Dreamy Fish

Hi Kiwi Can I ask, are you in Mango Hill now? You mentioned buying an a lot there. DF x

People only reveal the parts of themselves and details of their situations to friends, family and the wider public that they wish to make known. No-one but the OP and his wife will truly know what's going on. He sounds like he's grieving to me and doesn't know what to do. I feel really bad for him. He's not just a dad, he's still a person in his own right and it's not fair to judge him, he's not a bad person.

Visas granted this morning!! Holy ****!!!!!

It's the Amazon One-Click. I am rendered defenceless by the ease with which it can present the purchase of a new Yankee!

Hi Davinia, how's it all going with the move? Did you ever get to take a look around Frankston South?

I'll PM you. Just been through this, funnily enough in Oxfordshire.

Hurrah! Thanks :-)

Ah thanks guys. The candles are all contained within glass jars with lids so I hope that would help keep their shape. I am am addicted to the things, my only vice!

They are made from paraffin wax and non lead wicks.

Hi Just happily added another Yankee to my ever growing collection and someone I'm sitting here with (currently in the UK) just told me I might not be allowed to ship to Australia- please someone say this isn't so?!?! DF x

Hi, our 190 visas lodged on 27 August last week and we got an email this morning from migration consultant today with what looks like a case officer (team 32 Brisbane) requesting meds and police checks by end Sept. Does that sound like we have a CO assigned?

Hi there, I will send you a private message shortly, it'll be easier to chat that way x

The parent who wants to go. I didn't want to post publicly about it because I've seen how judgmental it can get here. But my god I am so happy right now.

Thanks for the responses. After a two day hearing, I won. Df x

Hi there I consider that I live in a "good area", yes it has it's less desirable parts but as far as I was aware, the schools were really well thought of. My son is in one of the preferred primary schools and I am really happy with it. And I thought that the upper school that he will move into (if we don't go to Australia) was supposed to be a really good one. So today I was so shocked and upset when a friend from a toddler group I go to with my daughters showed me a print out of her sons Instagram account that this upper school had given to her. He is 12 years old and between him and what looked like 3 other children of the same age there was the most appalling language, "F" this and "C" that. There was seriously sexually explicit chat going on and also some proper racist stuff, it was really truly nasty and a complete eye opener. It would seem the school isn't doing anything about it, I would imagine because they consider it (rightly) the parents responsibility but there was talk of suspension and there are behavioural issues too. This child comes from a broken home and whilst my friend (his mother) does not allow her son to carry ipods/phones or access social media in her home, he is however allowed to in his paternal grandmothers and there is a power struggle between these two adults with the obvious resulting consequences. Because we want to move to Australia (myriad of reasons but I don't want to get into debates of having rose tints on etc) I just wondered if any parents could share their experience of this type of peer pressure. Is it common and how do schools and parents deal with it. My son is 8, I know it sounds weird but we don't watch live television so he isn't exposed to all the ads aimed at kids. He doesn't have a mobile device and I will not allow him access to social media until the appropriate age which as far as I am concerned is in excess of 16. I also don't like buying into the latest faddy crap like Moshis and Minecraft because I think it is expensive, transient and I feel like it creates a nasty competitiveness between those who have it all and those who don't. I want my child not to care! DF x

CaptainC all info and advice appreciated :-) Thanks x

Thanks Quoll :-)

Hi there, does anyone have experience of using the unaccompanied minor service on Qantas? I am chatting to someone who recommends Singapore Airlines but I found it hard to get a quote whereas Qantas provided one over the Xmas period of $2812.11 which is pretty much what I was budgeting for. Just wanted to find out opinions on the service also. Ta DF

Pom Queen I really appreciate that, thank you. And thanks for the PM Rachel, I will respond. DF x

Thank you, I hope so. x

Hi I didn't want to resort to asking on PIO but it's too big for me now and none of my friends have been through anything similar. I've tried the search option here and I've read most of the threads but now I need some advice from people who've been through a leave to remove case. I have pm'd a couple of people like Tracy123 and Shaznay (sp?) but not heard back so if anyone could nudge them or if they see this, or anyone else who has been through this....please pm me as I can't publicly post. Any help would be greatly appreciate. DF

Thanks for replies. I just got to thinking because my ex-h is hugely critical about our 8 year old having any awareness about money worries and criticises me a lot about having money worries. I don't btw, but he criticises everything about me but that's by the by. I completely believe in letting my kids know about money and the value of it and I wondered how schools taught it because I also learned the hard way.

Hi there Please could anyone tell me, within an Aussie education, is there a mandatory part of the curriculum that teaches about personal finance, how to manage your money, debt, credit, all that sort of thing? My understanding is that it is starting to be rolled out in the UK but within other lessons such as maths. And personal debt is such a problem that I wondered if and how Aussie schools dealt with it. Thanks x

Hi there I currently work as a clinical support worker at an Oxford hospital. I've got 7 years non stop experience in an NHS hospital on Trauma and Transplant wards. If our Visa is successful and we move to Victoria, I would primarily stay home to get the kids settled but then I'd probably like to be doing the same kind of work in Australia. Please could anyone tell me what sort of wage an unqualified healthcare assistant can earn? Hospitals or community. And and as an aside, when it comes to child care, how much can a person expect to pay for a childminder or nursery? Many thanks! DF x

Hiya We are looking at moving to Melbourne, well, one of the suburbs anyway! I'm quite lazy and not shopper savvy at all so I tend to stick with one supermarket for convenience. Although I've started using Riverford for fruit and veg in a bid to stop myself nipping out for potatoes and coming back with cakes, biscuits, chocolate and the latest Cosmo :-p I was going to do a "shop" but wasn't sure if I needed to register first. Just got an electric bill for something like £700 so thinking Australia can't be too scary cost wise! Mind you we are currently running an electric car, but still!