boganbear

Petrie is nice (just moved from there), Kallangur isnt bad (some bits nice others need doing up but nothing horrible), Murrumba Downs, Mango hill, Redcliffe, anywhere near the new train line really. North Lakes is like a rabbit warren and you need a sat nav to get around. I cant stand the place but the houses themselves are nice and there are loads of amenities, shops and superstores

They all appear to be in North lakes as well

if your son is living away at uni at the moment he may not be classed as dependent so you may not be able to add him to your visa and he will have to apply on his own merit when he finishes his degree. I doubt he would qualify for a skilled visa having just come out of uni and so his only option would be a working holdiay visa and would have to go back home afterwards as converting it can be done but is a nightmare. Quite a few parents with kids at uni have been caught out by this.

In Australia grammar schools are private schools, same for Catholic and C of E schools

I would agree about Caboolture but there are lots of nice places and properties around caboolture and morayfield. Friends lived at ningi and moved because it was quite isolated and whilst it is not far to the nearest decent shops, DIY stores etc it is a pain in the neck. The beach there is ok but not brilliant and how often are you going to go to the beach? In reality it is not going to be often and probably at weekends. I've lived very near beaches in Devon and in Melbourne and hardly went to them. The beach lifestyle seems wonderful but in summer it is too hot to go to the beach and it gets dark at 5.30 to 6pm. Ningi is notorious for rip tides and bull sharks and consequently, dawn or dusk can be dangerous to go swimming. Bribie is only up the road so why would you live in Ningi? We have not long moved to narangba and like it here. It is slightly rural, but we like it and all of the shops and superstores etc are not too far away by car. We do go to the beach and there are a few within 20 mins

appliances online are good but i would never shop at Harvey Norman. Its very expensive and their furniture is dreadful. Ideal if you are a pensioner with old fashioned tastes. Its not known as Hardly Normal nor nothing. you need to be cheeky and ask for discounts and you can get quite a lot off. when we came over we bought everythign brand new and paid about half price as we bought so much. weve just bought a new house and probably got about a third of everything from the Good Guys.

Agents in Australia can be nasty. You can try the tribunal but as you are back in the Uk, the agents dont give a toss so just put it down to experience.

The skyrail is good fun and takes quite a long time which is good. the steam railway is no so good as it goes through a cutting for a lot of it so you dont see much. if i went again i would do the cable car both ways. we did the barrier reef from cairns with a scuba dive. the day was quite enjoyable but i found the actual dive quite disappointing. it looked mostly dead and we didnt see many fish. maybe i was expecting too much but it wasnt what you see in nature programmes.

Read the character test requirements https://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/79character.htm. Essentially, you have to be sentenced to 12 months in prison or more

God you lot are a bunch a whingeing poms. Did you not do your research before coming? Australia is bigger than Europe and will have a variety of climates. Surely watching Neighbours will tell you that it does rain in Melbourne. its not sunny every day. having said that, when we arrived it was at the start of the drought and it didnt rain for 4 months Melbourne is expensive as are most large cities. I dont know why so many people are moaning about working hours either. My hours were only 1.5 hours more a week than i worked in the Uk and i now work in a job that is 35 hours a week and if i have no work after 3pm i am free to go home or work from home if i am not seeing clients so it depends who you work for. I do have to do a bit of travel around the country which means travelling on sundays but being put up in 4 star hotels and a good food allowance makes up for it. i even request flying on sunday mornings so i can have half a day of luxury when i get to my destination...and my partner often comes too so they become mini holidays. We did move 2 years ago to Brisbane mostly because my partners family are here and most of our holidays were spent seeing them so we decided that we might as well move here. The humidity can be unbearable in summer but we dont whinge about it. We do what we can to make the most of it - go to the rellies house as they have a pool or the cinema or shopping mall or to the beach or (after saving up the cash) got aircon and a spa. There is plenty to do here and there is nothing i love more than going for a scenic drive, hike, chilling out with some beers or BBQ and a picnic in one of the water holes we have discovered. You have to make an effort here and try different things but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Life is definitely much better here than in England.

I am sure there are some and there have been incidents in Australia similar to those in the Uk but I doubt very much that in time,the same thing will happen to the extent that it has in the UK as generally, the muslim community and many other communities have integrated into Australia much better than in the UK and Aussie politicians and the judiciary do not have such a morally relativistic view point. A number of politicians have said that the only law in Australia is Australian law and sharia law won't be allowed, even for dispute resolution, which has been allowed in the UK for business transactions or divorce settlements. This is not racist - just implementing the rule of law. Some of what Gove said about British values are not necessarily unique to the UK as others have pointed out but I dont think Gove actually said they were unique to the UK either. They are values which most British people would support. Of course there are many anomolies such as CoE Bishops having seats in the House of Lords or the Lords not being an elected legislature. The UK and Iran are the only countries in the world where religions have an official capacity in forming a legislature. Labour and the Tories do not have the balls to make the House of Lords a directly elected chamber because it is in their interests not to. There is a difference on emphasis between British "fair play" and the Aussie "fair go" but they are essentially the same thing but the main difference in attitude is that in Australia it is the newcomer that has to fit in with Aussie society and not the other way around as appears to have happened in the UK. I have had to alter some of my behaviour and attitudes very subtly, despite Australia and the Uk being very similar.

i think once you get past a certain point, its just bloody hot and what the meteorological info you can find on the internet becomes meaningless. Brisbane is hot enough in summer. Living near work will mean less travel time and expense and more time to be with your kids and trying to cool down and rocky is bigger and will have more local facilities. Hopefully someone who lives there can explain the benefits of either place.

It's the lefty claptrap written in the article which is the cause of many of the problems the Uk now faces. If any if the leaders from the major parties had any balls and put the UK first you wouldn't get Muslim fanatics blowing up trains, murdering people or trying to impose sharia law in schools or the government letting foreign born terrorists stay in the country because expelling them back to their own country would be against their human rights. nor would you get petty crims being pampered in prisons and not being subject to endless EU rules. I'm not a rabid UKIP supporter and still relatively young but even in my adult lifetime, the UK has gone downhill which is one if the reasons why I emmigrated. Australia and Aussie politicians are not perfect but but they do try to put Australia first, instead of selling it out and lining their own pockets. Michael Gove is an idiot but perhaps the value more than anything else that the UK needs is common sense.

I did it in 10 mins but it took them 6 months to send me the money back

do you have any evidence of his British citizenship such as a birth certificate that shows he was born in the UK. Technically you do not need a Uk passport to enter the UK but as he will be arriving on an Australian passport, technically he will need a visa. Evidence of British citizenship will help but you may still be delayed by British immigration. I am sure you are aware that they are incompetent letting in any foreign criminal in only to make life difficult for genuine people. Contact the British High Commission immediately for advice and you may need to get an emergency UK passport and given your circumstances they should be able to do something more quickly/ Dont forget to get copies of his medical records from your Aussie GP so your doctor/hospital in the Uk has full details. This will be helpful to do for all of you anyway. However, treatment on the NHS is not guaranteed, even if you can prove British citizenship. You need to pass the habitual residence test if you have lived abroad for longer than a specified period. You need to prove that you intend to stay in the UK and have significant family ties. this is to stop foreign health tourism which can be very inflexible to those in genuine need. When you consult a doctor i wouldnt tell them you have arrived from Australia. Either re-register with your old doctor or get the records transferred if you are moving to a different area. Australians are entitled to emergency treatment in hospitals (ie Casualty) free of charge under the reciprocal agreement but Im not sure if cancer would be classed as emergency treatment as it is a longer term costly condition. There have been many cases of British people moving back to the Uk and being denied NHS treatment. My partner has dual citizenship and registering at the doctors was a bit of a nightmare but eventually they relented and let him register. havre a look at this website http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/benefits_w/benefits_coming_from_abroad_and_claiming_benefits_hrt.htm This can be very important as conditions such as cancer enable you to claim many benefits for your husband and you as you will be his main carer. I've been in Oz for over 5 years so i am not clued up on how benefits work now but when my mum had cancer it was astonishing what she and my dad could claim for such as special deals for stair lifts, Blue parking badge free prescriptions, incapacity/disability benefit etc. This must be a very unsettling time for you all so best of luck

It depends what you like. We lived in Williamstown and we're lucky to rent a 2 bed flat at a fairly reasonable price. Train fares were about a third of the train in Brisbane. If you rent in Australia you do not pay rates or for water except if you are in a meter and then you pay for the water you have used and not the other charges which should not be much. we moved from Melbourne to Brisbane partly to be nearer to family but found traffic, train reliability and house prices in Melbourne ridiculous. Otherwise it was a nice place. However Melbourne is not as cultural as it makes out. A there was more going on in Bristol . theatre or concert ticket costs a fortune compared to the UK. If you are not fussed about the arts then Brisbane is ok. Some big international acts do cone to Brisbane, but again, prices are high. I prefer Brisbane but I found had most of the disadvantages of London and not many of its advantages...and it's cold in winter!

Even if you have a 9-5 job you can claim for small office items. I did a wireless keyboard and mouse, flash drive, bin etc. I work a few days a month from home so I claim a for electricity, internet/phone 10% of the bill and virus software and last year I used most of the $300 allowance on a possum fur lined leather iPad sleeve without any trouble.

if you have PR and 2 years left you can just go, no need for a partner visa.

Most people go without having a job and it is pot luck what happens next to some extent. I was lucky as i found a fairly good job in 2 weeks and things in many industries are tougher now. However, if you dont go you might regret it forever. The first few years were very hard but staying in the Uk with the recession would have been harder. We have sacrificed a lot of things and saved over half of our wages for 5 years. We have recently built a house which is fantastic and better than we could have afforded in the UK, have money in the bank, and life is generally good. I wouldnt go to Perth as it is expensive by Aussie standards and quite isolated. there may not be so many work opportunities so you need to go where you can find decent work first then work on what else you want in life

Couldnt really care less about a foreign monarch and it's pretty hypocritical of Australia to celebrate it. The sooner Australia cuts the cord and finally becomes a republic the better. I cant think of any other countries, except Commonwealth ones, that have a foreign head of state who does nothing for the country. As for the Royal family, the are the biggest bunch of freeloaders in history and do nothing for Australia except visit on tax payer funded jollies every few years and Aussie go mad for it because they are somebody famous from overseas.

the takeaway next to dominos pizza in burpengary is fairly good

Its easy. Leave on your Aus passport and when you go through immigration entering the UK show the the British one but its best to have both in case there are problems. When you return show them your Aus one

Whilst i can understand your frustration with the system, who are you to tell the Australian government and people that you think you are entitled to emigrate on your terms? Australia is not like the EU where any EU citizen has the right to live in another country - even with a criminal history. In the past, many of the 10 pound poms came on a family visa because Australia was less choosy about what skills emigrants have, but now needs highly qualified emigrants with specific skill sets. You are free to try for another visa type and if you meet the criteria you will be accepted. Perhaps if the UK had limited the family visa to very low numbers from some Commonwealth countries, it wouldnt have the social problems and division it has now.

Of course it would

I had a kidney stone and it is incredibly painful but lithotripsy treatment usually breaks them up. My doctor had no idea what caused it but it is becoming more common for people in their late 20s early 30s and the medical profession doesn't know why. I was told to drink as much as you can to flush out your kidneys - at least 3 litres a day. I don't always manage it but I have tried and not gad a problem since. Cranberry juice s very good for them so I gave a couple of glasses a week. The Australian climate does not help and it is easy to dehydrate, even in winter or when it's not hot.