mumoffour

We had sorted a deal when we sold our car that we could use it to go to the airport and then get it dropped back to the garage who'd bought it so that meant an extra "body" needed to drive it home which meant we had to take 2 cars so we could fit in all the bags etc. So that meant my Dad and his wife and a family friend (doing the car drop off after) all came to see us off. It was awful. Family friend is ex-army so disappeared fairly swiftly with a handshake which was all good but my Dad was a bit of a mess which wasn't fun. He's waved us off before when we went to Dubai but this time we were going so much further and it's meant to be a permanent move. On our stop over in Dubai (3hrs) my FiL managed to meet us at our departure gate to see us off from there and he was really good - lots of hugs for the kids and wise words for the grown ups. Being waved off at the airport depends very much on who is doing the waving off!

Have you talked it through with anyone back home? When we first moved to Dubai I was on the computer twice one click away from booking flights home for me and the kids but I decided I would make it work and that our family is stronger together - also I have 4 kids all quite young and so being a single mom to them was incredibly off putting. Does your hubby realise quite how serious you are about this? He may think you're just having a moan??? Also saying he won't stop the kids going is very different to actually waving them off at the airport to the other side of the world and he may well change his mind and the legalities aren't on your side I believe. Having a husband on the other side of the world may work for a year or two but as a long term plan? I feel that 8 months is not that long to settle in and that you should shelve thinking about going "home" because that may well be hindering your settling. Can you start a course or do some volunteering - to make you commit to a time span for the future? I really hope you can work this out x

Also interested in this question so I can try and persuade my lil sis over here x

It's cheaper for me to continue paying off my contract @£15pm than to pay the early termination charge - have explained I've move to Australia but all I got was an email saying how they'll be sorry to lose a valued customer and my charge is £..... Surely if they were that sorry they'd cancel it for free in the hopes that I'd come back eventually - yeah right - in cloud cuckoo land! Be sure to physically take the sim out of the phone - am a bit of a technophobe but am sure it can't run up charges sat in a drawer with no sim :-)

You need to remember you're not leaving HIM nor abandoning him alone - hold it together and I'd recommend practising what you want to say alone first so that hearing it aloud doesn't set you off. Also be prepared for the "oh ok can I watch tv now?" response - it's an "age" thing not an "he doesn't love you" thing. Drip feed information - don't expect him to be able to process a long conversation about why you're moving and where you're going and how you'll phone and write and skype..... You have to hold it together!!! Going to be tough for you but just gotta be done x

Yep 20ft and rammed to the roof - bikes, fridges, some tools and what do they find that I'd missed...........3 maracas in the childrens musical instruments box that are painted wood but may contain seeds as the shaky inside bits - would we like to pay $500 to have them cleaned or $77 to have them destroyed. So now my bill is actually $477 - so I knew I'd spoken too soon :-/ And delivery delayed again till Sept 7th :-(

We're paying $400 by bank transfer to our agents for AQIS. It has been inspected and so I assume they'd have told us if any further charges? At least I'd like to think so :-/ supposed to be delivered to us on Sept 5th - been crazy delayed and I won't believe it till I see my stuff actually being bought into my house.

My vote would be for option 2. Community over swankiness. I'd guess it would be harder to form friendships on the new estate where you can't tell if people are in or out cos cars all in the remote controlled garages.....I'd move to the dream house when friends were firmly established, and add the longer commute once you'd made your reputation at work and could then get away with putting in less hours?

I've just been told my eldest 2 (8 & 7) need to have Hep B - they're going to love that! :-( Youngest 2 are ok though cos they born in Dubai and have had it. Different countries, different schedules - get your medicare sorted out asap and the rest will follow. Don't forget to get ambulance cover sorted - I was surprised to hear it's not included on Medicare and with kids, let's face it, it's always better to be over-prepared x

Benefits associated with bringing up children are available straight away but unemployment benefit etc you have to wait 2 years to be able to claim. Centrelink taking forever to process claims at the moment - we're still waiting at almost 6 weeks in so you'll need to budget for that income not starting straight away. You can claim back 50% of child card costs - kindy for the 4yo? School uniform can be bought cheaply from the school (or we might just be lucky!) but you need to provide all books, pens etc for your child and that cost me about $250 for both - and then there is fees such as excursion levy and religious education etc etc. Contact the school to work out exactly how much you're going to need to spend in the first term. Hope this helps? x

We flew with Emirates and gad 120kg for 6 of us 2 adults and 4 kids. No buggy or travel cot. Just lots of suitcases. Use bungee cords to stack them onto the luggage trolley. Our main problem was getting it all in the car at either end! We made great use of the trunkie suitcases and our eldest pulled the 3 yo through the airports for fun though it also helped us out no end! :-)

We're in VIC - with medicare only and ambulance cover. My kids use the subsidised dental scheme. Free if you have a health card (we don't) else it is $30 for check up and everything arising from that checkup incl x rays/extractions/fillings etc. Think it applies up Prep to grade 6 and birth to age 5. Only know about it by seeing a poster on wall outside kinder!

Your reccie trip will help you decide - your memories of Oz and current child-based reality may be different. My kids have settled really well into school and kinder. Even though it's winter and it's been a bit chilly, we've been out and about a lot to the beach and trips down the Great Ocean Road. The playgrounds here are amazing and our local swimming pool has some wonderful facilities. I can see your point about having nearly cleared the mortgage and not wanting to be saddled with a large debt again but you're still young enough to have plenty of working years in you - lets face it - a lot of people don't even buy their first house till their mid 30s in the UK. The exchange rate drop is gutting but it is the price you pay for the economy doing better than others. We often think how much more $$$ we'd have had if we'd moved 7 years ago but no point looking backwards - just hacks you off :-) Things will be clearer after your reccie - and the PIO mantra = research, research and more research!

Ours has a rotary line outside but as it's winter we've invested in a tumble drier x

I was a Woolworths shopper cos it's closer but have been fully converted to Coles - further away but I combine the trip. You can do a test online shop via their website to get an idea of costs. PS I was a Tesco shopper back in Blighty and missing BOGOF in a big way - there just seems to be less of those over here....

I got a printout from the GP of all the immunisations the children received just in case the red book wasn't complete. Dentists seem to prefer taking their own x rays here rather than relying on others and doctors will ask all the questions they determine to be relevant. I guess if you have a serious illness or specialist hospital visits, then more info might be best?

After the freezing night last night - I'm heartened to think that summer is going to be hot..... We've been in Torquay 5 weeks now and slowly starting to settle but there are rumblings about hubbys work closing down by 2016 so we may be back faster than we were anticipating too - though never to lovely Cornwall as no work for hubby;we'd be back off to the industrial Midlands. I wish you the best of luck back in Blighty and hope that the rest of your time here is happy x

Just wanted to say hi! We just moved to Torquay and hubby works in Geelong. You'll not be far away from us at all if you need a play date at the beach x

I let my washing machine and dryer and dishwasher to be sold with our house given away to friends. I figured that I'd need them before the shipping arrived so would probably buy new when we arrived. It's a bit of a faff to empty all standing water and fluff etc etc from them to customs inspection standards so I focused on cleaning our bikes and fridge to within inches of their lives so they'd defo get through (fingers crossed!) and have bought new washer and dryer (got a good discount for buying together with microwave). I carried our iron in suitcase so hubby could have ironed shirts for work. Bought a $49 vacumn cleaner from Kmart which will do till my Henry arrives. Also a friend introduced us to a facebook group for our local area to buy and sell secondhand. And we bought a fridge off ebay to last us till mine arrives and then it'll get sold. Good luck with your preparations - we had about 4 weeks from start to finish - booked movers about 6 days before I needed them to come and pack - a bit more time would've been nice!

We gave away (to BiL) the vintage picnic hamper given to us as a wedding present from my now deceased grandparents - wicker is not allowed in any form :-( Give the chairs to family who'll look after them for you :-)

We're off Saturday to Melbourne via Dubai. Will be pulling on my 'brave' pants and sticking that smile to my face!

There doesn't necessarily have to be anything in the UK for you to want to try somewhere new. You're trying a new country not dying. All decisions are made harder when we have responsibility for children which increases the seriousness but also think of what they'll learn about themselves and their parents as human beings who are willing to put themselves 'out there' and give something new a try. The qualities you have which made you successful in the UK will help you when in Oz. We've been saying stuff like "This had better be worth it!" etc etc which is putting a lot of pressure on ourselves and Australia - we're trying not to think of our adventure in "it's got to be perfect" terms because nowhere is but like you we've got it pretty sorted here but we're not willing to settle for what we've got and vegetate in our semi waiting for pensions (we're 35). We're going to try something new, somewhere new, together and if it doesn't work out? It's only money - that can be earned again and you can't take it with you as they say :huh: I think most people get cold feet at some stage - try not to put so much pressure on yourself :wubclub:

We're also leaving Northants but on Saturday! Heading to Torquay and hubby working in Geelong. Have leaving do drinkies on Friday night and currently freaking about how much there is to fit in our suitcases :chatterbox:

Currently living: Near Northampton Visa type: 175 Family: me, husband, dd1(8), ds(7), dd2 (4), dd3(3) Age: 30-35 When moving: 23rd June 2012 Visa status: granted - to be validated on 25th June when we finally arrive Been to Oz before: not yet

We're coming to Torquay in 10 days - joining you in saying thanks to PIO - saved my sanity, moral support and saved cold hard cash sometimes too! :biggrin: Will post an arrival report once we have internet x