cwl

Hi Paul , I know a few blokes who play football in Mornington at indoor sports centre where inflatable world is , next to optima . Hope that helps

Hi vinnievansurfer , how are things going now ? We moved to Mornington 3and a half years ago and love it . We wouldn't move from the area . Kids are primary school age 7& 11 ( eldest going to Padua next year) . If need any advice on the area , let me know . All the best

Hi Hope someone can help with my enquiry ? I have been in oz on a permanent resident visa for 4 months. I have come up with a business idea and would like to sponsor an individual who I know in the uk to help with this venture . Is this possible ? what visa process would I have to go through and roughly how long would it take ? Many thanks in advance for your help Cwl

Hi cd chaplin We have been in mornington for 5 months and loving it too. We used a local babysitter for the first time this weekend, but always good to have a back up...... Just in case.... Get in touch Caroline

Hi there. We have just moved to mornington from Kent. We have been here 3 months, and we are settling in well. The winter has been quite lovely, the locals think it has been a terrible winter. We have had sunny days, drying clothes outside, on the beach, Other days rainy but it rarely rains all day like the uk. You usually get to the sun at some point of the day. We are looking forward to summer now, when all the locals should come out of winter hiding and get to meet more people. We have a 7 and 4 year old. Our 7 year old goes to St macartans school which is great. It is a big school but we thought it was great as it is 3 years old, very Eco friendly and naplan results are great. We have a great rental house, which we couldn't afford to buy , but can afford to rent. It's huge, loads of space for us all, views of sea and pool. It's early days settling in. I have good and bad days,I miss my family terribly. But very lucky as my brother s moving over this week and parents come over for a holiday in December - can't wait. If you need any info , let me know and all the best with your decision.

Just wanted to write a post to say many thanks to all the people who have replied to my posts and offered advice over the last 2-3 years. We are finally off to mornington on friday ( 2 days to go) and very excited to start our new life. I will certainly keep an eye out for any social meet ups and events in the area to get to know some people. Mornington - see you soon. Looking forward for the sun coming out and heading to the beach. Cwl xxx :smile:

Where a bouts in Kent are you eng 32?? We are in tunbridge wells off to Melbourne in June

We have just used letton Percival and they were a very good price

Hi bennyboy, We are in Kent and had Doree bonner in today for their first day of packing. Day 2 tomorrow, loading onto our container thursday and sailing out of Felixstowe on Saturday. I can' t fault them at all. Very thorough, efficient , the cheapest quote we got and nice blokes. Good luck with your choice. Xx

Hi cdchaplin I noticed you are a nurse living in mornington. I too am a nurse and am moving out in June , we have secured a rental in mornington. Can I be nosey , and ask where you work and what speciality of nursing you are in? I have a bank job secured at Frankston hospital. I was wondering what it was like , or whether beleura hospital was a preferred hospital. Sorry to hijack the post. Thanks Caroline

Hi Does anyone know the situation with your life insurance policies once you move to oz. Is it still valid ?? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi All First of all I must say a huge thank you to all on Poms in Oz who have helped with my many questions along the way. We headed to Melbourne to get our visas stamped. We had not sold our house in the UK so had to do a reccie trip to get the necessary stamp in our passport,and we had a 3 week holiday staying with friends in Eaglemont, near Ivanhoe. We had already decided before we left that we wanted to live in the Mornington area and so were eager to get down there and take a look. We really hoped that it matched our dreams and I must say we were not disappointed. We arrived at Mornington beach on a beautiful afternoon to see the local senior school (Padua ) having their PE lesson on the beach. Wow ! you wouldn't get that in the UK (health and safety and all that !). The beach was lovely and clean , and very shallow so the kids could paddle out quite far .We looked around Mornington and Mt Eliza at rental housing and it all seems quite stagnant! The rental market at present does not seem to be moving that quickly and there wasn't alot on the market. (We are looking at renting between $700-$1000) per week. We checked out a school for my daughter who is 7- St Macartan's parish Primary school and thought it was amazing ! It is very eco minded and the school boys that did our tour were exceptional.The school appear to have great results and was only built 2 years ago so all very spacious and clean. We loved the fact the Melbourne was very clean and relaxed and friendly. Mornington has a great Main street that has everything you require. We chatted to a few people on the beaches the few times we went down and everyone was very friendly. The beach at the weekend is very family orientated, we saw a few Tesco bags so we know there are Brits there and found out that Mornington's population is 10 % brits. Unfortunately the Mornington meet up organised by Poms in Oz was cancelled due to rain but I am looking forward to meeting you all soon. My friends from the city loved it so much that they are now looking for jobs down in Mornington, so they can move down! Best of all we got home on Saturday - and today Monday we have finally exchanged on our house. We are planning to make the permanent move in June this year!! Sorry if things don't make sense- I have serious jet lag !

Hi We live in tunbridge wells and plenty of people commute from around here to London daily. The ashford train is a fast train into London from Sevenoaks / ton bridge/ tunbridge wells and out to ashford. From tonbridge the train journey to charing cross / Waterloo east is 35 mins . Ashford would probably be 45 -50 mins. The cost of commuting is a factor - you are looking at £3500 - £ 4500 per year. You will see it as a daily grind - there are always issues. Snow - no trains. Autumn - leaves on the line. People miserable. Standing room only. I wouldn't call it fun - but loads of people do it. Good luck

We went up there in person and the security guys are SO grumpy and rude, ( typical jobs worth Brit ) but once you are inside they are as nice as could be

Hi, We are in almost the same situation. Apart from we put our house up for sell in the autumn and although we have accepted an offer , it seems to be taking a long time to go through the whole process. We are on the cusp of exchanging, but need to o o Melbourne to validate the visas. Therefore we have decided to do a reccie together and stay for 3 weeks looking at all the suburbs and then hopefully when we get back we can pack up and go or good , or put the house back on the Market. Yes , it is a waste of money, but I try and focus on the positives and kids are really looking forward to seeing the place first before the big move. Hope you work it out. I would hate to be separated from my husband or kids so we would do everything in our own pace.

I'm taking my 2 maxi cosi riders out with me as extra baggage in 2 weeks time. I know they are not legal in Oz, but I feel they are perfectly safe here as we use them everyday here for the kids. I don't think the police are going to be stopping us to check car seats. If we have a crash? Well it would have the same outcome as if we had a crash here! We are going out for a reccie and to get visas stamped. If this was a permanent move then I would buy 2 new seats out there, and get my mate to bring them to the airport for immdeiate use. I gave my mate in Melbourne my maxi cosi first car seat from birth to 9 months and loved using it as she hated using the baby capsules that were legal in Oz.

We used Immigration2oz based in Guildford Surrey. They were very informative,quick to answer our questions and no problems getting our visas. Good luck with your choice

Hi I know this is quite an obscure question...... Does anyone know of a decent acro gymnastics club in or around mornington. My daughter who is 6 seems to have a flair for this and we are looking to move to mornington later in the year. I have done some research and it looks like most clubs are in kew and boxhill. If this is the nearest - how long would it take me to drive to these clubs. Any help would be appreciated Ta very much

Thanks Shirleyt. Hoping things work out for you too :-)))) Either way I am sure it will work out. Just so disappointed in some peoples standards. We should go to the Scottish system to house buying. If we go for a holiday to validate the visas it will be lovely to see my friends after 4 years and we can do a couple weeks of school viewing etc around mornington ready for the big move. All the best and thanks everyone for your advice xx

Well I am absolutely gutted - our house buyer pulled out today and we have 3 months to get to Oz or we lose the visa. Does anyone know whether we can just go on hols and activate visas. Do we have to be in Oz for a certain period of time and do we all need to go (2 kids 3&6). Thanks in advance cwl

We have had similar problems. We had an offer early summer and then it all fell through just as were going to exchange. We went back on market 2 weeks ago and have accepted an offer but it is far lower than we thought we would take. The first guy mucked us around for about 3 months and now we need to be in Oz by Feb, therefore this latest buyer got a bargain. Hopefully this will go through , we should complete by early Dec and then to Oz in Jan. The whole process has been nearly 2 years and it doesn't feel like we are ever going to get there !!! All i keep thinking now is that it better be worth it !

Good luck and hope everything fits into place x

Hi I have just received my letter of approval from APHRA Melbourne after 4 months. My ranscriprs were seen as not having enough details , so I got the University to send a leter to APHRA stating that all aspects required were covered and that the course was completed to a Diploma level. That seemed to do the trick. Hope that helps and good luck

Guys ! Check out Petals post on the Victoria section regarding house prices in the Melbourne area. Very interesting for those going over soon. I think renting is definately a wise option at the moment.

Thanks Petals! Very interesting and I think we will hold off buying when we get there and rent for a little while longer. Please post any further info you get . Thanks again