When Insects Infested Australia Jokes Gets Taken Seriously

Hi Nix,

Not sure about the chances of you replying this as you seems to be busy finishing up your new place to stay. I’m always not good in expressing myself nor use of words so bear with me.

Quick brief: Received a 190 invite from WA 2 weeks ago but ignored it as I knew I couldn’t fulfill one of their criteria of securing a job offer in WA at the time of lodgment (what the…!!!). Am fortunate to receive 189 invite the following week and have since lodged and uploaded the necessary. I grew up watching Robbie Fowler, Jamie Rednappe, Stevie MacManannan making a fool outta their oppositions (most of the time of themselves actually) during my secondary/ poly years so our age gap can’t be huge. I have a lovely 2-year+ old daughter (probably 2 years younger than Albany?) and am expecting her younger brother in end Jun. Which means the earliest we could receive the grant is probably July/ August (finger crossed). The past few months was filled with excitement and hope in moving to Australia. But ever since we received the invite and the reality that it can actually happen, turned these excitements into worries. Worry if my daughter can adapt to a new environment. Worry if my wife can take care of 2 kids alone while I work. Worry about how fast I can secure a job. Basically worry about any and everything. Hope you can give some advice on a few.

Accommodation: I plan to find a one month rental from websites like Airbnb as they don’t need any reference. Within this month or 2, hopefully I can secure at least a casual/ temporary job and get a reference that it seems necessary to secure a long term rental accommodation thereafter. Feasible? Do you have any  other websites/ opinion/ lobang on this issue? We are not particular about the suburbs or whether it is newly renovated or old. But I don’t wish to co-share the house and hope to secure a 1-bedder townhouse/ apartment/ house for my family of 4. Not because I think I am satki but because I don’t wish to disturb my co-tenant/ landlord. You see, my daughter is a HSC (highly-sensitive child) and with a new-born baby, I think the amount of noise they created can scare away even the most good-willed person. If you need a budget from me in order to give relevant advices, you can take a rough guide of $300-$450 per week. 

Pests: How bad is the creepy-clawers situation in Australia. Does it comes to a point of affecting your lifestyle? Does having your house located close to the coast or farther inland matters – in terms of the frequency of spider visits? I don’t think my wife and daughter would like to have dinner together with spiders. As for me, my only nemesis is moth – all thanks to a TV series shown on the then-SBC that I watched during my younger days. How many times you have seen moth over the 5 odd years you have been there. Please answer me this question and then you can laugh at me all you can.

I still have some more questions but will just leave it as it is for the moment.

Not sure you still bother with our political scene but just an update. Dr Chee has lost yet again (39%) in the by-election (Bt Batok) to a PAP lawyer who only knows how to hide behind his masters’ back during the whole campaign. I don’t think I can find any miracle in Singapore anymore.

Thanks for your time in reading my lengthy email if you have come this far.

Btw, you can call me Liverbirdie

Rdgs,

Liverbirdie



Hi Liverbirdie,


To be honest, that nickname sucks bro. What should I call myself now? Perhaps Redtitty.


Alright, Redtitty is going to reply your email real quick. I used to get a lot of emails regularly that I couldn't reply them all. Not anymore. There can be a few reasons. One, I didn't reply them that much. Two, no one really reads this website. Three, readers write to other overseas Singaporean bloggers to avoid being drenched in cynicism. Last and most importantly, Singaporeans have come to realise that Singapore is a paradise after all and there is nowhere else worth leaving for. I choose for All-of-the-above.


Ah yes, I realised Chee lost. I expected it and the results did not surprise me. A certain Mr å­™ posted this one my timeline:




Frankly speaking, that used to be so me. I was so affected by the GE2011 results that I made the decision to migrate to Australia. Believe me, I put A LOT of expectations into GE2011. I believed in Singaporeans. I believed Singaporeans were ready for change. But not anymore. Not anymore. I don't feel a thing about such things anymore. My heart is stone cold, just like your heartless ex-girlfriends. In fact, the bottom pic probably depicts more accurately about what happened to me over the past 2 weeks,




Let's get down to things in proper. Your big move.


Congratulations for getting the Subclass 189 invitation, as well as the arrival of your son in a month's time. Exciting times are coming for sure. Some of worries are unfounded. Kids, especially very young ones, are highly adaptive to new environments. In fact, the adults (you) will be the ones struggling to adjust to the new way of living while the toddler is almost oblivious to the change. You'll see. So perhaps it is time to imagine about how both of you will cling onto each other and cry on the frightening first nights instead.


The worry of whether your wife can cope with 2 kids is a valid one. Till today, my wife is still regularly posting stuff about how hard it is to be a mother of 2 on Facebook. Since, no two wives are the same, there is no telling if you will be murdered by a disgruntled wife during sleep for your failure to click 'like' on the articles she shared on Facebook. I highly recommend you to introduce your wife to other wives with little kids. You can find them on the internet like how you found me or sign up for a "Play group" near your house. They are nice little activities usually organised once or twice a week by a member of the community or a mother among the group. It is for frightened mothers to group hug and cry while their children start playing and wandering out of sights. Joining a play group helped my wife tremendously. I will highly recommend it for your wife.


A job is definitely hard to find in current climate but an income may not be. It all depends on high deep you are willing to dig. On the positive side, due to bad economy, renting a house is much, much easier than the situation I had to face when I first came here. The once haughty landlords are almost reduced to beggars nowadays. It is unlikely for you to have trouble finding a whole house to rent. I can give you some pointers when you confirm your moving date. If the worst comes, your family can take shelter in the spare room of my peasant's shack. I understand you like privacy. Alas, the only place with privacy at my shack is the backyard where tenting is allowed. No NParks officers will shoo you away, I guarantee it. Don't worry, like I said, last resort. We shouldn't need to consider that.


A $300-$450 is comfortable in this rental market today. You should not find a problem getting a rental place, especially so if you don't mind living in a less satki set up like an apartment, townhouse or villa. It isn't a problem to rent a house too, unless you insist on living in your favorite Singaporean suburbs, such as Canningvale. Tell me your expectations and I can point you to some suburb names within 24 hours so that you can start your research.


The question about pest is a serious question and it shall be answered with professionalism. To date, I have lived in 5 suburbs. So it qualifies me to give you a fine analysis. The frequency of insect problem is completely random. Take for example, I was visited by some 3-4 palm sized spiders in 2012. [click here to see them] They couldn't get into the house because most houses are installed with an insect screen all round the house. While Summer flies can get into the house from time to time, the bigger arachnoids or flappy stuff will be too big to sneak in. Anyway, back to my point of randomness, I have not seen any Huntsman Spider near the houses I moved to since. That would be some 4 years apart. It could be the house I rented back then was near the bush or river. I wouldn't really know. After moving to the apartment, I hardly see any spiders for the next 3 years, bar the couple of tiny Redbacks I smashed up at most. However, living on the second storey made us prone to having flying insects. I guess it is a give and take situation. If you live on the ground, you meet ground insects. If you live higher up, you meet flying insects. The lack of spiders around also mean a safe haven for flying insects. You may want to keep a pet frog, if they bother you that much.


Moths! Hey bro, the episode of 迷离夜 was about butterflies, not moths. Come on, they are completely different things. I am surprised so many kids of our generation got traumatised by that show. I was one of them but grew out of it and even started to appreciate that classic after I realised Mediacorpse could only produce propaganda filth in the later years and will never match some of the amazing serials SBC did in the 80s.


Over the past 3 years living in the townhouse, I had to swat at 3 moths. They were the miserable tiny types, unlike some of those glorious, dusty-looking ones you may find in Singapore occasionally. I am sure you can deal with 1 moth per year on average. If there is any consolation for you, some of those manly warehouses around WA can offer you a lot of nasty weapons to deal with intruding insects. You can stock up on some at low prices.


If your family needs a lift from the airport on arrival, feel free to contact me. No surprise moth attacks, I promise.


2 comments:

  1. Hi there - I stumbled upon your blog and really enjoy reading your posts. Your migration story is as inspiring as the other ones you shared. Reading this post spurred me to comment that you are such a kind person. Warmest wishes to your wife and your little girl - I love the pic of her enjoying that free swing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. cheapest rental deal for taking whole house/unit comes from wechat tiong groups.

    let's talk about it privately. My time to help on9 is getting lesser n lesser. its nigh i help my sister thru her rough patch, she is depression for nearly 1 year, i managed to get her stay with me for a while

    wish me courage please

    ReplyDelete