yumimumi

Hi everyone we are currently living near Newcastle NSW, have been in Australia a year. moved to east coast mainly cos my family are here. I am a midwife and OH is a boilermaker. OH works on FIFO in WA. 26/9. Anyway to cut a long story short, we have 2 kids under 5, and my family are no help to me at all. I have a few good friends here but not loads. OH friends are all in WA. I also know people over that way. We are seriously considering relocating to WA in the new year as the bulk of the work for OH is over WA. I can pretty much get a job anywhere with my trade. hopefully. We know people who live in Canning Vale, Rockingham and Safety Bay. Would love peoples opinions on what these places are like to live and other nearby suburbs. Not sure if we should be NOR or SOR. I just feel so isolated living over here in NSW. MY OH does too. We just feel it would be better for us, as a family to relocate. Miss our mates in UK so much so think we would be happier in WA, we also have a couple of friends who are emigrating to Perth. Any advice/opinions would be fab. Thanks Nicola

Hi everyone, i just thought id jump on this thread, Im a young(ish) mummy (38) lol, and i have 2 kiddies - a girl of 5, and a 6 month old boy. We currently live in NSW but are seriously looking at relocating to Perth area. My fiance is a boilermaker and works on FIFO. We are originally from up north (UK) and have been in OZ for a year. I am a midwife so will be also looking for a job in the area when we come over. But one of the main reasons for wanting to come over to WA is that my fiance has friends over there (english ones as well as oz ones) and he misses the banter. I really miss my mates back home, and have made a few pals whilst here in NSW. We initially came to NSW as most of my family live here, but I dont see them hardly at all. Id love to meet some other mums in the same situation as me and hopefully make lots of new pals. thanks Nicola x

Hi there, I literally had to jump through hoops. Ahpra decided my transcript was not detailed enough and wouldnt accept it. I therefore had to contact Hull Uni and get them to send another. it cost me 25 pound for another to be done. It had to include all my placement hours for the full 3 years. and academic hours. basically all subjects i had studied whilst there. the amount of hours i had done there in detail. the placements have to be detailed too. I also had my old lecturers post me out the module guides. I will dig my things out this weekend and try and scan them across to you. I applied to Ahpra office at Sydney but they were bloody useless. Mine took 7 months to get sorted and it was a right pain, dont worry hun, ill help u as much as i can. nicola x

hi, i too would like the answer to this post. i had a baby 6 weeks ago in oz

just to update you all, i received my ahpra midwife registration yesterday, after a long and painful 7 months wait. 4 months of this waiting was whilst i was living in australia. so to all of you still wondering and waiting. its worth it in the end. am so looking forward to starting my job. av been pulling my hair out with boredom and loneliness. but anyway onwards and upwards,. nicola

hi, we came from sunny scunny, uk in october 2011. now living in near maitland nsw, about 30 min drive from newcastle. dont know where toronto is, u will love newcastle, has great beaches. people over here seem to be really friendly. i have come over with my fella and little girl (4) and bump (6 month pregnant). welcome to australia. we love it so far.

i applied to sydney 5 months ago, and am still waiting

hi, i just wanted to give my tuppence worth. i too am uk trained midwife with 3 yr experience. have been in australia since middle october. applied to ahpra for my registration in july, when i was still in the uk. and 5 months later, i am still waiting for it. ahpra couldnt organise a pissup i abrewery. i have a job waiting for me, but they wont wait forever, i have emailed, phoned several times but you never get anywhere, just get told now iv a job offer i will be placed in a more priority queue. we came here on a 175 visa, oh is a boilermaker, i didnt need to do the ielts. as i provided a letter from school to say i was taught in an english speaking school, and subjects were in english. hopefully father xmas will bring me my golden registration so i can start work. lol. then again, a girl can dream. good luck nicola x

More than anything, i miss english mature red chedder cheese, dairylea cheese spread, used to get it from asda, richmond sausages and gravy granules (bisto) apart from these four, i have found suitable equivalents for most of our favourite stuff.

hi we used pickfords for our move to australia. the office staff in the uk seemed a bit useless, but the removal men were fantastic, group of superb guys, were meticulous in the packaging of our belongings. our container cleared customs no problems and was delivered last week. only breakages were 2 vases, which i didnt think was too bad really considering its come all this way. only problem australia end was getting the boxes collected after all the unpacking. the boxes have been stuffed in our garage for a week now and we were getting fed up with them not getting this sorted, but should have them collected by this saturday and then thats it. we paid 3700.00 for full use of a 20 ft container from yorkshire to nsw. good luck with your decision.

hi, i too am a uk trained midwife, i applied to ahpra on 14 july this year. emigrated to australia 7 weeks ago, cant get work cos still bloody waiting for my registration paperwork. i applied to sydney, since arriving here after a month, i contacted sydney branch to chase up my application only to be told they didnt know i was in australia therefore my application was still in the international pile, hence not been looked at yet. i kindly informed them i was now in australia, had to complete and post change of address forms and letter from my secondary school to state all subjects were spoken in english etc. sent those off, i then telephoned them 2 weeks ago to say i had had an interview for a midwife here and had been offered a job pending registration. this job will only be held open for me for 6 months, again Ahpra said i have to get this job offer in writing and post it to them, this will then put me in a more priority queue, but will not tell me how much longer i will be waiting. am starting to lose the will to live now, its been 5 months, i need to get working asap, as i am also 22 weeks pregnant, AHPRA are a shower of ****. sorry for the rant. nicola xx

please help pickfords are coming on tuesday to pack my house up. we fly to sydney a week sunday. i originally wanted our stuff to go into storage for approx 4 months until we got sorted with a house etc, as we are staying with family when we arrive. pickfords have given me a quote for monthly storage fees and its quite expensive. dont know what to do. plus they have added on a handling fee of $400. this is basically for moving the stuff from one container to another. my family have said they have a lot of land and i can hire a container, store it on their land until we are sorted and this would obviously be a lot cheaper. i rang my shipping company to enquire about this and have been told if they deliver our stuff to my familys residence, i have to sort another container out andthis would then void my insurance once the container was unloaded. am confused. all i want is for my stuff to be secure for a few months, but dont want to pay over the odds for the privilege. thanks

hi, we are flying to australia from heathrow in october. with singapore airlines. just wondered how much hand luggage we can take on board with us. have had a look on singapore air website there will be myself, OH and our little girl. was thinking of taking a small trolley case each. 2 x laptops, my handbag, portable dvd player which OH would carry and little one would carry toddlers backpack will we be able to take all this. dont want to get stung at checkin desk. please help

yeah leaving dos are pants, i have had my work one and also my family one. weve got a joint one coming up for all of our friends, now that one will be really difficult. cos we know those who are coming, most of them we will never see ever again. i leave work in 2 weeks and have got the rest in annual leave to get packed up and clean my house out when the shippers have been and gone, as my best mate is renting our house out for a while. we are going to nsw initially, my family live near newcastle. OH is going to have to work away in WA. off the coast of Perth. So maybe at some point, we may relocate over there. Time will tell. have u booked ur flights yet. have u booked your travel insurance and shipping insurance. who did u go with. we fly on the 9th october. am excited but really nervous. when u get ur price from crown, prepare urself. they are really expensive.

hi no they never mentioned anything about padlocks or walls. only thing extra were meant to be getting charged for is a wooden crate for our tv to protect it. we have started having our leaving do's, have already had two. got a couple more, but have loads to still sort and do before shippers come in 2 wks. when do u go. where u hoping to settle

hi, we are from scunny. hope you get good news from JM about the cubic footage. I agree with your comment about the office staff at pickfords. I too had problems with them so for my sins i posted something on here asking others for their opinions before i parted with my dosh. i received a call from the sales guy 2 days later who had been informed that their main man had been on this site reading posts about his company and wanted to amend things. therefore all of my queries were dealt with by the actual sales guy who obviously knows what hes talking about. the office person i had mentioned was actually very nice but didnt fill me with confidence when i called with questions. so i became worried about shipping my belongings across the world with them, began wishing i had stuck with my original choice which was JM. but the temptation of being able to fill my container to capacity for that price was too good to turn down. I have been assured that i have fab packing guys coming on 4th october, so i hope thats correct. time will tell i guess. getting really nervous now, we fly 4 weeks tomorrow. where abouts are you going.

hi, just out of interest, we too are from north lincs. jm gave us a quote of £3675 but this was based on around 700 cubic feet excluding insurance and aqis. at the time i asked about putting a few extra boxes in which wasent a problem, but if we wanted to fill the container we would have been looking at an extra couple of hundred quid. therefore i decided to go with pickfords, i have managed to get a sole use container to fill it to the brim and its costing us £3700. were going to NSW. this price dosent include aqis or insurance or storage. wish it did. one of the previous posters on this thread said they had heard bad things about pickfords. hopefully things will be okay for us though. good luck for when u go.

hi, basically everything you submitted for your TRA application has to be repeated on the ARTC paperwork. everything has to be certified again. its a ball ache. but my OH needs it for his trade (boilermaker). we sent ours over in august, still waiting to hear and its been around 6 weeks now. hope that helps. were emigrating on 9 october, hopefully it will be sorted by the time we arrive. fingers crossed. good luck.

hi, we are flying to sydney on 9 october from heathrow. i am seriously stressed, 8 weeks pregnant, working full time at the minute to get some last minute cash. We have a 4 year old daughter who starts full time school next wk. My OH is useless. hes going to work every day granted, but as for the stress, worry and mountain of work that has gone into this australia lark. i have done it all. I too have a reporters notebook, which i have listed everything I have to sort out prior to going. My OH just adds to the list, and says YOU need to do this. Ive got to the point where I just think, well at least if i do it all i know its been done and done properly. LOL I myself have redirected post, cancelled childcare vouchers, arranged airport travel and hotel night before we fly. Given forwarding addresses for pensions, bank, passport office, DVLA, TV, internet dongle, gas elec water council tax. child benefit, child tax credits. got references from work. sorted shipping, insurances for shipping and travel, sorted OH ARTC certificate, got visa stamp. bought bits and pieces for the container. i.e. bedding, towels new clothes next size up etc. Got medical records from our GP. only cost me £3. Still got lots more to do, our leaving parties have commenced. so what with that and also being pregnant my emotions are all over the place. I am really stressed also about being pregnant, and the worry of whether i can secure a midwifes post once there, as i wont qualify for maternity leave pay. but that is something i guess i will sort out once there. I have most of my family already there, and that is who we are staying with for a few months while we get sorted. its nice to know im not on my own with all the hassle of all this, but its also nice to read other peoples posts when they say they have been in oz for a while and things slot into place. I am really looking forward to it. my OH just wants to go now, claims hes sick of waiting. 4 and a half weeks to go. sorry for the rambling on post. nicola xx

hey evry1. we fly to sydney on 9 October from Heathrow. having 2 nights stopover in singapore. going to be settling in nsw. near newcastle. i myself am quite lucky as most of my family are already there. My OH is stepping into the unknown, but as a contractor he has worked away from home for years. we have just started having our leaving doos, OH said bye to his best pal yesterday which gutted him, iv got works do and family do this friday. not looking forward to it but gotta just bite the bullet, as we know deep down its the best for all of us, and our little girl will have so many opportunities. we are going to have around 2 weeks off to get accustomed to the place and sort the necessary bits an bobs out, whilst also getting jobs. im a midwife so may not be able to work in this profession until AHPRA pull their finger out and sort my registration out. but thats another story. Pickfords are coming to pack our house up on 4th october, so i guess its wobbles all the way. good luck everyone. nicola x

thanks everyone just to clarify to the post above, the cop car was parked up above us on a flyover. so not sure if they were clocking us along with other oncoming vehicles or the opposite direction. thanks nicola

thanks for that, but still not sure what to do about the uk licence, possible points/ban/fine etc. hopefully im worrying about nothing, but the way my luck goes ill be stung good and proper

we fly to sydney in 6 weeks. yesterday my fella was driving my car, and reckons hes been clocked by the police on the motorway for speeding. when questioned and rollocked by myself he claims he may have been travelling at around 100mph. he already has 6 points on his licence for speeding, and obviously under normal circumstances if in the uk he would accrue another 6 points and a possible ban and fine. i am not prepared to take the rap for him, my licence is clear. even though it is my car and obviously the fine will come addressed to me. i am just worried what to do. my oh isnt really sure if he has been clocked or not, reckons they could have been monitoring traffic on other side. but if we have been caught, the letter wont come through before we go, he says dont worry cos we wont be in the uk, but i do. i cant help it. how would it affect our uk licence if we are in australia. and what happens when we try to change our licences over to oz ones. i am really worried and dont know what to do. please help. nicola we are going to nsw by the way. dont know if that makes a difference.

we have pickfords coming to pack our belongings up beginning of october. am starting to wonder now if i have made the right choice now. the sales guy who came to my house was great, but their office staff are not filling me with confidence, when i call them i get fobbed off as they dont seem to know the answers to my questions. i bartered them down in price and managed to get a full 20 foot container from yorkshire to nsw for £3700, which i thought was good. getting worried now, wish i had gone with john masons now, but john masons quoted us £3675 but that was for approx 700 cubic feet, but their staff seemed really knowledgeable. please help, i know you cant name and shame but anyones experiences with pickfords would be greatly appreciated via pm, before i part with my hard earned cash. thanks nicola

hi we fly to oz on 9 october from heathrow. just wondering what to pack for the journey, bearing in mind we have a 4 year old daughter to keep entertained for the flight to singapore, and then after 2 days stopover, another flight to sydney. just keep thinking about my hand baggage allowance, and what i can stuff into it. am i okay to take goodies, toys etc for our young one. all tips/advice would be fab. will be 13 wks pregnant by the time we go too so hopefully morning sickness will not be an issue. as we stop in singapore for 2 nights, do we need to have jabs. sorry for all the questions, but am a right stresshead at the moment, dont want to forget/miss anything vital. cheers nicola