Return to Malmö (16 June 23)

We arrived back in Copenhagen at around 2pm on Friday 16th June.  I'd love to say it was incident free, but Cameron kept us on our toes.  When we went through the check-in in Adelaide he realised he had lost his ipad and had a panicked run around the airport looking for it - eventually we found it in the front of the bag where he'd put it. Then when we were clearing security in Doha he realised that he didn't have his laptop. Luckily an attendant was able to call to our plane, where they found the laptop and had it brought to the gate for our next flight.

Then, in Denmark, while we waited to get through passport control and collect our bags, I tried to book our train tickets across the bridge. I was greeted by a big red warning that the trains were currently not operational due to a switch error and there were 'a few' replacement busses.  This was a bit of a worry because we had a LOT of luggage.  Fortunately the problem was fixed by the time we had our bags and cleared the airport and we were able to catch the train.  It was a little daunting when the announcement was "We think we've fixed the problem so let's see how we go."

Luckily the train ride was uneventful and our hotel in Malmö was only about 5min walk from the train station.  After dropping off our bags we then had a few more things to sort out.  Work had organised us a car to borrow while they finalised our long term vehicle so we needed to pick up the keys for that before 5pm, but until we had the keys for our house we wouldn't have anywhere to park it.

So we walked first to work and collected the keys (but not the car) then walked to the house where we met the landlord and collected the house keys. The house was partially furnished, so we didn't have beds for the night - hence the hotel booking.  Despite being midsummer we were greeted by an awesome thunderstorm and some very heavy rain:

We then went back and picked up the car and headed out to Ikea to look at beds and furniture. By this point we were too tired to do much more than select the beds and arrange for delivery ASAP - in this case on Sunday evening.

We then headed back to the house to park the car before walking back to the hotel for sleep.  But there was a slight problem:

The garage was pretty narrow and the car was pretty wide...  We were too tired to make it work on the first night, so we ended up parking by our hotel (and paying about $50 for the privilege).

The next day we headed back to the house to size up the furniture we would want to order and this time we managed to successfully park:

In between the few rain showers, Midsummer in Malmö was looking nice:

We then headed back to Ikea to order the rest of our furniture and cooked our first meal in the new house.  We still had no beds, so it was another walk back to the hotel for sleep.

The following morning we packed and the kids enjoyed a game of Cornhole in the hotel foyer.  They invented some new versions - it had to go over one of the wooden beams above before landing:

We then headed out to Gekås, Ullared - a huge shopping centre about a two hour drive away.

After shopping there, Tomas organised a catch up with his friend so we headed back, stopping via Net-On-Net in Arlöv (the north eastern area of Malmo) to look for TVs.  We ended up buying them, but then came across a problem.  To fit them in the car we would need to fold down the backseats meaning that only two people would fit in the car.  Since Tom had the catchup planned, he and Kristine took the car home and Cameron and I stayed behind to take the bus back.

While we waited, I mused about the difference between this expat and the first one.  When we first came to Sweden in 2015 Kris and the kids had never been outside Australia and we had no idea what to expect.  We had two weeks between arriving and me starting work and in that time we did a few short walks but mostly stayed around near the hotel.  We had no idea where to get groceries, phone chargers etc.  This time we hadn't even been in the country for 48 hours and we had a house, a car and had been on a 400km round trip up to Gekås. And now Cameron and I had willingly stayed behind in the middle of nowhere to catch the bus back home.  And I was due to start work the next day...

While Kris and Tom were at their friends house Cameron and I recieved the beds and we were able to have our first night sleeping in our new house. 

Over our first week we got our tax appointment done (to get our person numbers renewed) and our biometrics (for residency cards).  The rest of the furniture arrived on Tuesday and by the end of Wednesday we had it all assembled and arranged.

All we are waiting on now is the air and sea freight.  

Friday 23rd is Middsommer and we are heading to a friend's for a BBQ, which puts a cap on  a hectic but fun first week back in Sweden.

The Turning Torso - not far from our place and easily visible

The beds arrive

The Öresund bridge is also nearby

Gardens and creek

Looking up at the Torso

Leaving Adelaide (15 Jun)

 As excited as we were to be heading back to Sweden it was bittersweet to be leaving so much behind - Alana, our parents and families, friends and the rugby club.  We tried our best to catch as many people before we left and hosted a going away party a couple of weekends before we left, but its always hard to leave everyone behind.  More this time as it was our first time being so far away from Alana.

The rugby team created a cardboard cutout of me that attended the first game I missed, including the bus tour and pub visit after:

My new computer background:

Meanwhile at home packing was happening and things were starting to feel real.  Even more so when a convoy of trucks arrived to pick it all up:

We were given a cubic meter of air freight that would be sent over quickly, however this was not able to contain any batteries of computers.  This was shipped on Friday 9th and we were expecting it when we arrived on the 19th of June, but instead it is now scheduled for the 1st week in July - I'm guessing it's off on a world tour...

It's off on a jaunt to New Delhi Airport then Frankfurt before finally landing in Arlanda (Stockholm) where it will be trucked to us.

For sea freight we were able to pack up to 6 cubic meters - we ended up with just over 3.  This was expected to take about 3 months, so we shipped it two months before we left and it is expected by mid-late July.  This pack has my computer, Kris and my bikes and lots of Lego.

The rest of our house was packed and loaded into storage on the trucks in the pictures above. The shipping containers will be stored until we return home.

Since our house was now empty of furniture, we were given a hotel room in town to stay at, with some very nice views:

For our last dinner in Adelaide we headed to Glenelg and had a family dinner with Alana and then of course we had to end up here:

Our flight was at 9:50pm, so we spent the day at Alana's house and then got to the airport nice and early.  There were lots of tears and it was hard to say goodbye, but it was also exciting to finally be heading off after so long preparing.

Our first flight was from Adelaide to Doha and was just over 12 and a half hours. I paid a little extra to get us exit row seats, so we had a bit more room than the last time and this made for a lot more comfortable flight.

We had only 3 hours in Doha, where we had a shower and something to eat and then we were off to Copenhagen (6.5 hours).

Canberra (18-19 May 2023)

On May 18th the whole family were off to Canberra to visit the Swedish Embassy in order to show our passports and be 'verified'. Although Alana was not planning on making the move to Sweden, she still came with us to ensure she had to option to come later if things didn't work out. 

Despite having travelled to around 22 different countries, the kids had never been to Canberra the capital of their home country.  Kris and I had been there before when we were in High School, and I had been once for a work trip around 2010.

Work organised accommodation and flights for us and we all stayed at Alana's house the night before, as she lived close to the airport and we had an early (6am) flight.

The flight was uneventful and short and we soon landed in Canberra and picked up our car.  We were only staying the one night, so we had packed light and didn't have more than a backpack each.

Our first stop was the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), where the top athletes and sports teams in Australia train:

From there we headed to GIO Stadium (formerly Canberra Stadium), home of the Canberra Raiders (rugby league) and ACT Brumbies (Rugby Union) teams.

After the stadium we still had several hours before we could check into the hotel, so we headed to the Australian War Memorial. The war memorial was created in 1941 as a shrine to fallen soldier in the wars that Australia has been involved in and expanded to include a museum and several exhibits.

The War Memorial is located in a direct line down Anzac Parade from parliament house, and the mast of the parliament building can be seen from the entrance of the tomb of the unknown soldier:

The first area we entered was the Aircraft Hall:

After the aircraft hall, we headed to the Second World War Hall, passing through the Hall of Valour which had the stories of Australians who received the Victoria Cross of George Cross.

The Victoria Cross is the highest award given for bravery in the face of the enemy. The George Cross is an equivalent bravery award, but given to civilians, servicemen and women for bravery not involving contact with an enemy.

Of particular interest to us on this trip was the battle of Ambon, which occurred in 1942 on the Dutch Indies owned island of Ambon.  Kristine's grandfather was serving there with the RAAF at the time it was invaded by the Japanese and the island was the site of one of the biggest massacres of Australian Prisoners of War - over 300 men who had surrendered at Laha Airfield.

The wooden cross below reads "In Memory / VX35406 DVR W T DOOLAN / 2/21  BATTALION A.I.F / KIA 1st FEBUARY 1942" and originally marked the grave of William Thomas Doolan who was one of the heroes of the Battle of Ambon. 

(https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/hero-of-ambon)

Outside of the halls is the Commemorative Area which houses the Pool of Reflection and the Eternal Flame.

The walls are lined with the Roll of Honour - memorial plaques for the fallen of each of the wars

At the end of the area is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - that of an unknown Australian soldier, killed in World War I in Villers- Bretonneaux in France and returned to Australia in 1993.

After a few hours at the War Memorial we checked into our hotel and then headed out to explore Parliament House. The building was opened in 1988 and is topped by an 81m high flagpole, flying a 12.8x6.4m (half the size of a tennis court) Australian flag, which weighs approximately 15kg.

The view from Parliament towards Old Parliament House (white building) and the War Memorial (green dome with the red and white crane)

Apparently there are good Pokemon to catch at Parliament house:

The House of Representatives:

Senate:

After Parliament House we headed back to the hotel and then headed out for dinner.

The next morning we had a quick visit to the Swedish Embassy and then headed out to the Telstra Tower, which was unfortunately closed for renovations:

Our final stop before catching our flight back was the Royal Australian Mint where Australia's coins (but not notes) are produced.

Even the steps had coins:

The kids (big and small) enjoyed the word search:

One of the main displays showed some common misprinting errors for coins, such as the ones below:

Out of Collar Error - where the blank was not fed into the press collar property:

and these coins with various errors, like the obvious attached bolt in the first one:

Some of the first currencies brought to Australia:

Some concept sketches for the 10c piece:

Plaster casts of the coins:

After the mint we had to head to the airport and we bumped into the ACT Brumbies rugby team on their way to Perth to play the Western Force and Tomas got a picture with Noah Lolesio:

We arrived in Adelaide with enough time to head straight out to the boy's rugby game at Brighton Oval.