Zoot

What makes me laugh is that places which are run down and have obviously not been maintained are marked strictly no pets whereas some very nice looking places say pets upon application - doesnt make sense. I would be picky about the humans more than if they had pets.

As for offering an increased deposit - I would be concerned that it in essence is saying my pet will damage your property. After all you pay a deposit and if you leave the place in a mess they just retain it. i am currently looking for a pet friendly rental and the places I have seen have been shocking and it has nothing to do with pets. Light fittings pulled out of walls, stickers all over cupboards, not to mention landlord DIY job which they got half way through decided too hard and are renting it out as it is. Very easy to blame pets but in reality people are the worst offenders.

What about arranging a meeting with a migration agent to discuss your options?

If Sound Engineer is on the list of skills required what about looking at regional visas? South Australia has heaps of festivals so would imagine sound engineers would be in demand and you could settle in Adelaide.

What about pack and send? They seem to have shops everywhere could get a quote from them, also U-Bag are supposed to be quite good.

Strange that you were told you couldnt take it, but often the shippers like to err on the side of extreme caution which doesnt help. I brought over 2 of my Dad's kukris and nobody said anything about them not being allowed.

Sorry cant give you specific information but would definately suggest contacting a migration agent to give you some advice. As you say having invested in a life in Australia you dont want to have to move so rather pay for a consultation and find out all of your options from the outset. There may be some other visa you could apply for given your particular skills.

Depending on your family and whether she has married by the time she decides she wants to move she may qualify for a last remaining relative visa but the processing time for that is really really slow and as far as I understand if she gets married she is no longer the last remaining relative and so doesnt qualify.

Try the op shops they have assorted stuff and you never know dungarees may just be in stock

The tick in Queensland everyone is worried about is the paralysis tick. You dont get it in Perth. My friends in Perth use the normal frontline for ticks, fleas etc and that seems to be sufficient to ward off any nasties.

It is fine you are not going to a dump - it is in my book probably about a 6 out of 10 just over the minimum standard. If you get someone on the desk who is friendly you could probably stretch that to a 6.5. Bonus is that it is in the city so there is no travelling.

I keep imagining the star jumps - you gotta sell that sequence to Hollywood it just has to be in one of those movies about terrible plane journeys :biglaugh: that will be a good way to pay off the loan and get enough for the big move.

Adelaide YHA - supposed to be good but I found it a bit run down and they were rather up themselves, and also limit the time you can stay there (I think it is 2 weeks).

Shakespear Backpackers (also in Adelaide) - too many beds to a room and the cleaning was rather haphazard but not as stuck up as the YHA.

My heart goes out to you, you sound so sad.

I think this move back is going to be just the thing you need to help you see where you stand, but just dont burn your bridges. You may get back and find that you fit right back in and it was the right decision, but there is always the chance that you find you have moved on and now no longer fit in either country and that even your relationship with your family has changed. You then will need alternatives else the UK may begin to feel like a trap too and you dont want to find yourself feeling this way permanently.

At least being home and being with your family you can get a bit of perspective on things.

Australia is expensive!!! So not just Perth.

Perth is a quieter city but for me it has the sense of people getting on with life, going about doing rather than whining they are bored.

I personally dont find it isolated there is heaps to do in and around Perth and there are flights to pretty much everywhere it has a large international airport so you are not forced to fly to another Australian city before you can get out of Australia.

It is very new, very modern, very clean. There are masses of parks and open spaces, a beautiful clean river running through the city and marvellous beaches. If you want a high paced city then you should probably consider New York rather than Perth but if you want a city that is quietly getting on with the job then Perth will do nicely thanks.

It is easy to open a bank account before arriving in Oz - check out the banks websites or else just contact them and find out how to do it. It was pretty simple if I remember correctly.

Having a fixed address in Oz is not needed - you can use your partner's parents address, but you can just as well use your current address and update all that when you arrive they are quite accustom to that. Even if you still dont have a fixed address when you arrive you can arrange for the bank to hold onto any correspondence from them to you until you can give them a box address or something like that. They are accustom to migrants arriving so are well geared up to deal with that.

Check out Exchange 4 Free for transfering funds (seen other people recommend other companies but cant think of the names off hand). Check out if they charge you admin fees etc and what their current exchange rate is versus that of your bank etc will at least give you an idea of what is available.

Get to an agent ASAP and start also looking for job sponsorships. With your type of work there should be heaps of opportunities especially with the mines but you need to know how your qualifications and experience stack up against requirements.

Adelaide gets very hot in Summer over 40 degrees as does Perth. However she may find opportunities further south in Western Australia where it would be a lot cooler. I would suggest she makes contact with employment agencies over in WA and SA to find out what she could earn as a starting salary (that gives a baseline assuming she has to begin at the bottom again) then she can ask about opportunities in some of the smaller town e.g. Albany which are far south in WA.

I am not sure as to what the opportunities would be in those areas but that is something I am sure the recruitment agencies could tell her.

Each council makes up its own rules so you will probably find that there are areas where you can keep more than 2 dogs. There are areas near to Perth city which are quite countryfied with people keeping sheep etc so dont see dogs being an issue there - also you can often apply to keep more than the 2.

So if 3 are your family then 3 must go - sure it limits the areas but just as you would need to ensure that an area you choose has schooling and other facilities important to you choosing an area which is dog friendly will be your requirement.

Telstra has the best network, Vodaphone is Vodafail - I am with them and the calls keep cutting out a total nightmare.

There is also Amaysim which offers a package where you get calls and text for free (subject to certain conditions of coure) but then there is also Lebara and Lycamobile. Lyca I know piggybacks on Telstra so if you want the convenience of Telstra without the price Lyca is the way to go.

Before signing on with any contract though check your reception - cause it doesnt mean that if you are in the city that all networks are equal. No use being unable to get reception on your chosen network when you are at home or at work.

If you are looking at teaching secondary school why not look at what you would need to do to get qualified as a work place trainer or educator within the VET sector that way at least you broaden your options and are not solely restricted to teaching within the school environment.

Else if you were to study in Oz with a view to gaining residency that way, I would pick a field of study that is regularly in demand and in which there seem to be constant shortages both in the cities and country areas. It seems to be well known that whilst there is a "shortage" of teachers, that "shortage" is mostly localised to more remote areas and that has problems if you have your own family as opportunities for them in those areas are limited.

Best check it out on the DIAC website as I think the areas may have changed recently to include Perth - previously it used to be not Perth or Freemantle and those areas immediately surrounding it but you could live and work in Mandurah, and any of the smaller towns up and down the coast eg Busselton. WA covers a massive area so if you were in the mining game you would be spoilt for choice.

Hi is it a sedan or a hatchback model? What colour?

find out which estate agents operate in the area you are interested in and ask for their rentals list. There are generally more houses on their lists than they put on Domain or realestate.com and you can also be asked to be put on their mailing list so that when a rental with the requirements you have specified comes along you get notifiied.

Space in share houses opens up all the time BUT space is at a premium when the universities go back, that means you are likely to find yourself in a bit of a bidding war and that the nice places get snapped up quickly. Check out gumtree, realestate.com and domain.com which all have a share accommodation section - that will give you an idea of cost, area and type of accommodation on offer. Some shared accommodation though is more like a boarding house so you may find you dont interact with your house mate which can be a problem when you are new to a country and trying to get on your feet.

What I find odd is that you can keep 2 dogs and 2 cats but are not supposed to have 4 dogs or 4 cats or 3 dogs and 1 cat - huh? How crazy is that!!

As for cats running around killing all the small wildlife - that is a good joke. Sure you get some cats that kill everything in sight and others that dont, but clearance of land for housing also kills animals as it destroys their habitat, cars and trucks kill masses of wildlife so it is a multifaceted problem not just restricted to cats.

What about a pharmacist? If you regularly get your prescription from a pharmacy then they may be an option.