Tina2

Chelmer. Graceville areas 14 minuets on the train, but lovely old area, lots of coffee shops, trees, parks. Redhill and Paddington also worth looking at. This might help http://www.whereis.com you can key in any suburb and it will give you a map. you can also key in 2 places and ask for directions and it gives a map with route, and time to get there.

Would not recommend Shepparton to anyone. We had to work there for 3 years, but chose an hour drive each way to Echuca rather than live in Shepparton. It is "very" multicultural, looks old and run down and is not exactly the safest place after dark.

Have a drive to Eltham and Warrandyte still only 40 minuets to the city and very pretty. Still North East. Use http://www.whereis.com/directions it gives you a map, and distances to different areas, also shows shopping centres, resturants all sorts of things.

only tube stock but have found them very helpful. http://www.plantinspirations.com.au You need to know about your soil and should do a PH test, you can get kits cheap from local nurseries or even bunnings. No point for example buying azalea if you don't have acidic soil. Need to consider your climate as well. Do you get frost, do you get strong winds, or very hot summers all these things are important in finding plants that will grow. We have horrid heavy black soil but I have natives growing as well as fruit trees and finding the correct food is also important . Rose food for roses, native food for natives, sound simple I know but many people just pick up "fertalizer" and it can kill your plants rather than make them grow sometimes. Also visit local craft markets in your area, you can often pick up good plants there at a reasonable price

Been here 40 years now. Am kicking myself for not going back when I had the chance. Now for difficult reasons there is no hope of ever going back. Having now retired it is really hitting home. There is simply nothing to do. In the UK transport is way beyond what it is here. You can catch a bus to no end of historical places. Walk to the village to pick up a few things and have a chat with friends. I guess it is harder for us as we don't live in the center of a capital city (not that we would want to) but it is expencive to travel anywhere. Health care is SO expencive and if you don't have the money well tough you go with out, well unless you sit on a public wait list for years and years. If you are that unsettled and have the chance to go home, then go while you can. Don't wait till for what ever reason you can no longer go back. The pain of wanting to "go home" but knowing you cant is really hard to live with.

Because it gets to 40 in summer !

Ha Ha been getting up early to enjoy the last of the cool mornings. Still getting a cool breeze from about 3pm and loving it. Sure many Poms will be saying what the ?? give us some sunshine but you are right I really miss rain and cool days.

Rachel our family court bill reached $230,000 before we gave up. It wiped us out totally, all our retirement money gone trying to help our daughter and we got nowhere. The only people who won were the lawyer. The emotional strain of family court is beyond anything anyone could imagine in there worst nightmare.

Would never feed can food, smells bad and I dont like all the preservatives in it. Nothing like fresh food. I give a 1/4 lambs heart once a week for a bit of red meat, and like you he gets biscuits for dinner.

I dont agree as according to the op he wants to leave his family anyway, where as the op really needs the support of her family when she gives birth. So he could go over there if she is that important to him, but as others have said he now seems to be running backwards.

No One ever said the child was more hers than his, we are discussing the very harsh and difficult family court rules in Aus. How would you like to be stuck in an O/S country knowing you can never go home unless you leave your child behind ? If she goes home to the UK she can have her child and then discuss how the (2) of them are going to make things work with "what is in the childs best interest at the forefront of the decision.

Do she eat dog biscuits ? There is a brand called Black Hawk it has Emu Oil in it, great for joints and gives a lovely shine to a dogs coat. All Aus made. We feed RAW Chicken necks and have no teeth issues at all. Buy in bulk far cheaper, we buy a full box then weigh out portions and freeze them, taking one out each evening to thaw for the morning.

These days your boyfriend does not have to be married to his wife to have access to his children, the family court will make very sure of that. Be careful hon you are not being told fairy stories. Lots of threads on here discussing what happens if you have a child in Aus and want to return to the UK horror stories sorry to tell you. IF as you say he is so close to his children that he wont leave his wife I doubt very much he would allow you to return to the UK with his child if your relationship deteriates, and being here on your own with no support and a small child will be very difficult and if you decide to go to Family Court to try to get a relocation order to take your child back to the UK you are looking at Mega amounts of money. Even if you go home to have your child, if you return to Aus then the child having an Aus dad automatically comes under Aus family Court rules and if things don't work out with your boyfriend you will be in the same situation as you would have been if the child was born in Aus.

OK I am probably going to get screamed at for this BUT having been involved in nasty family issues for some time my feeling is setting aside what seems like a normal request to allow him to migrate, I would be making very sure he can not take the child out of the country under any circumstances with out the mothers approval and to do that I would go to the extent of talking to a lawyer about placing the child on what is known in Aus ( might be called something else in the UK) as the "airport watch list" this means if he were to try to take her with him with out your approval once at the airport a red flag alert would come up and he would not be allowed to board the child onto any O/S aircraft.

Highly unlikely with his background. It is now very much - what is in the best interest of the child, and a court would look far more favourably on a stable family home with relatives the child knows in a country she calls home.

I have had children in Catholic schools and yes they are very religious (here in Aus) I have friends in C of E schools and not as over the top as Catholic schools but my choice is Lutheran, yes they teach about God but far more from the point of view of social awareness, and caring for others. Not just talking about it but putting words into actions. The school our grand children attend have a roster for the senior students who with teachers help out at the food van which serves food to the homeless. Other Students are involved in visiting a local aged care home where they have been teamed up with a buddy who they visit and chat with on a regular basis. The little ones are taught gardening and the importance of healthy food. Even there home work includes a "service" element like helping lay the table or read a story to a younger sibling. All positive things.

Are you in the UK or Aus ?

What I found with my children and now my grandchildren is that more of the children at Private school tend to be more focused on there studies and have more parents who expect there children to achieve high results. Of course there are children (many of them) in state schools who achieve great results and have supportive parents but you do get that element of disruptive students and it is very difficult for public schools to ask these children to leave the school where as with the private schools disruptive students are quickly shown the door.

Have a look at the Western Suburbs. Places like Indooroopilly, Corinda, Chelmer, any of those and near by suburbs. There are very good state and private schools at all levels, Ironside Primary has a really good name https://ironsidess.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx as does Graceville Primary https://gracevilss.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx on a direct train line to Brisbane just 15 minuets from the city, Indooroopilly Shopping centre is with in walking distance (don't take the car parking is a nightmare) if you are in Corinda you can get the train to Indooroopilly just a couple of train shops. Old area lots of coffee shops big trees etc. This is a great web site http://www.whereis.com you can enter a suburb and it gives you a map and then you can click on distance and enter two suburbs and it will give you distance and time between the 2, also if you just put in one suburb and click search it not only gives you a map but on the left a list of all manner of things like schools, hospitals and if you click on those they will show an icon on your search map. Stay away from places like Darra and Inala, also Woodridge, Marden areas. Forest Lake is a huge community with shops and schools so might be worth a look if western suburbs are a big expensive for you. Also the bay side around Redlands is nice. Sheldon College at Capalaba is a top private school http://www.sheldoncollege.com so you really have lots of options.

This web site has just been released. You can registar for employment on the second range crossing with work starting later this year and is set to be about a 3 year project. Approx 1800 jobs will be on offer. There is a far bit of info in regards to Toowoomba on this forum. It is a regional city approx. 2 hours from Brisbane and may not be the life style everyone wants so might be an idea to have a look at info regarding Toowoomba before applying for work. Great schools, great hospital, reasonable housing costs but no beach. www.nexustsrc.com.au http://nexustsrc.com.au/the-project/overview/

Give this a try www.nexustsrc.com.au you can registar your interest for work on the second range crossing.

Good Honest post ! Sadly the Gold Coast well the Northern End is on a downer as well. Pimpama which a few years ago was a lovely country area is now almost an entire area of rentals with many NRAS houses and town houses going in ( like housing commision but owned by private individuals rather than the government) Ormeau and Jacobs Ridge which 7 or 8 years ago was classed as up market suburbs are rapidly loosing value, lawns not mowed, bins left out, cars sitting on nature strips etc. Jobs are few and far between, rent is sky high on average plus $400 a week. There is a train to Brisbane but its not cheap, and with so many looking for the dream of living on the coast the roads are clogged. Your comment re employment in the Lockyer Valley was really interesting, so many out of work yet as you say no one wants these often dirty hard labor jobs. Same in Victoria, only migrants in the fields picking fruit. Although I agree with very little Tony Abbott does, for those who are physically capable it really is time for - take these jobs or loose government payments. Many flock here because of the high wages they sadly dont realise how high the cost of living is.

Isolation really depends on how far regional you go. For example Mt Isa is very regional and very brown and barren, though a couple of hours from a capital city the same can not be said for Toowoomba or places like Ballarat, Bendigo, Orange, or many other large regional towns as they have populations of over 200,000. You are correct though in the fact that many coming here expect rural to be rolling green hills and paddocks like the UK and that is not the case. It even depends what state you are in as to when it is green and when it is dry. Toowoomba is now in its dry season, once we move into the wet season it will green up, on the other hand Victoria is in its wet season so it is nice and green but once summer comes it will dry out ( fire season).

Marymount is what I would describe as a good solid all round school. Caring but well disaplined and the primary get priority into Marymount College. Academic results are quite good and there are a broad range of co curriculum subjects for both primary and senior. Nice area down there as well. Fees are really reasonable as well so well worth giving serious consideration to.

Agree Varsity College is a very good state school and goes Prep to 12 so no need to change for high school but you must be in the catchment area. Northern GC has a lot of rentals and some of those areas are becoming rough, but there are also nice areas like hope island but then you have to look at what school you will choose. Upper Coomera in particular is one place to give a miss and even more so Upper Coomera State College. Robina has a fair few rentals as well but also nice pockets. Best thing is to rent for a few weeks and have a good look around as we all see different suburbs differently. This may help http://www.whereis.com/ using search you key in a name and it gives you a map, or use directions and you can key in where you will work to where you want to live and it gives a map and time to drive there. On the left is a list so you can select schools and they will show on the map.