Tuosist

I recently flew from Dublin to Launceston via Abu Dhabi and Melbourne with a 4.5 month old and 20 month old with Ethiad. We left in the morning which meant all the excitement could continue and playing occurred whilst i still had energy. Then everyone slept for the next leg. I would strongly recommend buying a seat for the 18 month old. This would mean you could have four seats together. Make sure you are located near the loos! I used a harness (mothercare) for the toddler to strap her in additionally to the seat. We also took a sleeping bag for her. If you get one with slits in it for vehicles they can be strapped in with the seat belt whilst sleeping. As plane seats are slippery they will need to be strapped in anyway to prevent them slipping off! Some airports provide free strollers which would save the hassle of carrying one. Try not to take too much stuff as its a hassle to load and unload from stroller / trolley to overhead lockers.

HI Ponte Pom, does that mean you have to pay the Medicare levy each year as well as your 'extras only' health plan? I thanks for the useful info. Tuosist

Hi Rich, http://www.iselect.com.au Use this website as a starting point. It was recommended to me by another PIO member. Some heath insurers will offer quite high dental cover ie up to $8,000 per year as part of a package. Highlight dental as being important when you put in the quote details on iselect. In Australia you are applied an extra 18% -20% loading if you have not had health insurance before in Australia prior to age 31. Not all Australian health insurers will recognise transfer of your policy history from the UK. you also need to register for health insurance within 12 months of arrival not to be hit with extra % loading as an overseas person commencing insurance in Oz. BUPA recognises your UK policy history so will waive wait limits for any like for like services. Medibank Private does not. (as an examples) I noticed that www.ahm.com.au as an insure has only 2 month wait periods on some policies so this might making the 'transfer' a mute point. BUPA is more expensive however will offer a discount if you are going to be working for a 'corporate'or will have a superannuation fund with a main provider such as AMP. So ask if you qualify for a corporate discount. Basically I think you can get away with choosing a basic hospital package with a high level extras package which would usually also mean that you receive private medical in a public hospital. You will get cheaper insurance if you are arriving on a permanent visa. If you are on a 457 business visa, you will need to take out the 457 insurance ie with BUPA, IMAN etc, apparently. you can still get some sort of transfer of insurance discount. I suggest you telephone BUPA and other insurers prior to leaving to discuss your requirements and to see what deal you can get.

use http://www.kayak.co.uk I think you will find the Emirates / Qantas code share the best value at the moment flying out of Dublin. also includes 30kg luggage allowance. Book asap for best deal.

Hi Sapphire and Annagilda, I guess I was looking for the proverbial pot of gold under the rainbow...thought Optus might be good enough at this stage. wishful thinking eh? I do have a Telstra sim on PAUG mobile however we will need internet as well. Main use will be skype, papers, forum stuff and email. My husband loves to use youtube and download movies but that will be off the cards until we move to Brisbane and can get one of those unlimited ADSL packages such as with TPG. The Naked ADSL packages alsolook good however where we are staying there is no phone port to take advantage of. Gosh we will have to talk to each other instead of fiddling on the internet! I note that Woolworths have a good mobile deal with data use altho this is on optus. i won' be travelling much outside of l'ton / longford area thats why i was considering optus with the Telstra paug for when we are out of area. hmmm oh well

Hi KZ1 Red Bull uses Vodafone...not good in rural areas but fine in the major cities.

I will be staying in Longford near Launcestonfor 4 months. I wanted to order some sort of mobile broadband device i.e. dongle. Is Telstra 4G mobile the only choice or are there other options? Any suggestions for mobile phone package deals? thanks in advance

As Sapphire said, no major malls, you have to save up for a trip to Melbourne for that! Hobart is also an option for shopping. Schools - I would recommend Scotch Oakburn College if you had a bright lad. Well resourced private high school. http://www.soc.tas.edu.au/ City Living: South Launceston and Newstead Country Living close to Launceston with decent cafes and weekend market: Evandale (small village) Cafe: Elaia. http://www.elaia.com.au http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g255344-d724540-Reviews-Elaia-Launceston_Tasmania.html

Hi Andy, my OH has gone the 457 route as an interim measure so he can start working before the souse visa is granted. You can recycle your medical, police check and data from your spouse visa so this makes it quick.

Iselect is quite helpful thanks Roger2shirts i am looking at family cover. BUPA will take into consideration Irish/UK policy when transferring and offer like for like transfer cover. Not all Oz funds recognise overseas health insurance when quoting. They also offered 10% discount corporate rate. Cover is for single parent as OH covered by 457 visa insurance. BUPA seem to offer other unrelated benefits, reduced rate gym membership, 25% movie tickets etc Private hospital with basic extras (with limits) and high excess 500 quoted $114 per month by telephone I am however confused. I really only want cover for private services (nice to have) in a public hospital and then cover for Ambulance, GP, Physio, Dental and Optical without too much excess and decent major dental would be a nice to have. I would not want to pay an excess every time you needed something, prefer x1 excess per year as a family. Using Iselect at 'Lowest Rate' BASIC EXTRAS it suggests HCF including full private hospital at $166 per month (family) or $204 with generouse major dental, cardiac an inpatient rehab or $43 - $52 per month with AHM just for basics 0r $57 per month to include major dental with limits. Using Iselect for BASIC EXTRAS Best Benefits it suggests AHM at $102 per month, this includes unlimited family dental and over $8000 worth of extras per year. I do have private hospital insurance in Ireland however its a bit pointless as you end up using the public hospital anyway (best consultants work public) and also the out of pocket expenses for private consultants is prohibitive. We will be living in TAS for 4 months before moving to Brisbane. Any suggestions anyone? Is it worth paying a bit extra? I just don't want to pay for something I can't or won't use. Quotes include 30% rebate. thanks a mill

Hi Dustyroad, I looked at the website, good deals. Which city are you in? how is the speed for streamimg movies etc?

Hi Anna333, I attended a course that follows the Mongan method. You can buy the books and CDs however learning the different breathing breathing techniques for the different stages of labor is really important. Its not just about hypnosis, its dealing with the whole birth process. I used to swim wearing a MP3 player and the Hypnobirthing CDs would be playing in my ear. It really put me in a good mindset for delivery and beyond. I have had 2 in the last 2 years, both natural births and pretty easy and over quickly. I used the mental imagery, breathing and physical relaxation techniques. The minute you get tense, the labor slows. I also sat on a physio ball before and during labor and then progressed onto a delivery bed which could be contorted so you could kneel upright with a support for your arms and lean slightly forward so gravity does its job. It was all very quick both times, just used a bit of gas, not that uncomfortable and i adopted the same strategies during both births and was out of hospital the next day. PM if you would like more information and its not best to discuss gory bits on a forum! My cousin used calm birth in australia and she found it an excellent programme and she has also had 2 natural births that were fairly easy. In summary, the combination of yoga, hypnobirthing to give confidence and ingrain a relaxed attitude, different breathing techniques for different stages and using a physio ball to widen everything pre labor really helped. Of course you cannot control everything and everyone has different experiences. Good luck.

Some food for thought below. You will need to do some homework regarding training and job availability in Perth however why not look on http://www.seek.com.au using 'emergency'; 'fire'; 'safety' and see what pops up. You may be able to commence an Australian course distance based or start a UK course before you go. good luck 1. fire engineering study before you go or distance based about http://www.ife.org.uk/about/about/fireengineering example course uk http://www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/speme/postgraduate/masters-fire-explosion-engineering/ example course oz distance http://www.uws.edu.au/future-students/postgraduate/postgraduate/postgraduate_courses/engineering_and_built_environment_courses/fire_safety 2. Emergency Services Officer (ESO) about https://www.growingcareers.com.au/Featured-Careers/Jobs/Emergency-Services-Officer job http://www.seek.com.au/Job/emergency-services-officer-eso/in/perth-perth/23542933 requires completing some certificates in Oz. see qualifications listed in job soecification 3. Fire Detection & Installation / Maintenance course http://integracomtraining.com.au/courses/acma_open_registration_cabling_course.html online training http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_1471http://www.howtodoit.org/ job http://www.seek.com.au/Job/fire-detection-technicians-service-maintenance/in/perth-perth/23789182 4. Other Environmental Health & Safety Insurance - claims investigation :

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/172225-buinying-buissness-australia.html on this link are some interesting comments from Alan Collett re 457 visa use to target setting up business. Given your training background, any chance of setting up a training business of some description? Might worth sending a PM to Alan to find out more. Maybe you could put the 'funds' into a business rather than the parents visa fees. Not my area of expertise so have no idea if this is feasible.

Thought I would give an update in case any other parents were in the same situation. After discussing this issue with various mums, I was told to move with the times and so bought a Nabi 2 from argos €199 with the kids xmas money. It has parent mode including internet and skype and kid mode. It should last for years. Its robust, can be dropped from a height of 9 feet. Has lots of free apps, drawing, games and I have used DVD catalyst software to transfer the kiddie DVDs onto the Nabi via micro sd card however there is a usb cable too. Its just for travel and won't replace much loved books and 'colours' aka crayons however it should occupy our toddler when necessary...hopefully! Also she can watch her Cbeebies shows on it as we will be staying somewhere without tv for several months when we first arrive in Oz. No bad thing. the screen is excellent. so we don't have to lug DVDs around... PS i suspect dad might get more use out of it, he loves the games.

partner visa submitted 28th Aug 2012, chatted with our CO today KP and looks like it will be 8 months before issue ie 28th April. Its not going to be any earlier. So that's 8 months. Least we have a more definite time frame now.

thanks Blossom79...just it was a surprise as other things transfer such as no claims history for vehicles...

sponsorship may be an option, Oracle are recruiting: - developers. They sponsored a friend of mine. to work in Canberra. Might be worth clarifying your OH's exact job function in case another PIO member can give more job specific advice.

Seeking advice. In the process of setting up a family health plan in Oz. (as permanent residents) Have just received email from Medibank that they don't recognise international health insurance for transfer purposes ie waiting periods. my family have no health issues but I though this a bit unfair as have been paying for health insurance for years in the uK and ireland. Anyone else had this issue or better experience with another provider? thanks a mill

It is possibly because you are starting in Ireland not the UK? I have not been able to check in online for Cork departures if travelling via HRW or AMS.

Hi RichSelina Thanks for the feedback. I am a bit put out as I bought a Kindle before the Kindle Fire came out... I know its not going to be an attention grabber for hours on end but something helpful when necessary. So might lean towards a tablet or Ipad. Just conscious I don't want to overload ourselves with more gadgets! Thinking the OH might go for the Samsung Tablet which he would use anyway and that might be therefore multi purpose. I don't know what entertainment selection Etihad has however my 2 year old toddler only has exposure to about 4 TV shows and I suspect she would not be so interested in new things. Just trying to make the trip as pleasant as possible for everyone!

Yes I am now wondering if I just convert DVDs to play on my netbook and work out the keypad lock system and be diligent... Its only for the trip. Thanks Snifter for the feedback re the Leapfrog

Looking at tablets. would the Leapfrog 2 tablet for kids be an option? I was reading a review on Amazon that they can now take mp3 downloads. So if I rip my dvds and convert them to DivX maybe this would be an option? I think with all the best will in the world a 2 year old would damage a tablet.

I would second the above post, now is not a great time to apply for work, have a break for a week or so. It might be worth visiting some of the resorts in person. You never know, if you pick a quiet time of day you might catch the onsite HR manager and be able to make an appointment for later on. I presume you can get around Hope Island itself, bike, foot...bus?

Hi Lrbourvellac, We fly Etihad and they have a plug and usb port on each seat. I checked with the booking agent over the telephone so battery life is only relevant for the airport. Your idea is interesting. My toddler will watch Barney (the whole thing), Mr Tumble and some of the Midnight Garden. I could rip the DVDs no problem. I guess I was thinking that I want something that won't break if she holds it. Did you attach the tablet to the seat table? My OH has a samsung galaxy and my toddler likes the toddler apps he downloaded. thanks for your advice Hi Lebour