flossybeth

Do you really think so? We've been here for 9 and half years and I love hearing the kookaburras; I walked down to town this morning and there were black cockies preening, lorikeets squawking, magpies swooping (!) and it was just another reminder that we're still here in Australia and I marvel at that every day.

A few years ago we booked for my husband to go back for his Mum's 70th and it wasn't until the Sunday before he was due to fly on the Wednesday that we realised his passport had expired. He managed to get an appointment at the Embassy in Melbourne (from Adelaide) on the Monday and be issued with his emergency travel document for his journey. He was only able to travel on the dates given with no deviation of his route. So depending on where you are you'll just need to find out which is your local embassy/high commission and take it from there.

Aberfoyle Park is very much a residential suburb, it has a lot going for it in terms of location to the city & the hills but for a holiday spot I'm not sure I'd want to stay there (even as a 'get a feeling for real life' recce). North CBD (so sort of North Adelaide) would be a good spot for getting out and about into the north east. There are some lovely areas up out that way, Thorndon Park at Paradise is a great spot and easy access to the Barossa wine region (check out the Winey Kids website - https://www.wineykids.com.au/ - it focuses mostly on the McLaren Vale region, because that's where they live, but there's some good guides to the other local areas). We've been in Australia since 2012 and live in McLaren Vale but started off in Lockleys (western suburbs). When it came to buying we were looking at either the north east or down this way and there were more 4 bedroom houses down this way than in the NE, which is why we ended up here (3 children plus overseas visitors meant we needed the room). We're very happy with our location, it's just occasionally a little far away from the city to really join in sometimes but we don't miss out - it's a 40 minute drive or an hour on the train to the CBD.

I would suggest that your children will definitely paddle at the very least because the sun is still pretty warm, when it's out. What you won't get are days lying on the beach or long evenings (even in summer the sun's gone by 9.30 at the very latest) and some of the winds might be a bit blowy. As the majority of the others have said Glenelg or a CBD location would be best for such a long term stay because of the transport options but public transport is pretty good around Adelaide with trains up from the south, into the north and the Obahn coming in from the northeast so there's lots of options. The parklands around the CBD are really good, lots of playgrounds and the linear parks along the Torrens are easy walking. I don't think you'd want to spend you month up in somewhere like Hahndorf or Mount Barker, they will be chillier and although they might be lovely places to actually live in I think you'd find yourself bored pretty quickly if you were left without a car. Your husband might have to drink his wine pretty early too if he wants a view with it - it's dark by 5.30 just now.

Exactly as Snifter says: our eldest is August 30th and was put into the year above her age peers when we arrived by the head. It is one of the few things we would change if we could about moving here. They're now in Yr 12 and academically have managed to keep up but socially there have been heaps of issues which don't really look like they'll be diminished on graduating this year: we're even looking at sending them back to the UK for 12 months so that when they come back they'll be 18 at least and ready to enter uni on a level social field (in regards to going out etc). We asked on a number of occasions if we could hold them back a year but each time got told that our child had to be failing everything before they'd consider it and of course they weren't. Our middle child whose birthday is September was also put up when we arrived but we managed to move him back down when we moved house and schools because we could see he was being massively influenced by the older boys in his class and that was at year 5! We toyed with the idea of a Waldorf education for our youngest when it came to switching from primary to high school last year just so she would be reset but she rejected it in favour of staying with her friends; her birthday is mid May though so it's not such a huge issue for her. It's hard not to get hung up on 'repeating' but it actually isn't repeating, it's just a different system, accept it as part of moving half way round the world.

@Toots - Going to bed singing the Balamory theme song now

My sister and her family have just done the Great Ocean Road but I can't remember which hire company it was - what I do know is that we (my family when they come and us before we left) always book stuff through Trailfinders - flights/hire/trips etc And if they're feeling pretty free spirited they could always keep an eye on this page closer to the time: https://www.drivenow.com.au/onewayrentals.jspc?fromUpdate=true&utm_medium=email&utm_source=relocation-update&utm_campaign=watchlist-2017-02-07-thl-au#/relocations/AU

I mostly read the MBTTUK posts (although we have no intention of moving back) and one of the reasons people often cite as a draw is the proximity of Europe and the cheap flights. I understand nothing has really happened yet in regards to Britain choosing to leave the EU but when it does do you think the cheap flights will continue or will there be an added cost with them becoming 'international flights' rather than a hop across to France/Germany etc, Will people be put off by passport and border restrictions being re-introduced?

Yes definitely Citizenship, it seemed to me to be overly complicated and involved - why they can't just link our existing visas with our passports and ask a few proof of identity/address questions I don't know. But still it gave me something to do for the evening... And thank you Catalyst2012, so long as it's not just me I'll wait and see what happens.

We've just completed the on-line citizenship application which submitted fine, however I'm just a little puzzled by the fact that our parents appear as applicants even though neither of us want our parents to move to Australia with us (nor do our parents) and my husband's dad actually died back in 2007. When we filled in the forms we just assumed they were after the information as a proof thing especially as it wouldn't NOT let us include my husband's dad. Is this normal and all will be OK? or is there likely to be some follow up on this? Thank you.

From reading your responses to previous replies I would suggest that your husband earns more than you and is very happy in his job, I would also suggest that for you working full-time isn't giving you time to spend with your son or getting to know the area you do live in and finding the good places to go. It comes across that you've only relatively recently arrived back in Aus and perhaps that's part of the problem - new baby, another (not insignificant) move, back to full time work and you really haven't given yourself time to settle. I know that it took me a good two years to make sure that my family were happy and settled before I began to think about what I would do career-wise (turns out to be the same as in the UK, but I'm ok with that), my husband's wage isn't amazing (under $90,000 for 5 of us) so we had to budget and we certainly weren't out there buying jetskis, camper trailers or kayaks.... but we figured we were here for the long term not the immediacy of a holiday. Is this something you might be able to do - reduce your hours at work, relax your expectations and allow your husband to take some of the burden (part of his compromise to keeping you here) which in turn will allow you the time and space you need to be able to settle.

We did a 3 day stopover on our way to Australia 3 years ago and I can't for the life of me remember what we ate or where or how much things cost; I suspect we were on very much in the mode of it all being Monopoly money by that point... I know we had a drink at the Long Bar at Raffles which was obviously expensive but I don't recall it being a particularly expensive City to be in. I know you say you have a lot of attractions included in your hotel price but we went out to the Discovery Centre (http://www.sdc.com.sg/) and had a great time - really interactive, well worth the trip out. We went to the Botanic Gardens too (actually we ate there one evening!) and that was fantastic as well... the public transport was very easy to use. Like I said it was 3 days 3 years ago now and our children are still talking about it - I don't know if we'll ever be able to just pass through the airport again - I suspect they may make us stopover every time!

No, the UK loans have to be deferred every year (if your income is under the threshold) until the loan expires (either 20 years or as the loan holder turns 50). I suspect that since the first lot of student loans are nearing their 20 year cut-off this new company Erudio who bought the loans from the Student Loan Company (which was government owned) last year they are pushing to create arrears for accounts that will then mean they are in breach of contract and can't then be written off.

I'm just wondering if anyone else is having any issues with their student loans which were bought by Erudio last year? I've had 3 student loans since 1994/5/6 and have deferred every year without any trouble. In March last year I received a letter pack from Erudio informing me that my loans were now with them and that I owed them money - as far as I was concerned I had an agreement with the SLC and my deferment was in place until Jan 2015. I emailed explaining my confusion and heard nothing back until April when they said they needed proof of my deferment - so I scanned in my letter from the SLC and I heard nothing until an email in May (after I sent an email confirming that since they hadn't replied I could assume everything was in order) although this email was a standard 21 day reply and I never received anything more until a letter in the post just before Christmas informing me that I had been in arrears since June and owed them almost 800 pounds. I've disputed this with them for over a month now and today they have responded and said that the letter I had from the SLC is "not an agreement stating your account is deferred". The letter that I scanned and sent was the only thing I had from the SLC and worked fine for them so why are Eruido not acknowledging it as a deferment letter? I also had to point out that I had received no deferment forms from themselves (ever!) but for the coming 12 months so they did email me a copy of those to print off and return, which I did by recorded delivery, but again I've had no acknowledgment of these forms. Because I now live in Australia my deferment with the SLC has been issued under an Overseas Income Contingent (which is perhaps why Erudio are choosing to be obtuse and not recognise it as deferment - even though the forms I have filled in and sent back to the SLC have always been their standard deferment forms) and the only phone number they are prepared to give is their 0845 number which I'm not prepared to ring from here. Any help would be gratefully received.

I'm not 100% sure the OP's happiness outweighs the relationship of her parents with their parents do you? Surely a better way would be engage in a dialogue that wouldn't' cause a rift (fortunately the OP has said that she can't live with grandparents anyway).