so1011

Hi, Have you tried the Premier Inn. We stayed there in January for one night and got a room for 2 adults and 2 children no problem. It was only GBP39, though it would have been low season. I think they have 2 hotels at Heathrow. We stayed in the Bath Rd one. Good luck.

Hi, We moved to Melbourne 18 months ago on a 175 visa. Husband is a Software Engineer. He found applying for jobs through agencies whilst in the UK a complete waste of time. He did however apply to a company who were advertising privately through Seek.com.au and was given two phone interviews. Thankfully he was offered the job. Once they had offered him the job they asked if he could email a photo of himself over. Would have been hard not to have taken it personally if they had then relinquished the offer ! The company he now works for had around 150 applications for the job. The HR guy said that the reason he had picked his cv out ( apart from his qualifications etc) was because he had bothered to write a decent covering letter explaining our situation and had made it easy for the guy to call him by including the international calling nrs for phoning the UK from OZ. Elementary stuff you would think but I suppose once you have applied for numerous positions and got no response it is easy for people to get complacent and fire off a CV with out any additional information. From our experience I would definitely say to anybody that it is worth applying direct to companies once you have your visa in place. You just never know your luck ! Incidentally, the job turned out to be one my husband really enjoys.

Going back to "The Sun" article. I had to laugh when I saw that 19 % reckoned they would miss the NHS. I think in reality that number would be much, much higher ! I miss the NHS every time I or the kids have to see the Gp and when we have to get a prescription. I think I'll miss it even more when the kids need $5000 orthodontic braces each . . . .

Thanks for everybody's advice. We booked directly with Royal Brunei a few days ago. Fantastic fare, only $7736 MEL - LHR RTN for 2 adults and 2 kids leaving a few days before Christmas, (incase anyone else fancies a cold Christmas). Pity its 2 stops but we had to do that with Emirates a few years ago anyway. Thanks again.

Just an update on our situation. Our agent managed to negotiate 2 weeks free rent as compensation for our inconvenience. The house sold today at auction to an owner occupier so we will be moving onwards and hopefully upwards at the end of our tenancy in July. Estate agent turned out to be a good guy. Should probably wait till I get my full bond back before I praise him to highly ! Thanks for everybody's advice.

Looking to book our first trip back to the Uk with our 2 young kids for Christmas time. Royal Brunei have some great fares through flightsflights.com but I have no experience with either the airline or booking agents and its making me a bit nervous. If anyone has had any experiences with either company, good or bad, please can you let me know ? Thanks.

Thanks for everybody's advice and opinions. The letting agent came round on Monday and appears to be a pretty fair guy. He has contacted the landlord to request compensation for our inconvenience (he confirmed this is normally 1 weeks rent). If he is fair and compensates us appropriately I will do my upmost to make the place look as presentable as possible, if not I will not be making much effort at all. I wouldn't sabotage his sale though, tempting as it might be ! We are fair people, just hoping the landlord turns out to be the same. I asked the agent if he would ask the landlord if he would let us vacate the property by the auction on 28 April but why on earth would he agree to that and lose 3 months rent and have to sell the property empty. Much better for him to get his rent, use our furniture and plants in the garden to get some great photos for the sales schedule. Think it's time to move on from this house anyway, between the noise from the building site over the road, the neighbour who let's his yappy dog out ever morning at 7am (including Sunday's) and being burgled 6 weeks ago, someone somewhere is telling us it's time to go !

Thanks for your reply. The 60 days doesn't apply in this case because our lease runs until the end of July and they can't break that. Will keep the removal costs in mind though! Thanks.

Hi, We have a lease on our rental until the end of July. The landlord has informed us that he wants to sell the house at the end of April and is expecting us to view the house twice a week in the 4 weeks leading up to an auction. We are meeting the estate agent tomorrow to "discuss" our options. We are only 6 weeks into a new 6 month contract at the moment so we are understandably really annoyed about this. We have 2 young children and a relative visiting from the UK during this period so it is very inconvenient. Does anyone have experience of this situation? The agent mentioned financial compensation, does anyone know what is generally offered in this situation? Thanks

I live in Rosanna and my husband works in Collingwood. It takes him 20 mins on the train. We moved here 14 months ago with our 5yr old and 3 yr old. I would highly recommend the area for families. Great parklands, a good library, some lovely cafes and near to Northland shopping centre. My Daughter has just started at Rosanna Golf Links Primary, which is a lovely school. My son attends Interlaken kinder which is also great, they still have a couple of places available for this yr. I would also recommend Ivanhoe, some parts of Macleod, Montmorency and Eltham, all are on the Hurstbridge line. I also like the look of Diamond Creek though I must admit I've only ever driven through it. Feel free to Pm me if you have any other questions I might be able to answer for you. Good luck with your move.

Hi, from our experience my preference would also be to leave London on the 22:05. That way the kids should start off tired, hopefully settle down to sleep after an hour or two in the sky and sleep for a lot of the first flight. This worked a treat when we flew with our 2 kids aged 2yrs and 4 yrs. I took them to the toilets changed them in to their PJ's brushed their teeth then read them a story so they knew it was sleep time. They slept for 8 hrs on the first flight and me and my hubby got about 6hrs. We were amazed (my kids normally never sleep much on flights either). The year before we had all flown with Emirates from Glasgow via Dubai and Singapore leaving at 11;00am and it was horrendous. three 7hr flights in a row. Too much getting on and of planes so the kids never got a chance to settle. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Thanks Tina. I'll hang off and get something to eat there then. We really like Rosanna too. I'm in Eltham at least once a week. Love it there. Thanks Kathryn for booking the table. Looking forward to meeting everybody.

Thanks for letting me know. See you then. Are you planning to eat there or just get drinks ?

Hi, I am 34 been in Australia a year tomorrow ! I too am keen to meet some more people who live nearby. Let me know if you are having a meet up and hopefully I can make it along.

Argggggh. Sorry Littleducky82. I'm having a nightmare with this site. Meant to send the above post to you as a private message.Anyone know how you delete a post on this wonderful site !!?? Please pm me if you would like to join us. Thanks Laura

Hi, I have arranged a lunch and a few beers for Sunday 3 April at 1pm at Time Out, Federation Square. You are very welcome to come along if you fancy it. !0 girls have said they will come along. Let me know if you are interested and I will book you a seat at the table. Cheers Laura

I was reading this thread with interest and thought I would let you know our experience of the DIAC. We applied for our 175 visa (my husband is a Software Engineer) in mid April 2010, at the time our agent advised us we were category 3 and it would take about 2 yrs for us to receive our visa. We applied for state sponsorship for Victoria in May 2010 to try speed things up and were promptly declined. We had no option but to stick with our 175 application no matter how long it would take. You can imagine our surprise at the beginning of June 2010 when we receive a call to say we had a case officer and to get our meds and police checks completed. We had our meds done on the 30th of June. We were granted our visa by the beginning of Sep 2010 with a condition that we had to arrive in Australia by the 26th of Jan 2011. (The short validation time was due apparently to a medical condition I have). We have now been living happily in Melbourne with our 2yr old and 4yr old since mid January 2011. I think the DIAC are a law unto themselves, never underestimate how quickly they can work when they want to !! Sympathy to everybody who has been waiting for forever and a day. I can completely understand your anger and frustration at the process. Waiting in limbo is horrendous. We lived in limbo for 18 months due to the ACS (Australian Computer Society) while they verified my husbands skills prior to being able to actually apply for the visa and our own bloody indecision but that's a whole other story . . . . . . .

It was really nice to meet everybody on Saturday. Thanks for arranging Vinolover. Would be nice to meet again in a few weeks if anybody fancies it ? Was thinking may'be a wee lunch and a beer on a Saturday or Sunday in the CBD or Carlton. PM me if interested and we can get something arranged. Cheers L

Hi, I am 33 years old who moved to Melbourne from Scotland 4 weeks ago with my husband and 2 young kids. I miss my girly friends from home so am keen to find some new ones ! A drink and a giggle sounds just like what I need. If you can let me know if anything is arranged.