A start to our new life

Well we've landed and now the fun begins.

To work we need a SIN number which we obtain from Service Canada offices- this number is to be guarded with our lives according to all the stuff we received with it! I must say they were very through in the office taking much more notice of all our documents than immigration control ever did. But once again we passed so all of us except Harriet can now find employment. We had to apply for our Medicare card which is like our NHS but which isn't free to us until we've been here 3 months, so this meant sitting in the Service New Brunswick office and form filling. Lastly we had to activate our Canadian bank account too. All in all it was a profitable visit to the city!

After spending 4 years going through website after website looking for houses we had narrowed it down to 4 properties so we did a drive past and illiminated 2! Today we contacted Randy our realtor and he took us to view both properties..... well..... number 1 has a small 3 bedroomed house which is fine and 18acres of land including 2 ponds, 2 barns, 1 shed and a huge workshop, lovely position. Draw backs are not enough land (David says), small house.

number 2 has bigger 4 bedroomed house, 150 acres, 40 cows, numerous barns, all farm machinary, fantastic position. Draw backs are house needs lots of tlc & cost! Looks like we need to rent for a while till we can sort finances and write a business plan.

We've hired a car for a week as David is on a course Tues-Thurs this week, we will purchase a truck at the weekend but this is quite a complicated process involving more visits to Service New Brunswick offices in town.

Over last weekend Rich was playing cricket for New Brunswick against Prince Edward Island so we all went to cheer them on for the weekend. The journey was eventful with stops for tea and toilet, getting lost in the dark and crying babies! it took over 6 hours instead of 4!!!! We stayed in Wild Goose Lodge which was nice.

Harriet chose to go to a local holiday Bible club tonight which she really enjoyed and came home buzzing eager to find a green t shirt for her team tomorrow. Hopefully she'll be as eager to start school in September!