Quoll

No, they'll know she wasn't resident because she wont have uk grades.

Technically your eldest daughter could join year 10 in July 24 however she will be the very youngest of that cohort and most kids of her age will most likely be in year 9 so you might want to consider her joining in year 9. In Qld, kids stay in HS until the end of year 12 and they will be selecting their subjects at the end of year 10. TAFE is a whole other system and usually follows school if a kid doesn't want to go to Uni and is more for post school age people. If you're likely to return to UK you'd be better finding a school that does the IB (International Baccalaureate) and there should be more of them about. https://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/stages-of-schooling/international-baccalaureate I hear you that she's keen to make the move and all that but if there is a chance that you don't Iike it or won't get PR, have you thought about letting her stay until she's finished A levels? She could board with family or friends and spend holidays with you. That way she would keep all her options open for Uni in either country. A levels travel well to Aus but the year 12 results don't convert as well in return. In addition, if you do return and she has an IB score (which would be better) she will be stung with international fees for Uni even though she's a British citizen.

Your experience has to be after your qualifications.

You forgot to mention the Bendigo Woollen Mills - it's the reason anyone with any interest in textiles would go and live in Bendigo! I remember talking to the chap in the bookshop a while ago and he was a cricket fanatic - he said Bendigo was great for access to cricket though I cannot vouch for that LOL. I'm rather partial to the breakfast offerings at the Boardwalk!

If you are unsure, dont do it. We may speak English but we are still a foreign country and you can basically kiss goodbye to family and friends. As Marisa has said, the "its only 24 hours" thing is a furphy - it's 24 hours plus airport time and getting to the airport time, plus jet lagged time, plus many thousands of dollars for even a bog standard fare. If you are OK with leaving family, missing births, deaths, marriages (unless you get to be very rich and can manage to put the pup into kennels) then go for it. Be prepared to be flexible about where you might get a job - although teachers are leaving in their droves, it's still generally that the nicer the place the more teachers there are to fill the roles - you might not get Melbourne or if you do it could be in one of those schools that nobody else wants to teach in, you could find yourself offered something at Woop Woop hours away from Melbourne. Come for a holiday and check out Victoria which has sponsored you.

Dinner at the QT - the Wilson car park beside it - just before the time for parking to finish but they advertise that they have CCTV monitoring. It was the least amount I could get and didnt want to risk getting a ticket. Wasnt cheap parking for dinner on London Circuit the other night too (parking charged to 10pm!!!) - just as well I rarely go anywhere to park, I walk and catch the bus when I can!!!

This was our large cube. We measured out the space in the dining room to practice but it actually took less space in the cube than it had in the practice space.

This!!! In spades!

Yup, it's selfish. Not sure that I would want to move just to be with a sister - somehow the merits of parent vs parent would make it a more even balance and perhaps easier to justify. However - mixed marriage here - I never felt, nor was made to feel that I was being selfish by moving to Australia but I know that I was, deep down but I was young and didn't care and my folk were good at doing what they wanted to do. However neither of our parents were close - mine were 24 hours away (by air) and the in laws were 10 hours away (driving) so not living in each others pockets made us incredibly independent. For us, flexibility was the key - the DH had siblings which made things easier, I'm an only. I was in a position to go home when I felt like it, one grandson ended up in UK, the other son and his kids visited a few times once the olds got too old & frail for their 6/6 visits. Then when their vulnerability became too much we accidentally stayed in UK after one holiday to care for them - lasted 9 years before returning to Australia. I know we were incredibly fortunate that we were able to do that but we had to make it work - no way was I leaving my parents vulnerable. Bottom line here for you I would suggest is "do you want to?" If you don't want to leave what you've got then don't. If you want to go then put on your big boy pants and live with the selfishness. Moving to be with a sibling sounds a bit selfish to me BTW. Edited to say - is your wife Australian and wanting to return or will your visa process be starting from scratch? I guess I read mixed marriage into your question and it may not be that,

Our story was the same as yours. My mum had dementia and we kept her at home for 4 years, us living there, moved from Australia and squatting in their back bedroom. Dad and I ended up in tears in the social workers office after one fall that sent her to hospital and he and the gerontologist said that she needed 24/7 professional care so we put her into a care home where, like your mum, she really didn't know where she was or who we were for 18 months before she died. Dad lasted another 4 years but he decided after one stint in his "respite care hotel" that that is where he wanted to stay so we facilitated that. For dad it was a real boosting move - at home he'd been sitting waiting to die but in care he got a new lease of life with more company and he could help the "old ladies" (age 96!). In all we spent 9.5 years in UK caring for them. We will never ask that of our kids and will opt for care if we need to. The scariest thing was their vulnerability - they didn't realise how vulnerable they were to scams and unscrupulous people besides mum's dementia, falls and infections, then dad's decline.

Oh I do like Ben Miller, that should be fun! Wonder where they will feature

My gastroenterologist told me the wait times for public patients when I saw her privately a couple of months ago (she's in public the rest of the time) - all done and dusted 2 weeks, privately. Most people I know go private except for a few elderly friends who've waited years for their hips and knees to be done and continue to wait. My GP expects people to go to private specialists but she doesn't bulk bill so her client group is probably more likely to pay.

Gosh, and you're in Canberra too where the public waiting list for a colonoscopy is 18 months! My UK friend recently was whingeing that hers was 5 weeks. A few years ago the Canberra Times announced that the waiting time for a public specialist urologist was 5 years. They must've lifted their game since then.

No it wont get better until they are all gone, in fact, every farewell will probably make it just that little bit worse. I/we used to cope with the farewells with considerable equanimity until it got to the "I wonder if this will be the last time" ones when they were barrelling towards 90. You just have to suck it up and accept that you will miss births, deaths and marriages unless you are particularly well heeled and can come and go at the drop of a hat. Your parents will probably cope (even if they are dying inside) especially if they have other grandkids they can spend their time with and, if not, then they will fill the gap you have left with other things - might be extended family or friends or just generally doing their own thing. However when they get to be too old to actually do all they want to then you might have to do some thinking about how to support them in their vulnerable old age, unless, of course you are fortunate enough to have siblings who will be able to do the heavy lifting. Citizenship is now 4 years so you'd probably better budget for that if you want to keep all your options open.

Golly, don't come to Canberra then. I had to pay $5 for 5 minutes on Saturday night! I think the Aussies went for wider parking spaces because back in the day reverse angle parking was the thing. Still see it in some country towns like Bombala which has barely moved into C21