LukeM

I have worn glasses since the tender age of 18 months old. I will probably never be able to go without and have had surgery also. I used to just get a couple of pairs of the cheap specsavers things but the screws always used to fall out but now I get 1 pair of 'good' ones every 18mo-2yr (except I don't like the ones I have at the moment and the only reason I got them was because the lens got chipped in my good glasses, and they couldn't repair for some reason(?!??!) and I didn't have a spare, and I also couldn't afford the ones I wanted even with my optical extras on private health. Glasses in Oz = $$$$$$$$$ if you want ones that don't break, esp when you have to wear them all day every day for everything.

Contact the Faculty of Health Sciences, or the School of Dentistry at UQ. There's no such thing as admissions tutors in Australia (at least not at UQ or QUT anyway and I've not heard of them anywhere else here), like there is in the UK. Admissions is all entirely handled by the Admissions Centre for the state (e.g. QTAC). The course advisors at the school or faculty level are much more knowledgeable than you may think. Further to that the Faculty level deals with credit for prior learning. Dentistry, from 2014 in UQ, will come under the Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences (as opposed to the 'current' Faculty of Health Sciences)

Cool. I'm in Brisbane too, at the University of Qld. Hope everything works out for you guys. It's a great University (for teaching and learning). I've been to QUT as well, their standards of teaching are pretty sub-par by comparison to UQ. So a great choice.

Just did my Citizenship test last Friday, got 100% :biggrin: We were told that we could apply for an 'urgent' ceremony, as the ceremonies were full before the census date and I can't afford to pay for another semester up-front so want to get HECS. I've got the form but I assume they'll want some kind of documentation to back up the application. Has anybody done this/for this purpose? I know lots of web pages say that it's "not a valid reason" (to apply for an urgent ceremony for the purposes of getting HECS), but the CO at DIAC in Brisbane told us it was fine and we should go ahead and apply for it. Anybody?

$44,000 is quite possible. What degree is that for? Can your daughter not do Open University (UK one) online? Then you wouldn't be faced with the $$$ but equally... I can't imagine doing it online because of the experiences you get doing it in person... far outweigh the experiences of doing it online I'm sure. Equally she could do the OU online and work? Or if you're planning to apply for a permanent visa, just wait? Or go to TAFE instead? Alternatively, look into scholarships or other ways of funding it. There's also the start date thing... application deadlines for commencing in the February 2014 intake would be very very tight now. You'd have to pay a higher application lodging fee to QTAC and you'd have to hurry up and get it lodged very soon (which is harder to do from overseas, you need to provide certified copies of documentation and such to QTAC). A Level certificates usually come out around now, and you'd need those. Regardless of what you choose to do make sure you have those.

I believe the Foundation Degree is considered the equivalent to a Diploma. Don't quote me on that, I saw it posted somewhere else on here. I don't know how it would be received if mentioned to an employer. Somebody else on here may have prior experience. If not, always worth a Google or try contacting a tertiary admissions centre in Australia. They're bound to either know or be able to advise you further. What were you planning to do? Further study, or is it more to do with employment?

As far as I know, only the original carrier (so T-mobile) can unlock it. Have you tried contacting Apple or posting on Apple's help 'communities' message boards?

Great idea for a website - love it!! Somewhat of an entertaining (yet empathetic) read. I've been swooped once this year. Last year, I lost count. There was one at the bus stop that let no man (or woman, or child, or dog...) go un-harmed. So I started using the other bus stop further up the road (admittedly slightly counter-productive but probably saved myself a few injuries).

The OP said Morley, WA. Their website is here, it's the only Hampton Senior High School in the country: http://www.hampton.wa.edu.au/ I have no personal knowledge of the area or the school but here's their info on myschool, which is worth a read: http://www.myschool.edu.au/SchoolProfile/Index/71070/HamptonSeniorHighSchool/48131/2012 If your son/daughter is keen to go to University, their scores look pretty good with 44% of leavers at University and 29% going on to TAFE and 19% straight to employment at the end of 2011. Student attendance rates are high and it has a fairly even split between genders. Plus 106 out of 117 were awarded the high school leavers' qualification, so that's also pretty good. All-up from the myschool page it sounds like a fairly good school. :biggrin:

I have found that Universities in Australia have excellent services available for students with disabilities, but more often than not there's the attitude "you're a Uni student and at your age you've got to be the mature one to take the initiative to seek out the services", which is kind of fair enough but they are certainly there and they can offer a lot of intervention or minimal intervention and services depending on what you need/feel you need.

Unfortunately you wouldn't be able to cover it with Youth Allowance easily even if you were eligible. I know it would sure have made my life easier!! The criteria spans a lot beyond just finances... have you been here 2 years yet? You can apply for scholarships though. Definitely look into that! There's usually more scholarships available to students who are just about to start a degree than there is for students who are 'continuing' students. Costs per 'subject', 'module', 'unit', 'course' at Uni/TAFE (the terms are pretty interchangeable) will depend on what you want to study. In the case of Uni there's no difference between what you'd pay at any University anywhere in the country as they're bound and capped by the Government in 'bands' (e.g. national priority, band 1, 2, 3 etc.) Unless they're a private University like Bond University on the Gold Coast. Some Universities offer degrees totally online. TAFE also do a lot of courses online. Lots of people work full time and complete their degrees/TAFE online. There's Open Universities Australia too. In many cases if you want to work, and study 'part time' online you could then look into going to a physical University campus and applying for credit transfer and completing the remainder of your degree later on a campus (and put the remainder on HECS instead of paying up-front for the whole thing). I've been able to work part time and study part time over the years... fortunately. If you want any further advice, I'm still an undergrad student in Qld, feel free to PM me. Luke.

What's this "skilling up" rate you speak of, boganbear??

You have to buy iPads for the kids on top of uniforms, shoes, stationery and textbooks?? Wow. I thought the school would have provided the iPads at least! That's crazy. But I guess that's the way of the world now. I feel like such an old man typing this, I'm only 21. :laugh: iPads are great though... Good luck. I'm interested to know what school this is as well so I can have a look (as I'm studying a degree in Education at University in Brisbane at the moment) :cute:

As has already been said, sure you could do it through OU UK but that might only work out to be cheaper initially. As a Permanent Resident in Australia you don't get HECS, so you'd have to pay up-front at the start of each Semester. However, as a PR you would pay domestic fees so you've got that too. Possibly better to pay Aus domestic fees than pay through the nose and then some for UK int'l fees if they determine you to be a int'l student at the UK's OU. Aus has its own OU. Some Universities also do fully online degrees (USQ) and many are introducing more external study modes and 'blended' (mix of online/on-campus). In terms of paying the Aus rates, at the moment for Psychology, it's about $751 per subject/unit/course (terminology varies) so you'd be looking at ~$3000 twice a year, for a full-time undergrad Psychology degree (with marginal annual increase, and that excludes Student Services and Amenities Fee aka SSAF) If you obtain citizenship while you're still in University studies you can defer on HECS from when you present your citizenship certificate to the University and complete a new form to change your fee paying status. Hope that helps a little.

You'd be looking at creating an application in early August 2014, for a February 2015 start. VTAC will probably require her A level certificates. It's important to be wary of deadlines. From my experience of QTAC, deadlines are tight and they want the A level certificates NOT the statement of results but it's important to have lodged an application and you can provide the documentation later when you have it as long as you manage to get it in time for the offer round (not 100% sure on how VTAC works, but it won't be overly different from QTAC by the look of their website). http://www.vtac.edu.au/

I'm afraid blossom is right, you'll be stung for International fees for one thing if you're not a Permanent Resident and for another thing 'apprenticeships'? What apprenticeships? Now that's not strictly 100% true - there is such thing as apprenticeships but they're a rarity. In saying that, I do a lot of work for TAFE with their IT systems and have done over the past few years so I get a pretty good insight as to the kind of stuff they have on offer. I'd have a look into the SkillsTech institute in Queensland, they do a lot of stuff just for trades (automotive, electrical engineering, bricklaying, painting & decorating, etc)

Quoll is right (and very wise) :biggrin:

I'm not sure if there is a bar next door to Pig n Whistle anymore... there's Hotel Indooroopilly up the road. But PnW is the only pub/bar contained within the shopping center for now at least. Food court's undergone a lot of change in the past year. We've now got gourmet burgers and Mexican on top of the usual junk food! The new "INDOOROOPILLY SHOPPING CENTRE" sign on the side is currently half finished. Last night it said just "INDOOR SHOPP" hehehehe

If it's just the two of you and you can find a small place/apartment and don't want to be exactly in the city but have a pretty 'green' area, somewhere like Indooroopilly/Chapel Hill/Fig Tree Pocket will serve you very well. If you go a little further out - Jindalee/Mt Ommaney. If you consider the first option though, Indooroopilly is under heavy redevelopment at the moment in the 'heart' of town. The shopping center and the area immediately adjacent to it is undergoing major redevelopment. Traffic etc is no better/worse in my opinion than before they started but I reckon there will be a hefty improvement to it after all the works are completed (due for completion in 2014... there isn't stages to the project as such which is kind of unusual for me, they seem to be just picking random spots in the mall and doing some floor tiles, then re-doing travelators/escalators and adding lifts in random spots, then another day you might come in and some pillars have been re-designed or some part of the ceiling has been re-done or a new shop has appeared!) It'll be worth it when it's finished I reckon. I am looking forward to the final results. Seen all the photos of the mall from the 70s when it first opened and had a large fountain feature in the middle! So different to how it is now and even more different from how it's going to be by 2014! :biggrin: I wouldn't want to live on the south side any more - just personally. Every time I hear of bad things happening, it's always the south side (Logan/general surrounding area). I'd go east/west or northern suburbs definitely, and go for ~7-10km out from the CBD. That should satisfy your ~20min commute + clean "outdoor" lifestyle criteria for 2 people (they're also good areas for families down the track if that's what you want too...)

Bring them - even if you don't wear them for a while, because they're expensive here! So if you suddenly feel a need or want to wear them again, you won't be struck by the high price tag! Having said that, if there's a DFO (Direct Factory Outlet) near where you're moving to, they often have at least one store in them that sells Doc Martens that will be cheaper than most high street outlets. DFO is great when I need more Converse... with a lot of pairs going between $30-60 instead of the usual high street $90+ !!!

The amount of ads on TV here is excessive, isn't it? I'm not a big TV watcher, but I've got into a habit of going through the ZeeBox app on my iPhone, scrolling through the TV guide and setting Foxtel iQ to record what I want and then just watching it later and forwarding the ads! Or I'll find something I want to watch, use Live Pause and walk away and do something else for half an hour and come back when I'm ready to watch it and fast forward through the commercial breaks! :twitcy: Only get away with limited ads on the News & Doco channels... good old Nat Geo Wild and Discovery! Love it. Gonna watch me some ad-free Banged Up Abroad later :biggrin:

I have no regrets. Even if my parents went back there's absolutely no way I would follow them. Did I have realistic expectations? I just had no expectations at all. I had no idea what I was going to do. I just knew that I wanted to go to Uni and that I would have to find things to keep me pre-occupied in the meantime. I mean... I was 18 at the time. Knew nobody. Just finished my A Levels. Wanted to do life as normal really, all my friends/acquaintances were heading to Uni. I wanted that too. Anything else I managed to do on top of that was a bonus. And I have had jobs and experiences I would never ever have had in the UK and been able to do and obtain ridiculous things I would absolutely not have done in the UK either because they weren't possible, or I would just never have had the "wake up and start living" kick up the bum... (including getting a tan for a short while, definitely no mean feat in the UK!! :biglaugh:) I won't be going back any time soon as I said... EDIT: I've probably had more success than my parents... but that's entirely subject to personal opinion heh!

OK Not really relevant to your thread OP but sorry I have to post and ask because I'm getting an absolute headache... We use Telstra for our landline and have their BigPond internet service too. It's fine. Nothing wrong with that. We also use Foxtel. Had many problems with Optus and we moved and Optus don't service the area we moved to, only Telstra does. We keep getting phone calls to our landline from these people in Melbourne claiming they can offer us a flat rate on all our Telstra landline services. Now, they claim to be a subsidiary of Telstra. Which is fine. It's OK for someone to offer us a service once and be turned away if we didn't hear from them again. BUT NO. THAT doesn't happen... Our package isn't eligible for that change. The people who call are really, really infuriatingly annoying beyond belief. I do not have a company name and they are always really persistent. They'll call multiple times during the week. If nobody answers the phone they'll call back every half hour until someone does, which obviously makes us think what if there is an emergency or a problem with a family member or something? I say that because we don't really give out our land line number to anyone as we all have mobiles so we have no real use for it. We just got it for the Bigpond service! Anyway. As I said. They're really annoying. With their $59.95 flat rate service offer. And they won't go away. Despite talking to 4 of us and being told every single time we don't want the service they still insist on calling again a few days the following week... What can we do?! :arghh: Especially as they claim to be related to Telstra... The callers are always really argumentative. Honestly, the things I want to say about them, the people who make the calls honestly are such robots and are clearly stupid as they just draw assumptions from anything that you say like "you don't want to save money" because you don't want to take their offer... WE CAN'T. My wit's end, is where I am at. :skeptical:

Navman is the brand. Garmin won't be any help to someone who has a Navman device. It may be far easier to just buy a cheap new GPS. I'd avoid tomtom and navman here, garmin is definitely the way to go for reliability (with maps and updates) and ease of use in-car. Alternative of course is to get a phone with good GPS apps.

Personally I just don't. I never did. Maybe I'm just being lame and insensitive and selfish but I couldn't care less what's going on over there any more to be honest, it doesn't directly affect me and if I started worrying about that all day I'd never get anything done.