Continued...

Spent the evening doing the last bits of laundry and packing, we had 6 carry on bags and 17 pieces of check in luggage. I weighed everything and it came to over 160kg!
We woke up about 4am and I got all the kids through the shower and dressed. Dianne and Gail came and transported us all to the airport. Gail left and Dianne came inside with us. It took ages to get all our luggage checked in but after that we all went and had a coffee/breakfast as luckily we had plenty of time to spare. Eventually it was time to go through immigration so had a big tight tearful hug with Dianne (just as well tickets to Perth are cheap). Dianne is an amazing lady and has been so kind to our family, I am going to miss her so much.
The flight was uneventful and the kids watched movies most of the way. We had a 7 hour stopover in Bangkok which we spent partly walking around windowshopping, had something to eat, kids played on a little playround we found. By around 9pm the kids were getting really tired and by the time we took off they pretty much fell asleep straight away for the next 2.5 hours of the flight.
They were grumpy when we landed and we waited till everyone was off the plane till we tried to get off. I'm not going to go into the nightmare retrieving the cats was because I am still suffering from PTSD lol...but will do a separate post on that later.
We ended up leaving the airport over 4 hours later....we had hired a 13 seater minivan so all the luggage was on the roof. My husbands cousin in the front with the driver and all of us and the 2 cats in their carrier in the back. The kids went back to sleep and I patted the cats and dozed although that was hard because the driver was a really crappy one who kept on braking hard every few minutes. We got to Ballaldighi around 7am I think....
First priority was the cats so I set up their litter boxes and food/water and let them out of the carrier. They seemed so calm after their huge trip!!
Next job was to blowup our air mattresses and make up all the beds.
The kids were excited to be in Ballaldighi and Vrinda immediately went off to her friends house, I went looking for her and she hid under the table. Her friend's family were cracking up!
Around midday I got everyone back to bed although I kept on waking up to see andom relatives gawking at me I was so tired I just rolled over and ignored them!
Slept for around 4 hours and then ate dinner that my mil and sil had cooked.
Was back in bed around 6pm and slept like a log all night!
The next day was spent unpacking as much as we could and we had quite a few visitors eager to see the cats, in Mallika's words they are CELEBRITIES!
Day after that my husband went back to Kolkata to  start the process of getting our container out of the dock. He had a long day and arrived back late that night. He had to go back in a few days.
OK this installment is done for now, I am off to bed for sweet dreams listening to the howls of jackals...love them.

Updates just now coming...

I have been in India 3 weeks now and been crzy busy ever since. I am going to back track and update on how the move happened though so this may take a few posts. We shall see...
Our shipping container arrived on November 15th and we bought 2 huge rolls of bubble wrap, rope and tape from Bunnings and started packing. I had already ordered boxes and bags for mattresses and couches.
We started wrapping everything and slowly packing it into the container then securing each block of items with rope to stop it sliding around. I did quite a bit of research on how to pack a shipping container and this seemed like a good method. I also used a cut up yoga mat and bits of cardboard or foam between items and between the rope and items.
In the end we had a little spare room so we went and bought a laundry tub  and an outdoor table and chairs to fill it up. I took off all the packaging and rewrapped it to try and make them look used so we could avoid higher customs duties.
It took 3 days but finally it was done and the truck came and picked it up.
Now we  were livin in an empty house for the next 4 weeks, sleeping on air mattresses and using the few things I had decided not to ship like chipped plates/cups and 2 old pots.
My friend Dianne lent us a spare TV and fridge to use.
I started cleaning the walls and doing the gardening.
One week before we were due to go and even typing about this is makin me feel sick I rang the pet transport company to ask for their bank account number so I could pay them (as they had instructed me to do) and they informed that they had not booked the cats on the flight as I had not told them to do. Well I absolutely freaked out and cried, yelled and had a total meltdown at them as I just knew that to be untrue. Luckily I was at Dianne's house and she helped me through it.
In the end the pet transport company refused any responsibility and I knew I needed their help so I let the whole thing go and just asked them humbly to help me. There was a few days tense wait until 3 days before we left when they confirmed that the cats would be travelling on our flights but that came at an extra $500 (suspicious much?). Anyway I paid up and shut up!
In the meantime we celebrated Vrinda's eleventh birthday (took her and her friend for a pedicure at a very swish spa!) and my husband arrived back from Port Hedland.
My beautiful friends clubbed together and took me out for a breakfast and then to Annasha Day Spa for a 90 minute relaxation massage.
Four days before we left Dianne, my husband and myself cleared out the house, cleaned everything and we moved into a furnished holiday home for our last days in Perth so we could get the carpets cleaned etc. The pet transport company came and picked up the cats and took them to their cattery for the next few days.
The kids kept bringing home more and more stuff from school that I had to sort through and deal with.
Wednesday night Dianne and I catered for the School Graduation Ceremony and the girls performed in the choir and band while the boys stayed back at the holiday house with their Dad. Dianne decided to cancel school canteen on friday so we could all go out for lunch on my last day in Australia.
Thursday I spent repacking all our stuff and doing some last minute shopping. Also the carpet cleaner came to the house and also cleaned the windows.
Friday I dropped the kids at school, my husband had to visit the bank and sort out the sale of our car. I went with Dianne and we hung out at her house then we went and I paid a speeding fine (oops) and got some prescriptions filled, also bought a few bottles of my deodorant.
Then we went to school and met up with everyone who was coming for lunch and we drove to Genesis in Roleystone which is this awesome totally vegetarian restaurant (I am the only vegetarian so they chose it for me) we had an awesome lunch and I got 2 beautiful cards with heartfelt messages from everyone and a photo of the whole group holding a sign "miss you Em!". Was starting to feel emotional! We got back to school by 2pm for the final assembly of the school year and saw the kids doing their class items and I got called up on the stage by the principal and thanked for all my volunteer work at the school and given a gift. I ws not expecting that and ended up getting really emotional and after that I turned into a big crying snotty mess! Collected the kids and more school stuff (argh) and went round thanking their teachers and saying goodbye to a whole lot of people. Took over an hour and after that I was in a total state, my husband arrived back from returning the house keys to the real estate agent and we went back to Dianne's.
We needed to drop our car at the dealership we were selling it to so I went in Dianne's car and my husband drove the kids in our car and we went back to the holiday house and dropped the kids and my husband there.
Then Dianne and I dove in our separate cars to the dealership which should have been a simple 20 minute drive. Unfortunately there had been an accident on the highway and traffic was at a standstill. The dealership closed in half an hour and it looked like we were not going to make it...plus my husband had left pretty much zero petrol in the car and I was terrified I was going to run out. I got off the highway and drove trying to find a petrol station. I rang the dealership and told them I was on the way and please wait for me, they pretty much told me they closed at 6 and if i wasn't there the too bad! I found a petrol station and put $10 in. Dianne rang me and said she was already at the dealership as the accident had been cleared and she was talking to the people there and they were waiting for me. Got back on the highway and made it there only 10 minutes late.
Dianne dropped me back at the holiday house and we confirmed that she and Gail (another friend) would be there at 5.30am to take  us to the airport.
OK I have to go and shower now before the maid comes and put a pot out for milk... be back later!!!