Masken

Although it was a few years ago now we travelled round in an estate car having removed the back seats and putting a mattress in the back. During our travels we were woken one morning to someone tapping on the window asking us if we would like some brekky, as the smell of a cooked breakfast was wafting through the mozzie nets we'd shut into the door allowing us to have the window open a little way each night we eagerly accepted. When we got out of the car we there was a coach parked up, it had obviously arrived whilst we had slept, and it was amazing. The couple who had invited us to breakfast had converted the whole coach allowing them to travel around Australia. The passengers seat was a swivel armchair which when turned around became part of the lounge. They had a TV build into the wall and a couple of armchairs. Then they had a kitchen with a small kitchen table to sit at, perfect size for two. There was then a double bedroom and a loo and shower, we couldn't believe it, I think even looking at it now it would still be amazing and this was about 18 years ago!!!

If your son's scooter was on the grass I assume she has to drive across the grass to use her car every time, in which case as grass is usually not driven over and children know this and automatically assume it would be the proper place to leave their toys safely as a responsible driver she should be checking it before reversing... as you said lucky it wasn't a child. As you don't plan to claim for the scooter then I would just say to her... tell you what we'll call it quits I'll replace my son's scooter that you have damaged and you can claim for your car repairs. Confrontation is something I'm not very good at and something that I really need to improve on so I know exactly how you feel about not saying what you wish you should have said. Good luck and just think if all the other neighbours have had problems then she is obviously the problem and not anyone else... I'm sure it will all work out.

As far as I'm aware you don't have to enter the country to start living there by this date you can just have to visit to validate the visa by this date. My husband knew someone who was granted their visa and was due to go away to Afghan for 6 months so on his pre-tour leave he jumped on a plane, arrived in Oz got his visa stamped and then jumped straight back on a plane to travel back to the UK ready to do his job. Not suggesting you do it this way I bet he was shattered but the visa is then valid for 5 years once it's been validated although I can't tell you whether that's 5 years from the validation trip, from the medicals or from when it was granted hopefully someone with more knowledge can let you know that one.

I certainly am never concerned about which education system is better to me it's about finding something that works for my children. I know someone said you can put a child in any school and if they want to learn they will but I don't agree with this. My eldest is only 7 and she is now in her third primary school due to our circumstances changing (long story). When she started at an 'Outstanding' british school in Germany she was constantly in trouble, her stubborn attitude etc didn't help at all. She had a fantastic teacher, who I became very good friends with through the many meetings we had regarding my daughter. She didn't want to write at all, didn't really want to read, was very good at maths but lacked any belief in her ability despite constant encouragement from both the teacher and when she was at home as well. After 18 months there was still a battle going on with her work and it was like starting all over again with another teacher (who was also very good). I can't fault the school at all but it wasn't right for my daughter. When my husband left the Army we could not afford the fees to keep her there so she had to go to a local German school. Allowing for the fact she couldn't speak the language she seemed to be doing very well and was thriving, she picked up the language quickly and I discovered more about the way she seems to learn, although actual writing was still a problem and her stubborn attitude still had an impact on her learning which the teacher found frustrating. We are now back in the UK and my daughter now attends a local Steiner School and this seems to be the solution for us. Their system of education so far seems to be exactly what she needs. She is writing constantly even when at home and is when she had to have a day off sick I actually had tears from her because she loves school so much she didn't want to miss a day. Now I appreciate Steiner isn't for everyone but it seems to be working for my daughter and anything that is boosting her self confidence and she actually wants to learn means I have one happy daughter (who is still stubborn lol) but she is learning so much more and thriving at school. My 5 year old couldn't get a place in the Steiner school at the moment so she is in a very good primary school and she is doing very very well so I won't fault the education system it is simply down to the individual child and what works for them to encourage... anyone can and will learn provided the environment etc is right of them but sadly one school can't offer all the options for everyone.

H I can't answer the question about which year your daughter will be in but with the language is something I've experienced with my own daughter. At the age of 6 and a half my daughter moved from a British school into a German school. All she could say in German was hello, thank you and goodbye despite living in Germany for most of her life, we'd lived and socialised around Brits the whole time... even German friends insisted on speaking English when we were around. Anyway, it took a couple of months for her to feel really really settled but she enjoyed school from the beginning, the one advantage I suppose was that in Germany they don't start school until they are 6 so she started in Year 1 with the rest of them but she picked up the language very quickly. I do know that when my daughter was in the British school one of her friends started halfway through the year, she was Fijian and didn't speak a word of English, her brother was a couple of year older as well and also couldn't speak any English. They picked up the language and fitted in very very quickly as well, it was a matter of weeks. The fact that your daughter already speak a bit of English but understands a lot I think you will be surprised how quickly she'll pick it up, she is also still very young and won't put up any mental barriers which would make it harder. I hope this helps. Nicki

It'll all be a bit scary for him at the moment, he's moving from everything he know but I'm sure he'll settle in quickly. Do you know which area you are moving to yet? When I moved from Germany back to the UK (my kids have only ever known Germany) I had a 7 year old that really didn't want to move, partly because my husband is still working in Germany at the moment. I did some research on the internet and found some clubs that would interest her and different things about the town she might like ie the park, the lakes etc etc and we started to plan some of the exciting things we were going to do. Obviously the bonus for us was that we were moving closer to family, which they hadn't seen very much of in their short lives. Find things in the area that interest him that he can get excited about. Make plans to keep busy with activities once you are there so that he will make friends quickly. I'm sure that once he has some friends he will be fine. Obviously because we were closer to Germany we moved to the UK at the end of July on the promise of returning for a holiday in Germany at the end of August to visit her Dad and some friends. Whilst in Germany she was saying how she wanted to go back to the UK so she had already felt at home. There is a chance that we will be moving again to Australia (which I hope will be our last big move lol) and I plan to do the same thing, look up different things and find things to look forward to. Although my kids do have cousins that they've never met living in WA so that will be exciting enough I think lol. Good luck and don't worry I'm sure it will all be fine in a matter of weeks.

What a gorgeous name for a gorgeous little girl. Congratulations to you both and welcome to the world Siena. Definitely make sure you take it easy after having the C-section. I've had 3 of them (2 emergency and 1 planned) so know only too well that within about 3 weeks or so you'll feel like you can do normal things but you really do need to be patient for the full 6 weeks and enjoy them getting to know Siena. Over the next couple of years that big IF will be come a lot smaller, there's a reason so many people have more than one child you do forget very quickly but planned C-sections are completely different... as long as you don't get travel sick on the trolley like I did. Anyway, enjoy every second as they grow far too fast and I hope the breastfeeding is going well.

Congratulations.

I'm still not sure how you hope to gain sponsorship either with no qualifications or experience in anything Australia needs unless you have been hiding something all this time. And yes you might be determined but as has already been said you need to put that determination into something that is going to get you there.

Sorry, my fault, I had looked at the post and read it wrong I thought it was you that had been declined the visa but you hadn't you had just posted on the thread. Reading through the thread though would help to give you some idea of how DIAC might think though so it should still help you out a bit. I'm not sure whether you are allowed to look for sponsorship on a tourist visa, wouldn't that be classed the same as looking for work? Might be worth looking into as you don't want it to prevent you from any possible opportunities.

So basically DIAC have already answered the question of how many tourist visa's you can have as he had already reached his limit within the last year. Taking this information I seriously think you should forget about visiting Australia for the next couple of years, knuckle down and work to achieve a qualification and then reapply for a tourist visa otherwise you could seriously jeopardise any chance of a PR visa in the future if you keep messing DIAC about as they will question what you are actually doing even if your intentions are good.

Totally agree with you there Stacey.

Should add by the way that I'm not pregnant... just finding comfort in the form of chocolate from the stress of finding hubby a job so that we can all be together as a family lol.

But then you work hard to buy the best heels in the world and there you go 5 feet tall and it's always a good excuse to buy a new pair of shoes... although I'm not a shoe person at all, in fact I can't stand shopping of any type lol. I'm 5ft 2 and a cm - the cm is very important as it's not quite half an inch but nearly lol. Also means that when I tell people my height they don't focus on how short I am (or round at the moment - trying to fulfill the dream of becoming a weeble) but they are baffled by the mixed measurements lol.

Hi, I'm not 100% sure how it works but if you look at this page http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/sbs/ there is a pdf file on there with a long list of jobs for the 457 visa. From what I have read I think your job has to be on this list to be able to be considered so might be worth a look and hopefully that will help. Someone else may come along soon who has a lot more knowledge than I do and might be able to shed more light for you. Nicki

Jack, I hadn't seen the original thread about your WHV and didn't realise that you had only completed 2 months of it. Having now read that thread I have come to the conclusion that you are lazy. Why would you not want to work in a factory or a farm and what was wrong with answering phones that can be customer service based work which you have already said you have so much experience in. I bet people loved you in the hostels as many of them would have worked hard to be able to extend their visa or even just to raise funds to keep travelling. Each of your posts confuses me more and more. You say you think too much, clearly over-analysing each thing you choose to do yet you failed at the biggest opportunity which was the WHV which is a huge shame and I've no doubt you regret you decision now. I am starting to think the reason you constantly post with different ideas of what to do is because you have realised that you messed up and need to try and amend it somehow. Sadly this is not going to happen what's done is done and you can't change the past, pointless regretting it as well you just have to pick yourself up and move on. Plan to go to Oz for holidays but not 1 year at a time just shorter breaks and actually pull your finger out and get a real job in the real world and work hard combined with studying hard for your chosen trade and I'm sure you'll do plenty of growing up along the way. Judging by your posts and mention of money etc it sounds like you are in a better financial position than most 20 year olds so take advantage of that concentrate on your studies etc. Something I always say to my kids, who are considerably younger than you, is 'with a lot of hard work and dedication it is always possible for your dreams to come true - no one will ever just hand them to you on a plate'. So choose the path you want to take and give it 100% and perhaps then your dream will actually stand a better chance of becoming a reality (I feel like I've said this to you before somewhere).

How can you hate children? They have short attention spans and often leap from one thing to the next as they love to explore everything and they are really funny as well as they say the most bizarre things at times which just crack you up. Not sure hairdresser is for you though Jack, although I haven't met you personally it just doesn't seem to match the type of person you come across as. Plus, sorry to say but not sure I'd want my hair cut by you as you might change your mind about how you were cutting it half-way through and could end up with 3 different hairstyles rolled into one. However, I suppose there is always the possibility that you might make a name for yourself with your creative talents for outrageous hairstyles. I think the best thing you can do is decide which route you are going to take, concentrate on that and give it 100% and that will be your best chance for a PR visa. You've been told all the best routes you can take so chose something that interests you and stick with it nobody truly knows what is going to happen in the future for PR visas look how much has changed in just the last couple of years. Good luck whatever path you chose.

I'm sorry but I'm actually beginning to think you are a troll, and I apologise if I'm in fact wrong. You don't seem to be very old to be honest (to be fair I can only make that judgement by the way you seek constant advice) yet you hate the UK with a passion but clearly you haven't lived here very long, you can't have done having spent so long living in the other countries you have mentioned such as Greece, Australia (although not really living there on a WHV) and now Cyprus. I really do hope I am wrong because I hate the thought that you are getting some sort of kick out of abusing the good advice people are willing to offer when asked. Whether I'm right or wrong, good luck in the choices you make and I really do hope you manage to achieve your dream, whatever that may actually be.

You can't blame 'England' for this is a decision you have personally made a country doesn't do this for you. There is always a way to live where ever you are, you just have to have the guts to stand up and tackle the issues head on. Again the country is not at fault it is a you have decided that to live in the UK is to be a failure, there are millions of people around the world who would disagree with this statement. I think this may sum it all up. No one is going to grant you entry to Australia you have to earn it and if you did put the work in for 5 years or so then it can actually be a very real possibility. The sensible thing to do is to go onto the Australian Immigration website and look through the jobs that are considered, bearing in mind these jobs will possibly change and make a list of the jobs that you might actually enjoy, not because they will get you a visa but because you think it might be something you can actually get your teeth into and work hard at... that's the key words right there 'work hard'. Asking people constantly whether your plans will work or not isn't the way forward, no one can give you 100% guarantee that anything will work. However having a good job that you enjoy could open up endless doorways that may or may not get you into Australia but you could end up living somewhere else that you haven't even considered yet. The trouble is I know you've been told all of this before by so many people but you seem to lack so much confidence in your own decisions, perhaps that is the first thing you need to work on.

It was also these people who made it harder for my husband to get a visa. We had talked about moving to Australia for many years but had to wait for his Army career to finish (Australian army weren't recruiting chef's at the time). So we did and just when we reached a stage we were able to apply for a PR visa it was removed from the list, gutted was an understatement it felt so unfair that all these people had managed to get in through a back door yet my husband with 26 years experience would potentially miss out. Obviously we now know there are other routes, none of them are obviously easy but then it is becoming harder and harder. Your biggest mistake Jackrew is that you need to stop asking for everyone's approval, nobody but you knows what you want to do with your life because it's YOUR life so make decisions, live them and learn from them but certainly never regret them it's how you grow as a person.

What did you friend think of all this or did you not discuss it at all afterwards? Did he make the right noises at the time to just be polite, maybe he actually felt as uncomfortable as you did. Is it not possible to report what you have seen anonymously so at least you have made the police aware what this man has. If your mate actually thinks this guy is 'cool' for having all this stuff and what he suggested he might do with it then at BritChickx said do you really want him as a mate. Like BritChickx said I personally would have to do something as I could never forgive myself if something was to happen to someone and I could have potentially prevented it.

Good luck and I really hope it works out for you. It's not an easy job, I know not because I am one but because my husband is and has been for the last 26/27 years. As someone already said you can certainly expect a lot of anti-social hours and it can be stressful. I didn't know my husband when he first started out I met him in the latter stages of his career but it still hasn't been easy and at the moment he is working a 60 hour week but not being paid for all of that... part of that is him because he is very passionate and dedicated to his job though. We are waiting to hear whether he's been successful for a FIFO sponsored job which will give us a better life as a family but then our current circumstances are very different to most so that won't be hard lol. Sorry I have waffled on, be prepared to work hard at it and I've no doubt you'll succeed but make sure you find ways to help you relax as it is a tough life in the early stages.

I've watched X-Factor for years now, it's my ironing programme but last night I was started to wonder why I was bothering, it appears it's not just me that's bored either usually my FB is filled with Wow or that was rubbish comments throughout the show and last night one person on my friends list commented about one of the acts and it was only mentioned by two other people and that was to say that they are either not watching anymore from this week and the other to say they are bored with it. I hate to admit it as I don't watch much TV and it's the one thing I do watch, plus it's always good to have something to annoy my husband with because he hates it but I am starting to agree with his point of view and thinking it may have run it's course, time for something new.

I think I would be inclined to phone round and speak to a few other agents first. My husband has applied for a job through an agency and we were told that if he get offered the sponsored position the visa will cost about $3000 in all so $7500 seems a bit steep.

Excellent post. Sorry to hear it hasn't worked out for you but thank you for sharing your experience. All the best for your new life in Cornwall, as you said with the lessons you've learnt over the last couple of years you know how to tackle a new start this time.