Elljane

Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. If you have to resort to renting out a room, you might be better off with an overseas student boarder. There's an organisation that guarantee you rent every week and the students are usually at University all day,plus you have a signed contract agreement of how many months you rent to them. If you do rent out a room you might have to go through a real estate so the boarder has a lease agreement, it's all a bit tricky because a boarder could rip you off, steal, bring home painful friends etc which is why I suggest a contract, but if you have a contact and the boarder is a complete pain, you will have drama kicking them out! Is there any way you can undo your notices to leave your jobs? Things usually sort themselves out in the end, good on you for retaining your sense of humor. Best of Luck 

Hi There's probably a lot more work up the Sunshine Coast but the cost of housing either renting or buying is a lot more expensive than Toowoomba because there's a lot of tourists and it's on the beach. Toowoomba is good but it's isolated, if you can't find work there you will have to travel a long way to get to other places. Happy Moving, hope it goes well 

On 25/04/2016 at 17:11, The Pom Queen said:

Thanks all, it's hard as we want rural no neighbors as we have dogs but need to be near the best specialists and surgeons and we don't have a high budget. I don't want one of the acreage blocks that is on an estate as for us it would be too close to neighbors with the dogs. Also I would probably get back to being registered as a wildlife shelter.

Hi, Toowoomba has a Base Hospital but you still might have to go to Brisbane for some surgeries. Gatton isn't too bad, you might have more luck finding a bigger rural property away from neighbors on the outskirts of Toowoomba. Warwick is similar to Gatton but still 2 hours to Brisbane Hospital and an Hour to Toowoomba hospital. Most rural towns have a hospital but unless they are a Base Hospital like Toowoomba the rural hospitals don't have many services. You could also look for a larger property between Ipswich (which has a Base Hospital) and Toowoomba. Ipswich is a huge suburban city of its own.  There's also Warwick which has larger rural properties & is 2 hours from Brisbane and 1 hour from Toowoomba. Warwick has everything, Big W, Coles, shops, etc and gets a lot more rain & is therefore greener, I better warn you though that anywhere West of Brisbane gets very very hot. Make sure you have aircon!!!!!

That's creepy and I would not like it. It takes a lot of video evidence & written emails to The Minister of Housing to get a problem tenant evicted. If it's Government Housing you can use the evidence to get him or yourselves transfered if you have to. Meanwhile see if you can get permission to put a security screen door on your apartment so you can have the door open without him walking in & your wife can lock the security door from the inside.  There are 2 forms you can lodge to your site agency

 One is a Notice to Remedy Breach, the other is a Dispute Resolution Form. These are available from the RTA (Residential Tenancy Authority). He will know though because Your housing agency will have to Lodge these forms on him. If he gets violent you can put a restraining order on him and use it to get him kicked out by the Minister of Housing or use it to get straight out of there and into emergency housing. Government Housing waiting lists are very long but you can get a Department of Housing home lots quicker by contacting them and asking for the least waiting time areas, you may only wait a few weeks for a very rural area. I know you don't want to move and should not have too, but if this situation gets too stressful you can apply for a Department of Housing Bond Loan through the Dept of Human Services who handle Government Housing. The bond loan pays your first 4 weeks rent which you pay back at a very low rate with no interest. Hope this helps. Good Luck

I'm so very sorry to hear what you are going through. My heart is literally breaking for you. My Mum went through a similar situation with my Grandma. My Gran couldn't leave her house in the UK as she had lived in it for 50 years & all her memories & other family were still there. It helped put our minds at ease knowing that she had other family over there. Wishing you strength & love xoxo 

17 hours ago, VERYSTORMY said:

I can fully understand. Both me and my wife had gone through it more than once. 

I know it is hard to see at the moment, but it is does get easier. While we were in Oz, my daughter from my first marriage committed suicide in England. I had brought her up as a single dad. Then, out of the blue, my mum died. Totally unexpected heart attack. Then, not long after, my wife's dad who had cancer but was being treated and we were hopeful suddenly went down hill and we got a call to say he had 24 hours. Luckily my wife just made it. 

It will take time and you will have the occasional "day" but that will get less and less and become just the odd moment. 

With regards the practical side of visas, your mum may be eligible for a parent visa. It is a long and expensive process - about $55k and three years and there are other aspects of qualifying such as if you have any other siblings. 

$55.000! Gosh that's expensive! I'm wondering if there's extenuating circumstances clauses in the decision making