Kimbodia

Hi Katy I've just read this thread with interest. My 7 year old daughter is likely to be diagnosed with mild hemiplegia very soon (awaiting MRI). How are you and your son getting on in Australia in terms of his CP? We have our 489 visa granted and have been in the throes of talking about when to make the big move when her health issue came to light and its left us very much in limbo about the future. Like you were, I am wondering what will and won't be covered out there, how much its going to cost us etc etc etc, she is wearing a splint on her left leg and will likely be needing new ones for several years to come. Any information you could give me in this regard would be so useful. I have looked at private medical cover, it looks fairly expensive, though I guess its essential, but its all so new and different to me that I feel a but lost with it. Thank you

Thank you both for your comments. Nothing has been diagnosed as yet, we've only just discovered the issue and are awaiting further investigations to see what the full issue is. Though it seems in any case, she is going to need physio for the time being.

My family and I were granted our 489 visas a few months ago. We're still in the UK. We've just found out that our daughter is going to need regular physiotherapy and an operation in the future (about 2 years time). Would any of this be covered on Medicare or do we need to look at private health insurance? Would it be any different when we progress onto our PR visa? Further, 3 out of our family of 4 wear spectacles so I've had in mind to get private health care to cover this and the children's eye check ups etc. Could I get one policy that would cover the above and the eye exams and specs? Thanks

Thanks for your replies so far. We want to go to the regional parts, not Gold Coast as I want to be thinking about the day to day living and envisage myself living there. We've been looking on seek for a long time, my husband is a mechanical draughtsman though there appears to be little work for him in Queensland. We have a plan in mind for him to do an apprenticeship in a trade in Oz, we need to explore how possible this really is for him. I have an PA/admin background so would hope to pick up work almost anywhere without needing to be specific. Thanks for the mention about bad weather in February, its a valuable point. Though we have visa validation deadline hanging over our heads and I just don't think we're going to be able to get over before this year is up. I'd still love to hear further suggestions of places to visit on our trip to Queensland. Thanks very much

We need to validate our regional visas, were planning a trip to Queensland for February. We've never been to Queensland before and currently have no idea where we'll end up living when it comes to emigrating. This trip is to validate the visa's, get a feel for Queensland and have a family holiday. We have two children aged 7 and 4 and plan to spend 14-17 days in Queensland. Can anyone suggest places worth visiting or possible itinerary ideas as I'm struggling to make a plan. We don't want it to be incredibly hectic as we need to consider the children. We have a vague plan of a week on Sunshine coast, possibly a 2 night camping trip in Fraser island and a week in and around Cairns. Being such a huge state and having no strong direction as to where we'll end up makes for tricky holiday planning. :wink:

Not all the 190 and 489 visas require a job offer, check each states individual requirements. The 457 does require a job offer.

Hello, am I interpreting this correctly? On a 489 you can live and work in any regional area and not just within the state that sponsors you? Could you go to a different state from day 1 provided it is regional? Is permission from the sponsoring state required or not? Many thanks

Hey guys, I've been following Stacey "Quokka" a bit - where is she now??

Don't forget you have the possibility of a 2nd year WHV if you so wish. I don't think that was available to me back then. I didn't realise back then, what fab opportunities I had, one place I worked was mentioning sponsorship to me yet I was totally uninterested. Yet, with the knowledge I have now, I wish I pursued it. Anyway, wishing you a wonderful trip

Hi Stacey, I've seen several of your posts on here in the past. Delighted to read that you've now booked your trip. I done a backpacking trip through Asia and Australia back in 2002-2003 aged 23. I set off on 2nd November and had the most fantastic year of my life. The only downside was it took me a good 18 months to settle back into UK life when I returned. The money you have sounds really good, try stop worrying and just look forward to the experience ahead. I've no doubt you'll pick up work if you want it. Hubby and I (who was my boyfriend and backpacking partner) are now planning our return to Australia with PR along with our two little girls. I'll look forward to seeing your future posts. Wishing you the most fun ever :jiggy:

Hi Nats, I can well appreciate its hard having kids away from family, I don't think I came across right. I meant to say I think it must be so hard as perhaps the one time in my life I really valued my mother was in the early weeks of becoming a mother myself. I can appreciate the guilt too, its sort of what stopped me planning to emigrate for so many years. Though as time has gone on I've realised I've got to live the life I want for me, hubby and our children. Plus we have some strains with my family which mean we're not terribly close anyway. From what you've said I think you're feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment, which isn't that surprising given your situation. You're not loving your work setup, sounds like you're feeling a bit frazzled with a toddler which is quite normal so its quite normal to question your situation. My advice regarding considering the possibility of returning to Scotland is take things slowly, you say you'd never have considered this before you became a mother and your hubby isn't keen. I wonder if in a few years you may regret it, have you got citizenship? not such an issue if you have. You've mentioned the possibility of family interfering and you're not even back there. All families juggle their lives differently but despite having both families reasonably close by, we don't use either for much childcare at all. And life with toddlers in UK is just as demanding/exhausting as Aus. Just be careful you don't paint too rosey a picture of returning here and trick yourself. One last thing I'll say is the years of feeling like a harassed exhausted mother don't last forever, mine are 6 and 3 and I feel like I'm almost out of the fog of crazy toddler times with two lovely young ladies to look after, so it doesn't go on forever and flies by after they turn 2 I think. Good luck with your plans, I hope you take your time with them and really think through what needs to change to make life better for you all

I'm a mother to a 6 and 3 year old, in the UK. I know you mentioned along the lines of surely having your first child has a big impact. Anyway,I can imagine that is q huge part of what's going on for you right now. You mentioned not getting out and about so much with your child, that would likely be the same in the UK, well anywhere. I think you mentioned planning another child, I imagine your hormones are flying around and unsettling you no end. I'm not really offering any solution, just trying to say it's quite understandable that you're feeling unsettled. I'm planning on taking my 2 kids away from all their family but have questioned that if we went as a couple and became a family in Australia then I'd torture myself with depriving my children of their family and vice versa,due to personal circumstances I don't feel quite so strongly now. I'm thinking that maybe you need to set yourself some goals, maybe for the next 6 months to a year go all out to make friends with other mums and young families where you are. At least you'll know you gave it your best shot.

Helen I hope you can find a positive conclusion to your dilemma. Some comments made got me thinking about my own feelings, hope its okay to post..... So many people have said life in Australia is not necessarily better, just different, which is fair comment. My desires for moving to oz include the wish to experience life in a different country (though we hope for it to be a permanent move) and enjoy the warmer climate, both of which are fairly straight forward. I also wish to enjoy a slower pace of life (I feel my life in UK is a constant rush always with so much to do) enjoy the roads with little traffic , less crowded areas in general, enjoy a much more outdoors life ie cycle rides year round, county parks, picnics, all the outdoor things I enjoy in UK that feel so limited due to cool and wet/unreliable weather. Are my hopes realistic or a bit rose tinted????

I love this thread, great comments and advice. I love the push off of 'better life for the kids' etc etc. Though I guess everyone's circumstances are different and their hopes of gain etc differ. My husband and I are currently planning to take the plunge in the next year or 2. We backpacked in Australia 13 years ago, never been since. Its something we've talked about doing on and off ever since. Aside from that we've always loved the idea of living and working in another country. I don't expect paradise, or a hot UK. The push for us is personal discontentment in our life here, we don't loathe the UK but do feel stuck in a rut here. We hope a warmer climate will help us enjoy life more, though of course we may find the warmer climate a negative at times! I often wonder of the finding out what you value when you've removed yourself from it. Both my husband and I often feel our families can be a bit of a burden to us, so many family obligations, family politics etc. I think how lovely to escape it all and then have a little voice in my head saying you'll miss it all when you don't have it!!! For us, we've decided to go for it because with hubby now 38 its a sort of now or never, the children are still quite young at 6 and 3 and we simply feel there isn't really anything stopping us. We've moved house twice since having our youngest and now we're planning this. I do find it a huge upheavel and wonder when we'll eventually feel settled again, as we both yearn to move into a home and just know that we're not moving for a long time, if ever. Though we feel strongly that we want an exciting change in our lives and feel we'll most definitely regret it if we don't go for it now. We wonder about taking our children away from family and giving them sunshine instead, a funny trade off! Though there are strains in the family and as a result they'd never be incredibly close to my family anyway but could probably still enjoy relationships with cousins. On the other side of the family, its the usual personality clashes, nothing major and everyone gets on but hubby and I feel like we don't quite sit right here. We intend to embrace Australia and everything it offers, we want to throw ourselves into all things Australia, make friends with them and do it as they do it rather than try and stick our heels in and do it the way we did in the UK. We want to give it our best shot and hope that we can make it a successful move, I intend to stay for citizenship and hopefully forever but at least focus on citizenship in the short term. We intend to make a pact, haven't got to the point of doing so officially yet but my view is I don't even intend to speak of the 'are you happy' 'have we made the right decision' for a few years at least. I just want to throw ourselves into life there as much as possible and if its good then great and if its not we plug away at trying to make it good, and then hopefully great!! I don't intend to take my children (or us) to the other side of the world with half a heart nor tell the kids we've made a boo boo and are going back home!! Anyway, I'm rambling. But really felt on the same wavelength of you other posters and wanted to add my own comment

Shame on you John Crockett!!! And thank you admin for highlighting this information. I hope John is reprimanded for his tripe lying.