The joy of dealing with immigration

We've recently started the permanent residency process via the employer sponsorship route.

Couldn't believe that while I lived, studied and worked in the UK for 12 years and a year in Australia, I had to take an IELTS test to demonstrate a basic operational level of English. I'm surprise they didn't ask Rob to do one too.

Seating a hall with a little thousand more people for over 4 hours (without a wee break), I ended up getting that old school bum on my finger, having to hold a pen for longer than I have the past ten years.

Gathering original documents from France and England was a bit of a mission, but not as difficult as explaining to the MET for my national police check, that I have 3 valid family names (birth, maiden, married).

Next step is getting our medical exams (again!).

All in all, I'm glad to have worked for LIA (migration firm) for few months, as I now really appreciate the knowledge I've gained in visa requirements.

Another year on

It's been almost a year since the last post, but I've finally pulled my act together to share all the great excitements with you again.

What happened the past 12 months? Well, we've moved to a new place on the 24th December last year to celebrate Xmas on the floor of our large modern townhouse on Brighton Street. After a necessary trip to Ikea, we even got a cat. A little black female named Kylie who has since grown a lot, taken over the house, the bed and our hearts.

Rob kept on training for a little while but has spent more time watching the world cup over night recently. I admit I did too sometimes.

I left LIA and joined IE Agency (www.ie.com.au) 7 months ago, finally going back to my beloved HR car

eer, and I'm loving it!

We went to New Zealand in November, Sydney for few days in March, Lake Entrance in April and many times to our new beautiful rectangular stadium to support the Melbourne Storm.

Keeping ourselves active during the cold winter - had to buy a red coat this year, Rob will soon start a web design course and I have myself completed the level 1 certificate in Auslan.

I guess that's not too bad for a 12 months brief. Plenty more news and thoughts will come soon.

Quick winter news

Brilliant to see Suzie, Em and Tom again this winter. It gave us an excuse to take few days off and enjoy traditional touristic sightseeing, including little penguins, koalas, wallabies and wales in the wild. Check the latest picassa album! http://picasaweb.google.com.au/rob.whitehorn/Month4?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjN2N2C1OOaeQ#

Having finally lost last year winter's coat, I’ve taken on running and have completed my first run. 5km in 31 mins. Next time, I’ll aim to do it under 25mins. Rob will be running the half-marathon. I’ve also joined a volleyball team, playing once a week in a mix team.

Still cycling every day to go to work. I must admit, this is the worst part of the day! Having to cycle 20 mins along the beautiful Yarra river, on an off road path, overlooking the tall city, sometimes stopping to make way for the ducks and possums crossing the path. Life is hard!

That’s all for now folk... Proper blog posts will come again soon.

3 Months on - Soccer, Aussie Rules and Rugby League

Keeping up with the sporting life, April was a sweaty month.

At the gigantic MCG, we saw our local Aussie rules team, Richmond Tiger, being badly beaten by local rivals, Carlton Blue, but the experience was fantastic, surrounded by 86,970 people for Rob's birthday. At least we now understand the rules and scoring. Unfortunately, they've only just won their first match of the season, we're considering moving to Collingwood.

Having slightly forgotten our 6 months anniversary (oups!), we enjoyed a quiet afternoon at the Melbourne International Flowers and Garden Show where colourful creations from all over Australia were exposed. Getting up at 6.30am on Sunday accompanying Rob to the annual fun run, I watched the short race while he was running the 14km one. Over 30,000 people participating to the event, I was mostly amazed by the parents running while pushing their double buggy, with the kids in it, and some of the younger runners from athletics clubs. A 12 yrs old or so girl, almost sprinting, was in the top 20, showing off a six-packs to make us all jealous. Yes, a 12 yrs old girl with a six-packs! I won't be surprised to see her at the next Olympics. And on that note, we've registered to do another run at the end of June - yes, you're reading correctly: WE. I will be running too! But only the very easy 5km one. Melbourne Run.

The following weekend, while Suzie was around for a couple days, Rob got his first beach volley lesson on South Melbourne beach. I can already tell that he's a natural digger.

Last weekend we went to the Olympic Park to watch our first rugby league game, between the Melbourne Storms and Auckland Warriors. Wearing a plastic bag as rain coat, seating between few Maoris, we shouted and clapped at the purple Storm man, circling the arena with fireworks for each try successfully converted.

Other activities this month, include a visit to the zoo and few new bars. It's getting a bit cool here, I wore a jumper for the first time yesterday.

Looking forward to see Emily and Tom in a couple of weeks - we've got few places to show off for.

Au revoir - Good-bye André Parisy

André Parisy
1923 - 2009

Version française en-dessous

André was known as the kindest, fairest and most intelligent man of his time by everyone, but for me he was also the greatest grand-dad a little girl could wish for. I shall cherish forever the many happy childhood memories I have; all those precious moments and times spent together, playing petanque, hunting snails after the rain, rowing on the lake of Vincennes, and degusting his collection of rare wines.

While becoming an adult, André became more than a father to me, he was my mentor and a strong supporter. He came to all my plays, took care of me after my many sport injuries, he was always here for me when feeling sad and ready to drive from France to England when I was in need of my family. When I was 20, he told me that I will be talented for management - I laughed - so little I knew then, so right he was. Andre always knew what was good for me but never stopped supporting my decisions and actions.

Happily married for 60 years and a strong family figure to all, I only wish I will be able to be as a good person as he was.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

André était connu comme l’homme le plus gentil, juste et intelligent de son époque par tous, mais pour moi il était aussi le meilleur grand-père qu’une petite-fille puisse espérer. Je chérirai pour toujours mes innombrables souvenirs d’enfance; touts les moments précieux et le temps passé ensemble à jouer aux boules, ramasser des escargots après la pluie, ramer en petit bateaux sur le lac de Vincennes, et déguster sa collection de grands vins.

En grandissant, André est devenu plus qu’un père pour moi, il était mon mentor et mon supporter. Il assistait à toutes mes pièces, prenait soin de moi après mes blessures sportives, il était toujours là pour moi quand j’étais triste et était prêt à conduire de france à l’angleterre pour mon besion de famille. Quand j’avais 20 ans, il m’a dit un jour que je serai douée pour le management - j’ai ris - si peu je savais alors, il avait comme toujours raison. André a toujours su ce qui était bon pour moi mais n’a jamais arrêté de soutenir mes actions et décisions.

Marié pendant 60 ans et un pillier pour toute sa famille, je souhaite seulement pouvoir être une aussi bonne personne qu’il l’était.

Special 26th March - One for the Wonderful Man

This week we are celebrating to the most wonderful,

amazing and sexy man.

Happy 34th Birthday - Joyeux Anniversaire Rob

As a young babe to the new Aussie hunk, Rob always liked playing in the sand.

Today a fully grown man with a strong appetite, Rob still enjoys a good old cup of Milo coco ice cream.


A dedicated sport man, Rob mastered several highly dangerous activities during his life, including swimming, running, pizza eating and beer drinking. He has recently also climbed his first Palmera tree - solo.


Is there anything to stop Rob? What other extreme challenge shall we expect him to take? Only time will tell...


Happy Birthday babe. Lots and lots of love. xxx - Caro

Week 9 - One for the girls

This week is the one for the girls, I'm talking about the attractive, gorgeous, funky, hard to resist to, the ones where size matters... Boys, read along at your own peril...

I'm talking about the fantastic shoes shops and associated fashion outlets in Melbourne!

Glorious shoes, coming in all colours, shapes, materials, heights and sizes - even a big foot like myself has no problem finding the pair of her dream. I feel finally accepted with my Aussie size 10 (UK 9) and have never seen so much originality in shoes design. From red satin high heels to cute black leather roundy, I cannot wait to cash up my first pay cheque and get myself a pair of something so unique. Girls, I'm expecting you all to jump on thew next plane for an official shopping trip.

To accompany those fabulous shoes, there're plenty fashion boutiques and factory outlets. From chic Parisian to grungy hippy style - basically, there's no typical fashion. The streets are live cat-walk shows, each girl as beautiful as the next (b*tch) with their perfect ten figures (b*tch again), wearing anything and everything that match their personality. No one looks the same, from trendy jeans to the cutest mini dress, everyone feel at ease. My one large bag wardrobe brought from England has a lot to let to desire at the moment, but I'm keeping myself for the winter collection - once those flabby hips will have gone back to their normal shapes.

As for all other handsomes on the street, well... Uhm... Rob is fine, yes.