Rossmoyne

Familiar story sadly.

Always answer any question honestly..... or it will come back and bite you.

Just travel with both passports to be sure.

Perhaps you need to apply for Australian Citizenship.

Can I suggest that you consider sponsorship by the Department of Education of Western Australia, as I understand that they have re-started their sponsorship programme again. https://www.education.wa.edu.au/im-moving-from-overseas. They ran this program initially from 2006 to 2010, but I have recently come across the new program via this link. It might help you.

Welcome to Oz Tappers2oz!! Not sure where you are living, but the photos look wonderful and I hope you and your girls are making full use of that beach at every opportunity. I too made the journey on my own in 1991 with 2 small children (5 and 8), and with no financial support from their father at all. Long story and very different circumstances from yours, but I was coming to my parents and brother, as I had lived here in my teens (10 Pound Pom Family), so I had family support to help me along the way. It was a financial struggle for many years and I never qualified for Centrelink help at all, so I always worked to support us. But I never regretted the move at all, and neither have my children (now in their 40's). They kept a relationship with their father and he came to Oz to see them every 18months until they left fulltime education. Then it was down to them and they had to visit UK to see him. They loved him as he was their Dad, but were very aware what he was and why we lived in Australia and he didn't. I might say here that I did suggest at the beginning that he come with us so we remained a family of sorts, but he declined. The legal system regarding Custody, is very different now and I can give you no advice about that. Just know that children see and take on board more than you realise, and they will make up their own minds about where they want to be. There is such a shortage of Registered Nurses in Australia that I have no doubt you will be appointed to a permanent position soon. Keep strong and keep us updated on how you and your family are going..... Wishing you all the Best! Rossy +

As I have posted before in this thread, I have a pool and I keep it "swim ready" all year round as it is the easiest and cheapest way of maintaining it. I live in Perth and have a solar pool heater and swim and/or do water aerobics, every day from late October through to mid April. My Labrador swims every day of the year.... he obviously has no concerns about cold swimming water, but you should see him shiver if we go out for a walk and he doesn't have a coat on in the winter! When we moved into this house in 1991, there was no pool and my children were very young (5 and 8). They wanted to have a pool as so many neighbours did have one, but I told them that until they passed all the swimming lessons, there was no way I was putting in a pool. Boy did they do well at swimming lessons, so I had to honour my stance. It was the best thing I could have done as my children are now "fish". It also saved me so much money driving to beach daily, local pool admission fees etc... and all the crap food they "needed" to eat whilst at the beach or pooil! Moving to WA from UK, having a pool in the garden was always a dream of mine, and I am so happy that we made that dream happen. I am now in my 70's and live alone in the house with my woofer, and I don't actually find keeping the pool clean and swimmable year round, a big problem. It is just one of the small daily chores that needs to be sorted. I will add though that I use an amazing Pool Service business to test the water, and when I am away from home, they keep an eye on it for me and clean it when needed. I guess it all depends if you are a person who keeps up with house and garden maintenance, or if you can't be bothered. I love my pool so I am happy to look after it.

Each state has an organisation that investigates skills and qualification recognition. Mostly these are through the states own Education Dept. A quick google will bring them up for you.

WOW! I never knew most of that. What a sheltered life I must lead! I might just have me a little google session now... thanks.

It was about USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Russia... no idea what Q-Anon is...

I have been reading various articles online (no not on msm) about people drawing their money out of banks as they are scared of the government stealing their money. So is this a real thing, or is it another scare tactic. Not that I have much money in the bank mind you..,.. just wondering what others are thing about this.

I have a smart meter that was fitted when I had solar panels installed 5 years ago. Western Power recently came to do an upgrade , but I have no idea what that is as my bills look exactly the same as they did before.

Congratulations on your job offer and the relocation package. I totally get why you and your family want to have an adventure, and your age is pivotal to this if Australia is your destination on a permanent residency visa. Go for it I say, and just remember that it doesn't have to be permanent if you decide along the track that it isn't for you. At least you have tried it, and sometimes we all need to leave our comfort zone to find out whether we really want a different life or not. There is no shame in deciding that it wasn't for you, but at least you will have tried it. Then of course you might find that it is really working for you and you will be glad you made the move. As far as your family's reactions go, so many of us have had the same issue in one way or another. My situation was a little different in that I emigrated to WA in my early 40's having lost my husband, and with 2 young children aged 5 and 8. So I came to join my entire family who had already made the move to WA. As a family, we had all travelled back and forth to visit each other for 20 odd years, so I knew well what I coming to, and none of us had disrespected each other for our choice of where to live. Friends though were a totally different issue. My best friends, who I had known most of my life and who were God Parents to my children, and I was God Parent to theirs, and who I considered family, just totally cut us off from the date we emigrated 30 years ago. I tried explaining that it wasn't anything against them and we would be visiting UK, that they could come and have holidays with us, that we could keep in contact with letters etc (pre internet days of course), but they just said we were deserting them and if we loved them we would stay in UK. My reply was that if they really loved us they would understand why I needed to be with my parents, only brother, only Aunt and only cousins. Most friends were very supportive, but this was the friend who I thought of as a sister. I tried for years to keep the relationship going, but my letters were never replied to, so I gave up in the end. In retrospect I now see that their reaction was quite normal for people who are selfish, and I think that if you really love someone, you want what is best for them, and not what makes you comfortable. My children are now in their late 30's. My son is an Engineer and has travelled the world and worked in various places on contracts, and one of these contracts was on a mine in Central North Queensland. His off work time was spent on the Gold Coast with family friends, and that is now where he has bought a house and settled with his beautiful partner, and my first grandchild will be born soon. I love that he has found his "place", and until covid hit the world, I used to visit 4 or 5 times a year, as he did coming back to WA. If you truly love someone you need to let them fly where their life is meant to be. So do what you feel that you need to do. It is your life.

Well getting right back to what the thread was about..... one thing I do miss is the local pub and going for a Plowman's lunch and just chatting with the locals about general stuff. Admittedly the last time I ever did this was in 1990 in Ardingly in West Sussex, and it appears this pub has now disappeared. When I was last in Sussex in 2015, I went to many pubs, but they all had become so very different and a Ploughmans was not on the menu. However we often do a huge Plowman's platter at my place in WA for lunch... teaching all our Aussie friends what a Ploughman's is!!

I think it depends solely on where you are and how many applications they are processing. My son's partner applied for her Citizenship over 2 years ago before all this covid rubbish. She didn't get to sit her test until May this year, 18 months later. She finally attended the Ceremony and received her Certificate last week..... this was in Queensland on the Gold Coast. No idea how it is going in WA though.