CelinaOz

Hi there! PM'd you this morning. X

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Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated.

Hi lovely people, we've got the shipping people coming this Thursday (eek!) and there's a month until we fly, so I feel like a crazy person at the moment with lots to sort out!

I've googled this but not come up with anything helpful. I'm guessing many others on here have been in the same situation as this so I'd be gratfeul for how you did it...

You land in Sydney, with two children and 5-6 suitcases. Who do you contact to take you to your hotel? (We are staying in Double Bay for 2 nights before heading to our holiday let in Cammeray so will hire a car after that).

Is there a company I can pre-book online a minivan taxi or something? And do they usually hire out/provide child car seats?

Thanks

Celina x

Thanks ladies. I'm now concerned about my make-up kit - I'm a make-up artist and had planned to put my make-up kit in the container as it's a big wheelie case. I'm guessing my big stash of MAC lipsticks will not fare well in there?! Oh gosh. x

Hi everyone

I'm freaking out a bit as PSS have just said that it's best not to ship toiletries (our packers are coming in a week) and I have tonnes of the stuff - hair products, body lotions, shampoo, lots of perfumes.

I asked them about it and they said it's best not to take anything liquid as Customs may want to check it, therefore incurring an extra charge. Also not to take anything flammable (so I'm guessing that IS perfume, nail varnish, hair dye???). Eeek.

I wondered if this is something that's happened to you or is it something they all say but it's usually fine?

I am a bit of a toiletries 'collector', so was planning on taking alot of my stash including all of my expensive perfurmes (and they'd weigh a tonne to take in my suitcase).

Any help on this, I'd be most grateful.....

Thanks

Celina x

Haha, love it! Thanks Maria, we'll get a new machine there.

Thanks Pom Queen, I can live without it so I'll just sell it before I come. X

Hello!

Our stuff is being shipped to Sydney at the end of next week (gulp, we're not ready!!), and I was thinking of bringing our Tassimo coffee machine and was trying to check if they sell the discs in Oz at all but I can't find anything recent about it via Google.

Anybody know? Otherwise I'll just try and sell it.

Thanks

Celina x

ok just tried to PM you on here........

Didn't see anything - just sent you a test one.

Hi, we can help if you need any advice at all....on schools/ areas/ etc, just shout.....

Yes definitely do need some help please! Just booked our holiday let for six weeks (which was super hard to find something available & not for millionaires!). We'll be in Cammeray - so that'll be our base to explore and search for schools and a house. (Arriving 24th Nov - now it's all booked!). Not sure where to start yet to be honest but know I need to be contacting schools soon! X

Hello we have just moved also and to Manly and have girls 7 and 9. Would love to meet up!!!

Ah lovely thanks! We'll have to sort something out after we arrive. Xx

Hi there, my husband just secured a job in Sydney CBD and so there's a lot to sort out for our big move in 2 months, eek!

Our girls will have just turned 4 and 7 when we arrive so it'd be fantastic if there are any other mummies with young ones to meet up with. We're looking to move to the Northern Beaches area (from Manly up to Mona Vale).

I know I'm going to need some friends to have a natter and cuppa with. I have friends in four other cities - just not Sydney!

Celina X

Thanks guys, you make a good point re friends to play with. Just awaiting to confirm my husband's job package (today). I'm finding it hard to find a holiday let to tide us over whilst waiting for our shipment that isn't crazy money. I want to be around Manly/Northern Beaches, which we can just about manage to rent unfurnished but can't find anything remotely affordable to rent furnished for first 3 months. So am wondering how I enroll her into a school that we won't be able to live in the catchment area of initially. What do others do(?) - just send them to a different school for the first 3 months?! I don't really want to do that as its going to be hard to settle my initially shy one in to start with! Any ideas? X

Hi everyone, wondered if you could help me with this one as I can't seem to find an answer anywhere!

We are looking to arrive in Sydney on 1st December (still to sort out where exactly!) and I know schools finish in mid Dec for the summer holidays. So I was thinking that there's no point in starting my 7 year old until the new school year (end of Jan). But legally, does she need to attend for those first few days when we arrive?

I'd be grateful for any advice.

Thanks X

Hi Deenickolly, I'm in similar timings to you, well about a month behind you. It seems from this forum the "norm" is about 6/7 months (although I know some people are taking longer and the official timings are 10-14 months), so I'm sure you'll be ok for a January move.

 

It's great that your CO said you'd have the heads up before they grant. We haven't had any contact with ours since the first email introducing herself as yet.

 

It seems from what people are saying on here that the really quick applications are people that have been married for 10+ years and have children, is that true of the people on this thread that have had grants in 3ish months?

 

 

 

 

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Hi there! We had a quick approval - married 7 years, 2 children.

Wow, not long for you Mark! Super fast timings. We are still waiting to sell our house - been on the market for nearly 4 weeks. My husband may be offered a job in Sydney (we find out in the next couple of days), so we may end up starting our Oz journey there! Exciting times for us all. X

So so so envious. We submitted 1/2.CO assigned the same time as you BUT I then discovered that I wasn't Australian -I am the sponsor! I took out British citizenship in 1999 and unbeknown to myself, I lost my Ozzie citizenship- I have renewed passports -no trouble but obviously cannot sponsor my husband without Ozzie citizenship. If you thought that applying forthe visa was bad -try resumption of citizenship. You can onlydo it through Canberra- Australia House can't help- Theywont respond or accept any evidence by email; they deny receiving certificates which you resend but then it is held up by Border Control for 3 weeks. Eventually 2 1/2 months after starting the process they agree they have everything they need but it will take another 77 days to process. Why?

When I finally become an Aussie again we can restart visa process. We wanted to go out in October- seems highly unlikely as obv have to sort out our house here!!!!

Oh no, what a mare for you! Sounds like it's a royal pain getting it sorted. Fingers crossed for you it is sorted quickly.

I agree! We should all meet up for a drink once we are there!! It's been great to share this journey with others! The forum has been so hopeful and reassuring x

@CelinaOz @Aprilfool How's the planning coming along?

We aim to complete our house sale on 30th Sept, Mrs H and the Little one fly out on 2nd Oct, I finish work 7th Oct (28 years service), then plan to spend the week sorting out loose ends and plan to fly out mid October. The last 6 weeks has been somewhat of a whirlwind, so much still to do! We both plan to take the rest of the year off, before hitting 2017 full on. Exciting times ! Hope all well...........

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Wow, not long for you Mark! Super fast timings. We are still waiting to sell our house - been on the market for nearly 4 weeks. My husband may be offered a job in Sydney (we find out in the next couple of days), so we may end up starting our Oz journey there! Exciting times for us all. X

Thanks! My husband would be working in Pitt St, which I think it's about 10 mins walk from the ferry stop.

Guys, can I ask if anyone just drives to Manly Wharf & parks there to get the fast ferry into CBD? (About $15-20 a day all up.) We are thinking of that option - seems quicker than driving all the way or getting stuck in traffic on a bus. Your thoughts would be fantastic! X

Yes I'll definitely need to meet up with other mummies! And getting healthy is a main aim of mine. We live a couple of hours from family in the UK, so we're used to not having them around. I love the idea of living by the beach - good for the soul, but appreciate it will mean living in a 3 bed apartment. Coming from a large a 5 bedroom detached house, that'll be hard (& think we'd need to find cheap Oz storage for a few things!)

Manly is probably your best bet then.

 

It has the beach lifestyle you wanted. But relatively close to the city.

 

And fast ferries of 18 minutes direct to Circular Quay. So your husband will be back home super fast in the evenings to spend time with the children.

 

The Manly Ferry SmartCard gives you discounts on ferry fares.

 

Manly also has some good mothers groups for you. Good support and make friends:

 

https://www.facebook.com/manlymums/

 

http://www.buggybootcamp.com.au/

 

http://surfingmums.com

 

Manly does get busy because it is a very popular holiday and day trip destination. It is fine during the week. But can get crowded at weekends.

 

It also has rental properties within your price range.

 

The best thing you can do, is book into temporary accommodation for say six weeks upon your arrival. That will then give you the opportunity to explore different suburbs and find one you really like.

Thanks v much for your advice, grateful for the links too.

All good tips here. We are moving from Killara (convenient, great train service, great schools, expensive and deathly dull) to Newport next week as it happens.

 

My wife has a job based on mona vale hospital so it makes a lot of sense.

 

The kids are all staying at their schools in Killara until the end of the year though, just so they can complete their projects and school trips/camp.

 

So I'll drive out on the a3 / Mona Vale road. I heard if we leave before 7:15am we'll beat the worst of the traffic. Then the kids will get to school and I'll carry on getting the train in.

 

I'll probably get the bus in the new year, but as I generally work nearer central/Redfern it means then getting a bus. (Whereas the train is handy because it goes straight into central and Redfern)

 

I came to the conclusion that there is more to life than a convenient commute. But in the other hand I don't really want to be sat in a traffic jam every day (life is too short).

 

L90 bus seems like a winner. Can listen to music instead of being sat behind the wheel.

 

We're all looking forward to living up there. It feels like we moved all the way from Wrexham, only to bottle it and live 20k inland in a neighbourhood full of SUVs and trees. Now we get to where we hoped to be all along.

 

 

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Good luck with your move to Newport! Know what you mean about more to life than a short commute but at the moment, with two young children, my husband doesn't get to see them when he gets home from work as it's past their bed time. So we were hoping to get a shorter commute for him so he could actually see them and for us to get more family time. (And for me to get a bit of support at their bedtime too!)

Thanks everyone! What do people think of the south side suburbs - Coogee, Maroubra & Little Bay? Are they nice areas & good beaches? What's the difference between these & north beach suburbs? X

you could live anywhere from Manly up to Mona Vale, Newport areas. Look at Curl Curl, Freshwater, Collaroy, Narrabeen, Warriewood, Mona Vale any of those... If you get time to hang out, you'll get a feel for it yourself.

 

It takes a bit longer to get to where you need to go the higher up yopu are, and depending on where you work. The bus kicks out at Wynyard due to the light rail construction going down George St - so combined time could be over an hour... but if it's a nice place it's probably worth the bother... We moved inland from the Northern beaches on the North Shore train line at Killara. It makes 'sense' on many levels, as the train is fast and reliable... but it's not like living on the beaches at all. It probably suits many, but for us it's quite boring (although the schools, are also great here). People here just work in the city and live in big houses with many trees.

 

So we are moving to Newport in 2 weeks, and my commute might be up to 90 mins each way, instead of 45 / 60 mins it is now. But we think it's worth it. My wife has a job at Mona Vale and the kids will move schools, so they'll all be there.

 

The Eastern Suburbs are also nice, but I think the northern beaches maybe more laid back and family ish. Or you could live down Cronulla way and get the train, but it quite busy near the sea.

Thanks for that helpful info. I checked Cronulla area thank you but seems a little too far out. My husband currently has an almost 2 hour commute, so one of the main things for us doing this big Oz move is getting more family time - so a commute under an hour is crucial for us.

I've looked at the train lines and it's such a shame there aren't any serving the northern coastal suburbs. Ps Lane Cove is an area that I've noted as people is saying is nice for families and ok for commuting. But truly, I think I'd rather live in a smaller house & be nearer the beach.

Where abouts is he going to be working in the city ?

have you checked cost of fast ferry ticket ?

Have you also checked on accomodation and what you will get.

Most times the discription is far from what You actually get.

Anything close to ferry routes etc you will pay top dollar for.

good luck

Hi there! Location TBC, yes checked the cost of the fast ferry ticket thanks. Yes, checked accommodation prices. Thanks for the heads up. Think we'll need to rent a holiday let for the first month whilst we actually look at places, so we can see them in the flesh. Thinking of an area within short cycling distance of the ferry stops to get some more space as we don't fancy a cramped flat!