M1cha3la

I am not 100% sure as DH did our 189 through an agent, but I do not think you should of claimed a bachelors for education (our agent was murky (i did not fully understand) about points for ACCA). I would consult with @wrussell or another agent as from what I can understand it can be tricky...

Another hostage has sadly died according to the papers. My heart goes out to all those involved and those who have lost loved ones. A very sad day..

We did just under an hour and a half layover at Dubia one way and I was worried it was tight, but we got through with loads of time to spare (well over 40 mins to spare). We flew Emirates both legs though and as a pp said, they do coordinate somewhat for you with delays ect. I probably wouldn't risk it with separate airlines, or with kids (as adults you can run like mad if needed and crash in a bar if you miss the next flight lol). If you are happy to rush through and not browse in the shops ect then its fine, Dubia is big and busy but they are organised and efficient with trains between terminals ect.

Ps, If it is with Emirates, they have their own terminal so usually you wont have to transfer between them. We did for some reason, but it could only happen to me :laugh: we hopped on the train and it took a few minutes if that to get from one terminal to the other.

We will have about £15k for the two of us. We will also have the money from the house sale (around £40-45k) but we dont intend to touch that unless we absolutely have to as it is for the deposit on our next house. I do worry its not enough, but we have lived and survived with less and are in a fortunate position to save now. We were originally looking at two years to save but we pulled it forward to one year, giving us the figures above. I have found money is one of those things that the more you have the more you want, sometimes you have to draw a line and make the jump and get on with life. He who dares wins Rodney :wink:

Avoid shoes and toiletries as they weigh loads. Just pack one good pair of shoes/boots (its forcast snow next week) that go with everything. Then pop into bodycare when you get here to stock up on toiletries, pretty much everything is £1 in there so wont cost much. Wear your big coat and heaviest jumper to travel in if you can stand it, then pack the lighter stuff, 20kgs is a lot for just clothes :cute:

2015 for us all being well. We are just saving up the last few pennies, going to get Christmas out the way, redecorate in Jan and get the house on the market in Feb ready for the spring. Will then just be a matter of time :jiggy: DH is still trying to relocate with work but if that doesn't work out we will just make the jump which is scary, but he who dares wins and all that :laugh: I just want to get there now, it has been such a long time coming.

Thank you for that very useful post surfndirt, but do you not think that its tad dogmatic to say that because of how you feel that everyone else must be convincing themselves Perth is great or isn't expensive? Because you put it there in black and white as you say, it must be true? I have family and friends who live there, I trust what they say along with my own experiences. There are of plently of people that hate the place, there are plenty of people that love it, so tbh I am not going to get into a debate about it, that is not the purpose of this thread. I have purely posted my experience and opinion as we found it, others may be different but that doesn't make them any less valid or true.

Oh but for the record I dont make things up, where we drink is £7.50 for a large 250ml glass off wine, as you can see from the menu the Sauv Blanc 175ml is £5.25. A standard pint is £4.60. They don't list the speciality beers that DH likes as they change regularly, but they are more expensive.. Normally £6 something. Yes there are cheaper drinks and cheaper places (as I said in previous posts....) but where/what we drink is that price. http://www.barestilo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BE-Birmingham-Drinks-Menu.jpg.

I am sorry you have not had much luck in Perth, maybe you should consider moving to Europe before you become/sound bitter?

Hi, weve just been to perth too

Didnt you go to the Freemantle weekend market? Might be what your OH is missing

Oooh did you love it?

We did go to the Freemantle one yea, that was fab too. The one in Adelaide was just huge though and less commercialised if that makes sense? DH would get lost in there for hours and spend a fortune too, so its just as well we are going to Perth :laugh:

If the system was genuinely there to help the people who need it then I would have no problem with it, but it is exploited left right and centre and used by freeloaders in a way that is was never intended for. But the goverment just let it happen. Too many times have I seen people close to me let down by the system. People who have worked hard all their lives and paid in only to be told go away when they needed some help or pay to get services quicker. Yet I see others play the system to a tune and are better off than those who work hard for a living and on no level is that right to me.

What a beautiful letter, your strength and love for your daughter shine through so clearly and that is all she will ever need. Your daughter is so very lucky to have you, as you are lucky to have her. I have a feeling you two are going to be just fine :hug: xx

She is beautiful, congratulations. Enjoy every minute :hug: xx

We recently did a reccie in both as a few PP's have mentioned and I think a link to the thread has been posted too. For us we preferred Perth, I won't go into the reasons why again as they are on my reccie report and they are personal to us, you could feel the complete opposite. A good example we found though, was people rave about how isolated Perth is. But while we were in Adelaide we looked at getting the train to Melbourne as we have friends there, 8 hours the train would take. So in fairness Adelaide is pretty isolated to :laugh: you will have to travel (probably by plane) no matter where you are in Oz, and for us once you are on a plane what difference is it if its a few extra hours. But thats just our mentality, it does not bother us, yet I know its a major factor for others.

Honestly I would recommend a reccie if you can afford to, the states are so different and you really need to see and experience them. Its a great position to be in with a job offer in each, so focus on the other areas of your life, i.e what you like to do on days off ect as that is important as well. Good luck in your choice and keep us updated, would love to hear more as someone in a similar position :wubclub:

 

I remember a report some years ago...I think it was in the "New Scientist" magazine...which concluded that having a toilet in the bathroom was unhealthy because they discovered a high concentration of faecal matter on toothbrushes from toilet flushing.

There was a programme about it too. They put UV stuff in the toilet, flushed it and then showed how many "particals" fly up out of the toilet from the water pressure and inevitably end up on your toothbrush on the sink next to the toilet :eek: They also land on the taps and the door handles ect. So having the sink in the same room is not necessarily more hygienic unless you put the lid down every time (be honest boys :rolleyes:)

A separate toilet is a must to me, you can dettol wipe the door handle but not your toothbrush :laugh:

We have been to both, Down Under Live was last weekend and the other one this time last year. We found Working International to be the better of the two and it seemed to have better agencies, Hays ect were there. D U L only seemed to have people selling recruitment packages, ie pay them to look for you. It was also mainly geared up for nurses and construction work, so didn't really work for us. Both had the banks, moving firms and similar agents there though and tickets are only like £10 so worth popping in both if you can.

Edit, I should probably add, we have found out far more information via PIO than at either expo. There are some very good agents that post on here that you wouldn't go far wrong with.

Yeay congratulations on your visa grant :jiggy:

Definitely normal how you are feeling. I flip from dying with impatience to get there (95% of the time) to thinking what the hell are we doing. There is no middle ground it is the one extreme to the other. But deep down I know its what we want to do. Try to look at it as the adventure it is and enjoy the 4 years, its nothing time wise in the grand scheme of things and what a great opportunity/experience it will be :wubclub:

Do you think it'll happen? I think I'd prefer the tequila fountain if I have to choose between the two lol

We will make it happen :yes: thats a good choice, can we get a chocolate fountain too? We may be able to negotiate a better price on two fountains :laugh:

Can we have a tequila fountain and male stripper too?!

Well now I'm listening :laugh:

Congrats on the grant :jiggy:

Can you take it as hand luggage? When I flew mine to Mexico for the wedding I got a cute box the size of a hand luggage case that it folded up into. The dress fit really well and I had a big dress lol. I'll try find the link for it.

edit, here is the link http://www.lifememoriesbox.co.uk/travel-wedding-dress-boxes-8-c.asp.

Well done Jac, that's great news. One step closer :jiggy:

lol tha marina is to the right of the jetty as you face it, a few hundred metres down along the beach. Going left at the jetty you do just get beach and houses. Also the beach there hosts beach volleyball and the nets will go up with the warmer weather.

 

Didn't think you were putting Adelaide down at all, just a shame you really didn't get to see much that it has to offer. Plus so many lovely little towns within easy reach, many with farmers markets and some fab little niche shops and stuff.

Typical of me to go the wrong way :laugh: they had quite a few diggers down to the right, it looked like they are in the process of doing it up so we just went left. Never mind, we will definitely go back for a visit and another look round some point in the future. The farmer markets sound amazing, love things like that.

I do think and have said I am sure Adelaide has much more to offer. It was a shame as we really really wanted to love Adelaide, my DH prior to going was convinced Adelaide would suit us better. His company have an office there so if he could get a transfer it would of been where we ended up. But we just didn't get a vibe from the place as somewhere we would want to live. We would definitely go back for a visit though and have a better look around.

In Glenelg we started in the square where you get off the tram, then when facing the pier we turned left and walked and walked (about 2.5km according to the path markers) and it was nothing but houses. Beautiful houses but just houses nonetheless so we gave up and headed back to the square and had a boozy lunch. Must of missed the yachts and that area which is a shame.

We had a good walk around the city and through the main shopping area and had a lovely meal in the area where all the bars/restaurants are, the name alludes me. We also did a wine tour in the Baraossa valley which was pretty. That started off badly though as we got hounded by a homeless guy (or at least we thought he was homeless) while we were waiting at the bus station to be picked up by our tour guide. We did Victor Harbor and the island. Had hoped to catch a glimpse of the whales but the guy who runs the museum said they seem to of moved on earlier this year as they are normally around until October, which was a shame. We also did Waterfall Gully and Mt Lofty, but it was raining and we got soaked on the way up. Never helps things lol. I bet the view is gorgeous on a clear day, I was gutted after all that climbing. We will try it in summer next time lol.

All in all we just feel like Perth suits us better. There is nothing wrong with Adelaide and my post was never meant to put it down, it's just down to personal preference and what we experienced there.

We have just flown with Emirates from Birmigham via Dubai and it cost just under £2000 return. I could of got it slightly cheaper but I was happy to pay for the convenience of a local airport and the flight times. I booked through STA, but only because my work colleagues daughter works for them and she needed the commission. I would normally book direct.

To add, that price also included our internal flight from Perth to Adelaide with Quantas. So I was pretty happy with the price, though if I had booked it in January when we first looked it was only £1400, instead of waiting until May. I was kicking myself.

Lovely post thanks for that! Iv just had an invitation for an interview in Perth when we were set on QLD so its lovely to hear such a positive review. Perth was the city I first fell in love with watching WDU all those years ago (2004 ish) and my obsession with Australia began.

Good luck for your interview xx