Member Spotlight: Ricci (Part 2) - Becoming an Australian!

Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


Screen Shot 2022-11-23 at 2.31.24 pm.png
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


Screen Shot 2022-11-23 at 2.33.14 pm.png
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
 
Sponsored
Loved this and you reminded me off how us Aussies really did help each other without a blink of an eye, it was so natural. This is the Aussie way of life . I remember if a neighbour had a baby then everyone took turns in taking food or if someone came out of hospital. Or if you needed sugar or milk you would go to a neighbour with a cup.
So many memories.

Ok when is part 3 😁
 
Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
Ong. Fantastic! It’s wonderful to know everyone was so kind to you! I battle myself, even with never being out of Australia, the different terminologies in things. You would have noticed that moving from the West Coast to the East Coast! 😂

Patiently waiting for part 3!!!! 🥰😊
 
Your Part 2 of your story is so interesting Ricci, I cannot wait for Part 3. Yes it shows the true nature of mates help each other, which is what i love about Aussies. Please bring on Part 3, am anxiously waiting.
 
Ricci, I grew up in a typical Federation Australian house with the dunny down the back. On washing day mum lit a newspaper to burn any spider webs and get rid of red backs. Then she sloshed a bucket of washing water around to clean it. I took my cat with me at night, to fight off any stray dogs and give me company in the dark.
The dunny man came down the lane every week to empty the pan.
I was eight when my father built a new laundry with an indoor toilet and septic tank.
He dug the red dirt of the Goldfields to put the tank in.
I still feel thankful for indoor plumbing.
 
Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
Thank you for the insight from an adult point of view Ricci, my new immigrant story is quite different as I was dragged here (kicking and screaming) as an I know everything Teenager in the late sixties. I had not wanted to come here and made my parents aware of that fact at every opportunity. Needless to say I was not a very popular child with them as they struggled to come to terms with living in this new country. I was a trial to them, no doubt about that, happily for them my much younger brother looked on the whole experience as an adventure and settled quite happily. I eventually did grow into my new life within a few years but the whole experience for me was very daunting and I did not have the worry of trying to find the basics of a job, transport or a new new home and furnishing's as my parents did. I did and still do admire them though. They were just looking for a better life and opportunities for me and my brother.
 
Ricci, l am in a reversal of your experiences. l grew up in Queensland where everyone helped each other, having moved 1st to Sydney where things were the same then on to Melbourne where they were the same again but with a twist. There was a lot more entertaining at home (possibly due to the weather in my opinion) but everyone still the same. Then the shock l moved back to Queensland and now days instead of the usual yard sitting and rubbish removal while neighbours were on hols. everyone seems to want to pay you to do what we all just did as a neighbourly thing. They cannot understand that someone would do something for them for nothing. Strange.
 
Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
Thank you Rocco for sharing your beautiful story👍
 
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Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
Thank you for sharing both parts of your story Ricci, truly a story to inspire. Congratulations on your courage, coming to this country in the first place, even though you didn’t intend to settle here, and then your determination to put together your family house, fit to be called your home. Well done. I’m pleased you stayed!
 
Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
Awesome! Loved part 2 of your story. So glad people were helpful and kind. It makes life so much easier. Those were the days.
 
Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
I missed Part 1.
How long ago was this move to WA?
 
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Due to popular demand, we have a part two to member @Ricci’s story! If you missed part one, don’t worry, you can catch up here.

Buckle in and grab a cuppa, it’s time to hear all about Ricci’s first few months in Australia!

Without further ado, here’s part two of Ricci’s member spotlight!



‘To continue our immigration saga, having landed safely in Perth at 9.15pm on a Friday evening and exploring the CBD on the Saturday we found that there were a couple of things you absolutely needed to live in Perth, 1 - transport, 2 - a street directory and 3 - The West Australian newspaper (Not necessarily in that order). We first hired a car, bought the directory and newspaper, checked out the ads and took ourselves off to a car yard. We didn't want to spend a whole bunch on a car as we remembered we weren't looking to stay forever.


View attachment 9383
We all call Australia home! Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We found the car yard and started looking at what was on offer. Why oh why was everything called something different from England, and Australia had cars we'd never heard of. We must have looked more than a little lost as a salesman came to our rescue. We explained our situation and he must have taken pity on these totally pale, clueless Poms. He told us that for what we wanted we should be looking between 4 different cars in their yard. He then went on to describe the buying process, who knew that the amount written across the windscreen was only a guide and not the price you would end up paying? Long story short he did the negotiations for us and we settled on a Sigma, they agreed to tint the windows and do some mechanical bits and pieces and the car would be ready the following Friday. Learning that we had hired a car they told us to take it back and they loaned us a car for the week which was good of them.



‘We had agreed to pay cash, $3000, so the following Monday we took ourselves off to the bank to withdraw the money. We handed the teller a withdrawal slip and all the colour drained from her face, she asked if we were for real and then excused herself to be replaced by the manager who told us they didn't carry that much cash, he would have to order it and could we return the next day. What bank doesn't have any cash? This was a bank in the CBD so to say we were surprised would be an understatement. We found out later that there had been a spate of robberies so no bank held cash reserves. We went back the next day to collect the cash and the manager asked if we would like to have a security guard escort us to the car yard! We declined his very nice offer.

‘When we went to pick up our car, on the passenger seat was a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne, how nice was that? Even if we didn't have any glasses to drink from or a vase for the flowers?!



‘Consulting the West Australian, we looked at rentals. There seemed to be several that would do us nicely so we set off to find them. One we looked at stands out in my memory for all the wrong reasons! Remember, we had come from a brand new 4-bedroom house so were used to a certain level of comfort. The very first place we looked at was an older typical Australian house with a passageway leading front to back with rooms off it on either side. The front lawn was almost knee-high but nothing a good mower couldn't fix. The front door to the house was painted blue, similar to the NRMA ad colour. Nothing wrong with that but once inside the passageway was the same colour, OK, we could live with that and we went into the first room which was also the same blue and had a bucket in the middle of the floor where the ceiling leaked! The next room was the same, blue with buckets. In fact, every room in the house was painted the same and had at least one bucket or bowl to catch the water! We got to the kitchen at the back of the house and I whispered to hubby that I hadn't noticed a bathroom. We were directed down the garden! I refused to go and look; hubby went and came back rather pale and said I wouldn't like it. That scared me. Was that what living in Australia would be like? What had I let myself in for? Needless to say, we didn't take it.


View attachment 9382
The days of relying on a newspaper are in the past. Image Credit: Shutterstock



‘We did find a suitable rental in the northernmost beachside suburb which we discovered later was a holiday destination for Perth people! We moved in with absolutely everything in the world we owned fitting into the boot of the car with a lot of room to spare! Even the freeway didn't go that far and the roads had only been blacktopped in the previous five years!! We often saw emus and kangaroos at the bottom of our street!! We were living the dream!!



‘The trusty West Australian pointed us in the direction of a Bed Shed that was having a sale so we toddled off to buy a bed that we needed urgently. Having purchased the bed, we were driving away when I suddenly told hubby to turn around and go back, we had the bed but absolutely nothing to put on it! Hubby refused to go back into the shop when I told him what I intended so off I went. I reminded the salesman that we had just bought the bed, then explained our circumstances and asked whether he had any bedding previously used for displays that I could buy at a discount. He took himself out the back to go look. He was gone for ages. I was just beginning to think I had embarrassed him and was getting ready to leave when he came back and said they had nothing the right size but ‘how about these?’ and from behind his back, he produced two sets of brand new, still in the packet, sheets sets. I told him that no, I wasn't after a new set and thanked him for his efforts, he said they were free. I replied politely that I wasn't after charity and was prepared to pay something so we settled on $15 per set. I was happy!

‘We found everyone we came across genuinely willing to help or explain things as long as we were upfront and explained our circumstances and confessed our ignorance. When our immediate neighbours found out how little we had they told the rest of the street and people came to our door with all sorts of things to make living easier, an exercise I have tried to replicate ever since. Many, many people will never know how they made our integration into Australian society as easy and seamless as it was. We were far too busy finding things out and exploring to get homesick and we had each other so what more did we need?!’

How beautiful is that, members? A huge thank you again to @Ricci for allowing us this insight into her life and family.
Oh Ricci - your story had me in tears 😭 such a beautiful integration into the Aussie community.
My parents arrived in Australia in 1952 with nothing and not even the English language but they made Australia their home and very proudly became citizens at their earliest opportunity. I am a first generation Aussie and love our country but am a little sad that I missed out on experiencing my many cousins living in the Netherlands. Many I have only met once when mum and dad took us over to meet our Dutch family in 1976 - I was 15!

Thank you for sharing your beautiful story Ricci - it warmed my heart and had me crying for all the right reasons 💖💖💖
 
Ricci, I grew up in a typical Federation Australian house with the dunny down the back. On washing day mum lit a newspaper to burn any spider webs and get rid of red backs. Then she sloshed a bucket of washing water around to clean it. I took my cat with me at night, to fight off any stray dogs and give me company in the dark.
The dunny man came down the lane every week to empty the pan.
I was eight when my father built a new laundry with an indoor toilet and septic tank.
He dug the red dirt of the Goldfields to put the tank in.
I still feel thankful for indoor plumbing.
We lived with my Grandma at Diamond Creek in the 60's and we had the outdoor dunny with the newspaper squares nailed to the wall, 😣 no wonder I won't buy anything less than luxury 3 ply these days .... lol .... one time Grandma was on the loo and the man came and whipped the can from under her and replaced it .... she sat there mortified! My Mum was scared of the dark, so at nightI would go outside with her to 'stand guard' and play the recorder or sing .... the neighbours must have thought we were strange .... lovely memories but don't miss the spiders lurking in the corners and so thankful for modern loos ... and 3 ply Quilton 😜
 

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