Pompey gt

Evening all After all your advice we have finally obtained a long term rental! We move to Upper Sturt in 2 weeks time.The whole process has been pretty painful. The hot Adelaide property market ( particularly in the Hills ) has worked against us and there has been very little rental stock available . The whole open inspection process has been bizarre , and akin to a jumble sale at times ! For the popular properties there seems to be little politeness as the other viewers compete to see each room first and cosy up to the estate agent . Equally the online application process has been quite time consuming , not helped by each agent seeming to use different platforms. We ended up over the past few weeks actually applying for 3 properties and were offered 2 ( and missed out on the third property which the agent had already offered to another family a few hours previously ) . It will be great to finally have a permanent address which seems to be super important for any applications / red tape ( eg driving licence etc) . Also to finally unpack 8 suitcases which we have moved between 3 separate Air b n bs. @BeauVinyl - how has your rental search gone? I believe you were looking at the Blackwood / Hawthorndene area? To be fair we quite like these areas since they have a foothills feel about them and yet are pretty close to some decent amenities at Blackwood .We understand the schools in that area are good as well , and only approx 20 minutes to the beach. Hopefully your kids have settled into school well . Our 2 boys have nearly completed 2 weeks and so far , so good….

Thank you for everyone’s feedback which is helpful. We are under no misconception that Australia is not all good ( TV and lack of roundabouts for a start !) but on balance we feel it will be better for our family than the UK .The best advice I have had is that do not keep trying to compare your lives in the UK and Oz otherwise you will always conflict yourself and never enjoy the “ now “ in Oz. @Rammygirl - thank you for your advice on The Hills . Yes bush fire awareness is something that we will need to get to grips on , especially having seen some of the tv scenes of the bushfires last summer. Also the idea of a “ go to “ bag makes a lot of sense - just in case. @BeauVinyl - yes we are now at Day 9 of the medi hotel experience . It is starting to drag a bit now , although seeing that NSW are now reducing their flight caps again to 750 per week , we do not underestimate how lucky we have been to actually arrive in Adelaide. We are in the Peppers hotel which has been comfortable enough . I agree about the food which tends to be a lot of comfort food from the hotel which is not a great combination without a great amount of exercise ……we are craving for some simple food like toast and beans on toast! Yes I agree with the frustration on rentals whilst in the medi hotel but we will simply need to be patient until we hopefully get out next week. We agree that some of the more expensive properties seem to hand around a little longer. Ultimately I think we may need to compromise on area and probably be closer to the CBD (or otherwise in Mount Barker )rather than the Hills ………but we have always said that getting a decent rental property is quite important to help our kids settle in. From what we can see Mount Barker has a lot of new build properties with small gardens which would not be our preferred choice . Employment wise I have been lucky that my employer has allowed me to work remotely from 1 October which has taken the pressure off a little ( subject to getting a decent broadband connection !) My wife will be settling the kids in school up until Xmas and then will look for work in the New Year once the summer hols have finished. It sounds as though your wife has been lucky getting employment so quickly ……….but I guess nursing is very much in demand which no doubt helps that process. yes it would be good to meet up once we have been released . Equally it would be good for our kids to swap stories with yours ( who are similar ages) since no doubt they will be going through similar nervousness about starting new schools ,making friends etc . Our first Air b n b is near Brighton and we love the beach and general vibe round that area . Take care all ……and enjoy a 30 degrees day!

Morning BeauVinyl and everyone Hopefully your move into Air b n b accommodation has gone smoothly . Having read you posts your experience has almost been a mirror image of ours! After much stress and worry we finally arrived in Adelaide on 24 August and we are currently half way through our medi hotel stay . Our biggest stresses living up to the move were the flights and also the PCR tests. We were actually due to arrive in Adelaide in December 2020 but China Airlines cancelled our flights ( and are not currently flying to Oz). As soon as these flights were cancelled we then booked direct with Singapore Airlines for August 2021 and to be fair SA have been pretty good with us . When the flight cap reduction was announced in July we feared the worst on our flights being cancelled but as we got closer to our departure date we felt more confident ( even though I know some families are having their flights cancelled 2 weeks before departure date!). As for the PCR tests these were super stressful.The day before departure we went up to London Heathrow to have rapid pcr tests . The results were supposed to take 3 hours but ended up closer to 6 hours! Whilst we were waiting for the results the reality dawned that we did not have a Plan B if any of us had a positive test result after having sold our house and given up 2 good jobs ……….it was with immense relief and a few tears that we finally got our negative results. The flights themselves were fine although we were glad we had done our research on all the forms that had needed to be completed before our departure ( Australian Travel Declaration etc ) 6.5 hours transit at Singapore was not that much fun with 2 boys with very little usable facilities in the airport ……but a small sacrifice to get into Oz. Arriving at Adelaide we had briefed the kids on all the staff being in hazmat clothing and loads of police …..and a police escort to the medi hotel ! But to be fair everyone we have experienced so far has been super friendly as part of the process. 7 days through the medi hotel process and it has been OK so far . Whilst there are no choices on the food it has generally been fine and the hotel puts in some treats occasionally to lift the spirits.We have also got the boys playing indoor cricket! Assuming our Covid tests remain negative then we are due to be in a couple of Air b n bs for the next 4 weeks . Looking at the rental market there is not a great choice at present but we are hoping that we will get lucky once we leave the medi hotel . Our boys ( aged 7 and 12 ) are due to start school in the Hills area and Stirling /Aldgate would be our preferred place to live but very little rental stock at present . We feel blessed and very lucky to have arrived in Adelaide in the current pandemic with the flight caps and will try our hardest to make this a positive experience . We know no one in Adelaide but with 2 kids we are hoping to make the effort to integrate . Both our boys are into their sport ( any recommendations for junior soccer teams will be welcome!) and we will try to fathom out the rules for AFL ….. We are not regular forum posters but we have found reassurance and comfort from other posts ! Indeed we are very happy to help others who are going through the same emigration process. Take care all