Mum's gone 2 Aus

Earlier in the year my parents visited from the UK. In the UK my Dad is the holder of a disability parking permit and can only walk short distances. Ensuring that we could use mobility parking whilst they were in Australia was imperative.

If you’re ever in the same position, either because people visiting you require disability parking or because you’re relocating with someone who holds a permit, we thought it would be useful to share… Read more

Whenever I hear a power tool, especially drills and saws, I’m always reminded of a very important lesson I learnt from The Block. There are rules and regulations in Australia about neighbourhood noise that restrict the use of power tools within certain times of the day, on certain days of the week.

Maybe these rules exist elsewhere in the world but we hadn’t heard of them before moving to Sydney.

What’s The Block?

In case you… Read more

Last year in Five things that (still) surprise us about Australia we mentioned the informal language used in Australian politics and media. When we first arrived we were shocked by the language permitted on TV and radio at all times of day and surprised by the informal way politicians speak to each other.

Politics wherever you are in the world often descends into finger pointing and the sharing of snide remarks that in the end overwhelm… Read more

We’re embarrassed to say that it has taken Family Mum’s gone 2 Aus two years to finally read all the Sydney Water water wise rules. We like to think we’re fairly careful with water and we have been conscious that there must be water restriction rules for our area, but we hadn’t got round to asking anyone locally or researching the information ourselves, until now.

Since reading the water wise rules for Sydney we’ve taken a… Read more

When we moved from London to Sydney we were fairly blasé about car seats for the children. We didn’t own a car in London, although we had basic car seats for travelling by taxi or in cars owned by friends and family. We hadn’t completed detailed research when buying our car seats in London because we simply didn’t use them enough to be overly concerned about the different options and standards.

We travelled to Australia via… Read more

It’s Australian Father’s Day today and in honour of our dads moving to Australia we thought we’d write about a slightly more male topic than normal. Feel free to shoot me down if you think that’s a sexist comment; Mum is not at all interested in cars and chose not to get involved in our car buying process in Aus, but I know many mums are instrumental in this purchase or indeed, the person making the decisions and… Read more

Once you’re settled in Australia, it won’t be long before you need the services of a Justice of the Peace (JP). We’ve been here eighteen months and last week we needed to locate one.

Why would you need a Justice of the Peace (JP)?

A JP is a person who is authorised by your state government to witness the signing of documents such as affidavits and statutory declarations, and to certify copies of documents. Documents are typically required in court… Read more

Since living in Sydney Mum has been walking and driving past these signs: “Bore Water in use” or “Bore Water Irrigation”, and wondering why they’re needed. They are usually displayed in house gardens and in public spaces such as parks and reserves.

What is bore water?

Bore water is water that has been extracted from a bore, or hole, in the ground. The hole has been drilled in the ground, and normally sits beneath several layers of… Read more

Yesterday, Mr Mum’s gone 2 Aus got his first two demerit points on his Australian driver’s license, and was fined $200. The driving offence was typically Australian: he ‘chucked a u-ey’ at some traffic lights without checking whether this particular set of lights were u-turn enabled.

In NSW, you can’t do a u-turn at traffic lights unless there’s a sign telling you it’s allowed. Mum’s British highway code is rusty but we’re pretty sure you can do… Read more