Well, thanks to the helpful advice of bEcS, I’ve gone to the Post Office and picked up a passport application form – the first step! Now, of course I went during my lunch break, and I had to tell my colleagues that I was going, “nowhere, really, just curious … we’ve talked about visiting New Zealand, we’ve got some friends from there. Thought I should be prepared.”
I’m not about to tell them I’m counting down to leaving the country, possibly for good. I like my job (but not enough to stay here).
Anyway, I’ve got the form now and I’m looking over it and it’s not so scary. Had to rack my brains for a suitable guarantor – someone who has known me for 12 months, has a passport, and so on – until I finally realized that my old housemate Warrick would be perfect.
Segway here: Warrick recently visited Peru on a much-needed holiday (he works for Telstra, the biggest telecommunications provider in Australia and generally considered a bunch of b*stards by all). Hiking, cervesa, Incan trails and … romance. Warrick met a young Latin-American California girl named Cecilia, and it’s been champagne and giggles ever since. You would think the fact that they live on different continents would pose a problem, logistically speaking if nothing else, but it’s only made them stronger. I guess love is like that … but I wish he’d stop talking about her every second of the day!! One of these days someone will move, they’ll get married and have kids, but for his poor tortured friends (and hers too, no doubt!) it can’t be too soon.
Once I’ve got the passport, the next step is the Ancestry Visa application … still not sure about the other documents (such as UN Travel documents) but I’m sure I’ll figure something out!!