Zoot

Freecycle, Ziilch, Trash Nothing, Facebook community noticeboards and buy swap sell for your area, also a facebook group called something like Free Melbourne.  Stuff being offered regularly.  If you belong to a religious or sporting group ask around many people have stuff they no longer need but too good to junk.

Yeah seemed a bit odd to me too.  Even if old passport had long expired I understood that a child of PR parents or citizenship parents automatically got PR.  Would have Oz birth certificate etc.  This sounded so strange and if it is indeed a change that could affect many other people in that their kids would need to apply for citizenship when they became adults.

This is one for the migration agents.  On my local community noticeboard a lady posted that they had attempted to get passports for the family (previous passports having expired many years before) but they were advised that their now adult children would need to obtain a citizenship certificate in their own right before they could apply for a passport this despite having an Australian birth certificate and an Australian passport as children.  Apparently this is a new ruling. Is anyone able to shed any light on this?

If you go for a house or a freestanding unit you have a much better chance than if its a flat. Ads generally say no pets if they definitely don't want pets but other than that just ask. I got a rental with cats as did my sister. If you see there are lots of dogs and cats in the area it makes it much harder to justify saying no. People can be destructive as much as pets can be so dont let some anti pet landlords put you off.

Hi There,

 

Me, my husband and our two kids (7 and 2) plan on arriving in Melbourne early 2017.

 

We are looking at narrowing down some suburbs which are family friendly with good schools and safe. Our budget initially is between 300-350 PW.

 

The suburbs we are interested in at the moment are Pakenham, Frankston South, Clyde and Clyde North, Narren. I have seen a lot of mixed reviews on these suburbs. :wacko:

 

Please please advise and any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you in advance for your response. :smile:

Where are you going to be working? Pakenham and Clyde are very far out if you need to commute to the city daily. What are you looking for in a suburb? Near to train, shops, sporting facilities? Are you looking for new developments, old established areas? So many variables.

I live in the outer east suburbs of Melbourne. Its green and leafy with lots of bird life. I reckon its pretty safe. Of course there are good and bad bits but I have walked my streets at 3am and never felt unsafe. In the west of Melbourne there have been a lot of new developments which means young families.

Has anyone any experience of short term rental furniture? Thinking of renting the essentials for 10-12 weeks until ours arrives. Any recommendations in teh Sunshine Coast?

Probably easier to look at your local buy swap sell facebook group, op shop, freecycle or something like that. Get the basics cheaply or even better free then when your stuff arrives pass it on. I have heard it works out very expensive and there are often minimal rental periods. At least if you own the stuff even if it is older if your shipment is delayed for any reason you wont have to worry about extending a contract on furniture. Op shops have heaps of plates and cutlery, some do furniture and basic appliances too.

If you have a good job in the UK then stick with it. Even if you went regional to a city like Adelaide your job opportunities are going to be extremely limited, it is much easier for companies to fly someone in from Melbourne or Sydney who has already established their reputation in Australia and who is connected. Even if you are the greatest IT expert that ever lived unless you can convince a company of that and they offer you a role in line with your expertise you will have to take whatever employment is offered to satisfy the work component of the visa (do you want fries with that ?). As far as i understand you are also not able to consult so you couldn't live in a regional town but do consulting work for a corporate in Sydney you have to work in that town which further limits your alternatives. Even if you were prepared to do that after 2 years will your knowledge and skills still be viable.

Done - sent an email to the minister.