Croft

It's surprising how many Aussies, and Kiwis, have British passports too, so don't forget to ask just in case! Additionally, if they are British by Descent but they have lived in the UK for at least 3 years they can pass on citizenship.

I teach Year 3, 7-8 years old (8-9 years old later in the year). Not one has a phone. The only time I've come across phones in Primary was in a Year 7 class, who are now High School anyway.

Be very careful about getting your degree in then UK then hoping to use it back here, especially if it is a vocational degree like education or physiotherapy. Most of the professional organisations with whom you have to register don't recognise 3 year degrees and you have to undertake extra study to gain accreditation.

If you are not aware, this is a great site to help you chose seats. It also tells you exactly where the wing seats are, unlike the diagrams on the airline sites. http://www.seatguru.com/

If for some reason you don't want a UK passport you can apply for a Certificate of Entitlement to be put in an Australian passport - https://www.gov.uk/right-of-abode/apply-for-a-certificate-of-entitlement

Which is a big problem with the 90 day residency waiver. Luckily we knew an Australian from back in the UK who was on the approved list and had known us for a few years.

if you are a UK passport holder you are covered by the reciprocal healthcare agreement. However this doesn't kick in until you have registered with Medicare so you need insurance to cover your travel and the short period before you register. Details here http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/overseas/457visa.htm The NHS is free at point of delivery. Medicare sometimes involves paying up front and claiming back (sometimes they 'bulk bill' in which case you don't have to pay). Sometimes you have to pay a 'gap payment' which is the difference between what the government say you should be charged and what the medical professional think they can deliver a service at. For example, if you have a doctors appointment at weekends are in the evening you are more likely to have to pay a gap payment. Upside is that you get a doctors appointment very quickly, ie within an hour or two.

It's not which side of the road you're on, it's where your car is made. Cars made in the Far East, eg Japan and Korea, tend to have the indicator stalk on the right. Cars made in Europe tend to have them on the left. Now if you have a Japanese car made in the UK I think it's still on the right! My OH's car is a Fiat and I drive a Kia. Confusing swapping between the two! Some of the things that surprised me were: - quite how federalised Australia is, with different regulations and provisions for virtually everything in each State. - no MOT here in QLD. - no fog lights required in QLD (apparently QLD really doesn't get fog thick enough to warrant them). - having to pay for driving license every few years. - how many UK products you can get in Coles - how many UK programmes are on TV. - how much BBC content there is and ABC Radio National and News Radio. - how cold it gets, even here in QLD - and it feels it because there is no insulation. - how much produce is produced right here in Australia (then again it is a continent). - how little pom bashing there is. - how expensive and convoluted the visa process is for most people. - casual racism seems to be accepted in many quarters.

In urban area, there is an over-supply in primary. If you want a full time position, in Queensland at least, you really need to go rural or remote. However, there is a fair amount of work if you're prepared to do relief or short term contracts. These can evolve into longer contracts too. Last year, in my first year teaching, I had a 1 week contract which ended up lasting 22 weeks, and this year a 1 week contract that has now been extended to 17 weeks.

Also to add that having the medicare card helps with ID purposes until you can get you Driving License sorted out (that is the gold standard for ID purposes).

As you hold PR the UK reciprocal agreement has no bearing whatsoever. You get the benefits of medicare irrespective of nationality with PR. Where the reciprocal agreement comes into play is with temporary visa holders. For instance, there is no reciprocal agreement with Ireland so an Irish passport holder on a temporary work visa has no access to medicare, while a UK passport holder would.

Looks as though this'll be down to how persuasive your in-law is. Class 155 - Subclass 155 Resident Return visa You might be able to be granted this visa if you: ... have not spent two of the last five years in Australia as a permanent resident or citizen, but can satisfy the processing officer that you have substantial business, cultural, employment or personal ties of benefit to Australia, and: ... are lodging while overseas, were a permanent resident or citizen when you last departed Australia and can show compelling reasons for any continuous absence from Australia of more than five years; ... [*]have not spent two of the last five years in Australia as a permanent resident or citizen, but are the partner or dependent family member of a person who holds a subclass 155 visa, or who has also applied for a Resident Return visa and satisfies criteria for grant.

It's better for her to travel to Europe on her UK passport anyway. Teachers may take groups of students through the EU channel if they have EU passports as the queues will be less. The school will let the travel agent know so that the airline can ensure that they can legally carry their passengers to the intended destination. As others have said, your daughter should have either an RRV or, should her citizenship come through in time, an Australian passport to get back into Australia (and leave if she is an Australian citizen). If she does not the airline are entitle to refuse her boarding once she returns to Australia. They may not want the hassle of clearing her with immigration in Australia. If you find time is running against you waiting for a ceremony once you have taken the test you can request an emergency ceremony.

Humid yes, hot no. It hasn't even topped 40 here this summer. Besides, that's what aircon is for (and you do get used to the humidity very quickly).

Can I just contrast this with our experience? Let me preface this by saying we didn't leave the UK because we hated it - my OH got an opportunity we couldn't refuse so we made the move. The only thing I really disliked in the UK was the commuting! We live in the inner suburbs in Brisbane, on an express bus route into the centre. We have access to theatres, art galleries, museums and world class shopping a 20 minute bus ride away - or 15 minutes in the car. We have one of the largest shopping malls in Asutralia on our doorstep. We have been discovering some excellent restaurants not just in the CBD but dotted around in some of the most inauspicious places, like trading estates! There are two excellent large botanical gardens (more around the area) and quite a nice planetarium. Around Brisbane are mountains with some pretty decent roads for driving, some quite close in. It is green and lush, almost too lush as I need to mow our garden a couple of times a week during the summer! I really need to trim the hedges right back, yet again. I do miss country pubs and a decent bitter, but friends have shown me some great bars around Brisbane, and to be honest that's what makes for a great time, not the setting. I went back to University here to do a Graduate Diploma in Education and have made stacks of good friends from that. Our son has now started school and we're making lots of friends through that too. He is going to a very prestigious school which would cost us several times more in the UK. Activities, when not free, are an awful lot cheaper than the UK we have found. History? Well, that's what you go back to Europe for. Or appreciate the 40,000 years of uninterrupted Aboriginal history.

Sorry, does that include the childcare rebate? You can claim that even if you're looking for work. Are you able to claim it on your visa? Some good suggestions about volunteering. You could also look at volunteering in schools, especially ones you're looking at your children going to. This not only gives a good set of contacts, it also gives you an idea if you think your children would settle there.

Interesting. We all have different circumstances of course. My parents response when we said we were moving to Australia? "Well, we can't complain as we did it when we were young." When my son was born we lived about an hour apart. They came to visit us once (the day of the birth) - all other visits were instigated by us. No offers of support, no babysitting. When he was born my son, the only grandchild, was given a set of babygrows. My sister, who still lives at home, at the same time was given a brand new Fiat 500 with insurance. To be honest, my son sees my parents more often now on Skype than when we lived in the UK. As for my mother in law, she lives in a remote part of Spain have emigrated there in 1998 and we only ever saw her every few years anyway (she had made it clear she would never return to the UK). We had moved around a lot in the UK and Germany with my OHs job too, so had not put down roots. Our friends were spread across the UK. We are now making some good, lasting friendships here in Brisbane.

Just querying why you think you have to be selfish to make a go of it here?

Beware of letting dogs out! Friends of my parents, U.K. Expats, were moving with work from Chile to the Netherlands. They had an enormous Chilean Sheepdog to move. It was let out for a stretch at Rion de Janeiro airport and promptly escaped. They were hauled off their flight and put into the back of a military jeep as it screamed down the main runway trying to catch their dog. They got it in the end and they all eventually arrived in Holland!

Just to add, be very careful researching job opportunities. An acquaintance of ours is a midwife. When they first arrived they were in Drawin. She practically got grabbed off the street tehy were so desperate for her skillset. Two years later their employer moved them to Melbourne - she couldn't get a job anywhere.

Mobiles - $30/month on Optus. Includes 1GB a month. Broadband (cable, unlimited) - $100 a month, includes Optus TV. Flat for 2 weeks in Brisbane - paid by OH employe Rental, 4 bedroom house in Brisbane - through employer $640 a fortnight 40ft ISO container - paid by OH employer Business Class flights for family of three - paid by OH employer Visa - refunded by OH employer Medicals- refunded by OH employer Transferring OH UK medical qualifications to Australia - $15K+ Retraining as a teacher - $7K + a years lost salary.

Our 186 visa allowed just under a year to activate and 5 years from date of issue of unrestricted travel in and out before an RRV was required. If your brother is in before that final date (and has activated the visa before the first date) as long as he stays in Australia he is fine. It is only if he wants to leave for any reason that he'll need to look at the requirements for an RRV, which typically requires you to have spent 2 of the last 5 years in Australia (https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/155-). Of course if they have PR they can go for citizenship after 4 years (certain exemptions apply) of residency.

Welcome to a federalised system, courtesy of their history of being seperate colonies. You'll get used to it.

Also factor in cost of getting your qualifications recognised here in Australia. http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Registration-and-Endorsement/International.aspx

Things are way easier with an Aussie state license - as northshorepom says it is a de facto ID card. Otherwise you have to prove your identity with '100 points of ID' and that is a nause. I would suggest you wait until you know where you're going to settle as you don't want to double up on license fees. What is important to sort out is a bank account and medicare. You can then use these to support your 100 points of ID for the driving license. Each form of ID gives you a certain number of points to prove your identity - in Queensland anyway. An Aussie state driving license gets you there straight off. Foreign passport gives you a certain number, foreign credit card a bit more, local bank card, etc. You will get used to carrying around a lot of paperwork in the first couple of weeks to prove who you are! Even getting a sim card or mobile phone requires it. Edited to add in Queensland you only have 3 months to get a QLD license.