The water here in Australia has a lot more chlorine in it than Swedish water. Melbourne I believe is on of the cities with the lowest chlorine levels though. You definitely notice it when you drink the tap water but I’ve also noticed it on my hair. It’s well known that if you swim in pools to much your hair can get tinted green at least if you’re blonde. I’ve not been swimming in pools but this has still happened to me and my hair solely by taking showers in the water.  My is also a lot drier than it was in Sweden. One would think I should have gotten used to it by now but this keeps on being a problem even 7 months after moving here. Anyone else been experiencing this when moving to Australia?

I’ve been recommended to use De Lorenzo’s Nova Fusion Silver Shampoo so I’ll give that a go and hope it will get rid of the green.

We spent the entire weekend unpacking boxes, washing clothes, and putting stuff away. The apartment looked like a bomb hit it! Everything except 3 wine glasses and a lollie bowl was whole so we’re very happy with that. We still have some things to store away but we have to organise our storage spaces more in order to do so. Silly things like being able to drink my coffee from my Filippa K cups, put up my chandelier made me smile and I can’t wait to get my paintings up on the walls! Even though they’re might be insignificant things they’ all make our apartment feel more like my home, like our home.

It was wonderful to unpack my stuff but doing so brought back many memories and I felt both happy and a bit sad. Christmas approaching, having my stuff arrive and missing out on my brother’s wedding in the same week must have made my brain overload because the last couple of nights I’ve been having strange dreams about my family, friends, Pollux and Nova. I rarely remember my dreams so doing so several nights in a row is a bit weird.

Our stuff from Sweden were (finally) delivered this morning. The apartment is a mess but it seems like it’s all here. Let the unwrapping and unpacking begin. Keep your fingers crossed it’s all in one piece.

Something I can’t really get used to here in Australia are the different trading hours. I’m used to at least the shopping centres in Sweden being open until 8 pm all weekdays (at least in the larger cities) meaning I could easily get errands done after work. That’s not the case here. Here the normal closing time in a shopping centre is 5.30 pm meaning there is no chance at all that I can make it in time before they close. Except for the late night shopping on Thursdays and Fridays that is, when the shopping centres generally close at 9 pm. Not a big problem you might think and well maybe it isn’t but it’s definitely something I’m struggling a bit getting used to.

They’re not stupid though these Aussies, around Christmas they of course increase their trading hours. And if that isn’t enough many of the major shopping centres even have an all-night shopping (at least in Melbourne) on December 23. A good chance I guess to get that last minute Christmas shopping done though I’ve never felt the urge to go shopping at 3 am in the morning, but maybe that’s just me.

Längtan efter typiskt svenska saker är kanske lite större just runt jul, iaf är det så för mig. Julen är min absoluta favorithögtid och det finns så många saker som jag förknippar med jul- och adventsfirande. Jag försöker göra så gott jag kan för att återskapa de traditioner jag kan men eftersom våra saker vi skickat inte hunnit anlända blir det lite provisoriskt i år.

För de som inte har snälla vänner och familj som skickar ner lite svensk mat och pynt tänkte jag ge lite tips på några onlinebutiker där du kan hitta sånt som är svårt att få tag i utomlands. Kanske ni vet ni om ytterligare någon, då får ni gärna tipsa oss.

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again. One of the hardest things I find about moving is finding a hairdresser that you like and that you feel comfortable with. Well, since it was over 4 months since I had my last haircut and the water here with all the chlorine had done nothing for my hair but make it look greenish and dull it was time - I had to find a hairdresser! By recommendation I booked myself in at Cocohoney in Seddon and I must say that I’m very happy with that. New colour and cut and I feel like me again!

Since I like to compare Sweden and Australia  in anything I do here is a couple of things that are different when you go to a hairdresser in Oz. In Sweden you get offered a drink, a coffee, tea or perhaps a water. You’re offered a drink in Australia too and can choose from all of the above but even better is that you can have a glass of wine or beer if you like. I like the Australian way! Another difference is the tradition of hairdressers working late on Thursdays, the same way as you can go late night shopping on Thursdays you can also go to the hairdresser which generally are open until 9 pm on that day. In Sweden I don’t think you can find a hairdresser that’s open past 7 pm.

Christmas is only a month away and even though I don’t have exactly have the same Christmas feeling here as I probably would in Sweden this time of the year I’ll try to make my first Christmas living in Australia a nice one, combining the Australian traditions (which basically includes drinking beer and having BBQs, with some Swedish ones). It’s over 30 degrees today so there will be no baking on hot day like this but I would like to make some saffron buns on a less hot day. Only one issue, I have I no idea on where I get saffron from. It might be that you can get it in the supermarket as in Sweden (I haven’t really started investigating this yet) but I thought maybe one of you reader’s have the answer.

I’m starting to understand why our shipment is taking so long to arrive. Apparently our consignment is no longer on MSC Ravenna, it’s actually docking Melbourne on Mare Arcticum. I have no idea where it was transferred but transshipments do take longer than the direct shipments so it’s starting to make sense. But late or not, our ship has left its first Australian port (Sydney) and will dock in Melbourne on Monday! Since we have a LCL and not a full container we’ll then have to wait 10-14 days for custom clearance (for which we’ve been charged an additonal fee of $187 by the way). It will be so nice to have our stuff FINALLY arrive, I can’t wait!

I’m amazed about how much information can be found on internet. I know it’s the 21 st century just get over it but the other week for example after finding out the vessel name on the ship taking our consignment down to Melbourne Igoogled the name found both a pic of the ship and lots of other information which was pretty cool. I could see that the last known location was outside Sri Lanka’s coast

MSC Ravenna the Liberian registered 366 m long and 51 meter wide containership built in 2011 taking our belongings down under. Top speeed 14.1 knots/average speed 13.9 knots

Less cool was finding out when in contact with the local freight forwarder here in Melbourne that the shipment is delayed and new ETA into dock in Melbourne is now 25th of November. Then the approximate 10 days to clear customs have to be added on top of that before we actually have our stuff here. It’s taking a freaking long time if you ask me, I just want my stuff to come NOW! Yes, I’m getting unpatient, who wouldn’t.

I moved to Australia July 25, our consignment was picked up from Gothenburg August 24 and driven to the UK. It was loaded onto a ship a month later on September 28 and it has now been on the water 42 days and there is then apparently another 16 to go.

It feels like there has been so much going on lately but it really hasn’t. Still there has been little time left over for blogging the last week. I guess it has to do with the weather getting better and us spending more time outside and less time inside. Also I sit in front of the computer all day at work so I don’t particular want to do it at night too. Plus with me doing four boot camp sessions a week there really isn’t much time left over in the day after dinner has been cooked and eaten. The little time left over I rather spend with Simon than in front of the computer blogging so you just have to be happy with the updates you get.  But I can happily announce that I’ve already received both my Victorian drivers license and my Medicare card. Both of them arrived in the end of last week so it took around a week for both of them.