Living in Hobart

So what are we going to be doing to earn a living? Firstly Doris will have her registration with the Tasmanian pharmacy board organised fairly soon, and will start looking for locum work. I will continue with the VoIP (internet telephony) and computer support work business I started in Melbourne, and I've also become enthused about another business opportunity related to work I did in the past. I'll start with investigating the viability of that venture and writing a business plan, besides looking after Christopher and Annabelle while Doris is working.

Speaking of Christopher and Annabelle. They both seem to have adjusted really well to our new home. Annabelle especially is just herself - but what else can you expect from an eight-month old. She's very cute and is very close to crawling - she's been frustrated with not being able to get around for a while now, but just hasn't figured out how to move her four limbs in a coordinated manner... She eats really well, and is the ideal baby: rarely upset, and sleeps every night from about 7:30 until 7 the next morning!

Christopher is doing well too, and is becoming such a big boy. He's 3 years and 3 months old now, and talks heaps. He loves his Thomas and friends engines, and helping us do things. He does miss the trains in Melbourne, and friends and family there, just like we are (the friends and family that is - we could do without the trains!). But for such a drastic move, we really can't complain about how he's adapted. Soon he'll start going to playgroups and we'll take him to swimming lessons now that the first term of school has started (today actually). He does miss playing with other children, which will be remedied that way soon. Today we had a BBQ at beautiful Sandy Bay Beach, and he had a ball running around the playground with other kids he'd just met.

Doris too is loving it. When she answered the phone a few weeks ago and spoke with my brother Gerben for a while, he commented afterwards to me that he hadn't heard Doris that happy before. As I said - we both feel this is the right move for us.

Now that most of the unpacking is done and we're getting settled we'll start getting more sociable - contacting people we know here and doing more outdoor things. We were talking about getting in contact with some Dutch people, to possibly start a Dutch playgroup so Christopher and Annabelle continue to get exposed to the Dutch language, and not even ten minutes later we walked passed a table with 6 Dutch people who were doing just that... meeting once a month to keep their links with their roots intact. They generously invited me to come along to their get-togethers, so I'll happily do that! It's not quite a playgroup, but there is a lady there with an 18-month old boy.

OK, so much for now. There'll be more soon!