Sherbetdip23

Hi Jill Genesis is 5 mins down the road from where we are (Coomera Waters) I asked about on behalf of a friend what it was like and the couple of people I asked said they liked it! Carla

Hi - Can anyone recommend a good hairdresser in or near Coomera Waters please :-) Thank you

Hi there Pen - wow - there' a change of plan then! :-( It sounds as though your heart's not really in it now which is a shame as it's amazing out here :-) The rate was even lower when we came 6 months ago and we just didn't even think for one minute that we wouldn't go because of the rate being low. I think we were just very pleased to have got the visa and sold our house and be in a position to be able to move. It's only natural to have last minute panics about coming but what you need to do is decide whether or not it is simply last minte panic or whether or not you really want to come. We have been out here 6 months now and we haven't changed our money up yet. But saying that we probably will soon as the housing market out here is good for buyers at the moment on the Gold Coast. Good luck with whatever you decide xxx

Hi We have now been out here for four months and have just started to think about private health cover, especially now as my youngest has to be referred to an ENT Specialist and I have been told that it could take a couple of years to get an appointment! Can anybody recommend a good but not too expensive Health Policy please. There is me, hubby and two daughters aged 8 and 10. Also - do they cover ongoing conditions? Thanks Carla

OMG - that's terrible! I just called the Doc and told him and wanted a public hosp referral so he is going to do that. I then spoke to the receptionist and she said it could be a couple of years for ENT specialist! My daughter keeps getting dizzy spells and headaches so I want to get it sorted asap so it looks as though I will have to go the private route. We are looking into taking out private healthcare but I don' suppose it will cover this now will it? Hope your MIL gets sorted quickly.

Hellooooo! No, not yet! Waiting for the crowds to die down :-) Is it any good?

Hi Jo - thanks for that! I will give them a call. So much to learn!

Oh no - that's not good is it!

Hi I took my 8 year old daughter to the Docs a couple of days ago and he referred her to an ENT specialist. I have now received the confirmation letter of the date she will be seen. The thing that concerns me is that it is saying that there is an initial consultation fee which will cost $240 and around $70 can be claimed back from medicare. I didn't think that you had to pay to see a specialist if you were referred by your Doc?? My friend who has recently seen a specialist hasn't paid a penny? Just wondering what the protocol is here please.

Hi - Yes, our started just after the Easter hols and have settled in really well. I don't think it really makes much difference whether they start mid year or at the start of the year really as it's not as if they will be studying the same things at the same level in Oz as they will be in the UK. Good luck!

Hiya We moved out to the Gold Coast in March this year. We have two girls aged 10 and almost 9 :-) and we live in Coomera Waters. If you have any quesions or fancy meeting up when you get out here just yell :-)

Hiya Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - thing have been a little hectic the past few days :-) If you type on Coomera Rivers State School catchement area into google it will give you a link for a map. If you have any more Qs on Coomera Waters or schols just yell - hopefully won't be quite as busy :-)

Hi Hazel Sorry to hear about you and your parnet :-( Whereabouts are you? Are you actually right in Brisbane? I am in Coomera Waters so may be a bit far if you are right in Brissie. Carla

Hi there The school is very popular and growing rapidy due to it's success. There's around 500 in the school at the moment. We love Coomera Waters - it's a little set back from eveything else but lovely and quiet and a very safe area for children. It has a small private sandy beach and park for little ones and also a tavern/resturant, bottle shop and corner shop - everything you could need really! :-) When are you thinking of coming out? DO you have young children? We have two girls aged 8 and 10. The love it here - and the school! Coomera Waters is expensive - we are paying $750 a week for a 4 bed house - it is quite a big house and has a pool. You can get cheaper but you get what you pay for :-) Carla

Hi We live in Coomera Waters which is beautiful. We have two girls aged 10 and 8 and they go to Coomera Rivers School which is fantastic! Any questions just yell!:biggrin:

Thanks Cal - will do x

No time for that :-) Fab day though!

Hi everyone First time I have had chance to come on Poms since arriving in Oz as we have been a tad busy as you can imagine! Here's our story so far......... We left the UK 14th March and headed off to Sentosa Island in Singapore for a week before taking on all the aussie challenges. We figured we deserved a little holiday after all the stress and emotional turnmoil of leaving the UK :-) Sentosa Isand is beautiful and we would thoroughly recommend the Rasa Sentosa Hotel. Singapore Zoo is great too and well worth a visit if you are stopping off. We are lucky enough to have rellies on the Gold Coast so we were met at Brisbane airport by my husbands Auntie and Uncle and one of his cousins - we needed two cars to get all our luggage back to their house! As our shipping left 3 weeks before we did we underestimated just how much stuff we had left behind (just incase we needed it in those weeks before our shipping arrived!) In the end we had 5 suitcases, 2 huge holdalls and 5 rucksacks!!! We went over our baggage allowance by a few kilos but not much and not enough to warrant a charge. We went with Singapore Airlines who gave us a double baggage allowance. We were very pleased with Singapore Air. After settling in for a couple of days we set about house hunting which wasn't a particularly easy task - lots of the rentals we called about had gone when we rang - especially the really nice ones. It was difficult as we didn't really know where to start as we wanted to make sure we had a nice house but more importantly we wanted a good school for our girls. In the end we focused on finding a good school then set about getting a house in that catchment area. In the Gold Coast area they work pretty much the same as the UK whereby you need to be in the catchment area of a school to get in. So, after deciding on the school we then managed to find ourselves a lovely rental property which we move into next week! Last Sunday our cat Ruby arrived after 30 days in quarantine! We were soooo pleased to have her back. We used Petair UK who offered a fantastic service and I would thorougly recommend them. Next on the agenda is jobs and cars! Will keep you posted on our adventures :-) Carla

Hi Collette It's all very hectic the last few weeks isn't it! Hope you have a safe trip! Carla x

Hi everyone - haven't had a chance to post on here for a couple of weeks as things have been a little hectic, to say the least! We left the UK on Wednesday 14th March and we are now in Singapore on Sentosa Island for a 6 night break before we arrive in Oz and it all gets hectic again looking for a rental and schools and all the other things we need to do. We had the shippers take our belongings 3 weeks before we left so that we didn't need to wait too long in Oz This seemed to work out well for us as we borrowed things from family. We used John Mason for shipping and they were very good. Will let you know how that goes when it arrives the other side. Our cat, Ruby left the same day as us. Petair came to collect her at 8am and were very good. They kept me informed of Ruby's progress along the way and the crate she went off in looked very comfy. She is now in Sydney! She will have to be shipped on to Brisbane. Carla

Hi there Of course you are not a horrible person! You have to put you and your family first. Being a cat lover myself I know how hard this will be for you. If you absolutely can't leave them you perhaps you could always look into the cost of shipping them yourself? I have heard that it is alot cheaper to do but obviously a bit more involved. Just an idea. But whatever you decide you are not a bad person you just want whatever is best for all of you so try not to worry.

Hiya We pre-packed a few bits as I already had loads of those plastic containers and I think i just made it easier for me knowing that I had been thru everything and it was clean and neatly put away. Don't underestimate how long it takes to go thru everything to clean and declutter - I started months ago and only finished the day befre they came. Make sure that you get everything as small as you can - for example our daughter had a play kitchen that we took down as it would have taken up far to much room otherwise and we were desparate to ship it (or should I say they were! lol!) Also their go-kart. Every little helps when dismantling. We have got a 5 bed house and they fitted it all in but saying that we are very minimalist and did declutter loads! I'm sure you will be fine leaving your books as they are - good luck!

Just a little info for those of you looking for a good shipper........ Well, after months of preparing for the arrival of the shippers and finally getting everything cleaned and de-cluttered - the shippers turned up yesterday and packed everything neatly into boxes and then loaded it all on to our 20ft container today! We used John Mason and they were absolutely fantastic. two chirpy lads by the name of Stewart and Kym who worked very professionally and speedily. (there was a different chap with Stewart yesterday - can't remember his name but he was Speedy Gonzalez!) Despite the container not looking that huge they still managed to get all of our worldy goods into it with some very clever packing! The office side of things was great too - lovely lady by the name of Amanda always there to help with all the questions we had and answered them very promptly. Even spoke to us before the guys set off to see if we were happy with everything and made sure we had checked the house too! Any more q's fire away :biggrin: Carla

The past two weeks have been frantic with getting everything ready for the shippers who are coming on Thursday! Yikes! Don't under-estimate how long it takes to get everything ready for the shippers! I will be sooooo glad when they have come and taken everything away so I won't have to clean and de-clutter anymore - hooray! We are using John Mason shippers who, I must say have been very helpful and quick to respond to any questions I have had - thank you Amanda at John Mason :-)

Hi there We have got the shippers coming two weeks tday which is two and a half weeks before we fly! We figured it was easier to borrow things this end. We are stopping off at Singapore for a week on the way over then with rellies for a few weeks which will hopefully mean not very long without our things. Our shippers have said 8-10 weeks door to do and others that have used them have had their stuff within 8-9 weeks so fingers crossed. As PP says - it longer if you don't have sole use of a container.