BestyBlue

Hi everyone, My parents are seriously thinking about flying out and joining us on a parents visa (I don't know which one, but they seem to have it all pretty much planned out). But, the only thing that seems to be worrying my step dad is his age. By the time they would probably be ready to move he will be between 73-75 and he is worried that he'll be too old to make such a move. Now he is a very fit person often found on the golf course and I think he'd be just fine, but I was wondering how old some of the parents on here were when they made the move and how well did you cope? I think he just needs a little reassurance as doing something like this was obviously never something they had considered until we decided to up sticks and leave the country with their beloved grandaughter. Thank you in advance and I look forward to your responses

We flew with them in June and found them to be absolutely fine. The food was good and plentiful, plus the seats I thought were nice and comfy. We also had 3 hours in Abu Dhabi. We just headed straight for our gate. Didn't particularly like the airport, very crowded, but once we were at the gate there was plenty of seating and it was fine. Would happily fly with them again

Hi GaryJames We have been living in Toowoomba since June 14. I was lucky as had a job before we arrived, however my husband is still looking. I think it very much depends on what trade you're in though. Also whether your job normally requires a degree..... My husband has been a planning and waste water engineer in the UK for many years, but he doesn't have a degree in engineering (worked up from the bottom), as a result now he can't even get his foot in the door to demonstrate his skills purely because he doesn't have that bit of paper. On a brighter note it is really lovely here, we settled very quickly and can't imagine being anywhere else. We are also very confident that a job will crop up for my husband very soon too. He has started getting his face out there and talking to people face to face. As a result he has started to get a few interviews

We have just received our bill which was for the last two months and it was just over $500

Best of luck Victoria67, I hope it all goes to plan for you. I was given glass half empty responses when I first came on here talking about how I wouldn't be successful in getting my visa as I wasn't experienced enough, however it was granted within 10 days of being submitted. I'm sure they just don't want you to get you hopes up only to be disappointed. Please keep us all updated, I'm keeping everything crossed for you. x

Thanks everyone, I feel I can start looking properly now, just didn't know where to start. Now all I need to decide is how long to go away for

Hi everyone, I'm planning a little break for me and my family for the beginning of October on the Sunshine Coast. On the first day we are going to take our daughter to Australia Zoo for her birthday, then we would like to go and spend a few days on the Sunshine Coast. Can you recommend any areas / hotels that you think are really nice? Obviously needs to be suitable for a nine year old Am getting a little excited about booking our first little trip away... :cool:

I was with him for 45 minutes. It wasn't just a quick pop in and out appointment.

I'm not sure I agree Pumpkin with your response, as not only do you need to understand SAD but you also need to understand the affects of over active and under active thyroids. I don't think this is a simple case of 'mental illness' as it has also affected the levels of medication that I am having to take for my thyroid in a positive way too. I think I'm lucky in the sense that I have only been affected mildly by SAD, but I absolutely have to disagree with it being because I'm happy following our move, as I wasn't unhappy in the UK. Just wanted to share my experience and show that it's ok to have SAD and not something to be embarrassed about

Hi everyone, I thought I would share with you my first experience of visiting an Australian GP today. For about 10 years I have struggled with thyroid troubles, firstly over active and now under active following treatment. This has been well controlled, however I've never felt 100%. I have struggled with lack of motivation and energy, particularly in winter. Which made me think that I was having seasonally affected thyroid trouble. However on the numerous occasions that I mentioned it to my Dr they fobbed me off and wouldn't even contemplate my thoughts. Since being out in Australia I have felt the healthiest I can ever remember feeling, so much energy! Plus I look healthy too, my sunken eyes have disappeared and I have colour in my cheeks. So today when I visited the Dr's I thought I would mention my thoughts to him whilst sorting my prescription. He instantly diagnosed me with SAD. But what's great is because we are in sunny Queensland he feels that my symptoms will only improve. I know many people are sceptical about SAD, but I just wanted to share my experience and also highlight how amazing I feel. :wink:

Welcome to QLD, sounds like you're having a similar experience to us so far :cool: Keep the updates coming. x

Certainly for us in Toowoomba towards to the end of June is an amazing time to come, not sure if it is the same in the big cities though. Where will you be heading? Sadly we left our two beautiful pooches behind as shipping them both was crazy expensive. Molly our Parsons who is my avatar picture is nearly 6 and is now living it up in Cyprus with my step son and Lou Lou our beautiful stumpy legged Jack is now living with one of my old patients and appears to have made great friends with her 10 month old lab. Not sure which one has more energy... Leaving them behind has been the hardest part of our move so far. Absolutely devastating actually.... But, it was absolutely the right thing to do. Personally having now done the flight I'm not sure I would've been happy about putting them through it, but also we would've really struggled to find anywhere decent to live which I think would've affected how well we would've settled. In my heart I know that they are both blissfully happy, so that makes me happy. Mind you it doesn't fill the hole that's been left by them not being with us. But we knew all along that somewhere along the line a compromise would have to be made and unfortunately it was out beloved girls. I know that some people will probably judge us for rehoming them, but I know that it was the right thing for us and them. Best of luck bringing your lab over, I am very envious!! :-)

Hi Jules RT It seemed like a really good idea to bring furniture and electrics out with us, but we have nearly been here 3 weeks and our container still hasn't left the UK. So we are having to pretty much replace everything. With that said, electrical items are really cheap in comparison to the UK. For example our lovely 40" Samsung TV is in Myers (very much like John Lewis) and is nearly £200 cheaper. My guess is because we are much closer to China? If I was to do it again, I would start a fresh out in Oz. But, we have been lucky with the time of year that we've arrived so have managed to catch some awesome end of year sales. Can't wait for our photos and family stuff to arrive though, then our house will be a proper home As for the car, I really don't know. I was looking at bringing our my nearly new Fiesta, but was short by a month for my 12 month ownership. It looked pretty complicated and expensive. I now have a 10 year old Astra, cost $6500 and drives like a dream. I'm seeing so many kangaroo road kills on my way to work each day. Law of the sod would mean that one would've jumped in front of me the day after the Fiesta arrived.... haha So I guess it also depends on where you'll be living and what you're planning on shipping out :-) Hope that's helped a little. x

Yeah I agree. Has come as a lovely surprise though, as was dreading how much everything would cost. We even managed to buy a 3 seater and 2 seater sofa today, end of range so managed to get the both for $699. Awesome!!

So today we decided to try and get some stuff for the new house. With the end of year sales and finding a shop that was closing down, we bought the following for just under $2500! Dining table & 6 chairs, matching TV unit, coffee table, lamp table & side board type thing. Sofa bed, Big silver fridge freezer, Washing machine, 2 Duvet covers, 2 Quilts, 5 Pillows, Queen bed, Single bed, Queen bedding, Kitchen utensils, Iron, Laundry basket, Loads of hangers, Toaster, Kettle, Pegs, Electric Blanket (my favourite item right now Is it me, or does this seem really good value? All I heard constantly before we came out was how expensive it was here. We haven't bought the cheapest products, so it just goes to show that there are some real bargains out there. Don't be afraid to ask for discounts too. If some of these products didn't already have huge discounts on them I am quite sure we could've got some money knocked off, just to secure the sale. What's the worst they can say