Katkat

Thank you. I guess what I was trying to say was that I spent a lot of time and energy worrying about the "what ifs"and in reality I found that most of these things didn't happen, or if they did, were easily dealt with. I'm glad they didn't stop us. And yes it was hard work, but very worth it for what we gained from the experience.

Thought I'd share our story of moving out to Australia and then coming back again just because I know that 2and a half years ago I was scanning this site desperately looking for positive stories while agonising over whether we were doing the right thing. My husband's company offered us the chance to relocate to Sydney for a couple of years on a 457 visa. At the time our daughter was 13 and we had a lot of concerns about disrupting her education, especially as we knew she'd be nearly 16 when we came back home and we weren't at all sure how that would work with GCSE's. Anyway, long story short, we took a deep breath and made the leap, and ended up spending 2 amazing years in Sydney. Our daughter settled really fast, and loved her new school, blossoming socially and emotionally in a way that made us realise that actually she had been pretty miserable in her old school. I can safely say that the move was an incredibly positive experience for all of us. Yes we had homesick moments, especially early on, but we really did find it a great place to live. There is also somthing very liberating about being given the chance to step out of your normal life for an extended period of time that gives you the freedom to do things differently and re-evaluate lots of things I found. When our 2 years was coming to an end we then had the dilemma of whether to stay longer- our daughter in particular was very settled and I had a lot of worries about how she'd fit back into the UK education system and how she would react to leaving all her friends. I also had no job to come back to. We did come back in August, and it was a bit strange at first. Our house had been rented out and for a while it didn't feel like our home anymore, (although once the furniture arrived it was better). Our daughter started a new school (restarting y10 ) and has loved it, and is just as happy as she was in Sydney.We thought she might be behind in some subjects but this hasn't been the case. She spends a fair amount of time on Skype talking to her Aussie friends, and one has just been to visit us. The main benefits for her have very much been an increase in confidence from knowing that she can cope with and adapt to change, and a knowledge that there's a big wide world out there waiting to be discovered. My husband's career has benefited from the experience too- he has come back to a promotion and a much better role. I registered with an agency while I looked for work and had plenty of casual work, and will start a permanent job in January. I read a lot about how hard it was to find work and was really worried about it but I found loads of things to apply for. So for those not sure about whether it's the right thing or not, I'd say if you don't try you'll never know, and for us at least both going and coming back have been positive and life affirming experiences. I do miss the beach and the sunshine though!

Child minding is called family day care in Australia and it is regulated in a similar way to the uk but I don't know too much about it I'm afraid. I would look at the ACECQA web site as a starting point. You would definitely need a working with children check which I think you organise for yourself via the NSW police website. The ratios are higher and yes you can have 4 children under 2 I think. Sorry I can't be much more help! I was a chikdminder before we went to Australia but never considered setting up in Sydney because I knew we weren't going to be there long enough to make it worth it.

We've just moved back from NSW on a 457 visa and my daughter wasn't classed as an overseas student for private school.

Hi, I've just moved back to the UK after 2 years in Sydney. While we were there I did agency casual work in Pre schools and Long Day Care centres around the Northern Beaches / North Shore/ North Sydney, so can probably answer some of your questions. There is an inspection body (ACECQA - they have a website with links to info about the curriculum etc.)) who are a little bit like Ofsted (they call it accreditation, not inspection) but they have only just taken over responsibility for this and centres are finding it a bit new and scary- they seem to be more rigorous than before. Accreditation reports aren't published like inspection reports are here but I think the centres will show you if you ask. There is a fairly new Early Years curriculum, and lots of new regulations- by next year all staff must have or be working for a Level 3 qualification, and every centre must have an Early Childhood Teacher. Staff/ child ratios are higher than in the UK (1-4 for under 1's). Many places have very long waiting lists so it's worth looking very early and getting on the lists. Prices vary but seemed expensive to me. I know most parents seem to get about half the fees back from the government but not sure how that works. If you are on a temporary visa you won't get any rebate. The other thing it's worth stating is that I worked in lots of different places and found standards really varied. There were lots of places that I found very depressing to work in and were not nice environments for the children. The smaller pre schools were often better than the Long Day Care centres (what we call Nurseries) but the hours are shorter so might not suit you if you want to work. (Your kids are too young for pre school yet anyway). There are good places if you are prepared to look around (and they have any spaces!). I know there is one place in North Ryde in Macquarie Park that is linked to the University there and is involved in training the Early Childhood Teachers- it's supposed to be very good. I think it's called Mia Mia - might be worth looking at them? Good luck, hope you enjoy Sydney, we loved it.

Hi, sorry but I sold it on Tuesday.

Still for sale- open to offers.

Last year we used an agent, but it seemed a very simple process so will do our own this year.

Here until 13th August.

Not yet but I will as soon as I've organised the paperwork. Funnily enough, I bought it from a man who was heading back to the UK to live too.

As we are heading back to the UK I am selling my car. 1998 Hyundai Excel 1.5, manual, 3 door sedan, bluetooth, aircon, towbar, purple. 142000kms. I put a new clutch in when I bought it just over a year ago and have done minimal miles in it since. It's also had a new battery. Other than that I have found it to be utterly reliable and perfect for toddling around Sydney in. Pink Slip being done today, and it will have 6 months Green Slip and rego from 14th July. I'll throw in the Sat Nav and Manly Ocean Beach parking permit too (valid until next March, allows you 24/7 free street parking in Manly). $2500 ono.

Going to miss the sunshine, living next to the ocean, my sister and her kids, the squawking birds (seriously, I love them), being able to get a decent coffee almost anywhere, mountain biking in the bush, being able to cycle up to North Head to watch the whales pass by, that feeling you get for most of the year of being on holiday every weekend... Reading this I'm actually wondering why I'm going home!

I e-mailed insureyourmove.com to ask if they could insure me for the return, and they quoted 1.9% of the value of our contents (much cheaper than the removal companies). In regard to shipping quotes, Crown came in best after a bit of negotiating.

We are moving back to the UK soon after 2 happy years in Australia. Got shipping quotes sorted, but when we came out I used insureyourmove.com to save money on the insurance. Anyone got a recommendation for insurance going the other way?

We are coming back to the UK in August, and our daughter is in Y10 here in Australia. She will restart Y10 in September in the UK (effectively dropping down a year from her peers) so she can have 2 yrs to do GCSE's. In order to make this possible we have to send her to private school. If we were to stay another year the school also offer a condensed 1 yr GCSE course, but we decided that wasn't in her best interests. I think the trouble you might find even if you did find a correspondence course your children could do is that a) no UK school would administer it, so you'd be looking at home schooling and b) if you are back in the UK and planning to stay there then the HSC isn't as readily recognised as a qualification. If you are planning on returning when they have only a couple of years of education left, I'd be looking at IB schools here in Oz as it travels much better than HSC and they could continue that in the UK (albeit, at a private school.)

I think you'd have to be earning an awful lot more than 90- 150 k to be classed as a "fat cat"! Doesn't exactly put you in the rich banker category, especially if you have to pay rent in Sydney.

If you look at the ATO website, it states that if you are on a 457 visa you can reclaim your Super once you leave the country. They will take 35% tax before repayment. They reckon it takes about 28 days to repay, but the actual timeframe is down to the Superannuation fund people, not them.

Putting aside all other issues regarding the fairness or not of LAFHA, is anyone else just gobsmacked at how incompetent the government has been in all this? Reading all the budget interpetations by many experts on LAFHA, everyone read the report to say that existing LAFHA agreements would be allowed to continue until 2014, and indeed the figures would seem to back up that interpretation- a saving of $50m as opposed to a much bigger projected saving from the November statement which said that all LAFHA was to go this June. How can the government now be appearing to backtrack on what was such a clear statement?

I'm living in Manly (great place to live btw)- my daughter is at high school so I've no personal experience of the Primary schools, although my niece is at Seaforth and it seems really good. People here seem to send their kids to Public primaries, which are generally good, and then private high schools.

I don't know what will happen on an ongoing basis- they certainly had no issue with a couple of years, and we just wrote and said we were going temporarily and wanted to rent out the house. They said they would review it annually and we had to put it in writing every year. We are planning to go back soon so probably won't find out what would happen if we asked for a third year. The info we have to provide in the letter is how long we intend to be away, the name of the letting agent we use, how much rent we are getting.

HSBC gave us consent for 2 yrs with no additional fees or interest rate charges. I just had to put it in writing every 12 months for them. Guess it depends on the bank.

Hi, we will be returning to the UK soon after 2 years in Oz on a 457 visa. Does anyone know how long it takes to reclaim the super we've paid and how quickly do you get it back? Also, how much of it is reclaimed in tax? Thanks!