Laura2406

I haven't posted in this forum for so long as this part year has been absolutely crazy for us but Ive still enjoyed reading posts and browsing etc. One year on, we've finally found our feet and settled in so wanted to update and post a 'Positive Emigration story'

As my timeline shows, we (Myself, Hubby and 2 children) were granted our PR Visa some time ago, after much grafting with ANMAC (I'm a Midwife) and AHPRA. After finally selling up and tying up loose ends, we decided to have one last Xmas in the UK and decided to fly out NYE 2014. I had applied for jobs in Brisbane from the UK and was very lucky to have had a telephone interview at 4am one night and secured a job in the city. On Jan 2nd 2015, we landed at Brisbane airport after the most horrendous goodbyes to family and friends! The flight was ok but the fact it was one way, was very daunting. However, we picked up our rental car and made our way in 40degree heat to our temp accommodation for 3wks. The first few days were getting over jet lag and exploring the area etc (we had already researched potential areas on our trip over in 2013 to activate our visas so we knew where we wanted to secure a rental and get the kids into school) The first 2 weeks were horrendous!!! Trying to sort out TFNs, Centrelink, Medicare, Bank accounts, points for rental - (we'd got references prepared) securing a rental, buying a car, school interviews- it was full on and everything is linked, so we couldn't secure a rental without this, we couldn't apply for schools without permanent address, bank accounts without an address etc but after a roller coaster 4 weeks, we were finally in our rental, we had bought a car and kids were about to start school. The plan was hubby was going to stay at home for abit and settle the kids in, whilst I worked, as my job was sorted and hubby (a thatcher in the UK) was going to have a career change. However,.........as AHPRA decided due to some continuity of care business with UK mws, they wanted us to be supervised for 3 months. Whilst my new employers negotiated what this meant and weren't sure they had the resources to deal with this, my start date got delayed by a month. Not a hugely worrying thing but when you start to dip into savings as now neither of us were working, it was a pretty scary time. Furniture had started to be delivered and our stuff arrived from the UK - the house was starting to feel like home and the kids had settled in to school perfectly Finally I started work and things were starting to feel 'normal' and 'settled'. One year on, and things could not be better. The kids are loving school - have made some wonderful friends and joined 'soccer' and cheerleading clubs. They have thrived on this lifestyle - they eat better (bbqs and salads!!), they play outside more and they love the beaches. We have made some fantastic friends through the kids and also off our own merit by putting ourselves out there and socialising and attending events in our area. I love our neighbourhood- we walk to school, we have everything we need nearby and we are only half hour from the Sunshine Coast. I love my job I've made some fabulous new work colleagues and I've already been offered a promotion. Hubby has retrained as a Carpenter/Cabinet Maker and is about to start an apprenticeship. We have just renewed our lease for another year but plan on buying next year. We miss family and friends immensely, but we FaceTime a lot!!! Days off and time together is precious but we spend so much more of it as a family, often up at Bribie Island, or at the beach. We've just come back from an amazing time away together as a family up at Bundaberg seeing the baby turtles hatch and then over at Tangalooma feeding Dolphins and spotting Dugongs, which is just amazing and the kids thought was fantastic. I miss some parts of England especially family and friends, but then I look at what we've got here and my children and know we've done the right thing. The best piece of advice i can give anyone emigrating anywhere is......embrace it, work hard and accept the differences. Yes, there's no 24hr Tescos or Sainburys, yes TV in Oz is pretty dire and yes the cockroaches can be annoying but I wouldn't be in Australia if these things mattered and I'm loving the life we've come to

Thank you all for your advice! Guess what I'll be doing next week :wink: Xxxx

Love love love this thread!!!! Theres so many 'negative' stories around, especially from my family and friends, whenever we discuss our big move. Definitely puts a smile back on my face when I read this and Im feeling a tad down - thank you!!!

Hi everyone - its been awhile since I last posted as things have been pretty manic!!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, my family and I are now (kind of!!) in a position to make the final move over to Brisbane, so have finally booked one way flights on New Years Eve :biggrin:

However, Ive just realised that mine and the kids passports are due to expire at the end of April 2015 and am not sure whether we have to renew them prior to going, or not bother, and if I do have to renew them - is it going to be a pain in the a**e, as our visas are obviously attached to them so will have to let immigration know and pay etc

I know we can get British passports renewed once in Oz but as we are going one way, do they still have to have a certain amount of length on them (ie 6mths) prior to leaving the UK??

Any advice will be gratfully received - thanks in advance

xx L xx