Just a couple of questions.....

[kazatthemadhouse]

Not sure if im posting in the right forum, but im sure you lot will forgive me if im not (just this once )
I`ve just got a couple of questions please- more for the people who have already "taken the leap" really.
Has it been all that you expected it to be? Any major regrets?
My kids are 16 (girl) & 14(boy). My 14 year old would be happy to go,but my 16 year old really doesnt want to. How did anyone else with teenagers find it? Have they settled ok?

& one (sorry , three) for everyone,
Did you visit the area you are intending to/already do live in first or did you end up in a totally different place than you expected?
Did anyone just "up sticks" without visiting first at all?
If not,how many times did you go before?

Sorry if it`s too many questions - i just had a brain storm and they all popped into my head

Thanks.
Karen

[minlady]

Hi Karen
We are not 'there' yet... but i can tell you what we have done so far...

We visited Australia back in 1996, so although i know alot has changed since then we do have a small idea of what the place looks like and what to expect.

We are on a STNI subclass 137 visa which means we are sponsered by WA and therefore we are heading for Perth.. we intend to do a rekki sometime in Nov to check out the place, suburbs, schools shops etc to see where would like to settle before we move for good this time next year.

As for the children... it's surprising what a bribe of a pool in the back garden does!!!........... also my eldest (10yr) will be leaving his primary around the time we will move so our reasoning will be that he will be moving away from his friends to go to 'big' school anyway... so it will not be that different!!... so fingers crosseed that will work!!!

It's an extremely big move for anyone to make and shouldn't be taken lightly...and really needs alot of 'pros and cons' debating before you know for def it's what you really want to do...

Hope that helps

min x

[kazatthemadhouse]

Hi Min,
Thanks for the reply .
The pool idea is a good one!! I will definately try that.
We are at the very beginning of the journey and have only really talked about it so far (and done a little bit of research) and a lot of dreaming!!!
My husband has a skill that is wanted over there and so we are hoping to try for a skilled Visa (i think it`s called).
It`s more my daughter thats putting me off. Should have done it years ago really,when we could have made it into more of a adventure.
Good luck with yours. I like the way you`ve dated everything at the bottom. It`s helpful for people like me who haven`t done anything yet.
Thanks.
Karen.

[Lynandsean]

Hi Karen
We are not there either yet but as with Min, this is how we have approached it.
We have a 16 yr old son (doing GCSE's at mo) and a 20 yr old daughter.
Initially applied last Autumn without ever having been there (skilled ind visa, subclass 136).
This visa granted my OH, me and son permanent residency but 20 yr old could not be included because she was deemed independant as she works although still lives at home.
Checked out whether she could come some other way, this was sorted quite easily as she wants to study Physiotherapy at Uni so studying this in Oz was way to go.
Researched ourselves stupid on internet etc regarding Uni places and colleges for son.
Narrowed it down to where we thought would be best place to settle.
Decided to visit in Jan 07 for a recce. Glad we did, absolutely loved the place but where we thought would be best place to settle wouldnt work at all - travelling, transport etc so spread out further whilst out there and discovered ideal places.
16 yr old was a bit iffy to start with but realised that once GCSE's are over, many of his friends will go off in different directions anyway and inevitably will lose touch. He too would probably have been moving on and would have to make new friends wherever he went.
Many of his friends are adamant they will visit (although WE are aware that may not happen although they are more than welcome) and he can still communicate with them via MSN etc. He is also using a couple of very popular sites to chat with people from Oz (Myspace for example). He now is really looking forward to it although we know that this Friday is going to be extremely hard for him as it is the last day they will all be in school together as study leave starts after half term).
It is a VERY tough decision to make l know and good luck.
Lyn x

[The Broughtons]

Hiya - sorry to hijack your thread but we just spotted that you're in Hemel. We are having a picnic on Dunstable Downs Sat 2nd June from 12.30 for lots of poms members. If you're free and fancy it, it would be great to see you. Then you can ask as many questions as you like and get immediate responses

Felicity

[Lynandsean]

VERY good point Felicity!

Lyn x

[barbara townend]

Hi,

I applied Sept. 06 for a contributary parents visa (temporary) and Im waiting patiently for a case worker so Im not there yet either but my daughter and son in law have been near Sydney for 2 years. They went out without ever visiting because they wanted a better future for their children then aged 15 (boy) 13 (boy) and 12 (girl) and they couldnt afford the plane fare to visit.

My son in law now runs his own franchise, my daughter is an office manager (went there with no job) and my grandchildren absolutely love it. My eldest grandson is now nearly 17, he has a saturday and holiday job that pays well. Hes ready for leaving school after taking his HSC and would never come back and he was such a shy sensitive type in England but not any more! My middle grandson who has Tourettes, so you can believe moving to a strange place was more of a worry for him, is a qualified junior league football referee, and my grandaughter is a cheerleader and brass band member. They love it in Australia and you can have a good life as long as you work hard and I cant wait to join them.

[a&s]

Hi Karen
We r not there either but hopefuly near the end. We visted Perth in 2005/2006 2 c our friends who migrated there they were very lucky there visa,shipping and flights were paid 4 by oz so they didn't have much 2 lose.

When we went we just fell in love with it and as they say the rest is history.We r going on a skilled 47SK.

So as long as u have the money and patience at playing the waiting game a very good luck 2 u and your family on what u decide.

[ali]

Hi,

Not got teenagers I'm afraid but children 12 and 7. It was really important for our eldest to 'finish' primary school, she'd been with the same group of people since she was 4 and it helped the process of 'leaving people behind'

We visited Brisbane in 2005 and although we loved it we elected to go to Perth and applied for 136 skilled visa. We moved here in January this year - early days but we love it, got jobs before we arrived and people have been great.

Again, with our eldest in mind because year 7 here is last year of Primary and not first year of high school, we wanted her to have a full education year, to establish some friendships before moving to high school (again), she actually laughs and says she won't be stressing about that one as she's done it already.

We know we've made the right decision, still both work as hard as ever but enjoy the quality family time so much more.

Ali

[Phyllis n Joe]

Hi Karen,

We have been living on the Gold Coast for 8 weeks now, an we have two teenagers our daughter is 15(16 in Dec) our son is 14yrs. My son has adapted to the life here very well, he loves it, says there s more to do, more of an outdoor life. My daughter hates everything about it, and i mean everything! We did come here on holiday 2yrs ago and travelled about a lot from Sydney up to the Qld, and although we are on the Gold Coast at the moment i'm not sure we will settle here.

As for the "pool" we found it very hard to get rented accomodation with a pool, the eastate agents said, this was because the owners of the rental propeties found that people weren't looking after the pools, and that's why there is not a lot about. So you can imagine how disappointed my kids were cause i did the pool (danging carrot) thing, now I feel terrible cause we couldn't get a house with one, might be different in other areas, not sure. So still on the look out for a property with a pool although we are in this house til October! Feel free to PM me if you want to chat ok

Phyllis