cathy99

But why does it have to be brand new in the first place? If people are having to count the pennies and cut corners then surely a decent 2nd hand car is good enough.

Well that's where my own experience comes into this conversation, we have a perfectly good Subaru forester, albeit 12 yrs old, but great condition for $4,000! You don't have to land and then be able to go and kit out your whole house from top to toe immediately, you make do, get bits off of gumtree to tide you over, buy the starter kits in kmart, i guess this is the difference between those with money (but claim they don't) and those that really don't - you find a way, but you know what, to us that's been part of the fun and adventure, working it out along the way and adding to our household stuff when we can.

I totally agree graham, which i why everybody's experience is unique and which is why i also wanted to point out there are different ways of achieving the same goal. For us we always were of the ilk that this sort of thing happened to other people and not to us and i wanted to share my story to prove that that isn't always the case. Also, my children are young enough, i feel to adapt but should it all go tits up and we return to the uk their schooling hasn't been affected. I always said i don't think i would've done had one or both been in their teens, as i wouldn't want to mess with their higher education or social life, friends etc.

Also, as i have said before you cut your cloth accordingly, you don't have to be wealthy to live here it depends on your standard of living and the things you want to do. At the moment only dh works (i'm hoping to soon as a teacher's aide), but we manage ok, we live in a nice 3 bed detached house in a very nice area of the hills, own our own car now, hubby has a motorbike, the girls have swimming lessons and we only came out with £5,000! Like i said anything's possible if you want it badly enough. Obviously if you want to live by the ocean have a his n hers top of the range car, send your kids to private school and keep up with the jones's then yes you will need to earn a lot and bring out a lot, i'm just trying to put a different perspective on it for those who think it's out of their reach, it probably isn't, don't be put off with the big sums of money flying around :0)

I'll give you our brief synopsis. In april 2013 we saw a very small ad in our local paper for panel beaters in perth, we'd never talked about emigrating etc, i was always a hone bird, but we had been having lots of financial problems and emotional that we kibd of thought 'what the hell lets give it a go, we can always come back if it doesn't work and at least we know we've tried'! So i got to researching, spoke to our friends lots in Perth who'd done the same thing the year before, got my husbands cv up together and a covering letter, signed up with seek.com and just applied for every panel beater jobs that came up. At the time i was 40 him 42 & two children 3 & 6. In August 2013 he was offered a job in sydney on a 457 (4 months later), visas approved in november, house packed up and rented out at the end of december and we flew out the end of January 2014, 9 months after the first thought occurred! I appreciate we were lucky finding a job so quickly and my husbands boss has been amazing, he paid for visas and visa agent, two weeks accommodation when we got here and bought an old car for us to use whilst we found our feet. But i truly believe if you want something badly enough then just get on and do it. I did a lot of research, reading etc and put a lot of effort into the move, because for us it was a fresh strart, a blank canvas and at the end of the day if we end up going home we know we gave it a shot and sit there going umm and ahhhh for years - take the plunge and go for it, you'll have a blast! Don't get me wrong it's not been plain sailing and has certainly been an emotional rollercoaster but then i expected it to be, if you come out thinking it's like it is on the tv you'll fail at the first hurdle, but come out with your eyes wide open and you might surprise yourself :0)

Thank you, yes you do need a minimum of a cert III in education support, a first aid qualification and a working with children check, which is why i chose to re_do the course, i just thought i could take a short cut and get my original uk quali recognised here. I am glad i'm doing the course though as it gets my face known and i'm getting hands on experience, it's just there doesn't seem to be as much demand for them here like in the uk! I've never mentioned i'm on a 457 when applying for a job, so it wouldn't be that. Oh well shall carry on plugging away at it, i might contact another local school to see if i can do a day there as well. Thanks again :0)

Hi, i've been in sydney for 8 months now, we're here on my husbands 457 visa. I qualified as a teaching assistant in the uk in 2011 but was never employed as one i just volunteered. Anyway i thought i would be able to do it over here but my qualification isn't recognised here. As i didn't have much experience especially in Aussie schools, i thought i might as well do it again to get my cert III in education. So i've started an open college course and do one day a week at a local school but i can't get rid of this niggling thought that there must be a way that i can just do some kind of skills assessment so my uk qualification is recognised here! I've tried looking on the visa website but am finding it confusing so i wondered if anyone out there knows if i can? Many thanks :0)

Thank you for taking the time to write this, it was a very interesting read, i've only been here 7 months and love it, so do my children (5 & 8), but i can definitely relate to the family and friends bit and this will be the ultimate deciding factor for me in the long term :0)

I wasn't intending on 'scaring' anyone, i was merely quoting what our visa agent has just quoted for the visa and process the op was enquiring about. Obviously anyone going down this route will do their own research first anyway and not take something they've read on a forum as gospel to their situation.

We had 4 weeks in limbo land before we left and i agree it was really hard, i found it very emotional too. We had lots of different meals and meet ups with friends and family that come the end i just wanted to go, it was prolonging the agony for me, plus it was january this year and if anyone remembers the weather was bloody horrendous, it rained every day of our 4 weeks, making it that much harder to entertain a 4 & 7 year old! But do try and do lots of nice things without wishing your time away too :0)

Hi, you don't need to prove your 3 years experience as you already did that when you got your 457, you need to get a skills assessment and the whole thing will also cost $14,000 (just under), we're here on a 457 too and my husbands boss as just made the enquiries to our visa agent on our behalf!

Hi i'm hoping someone can help as i'm getting in a right mucking fuddle here! I live west of Sydney, about 40mins from cbd, tomorrow my mum, me and two kiddies are off to manly sea aquarium. I will be catching bus into cbd then ferry to manly, which is fine as have done this a few times, but my dilemma is which ticket do i buy? When i've been before it's been on a sunday so it's just $2.50 each for the funday sunday pass! I've tried looking on various different websites for prices etc and i thought the mymulti2 was what i'd need but have also read i can't use them on manly ferries!! I guess i'm hoping someone who travels alot on public transport may have some advice ~ no worries if not i just thought i'd put it out there. I'm thinking it may be cheaper to drive and pay parking, which i know for 4 hrs is $16! Many thanks :0)

Like the others have said most places i would imagine are good for families etc, and agree you need to consider what weather climate you prefer. We are in sydney about a 45min drive from the cbd, on one income with two young children and do ok. Here's what we did yesterday: Up and packed a picnic, started out clouded so took a jumper with us. Chucked the kids scooters in the boot and set off. 30 mins later arrive at one of Australia's many amazing parks, blaxland riverside park. It was fab and so much for the kids to do, but the setting was nice to right next to the parramatta river, the sun was shining, the sky a brilliant blue and the kids were very happy (they're 5 & 7). We took a picnic along with many other families, then on the way home stopped at the steakhouse for tea! We didn't particularly want to live in sydney as our first choice, we were heading for perth as we have friends there but my husband got offered a job here so we thought why not, lets give it a go. I love the area we're in it's very suburbia, we've been here 6 months and already been away on holiday with our next door neighbours! And i meet another mum friend for coffee once a week, so slowly making friends. Before i came here i researched different areas, then i googled the best city/suburbs to live in which brought up a really good website with lots of reviews from people who lived there etc and tried to do it that way! :0)

I find the optus payg sim $2 a day good value with 500mb data a day, not sure how many minutes you get i think it's 200min .

We moved to Sydney 6 months ago and so far it is ticking all the boxes I hoped it would. We live about 40min drive from the cbd and we rent a 3 bed in a lovely suburb for £530 a week. We have two children who are doing really well in school and also love playing outside with the other kids, which to me is great as this is something they didn't really do back home. So far we just have the one wage coming in and we're surving ok, but like everything you cut your cloth accordingly, we don't eat out much (but never did in the UK), my shopping is averaging about $220 per week, we run a car and motorbike, the kids go to ballet and Jazz and swimming and I also manage to save $100 a week (most weeks!!), so like the other op said we're better off here than we were in the uk with two of us working. I'm just about to start a college course to do Cert III in education support which will hopefully lead to a job and then we'll be a lot more better off than we are now. I think it all depends on your reasons for moving here and what you're hoping to change or get out of it that you couldn't in the uk. For us it was a complete fresh start, we had hit rock bottom in the uk both emotionally and financially and this was our last shot (make or break), we had nothing to lose (obviously family), but this journey is about us as a couple and family and reconnecting without any other outside influences. I already know we've done the right thing, 6 months down the line we're happier than we've ever been and kids are too - life is good and simple, which is just the way I like it! :wink:

Thank you fisher1 some good suggestions there, i just realised i forgot to mention i have two children too ages 5 & 7! We visited the botanical gardens when we came in january, but the kids weren't that enamoured with it, i wanted to walk around to is it Macquarie's chair? But they couldn't be bothered (it was a hot day)! We're going to take the red bus tour where you can hop on and off and yes do sealife, madam taussauds as well. Keep the ideas coming please :0) xx

Hi, my mum, sister and 9 year old nephew are arriving for their first visit in just over a week and will be here for nearly 5 weeks. I'm really excited and can't wait to see them. We've only been here ourselves for 6 months, we live in the hills area of Sydney, and i'm trying to put a little itinerary together of places to visit and things to do, so they can pick and choose what they fancy. I'm very conscious of the fact that they are spending a lot of money coming to see us and i want to make sure they have great time. So far i have A ferry trip into the city Operah house Tarronga zoo Darling harbour The blue mountains And i can't think of any more, it's not helping that they're coming in the middle of winter, had it been summer then no probs, as we would be hitting the beach a lot!! Any suggestions gratefully received, thanks :0)

We're with iprimus, only been about 2 months but so far so good, great customer service. Our package is $99 per month 200gb free national and free calls to 10 international countries, which is obviously brilliantly for calling home to the uk. Had no problems so far and it's fast too we have adsl2+ :0)

Sorry to hear you're feeling like this, but like the others have said 6 weeks really is early days. When you decided to emigrate what did you think in your mind it would be like? Did you have any preconceived ideas of your ideal? I ask as you say you've been here 3 times prior to moving so i'm just wondering what prompted you to make the move. For us our life back home at reached rock bottom, marriage on the rocks, no money, small house, not many friends so we thought we'd give it a go, after all what did we have to lose? We came here with hardly any money, 2 young kids and i can honestly say it's the best thing we ever did and we've only been here 5 months!! The first day was awful and i remember being sat in our apartment with just our suitcases wondering what the hell i'd done!! The first few weeks were really hard and i remember after 6 weeks my husband was so fed up he said if his dad hadn't paid for out shipping to come over he would be wanting to go home! But fast forward to today and we're happier than we've been in years, we're very slowly making friends, which in itself takes time and getting to know the area etc. We always said when we came over we would have to give it at least 18 months before we could decide if it was for us or not. Another example for you a friend of mine moved to perth a year ago and hated it, was lonely and really homesick, she came as she knew it offered a better lifestyle for her children. She has now made a couple of good friends and is feeling better about being here and she doesn't work and kids too old to meet other parents so found it hard to meet people, but it happened for her in the end. It will take time and things will slowly start to happen and you will start to feel a little more settled, but it just takes a little time xx

Thanks guys funny enough shannons was one he was having trouble viewing yesterday so we'll give that a miss! We did come across swan and aami so will look at those. He hasn't bought a bike yet but is . Looking to get a honda cbr road bike. We always went fully comp at home so will do that here. What about famous motorcycle insurance, anyone heard of them? Cheers x

Hi, my hubby is currently trawling t'internet for motorbike insurance but is a bit overwhelmed by all of them and the questions so i said 'i know i'll ask the guys on poi someone will know! Can anyone recommend a good insurance company and should he get full or third party insurance? Also is our no claims insurance worth mentioning here or is that now null and void and we start from scratch? Many thanks :0)

Good luck that's good news. With regards to your house would renting it out not be an option and rent over here for a while? That's what we have done, albeit we're on a 457 so we thought it safer to keep our home until we knew what we would be doing but hopefully we'll apply for pr and then we can maybe look at selling our house, which is also an advantage to being further down the line because we'll know where we want to live in order to buy! Just a thought to help things along [emoji6]

I'm in Sydney so not sure if you get the same service in brissie but we've recently gone with iprimus and have a fab deal, it's adsl+2 unlimited calls to 10 international countries and 200gb of data anytime for $99 a month!

We had the same thing the visa guy sent me a link to bupa so I think they all have to but I queried it with our agent and she said travel insurance is perfectly adequate for 30 days so that's what I did, and here we are! :0)

For what it's worth I'll give you my limited knowledge, although not that limited as I worked in the school admissions team for 12 years so I can tell you how it was in the south west, I understand it may be different in different parts of the country. for the first instance, there is nothing stopping you from applying for a school in an area if you know the area you will be moving too, even if you are abroad - in North Somerset we didn't have 'catchment area' they were called area's of responsibility, meaning anyone living anywhere could apply for a school place - but the tricky bit came, if the school was over subscribed then they have a criteria they have to follow, which is Looked After children first, then children with siblings then distance. So for instance say you apply for a school and you're still in Australia after the deadline and it's filled up with LA children and siblings then every single applicant that applied for that school after these criteria had their addresses measured as the crow flies so it is then done on distance, so obviously the person living closest to the school would be offered a place and if you're in oz then that puts you at a disadvantage, but like I said doesn't stop you applying. You would then be put on a list in number order of who is closest to the school, but you wouldn't be able to alter your address once you move it is taken from the address you are at at the time of applying. It's always best to put all your 3 options down otherwise if you don't get your first choice you will just be offered the next nearest school with a place available. Another option would be to apply for a school place using your parents address, which is allowed (well it was in our area) and all they would have to do is write a letter to confirm that yes you were living with them. With regards to feeder schools, this was never the case in our area, secondary schools were done on catchment only, again there was nothing stopping you from applying for a school outside of catchment but if it was oversubscribed then the same criteria would be applied. Hope this helps x