The adventures of Matt & Nat: The last fortnight.

So we've been here for two weeks now and currently we're staying with my parents in Frankston South.

Matt is at work today doing tile about 15 minutes away from where we're staying with a guy who tiled my Aunt and Uncles place - that's how we got the contact. Matt says it's a lot more simple than what he was doing back in the U.S and easy money - so that's good! Just has to get used to centimeters rather than inches. Luckily the guy he is working for is willing to pay him cash in hand until he is granted a working permit through immigration.
We decided to apply for permanent residency last week which we weren't going to do for at least a month in fear of immigration thinking (for some strange reason) that we were planning on moving here prior to Matt arriving on his visitors visa. But after we realised just how difficult it would be to find an employer who would be willing to go cash in hand, as well as having no official proof of income we felt it was the right thing to do.

All of our Immigration paperwork with home made lemonade

So I started with a lot of early morning sessions in front of the macbook filling in application after application needing to inform immigration of every detail about all siblings on Matts side ... you know he is one of 7 right? Every address for the last 10 years, every job, every time he has entered Australia and why, other countries he has visited, information about where we are living, how many people occupy the house, how much we have earned over the last few years with proof... Ugh! $2960 later - the forms were filed! We have applied for a bridging visa for permission to work whilst waiting for his current visitors visa to expire - with this you have to prove that you qualify for financial hardship. So we did our best to prove that we could qualify as they don't give you any information on what that might entail. Current processing time for spousal visa applications is 12 months with his current visitors visa will expire in December. So hopefully we get approved for financial hardship or we have to be prepared to wait 12 months from this December for work approval. And we still have mandatory appointments to attend and more money to fork out... ouch!

Hanging out at Mums market stall at Mornington Markets. Matt and I gave it a little makeover and she got 3 times the orders that she normally gets on a Wednesday.

Matt helping the Mornington locals push a broken down car

I am 7 months pregnant this week entering the third trimester and feeling great!

We applied for a rental but of course were rejected after not having much proof of income. We're hoping to move to Mornington, a gorgeous little town south of Frankston about 10 mins drive.

In the meantime, we've been hitting up the local "tip shop" a recycle centre for fun bits and pieces to work on for our place - when we get one. Here are some of the finds:

Coffee table for $10 - Nicola was sanding it back for us to paint

Super comfy rocker recliner perfect for nursing... $4 WOW!!!
I've already picked out some navy fabric to do a slipcover with white piping.

Those are just a couple of total bargains that we have picked up at the 'tip shop'. We've started quite a buzz in the household redoing some pieces around the house. Nicola got in on the action and we started making over her dresser.

Nicolas dresser. She obviously loves a bit of lippy!

Matt and Nicci stripping it back.

Nicci loved to get her hands on the sander.

And the paint...

Matt and Nicci spent the afternoon priming and painting her dresser.

Now all we need to do is find knobs.

On Sunday we went for a family outing to McClelland Sculpture Park. About a 10 min drive, and just got to walk through the gardens and take some pictures. Here are some pictures we took of our day.