julzcary

Thank you all for your prompt replies....seems like she is going to have to carry on living life on the edge in a crime riddled and corrupt country unless she goes back to Old Blightly!! The other option I suppose then is employee sponsorship - is there an age limit for that? Thank you

I used this site as a wealth of information when I embarked on my emigration from the UK to the sunny Gold Coast and was amazed at how helpful members were. Well, fast forward 9 years and my sister is looking at emigrating from South Africa to Australia and as I'm a bit out of touch with the rules and regs, wondered if someone could just give me a quick heads up on options in terms of visa whether that be skilled or family sponsor. UK & SA citizen Age 46 (turning 47 this year) Qualified secondary school teacher (deputy head). Worked for many years in this field Due to complete her PHD this year What are the pre-requisites for a family sponsorship? Thanks in anticipation for your help.

Go onto facebook and join the Brits on the Gold Coast. They have lots of meet ups, both family get together and partner get togethers and ladies that do lunch/coffee etc Lots of friendly people on there. Where are you living Laura and Ravi? Julie

Have a look here...........http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/results.aspx?silo=stock&q=((((((((SiloType%3d%5bBrand+new+cars+in+stock%5d)%7c(SiloType%3d%5bBrand+new+cars+available%5d))%7c(SiloType%3d%5bDemo+and+near+new+cars%5d))%7c(SiloType%3d%5bDealer+used+cars%5d))%7c(SiloType%3d%5bDemo+and+near+new+cars%5d))%7c(SiloType%3d%5bPrivate+seller+cars%5d))%26((Make%7b%3d%7d%5bMercedes-Benz%5d)%7b%26%7d(Model%7b%3d%7d%5bCLK280%5d)))%26(Service%3d%5bCarsales%5d))&vertical=car&sortby=~Price

I have the same car and year and I've just looked on auto trader and am gob smacked at how cheap they are. Between about 2,500k - 3500K (I dont have a pound sign on my pc here!) I brought mine over 4 years ago and still have it, although looking at selling it pretty soon,but I have no idea how much its worth here. I know for the money that it would be worth in the UK, here you would get an old car here probably looking at a 1997 car! So yes, cars are much more expensive here. Problem is our car isnt here in australia so its difficult to get a value on it. I know when I came here, the insurance company (which I hasten to add, I could only find one company to insure it), had to go away and deliberate on the valuation on it for replacement value and 4 years ago, they put it at $30,000. If I get a value as a trade in, I'll let you know.

Hi Becky, I'm a town planner and fortunately got permanent residency with my profession and live on the gold coast. I came over here on holiday prior to me moving here and sent off my CV to lots of town planning consultancies whilst I was on holiday, and fortunately had about 3 or 4 responses/meetings, which led to me being offered a position when I moved here and have been here over 4 years now. Where are you looking on living, as I do know of a company that we do a lot of work with who has a number of people working for him (presumably on some form of temporary visas as the names are always changing and they are usually foreign!). I think he has them on a contract basis, because he has recently downsized and sold his office and just works from home, with the other architectural technicians working from their home or elsewhere. Not quite sussed out their arrangements! So, you might want to contact companies once you're here. Not sure that many would be offering sponsorship at the moment, as this line of work has been hit with the GFC as not many people or building/developing at the moment. Hope that helps. Julie

Everyone loves the british accent too! And apparently once you turn around 14 years of age you dont really loose your accent. My son was 12 when we moved here (now 16) and he hasn't lost his accent. You'll find you finish your sentences on a high and will use aussie words but other than that you'll probs keep your british accent. My daughter is nearly 12 and talks english to us and aussie to her friends! Ive met people that have been here 40+ years and are still as broad as ever! Good look on your move.

My daughter's 11 and we live on the gold Coast where it's pretty much sunny and hot all the time but regardless of weather, fashion still prevails and she wears them even in summer with her shorts and dresses etc. And yes they are more expensive here just like most things.

Hi there, my son is 16 and in his 4th year of playing footy here on the gold coast and there are lots of girls/womens teams around here, in different division, ranging to Premiership Open Teams. Dont know how the standard compares, but 2 seasons ago, my son had 2 girls playing in his male team which was division 1 or 2, so there is the option to play male if wanted, although as I say there are lots of girls teams. There is also in most sports, 'Representative' teams whereby you try out for the Reps team. I would say it is similar to our Town Teams. This is separate to your own local club and you would train with the reps and play matches and tournaments against other Rep teams. My daughter is in the reps team for netball, she's turning 12, and will compete in lots of games/tournaments around the place and as far as Rockhampton in the north. I believe there is also a higher standard league that plays out of Brisbane (one of my daughter's ex-friends plays in it). She's 12 and has played for at least a season or two. Her son also plays in it and he got a scholarship to the most expensive school here on the coast for footy. I know the fees are expensive for that - somewhere in the region of $1,000+. I've also just got the uniform list for my daughters netball rep team and that's over $300! Anyway, I'm sure there are options for your daughter. Perhaps make some enquiries with http://www.footballgc.com.au/ There may also be an option for her to play in the women's 'open' teams, although may be restricted by age at the moment. Hope that helps. Julie

Hey, it probably is the love/hate thing about Blackpool that attracts us to the Gold Coast! Before moving here, we'd been to Australia 3 times, did Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Cairns, and came back each time with no real desire to move to Australia, but as soon as we landed in the Gold Coast, we knew it was for us and moved here 6 months later. Still have the same love/hate thing with Surfers like Blackpool, but you cant beat a bit of Rumours and Brannigans type places now and again lol YOu should join this site for lots of meet ups and get togethers. https://www.facebook.com/groups/brits.on.the.gold.coast/ You can both add me on face book if you like and if you have any quieries along the way, just give me a shout and we can chat when you're here. I'm under Julie Cary. My profile is my 2 kids I think! Have fun and hope to meet up soon. Julie

Maybe speak with your teacher and ask if they can buddy you up with someone. Most schools to do that with new students. What school are you at BTW?

Hi Sam, I went to Palatine/knowle high but wanted to go to greenlands as I was a gymnast and they had a great gym team, but I didn't get in as my first choice! If your my age (just turned 45) then we'll probably know some people as some of my friends went there. Where are you looking at moving to over here? Have you been before? My hubby and I had been a few times and one time just drove round and round looking at places, houses, schools, so when we were ready to move, we knew exactly where we wanted to be, which was definitely helpful. We love where we live in Benowa as its really central to everything. Do you have jobs sorted for when you arrive? I'm sure you'll know that the new Gold Coast hospital has just opened. At least the pound has picked up. I'm gutted as we changed the last of our money a coup,e of months ago when it hit 1.62. It's now nearly 1.9. Anyway, if you need any more info, give me a shout. And no, the Aussies don't get our seance of humour! Julie

Forgot to say that Benowa have catchment areas. Check the map to see if you're in it.

Hi there, we live in Benowa and my daughter goes to Benowa primary school. I'd heard before we moved here that the primary and high school were excellent, so we went to have a look round. Most schools particularly state schools are much bigger than in the uk and as my kids came from a small school with just one class per year, my daughter felt that it was a bit big. So we went and had a look at the private school st Kevin's next door and it was much more like her old school, so we put her in there. However she really never settled there, a lot of the girls thought they were prima donnas, and lots of fall outs and bullying, to which the teachers did nothing. We kept thinking things would improve each term/year when she changed classes and people, but it didn't. She then made the decision herself that she wasn't going back, so she has just done 2 terms in grade 6 at Benowa and she has never been happier. All of the girls we've met are just lovely and she now has some great friends there. So much different than the other school. She's also improved her maths highly which she was struggling at in st Kevin's. That aside, apart from our good experience with it, by all accounts it is a good school -not heard any bad reports about it. It's also been selected for excellence in the science. They also have good French classes as a pretence to the French immersion programme at the high school. Also have great music and band and win many awards. As to the high school, again apparently it is good and gets excellent results, better than some private schools. The excellence programmes apparently are good, particularly the French immersion which someone who is a teacher in another private school told me it was excellent and a great opportunity to do. we did have a look round there for my son who was entering high school,when we arrived but probably caught the school off guard as there were a couple of expulsions whilst we were there! We decided to puts him in aquinas, alhough he has since moved to Queensland Academy which is an academy off excellence for the sciences which takes entries from grade 10. A fantastic school and opportunity if you have a child who is very bright and studious. Not for the faint hearted though! Not decided whether my daughter will go to Benowa high and do one of the excellence programmes next year or whether she'll also go to aquinas. We'll see what the next year brings. Hope that helps, but if you need any more info, just give me a shout. Julie

I have an 11 year old daughter that goes to Benowa State School. We placed her in a private catholic school when we came here thinking it would be better for her, ie, much smaller than the state schools, but after nearly 3 years of not being happy at school, and bullying etc, we have recently moved her to Benowa State. Which to be honest, we would have put her there in the first place, but she wanted the smaller school. (Should have stuck with our instinct). Benowa is an extremely good state and high school, with excellence programmes. Often outdoes a lot of the private schools in terms of results. So far, so good with Benowa. I work in southport and it takes me no more than 10 minutes to get to work from Benowa (about 7 if all the lights are green). There are quite a few other schools that are in the vicinity of southport, some state, some private. Julie