mummyoftwo

Just wondering if there is anyone on here who has children at either of these schools? Or do you know anyone with children at these schools? Many thanks

Wow, that was fast.. congratulations! How exciting! We are now waiting to hear about our application after submitting a 189 with front loaded medicals and police checks, really hope ours is that quick too!

Thanks Robfromdublin. The Gap is also on our shortlist, and I also like the leafy/hilly outlook of the area..

Thanks tickled pink for your positive reply, I appreciate it:) We also like the look of a suburb in the west that would mean a short drive to a train line. You mention the secondary state schools, this is another reason we have set our sights on the west, as it is important that the primary school we get into will then feed into a good high school, and the ones we like the look of are all in the western suburbs we have shortlisted.

Thanks John. What great pictures, thank you for sharing! Thanks also for the link with info Bracken Ridge, very interesting/helpful. We had thought western suburbs for schooling, but think we will also check out the northern suburbs once we get there.

Thanks Roberta, like I said it was just a thought. We will carry on with our plan to stay in Kangaroo Point after reading the replies. Can I ask why do you state you're not sure why anyone would want western suburbs? We have been researching this move including suburbs and schools for a very long time, and it was the schools we've looked into that has made us think we want to settle in the west. We do realise we won't really know for sure until we are there and have got a feel for different suburbs and visited some schools, so all this could change. We won't be moving until mid/end of November with a view to our children joining a school once they start back at the end of January. Unless husband manages to secure a job before we go or very quickly after arrival.

Hi all, we have a provisional booking for an apartment with a pool in Kangaroo Point. We booked this thinking it would be ideal and good location for CBD and close to Southbank, parks etc (my husband will be looking for work in and around the cbd area). We have two children (7 & 4) and wondering would staying further out work out better for us, seeing as it will be for a month/6 weeks or so, and rather than an apartment, rent a house where we can have some outdoor space, maybe Bribie Island so we can have some beach days. Or maybe a house in the western suburbs where we plan to find our first long term rental before buying... Just a thought I've had over the past couple of days, so would be good to hear what others experience of where they stayed and any advice/tips to pass on? Many thanks

Hi there, I recently spoke to Spire Healthcare (approved by the Australian Government's Department of Immigration) and was advised you cannot go ahead and book your medicals until you receive notification from the Department of Immigration - after you have submitted your visa application (we are also 189). You will be assigned a case number and will need this to book your medical and then the results are electronically uploaded by the hospital onto your application. Hope this helps.. there will be others who are more in the know than me, but thought I'd share with you what I know..

Ah yes, sorry, you did say that in your original post didn't you.. I then looked up Rockhampton as hadn't heard of it before. That's great you have got a teaching job lined up.. You're spot on there about it being easier without kids in tow, it was so much easier when I moved to Cyprus and then moved back to settle in England, now I've got a daughter who doesn't want to move to Australia!! Good luck to you too and will keep an eye out on here for how you get on.. and yes, my name is Laura:)

it sure is, if the banking crisis happened I might have considered moving back, but like you say there's no career opportunities. Last time I was there the barman in our hotel was actually a pilot for Cyprus airways, but couldn't get enough hours to make ends meet! I'm not moving until November, will be going to Brisbane with hubby and our two little ones. What about you, where in Cyprus are you leaving and where in Oz are you going to?

I can understand how you are feeling..we are not moving for months yet and sometimes feel overwhelmed about everything we have to do, but I know it will all come together in the end, everything always does in life! I used to live in Cyprus, it will always have a place in my heart. Good luck for the next few weeks!

Hi @wattsy1982 wow, first visit back in 3 years.. that is a long time! I hope it is cure for you! Sorry it's another slow reply, just had the school half term break and things been hectic! I know where Woolpit is.. so do message on here if you find you have some spare time.. Stowmarket would be a good half way mark, but completely understand if it doesn't happen - your first visit back, I'm sure you're going to have so many people to catch up with rather than some complete strangers lol.

Hi @wattsy1982 Thanks for posting and apologies for the delayed reply.. I have been unwell for a few days! We live in Ipswich. I can understand you missing where you are from lots, Bury St Edmunds is such a quaint little town, I prefer it to Ipswich. How long have you been in Brisbane? I can imagine you will have a busy 5 weeks catching up with family and friends, so it's very kind of you to offer to meet up. We can just see once you're back here if easier :-)

I sold my previous car on gumtree last year, I was amazed it sold within a couple of days.. I'd previously never thought of putting it on there and got several enquiries before it sold.

Thanks for your prompt reply.. I hadn't looked into resale in Australia so wasn't yet aware the i10 isn't out there.. maybe I'd be better off selling here and buying a car over there instead as wouldn't want to get stuck with it!

Hi Iron Chef.. just wondering what your thoughts are on whether or not I should ship my car. I have a Hyundai i10, '12 reg with 19K miles and air con. To date I have been in contact with one other removal/shipping firm and have an appointment arranged in a couple of weeks time to find out more about costs of shipping my small car in a container with household items (at the moment am not sure what we will do). Before I arranged this I received a quote of £2.2K to ship it on it's own, and believe I would be looking at import duties of approx £600-700. I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts and what ironladyimports could offer? Many thanks

Hi Pat, thanks for your reply and info on the migrant get togethers. Unfortunately we won't be able to join you at the July one, but would certainly be interested in future dates as we will be arriving into Brisbane without knowing anyone there! Thanks again

Thanks Quoll

Hope it will be the same for us too Hoffer.. How are you finding life in Bulimba compared to Colchester? I've been bigging up Australia Zoo amongst other things to my daughter at the moment as she loves Colchester Zoo, and keeps on saying she doesn't want to move to Australia and miss the things she likes in England. Thankfully she does now seem to be coming round the idea.

same birthday month as our boy, and husband, and our girl is december.. such an expensive few months in our house! Kangaroo Point seems like a perfect place for a base whilst deciding where you want to buy. Can imagine we'll start off somewhere fairly central too! Yes, slightly nerve racking about wondering how long it will take to find work!!

Hi ya chan8180, very similar ages to my two :-) How are they feeling about the move? Not long to go now! We are not sure yet where we will move to..we haven't done a reccie, just lots of research online, so won't really know how we feel about the different suburbs until we get there and have a look around! I do like the look of the Thornlands/Clevelands area, and some of other suburbs in the bay area, and had thought it would be nice to be near the sea for the breezes.. However, we do also like the look of the suburbs to the west of the cbd like Chapel Hill/Kenmore/The Gap to name a few. x

Thanks Bungo. IELTS was done in April so that's not going to hold anything up. All in my hands to gather the docs to get them over to the CPA, which I should be able to do in the next few days. Interesting to hear about your experience as our thought process was around not spending money on something we could do ourselves - we didn't even consider the possibility of wasting our money on something the agent couldn't actually get right. I can only imagine how pleased you were about that one and can see the benefits about having it all in your own control. Risks too, yes, but hopefully we'll end up ok.

Thanks for the comments, and the link. I have my experience drafted up already and it seems to tick the boxes (I think my employer would be disappointed if I had been doing something else for the last 11 years!). Maybe a couple of tweaks to just give a little more emphasis on a few areas and can then get work to sign it off. Actions for tomorrow, call CPA to have a check up on a couple of things, get the experience finished off and under someone's nose to sign off and then hopefully by the middle of the week we should be in good shape to get all the docs over to the CPA. If they can turnaround within the same sort of timescale as others have experienced, we can get the EOI in pretty quick when they come back and hopefully we get that invite in June.

We're not quite sure yet..ideally we'd like to go as soon as possible, and have our eldest start the new school year at the end of January, but we have an awful lot of things to sort out between now and then so will have to see how it all comes together. How about you?

Thanks Ferrets. As it stands I'm on 65 points without any experience (30 age, 20 English, 15 CIMA or degree) so as long as CPA think at least some of my experience is ok I'm pretty relaxed about how much. Post qualification is 6 years so assuming CPA don't take any issue with that then we should end up at 75 without having to bother about the degree syllabus. Might just go that way to save having to wait on the university and speed it up a little bit. Beers sound good, when are you heading over?