lara24

I was just doing a bit of research to see what shops will be local to us (Joondalup area) for buying car seats, toys etc The Mothercare site says everything is reduced due to Administration / Liquidation - have they really gone bust?? WOW From a selfish point of view if they are not going to be open in May when we arrive any suggestions as to the best alternative to go to - car seats being my main concern.

Thanks M2M and fiffi69, we have gone with Insure your Move. They seemed to offer slightly better cover and I liked the no excess part. Fingers crossed we won't need to claim.........

Shipping costs have just gone up. 15% is what we have been told, I think that was from the 1st March - bummer as we are moving in May. A 20Ft should be about £4000, we have just booked a 40Ft from Scotland to Perth WA for £6500 and that includes AQIS.

We are hopefully going to get our shipping all booked this week so obviously looking at insurance options. Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) or claiming through either LP or IYM? We plan to use either Crown or White and Co from Aberdeen to Perth WA - not sure if that makes any difference to your advice... Many Thanks Lx

PSS are one of the first companies to do this but I have to say that I think it is a good idea. They are right any container can be selected to be cleaned and as far as I am aware all shipping companies pass that cost on to the customer. How much do PSS charge and how much could the clean cost? I guess the question is how much of a problem would it be if you got a big unexpected bill with-in weeks of arriving in Oz? We have not had a quote from PSS as they don't operate in our area but I actually told the rep from White's about this indemnity that they offer as it seemed such a good idea. He was going to take the idea back to the office and put it forward to the management. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Have you just had a quote from your shipping company? They tend to be more expensive that specialist shipping insurance companies. The 2 main ones are: http://www.insure-your-move.com/ http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/emigration-insurance Try getting quotes from them - may be as much as half the price.

Probably unlikely but if anyone is planning to break their lease in Iluka/Ocean Reef or Burns Beach areas please let me know. We are looking for a 3 or 4 bed house from end of June ish........ I will post this on Perth Poms to. Cheers L xx

Thankyou, our son will be 15 months but he is pretty big for his age (75th percentile) so am hoping he will be fine. Good to know it worked for you guys.

We have booked a day flight as know our youngest will not sleep, naps on my lap hopefully but he just likes a cot in a dark quiet room. If the 1 year old is awake then our 4 year old is not going to get peace to sleep so our thinking was a night flight may be very traumatic. Using the CARES strap is really just to give us another option - maybe a few hours of him watching tv, playing with a toy or having a nap but I really don't see him sleeping for long.

Ah, thanks julesrogers. That gives me hope. It is such a good idea to have the kids strapped in if poss. Anyone else got a positive story?

This is my issue, if it can be done without causing any disruption and means a safer and more comfortable flight for us I don't really see the problem but as snifter says if the airline says no there may be nothing we can do. The SA website only says it can't be used on or around exit rows, it is only the person we contacted at customer services who said it had to be back row.......

I wasn't going to try and hide it from the cabin crew, just wondered how strict they enforced that rule as I have heard of people using it who did not know that it is supposed to only be back row and they said it certainly didn't obscure the tv for the person behind. I am just not sure if they flew SA......... All the bassinet seats are already booked so that wasn't an option and we are not too keen to carry a car seat with us.

We are flying with SA to Perth in May and plan to use the CARES child aviation restraint strap for our 1 year old. SA have said we can only use it in the back row with no-one behind us but all the back row seats are already reserved by other people. Has anyone got away with using it mid plane and slid the straps over the seat without blocking the use of the table or the tv behind? I am just trying to decide if we should spend the £60 for the strap in the hope that we can use it....... Thanks Lx

We waited until the visa had been granted before putting it on the market. I love my house and was not willing to sell before we knew for sure we had the visa. We put our's on the market at the very end of October which was terrible timing as no-one looks at houses the 2 months before Christmas but we had the visa so thought we shouldn't wait. It has just been sold this week and we accepted an offer for 4% below valuation as it saved us doing a validation trip. Guess it depends how upset you would be to sell and then for the visa not to be granted for some reason........

We need a room for 4 people as we have 2 kids, both Changi Village and the Crown Plaza at the airport will only take 3 per room. They say it is a fire regulation thing...... Thanks for the suggestion though, any others welcome!!

Thanks, yes it add's a fair few hours by the time you check-in at ABZ, get to LHR then board again. I thought I would be about suicidal if I had to get straight on another flight once in SIN.

We have a 24 hour stopover in Singapore with a 1 and 4 year old and plan to stay in one of the Transit hotels. Any advice about whether to book one in Terminal 1,2 or 3? We are flying Singapore Airlines from London Heathrow and then on to Perth the next day. We will go for a swim but being closer to decent play areas and facilities for the kids would be our priority....... Thanks Lxx PS House sale confirmed today so Perth here we come on the 19th May - yippee!!!

We plan to go via Singapore with a 2/3 day stopover there. We do have friends there but even without I think we would still do the same. I was with the night flight brigade until I discovered that my youngest (just turned 1 this week) will not sleep anywhere apart from a cot/bed in a quiet room. The thought of a night flight when most people are quiet and us with an exhausted and grumpy baby who is also keeping his exhausted and grumpy 4 year old brother awake does scare me so I think we are going to do day flights. We like the idea of getting the longest part of the journey done on the A380 and recover from the jet-lag in SIN (Perth is on the same time-zone) before a 5 hour (I think) flight to Perth. We also plan to buy a seat harness for our youngest to try and keep him in his seat watching tv etc........ Good Luck

Do the visa wizard on the DIAC website: http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/#vw=%23a_step_1 It is hard to answer without knowing what your occupation is, do you have any other family in Oz, etc...... Sponsorship may one way to go for you but depends on your occupation. Good Luck

I have used them occassionally but I would only do 3 minutes to start with and never more than 6. The longest you can go on in the UK (in salons I have seen) is 9 minutes but as far as I am concerned even that is madness.

WOW, freckleface. Just had a look at their website - what beautiful homes!! Not sure our budget will run to them but really nice to see you can get quality, hopefully we can find a builder with decent workmanship and materials who build slightly smaller houses. Well unless we win the lottery tonight ;-)

New houses in Perth seem to get a really bad rap and I recently read they are only expected to be habitable for 17 years........wow that seems terrible. Are they really that bad? Does anyone have recommendations of good builders? For anyone from Aberdeenshire (I know there are a lot of you on here) we live in a Malcolm Allan house and we certainly think they are the best quality of the mass market options available here and we are looking for a similar quality in Perth - are we kidding ourselves?

I would never buy a house in the UK with-out a proper survey and the advice if a solicitor specialising in property who was able to advise on what makes a sound investment and what is a fair and realistic price so more than happy to do that in Oz too, just sounds like it would be a buyers agent that we might need. We hope to buy after 8 months so hopefully would have a good idea of property prices, areas and the buying process by then. It does seem odd that the rest of Australia use building inspections and WA doesn't.......am I missing something else that is done in it's place?

There was a larger house on a much larger plot on the same street sold for $715,000 in October last year - maybe it was just a bargain for some reason. We would like to be in Ocean Reef / Iluka but as we want a more modern house Iluka is probably more likely.

So is the only time you have a professional and independent valuation done on a house when the bank do one before they finalise your mortgage? If you choose the have a building inspection like NickyNook suggested do they provide a valuation or just a list of potential problems with the building and land?