Last post while still in Fiji... I'm flying out later this morning at 9am from Nadi. Getting the Fiji Air (Pacific Sun was booked out, damn) flight from Nausori to Nadi at 6am. Still packing as we speak... well, my wife is, that is... gotta go and help her now.
Bye bye Fiji... hope to see you again soon! While I'm leaving for another land, you'll always be tops in my heart.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Time to Go
Today is my last full day in Fiji. Tomorrow morning we're flying out to Sydney and a new life. And I'm already feeling homesick! Damn, I know I'll miss the Fijian food and lifestyle. By Fijian food, I don't just mean the lovo, dalo, lolo food, etc, but also the Indian curries and quick Chinese takeaways like Joji's and Yang's. Plus lobster and fish, which I prefer here in Fiji... barramundi just doesn't taste as good as homecooked steamed rock cod!
We're still finishing up our packing, and finding that we still need to do a million and one things before we leave. We've sent most of our items ahead by Air Pac freight, but Har and I are pretty sure the luggage we're taking onboard is gonna be overweight too :'( Plus we have to take an Air Fiji flight from Nausori to Nadi and they have lower weight limits than Air Pac's local flight company (15kg vs 20kg).
One thing I have to get used to in Oz is the cold... I'm a fan of tropical weather but my wife prefers the cold... as she says, "It's easy to put on more clothes for cold weather but you remove all your clothes for hot weather!" Or something like that. The worst is when you have a nice hot shower and you have to jump out and towel yourself quickly in the cold air... brrr! Having a heater bulb helps but not enough for me!
Anyways, I'll have to see if I can get a letter from LTA mentioning my driving experience... this is for when I get my driving license in Oz, I won't need another few years driving with "P" again.
We're still finishing up our packing, and finding that we still need to do a million and one things before we leave. We've sent most of our items ahead by Air Pac freight, but Har and I are pretty sure the luggage we're taking onboard is gonna be overweight too :'( Plus we have to take an Air Fiji flight from Nausori to Nadi and they have lower weight limits than Air Pac's local flight company (15kg vs 20kg).
One thing I have to get used to in Oz is the cold... I'm a fan of tropical weather but my wife prefers the cold... as she says, "It's easy to put on more clothes for cold weather but you remove all your clothes for hot weather!" Or something like that. The worst is when you have a nice hot shower and you have to jump out and towel yourself quickly in the cold air... brrr! Having a heater bulb helps but not enough for me!
Anyways, I'll have to see if I can get a letter from LTA mentioning my driving experience... this is for when I get my driving license in Oz, I won't need another few years driving with "P" again.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Final Step
Well, we've handed in our filled-in forms to RBF, along with all the other documents they needed. Did that yesterday, and they told us to check back on Tuesday. Since we had to buy a ticket, we've booked a flight for May 18th (Sunday). So now we have a definite date on which we're going, unlike before when we were telling people 'oh we're leaving in March... late April... early May', lol!
Anyways, am looking forward to getting everything over with so can start relaxing and sleeping in till 10! Although that probably won't happen... we still have to arrange for things to fly over as non-accompanied baggage, get rid of extras that we won't be taking, and so forth.
Oh, Har and I are going to watch Iron Man on Super Tuesday... heard it's freaking good!
Anyways, am looking forward to getting everything over with so can start relaxing and sleeping in till 10! Although that probably won't happen... we still have to arrange for things to fly over as non-accompanied baggage, get rid of extras that we won't be taking, and so forth.
Oh, Har and I are going to watch Iron Man on Super Tuesday... heard it's freaking good!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Hectic Week
The below post was what was supposed to go up last Sunday but I wasn't able to post it in time as I had to go and help in the shop! It's been a week now and Har and I have been doing a lot of running around for our tax clearance and RBF approvals for withdrawing all our funds (we haven't finished the RBF bit yet). In fact, I've been thinking about writing up a step-by-step manual for migration to Australia based on our experiences but I've probably forgotten half of what I had to do when initially applying! Anyways, even when you get approval you still have to do a lot of running around. Here's the summary (in case anyone else gets their PR) :
~ visit the FNPF office in Boulevard and apply for transfer of your funds to your deposit a/c. You'll need a travel itinerary (just get one printed out from your travel agent, no need to actually buy a ticket), plus some other stuff which I forgot already (getting old I guess) - but all that's needed is on the form which they give to you. By the way, once they've transferred your funds to your a/c, you might as well ask for a withdrawal letter - you'll need it for when you go to RBF for clearance.
~ go to the FIRCA office and let them know you want forms for your tax clearance. They'll give those, and ask for your deposit a/c statement for the past 2 years (not the old ones but a new statement), and photocopies of your passport, visa approval, and company acceptance of your resignation (these copies don't need to be certified by a J.P.). Part of the forms they'll give you are tax returns for the beginning of year to date, and a form which your company has to fill out and return to you. You'll also need to ask your company for some details to fill out your tax return (like tax paid, benefits, etc). And one more thing - on your a/c statement, you'll NEED to explain details on every deposit made apart from salary deposits!!! Especially the cash deposit ones - even as low as $100 or less, they'll ask. Of course, it's going to be hard recalling why you deposited $300 2 years back but you can be inventive... maybe it's your workmate paying a debt back? Tax returns and clearance only take a few days; in our case it was done by the next day!
~ Visit RBF (level 2) and ask for the form for withdrawal clearance for migratory purposes. You'll need your passports, air ticket (a real one this time), and that withdrawal letter from FNPF. They'll give you a great big green form to fill out. What happens after that I'm yet to find out, as we're just up to that step!
Will update the rest later... Fiji Finals finishes tomorrow, and my bet is on Marist to win the boys division! Yeah, and go ACS too for the girls!
~ visit the FNPF office in Boulevard and apply for transfer of your funds to your deposit a/c. You'll need a travel itinerary (just get one printed out from your travel agent, no need to actually buy a ticket), plus some other stuff which I forgot already (getting old I guess) - but all that's needed is on the form which they give to you. By the way, once they've transferred your funds to your a/c, you might as well ask for a withdrawal letter - you'll need it for when you go to RBF for clearance.
~ go to the FIRCA office and let them know you want forms for your tax clearance. They'll give those, and ask for your deposit a/c statement for the past 2 years (not the old ones but a new statement), and photocopies of your passport, visa approval, and company acceptance of your resignation (these copies don't need to be certified by a J.P.). Part of the forms they'll give you are tax returns for the beginning of year to date, and a form which your company has to fill out and return to you. You'll also need to ask your company for some details to fill out your tax return (like tax paid, benefits, etc). And one more thing - on your a/c statement, you'll NEED to explain details on every deposit made apart from salary deposits!!! Especially the cash deposit ones - even as low as $100 or less, they'll ask. Of course, it's going to be hard recalling why you deposited $300 2 years back but you can be inventive... maybe it's your workmate paying a debt back? Tax returns and clearance only take a few days; in our case it was done by the next day!
~ Visit RBF (level 2) and ask for the form for withdrawal clearance for migratory purposes. You'll need your passports, air ticket (a real one this time), and that withdrawal letter from FNPF. They'll give you a great big green form to fill out. What happens after that I'm yet to find out, as we're just up to that step!
Will update the rest later... Fiji Finals finishes tomorrow, and my bet is on Marist to win the boys division! Yeah, and go ACS too for the girls!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tim Lee's Bakery
Well, today is the last day that I get to server the counter at my in-laws' Nasese shop, Tim Lee's Bakery. I don't know if I should be relieved or sad, but it certainly wasn't boring! I've spent about a month staying here as my father-in-law and bro-in-law have gone overseas to Oz/HK/China and are due back today. So after dinner I'll be off to Nausori airport to pick them up, then tonight I'll be staying back at my own place in Namadi.
It's been an interesting month while I've been here. Not relaxing like most would think, but a lot of hard work. The shop opens at 6am every morning and closes at 7.30pm~8pm. I'm used to getting up at 7am then getting ready for work, but here I have to get up at 6.15am and be down in the shop by 6.40 at least. Actually, I have to be up earlier but it's so damn hard getting up at 6am! And I still sleep at around 11pm, lol.
It's been an interesting month while I've been here. Not relaxing like most would think, but a lot of hard work. The shop opens at 6am every morning and closes at 7.30pm~8pm. I'm used to getting up at 7am then getting ready for work, but here I have to get up at 6.15am and be down in the shop by 6.40 at least. Actually, I have to be up earlier but it's so damn hard getting up at 6am! And I still sleep at around 11pm, lol.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
I'm Baaaaack!
Well, it's been almost a year since I last posted... what a break!!! Been a lot happening in between - trip to Oz, a hurricane, WoW, getting my PR to Oz... oh yeah, I'll be migrating to Australia in April/May!! :D My wife and I got our PR application approved back in December (after our initial Police Clearance and Medical Reports were "lost" by the receiving office in Sydney).
Anyways, I'm finishing work here at Colonial next Friday (March 14th) and will work on getting our FNPF cleared plus other things like arranging for our stuff to be sent over. I'm also in the process of applying for jobs online and am already in contact with two agents who will also look for jobs for me. Agents in Oz are amazing, you don't pay them to find a job for you, instead if they are successful in landing you a job, they get a percentage of your salary amount from the company that hires you (of course the cut doesn't come direct from your pay package).
My wife is over in China at the moment with her mom. Actually she's in HK right now but will join her mom in China soon. She's done a lot of shopping already and eaten a lot of food that I wish I was eating right now! Unique Chinese food like 'tai pai tong' (al fresco dinner) and 'yum cha' (breakfast - literally 'drink tea') are just some of them. She reckons her luggage is already over the weight limit, and she hasn't even finished her holidays yet! She'll be bringing back a lot of snacks and sweets so we're eagerly awaiting her return! Well, even without the snacks I'd still be happily anticipating her return :)
I also have been playing a lot of that famous game which some of you may know of - World of Warcraft. Or rather, had, been playing as I quit in mid-Jan this year. Too addictive... if you're not careful it will ruin your life! But you won't care as long as you get to play it, lol. At least I reached the upper limit that your toon (or avatar - aka your character) can gain - level 70. There is no real ending to this game - either you can continue to do quests and embark on a neverending search for the ultimate gear and weapons (PvE), or you can engage in player vs. player (PvP) combat to reach the heights of being amongst the best combatants in WoW. My character is an Alliance Night Elf warrior on Stormscale server, Lorianna.
Anyways, that's it for now... I will continue to post whenever I can and hopefully do that regularly.
Anyways, I'm finishing work here at Colonial next Friday (March 14th) and will work on getting our FNPF cleared plus other things like arranging for our stuff to be sent over. I'm also in the process of applying for jobs online and am already in contact with two agents who will also look for jobs for me. Agents in Oz are amazing, you don't pay them to find a job for you, instead if they are successful in landing you a job, they get a percentage of your salary amount from the company that hires you (of course the cut doesn't come direct from your pay package).
My wife is over in China at the moment with her mom. Actually she's in HK right now but will join her mom in China soon. She's done a lot of shopping already and eaten a lot of food that I wish I was eating right now! Unique Chinese food like 'tai pai tong' (al fresco dinner) and 'yum cha' (breakfast - literally 'drink tea') are just some of them. She reckons her luggage is already over the weight limit, and she hasn't even finished her holidays yet! She'll be bringing back a lot of snacks and sweets so we're eagerly awaiting her return! Well, even without the snacks I'd still be happily anticipating her return :)
I also have been playing a lot of that famous game which some of you may know of - World of Warcraft. Or rather, had, been playing as I quit in mid-Jan this year. Too addictive... if you're not careful it will ruin your life! But you won't care as long as you get to play it, lol. At least I reached the upper limit that your toon (or avatar - aka your character) can gain - level 70. There is no real ending to this game - either you can continue to do quests and embark on a neverending search for the ultimate gear and weapons (PvE), or you can engage in player vs. player (PvP) combat to reach the heights of being amongst the best combatants in WoW. My character is an Alliance Night Elf warrior on Stormscale server, Lorianna.
Anyways, that's it for now... I will continue to post whenever I can and hopefully do that regularly.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Almost Over...
Tomorrow's the start of a new week, and it's been an enjoyable 4-day break :) On Friday my wife and I were invited to stay over at a villa at Pacific Harbour (by the parents of one of our friends). It was a totally relaxing stay... all I did was eat, sleep and swim. The weather was bright and sunny, and the pool water was cold - a great combination! After swimming I'd take a nap in the lounge chair and then it would be time for lunch. And on Saturday morning we went for a walk around the suburbs. There're a lot of empty lots just waiting to be purchased and have villas or houses built there, and a quite a few little streets just sitting empty, without any houses whatsoever there. Some villas were halfway built; apparently their owners ran out of money to complete the construction. A great place to get away on the weekends if you had your own place there (and the cash to build or buy it!).
I couldn't leave without a visit to my favourite place in Pac Harbour, ParadICE (which sells fruity drink combos and ice creams), so before we left, we paid a visit there. The frozen yoghurt was good, as always, but I bought a black pearl tea (sour lychee flavour) which wasn't that good at all. It was full of ice (which it shouldn't be) and the flavour... was actually mango! Their black pearl teas must have been a new addition and maybe they're still getting used to making it, but I think I'd rather stick to the ones I can buy at Easyway in Australia.
I couldn't leave without a visit to my favourite place in Pac Harbour, ParadICE (which sells fruity drink combos and ice creams), so before we left, we paid a visit there. The frozen yoghurt was good, as always, but I bought a black pearl tea (sour lychee flavour) which wasn't that good at all. It was full of ice (which it shouldn't be) and the flavour... was actually mango! Their black pearl teas must have been a new addition and maybe they're still getting used to making it, but I think I'd rather stick to the ones I can buy at Easyway in Australia.
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