Laetitia's new job

To pay the rent, Laetitia has found a part-time job working for civil engineering consultancy firm, Cardno Ullman & Nolan, in Paget on the south side of town near the airport. We live in North Mackay so this is a 15 - 20 min car drive in the morning. Laetitia misses Brisbane's public transport.

CU & N specialises in sub-divisions and Laetitia's job consists mainly of writing engineering reports for small sub-division development applications.

Although only working three days a week, Laetitia earns more than Ian does working full-time. Granted, Laetitia has been in her industry for around a decade whereas this is Ian's first year as a teacher, however, we see it as a reflection of the status that teachers have in Australian society.

Finding somewhere to live

True to Mackay's reputation, it took us two months to find somewhere to live.

We ended up in a house literally over the back fence from Ian's school. It's very convenient!

Many thanks to Traude & Eric Carter for their generous hospitality and patience.

Church

We tried a few churches, ending up at Mackay Church of Christ, about 1.5km from home. On the first morning we went, all the women between the ages of about 15 and 65 descended upon Laetitia with flyers for a women's night at the movies.

We have felt very welcomed and a real part of this church. We enjoy the fact that it is relatively small and therefore we can get to know everyone. We have also joined the music roster with Ian on strings and Laetitia on vocals.