Chandler's Overseas

After a year abroad we were both so excited about the return trip to Australia. Jen said a tearful goodbye to her work mates and colleagues at Charles Orbach on Thursday lunch (last day of work for a year!), and we both boarded the plane for Australia the same afternoon. The flight into Melbourne revealed the true extent of the drought, and the consequent bush fires surrounding Melbourne. There was a thick blanket of smoke for the entire descent into Tullamarine Airport. Having not visited country Victoria since our departure in 2007, we undertook a little road trip to our families. Firstly we visited Ballarat and Cave Hill Creek to spend time with Pete’s family. We were fortunate to be in Australia for Bella (Pete’s niece) 4 th birthday party at Cave Hill Creek. I think Bella, Charlie, Dan and Max all got a shock seeing us- don’t think they could actually remember us! The mandatory Chandler family shot! It was then onto Warrnambool to visit Jen’s parents for a relaxing 3 days. W...

Pete has recently been given a promotion to Procurement Lead for a job in Port Elizabeth (PE), so we will be moving there from 1 March 2009. We will be sad to leave all of our friends and the city lifestyle of Joburg behind, however we are also embracing the sea change! With a baby on the way soon, combined with living by the coast and the promotion for Pete it was too good an opportunity to refuse. Pete was previously working as a Contract Administrator for a different job in PE (the Port of Ngqura), so luckily he has already made good friends with some work colleagues who live there. PE, also known as the 'friendly city' or 'windy city', is located on the south-eastern coast in the Eastern Cape Province. With a latitude almost identical to Sydney, it boosts a sub tropical climate year-round. PE is primarily an industrial city housing the South African motor vehicle industry and one of the largest sea ports in Southern Africa. Having said that, just south of the CBD is...