Incata

What is a booze bus? Never encountered one before.

With the 457 (as of the 23rd November) companies are required to evidence (rather than just say they do) that they spend either 1% of their total payroll on training staff, or pay 2% of their budget to a Regional Training Organisation. Up until now companies could just say they were and they were not checked. Now they have to show the invoices. So while the training budget is not specifically for the people on 457s, it does mean that the company can't just pay lip service to training existing employees.

He is the chap you don't agree to go for a swim with.

You can go to the DIABP website http://www.immi.gov.au and go to the VEVO section. Here you can register, input your passport details and it will show the visa you are on, it's expiry date and any restrictions on the visa.

The requirements to do labour market testing comes in on Monday 23rd November.

I have found in Perth that Recruiters will often put candidates forward for roles, without the candidates permission. They will also tell candidates that they are recruiting for the role, thus stopping the candidate from applying direct, when the company has not actually placed the job with that agency. My advice would be that if you can work out who the company is who is recruiting (from the agency ad, if it is genuine), then apply to the HR Department direct. You can always give them a call and ask them if they are advertising xxx job via xxx agency. If they are, you know the job is genuine but you will find the HR team would prefer you to email your CV to them directly.

We bought very quickly when we got here and it has helped us feel more settled. I didn't get so stressed when one of the kids decorated the walls (he came and told me he had drawn me a picture and would I like to see it). I like the fact that despite the fact that it needs doing up, we can do it in our own time. I like that it does not matter if I put the kids pictures up all over the walls and I don't have to get permission to put a hook in the wall. However, I have been a military wife and have been in military married quarters for the last 6 years, so having our own place at last is wonderful! Our mortgage is also a lot less than we were paying in rent, and we live in a much nicer area, so it has worked well for us. It's also good for the kids as they are now starting to understand that it is really home and not just somewhere else we will be moving on from.

I would suggest that you get advice from a migration agent.

Currambine Butchers are fab! We buy all our meat from there.

They are as good as they look and the red Christmas boxes make them look really special. I wish they shipped to Australia!

There is a wonderful company called "The Cheese Shed". They sell over 100 cheeses from Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. They do the most amazing Christmas Boxes (had some for the last couple of years and have ordered them for the rellies this year). They are really worth a try: http://www.thecheeseshed.com/ We used to order from them regularly for special occasions. If we were going back, I would be ordering from them to have something ready for me on arrival. After lunch we would be going straight for a decent Indian.

It was down to my husband's work. I have been doing contracting for much of the last 10 years, to make it easier to move round the UK with him (he was moved regularly in the armed forces), so for me the location was not a big issue - although I would have had many more opportunities in Sydney or Melbourne. We took the view that if I could not get work it would be fine for me to stay at home and bring up the kids but we needed one reliable income. My husband's trade (Hydrographic Survey) is predominantly on the west coast which is why we came to this side of the country. If there had been as many jobs on the East Coast, we would probably have looked over on that side of the country. The isolation does not bother us much at this point in time. It may do as the kids grow older, but right now they want beaches and play parks, so Perth is fine for that.

My kids have afternoon naps and are generally down by 2pm, so it would not work for us as they would be complete ratbags!

KM75 has a good idea there. Is there any way your husband could get someone to manage the business while you are in Australia, giving you the time to make a decision as to whether it is for you or not?

I can dream! With two under 5 we are lucky if we are still in bed at 6.30am!

If you are coming on your own first, youth hostels are about $25 per person per night. Might want to try that if you don't want to pay $100+ per night for a hotel or cheap apartment.

Me, two kids (4 + 3) plus hubbie if he is back from sea, would come. Weekend morning preferred!

I fully agree. I regret coming here immensely and wished I had pushed harder to move back to Canada, which I loved and which is so much more advanced than Perth. If we had had the life of the OP, we would not have come here and even though we did a preview visit, it has not worked for me the way I had hoped it would. We've not been here a year yet and I know it takes at least two years to settle, but I'm not enjoying it that much (and I was the one out of the two of us who had emigrated before). I disagree about there not being much difference on a day to day basis. You don't have lifelong friends you can call in the evenings, if you are sick and your husband is away there is nobody to help or to pop over and look after the kids to allow you to have a rest. It is very different on a day to day basis.

It has to be admitted, the northerners are easy to spot in the Northern suburbs, and that is before they open their mouths!

Not all wedding ceremonies are recognised as being legal in the country they take place in. In some cases they then have to be formalised in some sort of state approved location/event (eg registry office in the UK). Can the OP elaborate?

He is possibly a Sikh and got married in a Sikh Temple, which does not count as being officially married in the UK. Sikhs then have to have a registry office wedding to make the wedding official in the UK. Not sure if this applies to Muslims and Hindus as well or whether their marriage ceremonies are recognised or not.

We are southerners and loved Gammon and Pineapple. Really do miss it.

Kate - where is the second part of your story??? Dying to hear it!

I'm not talking about actual cases as I assume that, like in the UK, the family courts are private to protect the children. I'm talking about putting the needs of the child first, rather than the adults. To me, putting your needs before the need of your child to have two parents is selfish.