Thanks! Soooo excited. Bittersweet news - it's hard to make it seem like good news to the rest of the family here who were getting used to having us around. Terribly hard for my mum... I was feeling her pain, when I told her the news. But she understands that it's just moving to another country, not the moon and it's important to live authentically for what we truly want and believe in.
Other than the passport, the only other thing was they requested was that I fill out a very simple form (which they sent with the letter) to say passport holders name/passport number/expiry date/height/eye colour and then a tick in the box to say how I'd like the passport to be returned. By default they will do registered mail via Australia Post. I went to the post office today to compare options and just did the general registered post - no different to 'platinum' except it will take 3 days to arrive each way vs overnight. I figured I don't need it desperately, I've got til June til we fly out so there's time. On the letter they said it will take 5-10 days to process at the consulate.
I haven't checked e-Cas today but since last week there was no change (still said in process).
Good luck Gally! Won't be long for you now either.