nic0218

Hi there, best of luck, in advance , with your possible/future move to Rocky. The following answers are obviously subjective and I'm sure you'll want to have a good look around once you get here. 1. Best places: The Range area has some lovely older houses, Queenslanders etc. close to the Botanic gardens and the two grammar schools. Frenchville is one of the best suburbs. If you want lots of space or are thinking of building your own there are a couple of areas in north rocky: Glenlee, Olive tree estate etc. 2:The best schools depend on area and budget. If you're happy fee paying there's the Grammar, Girls grammar or some of the catholic schools: St Anthony's, St. Peter's. State school wise: Frenchville has a good reputation. Mount Archer has also been rising in their results. 3: south side, ( Rocky's divided by the Fitzroy river and everything is either south side, or north side!), is generally prone to flooding, but only in sections. Saying that there are areas near to Lakes creek, north side that regularly flood. Your best bet is to google Rockhampton regional council's website and there's a section which maps areas that are affected by flooding. 4: Everywhere takes 10 mins to get to in Rocky! However, there are people who commute into Rockhampton from "The Beach"- Yeppoon/ emu park, takes about 30/40 mins depending on traffic. There's obviously the airport that does daily flights to Brisbane and the train service. Hope that helps a little!

I'm not that clued up about kindergartens in Rocky, although my daughter may need to go to one for a short while, if we get there before Jan 2013!! I'd probably look at Kindies near to the better schools. Frenchville primary, is one of the best, but since they stopped their catchment area, is rapidly growing, (currently has 7 prep classes!!!). Mount Archer is another I visited and looks to be as good as Frenchville, but not as large, (only 4 prep classes!). Kindergarten wise, I agree with you, its really hard to judge how good they are on the internet. Best bet, is probably to spend a day visiting a few and see which one fits best for you and your daughter. Hope that helps a little, let me know if you want any more info!

Hi, We went to visit Rockhampton and Yeppoon in Feb. Since my daughter has started her first year of primary school, we also visited schools. Yeppoon is nice and certainly somewhere that we would enjoy going to at the weekend -beach, cycling etc, but we preferred Rocky's suburbs. The 2 best schools in Yeppoon are: Yeppoon State primary & Taraganba primary. Yeppoon state is good, (facilities and staff were good & it has it's own outdoor swimming pool!), the only down side that I could see, are that the buildings are older and some need work on. Taraganba had amazing facilities, but is absolutely enormous. I'd say it was the size of of an average secondary school here. I can't remember the exact number, but around 5-6 Prep classes. If you wanted any info on Rocky schools, let me know. I visited several of the best ones, (recommended by a fellow primary school teacher in Rocky!). Hope that helps.

Thanks Alaska, for the link. I've been on individual school websites, but not this one. I'll spend the weekend, adding to my research..thanks again!

Thanks to everyone for your replies. We're thinking of heading to the Yeppoon area, as my brother has advised not to touch Rockhampton!! We're also going on a reccie visit in Feb, so we'll check out the local schools and enquire into the catchment areas. Many thanks again to everyone who replied!

Hi there, Anyone had experience of getting their kids a primary school place in a QLD school? Do you apply centrally, as we do in the UK, Or do you apply directly to the school? I'm assuming that if it's the latter, there's waiting lists for the good schools?! Any replies about your experiences would be gratefully received!!

Hi Shirley, Thanks for you reply. Yes we have somewhere to stay sorted! My brother lives in QLD, so we're invading his house for a couple of weeks. Then back to the UK to sell our house!!

Hi there, Just a quick question. We got our 175 perm resident visa in June 2011 and will be going out to Aus in Feb to validate the visa. But we need to return to Uk to sell our house..pack up etc. My understanding was that we didn't need to get a returning resident visa, until our 5 years was up?! Is that correct, just having a minor panic that I've overlooked something...and that when we finally go out to AUS again they'll say "you need to have xyz..."! Thanks in advance for any replies

Thanks Geoff, that's a brilliant answer and really helpful. My husband is currently pitching this idea to his boss to become a night-shift graphic & Web designer!!

Hi there, If this has been covered in a previous thread, apologies! We have got our PR visas and were planning on going out to QLD in 2012 and looking for work. However, my hubby's company have started discussing the option of employing him remotely in AUS. (He's a web designer). Does anyone have experience of working for a UK company whilst in AUS? Did you get paid into a UK bank account -pay UK taxes or did you have it transferred into Aussie bank account and pay full taxes that end. We are going to consult an Aussie accountant when we go to validate our visas in Feb, but any advice from people in a similar situation would be gratefully received!!

Hi there, Would really appreciate some views about any primary schools in/around Yeppoon QLD. Thanks!

Hi there, Firstly, don't panic!! The writing is fine as long as you have a look at the format that they expect, and do a little practise if you feel you need it. There are a couple of threads that have some good advice from people that have already done their IELTS. Do a search for "IELTS Rant" & "IELTS this week". Hope that helps. Nic

Apologies to all PIO's if this has been mentioned in a previous thread! Could anyone tell me what happens to my daughter's Child trust fund, when we leave? Would she be able to access it when she's 18 from Oz, or does the government scrap the account? My husband is currently topping it up with a direct debit, so I'd like to stop it if the answer is the latter! Many thanks in advance, for any replies, Nic