Aussie Broadband

Connected to the NBN today via Aussie Broadband.
Still feels like an era away from SG broadband speeds but at least now I'm close to 100Mbps.
Previously had  been on Optus's mobile broadband and had been getting a third of the speed I'm now getting on AussieBB's NBN offering.

Anyway, I had purchased a router from SG, specifically the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 so I did not want to rely on the provided modem to function as a router. AussieBB support was polite about it but they did NOT support bridging (using their equipment as a modem only and handing off router tasks to the users' own equipment)

They referred me to some links and after a couple of hours of reading and tinkering around, I got it to work. What you're seeing below is the condensed version after all the trial and errors.

Also if someone reads this and I'm still doing it wrong, shine a light for me on how to improve this :)

So basically, I put my modem (Netcomm NF18ACV) into bridge mode.
1) Basic Setup
2) select VDSL
3) select WAN
4) select No VLAN Tag
5) select Obtain an IP address automatically
6) click on Apply/Save

Connected the router directly to my laptop for configuration purposes (PRIOR to connecting it up to the modem)

***Next, run an ethernet cable from the modems' LAN port to the routers' WAN port.***
Turn on the router.

And it should work. It did for me.

If it doesn't though, don't give up, apparently, either ASUS or AussieBB (I think it's the ISP) handles DHCP differently. The setup is correct but if you've messed up one of the steps above like turning on the router and connecting it up before setup, AussieBB might recognise another device from your address requesting for a connection and it'll lock up the port. General recommendation on the web is to power both devices down, wait 30 mins for the DHCP lease to lapse before trying again.

Of if you're impatient, call up AussieBB, speak to tech support and get them to clear/renew your DHCP lease.

Hope this helps someone, somewhere.

3 years 2 months 8 days 1 hour 23 minutes 32 seconds

As of right now it's been 3 years, 2 months, 8 days, 1 hour, 23 minutes and 32 seconds since I've migrated from Singapore to Perth.

There have been so many things happening that I've barely updated this blog at all. Not that it's greatly followed or anything haha. Will see if I can find the determination to get writing a little bit more. I do find it therapeutic.

I am still jobless yet making enough off casual work to live comfortably.
I am still in love with the endless space that Western Australia offers.
I am still in love with the fresh air.
I am still grateful for the easy-going lifestyle around here.
I am happy that my kids are being educated away from the pressure cooker system in Singapore.
I am thankful that my car doesn't expire after 10 years.
I am very very pleased that we've moved into our own home in Perth. (bye to 99 year lease nonsense)
I am excited that some friends whom I met as colleagues over a decade ago are starting on their own SG to OZ journeys.

That said,
I still miss my family
I still miss my friends
I miss the familiarity of Singapore
I definitely miss the food
At festive times such as CNY, the feeling is absolutely different.

I remember starting on my own migration journey, reading the blogs of people whom had made the same flight across the Indian Ocean and marveling at their success and wondering how mine would turn out.
Some successes, some failures, turns out its still a work in progress but I'm loving each and every day of it.

#TimeFlies

Migration Journey: From Singapore to Australia

Chanced across a couple of posts in Facebook groups that I belong to, with members asking the same question and quite honestly, found myself struggling to remember details from back when I began the journey in 2014. This will be an attempt to note down stuff in this post and help me to remember them.

If you chance upon this post, please do remember it's a migration process for Visa 189 (Skilled Independent Visa) that started in 2014, things probably have changed.

I was a teacher in Singapore so this might be more pertinent to fellow teachers looking to make the same trek over the ocean.

Do you need a migration agent? No, in all honesty, but if you're rich and hate paperwork, go for it.

Step ZERO: Take the points test

• You will need more than 60 points to be eligible for migration - See resource / take test

Step 1: IELTS (International English Language Testing System) 

• Everything starts from IELTS
• If you are a teacher, you need to register for Academic and not General Training
• I booked the test from British Council, it cost $320
• There are 4 components - Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening
• As a teacher, you will need to score 7s for Reading and Writing and 8 for Speaking and Listening.
• Speaking is tested on a separate day from the other 3 components.
• My timeline was:
• Speaking on the 19th of Sept 2014
• Reading/Writing/Listening on the 20th of Sept 2014.
• Received results on the 4th of October.
• Roughly 2 weeks.
• If you wish to read some details of what the tests felt like: IELTS Speaking / IELTS Reading-Writing-Listening
• For practice, I used the mock tests on this website

Step 2: AITSL (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership)

• This is for skills assessment - where they verify if your Singaporean qualifications are applicable in Australia.
• If you are in another occupation, you'll have to seek out the relevant assessing authorities - here
• As a teacher, this is what I did
• NIE transcipts and certs
• NUS/NTU transcripts and certs
• Statement of Employment from MOE
• Statement of Employment from each school you have taught in (you can get them to list down the number of hours you work per week)
• Get all the copies certified as true copies.
• You will receive 3 items
• Assessment for Migration certificate
• Skills Assessment certificate
• Skilled Employment claim
• My timeline was:
• Skills assessment sent on Oct 27
• Notification that assessment was completed on Dec 11
• AITSL registered mail received on Dec 26
• Roughly 64 days.
• Total time from start of the migration process, roughly 88 days.

Step 3: EOI (Expression of Interest)

• 13 step process where you enter all the information you've accumulated thus far.
• Its sole purpose is to let the Australian Immigration know that you're interested in migrating to Australia.
• You can update your EOI if there are changes.
• There are 2 invitation rounds each month
• You can check SkillSelect for the dates of the Invitation Rounds. (They like to fiddle with the url, so just click around for something that says Invitation Rounds)
• Some basic rules they employ:
• The highest ranked by points score are invited to apply first.
• Equal points cases will be separated by the time at which they reached their points score for the subclass.
• EOIs with earlier dates of effect are invited before later dates.
• My timeline was:
• EOI submitted via SkillSelect on 28th Dec
• SkillSelect invitation came in on 9th Jan, 2015. This is when you EOI status changes from 'submitted' to 'invited'
• Roughly 12 days (but this varies by case to case so don't panic)
• Total time from start of migration process, roughly 100 days.
• Important to note that upon receiving the invitation email, you now have 60 days to apply.

Step 4,5,6: Visa Application / Health Check / Police Clearance

• This is where you'll 'migrate' from SkillSelect account to the ImmiAccount
• You will be given a reference number
• There's a 17 step process of entering information into ImmiAccount
• You can enter nearly all the information except  Evidence of Health and Evidence of Character
• I paid a total of AUD$7000 or so for my family. That's 2 adults and 2 children. The price has definitely gone up so do due diligence.
• Health: Entering your health data into ImmiAccount, generates a referal letter and a unique HAP ID which the clinic will use to upload  your results to the portal.
• You'll be X-rayed and tested for HIV.
• Character:
• This if basically for the Singapore Police to certify that you haven't run afoul of any laws or committed any crimes.
• You cannot do anything about this till a case officer has been assigned to you. Received case officer Mar 19, 2015.
• From the time you receive the case office email for the police clearance, you'll have 28 days to respond.
• For more info on how to get the police clearance, read here.
• My timeline was:
• Submitted visa application, Jan 11
• Health checks done, end Jan.
• Case Officer assigned, 19 Mar
• Applied for Police clearance, 20 Mar (14 day wait to get results but you can notify your case officer that it's underway)
• Roughly 81 days

I started the whole process on the 19th of Sept 2014 and was granted the visa on 13 Apr, 2015.

Google tells me that that was 206 days.

Good luck with your journey!

Cooking Daddy: Jiggae

Cooked jiggae today after running around the past 2 days buying the burner and a proper sized pot.
Recipe is definitely a keeper so am recording it down here in case it's needed in the future.

Ingredients for the pot:

• 1 liter of chicken stock
• 200g of SPAM (we went with luncheon meat)
• 3 long frankfurter sausages
• 250g of tofu
• 200g of enoki mushrooms
• 200g of king oyster mushrooms
• 100g of shitake mushrooms
• 1/2 cup of kimchi
• instant noodles (depending on how much your family eats)
• 50g of Korean rice cakes
• 30g of green onions
• 1 or 2 slices of cheese (we skipped this, well actually we forgot about it)

Ingredients for the sauce/paste:

• 2 Tbsp Gochugaru (chili powder)
• 2 Tbsp mirin
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp Gochujang (chili paste)
• Ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:

1) Place the kimchi at the center of the pan.

2) Arrange the rest of the ingredients around the kimchi

3) Pour in chicken stock

4) Let it boil

5) Upon boiling, stir in the sauce/paste

6) Add in the noodle at this time

7) Simmer for a minute

8) Bon Appetit!

Assembling the Jiggae

As it's cooking!

If you want to try out some other recipes, check out Cooking Daddy!

Summer, Autumn, Winter ... Spring

Hello, it's been a while.

Time flies and I've been through a scorching Summer (people here tell me it's hotter than it's been in years). Days of over 40 degrees continuously are unreal but you know what? I still didn't sweat as much as I did in Singapore. Nights were usually between 15 to 21 degrees.

Experienced a beautiful Autumn. Not kidding. Normally I would never have a chance to travel during Autumn months (March, April and May) as there's no extended school holidays. Let me just say then that I thoroughly enjoyed Autumn. I cycled a lot, walked a lot and took a whole bunch of photos to document Autumn. The bonus? It was a much cooler than Summer and hence more enjoyable.

Winter is coming ... I couldn't resist. Winter is actually here and it's been a wet winter. As with the trend, we've been told it's been a colder Winter than normal. We don't really know so we have to take their word for it. This winter, we've experienced hail even in Perth. The kids surely enjoyed that. Before you think it's all doom and gloom during Winter, I have to say that I still enjoy the cold. The picture below should leave you with a clearer picture of what it's like during Winter. As you can see, no thick winter jackets, normal jeans and shirts with perhaps a sweater thrown in should suffice.

A view of Perth from King's Park

I have to say, I'm looking forward to what Spring will bring!

One month in ... and a number of firsts ...

It's been a while since I've posted.

What has happened since?

For a start, we've sorted out the lodging - at least for a year. Found a place south of the river (SOR). Many things were new to us. Sorting out the tenancy agreement and all that entails. Getting furniture and appliances to create a resemblence of home. Shifting furniture that we were given, transporting said furniture in a trailer and setting it up in our new home. A couple of firsts there, never rented before, never transported anything in a trailer before. It certainly kept us busy.

If we thought the pace was going to slow down after that, it certainly hasn't. Once you've got your tenancy agreement, everything that couldn't be done before that, is now possible.

It was now possible to ;
1) apply for the Tax File Number
2) find a school for the kids (this was numero uno on our list!)
3) convert our driving licence
4) get our banking sorted out
5) there must have been others but I can't seem to remember them now heh

Oh and we lost the lid of the washing machine as we were transporting it. Yeah big bummer ... free washer and I had to go mess it up. The washer wouldn't operate without a lid (or so we thought) so we tried to fool it but to no avail. For a month, we lived without a washer, hitting the laundromat every now and then as we ran low on fresh clothes - a situation that happened pretty often if you are firstly, living out of suitcases and secondly, living in Perth during Summer. We tried buying parts off gumtree but nobody was interested in selling parts ... they all wanted to be rid of their perfectly functioning washer. (More on this later) In the end, we had to order the part online, endure a 2 week shipping time (Perth as we are finding out, is in the middle of nowhere haha ... but I like it like this!). Long story short, we picked up the lid today, plopped in onto the washer and nada ... zilch. Washer still refused to work. You know how they always tell you that in Australia you have to fix things yourself? There's a good reason for that, anything here that requires labour is costly. This was as good a time as any to practise being a handyman. After an hour or so with the washer, with a good amount of cursing thrown in, I actually managed to fix it! I couldn't tell who was more surprised ... me or J. In fact, it would've worked even without the lid that we spent $70+ on. Apparently, during the move, we bumped the washer and a circuit board had come loose. It was THAT simple.

Ah well, we live and learn. First time ever fixed a washer though :)

Anyway, back to the point about Aussies wanting to be rid of their perfectly functioning appliances. There is no garbage chute here. That translates to a lot of changes in what you consume and what you throw. I kinda like it as it forces you to think about your consumption. Once a week, the garbage truck comes along to pick up your general waste. Once a fortnight, it comes around to pick up your recyclable waste. Once a YEAR, the city arranges for disposal of hard waste, think of it as items that cannot fit into the rubbish bin each household is given.

Want a new washer? Can afford one?
Great!
Know what to do with the old washer?
Oh damn ...

We ran into a similar problem when we bought some stuff for the house. At the time of purchase, we were asked a pretty weird question. Did we want to pay the delivery man to take away the cardboard boxes? We confidenty said no only to realise later that the cardboard wouldn't fit into the bins :P
We had to tear them down and dispose of them over a few disposal cycles.
Much later, we were told that we could've left the cardboard out, waited for rain to turn it to mulch and then dispose of it that way. Ingenious.

Anyway ... I've rambled ... so much more to note down before they fade from my memory but I'll leave that for another day, maybe tomorrow. Definitely tomorrow.

In search of a 'real' beach ...

Had to move out of our Airbnb as the rental period was up ... yet to find a long term rental ... that is worrying.

Anyway, the kids liked Shelley Beach but in all honesty, while it was nice, it wasn't much of a beach ... so today, we set out to find a 'real' beach.

Stopped by Fremantle for breakfast

Ran into some artwork

Proceeded to Fremantle Beach after some nosying around the Fremantle markets.

It's supposed to be summer when the beaches are crowded but I thought Fremantle Beach was relatively empty/ Maybe there are more popular beaches areound, I don't know. We were very happy though with what we saw and spent a couple of hours there.

Interestingly enough, there was a wedding going on at the beach, which prompted a discussion between J and me about whether we would have seen something similar back in Singapore.

Kids had a lot of fun and got wet too despite us running out of clothes. Ah well.

I remember posting a pic from East Coast Park a while back and commenting that there almost wasn't a hint of a horizon to be seen - it was like a great wall of container ships. I remember too the feeling that engendered ... one of feeling trapped in. No such feelings today. Were there commercial ships in the distance? Yep. 5 of them.

The sight that greeted us as we stepped onto the beach ...

That's how crowded it was ...

You know that water you see in movies that has many shades of blue?

I thought it felt like us ... making ourselves comfortable in Oz

Ended the day with a walk along the foreshore in South Perth and was greeted with this sunset.
I wish that I could say that I could feel my stress leaching away but I have learnt that when shelter (a place for my family to live in) is uncertain, it's always there at the back of my mind but damn - it really feels good to be greeted by the beauty of nature at each and every turn.

Another glorious sunset ...

Here's to many more sunsets ....

That sky ... and a 41 degree monster

Will I ever grow bored of it? Dismiss it as a daily occurence?

I certainly hope not.

On the day we returned our rental and picked up our 1st car in Oz, I still remain amazed at the blue blue sky in Australia and it's animated cloud formations.

Saw our first rainbow and experienced our first 41 degress Celsius day ... and to think I complained about Singapore's temperatures!

Also our first experience buying a car certainly taught us a few things to look out for, if and when we need to purchase another car.

Blue sky, blue waters ...

On the way back to our Airbnb rental ...

1st glimpse of a rainbow since we arrived!

Turning around 180 degrees from the rainbow ... to be greeted by the sunset

Wave if you see us driving around in Perth!

Shelley Beach Park

Paid a visit to Shelley Beach Park today as the children wanted to visit a beach but we did not want to drive too far.

It is a very small beach but there was so much going on.

Families having BBQ, children doing the jetty jump, famililes exercising their dogs and powerboats roaring back and forth along the river.

I loved that parking was not an issue, simply a matter of finding a spot along the road that wasn't taken and slotting in.

While the weather was warm, hot even, it did not seem to raise the same amout of sweat, if any, that the Singaporean sun regularly wrung out of me.

We had a quite stroll ... exchanged hellos and made small conversation with some Australians that we came across. It certainly helped to make us feel welcomed.

We found the water's edge to be filled with these little fellas ...

Both S and D had a field day using branches to 'rescue' beached jellyfish. Didn't know if they were poisonous but I think not, judging from the carefree nature in which others were frolicking in the water.

It was very very nice to see them being carefree and enjoying what nature had to share ... this is one of the reasons we moved. Definitely looking forward to many more of these adventures with them!

All these in addition to the sunset over the Swan River that we enjoyed the previous night ... not a bad 3 days in Perth.

Still running into cranes ... even in Perth

A symbolic start?

It's 7.40am and we've touched down in Perth.

It's early in the morning but the sun is already blazing hot. I have a feeling that Summer and I are not going to be the best of friends.

We picked up our rental and headed off to the Airbnb rental that we had booked while we hunted for longer term accomodation.

Relatives and friends asked me about choosing the 1st of Jan as our arrival date and I always jokingly replied that it was to signify a symbolic start. Ha ... it couldn't be further from the truth.

In all honesty, it's because I am horrendous with dates. This way, I am unlikely to forget a date in which we start a new chapter in our lives. Also, it was because airfares were cheaper on this date than any other. Heh.

Seeing that it's the 1st of Jan though, New Year and all, we were worried that everything would be closed in Perth - courtesy of our past experiences travelling through Australia. We were plesantly surprised to find some shops open and we were quick to grab some groceries for the week ahead.

I love supermarkets in Australia ... everything is available in large sizes ... including this ...

Weirdly shaped capsicum

No that's not a child's hands!

Packed

How am I feeling right now?

Conflicted about leaving. Especially since S has been grousing that she will be missing her friends and Singapore. I keep worrying about whether I'm doing the right thing tearing them away from a life that they are so comfortable and happy with.

The overriding emotion though?

Tired.

Tired from all the packing and last minute cramming to meet weight requirements for the flight.

4 lives condensed to this ...

While we were packing, I felt that we were bringing too much.
Now that we are done though, the finality has set in and it's sobering to see your life condensed into a suitcase.

I tell my children though that as long as we have one another and we hold on to each other, we're gonna be ok.

Now it's time for me to believe that.

Chaos amid the packing

Movers are coming tomorrow.

Packing is still unfinished.

I should be packing ... 

I'll go pack.

Aussie Telcos

Can't sleep.

The endless packing to squeeze our life's belongings into 4 suitcases is mentally tiring to say the least.
It almost feels like a liquidation of the life that we've built up thus far.

Anyway, since I could not sleep, I decided to do a little more research to facilitate our decision making once we landed in Perth.

Tackled ISPs the other time so I wanted to have a look at telcos this time round.

Did not bother to look at some of the smaller operators ... maybe that'll be a mistake.

As it stands, I thought that it would take a while to separate the telcos but each and every website seemed to carry the same message. Check out this pretty informative site.
1) Every telco will have it's dark spots ... areas where they have poor or non-existent signal coverage. It's simply because the country is so big.
2) If you visit the rural (read - countryside) often - go with Telstra.
3) Vodafone is catching up but it's usually still in 3rd place behind Telstra/Optus.

I looked at SIM only plans since I have my own device.

Looked at offerings from TPG, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone, Telstra and Optus.
One thing that struck me was how much data was being offered!
I'm stuck on 2GB in SG and paying close to $50 a month!

TPGs offerings were anaemic ... (they are partnered with Vodafone, a recent partnership) - $29.99 for 2GB and $39.99 for 5GB

Virgin Mobile had decent offerings $40 for 4GB, $50 for 6GB, $60 for 10GB and lastly $80 for 12GB.

Telstra could do more. $40 for 2.5GB and $60 for 10GB

Vodafone (supposedly coming off big upgrades to it's networks and trying to gain marketshare) offered $30 for 1GB, $40 for 10GB, $50 for 8GB (yeah, I know, it doesn't make sense), $60 for 12GB and $80 for 20GB.

Optus had very very few plans for me to choose from. In fact, they only had one $40 for 10GB.

Long story short. It was a very short decision making process because it's so obvious where the sweet spot is.

It came down to a choice between Optus and Vodafone and since supposedly Optus has the stronger network, I'll be going with that. Throw in the fact that it offers 300 international minutes to Vodafone's 90 minutes and data pooling between family member, it was a pretty easy choice.

Thing is both offers from Optus and Vodafone expire on the 4th of Jan 2016.
It's going to be a mad rush to sign up for that seeing as we are still in Singapore.


Further digging reveals ---

Optus: offer found here
* 10GB data
* Unlimited talk to Australian mobiles and landlines
* Unlimited SMS/MMS
* 300 international mins  (Singapore is one of the selected countries! yay!)
* Data pooling between family member on Optus.

Vodafone: (offer found here - do check it out as they have many different expiry dates)
* 10GB data
* 1/2 price for the first month
* Unlimited talk to Australian mobiles and landlines
* Unlimited SMS/MMS
* 90 international minutes  (Singapore is included again)
* $5/day international roaming
* Unlimited data for 1st 2 months
* Ability to share this plan and get 500MB more data per month in Oz for the life of the plan.

Rental agreement

It's late but we've finally concluded our discussion with our prospective tenants and their agent.

I did not realise that there were so many nitty-gritty details to nail down in a tenant agreement.

Now that's it done, that's one less thing to worry. Concluding the agreement though meant that we now have more things to settle to ready the house for the tenants.

What to leave behind, what to bring and what to dispose off.

For example, we were going to leave our curtains behind but apparently it's the 'norm' that tenants get their own curtains to forestall any disagreements over damage to curtains. Really? What could they be doing to the curtains that would result in damage? Oh well.

Pots, pans and cutlery all have to go as the tenants prefer to use their own.

Where on earth are we going to store all those cutlery?

Also supposed to ensure that the house receives a good cleaning too before we hand over. Our agent was able to recommend us a contact who would handle this part, for a fee of course.

Some of the lights also need to be fixed and one or two of  the rooms need to be painted.

As for the rental agreement. It is for a duration of two years with an option for a third, dependent on a rental fee review. If you hire an agent to represent you, their commission is half a months' rental for a 1 year agreement. This being a 2 year agreement, our agent was due a full months' rental as her fee.

The landlord pays the property tax while the tenants are in charge of whatever utilities they incur.

Note to self that I need to read up on the property tax. There was mention that since we are occupying the HDB flat, we're only paying 4% but since we will be renting it up, that percentage is set to rise to 10%. This is in addition to being taxed on the money you earn from your rental income.

The good thing though is that I feel rather comfortable with my tenants, they seem to be good people - Filipinos who have been working in Singapore for the past few years and working towards their permanent residency. I don't feel as conflicted about leaving now that I know that this abode that has sheltered my family for the past decade is going to be looked after.

I wonder what we'll experience when it's our turn to seek a rental property.

Final payslip

Today, I received my last payslip as a teacher.
Well to be precise, my last email notification of my payslip.
I should probably be happy right?


No more grumbling about how much I disliked how certain things were done.
No more complaining about how schools expected teachers to devote non-working hours to the job.
No more frustration over parents calling or messaging at all hours.
No more travelling all over Singapore during competition periods with CCA teams.
No more early morning national anthem and pledge taking.
No more rushing of paperwork because of audits or filing purposes.
No more anger over days that started at 7am and ended at 6 pm or later.
No more reporting to different levels of management - all with a different agenda for me to fulfil.

But you know what?

I'm going to miss teaching.
I'm going to miss the interactions with the kids.
I'm going to miss coming up with witty retorts to whatever comments they have.
I'm going to miss blowing my whistle as I send them out for their physical activities.
I'm going to miss celebrating their birthdays.
I'm going to miss managing all the little crises the students get themselves into.
I'm going to miss the looks on their faces as we broaden their experiences.
I'm going to miss looking at them when they are Secondary 4 and remembering them when they had just stepped into the school.
I'm going to miss the camaraderie amongst my colleagues. (PE colleagues are the best!)

I'm walking away from a job that I love despite its many imperfections.
That has given me the freedom (no, not going to use the cheesy line about 'moulding the future of our nation') to partake in so many dreams - to see so many futures brought to life.
That has given me a peculiar perception of time as I follow my ex-students via social media as they journey through life.
That has given me the resources to comfortably feed and nurture my own family.

I'm walking away but I have nothing bitter to say about teaching.

At the end of the day, it was all worth it.

I would undertake the same journey all over again if I was just starting out.

Throughout my time in teaching, I was innundated with quotes about teaching but then as now, I still find myself affected by the one I'm going to end this post with.

Fancy flying to Australia?

The Internet is full of information and there's this little piece of advice about when to purchase air-tickets.

Basically, the advice is to purchase it between 6 to 8 weeks of your departure date.

We tried to keep to that but we're still not sure if we got the best deal. We didn't really follow the prices once we've gotten the tickets but we did miss out on some cheaper airfares while we were waiting for the 'golden period'. Honestly speaking, if you see a nice price that you're satisfied with? Just go with it.

How are we feeling? Excitement touched with trepidation.

Ah well. Truth to tell? I think I'm the most worried out of the whole family. I think it has to do with my fear that I'll be unable to provide for them once I'm in Oz. Doesn't help with every well-meaning relative chiming in that they 'hear' it's hard to get a job now in Australia. Doesn't help too that I have no idea what I'm going to work as. It definitely didn't help matters any when I told them I was willing to try anything. Their looks said it all - "You're going there without a plan?" What is it about Singaporeans and plans?

Brave. That's what some of my friends said.

Foolish maybe?

Anyway, the dice has been rolled. We'll see what turns up.
At the end of it all, life is a journey and wouldn't it be boring if you already figured out every single step of the way?

I might be feeling fearful BUT I want to walk this journey with my family, through the good and the bad but we'll walk it together.

Again, I've digressed though. We were talking about air-tickets to Australia.

We had basically 4 choices, SIA, Scoot, Jetstar and Qantas.

Children wanted SIA and for my family size, it would've cost us approximately $3.1k. Definitely out!

Qantas would've cost us roughly $2.2k. Cheaper but we need to conserve money. Not to mention the flight drops us in Australia at midnight.

Scoot would ferry us over for $1k, a figure that included 30kg of check-in baggage per passenger. Not too bad but it would drop us at the airport at 6.10pm.

Jetstar had, in my opinion, the nicest timing. It would drop us at 6am or so at the airport. It also cost about the same as Scoot at $1k+ with 30kg check-in baggage per passenger.

So, Jetstar it is. One-third of the price of flying on SIA.
Here's hoping for a smooth flight.

T-25 and counting

There's less than a month to the move and there's still so much yet to be done.

Where do we even start?

It is when you start that you realize how many binds there are to cut.

Today we tried to close up some of the financial stuff.

Settling outstanding loans, getting new 2 factor tokens so that they wouldn't run out of power once we were out of Singapore and closing accounts that we wouldn't be using anymore.

Out of curiosity, I enquired if we could get a new 2 factor token sent to us if we were living overseas. Sadly the answer was no. Hence what turned out to be a simple, short visit to the bank to refund our cheque books and closure of accounts turned into a rather long session as we got them to renew/refresh out tokens and credit cards.

Couple that with accounts held in different banks and it was a busy day indeed. Still much was accomplished.

On the homefront, we've let go of some of our furniture and much of the items that we've accumulated over the years but honestly, there's still so much more. When did we ever buy so many books and toys? Truly a testament to the materialistic lifestyle!

Oh and the boxes from the movers arrived today. Time to start some serious packing and then to see what else that leaves us with.

Which ISP to choose?

I've gathered by now that the Internet Service Provider scene in Australia is vastly different from Singapore so this post is a placeholder so that I do not need to jump all over the place for this information when I need it.

There is of course the number of providers. Whereas in Singapore, we rely on Singtel, Starhub, M1 and more recently ViewQuest and MyRepublic, Down Under, they have a multitude of providers, some smaller than others but purportedly offering better customer service.

There is also the matter of internet access speeds being slower than the norm in Singapore and paying more for it to boot.

Netflix has landed in Oz not too long ago and even if you're not a user of their service, you'll find this useful. Head over to http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com and type in the country of your choice. Link to Australia's report is here. Instead of trawling the Internet for information on which ISP is better, why not hear it from a company that is dependent on ISPs providing bandwidth for their business model?

Couple that with news that Netflix now has 2.5mil customers in Oz and it's not a bad standard to go by.

 Optus is currently ranked first, TPG is ranked 2nd and iiNet is 3rd.
Worthy of note though is this piece of news that TPG is taking over iiNet.
So to simplify matters, am just going to concentrate on the top 3 ISPs and hopefully they provide services wherever I'm headed.

Telstra picking up it's game in recent months but can it reach the pinnacle?

TPG - plans

iiNet - plans

Optus - plans / cable plans

It is a little mind-boggling. There are further options for addons such as phone lines, whether you want to call overseas with that phone line. Free calls to Australian numbers etc to consider.

Also to take note of data that is split into peak and off-peak timings.

So, should we get a home phone? Been doing fine without one in SG but things will be different in Oz, we're less sure of ourselves so perhaps channels of communication might be more important?

100 Points of Identification

When I first came across this term, not being familiar with it, I was kinda alarmed that to prove our identity Down Under, we would need to provide many sources of evidence. Luckily, a little reading proved that this was not the case.

Anyway, note to self that for the 100 points of identification for the visit to NAB to activate our account, we'll need;

1) Passport (MUST)
2) Either International driver's licence or a copy of our Visa.

Basically, each item that proves your identity, earns you points. I'm assuming the passport is worth 60 and the other document is worth 40. Anyway, it gets you over a 100.

Googled it and I was wrong.  Both worth 70 points, giving 140 points. Does that mean we're over-identified? Heh.

Star Wars @ Changi Airport

When I first found out about this, the date 12th November went down on my calendar immediately.

There's a Star Wars exhibit going on at Changi Airport as part of the festive year-end celebrations.

You'll get to see the X-Wing fighter at Terminal 3's Departure Hall.

When we were there, we learnt that if you wanted to put on a costume and get up close and personal with the X-Wing, you had to have a ticket. These tickets were given up at certain times. We were there at 2pm plus and were told that tickets would next be given out at 4pm.

Have a look at the TIE fighter at Terminal 2's Departure Hall. No queue here and the cordon is so much closer to the exhibit.

There's also a small display behind the X-Wing showing some models of Star Wars characters.

Chewbacca and Han Solo with the Falcon in the background.

R2D2

The display goes on all the way till 5 Jan, 2016, so if you're a Star Wars fan, head on down to Changi Airport!