tina0101

But its not for gifts - just Kindles/books. Not like the Uk site where you can buy anything and everything. Someone said OO.com.au, but I've struggled to find anything here and usually just get people to send us the cash and I buy it myself!!

We offered and paid 6 months upfront. Glad we did it that way as it was an expense we could just 'write off' as it was gone and didn't have to think about it. It's cheaper if you go slightly further away from the CBD. I haven't actually found it that much more expensive here to the UK (we did live in the Thames Valley commuter belt there though). You live within your means - we always get the supermarket own brand (did in the UK too), buy clothes/shoes from the cheaper shops (live in a vest top and shorts when not at work). Good luck. Almost 15 months in Brisbane now and still love it like it's our first day!!

What age are your boys? There are many lovely schools around Wellington Point, both private and state.

Not worked as a teacher but have worked in prestigious schools in both UK and Brisbane. Teachers in Brisbane seem to have it 'easier' than the UK. The expectation and pressure from parents in a fee-paying school is the same in both, in my opinion, but teachers here seem to come in later and finish earlier - in the UK, staff were in a good 90 minutes before school started and then not leaving until 5pm ish. Here, most are in 45 minutes before school start and then they are gone by 4pm. There is no Ofsted so the pressure that comes with that is not something teachers here have to worry about. Husband is a teacher and I would say that he is definitely more relaxed about work here.

You need to shop around - I have me and a red P plater on ours for over half that price! I never actually provided NCB from the UK - they just took my word on it!

Can't work out how to edit my own post!! Just to clarify - we're going to Phillip Island first and then heading to the Great Ocean Road. I should've worded it better!!! Thanks for the ideas - keep them coming!!

The family are coming over in January and we are off to the Great Ocean Road for a week or so. We are stopping at a few places: Philip Island, Apollo Bay, Port Fairy, Robe and ending up in the Barossa Valley. Wondered if anyone had any tips for things they really enjoyed doing along the way or places that we may not see unless told about! Doing the penguins on Philip Island and the helicopter ride at 12 Apostles, but would like to hear if anyone has got anything else they would recommend doing Cheers

The estate we stayed in had a lot of barking dogs. One would start and the rest would go off and it would last for hours. You'll get good and bad comments about most suburbs you ask about. Personally, it wasn't for me.

We applied for a number of different private schools in the Brisbane area a year ago and had no problems - my son was Year 12 though. You may have more chance if you are entering half-way through an academic year as they may have had spaces appear from leavers. Keep up the dialogue with them. My son actually ended up at a Catholic school - same as a private but for 1/3 of the price and he's done really well. The school I work at have people on their admissions roll who haven't even been born yet!!! It's a competitive market! Good luck.

We could've borrowed similar but then would have been unable to pay the amount back and live. You are best off talking to someone who will assess everything, rather than putting it in a machine. Just make an appointment at your bank and they will go through it. We did that when we started looking to buy so we knew the price range we could afford. Then we spoke to a mortgage broker, who got us a better deal on the loan.

We went to Specsavers when we got here - glasses and prescription sunnies for less than $250. The range was pretty stylish too.

The contract is with her, not the brother, so doubt they will be able to do anything to him. if you ever return home, then she will have problems. I know you have PR, but who knows what may happen in the future. Its a roll of the dice. We are paying it back from Australia - just couldn't take the risk that one day we may have to return (even though we have not intention of!).

Sounds very much like us - my parents took it badly and we hardly talked about. I would recommend not doing the airport goodbye. Saying goodbye to my mum was horrendous and I am so glad that we didn't do it in public!! My dad and sister-in-law drove us up to the hotel at Heathrow. Saying goodbye to them was hard. Once they had gone we all started to get a bit excited. Balls of nervous energy!!! By the time the next morning came, we were so excited!! It was nice to start the journey on a positive - you don't want to be getting on the plane in tears.

Some private schools requested the last three school reports when we were looking out here. Ask the school to send them digitally to you - then you've got copies easily accessible if anyone does ask. Also, if you are going down the private route, we were asked for a reference from my son's UK school - but he went into Year 12, so they wanted to check his character and that he'd be a good fit for the school.

Vodafone uk and Vodafone Oz are different so you can't do anything about that (I tried). We we managed to get a contract for pay monthly as soon as we got here. Unlimited texts, calls (including international calls) and 3gb data a month. You'll need to shop around a bit - not sure what is the best at the moment. it is a 24 month contract, but I'm not worried about changing my phone when something new comes out - my iPhone 5 is fine and in a year I'll just upgrade to whatever is about then.

We watched it on TV last year (had only been here a month and had no idea) but this year we're off to Kangaroo Point to watch it.

An interview over Skype/phone for a private school is perfectly normal if you are far away. It will be the same as a face-to-face interview - questions about school, co-curricular, activities outside of school etc. A number of schools ask about the child's values. Will talk about favourite subjects, what they want to be when they grow up and, obviously, future plans if the child is older.

I'm Bayside but know people love those areas - they are at the pricier end of the market though.

Definitely say yes to any invitations - we've met some great people at random BBQs and get togethers. Hubby's family are all in Swansea :-)

They both will work fine out here. We set up an Australian PS store account - some games you purchase on there will direct you to the server depending on the account. i.e. when you play a game online it will direct you to a UK server, which doesn't create the best connectivity and gameplay when you are out in Australia. Your boys will start moaning pretty quickly if this happens though!! It depends on what they are playing.

Get a short term rental for 3 weeks and then get viewing while you are here. Estate agents do not necessarily use up-to-date photos - we saw some properties that looked nothing like the pictures as the pictures were 5 years old!! You can also get a better feel for the neighbourhood and neighbours if you are out here. I wouldnt recommend doing it from the UK.

Congratulations!

http://www.myschool.edu.au/ - you can type in the name of schools and check out their results and a few more details. As said before, he can start as soon as you have moved. You just need to decide what area you want to be in. If you go State School route, you need to move to the catchment area to pretty much guarantee entry. Private will take longer as you'll need an interview and it depends on your budget and location. I can give you some feedback on Private schools if you are looking South, East or CBD area but know about only a couple North and West. Plus there are sometimes waiting lists so contacting them asap is recommended. You possibly have more chance of getting him into Private mid-year rather than January. Good luck

We moved straight after my son got his GCSE results in the UK. He joined a school in Brisbane for the last term of Year 11 and has moved into Year 12 this year. A lot depends on the GCSE results - my son got great results so they have used his results to offset against him not doing Year 11 here. If your son's GCSE results are not great, you are coming out here at the start of the school year anyway, so he could just start Year 11 and do the two years. The system here is not like the UK. You cannot compare them. Your son's age will also come into consideration when they decide what year he should go in. I I would recommend starting to contact some schools or TAFEs to establish a relationship.

We've just done our first summer here. When we arrived people were telling me that in summer, your make up would slide off your face, that we'd struggle with the heat and that my hair would hate the humidity. I also have to keep my legs covered at work due to a tattoo and was told it would be 'awful' for me. One of these things happened (the hair). My mascara was not running down my face, I coped wearing trousers or tights (very thin tights!) that made my tattoo barely visible and we probably only struggled for a couple of days with the heat. We didn't use the air con at home and just opened all the doors when we were in, but did need fans at night. Having a pool also helped as I just jumped in when it did get too hot (a couple of times at about 9pm I was in just to lower my temperature before bed!). We are Bayside though. I drove to Wacol one day in the summer and the car thermometer just kept creeping up. It was a much more stifling heat when we got out the car and I was glad to get back home!!