Peachy

With so much to do, and not a huge amount of time, I would concentrate on Sunshine Coast upwards. I have absolutely nothing against the Gold Coast, but the area is pretty built up (of course there are beautiful areas) but if I was going on my hols, would be working northwards from Brisbane. You can do Brisbane itself in a day if you focus on the 'must see' areas. Again, there is plenty to do there if you want to stay longer, but if you are limited for time and more into the scenery I wouldn't devote too much of your holiday to Brisbane itself.

Depends very much on what you like doing.

Places we have been and think are fab:

Fraser Island - amazing place and I think is a must

Sunshine coast - beautiful beaches.

Noosa - smart coastal town, lovely beach

Glasshouse mountains - fantastic scenery

Montville and Maleny - attractive towns for little shops and pottering around in beautiful surroundings

Australia zoo - expensive but well worth the money

D'Aguilar National Park - mountains, lookouts, fab walks

Haven't got further north yet, so interested to hear other recommendations.

Highly recommend Golden Arrow. I have posted a review of their service so won't go into the details here. Excellent and extremely personable. Received regular reassuring pet updates via email, including pics as to how my pets were getting on.

My OH didn't do case studies at all. He was assessed in January.

He completed a degree 6 years ago and got the University to supply the relevant course information.

He then had a letter from his employer confirming his experience. Letter was 2 sides of A4.

Are you sure you need to do case studies? If you have the relevant degree and did practice placements as part of this, you don't need to. The form is quite confusing but we cleared this with AASW.

The only difficulty was getting all the docs from other people - he did very little form filling.

OH got points for experience and for degree.

I echo what has been said above. Often it can take a week or so due to internal procedures/ following up references. They tend to let the successful candidate know first and this can also mean a delay in letting everyone else know - however not always the case so not necessarily determinative in your situation.

In future firmly advise not emailing them for at least 10 days unless there is a particularly pressing reason.

Zack you seem to have the worst luck with syringes on beaches and car being towed. You should definitely revisit Brisbane.

Hi Anna

Brisbane is a fab location. Loads to do. I suggest that you spend time during the visit to get a feel for the different areas - each suburb has a slightly different feel to it. Would also see if you can make some work contacts before you move.

Good luck

My experience so far is that the same conversations happen here as in UK - music, sports, politics, weather, tv, education . There is the same minor grumbling about weather or transport difficulties. The only noticeable difference is that people that I work with use expletives a little more, but then I have transferred from private practice to government and people seem a little more relaxed around their colleagues. I certainly haven't found any issues with lack of interests, culture, obsession with materialism or overly patriotic. It does strike me that a lot of migrants expect the local people to somehow entertain the newly arrived with their scintillating conversation - it is a 2 way street.

2 of our 3 cats failed first time. Resulted in our cats spening 6 weeks with Golden Arrow. In fact worked out well - we had time to settle into our home and make arrangements for their arrival. I was worried that they would find the separation and my ve traumatic but they have been absolutely fine - in someways made it easier for them to go through quarantine. They are all v happy in their new home.

If you are making arrangements via reputable shippers I am sure that they will get it sorted for you.

I would love my parents to come and live over here with me and my sister. They have expressed some interest - particularly my mum - but my dad is reluctant to leave his network of friends and family. Of course they miss their grandchildren but they also recognise that in the long term, who knows where we will be living; to uproot their lives for us would need some extremely careful thought. They too have a reasonable amount of money and could afford the visa and to have a comfortable life here, but they would still be very reliant upon me and my sister. In the same way that they would not want to hold me back, I don't want my desires to be a happy family in Australia to impinge on their life choices.

We have quarterly inspection, photos and written report written into the contract. Means that we have some assurance that the house is not being damaged and will be retain its saleable value.

If you have had the skills assessed there is a separate form for the eligibility assessment. It is free and doesn't take long but you do need that to say that you are"eligible". I am sure it is online.

What has the migration agent allocated for lELTS? Could you make up the points this way?

Ps it is possible to get social work jobs from the UK but research, research and then do some more research! Adapt your CV to Australian social work issues to demonstrate how you will fit into their system. Not sure of WA system but in Brisbane most of the decent jobs are on the gov site via smart jobs. Good luck! My OH loves his social work job here.

Make sure you do the specific AASW assessment for eligibility. A lot of jobs ask if you are eligible for membership but you don't actually need to join.

32 degrees here in Brisbane. I was hoping to have a little more time to acclimatise! Can't get a paddling pool due the fencing regs (absolutely ridiculous ) so have taken the kids to the creek for a swim :-)

There are loads of UK families in North Lakes. I am told that it has a real community spirit. It is a great location for getting up to the Sunshine Coast, which is beautiful.

Would suggest that you identify all the admin jobs you need to do - ATO, driving licence, Medicare and get those done as soon as you arrive so that out of the way and you can concentrate on settling in.

We found people to be incredibly friendly and it isn't unusual to get invited to bbqs with folks you have just met. Accept all invites!

See lots of posts about car purchases. Not sure what you have in mind but would suggest that you don't jump on the band wagon of a brand new 4 x 4. Australian cars last much longer than cars in UK so second hand with highish mileage is fine while you find your feet. You don't need a huge Patrol unless you are going to be living on Fraser!

Good luck with the move.

I've never had a problem with Specsavers. I went to them years ago because I wanted varifocals. I get thin lenses, scratch resistant coating, anti reflective coating and prescription sunglasses. That was in the UK, can't remember how much, it was 3 years ago!

I had my eyes tested last month in the UK but didn't get time to choose new specs so I'll give the Aussie Specsavers a go. @Peachy I enquired about Reactive lenses last year and was told I couldn't drive with them because the windscreen stops them reacting properly!

For my purposes that would make them slightly pointless as I would still need to buy sunglasses for driving. Thanks for the heads up.

Not seen a single snake. Have lots of house geckos though.

Note the ref to reactive lenses. I have to wear glasses all the time. Now we have relocated was wondering if they would be better bet. Anyone with views on them?

Hope it is okay to link into this thread, if not feel free to delete.

Reasonably priced until OH takes kids shopping with him and is persuaded to buy all manner of crap. Not happy that he managed to spend $240 on the weekly shop yesterday!!

Echoing flag above, go where the work is. You can find nice areas in all the main cities I would think.

 

We are in Adelaide and I am very happy with it. Didn't want to live near a beach so don't. But its still only a 10 minute drive from our door. Depending on the area, good state schools abound. In and around Adelaide. Also lots of private choices.

 

The CBD itself is lovely, small and compact. Many of the suburbs are to me rather Stepford Wives living like but they are generally safe. I don't mind walking round our local area at 6am or 10pm (many are out for a run or walk in the mornings). Sure there is the odd thing like a hoon driver across the local reserve at 3am but that is maybe once or twice a year.

 

The whole better life thing, don't buy into that mindset IMHO else you could be setting yourself up for a fall. It can be a good life but its still the same day to day living with of course noticeable differences to the UK. Its hot in spring, hotter in summer and hot in autumn. Although the spring and autumn heat is liveable. But the UV is harsh. You could move an hour or 3 away from your current area in the UK and improve your lifestyle and quality of living most likely. Depends where you go. We left a lovely area of England to move here.

 

Its migrating, its hard going for many, securing work can be tough and its not always roses. But it can work out well and often does for many. For some not. If you want to move, do so with an open mind and don't view Aus as being the fix or solution to your problems in the UK. Stuff that happens there happens here still.

Completely agree. Now that we have been here a few months we have settled into the same routine of work, ferrying children around, bed! Can't fault it though - couldn't be happer :-) Ironically we were after a more outdoorsy lifestyle but the children are so active at school and at all their clubs that all they want to do on Sunday afternoons is play with their toys and get in some computer time! Kids will want to do the same things wherever they are in the world. There are a multitude of advantages for us being here but you aren't suddenly going to get a longer day to fit in everything.

We will be doing a similar exercise shortly. That is insane! ! What are the monthly repayments? ?!!

Australia has the same social problems as the UK. In the UK we lived in a rural community and so it wasn't so apparent; here we live on on the edge of rural and again to some extent we are closeted from social deprivation. However in any society there will be a mix of people- people with different incomes, no income and homeless. There will be drug use - both addiction led and recreational. Your daughter will be exposed to it wherever you live whether that is in the UK or Australia. I am a firm believer in education and even though my boys are only 7 and 9 it is a conversation that we have. Better to prepare them to make the right choices than pretend it doesn't happen. It doesn't shatter their innocence but instead prepares them for the inevitable exposure in a few years.

My OH insisted we bring his 3000 cds. He started to put them onto harddrive but it was an incredibly tedious exercise, anyway he wanted them available to browse! If you are having a container might as well bring them. In our hand luggage we also brought 2x external harddrive in case there were issues with computer. No issues with customs.