PomPrincesses

Clothes, buy in the sales as much as you can in the next couple of sizes up for the children. Not too many winter clothes, just fleeces/jumpers rather than full on winter coats. Cosmetics too, stock up on your favourites, I haven't seen voseen kids for example here which we liked in the UK anything channel, clinique is 4 times the price here and of course no boots/nectar points. I also wish we'd packed up a movecube threee months before we left with plates, pans, spare clothes, bedding, kids toys, bikes etc. It costs about £1,000 for a large one that holds a lot of stuff and it arrives after about three months so if you were organised you could arrive about the same time.

We thought about Ellenbrook, have a friend who lives there and loves it, however, she is late to work into the CBD most days, the locals are interesting - go to macdonalds and sit and watch for a few hours, the schools are shocking apparently, it's got no breeze so they are stewing in their own juices at the moment and apart from that a 4x2 rental house we went to look at to give us an idea had 45 other turn up to view. For us it was a no.

He's s GP I'll try and find out how it works in hospitals for you.

I think you'll find despite the doom and gloom there are enough people who are glad benefits are being slashed and completely unaffected by the recession who will vote conservative. Especially when nice married couples start to feel a tiny bit of the benefit themselves through tax allowances etc.

My cousin is married to a Scottish Doctor, she is Australian. So you do have to do the 5 years, however they live in Sydney and some areas are more remote than others and still need support so he is able to travel about an hour to work and still come home every night. He would be about 2 hours from the CBD of Sydney so it's really not too bad. That's all I know i'm afraid but if that was putting you off hopefully it'll inspire you to consider further research into coming over, you'd have a good life here.

Ellenbrook is hit when it's hot and cold when it's cold. About 40 mins from the city using car and train, some people love it.

You can get the same idea from looking at seek.com.au I think the response you'll get from the good consultants is let me know when you've moved here, they will be too busy dealing with their clients and existing candidates to have a chin wag - and those are the consultants you want to keep in touch with not the ones sat around.

From what I have read on here most mothers wanting to take the children to Australia only do so because there is no relationship with the other parent, at all, the ones that fight it should really be a done deal if they say no, should never get to court but what I'd imagine is frustrating is when you haven't seen or heard of somebody for ten years and then they try to excerpt power over you and your child for no other reason than they can.

My daughters sperm donor actually spent $60,000 fighting having to pay 50% of her school fee's - $25,000 So if you don't believe these tossers exist I can sadly confirm that they do. Anyone reading this who has been down the road yet, if the missing parent isn't likely to be co operative and is named on the birth certificate a bottle of tiptex is your friend, we have never been asked to produce the originals, scanned in copies were fine.

The way i am looking at it is, in the UK the point where it is deemed unnecessary to top an income up with tax credit credits with 4 children is around £40,000, beyond £60,000 you don't even get child benefit. In Australia with our 4 children we could earn $150,000 and still be in receipt of housing benefit, family assist and CB. Which says to me they do not expect you to be able to manage independently on less.

My concern is that the OP seems to be doing rather a lot of giving and he is doing a lot of taking, that doesn't sound to me like a partnership or that it doesn't matter who brings in the money, he appears to be weilding all the control over when she can even get a pet.

Honestly being a kept woman wouldn't bother me if women had any sort of protection but they don't. There was a case not so long ago where a woman agreed with her partner he would pay the bills and mortgage, she would buy the shopping, childcare and kids clothes. When they split the judge basically said that buying a few groceries didn't entitle her to half the assets and yet he had to eat for the duration of their marriage as did their children :sad: You have to think this through very carefully, nobody ever thinks they will be shafted by the person they love but it happens a lot and when you get into your late thirties/forties you'll see it happen regularly unfortunately.

I don't think he is the one at all. I would never expect my husband to upsticks and leave a job he loves because it suits me to do so, never ever, you don't do that to somebody you love. You might talk about it, he might come up with ways you can compromise and make it up to you, but expect it no. As for "just being a mum" well I can tell you now these days very few have that luxury and ill health or redundancy can turn it all to **** overnight. Can you buy a house on just his salary ? How will you save for your pension, are you happy to have to ask every time you want your hair dut or a new pair of shoes ? Are you happy for your daughter to see you as the unpaid help ? Honestly you want an equal relationship this is 2013 and if it ever did go pear shaped judges do not award spousal maintenance any more so you'd be out of your home that you don't have a career to finance and praying that he provides for his children. Why would you risk that ?

I'm just not sure he would make the same sacrifices. It's a difficult situation though as he is the main breadwinner so obviously his career is important. That is the biggest mistake a woman can make, right there. Why is his career more important than yours, what happens if he looses his job, meets another woman, becomes disabled ? Do not make the mistake of following a man around and letting opportunities pass you by, I would make scarifices for my children, not my husband (and I say that as a happily married woman who suddenly found herself as the breadwinner and it was my visa that brought us to Australia, if I hadn't looked after my career we wouldn't be here now). He will use this as an excuse not to commit, it's not his decision though it's yours, do you want to be with this man or not ? If he is the one you'll be fine together in Australia, if he's not it won't matter where you are you'll still be unhappy.

You need to show that there are comparable schools with places available where you will live and what job you have lined up

Do you play the rainbow relaxation on your ipod or into the room at bedtime ? I'd let him listen to it, the fact that he'll nod off before you get past the strawberry mist should help him to get it. Mines a pharmacist who'd spent his whole life in drugs and couldn't understand why you wouldn't just have an epidural but i think even he agreed that i was much calmer and in control with number three and four and recovered well.

I don't know if just the CD's would be enough, you definitely need the book too and get your partner to read the book, you need total buy in and support from your birth partners because seriously the midwives do not believe you are in labour or OK unless you are howling from the roof tops. I walked in with the contractions about three mins apart and they didn't want to let me through the security entrance as I was able to talk quite normally to them, he was born 2 hours later so it's a good job I didn't "pop home for a bit and see how I got on"

I used it and it kind of worked. What I found is that everyone wants a bloody chat whilst you're in labour which is not helpful for hypnobirthing so you need your husband to tell the MW to shut it and you'll let them know how you are doing if you want to. Mine even wanted to know if DH had any CD's in the car like we were having a bloody dance off or something. Anyway the best best advice i can give you as somebody who has done it 4 times is delay the gas and air as long as possible and take long calm deep breaths with it, removing it from your mouth and breathing in oxygen in between contractions. As you start to feel one coming on, draw the gas and air in so by the time it hits the peak you are feeling the benefit and then as it eases off breath in normal air. Water is brilliant too, very relaxing. What not to do is lie flat on your back crying, it's the most un natural unhelpful position in the world, i did this with number 1, tore and was in agony for weeks, I wish i'd been in the water or at least standing up to let gravity give me a hand, walking around speeds things up too. It took me until number 4 to figure it all out, I think I'd be brilliant next time but DH won't hear of it.

I csan't say it worries me i wish it would hurry up. The more money people spend on mortgages/rent the less they spend elsewhere in the economy, the banks have had their share now let the small businesses, restaurants etc have their turn again. I don't like the sound of the Australian treasury lowering interest rates to try and boost spending given that we've seen that in action in the UK and it hasn't had the desired effect or a happy ending.

Oh dear I told little bro it was the other way around.

I don't agree with the death sentence but she should be imprisoned for a long time, I also don't think it's right that westerners go over to Bali etc commit crimes and then start crying that they are Brits/Aussies/American so the rules don't apply to us.

Blimey I might have to dig out my slap and ditch the hubby, young tattoo'd miners you say ?

I lived in Melbourne for two years before children and I don't think if go back there either, too like the UK in many ways. If I was young free and single I would go to Sydney, I've accepted for now Perth is where we have to be with you g kids. Friends are about to move to Brisbane, maybe when we visit them I'll have the answers I'm looking for.

I guess some of us need more stimulation than the beach though, simple things for simple minds.

The housing market has gone crackers everywhere over the past 10 years, it's all very well saying you wouldn't give more than $350,000 for a $500,000 house but if they aren't forced sellers then it won't happen. We had the same situation in the UK when ours was briefly on the market people looked at the land registry figures saw that we paid £230,000 for it in 2007 and then started trying to offer £200,000 because house prices have dropped. What they didn't know was it was a shell when we bought it, even the floorboards needed replacing there was no toilet, no kitchen and the wiring was a death trap. We have no mortgage so can rent it out without any issues so people were wasting everyone's time coming around with their silly offers. A house might only be worth what somebody's willing to pay but the owners got to be willing to sell it too. Comes down to who needs the deal the most and typically it's the poor soul looking for somewhere to live.