Cheery Thistle

Also I should have said we did do the harbour bridge climb! Amazing experience, worth every Penny and bucket list item ticked off!

I have requested prices from Doree Bonner, PSS and John Mason. It’s in the range of £6k for a 20ft container which I think is not too bad actually in current climate. It’s looking like we’ll go with Doree Bonner as they get really good feedback.

Thank you that’s very kind of you. One thing I am wondering about is a location agent to possibly help us secure a rental, so if you know anyone in that realm that would be helpful.

Yes thanks, so since we have got back I have been trying to gather some quotes for a container, get the process moving for sending our 2 dogs over and also gather paperwork for school applications. Since they seem to reserve school places in the womb I am applying to a few in the hope that a space comes up. Our moving date will depend on the dogs.

Oh hello there! I have had a sabbatical away from the forum and it has been really nice actually! Yes we are just back and on the whole had a great trip. We did a few nights in Coogee and then caught up with the family for a night. Then headed up to Port Stephens for a couple of nights to see more relatives. Dropped in on Newcastle for lunch and a wander and drive up to Byron. From there headed to Noosa via a visit to GC and Surfer’s Paradise. Spent a few nights in Noosa and then a week in North Brisbane. Rounded off with a last night in Darling Harbour. Impressions of places in case it helps others - Coogee - found it really chilled and loved the beach facilities and access to the ocean baths nearby. Whilst there we visited Bondi and Manly for a day each also. Port Stephens - Didn’t see much due to spending time with family which in itself was lovely. Stayed at the Koala Sanctuary for one night which was fun. Newcastle - was a bit disappointed in it from what we saw. Not somewhere I could see us settling. Byron - probably the worst of the lot. Far to woo woo and new age for me. Either for students of middle aged vegans. Enough said. The weather probably didn’t help - wall to wall torrential rain! Noosa - beautiful place. Overall found the SC gorgeous but couldn’t see ourselves living there. Did flying visits to Caloundra, Peregian and Coolum as well. A bit like a time warp and hubby’s comment that after 7pm it’s like a retirement home up here lol. Also saw lots of mullets and full body tattoos - including scalps (on ladies). Culture shock. Brisbane - Stayed north side and we see ourselves settling in this area. Visited a few schools and have narrowed it down to a specific area and a few schools. Overall really glad we did the trip. Daughter is now really excited to move as she can see the difference in lifestyle she will have, so it has calmed any nerves she had and also made the sacrifice of losing being near her grandad more bearable. It has also reassured us about jobs as literally every person we came across from family, to Airbnb owners to taxi drivers said we’d be grand, no shortage of jobs but big shortage of qualified experienced people who are actually willing to work!

Lol yes at great personal cost to staff who, of course, are expected to work miracles with those magic wands. One of our local primaries had £8 per pupil per year for everything. £8. This was about 6 years ago when I left and it has got worse, not better.

To be honest I feel like doing a Simon Tucks with this forum! I don’t think it’s the place for me.

I know you are having a laugh. Not including salaries £947 per academic year.

The issue is a lot of posters are very far removed from the issues in UK schools and the people who are moving from the UK don’t have any experience of the Aus system so it’s hard to get a direct, accurate and up to date comparison. I don’t think I said anyone had said that Aussie schools were all terrible either? However a lot of posters saying don’t expect them to be any better than the UK (without any recent experience of the 2). To be honest we are looking at either Catholic or private for our daughter (depending on where we live). We’re going to visit a few schools in person when we’re over in March. From what I have seen they all look a lot ‘better’ than the school she would go to here (where I taught for 10 years) which is actually a top 30 Scottish state school. Parents would be shocked if they knew how poorly resourced schools are in the UK. Guess what my annual budget was to run a dept of 7 staff (full time equivalent of 4.5) including all resources, books, online subscriptions, prelim papers, paper, pens, pencils etc for a year? Go on have a guess lol.

It just saddens me that we seem to be losing the value of the softer side of skills that are actually equally as important for making the world go round. There has been such a focus on STEM in the UK curriculum in recent years that all other areas have suffered. As a non-STEM teacher who has successfully transitioned out of the classroom to a reasonably decent career (and not at a young age) I’m here to fly the flag for others and say it is possible and can be done.

I am not the only one Marisa. You come across as a school ground bully at times. I’ve never been one to stand a bully and they tend not to like that very much. It’s odd, as you can occasionally be helpful/supportive but, more often than not you just can’t stop that superiority shine through and some of the assumptions you make are totally cringeworthy. As I have said directly to you before, sometimes it’s not WHAT you say, but the WAY you say it. You have to wonder why/how a person who can speak 4 languages is ‘misunderstanding’ you.

I think Simon’s last post should serve as a bit of a warning siren to some contributors on this site. Whilst some of you (not all) do try to give a balanced view, others seem hell bent on chasing or scaring new contributors away with nastiness (yes, nastiness), superiority and negativity. This is the second time in a week someone has said to me that they won’t post on this forum any more because of the negativity and tone of responses and the other person has already successfully made the move. You must remember that some people come on here for reassurance, they may be having a wobble making the biggest move of their lives. It might be nice/supportive/human to share some of the good aspects of your life or the positive things you have gained from moving yourself. After all, it can’t all be bad or you wouldn’t have done it/wouldn’t still be there surely. There must be many ‘success’ stories, but I’ll tell you there are not many apparent on this site!! Regarding Brissie schools I have heard mixed reports. Does that mean that every state school is a deadly den of iniquity? No! What I have been impressed by is the range of affordable choice when it comes to schooling, as opposed to the UK where if you can’t afford £20k per year you have no choice really. I went to visit my husband’s uncle and cousins the other day. Uncle is in his 80’s and is unwell, he is on the final stretch of the journey. A stark reminder that we’re here for a good time not a long time, we take our chances and there’s not much that isn’t recoverable if we make a mistake.

Why just STEM teachers? Are they the only ones who are of any use to the world outside the classroom? Lol

To be fair that was actually 14 years ago and the UK has changed beyond all recognition in that time.

Just you keep believing that and living in your wee bubble Marisa. Have a good one, I know I will!

Well, regarding getting the work/bigger jobs it’s all about positioning yourself so that people actually come to you looking for you to do the work so you’re not competing with loads of folk on price….but I’m not going to go into it on PiO, hubby and I have spent 8 years building his trades business here so I do know a wee bit about it. Regarding degrees I do think that it’s less possible for those with working class backgrounds to take on the level of debt that’s now required to do kind of pointless degrees in the Uk. A lot of my friends with teen kids are looking at things like apprenticeships/modern apprenticeships instead.

That’s entirely your choice. Everyone’s situation is different. We are unlikely to have jobs lined up before we arrive and it’s a calculated risk we are willing to take. We have a house to sell, dogs to transport, accommodation to find, jobs to find, an 11 year old to settle at school etc too. We know that for us personally that is going to be better achieved if we are all together. It’s not necessary for (or in our best interest) us to split up. We are also aiming for a school start of Jan 2025 - where are you headed? All the best with the move.

Very diplomatically put. I agree.

This is not to be underestimated, the older I get the more I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years! There is of course a balance to be struck. Regarding university etc I’m not sure that’s really massively relevant. To be honest, I am glad I went to uni but had I my time again now I’m not sure I would do it. Actually, no that’s not right. I would, but I’d make sure my course was directly linked to employment. The days of someone from my background going to one of the top unis in the UK to do a random arts degree for the sake of learning are long gone. With earnings as they are in the UK now I’m not sure there’s much of an argument for university education, unless it’s law, teaching, medicine, finance. @Marisawright not going to berate you for being negative on this occasion but perhaps for being very patronising and making assumptions (nothing new there!). Not sure how I feel about this now. I think the sums need to be done and a decision made by the family. It’s a risk but a calculated one. I’m fairly sure a good painter and decorator can earn more than $80k a year. But it takes time to build. 6 months isn’t long enough, 5 years is actually how long it takes to build a viable customer base and get repeat custom in a trades business. I think the point made by @InnerVoice about the travelling between jobs is a bit of a moot one, most painting jobs tend to be larger (whole houses, several rooms etc) so you tend to be in one location, unlike plumbing or gas (for example) which can be a succession of smaller jobs. I’m not massively keen on the suggestion of splitting the family for one to start work in Aus either. That’s maybe ok in your 20’s but at our age it’s not something I would really consider.

I’m not particularly interested in hearsay when I have my own personal experience to go by and I have my visa now so it doesn’t really matter to me! As I said, ‘qualified’ people can also make mistakes. You do also repeatedly more or less say people shouldn’t use DUC. In fact, by saying don’t use anyone who employs people who aren’t Mara registered, you are by default telling them not to use DUC. Anyway I’m not on a commission to DUC, I just sometimes feel they are unfairly criticised on PiO when others (with whom I have had a less than fantastic experience) are praised highly.

Yip you may be correct. However, there are lots of other advantages to using a UK based agent if you are located in the UK. Time zone being one! DUC are also very very good at the community aspect of making the move - they link you up with others in the same situation. They also have professional connections with other people you might need on the journey - trades bodies, skills assessment bodies, brokers, estate agents, relocation agents etc etc. This is all approached in a very joined-up way which can make such a big move less daunting to the uninitiated. I’m sure that architects technicians do design houses and extensions. In fact, one did the extension of our old house under supervision of an architect who signed it off. It was all approved by building control and is still standing. I’m not a snob about that kind of thing. As long as the job is done and done well who really cares? Sometimes qualified people also make mistakes. It happens. And since you’re not giving any detail about these ‘cases’ it might be best just not to actually defame a reputable and widely respected/recommended company.

Well DUC get consistently good reviews across many platforms and deal with a large number of applicants, yet you persist in repeatedly quoting about 2 or 3 people who apparently had a ‘bad’ experience with them. Any company dealing with a large number of customers will inevitably have some who have ‘bad’ experiences. If a large company has 5000 customers per year and has 50 who have a bad experience, whereas a small independent only has 100 who all have a ‘good’ experience then which is the better company? The one with 4950 happy customers or the one with 100? MARA reg agents employing non MARA staff is akin to architects employing architects technicians. Anyone with ineffective staff won’t last long in business! The main thing is to be aware of who/what you’re dealing with and make an informed decision. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.downundercentre.com

I’ll explore it too. Hoping all will be OK but you never know. As long as it’s not prohibitively expensive.

It was all going well until the music stopped suddenly at ‘cottage in the middle of nowhere’ lolol

I’m not an expert in Aussie mortgages but having looked at this (i’ll be 44 when we move and hubby 52), they will give you a mortgage but will look for an ‘exit’ for when you stop earning. For example are you going to sell/downsize, do you have other assets you could sell to pay mortgage off etc. We have a bit more behind us than you and are also used to higher outgoings than you currently have so it’s not quite as big a jump. However, we are considering buying a queenslander with rumpus area underneath that we could potentially Airbnb (subject to approvals/licences etc) to provide an extra side income to potentially pay extra towards mortgage. You need to think outside the box and maybe be willing to do things that others aren’t in order to make it work? Is something like that an option? We are kind of calculated risk takers and both of the same mindset which helps a lot. If I was you I’d try to knock some doors re: mortgages/super etc before you go - a little bit of financial literacy will go a long way before you move (and when you land). @bluequay is income protection really a thing? Even for self employed people here in the UK it’s kind of deemed not worth the paper it’s printed on! @Simontucks regarding your brother, I do get it to an extent but if the shoe was on the other foot would you support him? It’s the biggest move you’ll ever make and you need to leverage every contact you have to your maximum advantage!! You’ve never all been abroad together? My God I could probably finance a small African state on what we’ve spent on travel in the past 10 years lol or current mortgage could certainly be paid off! But you only live once and we wanted to see/experience things while we were still young enough. Get your girls out there, their lives are just about to take off! Whoop!