Wendy Robinson

I put the racks to soak overnight in hot water and Napisan, works a treat. For the oven I use Mr Muscle foam spray, the one with no odour.

We did our visa ourselves, it was pretty straightforward. Off topic, but Wow it's been a while since I heard 'round the Wrekin' I used to live about 15 minutes from it and used to spend a lot of time there. As you were.....

I recently done Gatwick to Perth with a 1.5 hr layover in Dubai. Basically when you get off the first flight there are sign posts directing you to go through passport control/baggage check, go through to departures, check the board for your next departure gate, make your way over and you will usually have 20-30 minutes to spare depending on how far away the gate is. Luggage gets transferred on to your connecting flight, so no lugging heavy bags around. I prefer short layovers but they can be a bit rushed as you feel like you step off one plane straight on to another, but at least you get to Oz quicker lol.. Hope this helps, if not I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly. :unsure:

We went to a chemist at Garden city, cost $14.95, and got 6 copies of the picture and we picked them up 10 minutes later. They were good quality pictures and we have had no problems with getting passports using them.

Not sure about applying and get it sent to someone in the UK, can't imagine their would be a problem. I applied for my daughter's passport as an overseas citizen online 4 and half weeks ago, I rung them yesterday to get an update on the status on the application, and it is still waiting to be looked at:mad:. I'm due to fly to the UK in 4 weeks, and hoping they pull their finger out and get them back to me ASAP but I'm not holding out much hope :skeptical:. I wish I had sent them to family and had them posted to me, Fortunately we have our citizenship ceremony on 6th March so they will still be able to travel on our Aussie passports if need be.... So basically if your not planning on traveling in the near future go the proper route, if you plan to travel soonish, I'd get them sent to family!

So sorry to hear your terrible news. No practical advice just wanted to pass on my sincere condolences and hope everything is sorted as soon as possible. I don't usually give hugs but here's one for you, MrsT and kids:hug:..

I've had 3 sections and 1 natural birth and can honestly say I preferred the C-sections, but my first and last were extremely easy recoveries and I was up and about in less than 24 hours and home on day 3. But my 2nd elective C-section was horrific. The actual procedure was a calm and relaxed affair, but once the epidural had worn off I was in the most horrendous pain imaginable, but being a stubborn cow I still managed to be up and about and home within 5 days. Then the fun really kicked off. I was in constant agony, the slightest movement was absolute agony. On day 7 the community midwife came out to remove the stitches and as she was pulling out the thread the wound was opening up, by the time she had finished I was sat on the couch with my a hole the size of an small apple in my stomach and 2 kids crying as they were so scared. After being rushed to hospital I was left in a room on my own for over 3 hours, and when asked if I could go to the toilet I was told to take myself, so carefully I took myself off to loo and as I stood up the rest of the wound opened up and I was stood in the toilet on my own cradling my insides, I managed to press the call bell and was helped back to bed where I was left with just a large piece of plastic covering my modesty for another 3 hours. Finally I was wheeled down to surgery and the wound was cleaned and restitched. My recovery form my section was 6 months, and 6 years later I still have complete numbness surrounding my scar. So I guess what I'm saying is, there are also 'horror stories' for C-sections, they are not the easy option!

I agree Ali, we bought some chicken breasts from there, and they were green underneath:confused: . Suffice to say we have never stepped foot in there since.

They got there Visa the same time as us. We have 175 visas but they ran out in October 2013. My hubby went backto England last week and now has a 5yr RRV. I am going back with our 2 daughters one is an Aussie so will be traveling back on her Oz passport. The older daughter is British, so obviously traveling back on her UK passport. So the question is do I need to apply for an RRV for her?? I am assuming I do but obviously don't want to fork out $350 if she doesn't need one.

Hi All, So we have a booked a holiday back to the UK next March, and although we have applied for citizenship it is unlikely we will get it before we are due to travel. So My question is... I know I will need to get a Residents return visa to re-enter the country as our Visas have now run out, but do I need to get one for the kids as well? I have tried the immi website and Google, but can't seem to find a definitive answer. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hey Nick, Yes, can highly recommend Taurus for Singapore food, I'm really funny with my food and I haven't been able to find a fault (yet). They have quite a large menu and I *think* I saw combination curries and other dishes, I'm not 100% though as I only have chicken/pork dishes so usually know what I want without looking at the menu. There also a few other places on Collins road. It is all Asian food places and they have just opened a Yum-Cha on the corner which is always busy, haven't tried it, so can't comment. There is also a decent Chinese on Rostrata Avenue near the IGA and Dominos. Really nice tasty food, and we haven't had a bad one yet. Hope you and Mrs t-man are good and enjoy your curry :-) Wendy,

Hi, Welcome to Willetton. I've been here just over 18 months now, and love it here. We mostly use Southlands as it 5 mins from our house, but we do sometimes go to Riverton Forum if I need to go to BigW. If we want a proper shopping trip we tend to go to Garden City in Booragoon, or Carousel in Cannington. We don't really eat out a lot but when we do we usually go to Kadai king Indian in Thornie (Thanks for the recommendation Tony :wubclub:) and if we fancy Chinese/ Singaporean we use Taurus hawker on Collins road (best mi gorang ever). If you haven't already sorted doctors and dentists then I can highly recommend Southlands dental practice, they are fantastic. And for GP we go to Willetton Medical centre, and the kids go to AM/PM doctors near Rostrata Primary as they bulk bill for kids under 18 and the doctors are great with kids. If there is anything else I can help with give us a shout, I'd be happy to help. Wendy.

I'm in Willetton. We love it here. So close to everything. and great amenities. We mainly chose here for the schools in particular the high school. And as PP said be prepared for very dated houses, at a ridiculous price.

We went on Saturday, drove all the way from Willetton, queued for what felt like forever, and finally sat down in the car to eat them and was actually truly disgusted. I ordered 2 large chips, 2 cod and a small chips $50 all up. When we were handed our food my son asked me if it was all there because there was only one package, I asked the man handing out the food if my order was right as I had also ordered a separate small chips and the girl serving said "yep, there is 2 lrg chips and 1 small chips all in the one bag, plus the fish".:no: So gets to the car open them up and what we actually had was 2 pieces of cod (admittedly they were big pieces) and about 3 scoops of chips. By the time we had gave the (4) kids theirs, me and hubby ended up with about 10 chips each. To say I was pissed off is an understatement. I even took a picture with a can of pop next to the food to show just how little food there was.:twitcy: We can go to Freo and get the family pack from Kailis for $28 and get 4 fish and a mountain of chips. And there is normally leftovers. In all fairness the food was good and the chips were amazing, but I felt majorly ripped off and probably won't make the journey again. Oh and whatever you do, DON'T ask for your food to be wrapped separately. Whilst I was waiting for my food a few people asked for their food to be wrapped separately and the girl behind the counter started whinging, that it would take too long to wrap the food separately. All in all 9 out of 10 for taste 6 out of 10 for service (although, this will probably improve once the novelty wears off) 3 out of 10 for customer satisfaction HEHE sorry for the essay, but I feel better now I had a whinge about it.:biglaugh:

There was a similar incident in Perth last year http://www.news.com.au/national-news/western-australia/the-slap-costs-cottesloe-artist-1000/story-fndo4e3y-1226451843883 Personally if my children were being brats then I wouldn't mind someone telling them off. However, I would be extremely pissed off if someone took it upon themselves to smack my child. We do not smack our children, and as far as I'm concerned what ever the child/ren are doing violence is never the answer.

*WARNING LONG AND DEPRESSINGLY BORING* We (being myself, hubby and 3 kids) sold everything we had in the UK. Arrived in Oz on 9th June 2009 with 5 suitcases and 14k GBP We stayed in a motel for the first few nights, and then told we had to leave by the following Monday as the room had been double booked and the other people needed the room more than us:err:. Anyway it gave us a kick up the bum to find a rental. We wanted to be NOR so started at REAs in Joondalup. Everywhere we went was the same story "sorry you'll have to wait until open house, submit application and wait'. By this stage I was ready to go back to airport and get the next available flight home, but as luck would have it, Hubby insisted we try one more REA, So off we go, we get there ask the usual questions, basically said we need somewhere ASAP, didn't care where it was as long as it is liveable. Poor woman must have felt so sorry for us, she said she had a place available in Quinns Rocks, not even advertised yet, and it was ours if we wanted it. So on the Friday after we landed we signed a 12 month lease on our first Aussie home. Moved in the following Monday. So basically we managed to open bank accounts, medicare, enrol kids into school and refurnish a whole house in less than a week of arriving. Then it seems our luck ran out. Hubby was a maintenance electrician in England, and obviously no electrical licence meant no electrical job in Oz. He applied for literally 100s of jobs, from Trade assistant to Hungry Jacks and everything in between, never heard back from ANY of them. I was also applying for jobs, as in England I was an elderly care assistant, fortunately I was offered a job, which came at the right time as we were running out of money fast. 3 months later out of the blue an ex work mate of hubbys contacted him on F/B and said he'd heard we were in Perth and was he interested in job at his place. Hell Yeah he was. The job was perfect for him, and best of all no licence needed as it was a electrical design programming job (I think). Any how things started looking up both had jobs we enjoyed, although I had to give mine up as DH job involved a lot of FIFO at a moments notice. Everything was plodding along nicely, kids were settled, PIL had been out to visit, we had really started to settle. Then in August 2010 we found out I was pregnant, yay life was great. Then BAM things went to ****.... scans showed possible problems with the baby, first they though DS, then perhaps CF, as it turns out baby was perfectly healthy, I just had a **** sonographer. So back to happy,happy,happy. Or so I thought..... Dh went into go into a major depressive episode, it started of with a day off work here a day off there nothing to concerning, then days turned into weeks. He said it was the stress of his job and he can't do it anymore, he was sometimes spending 3 weeks at a time away from home, coming home for a few days then being sent away again. So unbeknown to him I started applying for jobs for him, (by this point he had his fitters licence). He recieved a call a week or so later from a company, offering him a job interview, and a few weeks later started a new job. Problem was because he was so down and depressed he wouldn't/couldn himself to drag, and point blank refused to see a gp. Fortunately his new boss was very understanding and allowed him to work from home . Anyway around jan/feb 2011 I finally lost my **** with him and told him straight. I was 2 months away from having baby #4 tired, fed up emotional, hormonal and needed some support and told if he didn't sort his crap out I'm packing up mine and the kids stuff and going back to England, withOUT him. (Admittedly not my finest moment). Anyhow obviously something clicked and he finally got some help, got him self back to work and motivated again. By the time the baby was born things were all good again. NOW....... Things are great, Hubby is still in his job that he loves, we've moved SOR now and things are actually really great at the moment. We have had some really crap times but we have also had some amazing times and for now I love living here. We are about to start looking to buy our own home, planning some amazing adventures and have no desire to go back to the UK not even for holiday as yet. Sorry for all the depressing bits but I think it has made me more determined to make it work here, becasue if we can handle all that crap on our own in a foreign country, come out the other side and still love it here then Australia is doing something right for us.

Where are you based?...I'm in Willetton, and always happy to catch up for coffee.

Glad to be of service:hug: Ok, so perhaps betrayal to the UK wasn't quite what I meant, not even sure what I meant TBH:embarrassed:.....BUT anyway thanks for all your replies. As I said, we will be taking it because we can, I was just interested in peoples reasons. A lot of people have made very valid points, especially as far as HECS is concerned. And I can see what people are saying about voting, It's just not something I have ever really been too bothered about.:dull: Also the people who said it seems like the next natural step, and now I thought about it, it really does make sense for it to be the next step. We are happy here and have no immediate plans to return (not even for a holiday at this stage), so the passport side of things never really crossed my mind. But I can see how not having to queue in customs is a bonus. Also the point about our children not having to jump through the same hoops as us is appealing. As I said we have no plans to return but obviously don't know what the future holds, so having peace of mind about returning and not having to go through the visa minefield has kind of sealed for me.:yes: Thanks again for all you thoughts, (and for making me feel a bit of a plank for even asking:embarrassed:) :wubclub:

In 4 days we have been in Perth for four years:shocked:. The time has come to make that all important decision... Do we apply for citizenship? So people who are in our situation/already gained it, what were your reasons? Are you glad you took it?. Is there anyone who has decided not to? if so, why? So far our 'for' reasons out weigh the against reasons. An example of our 'for' reasons are as followed :- Our youngest daughter is an Aussie. Our 5 year old has told us on many occasions, "I know I'm English, but I want to be Australian too" Our couple of 'against' reasons are as follows :- Cost - for 2 adults and 3 children. Having to vote. The feeling of betrayal to to the UK.. So wise PIO'ers, help me out...:wubclub: FWIW We probably will go for it, just because we can, but I am really interested in other peoples reasons for and against taking citizenship. Looking forward to your thoughts.

We have 4 kids 2 boys 12 and 5 and 2 girls 9 and 2. Our youngest is an Aussie. We have been here in Perth for 4 years.

Winter's evening sunset on Quinns Beach, WA

Neither for us....We were on holiday enjoying a wine on the balcony and said "I could get used to this"....After a talk we decided we wanted an adventure, so started researching and narrowed it down to Australia or Canada. We finally decided on Australia as we had been told it was easier to get a visa for Oz:rolleyes:. Any way we decided we were going to Melbourne originally and we're about to put our app in when I found out I was pregnant so decided to wait a year. In April 2008 we put our app in and it was granted in October 2008, 3 weeks later my mum passed away and we had a big moment of thinking we can't go now, what if something happens to any of our families and we are at best 24 hours away. After the shock had wore of and Christmas was behind us Oz started creeping back into conversations, we discussed it again and realised my mum would probably kick my arse for not at least trying (she always wanted to visit Australia, and was so happy when we told her our plans and couldn't wait to visit us) So in Feb 2009 Hubby asked for redundancy and it was granted and he was due to finish work in May 2009. We put the house on the market in March 09 and fortunately it sold almost immediately, with a completion date of 30 may, same day as hubby finished work. Flights were booked for 9th June 2009, we stayed at MIL as she was on holiday (Yes she found out we were emigrating so booked a holiday before we left). So on 9th June 2009 we boarded a plane with all our worldly belongings in 6 suitcases and 14000 pounds to our name Nowhere to live, no jobs and never having been any further than Europe, we landed in Perth WA in the early hours of 11 June 2009 and have been here ever since. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Perth and sometimes wonder if we should have gone to Melbourne, or even Canada, Sometimes I do wish we hadn't come to Perth, but I can't hate it because it has given us a great new life, Hubby has a great job, decent wage which allows us to live comfortably and spend quality time together as a family. Which is exactly what we looking for all those years ago on a balcony in Spain. Almost 4 years in we have settled well, don't miss the UK AT ALL. Have an Aussie daughter, and hoping to become citizens in the new year. Sorry for the essay, but neither option was applicable to our circumstances, so felt the need to explain:embarrassed:.

Per year Bubbe2005, sorry should of clarified when I wrote my post, I'll fix it now:wubclub:

You beat me to it, I was just about to say about the School kids bonus off setting the fees.:smile:

I'm not complaining Kev, In fact I actually think it is a great idea...We pay for all incursions/excursions up front at the start of the year and I have peace of mind knowing that one of my kids isn't going to surprise me with a note for a trip that day and not being able to find measly $4 to pay for it, (cos normally I have given my change to charity collectors):cool: I know you weren't picking on me, but I think people whinge about it because it is unexpected. I know the first time I received the stationary list for my son it was $120, I remember saying to hubby "WTF, how can they need $120 worth of stationary?".:err: But, yeah it used to piss me off when the kids would come home with notes asking for money for this, that and the other, seemingly every. single. day!