lp77

Are you on Facebook? Brits on the Gold Coast and Gold Coast community are good pages to ask. Heard good things about both schools but only primary...varsity and robina are good areas. My kids at Marymount in burleigh x

We had sole use container packed 17/18th December never arrived till 11th march to us. They had overbooked ships apparently.... But tbh we moved into our rental end feb so it worked out but I wasn't happy when it missed its booked shipment dates...

Have you decided to stayin Sydney then? Instead of trying another city?

Anyone know anywhere on Gc this is being shown live??

@calNgary how's the pool? Who installed it? We're getting quotes just now but hubby leaning to concrete...

Even with indef leave to remain the immigration can be antsy apparently. Reading small print it seemed as we were migrating to Oz partners visa may be null n void even on indef leave... So got UK citizenship n passport for hubby. Should've done it years ago as he had to do life in Britain exam.. Lol. But gives freedom to be in either country... Kids dual citizens too.. Just me but need to wait four years....

@Joie Cayton how's things?

I married an Aussie and when our oldest child was born we made a 5yr plan (it became 3kids and 10yrs later...) and everyone knew it was in our heads but nobody thought we'd do it. I was upset telling them but our oldest daughter was diagnosed with diabetes and a friend moved after his dad died and we only live once... You've got to think about your own family unit. It's not easy but I'd rather try it and know it was/wasn't the best thing than always wonder. when we applied for visa we told everyone... Then we booked flights to organise for schools for kids. It was only myself who needed visa so we landed January 7th this year... my parents have always supported us but they are really missing the kids. They are coming this week to visit .. Face time makes things easier and I still use my UK mobile... hopefully they support you but don't get upset if they're not happy, it's just cos they'll miss u x have a quiet night/day organised and just tell them reasons for applying and hope it all works out good luck x

@fisher 1 well done you. Can't imagine it's easy leaving. but you only live once and so nice to have supportive sibling. My friend moved over last year and his mum has dementia and as you will know there are varying degrees but she is not great and his words when his dad died was he felt like he lost both parents that day... Good luck x ive left my parents who are generally well but the thought of not being there for them if they're unwell or less capable as they age doesn't bear thinking about but they have always been supportive of our move and are visiting next week ?

I liked bhs for bed linen towels lighting dept and some kids stuff but I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did... It needed an overhaul... Sad to see another 'british' chain gone... It's funny I have some marks spencer stuff 'made in England...' That tells you how old it is, such a shame we devalued ourselves and lost so much of our manufacturing industry... People like cheap rubbish they can change regularly now. Even Australia seems to have moved to more imports... I used to like the fact they valued their own industry and paid to support it....

If all else fails, one of the dads at school runs leakspotters.com, they travel around finding leaks good luck. Pool sounds fab size..

We were also told we were over.. So decided to leave 3piece suite.. Then on the day could've got loads more stuff in... Only thing swe ought to have packed.. The filing cabinet and plastic storage drawers(more exxy and smaller here)

I'm down south gc bu are you on Facebook? Quite a few britsgold Coast and finding friends gc....pm off you want x

Whereabouts on gc are you?

As part of rego in qld you get compulsory third party insurance so it's not fully comp x

We shipped with Anglo, had varied quotes 3700-4200. Liked the guy from Anglo and insured with letton Percival. We thought we had done ok with insurance values but all our bedroom furniture-bedside cabinets tall boy and chest of drawers busted underneath. You can say bad design but the packers imo should have protected it better. Didn't expect to claim, wish we had added on the xs to the value...so don't rush doing your quote as we did. We packed 17th 18th dec and container sealed at the house and it was obviously opened at customs in Brisbane and re packed for delivery here. It worked out ok all the delays as we never got a rental till 29th feb.. Stuff delivered 11th March. Claim being attended to and we need to send paperwork back now. So will see how that goes x

Hopefully it's not a regular occurrence..(the break ins)... I used to put all my valuables in a wee bag under my pillow I slept on.. Lol. I have to say I do miss sunset.... Such a gorgeous view into the water.... Not awake early enough for sunset... Yet. Hope job ok, save up and enjoy planning next bits xx

Watching, we in robina x

Oh well, taken a while but here's a wee update. Flights were fine despite delayed leaving Edinburgh, missed connection so night in hotel and landed in Brisbane 24hrs later.... organised our container to be packed 17th/18th December for it to leave UK on 21st December... Also delayed.. It never left till 31st December and got caught a few times on the way here but it arrived 11th March.... My friends all said Scotland didn't want to let us go... dont know if it's easier or harder coming with an Aussie as some stuff they know inherently but having in laws to leave 1/2/3 kids helped as what children like going round government offices lol. i had old Medicare and tfn from whv 15yr ago so all merged, still to find my old super... hubby had bank account and we used that for a number of weeks till I remembered there was a time limit before you needed more id.. Went with no fee account at nab, very easy to open. The exchange rate has declined since our house sale went thru... Since boris and ids put in their opinion. Honestly house sold Friday and bores spoke out that weekend... Oh well make sure your signatures at the bank are up to date.. Our chaps payment was refused as signature was different, thankfully moneycorp let us move some money .. took longer getting a rental than expected but had few weeks not paying rent as at in laws and their timeshare. Then stayz booking.com and last minute we used for a few weeks till got house in robina. We were offered one initially but no garden... Not why we came to Oz. Thankfully we did stay in other places as 4walls and empty cupboards wouldn't be much use.. In lovely area now with park and ducks nearby. Walking distance to aldi ? kids-all v shy starting school but school 3times bigger than UK school.... Similar class sizes tho. Oldest girl (9) went into yr 4 and is blossoming and walks up herself to class, thankfully Santa brought her an iPod touch to keep in touch with her friends in UK and has been lovely hearing her chatting to them occasionally. Surprisingly she doesn't seem to miss them too much but sometimes. She is at gymnastics and swimming every week. The school has been so good as she has type 1diabetes so v switched on and proactive compared to UK school. She is happy to not be the only child with diabetes. middle daughter (8) yr 3 has had her moments.. She has felt it worse, wish Santa had got her a touch instead of the nano she asked for... The heat really got to her she feels unlucky since being here... Has fallen and hurt both ankles, one we eventually got xrayed just in case. Also swimming and gymnastics but also doing art after school, I sat in for one full lesson at the beginning to get her to stay. Hopefully the next few months will let her enjoy it more. Since in one place she more settled and got wooden cupboards we have let her put her art work on. She loves pool and beach.. youngest boy (6) yr 1, shy first day but really found a few friends and goes off to play soccer before first bell at school with them. Not doing anything after school atm as he says 'it won't be like Scotland...' Us -we bought land to build on so been trying to organise that too... More stress but it's what we came for so hubby wanted that to be started before he went to work but builders are slow... hubby set up abn and will do contracting. Assuming Brisbane where he will work, planning to train up but some roles are in gc so fingers x. Me im a nurse so may go to uni briefly... The registration year starts in June so will wait till May to register and hopefully it doesn't take too long. groceries feel expensive esp starting from scratch but buy what you can afford.. Bought a car, went round and round , had hired a car for 4weeks and extended it for a couple of weeks until we picked up our car Nissan xtrail love it and was the first thing we bought and was so nice not to be borrowed... Insurance-total rip off paying ctp with rego and then fully comp, I think it's a great idea to have ctp but if you buy insurance it should be refunded... contents insurance online comparisons but just chose one seemed reasonable cost.. Felt like holidays for a while and still feels surreal. Have had a few down moments esp when kids sad but surprised I haven't felt more homesick... Waiting for it to hit in... Shouldve brought more hangers.... Insurance for marine /shipped items hint add on the excess to the value and don't leave it to last minute to do paperwork as we rushed it and unfortunately our bedroom furniture all busted underneath... Obviously a bad design but packers should have protected it better I think.. And we'll be out of pocket to replace. We thought our packers were fab till we unpacked.. Lamp shades bashed photos and books bent.. Ornament missing.. Shoes packed together, TV in beside clothes and no fragile sticker on box.... Thankful to in laws for picnic set and pot and bed linen/towels and cutlery when we moved in to rental prior to container arriving.. Bought blow up beds and bean bags for kids. soo glad to have our own stuff now but v creative using oven, one pot and one frying pan... Never had takeaway the first week which I expected when no stuff. Kids also don't like the chocolate, sausages, gravy or mince.... Getting better, just trying things when they are on offer... Had nearly a full week without a 'I don't like that' shop around for white goods and try to organise from same place to minimise delivery charges. Look at the shop a dockets on back of receipts and at the bottom use vouchers... dont expect fast food to be fast lol.; also Internet and mobiles are better than 15yrs ago but leaves a lot to be desired. Huge expense for v little... I wonder what would have happened to the Mobile phone industry if crazy john had not died.. Everyone been lovely but miss friends. I've kept my UK Mbl running atm as it gives me freedom to call/txt parents too whenever. Cant belive first term is over but looking forward to holidays with the kids. Organising a couple of play dates so hopefully it all works out. my parents coming out in 6weeks sooner than I expected /wanted but will be so good to see them and my sister coming in July... Anyway i I will stop rambling on and get to bed... Need to convert to Aussie time, bed early and up at 5am.... One of these days ?

We flew without our kids last year to suss out. I'm sure we had to get a train to a different terminal... We flew Glasgow Dubai Brisbane.... Tbh the shops slowed me down so we had to run on but as they say your luggage is checked thru, they'll get you on the plane. Prepare for the worst but we have flown with 2/3kids since 2008 and they were always better than I expected. Some new things, cartoons munchies and I took a baby mat so they could roll around the floor in the airport. Good luck x

Ps things I wish I'd brought... Lots more clothes hangers... Glad I brought kitchen stuff tho ie mixer blender etc.. One of our best buys.. Amazon had a surge board thing basically it plugs into Oz wall socket and there are 4/5 UK plug sockets to use saves a million adaptors as an generally only use one at a time in the sockets x

I'd be surprised if Packers will allow you to ship.. Look up dibp re foods. Good luck x

We started kids off at start of term but we changed accommodation every 1-3weeks... Felt like forever but was only 6weeks in total (stayed with in laws for some and at weekends to save $$) arrived 7th jan kids started school 27th jam. We got rental 29th Feb but stuff didn't arrive till 11th March... We moved in weekend of 5th March and borrows from in laws. Bought mugs glasses outdoor table and bean bags... Survived but so nice to have our own stuff now. UK wise school no problem as emigrating. In Oz seems v relaxed at the moment lots of kids take time off for holidays/to watch surf competitions...

I think it was @HelensvaleHoward who suggested here? Apologies if not, but went today and vanilla slice was lovely but too big. Not quite as good as mathiesons ( local Falkirk baker)but best cake I've had in Oz so far 

I used to work in go surgery where a number of our patients lived abroad most of the year but would still have a residential address here and we would see them and issue prescriptions etc... Not sure of all the legalities..