Maruska

Hi, We made the move from USA 2 months ago. We aren't in Gold Coast though. I did my school research via myschool.edu.au. It will give you an idea about student's performance on national testing and also about the number of students and socioeconomic background.

It was a lovely warm day . My son's school had a carnival with lots of outdoor activities and the weather was perfect:cool:

Hi, Thanks for the post, we live in Sutherland Shire as well. Only just moved in fact and we like Guzman y Gomez in Cronulla, it is Mexican and our kids are used to the food from the US. You can pick and mix your fillings - rice, beans, cheese, chicken and other stuff for adults

We just moved to Cronulla last week and it's beautiful! So many things to do outdoors with little kids - and that's winter!!!! People are friendly and for the most part look happy and positive.

I Was in a similar situation, we left Houston on March 31st and finalized our house sale almost a month later ( required a trip to the US embassy). I don't know what kind of work you do but it took additional 3 weeks for my husband to start working in a job he was already accepted for - background checks, orientation dates available. I would try to get a contract underway before you leave if possible, don't know about UK but we had a clause when we accepted the offer that should they withdraw they would lose several thousand $.Good luck and hopefully everything goes well!

Yep did leave Houston behind and so far I don`t miss it at all ( except friends of course, and my favorite tex-mex Chuy`s!) . We came prepared, visited Australia last year and quickly realized that our dining out days are over - well almost :wink:. Funny thing about the roads, recently we used navigation while driving around in Sydney, when it said " turn right onto Princes Highway", we didn`t believe that the 2-lane road was the highway so breezed right through it and had to turn :laugh:. Public transport is great in Sydney though, we used the trains a lot this past 3 weeks - something that Houston doesn`t have ( and I certainly don`t miss the traffic ). We are 5 min. away from a beautiful surf beach, 10 min by train to work and a short ferry ride from the National park now, can`t complain about that :smile:. Rent - ouch, getting used to the fact that we pay more than what our mortgage was but in real estate it`s all about the location, Texas in general is cheap, I guess it would have been about the same if we lived in the North-East.

We`ve got friends in Hamilton which is about 35 km from Toronto, they are still able to do lots of outdoor activities - biking, kayaking etc. Sorry can`t help with living expenses, we only spent limited time in there.

What field are you in? My SIL lives in Toronto with family, they are both nurses and found a job within a month after they moved there. We visited in April this year and while I did like the area and the friendliness of the people, it was crazy cold ( our kids couldn`t play outside for more than an hour). If you don`t mind freezing temps, I was told that summer is great :cool:

NAB online, than showed up to the bank with a passport and got EFTPOS NAB card. I use USFOREX for transfers, the Australian branch is OZFOREX, they gave me quite good exchange rate with a flat rate of 5 USD transfer fee no matter what amount you`re transferring.

Hi, we went that way last year while visiting Australia for a vacation. We went for a reef trip and it was perfectly fine to swim and snorkel/dive - at the end of July so mid- winter. We took a dip as well at the Esplanade in the lagoon - weather was nice and warm but the water was quite cold for me ( but I don´t tolerate cold really well, husband and kids were fine). We loved the Daintree NP and Cape Tribulation, such a beautiful place! I can recommend a place to stay if you don´t mind roughing it a bit : http://www.daintreecrocodylus.com.au/crocodylusvillage/Home.html the owners are very nice, they can arrange tours as well if you are interested . Very child- friendly place, your room is basically a tent on a platform ( with beds and a bathroom ) with excellent raiforest view and wildlife all around you. We were recommended a boat tour of Cooper Creek which is smaller than the Daintree river and there is just one boat company that is based there, we were glad we did. No signs of civilization up there.

Thank you all so much for your replies :yes:. We will be pretty busy scouting out the areas I guess but I think it will be fun too :wink:.

Hi, you can email your case officer and scan your receipts to prove that you´ve sent the fingerprints for police checks. As far as they´ve got a proof that it´s being processed, there shouldn´t be a problem. Good luck with your application:wubclub:

After more research, we are concentrating on areas within the catchment of one of those schools: Gymea Bay PS, Kareela PS, Oatley PS, Oyster Bay PS, Oatley West PS. Anyone has experience, good or bad, with any of these schools? Any experience with Southside Montessori school at Riverwood? ( wouldn´t need to live there as it´s private school) . Any idea on what the fees are like in Southside Montessori - they would only give out fee schedule once the school tour is completed. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. Oatley is a possibility, we don´t need a big house really. We used to live in the center of a 4 million people large city and therefore lived in a (very nice) apartment. Gymea we like the look of but not sure if there´s anything for rent in our price range ( there is, surprisingly, quite a bit of choice in Oatley).

Unfortunately, from here, NAPLAN scores is the only way I can research ( school website quality might not be a measure of the school quality etc) but will have a good look at the schools that I´ll narrow down. Thanks a lot for your offer, I think I can manage to find supermarket but other, local places might take me a while to find - farmer´s market, butcher, swimming classes venue, hairdresser etc :biggrin:. Hope I don´t crash the PIO website :chatterbox::laugh:

and thanks to Wakeboard for his/her? reply too :biggrin:

Thank you so much LKC for this load of info, I´m going to look into Engadine area too as it sounds great! The school in Gymea is Sydney Montessori school, what makes me a little wary about it are the NAPLAN results ( but then it might just be the different style of teaching and the scores might level out or go higher than the ones in public schools - don´t know). Church or religion-based schools are out for us. I definitely want my kids to take swimming lessons again as they enjoyed it so much when we lived in Houston:yes:. We are coming on a PR visa and we have an apartment rented for 2,5 weeks in Sutherland. At that time we want to look around, visit schools and see where we want to stay on permanent basis. We don´t mind renting an apartment at all, even though a little house would be nice :wink:. I might take you at your word and PM you as I am sure I´ll have lots of questions once we arrive! :biggrin:

Hi, we are a family of 4 ( 2 children 6 and 3). We researched thoroughly the area that we initially wanted to move to - Brisbane. We tried to secure a job in Brisbane for the past 3 months but no luck. My husband just had an offer from the Sutherland hospital in Sydney so that´s where we are going. After weeks of researching Sydney I still feel a bit overwhelmed and also would like a recommendation from people who actually live-have lived there. Our criteria are: 1) must be within reasonable comute time to Sutherland hospital ( by car or train), by reasonable I mean around 30 minutes 2) must have excellent elementary public schools ( or, possibly, a good Montessori school) 3) rent-wise we are able to do about 550 a week ( I know, it´s not a lot) 4) safe, family friendly area 5) outdoor activity friendly place - beach, hiking trails ( beach is not mandatory requirement lol) So far I have looked at Gymea Bay PS , Burraneer bay PS, Oatley PS, all look good. Any other schools you could recommend ? Appreciate all replies.

Disgusting :realmad: and sad. I hope they serve some time in jail for that.

I liked the sea lions on the pier and the clam chowder served in the restaurants, but there are nicer areas in/around San Francisco than the wharf.

Hello and welcome :biggrin:. This is a British forum but they have been very welcoming to those of us who aren`t Brits . I`m from Czech Republic, now living in the USA. Americans have their own forum but not as active as this one by far. When are you moving to Australia?

25 years and above is ridiculous. Cervical cancer can and does occur at a much younger age. When I was at high school ( at 15 - 16 years old), we had gynecologist come to our biology class and talk about the gyn exam, pap smear etc. You can do pap smear whether sexually active or not ( not all cases of cervical cancer are caused by HPV). I had mine every single year since I was 16. Even in the US where it seems like despite insurance I`m always paying out of pocket for everything, a well-woman exam including pap smear is fully covered.

No idea really. Killing yourself for money trouble is the most stupid way to go IMO .

Very sad, it`s a horrible thought that people get into situations where taking their own life seems better than living :no:

I have my own 6 year old sensitive boy :biggrin:. We visited Australia last year and he loved it, so he is looking forward to go. However, he gets anxious when discussing school, saying " I don`t know the new kids` names and I`ll be shy when I see them", " what are the teachers` names, can Miss Tiffany come with us ". It needs a lot of reassurance at this age I guess ( my 3 years old is just fine and nothing seems to bother her). It`s hard I know but really, I believe he`ll be OK and will adjust fast.