; happy, sad, anxious, stressed, nervous and excited, with all of the changes that this past couple of years has brought in my life and I want to thank my very special boyfriend for all of his wonderful support!

My future aspirations include; getting back into my favorite hobbies such as sailing & piano. I have realized that I need to do things that make me happy, something more than just working everyday. I am eager to try a new job avenue and hope to figure out a career path soon, no more working minimum wage! I also hope to travel more, actually I hope to travel for the rest of my life. There is not a place on this planet that I would not love the opportunity to see! And in the future, when the time is right, I would love to have a family of my own. So many more plans & goals that swim around this busy little mind of mine, I just hope that I will get the chance to do most if not all of them.

I hope you all know if you ever come to the world down under that there will always be a spare bed for you. And I hope to see you all come a visit! :) Not all at once though. :P Wish us luck on our new adventures. Make sure to keep in touch! I will keep my blog up to date with photos and blurbs so make sure to check it every once in awhile.

This should give you an idea of where we'll be. :)

For those of you who don't know, we'll be living in Melbourne, Victoria.

FINALLY!

It's been a very long time coming, but it's finally official!! Dan and I received my Partner Migration Visa today!! YEE HAA!! I cannot believe how stressful it all was, but I think it was all worth it for the final outcome:) We're both so relieved and very excited for the next step! Although I will be very sad to say goodbye to friends, family and the valley, I am so very excited to move forward with my/our live(s)! We fly out on November 21st which is a week and half away. Today will be my last day of work and it will be nice to finally have some time to relax, catch out breaths and gear up to fly out! :D Wish us luck in our future endeavors. And I hope that you all keep in touch!!! If you need contact details, just let me know. I'm thinking my next post will be when we're on the other side of the world. Chow for now :)

Stressed Out!

Well you could say it's been a crazy few weeks! My Mum and I went off on a little road trip last week for a week. Visited my lovely Uncle, Aunty and two little cousins (Landon was born 2 months ago and Addy is 2 now :) plus my Grandma on Bowen Island for the first few days. It was great to see all of them, catch up and see that they're settling into their new home nicely. Such a beautiful little island. After a visit with them, we drove my Grandma back to Kelowna and spent a couple of days there visiting other family. It is always nice to be with family and catch up! So it was a fun little road trip :)

You could say that our migration visa for Australia has been a huge pain in the butt. Not the application so much, more the medical side of things. After weeks of many phone calls (which I have now memorized the number, lame) to the Doctor's office trying to figure out how they messed up on it not once, but twice and dealing with a couple of incompetent and unprofessional people, I finally found out they lost one of my forms (the one that's supposed to go with my xray C.D.). So I have had to go and get a brand new xray done and re-do the form with it as well. I have just got off the phone with both doctor's offices and I'm hoping it will finally be sorted and sent off to my case worker tomorrow. And I know my case worker said that once she has the form and as long as everything is clear that she can finalize our visa application quickly after that. So cross our fingers, hope and pray that it will ALL be over and done with by the end of next week!!

So as long as everything goes smoothly from here on, Dan and I are planning to be out of here by the middle of November at the very latest. We are looking forward to moving on with our lives as they have been in limbo for quite awhile now. It has been a very frustrating, stressful and long several months (application has taken 8 months, supposed to take 6 at the most). But hope for the best! We have lots of plans, goals and ideas for our future and can't wait to get going and moving forward. I hope that all of your lives are happy and full.

Cheers for now :)

What's been going on...

Fall's officially here and such beautiful colors all around! I have to say I do enjoy fall when it's not raining, windy and miserable. When the sun shines it's so nice to go for a walk through the forest and enjoy the beautiful colors.

On another note, we are still here in Canada. Dan and I were expecting to be in Australia by now but of course these types of things tend to take longer than expected (good ol' government paperwork:). But on a good note, I don't believe we'll be waiting for much longer. There was a mix up with all of my medical documents which has made us wait that much longer, but a few phone calls and a lot of stressin' we managed to sort it out and they're now in our case worker's hands and she can finalize the visa application soon. :) We're hoping!

We had a busy week last week including two garage sales and moving into my mum's new place. We managed to get rid of the majority of our stuff in the garage sale, the rest was donated to the salvation army. So nice to be rid of it all and not have to keep lugging it all around! The move was pretty easy as we didn't have too much stuff, two truck loads and a couple of hours and we were in. It's nice to be spending time with mum and my brother (he's living here as well while he goes back to school) before we go. Plus it helps on the car side of things as Dan and I are car-less and both my mum and brother have a car we are able to borrow.

So you could say that we're pretty much ready to get up and go as soon as this application's been finalized. There are a few last minute loose ends to tie up and can't do them until we know the date of our flight. So we just sit back, relax and wait (and hopefully not too much longer!).

So we don't have a car here in Canada as you know, but we do have one waiting for us in Australia. It's a Holden Gemini '84 with only 82000 km's! You could say it's a Sunday driven car. And of course Dan's going to be putting his spin on it ie; big fancy tires. So cute and I love it, although it will be interesting learning to drive on the opposite side of the road. Wish me luck! It's going to be like learning to drive all over again.

Well, that's it for now. Keep you all posted about our migration application. Thinking of you all. xxx

Here's Humphree!

Our Special Day...

So I've wanted a tattoo for quite a long time and my mum and I thought it would be a great idea to share the moment together! It hurt like hell, but it was so worth it and hard to believe b/c of the pain but it was fun too!! Here's a few photos for you all. Enjoy :)

..more pictures to come once they heal....

Another Two Weeks...

Well it’s been another crazy couple of weeks. It all started on our last weekend. Our migration visa is still chugging along at government pace. I received an email a few weeks ago saying that they were in a position to move forward and required a full medical check and chest x-ray from me by a doctor on their panel. And of course, the closest one is in Victoria, so off we went for a road trip last weekend.

We decided to head down the day before and spend some time with a few friends and have some fun, which we did. J But we noticed while we were down there that my car’s heat kept fluctuating, plus all the water we kept adding to the coolant kept disappearing. Uhoh! So to be on the safe side, after my appointment on the Friday morning before we drove home we got the pressure checked in the engine. Sure enough, one of the head gaskets had blown. Crap! Plus the quote to get it fixed was way more money than what I had paid for the damn thing. So off to the wreckers it got towed. L Dan and I killed several hours in Victoria; went to the Imax and saw Hubble, shopped, ate, sat in the harbor, luckily it was a nice day out and then we caught the Greyhound Bus home. You could say that was a long day and now I’m car-less. L It couldn’t of waited another month and half?!!!

Just helped my Mum move into her new home the other day. Three truck loads! You could say that we were all pooched by the end of the day. But now she’s a house owner and so excited! You could say that I am for her too! It’s been a long time coming, but now she can make her nest again. And we all have a home to come home to. J

So we’re hoping to find out soon about our migration visa, fingers still crossed! It will be another couple of weeks before my medical information gets sent in, but once they have all of that then they can finalize our application and then hopefully we can book a flight! A road trip will be in store before we fly out, but we can’t plan that until we know what’s going on. So we just enjoy our time here for now. It will be a quite few weeks, not having a car makes things a little more complicated, but no car bills is a plus I suppose. J Glad I have good friends and family around to spend time with!

Autumn is in the air...

? Worth It ?

Does anybody read my blog?? Just need to make sure I'm not wasting my time. The hole point of this is so my family and friends who don't live near me can still feel like they're involved in my life ie; see what I'm doing, read what I've been up to. Just leave me a comment and let me know if it is worth it or not. Cheers :)

Summer Time...

Well, yet again, I thought it must be time to give ya'll a little Brenna update. So far this summer Dan and I have done a whole lot of working, swimming and waiting (for migration visa). We have been enjoying the local water hole's almost every weekend in the Comox Valley, they are super convenient in the heat of the summer!

We have yet to receive word on our migration visa as per getting approved. I did receive an email the other day requesting I get a medical examination, police record check and few other things done. So once I have sent all of the documents in, I have been told that our application will be finalized after reviewing those documents. Fingers & toes crossed everything goes through within the next month and half and I get approved!! Send us luck!

Dan and I got to see The Cat Empire up the mountain the other week. They were really good! An Australian band for those of you who don't know who I'm talking about. And if you've never heard any of their music, I recommend downloading it for a listen, very talented band!

We got to go fishing yesterday on a friends boat which was super fun! I always love being out on the water, even if we didn't catch anything :P We also went tubing down the Puntledge River last week which is always a good time! It took us about an hour to go down, so just sit back, relax and enjoy the view. We were supposed to go again today with several people, but it's raining out, our first day of rain since June I believe. Oh well, next week I guess.

Well, here are a bunch of photos for you. Hope the summer (and winter for some) is treating you all well. Chow for now.

Now this is how you sun bathe!

Catch of the Day.

Comox Valley Build, Bail & Sail. Can you guess who bailed first?

No rolling, just chillin'.

Log Rolling at Comox Lake

Floatin' Along

Goin' for a tube down the Puntledge River

Dan Swimming Along - Barber's Hole

The Cat Empire - Mount Washington

Cheeeesseee! (my big bro :) - Stotan Falls

Cute Couple :P - Stotan Falls

Stotan Falls

His bed obviously wasn't comfy enough.

I don't know what's going on in this photo...

Steve Urkel?