back in Australia

I safely returned back to Australia on 2 June. Coen dropped me of at Dusseldorf-airport and we had a nice dinner there before I checked in. I had a pleasant flight with Emirates, and a warm welcome at Brisbane International Airport from Pam together with her Brother and sister-in-law.
Since my last post in January, I have been busy in obtaining a partner-visa for Australia, and believe me, that is not a straight forward procedure.
I had to leave Australia in order to lodge my application from overseas, so I decided to travel to The Netherlands again to lodge my visa application in Berlin.
I had everything complete, ready to put it in an envelope. My medical test was organised, all copies of documents signed by a Justice of the Peace (poor Lucy, it took her an entire afternoon to go through them).
From the Embassy in Berlin I learned that I could be eligible to lodge my application “in-person”; but after 3 weeks of mailing/phoning I was denied that possibility. (I was not married for more than a year yet). So three weeks time lost, and finally I lodged the papers by ordinary mail.
To make a long story short: Berlin will process my application WITHIN 5 MONTHS!
For that reason I obtained another EVisitor-visa and returned to Australia to wait here for a decision. Once that is done, I have to fly out of Australia again to pick it up, but TG I can do that from New Zealand; I don’t have to fly to Holland again.
What a stupid system: I was legally in Australia, but was not allowed to lodge my application from there, so I had to fly to Holland. Then I returned here, but have to go to New Zealand to get my visa once its ready.
We’ll see what happens!
In the meantime: the contract for the new house is signed. It will be ready in October.
I will use the time here to get the block of land ready (quite some excavation and levelling to be done!), to get a plumber to install the septic system, and to prepare for our temporary move to a new house from July on, because we cannot stay where we are now.
I will keep you informed!!
By the way: there is a new photo book with some pictures of the last few months.