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Thank you so much that's really helpful if you

Hi all, does anyone know which are the most up to date course revision books we need for the Pearson Acamdemic test. I've emailed company direct but am still waiting a reply. The ISBN number on their website seems to be a 2012 book. Is that the most up to date version or is there newer out? Any links to where we can get them?

We are going to look into Brisbane. A few hours online has shown plenty of work for carpenters there. My sister is going to put us in touch with her friend who lives there with a family. I'll post a new thread on the Qld page to get some info so apologies if you see my name pop up again with similar questions. Thank you all again for replying and taking the time to help

their situations are different, my friend who lives in Cronulla does not have children so less responsibility and my friend in Manly does have a family but her husband had a very well paid job. My husbands friend did many years in Sydney but has settled with his family in Newcastle and wouldn't go back to the busy city of Sydney. So it has been difficult to get a comparison with what our life would be like

Thanks Marisa I do appreciate the time you've taken to replying I agree it's best we have all the information including the negatives to avoid making an unwise decision. I'm certainly going to give some thought to Brisbane instead then as it might offer more of what we want for less cost. I don't know a lot about the suburbs in Brisbane but an old work colleague lives in Caloundra and my sister has a friend who lives in Brisbane so I'll make enquiries

Thanks Bungo and I do appreciate everyone's honesty and views and it is indeed what I asked for when I started the thread. I guess I perhaps wasn't expecting it? My husband would go self employed sub contracting I expect as he can earn more. It's not so much the job offer we were fixed on as he might not even work for that company, but more that there did seem to be a lot of work for carpenters in Sydney so we felt he had a good chance of work there. Whereas other parts of Australia we weren't so sure about his employment prospects

Thanks both for your views. I have received such a mixed bag of advice. Apart from one or two most on this thread have been very negative which has been disheartening to hear however I appreciate people's honesty. I do wonder, if Australia in terms of education, work hours etc isn't what it's made out to be for many UK migrants why so many still go? On the other hand I have spoken with a few friends who live in Australia now and they love it and would never come back, two friends who live in Sydney and two who live elsewhere in Australia. But clearly there's a reason you all feel the way you do too so it must have many down sides too. I have to say we are more confused than ever ...

thank you for your reply. It's good to read. We are definitely not doing this for the money as we earn ok here and have a house whereas we know we'd possibly not ever own a house there and will be living in a small apartment for a long time. I'd never work as a solicitor again either I doubt so would earn less. It's hard to explain why we want to go. Quality of life? The time we get together as a family is scarce and maybe we want that little time to count more? So beaches, outdoor living etc? And I know Sydney has seasons and gets cold too but when you come from Wales and it's never nice and summer weekend plans get cancelled due to poor weather all the time. We spend thousands and thousands on holidays just to have time by the sea in the sun and spend so much money trying to keep our daughter entertained over school holidays and weekends. There's very little to do where we live. We all crave an adventure. It might be hard but life is short right? I'd love my daughter to see more of the world, go to a school with international students. There are lots of reasons. Thank you again

So it it Newcastle where you are based now? My husband is keen on Newcastle given that he has a close friend living there. I don't know much about Newcastle. Would you say there is a decent amount of work for a carpenter there? What are schools like?

Thank you I will look into this area for sure

We are just sourcing opinions right now, we have not spent any money on this yet as we are investigating it all before we make any decision. If we can't afford it then we won't do it

What's the commute like from Newport to Sydney CBD and East suberbs?

Thank you this post is helpful. We have seen lots of people recommending Sutherland shire so would definitely look into that. What school do your children go to? Whilst my husbands job offer comes from a firm based in Bondi junction the work would be all around the eastern suberbs and they try and allocate work to their carpenters closest to where they live. I'd probably need to work in the CBD but would look to work anywhere that I could commute too. We would have childcare costs in school holidays but not for long as our daughter would be a teenager shortly after moving if we did indeed go for it so a few years max. Whilst we would possibly have to rely on my husband wage until I found work if we sold our home here we would probably have about £35k to bring with us as a buffer and to help set us up.

Thank you for this. I think we come from similar lives in Wales in that we used to live in the mining valleys of South Wales where there is nothing really aside from houses. Very little to do, no businesses etc so have always commuted to work and had to pay to go and do anything as nothing to do close by. We moved to a small village now nearer Cardiff but still it's quiet and we both commute for work. It's only been maybe the last 3 years we have had a bit of a more comfortable life as our earnings increased and we moved house. Can I ask where do you live now in Sydney?

we thought about keeping our home, but it has around £50k equity in it which obviously would help us hugely if we moved to Australia. Newcastle is an option. My sister visited and didn't like it there at all so that put me off but my husbands friend who lives there loves it so maybe