SallyKay

Also to just add, school selection is so vital as with anywhere though I guess but we visited a number of schools as the initial school we enrolled him in, although they had 4 support units for special needs, were just terrible! The school was recommended to us and was the only school in the area with these support units so we therefore assumed it was a good choice! So wrong! We enrolled him before we arrived but we felt there was a great lack of communication and care so we changed his school. Things are different here especially when you arrive so good communication with the school is key as well as care, especially for a child who struggles with change who is faced with one of the biggest changes! New country and new school! At his current school they have an IEP in place, extra reading support and a good reward system. They have understood him as an individual and worked on his strengths and confidence as well as settling him into his new environment. ASPECT ( Autism Spectrum Australia ) You can apply for a place dependant on your child's needs. If you are accepted for a placement they have a number of specialised classes within certain mainstream schools. I have a friend with a high functioning child who does brilliantly in one of the Aspect support classes. You do pay for this though I believe. Obviously it all depends on the child's needs and whether they can cope in a mainstream class or if they need more support.

Hi there, Our son was diagnosed as having high functioning Autism at the age of 6 in the UK, however, he had been having assessments and an IEP in place since he was in reception class at aged 4. By the time we left the UK to emigrate he was 7 and was receiving 100 % Teaching Assistant aide at his school. We were also told that if he continued in the UK he may need a specialised school for Autism. As a mother who knew her child well, I felt he had too much support if I'm honest and I felt that he could have been encouraged to participate more in the class than he was, his TA took him out of the class a lot when he would become difficult. Having said that I was very nervous about the move to Oz as I knew 100% TA help would not be available for him as he was only mildly on the spectrum. The good news is that with slightly firmer boundaries in the classroom, a great teacher and a lot of understanding and encouragement he is coping fantastically in a mainstream class! Attending assemble every week, he has learnt to raise his hand to speak in class. He no longer runs out of class when he is frustrated and he is so happy! I can only go on my child's example but for us schooling in Australia is by far better and my son has come on leaps and bounds. I do know that generally the support here is far less than the UK and for some parents they have a terrible experience. As my son is mild and very bright the schooling has suited him well. He has learnt quickly to adjust in certain situations that he would have been removed from in the UK as he had a TA to do so. Here he doesn't so therefore he has to learn to inter grate better because he has had no choice! hope this post may be of help to you. Good luck with your journey! We love OZ and the outside lifestyle for my son is absolutely amazing! He is blossoming!

Well, today our container came, I have been up to my ears with packing, I have an Autistic child and I spent the small amount of time I had to share what I felt would be of help to some.

This is a valid point, I also had included on this deed that should one of us change our minds on our intentions for the children once in Oz if a separation were to occur that it must be written up and changed on the deed.

Quoll, we literally found this out 3 days before we were going to book our flights back in May! Lol! Talk about a shocker, he was unaware that after leaving the UK for two years he'd lose his residency! All sorted now tho thankfully! He is a half chappy!! I think regarding this deed, I'm just thankful I have it, whether it will stand for much that I'm not 100% sure of but I think it's better than nothing at all and if it helps a bit it's worth it!! Peach, I appreciate everyone is entitled to an opinion but sometimes wording things in that way isn't great, my mum uses this site and would have read that. My mum has a great relationship with my husband but as most mums do, she was only looking out for me as on reading about it it shocked her. You can't predict the future and she wanted me to be aware of it. I'd like to hope I will protect my children in the same way when they're older. My husband fully understood it and agreed it was important, we discussed it as a family and decided to go ahead.

To be honest I would have thought so too. I was told this deed isn't legally binding but would hopefully have a fair bit of strength to it and in the case of the lady I have been in contact with she has said it is well worth doing as evidence that you had both agreed to this prior to emigrating. Our deed also states that although we are relocating to Australia we will remain habitual residents of the UK. This is also important to include. Unfortunately you're only going to really know how helpful this is deed is until the situation arises but as I said earlier this kind lady is going to speak to the lawyer that dealt with her case so hopefully we will get an idea that way.

Hi Snifter, Yes, I did reply on that thread but had a rude poster make a comment and so I decided to start a new thread as i didn't want an two and fro debate about it, it's just not necessary. This is purely information to help out others not to argue about it. I have been in touch with one of the ladies posting on that thread who had this happen to her, we are still in touch and she has said she will present my document, bar the personal info obviously to her lawyer and see what they say and whether if she had that at the time if it would have helped. I'm sure she will update on here. I was advised by my lawyer that if I was ever in that unfortunate situation that it should be handled in the UK courts and this is stated on the deed. I'm not entirely sure why she felt this was important but maybe someone a little more informed on this could tell me the importance of that as, as far as I was aware this Hague Law applies also in the UK too??

Hi there, I'm about to emigrate with my wonderful family, my husband Greg and my two children. We have always looked at it as an adventure and that if things didn't work out we could just return home. This I'm sure will still be the case but I wanted to share something with you all. You never really think about the ' what ifs ' but I was made aware of an awful situation one lady ended up in and since then have found out that many more women have too, I'm sure some men also. Emigrating is such a big move and for some partners it can lead to separation as well as many other reasons of course. In this awful instance if one partner wants to return home to the UK and the other doesn't did you know that that person CANNOT return to the UK with their children? It is against the law if the other partner doesn't agree. If you were to fly home with your children, even if they are British Born it is classed as child abduction and you will be ordered to return them to Australia! After reading these stories we made the decision to get something written up with my lawyer as we both agreed it was important to write up our intentions and agreements before we left the UK, just incase. The problem is you never know how someone can turn after a break up, even my husband agreed with that and although he will say now that he'd never stop me wanting to go home with the kids if we break up you just never know. He is Australian and so if we separated it would be unlikely he would want to return to the UK but this law applies even if you're all British, once you land your children are Australian Residents! I have been in close contact with a lady who had this happen to her and with her kind help and my mum researching it a bit, my husband and I have a deed written up stating our intentions, what will happen to the children if we separate if I want to return to the UK. It also states that he will NOT take action under The Hague Convention Law, Child Abduction if I want to return home with them if things don't work out. This document cost £480, I think it's worth every penny as a security. I would strongly suggest people consider doing this before they leave. I have got 3 copies and my mum is keeping one here in the UK. It's not a nice thing to think about but it has happened to many and is a very sad ending to what should have been such an amazing experience. I'm not posting this to put a downer on people's dreams just sharing information I think is important to be aware of. This post is for information not open to the those 'negative' posters who like to swoop in and be rude! I posted a reply on the thread about this subject a little while back giving some information about what my mother had read only to receive a reply from somebody stating that they felt my mother was interfering and that that my husband should have been mortified by the fact that I'd even considered this! It's posters like that that make me dislike this site! I have taken time to write this to share the information I have gained in the hope that it may help others so please be respectful. This is meant to be helpful. Thank you. This is important information and information I'm very glad I was given to make me aware of this law that so many don't even know about. I hope this is helpful.

Well of course it isn't, it would all depend on where you lived and where you worked, however, the general question on the original post was the time it took to get from Woy Woy into the city. That time on the train is an hour ten minutes, the added extra time to and from the train station is obviously something the original poster would consider to add on to this,

The commute is a straight run on the train from Woy Woy to Central station Sydney, however, we only ever did this in the middle of the day so I'm sure things are quite a bit different at peaks times.

Hi there! We are emigrating to Woy Woy area in 3 weeks, we spent 5 weeks in this area last year as my husband ( Aussie ) has his mother living in Woy Woy so he is very familiar with the area. The commute to Sydney from Woy Woy is about an hour and ten minutes. We love Umina Beach and really love Ettalong, that's where we are going to live to begin with. Woy Woy, Umina Beach and Ettalong are all within 5 mins of each other. The area is gorgeous! Our son is 7 and is also ASD, Aspergers. He is going to attend Ettalong Public School, it has 4 special needs units attached and we have been told that he can dip in and out between mainstream and the special unit depending on his needs. He is currently in mainstream here in the UK with 100% 1-1 help so he may end up in special class permanantly we will have to see. The principle is extremely supportive from what I have heard. Woy Woy also has a school with special needs units attached. Keep in touch if you decide to move down!! Good Luck with everything!

Hi there! Bit of a random one! I just wondered if anyone knew what happens if you are an Australian Pensioner ( I know you need to have resided in Oz for 10yrs first ) if you ever were in a situation where you had no money/home would you be housed like you are in the UK? Surely you're not thrown on the streets?! I can't seem to find an answer on the Internet, does anybody know what entitlements you have as a pensioner in that situation? Thank you!

And thank you so much Rachel, I will ensure we state that the move is initially to just see if we like it so not permanent. I would not have known to mention this so thank you. X

My mum has very kindly offered to pay for it so we will be going ahead. I will keep you posted! We will get it done in the next month or so. As my mum and yourself rightly said if it gives a little help towards such an awful situation it is worth it! I would suggest that if anyone else chooses to go ahead to ensure you have a copy left in the UK with a trusted relative. Things are so easily lost in transit! I'm very grateful to my mum, I'd have never even known about this!!

Hi everyone, I was very fortunate to have my wonderful mum inform me about this as she had done some research so i was made aware nice and early. We are emigrating this summer and I have seeked legal advice on this issue from two sources now just to ensure I received the correct information. I was advised that unfortunately there isn't an existence of a document that would be legally binding with this particular issue, however, there is something you can have written up which is called a Memorandum of Understanding. This WILL NOT hold any guarantees tho but it MAY help your case. As is always the case it isn't cheap! I was quoted around £500 and we felt that as it wouldn't guarantee anything ( this was highlighted several times from both lawyers ) it pretty much said to me that they know it's fairly useless!! If anyone has any more info on this having seeked legal advise I would be really interested in hearing it. I'm sure what I've been told is correct but I just can't believe there's nothing that is legally binding on this very serious issue!! I'm not prepared to spend such a lot of money for a piece of paper that is not going to be of much use!! I hope this may have been helpful to a few of you. You'd like to hope this wouldn't happen but I guess you just never know! I'm pretty sure my husband would never be so cruel as to leave me stuck in a country I hate and we have agreed that he wouldn't stop me coming home. We may just write something up ourselves and sign it. May leave a copy here with my mum. Will no doubt be useless too but I'll do it anyway!

I think it's all perfectly normal I mean we are leaving one life behind and starting a total fresh. It's a massive move! I'm feeling similar, I don't feel excited at all at the moment I feel like everything is total chaos!! Lol! We are in that awful limbo stage, have sold our house and in a little rental. No stability around us. I've had many days where I have completely freaked out and wanted to stop the process just to take the stress away and have thought, god we've got good things here, lovely family, good friends etc etc but to do that now would be crazy and I just know in a few months we'd be back on it again as we have been on and off for 3 years now. I have a spouse visa in process due for grant around July/August and we plan to head out in August too! We are heading to the Central Coast just north of Sydney. Where are you guys heading? We are fortunate to have known a couple who emigrated a year ago and we have been able to follow their journey. I have heard it's very normal to have a wobbly first 6mths to a 1yr. I am expecting this and am hoping that it may not be as bad as I'm imagining but of course it may never improve as we all have a different experience! Sometimes I think with things like this to expect it to be amazing is very naive and you're letting yourself in for disappointment. In some ways I'm quite pleased I'm thinking of all the negatives as I'm hoping I will be pleasantly surprised and not find it that bad! I know it's much easier said than done but if it's a disaster you can always come back, this is what I keep thinking. Yes, we will have lost money and won't come back to a house like we've had but i think if you're that unhappy you'll do what ever it takes and sacrifice the material things to feel happy and settled where ever that might be. I think whatever the outcome, it will be positive, you will either love it and think it's the best thing ever or you won't and will want to return and then I think you will appreciate more what you have here in the UK. That's again how I'm trying to look at it. Some people find they can't settle anywhere and that is my biggest fear! I'm a creature of habit which is why I'm having doubts, I'm not someone that likes not knowing the outcome of a situation and this is one big situation! Lol! You're now alone! I think once everything starts to happen, house sales/renting house out, selling stuff, shipping stuff, telling family etc etc it suddenly hits you what you are doing! You'll never know unless you try and if you don't try you'll regret it! Stick with it, what will be will be! Good luck! Xx

Thank you so much for all the info, it certainly is pretty confusing isn't it?! So you have to have worked in Australia to claim? Do you happen to know for how long, is there a certain amount of years that you need to have worked to be entitled?

I just had a question regarding entitlement to the Australian pension. I had heard that if you have been resident in Australia for 10 years and have become a citizen you are entitled to an Australian pension even if you are claiming a British pension. Your British pension is capped and you can claim an Australian pension which will be the difference making the total the same as a full Australian pension. Is this correct because I've read a few things now and I'm very confused? I'm not near pension age but I'm just curious. Are you entitled to ALL the same help as an Australian Pensioner when you're at pension age as long as you've resided for 10 years and have your citizenship? Are you treated as the same? Also, what if you haven't worked in Australia during that time? Sorry for all the questions I like to know the score with these things but appreciate things change all the time and it's a while until I need to worry about this! :smile: Thank you!

Hi there! i seem to remember replying to a post your husband put up a little while back. We too are emigrating this August and are going to Ettalong which is 5 mins from Umina. We love it there! There is a direct line to Sydney from Woy Woy which is about 5 mins from Umina Beach. I seem to remember it taking about an hour and fifteen minutes. I can't comment on the other area as I haven't been and I guess it depends what you're after. I found Umina to have everything we wanted, not too busy, beautiful beach, two supermarkets, massive play park for the kids. Ettalong has just had it's foreshore redeveloped with a play park, bbq's and a restaurant right on the seafront and it looks gorgeous! We can't wait to go! My husband has some family there and all three schools are good apparently. I seem to remember you also have a 6 year old and are from Sussex. We have a 6 year old and are also from Sussex! Have just sold and are in a rental till we go. We are just outside Brighton in a village called Henfield. As I said to your husband do keep in touch if you opt for Umina! We can meet for coffee! We will all be arriving around the same time! Best of luck with it all!

I'd rather take it all and then just sell what we don't want. So much to think about! Lol!

We got a quote for £3200 for our container, that's for a standard 3/4 bed house. Also includes piano! Lol! I shall pm you my e mail I case you need any more advice or fancy a meet up! P.s I was given some random advice by friends out there who said apparently the bed sizes are different so if you're shipping your beds out stock up on sheets before you go! In the big scheme of things that's very trivial but worth knowing!

Helz980 it looks so nice, when we were out last winter it was a building site so can't wait to see it finished! :-)

Wow would you believe we have just sold up too and are also from Sussex! Just 20 mins from Brighton! Where are you guys from? We are going to rent first but are always looking at property to buy, we use Domain.com and RealEstate.com.au both sights are good. We are going to rent a holiday place first when we arrive for about 6 weeks. Stayz.com is a good site for holiday rentals in the area. It is all such a mine field isn't it?! We have a few family members which is great but still scary! Are you also shipping your stuff out? We decided to to keep our comforts! Thought it may help me settle! if you're local and want to all meet up to discuss things let me know! We are meeting up with a friend of a friend just this week who is in the middle of trying to emigrate, it helps to talk with people in the same boat so if we can help you guys at all do just let me know! It will be no bother at all!

Also once you start heading further down nearer to Sydney prices start going up. We couldn't afford to go any further down. It's a tricky one as obviously it is more of a commute but having done the train journey into the city going past the Brisbane waters I could get used to it! Beats the M25 any day! Lol!

Hi there! My husband has family that have lived in Umina/Ettalonga and Woy Woy for years. They all love it. It's fairly quiet but has everything you need! Ettalong has just had it's foreshore developed and it looks amazing! It's such a beautiful spot, I fell in love with it when we went out last year so we are emigrating to Ettalong/Umina this August, just before you! Myself ( Brit ) hubby ( Australian ) and our two kids, 6yrs and 3 yrs. Our son is starting at Ettalong school. We choose Ettalong school as Umina is a lot bigger and he will be coming from a school of only 200. My husbands cousins boys went to Umina school, she was more than happy. Woy Woy school also good, she worked there for a while. Do feel free to keep in touch if you choose to settle there, we will all be arriving about the same time so we will have a lot in common! Good Luck with your move!