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Hi my name is Mike and my wife is called Heather and i`ve a daughter Holly-Jane and yes yet another Pom wanting to move to Auz. I`ve been thinking about it for sometime now and am thinking of starting the process of emigrating. Not really sure as to where we`ll be moving to, but thats the plus side of my job, they relocate me to where i`m needed. But i want to be able to buy my own property, send my daughter to school, have children out there, live a nice lifestyle with my wife. But what i`m unsure of is, is the Medical and dental treatment good? How about the education i hear the state schools out there are simialar to our private schools? Is living out there cheap, ie buying food, paying electri/gas/water bills, clothes, utilities etc..And finally how often do you come across deadly bugs in your home??My wife has a terrible fear of spiders, and worried our little girl would play with them. Thanks for reading my essay, but some assurance would be great.

Does anyone else get fed up with councilors(splg,cba,lol) claiming for a meat and potato pastie etc,the "lords" signing on and then going to the the nearest gentlemens club to spend their £300,mp's fiddling expenses etc,its like the worse things are getting for joe public the more i read about people in power fiddling or legaly getting dosh for nothing like the lords.

Got the train from Central to St Peters then walked in a meandering route back to Enmore & Newtown, two schooners of Tiger in The Bank, then decided to get a cab to Woolahra for two more schooners and a meal. Spending money which I actually had for a change. Walked back home to Surry Hills all the way down Oxford St to Crown St, mixed in with mobs of fans who'd been to see ?Foo Fighters? at the SFS. I did not really mean to go out but once I got the 'taste'........ There's plenty to see and do in all those inner city 'burbs too. Lost count of all the pubs and restaurants, plus book and music shops which were still open too.

Hi Everyone, I have been looking into things and feel that we are going round and round in circles so thought perhaps some advice/experiences and a discussion may help me and hopefully some others in a similar position in making decisions. I realise that there are many others on here that have been waiting aggeeesss for their visa's and we have only started the ball rolling a few months ago. I have so much symathy for all you guys and really hope that you all get your visa's asap. :hug: However, I feel the decisions we make now will directly impact on how long we wait in the future. I have every expectation and am happy to accept that whatever happens the whole Oz process is likely to take about 18months however, if it takes much longer I think that's when things get difficult with regards to getting on with your life and making decisions etc. eg we haven't had children yet We sent off our skills assessment last week and are now trying to decide what to do next. We can apply for state sponsorship or we can just apply for the 175 visa. Now I know that the 175 is supposed to take a fair bit longer, however,we are concerned that as we won't be able to apply for state sponsorship until probably January, if we don't get it back before 1st July 2011 then we will have to resort to applying for the 175 anyway as we do not have enough points after this date (which means we've then lost another 6 months). Also if we go for ss, what happens if the ss places run out - are those cases on the back burner until 2012 or scrapped, could it mean then the 175's overtake the newer applications? The option of the 175 would mean that we could lodge it as soon as the skills assessment comes back (hopefully positive!) and possibly get a 6 month head start on applying for the 176 which could close the gap somewhat. My main concerns with the 175 are as we do not have enouh points after July will they still process it after that as we did have enough points before? Also as the whole process takes longer is there more chance that something could go wrong ie they make more changes? So in summary, weighing up timescales and the most likely chance of getting a visa - which would be the best option for someone in our position? Both seem to have pro's and con's and neither seem that secure! Thank you so much for listening and I always really appreciate and value the time taken to give me advice. :notworthy: Cara xx :wubclub: :chatterbox:

Hi all, Is anyone going to the big day out for dogs on Sunday? They are having the Bernese christmas party too so if anyone is going I'll be the one with the only bold Bernese, come and say hi! I was going to bring the other reprobate too but my OH is away and I probably wouldn't manage both so just the Berner

http://www.garp.org/risk-news-and-resources/risk-headlines/story.aspx?newsid=38827 Big banks are facing scrutiny for manipulating the Libor rates...

Weighing 131kg and 6.5 metres long, I wouldn't like to wrestle with this one: She is held at the Australian Reptile Park and is Australias largest snake:shocked:

I know this may seem like a stupid question but - how big is Perth??? Obviously I have googled population, area, distances and times etc but it is still difficult to get a real feel for the size of the place, so to help us out would people mind posting traveling times from Perth-suburb or suburb-suburb??? (could you please state whether or not the times are in rush hour) Maybe; Joondalup to Perth Cottesloe to Kalamunda Rockingham to Perth Joondalup to Rockingham Many Thanks!!!

Noel Gallagher has announced he will play the Big Day Out Festival next year!!! Being a big Oasis fan I am super excited he is coming to Melbourne again and thought I would share it on here incase anyone else is interested. Tickets are still available!:biggrin: link: http://bigdayout.com/

Hey guys, Over the last few days ever since i booked my flights, the nerves have been getting bigger, doubts are running through my mind all over the place. I've chatted to my mom and she has been really comforting and positive which has helped. But i just cant seem to get the negatives out my head, like...My 457 visa wont be approved when we apply (going over on a WHV), the job wont work out etc... Just seems over the last few days the excitement has been lost and the negatives have moved in which is crap! :sad:

We are moving to a smaller place and have no room for our cool "York" 'Barrel Chair' It is a big round chair, It is REALLY comfortable and 2 people can sit in it comfortably. It is under 12 months old, in excellent condition and was purchased from Harvey Norman for $999.00 We paid to have it Fabric Protected also, that way any spills/marks will be easier to clean. We are asking $650 for it and will be sad to see it go - it really is 'different' and very comfortable We are hiring a moving truck on the weekend of 11-12 Sept and if you are fairly local or would like to give me a little extra I'll deliver it to you. Pick up would be from Wooloowin, Brisbane - Please e-mail me any questions PS here is the link to it on Harvey Norman:- http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/york-barrel-chair.html

Came across this from another site http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/10886070/collier-sticks-to-irish-jobs-plan/ Wonder how someone could find more info on this?

Hi everyone, Is this normal? Me my husband ad 3 boys have finally got our visas after 3 years of waiting!! We are moving out to Brisbane on the 12th feb 2012, so i should be really happy,excited shouldn't i? Why am i so scared,nervous,not sure if its right omg help!! The thought of not meeting new friends scares the life out of me,as my friends here are my rocks. [ apart from my husband, just got a dig in ribs lol] Is anyone else in the same boat? I suffer with anxiety attacks too which i have medication for so self esteem is already low my husband will be working and the thought of been isolated on my own is not worth thinking about. if anyone would like to meet up out there please reply to this post, friendly ears would be appreciated. I love socialising and a night on the tiles does anyone the world of good lol. so any offers of meet ups or brisbane benders please invite. thanks for listening guys Nicki xxx:unsure:

Hi, we have finally decided to take the plunge and apply for a skilled migrants visa in January! After lots of research we have settled on 'Cleveland' (near Brisbane). We are a family of four, our kids are Kurt 7yrs & Zoe 15. We've decided to wait untill Zoe finished her GCSEs although I dont think these count towards the certificate of education anyway!! Hubby is a civil engineer and will hopefully find a job before tooo long. We're hoping the application process wont take to long and is not to stressfull. Im sure I'll be on here loads looking for support and advise. Look forward to chatting to you all. Dee x

Sometimes when you buy a pair of shoes, one of them can feel snug while the other one does not quite fit. Tom Boddingham certainly knows the feeling. When the 27-year-old ordered a special monster-design slipper to fit his oversized left foot, he was sent this size 1,450 one – because manufacturers failed to spot a decimal point. He had requested a 14.5, as well as a smaller size 13 for his right foot. The pair cost £15.50. However, manufacturers in China misread the measurement and accidentally made the whopping seven foot-long slipper, which was shipped to him along with the correct smaller size. Now 6ft 7in Mr Boddingham, who wears custom-made shoes because of the different sizes of his feet, will sell it on eBay. Mistake: Tom ordered his custom-made slipper from the Monster Slippers website Mistake: Tom ordered his custom-made slipper from the Monster Slippers website ‘It was sent directly from Hong Kong and measures 210 x 130 x 65cm – the same length as a grizzly bear or a family car,’ said Mr Boddingham, from Ilford, Essex. ‘I must be the owner of the biggest slipper in the world. ‘I’m going to sell it online, and if I can make a few quid out of it then all the better.’ Online slipper company Monster Slippers – which is based in Dunmow, Essex, and has the motto ‘for the animal in you’ – apologised to Mr Boddingham and has not charged him any extra. A spokesman explained the mistake occurred because of a ‘translation error’. ‘We are making him a replacement slipper of the right dimensions,’ he added. Apparently workers in the slipper factory assumed his giant order was for a shop window display.

Been reading lots of different post on different forums and noticed that the Gold Coast is a very popular place for us Poms to settle. Can anyone tell me how big the Gold Coast is? Stacey xx (heading to the Gold Coast)

Hi all, Well as of Tuesday this week my other half Daniel and I had our 176 visa granted!:jiggy: We are heading to WA! We plan to live in easy access to Perth. We are so very happy. I have always had a dream to move to Oz, ever since I can remember. I don't really know why but the country had some sort of pull over me....perhaps it was from watching Neighbours or Home & Away!!:laugh: I had planned to do a working holiday visa, but life and ususally boyfriends got in the way!! Anyway Dan and I got together the end of 2007, I told him from there that I plan to go to oz with or without him!:biglaugh: He wasn't sure, he never really thought about it. We took a holiday to oz down the East side December 2009, this was a chance for us both to see it and more to see if Dan would be willing to make the move. Well it took less then 24 hours for him to say, 'yes, I would move here'. :laugh: Our first stay was in Port Douglas in North Qld. We fell in love with oz and their way of life. I stood on the beach one day and breathed in the air, I knew the love affair and fantasy I have had with oz over my life time was right for me, I had to get there, this was where I felt I belonged. We started looking into the visa process when we got back in January 2010. Daniel is a welder/fabricator so his trade is in demand. I started doing some research first, mainly on this site, I then contacted Go Matilda as they were highly recommended on here. I am glad we did as there are some bad agents out there, but these aren't one of them. First we waited for the July 2010 changes to ensure first class welder was still on the list, GM thought we would be and they were right. We then proceeded with the process. We didn't really rush it and took our time with the forms. Daniel had to fill in all his work experience from every job, everything he had done and the tools he had used. He had to then undertake a skills assessment. It was going to be with TRA, but the process changed (after we filled in their forms!!) and we had to go through vetassess. Daniel had to go down to London to have a technical interview once he passed the paper stage with vetassess. He met with a guy from Melbourne who was very nice, and told Dan that employers in Oz will be biting his hand off to give him work with his skills and knowledge base:cute: Vetassess were a pain thought, they seem to take forever to process stage one the paper based bit. It then took forever to get a date for the technical interview. We were getting worried as we knew of new changes again for July 2011, I was ringng vetassess in Melbourne what felt like every night to try and get them to hurry up. GM also emailed them. We were told by them in March that the next round wasn't till end of May or June for Dan's trade as welder was new to them they weren't ready for the practical tests. Douglas from GM's Scotland office said he would contact Alan Collett the MD of GM to see if anything could be pushed along. I am not sure if Alan did anything, or if it was our persistance in ringing vetassess up, but the next minute vetassess were saying Dan could undertake a technical interview at the next round of practicals which were 8 days away!! Phewwwww! Anyway time went by and we passed for state sponsorship to WA quite quickly, and our visa was lodged by GM on 15th June, just in time before any changes!! My name was still not on the visa as Daniel and I didn't officially move in together until September 2010, so we waited to take meds until Beginning of September so my name could be added straight after. 3 Weeks later and here we are...approved!! We haven't confirmed moving date yet, we plan to go from May onwards next year, there's no rush we want everything to be sorted here and plan ahead for when we arrive. I am very excited for the adventures that lay ahead. I would like to thank our agent Go Matilda for all their help and support. They must have thought I was insane with my contant emails but they always got back to me promptly and never made me feel crazy. My main contact with them was Marina from their Southampton office, Maree from their Scotland office & Douglas for the skills assessment part. Alan they are a credit to you all and I would also like to thank you for running such a great company where you are all experts in what you do. Thank you Alan and team at GM! :notworthy: I would also like to thank....well you guys!!!!! Poms in oz is an amazing website for those of us wanting the same thing. We offer support, help and just general gossip, it's a great place for those who are planning the move & the expats already there. I will not be disappearing and dumping you all, I will use my experience and knowledge from the process to help, guide and just chat with others. :hug: I would also like to thank member Kevin JC!! :wink::wink: (yes mate I have got you in here...hope you got a speech ready!) We have chatted on here for what seems like forever, giving one another support and advice...and just general chatting. Kevin too had his visa granted this week, :jiggy:so we can't believe we have both finished at the goal line the same time when we were at such different stages when we first started chatting. I beat u in the end mate by a couple of days :biggrin: but that's down to you and claire getting jiggy and having a beautiful baby boy to add to your gorgeous family. Well done Kev! Well that's my story so far........so it will be the actual move next which I will add to this thread sometime next year. So what was Lucy's dream....is becoming Lucy's reality. Take care all & remember,...never ever give up, good things do happen to good people. Lucy:wubclub:

To cut a long story short ,applying for a 457 in my husbands name,he has secured a job all visa app medicals etc done ,now trouble is with me ,I was very silly a few years back and received a six month prison sentence .I had four charges and the sentence was 6 months combined.I only served 6 weeks of sentence.Anyway have been honest and have sent of for acpo which received other day,on it it says date of crime ,what crime was and sentence,all very well however it then goes to break down each individual charge and slap another 6 months next to each of them. No where does it say that it was 6 month for all charges so looks like I now have a two year sentence which I don't ,I just got 6 months.I'm confused and in a state about it. is this how its set out and will diac know this I'd will they read it as 6 months for each,any help apprieciated as I'm tearing my hair out thanks

Guys my sister had sent the docs to DIAC for VETASSESS from Pakistan...There is a rule for Pakistani's that their university has to send the latest quaification docs with verifiction and sea to DIAC..i have just found out tht the docs that they had sent are incomplete...The degree and the transcript both were 2 sided documents...What my university did id that they photocopied one side of the degree as well as the transcript and didnot copy the other side...(Although the main paged were the front ones only) Because the other pages were just the grading formula and abreviations etc....So i gues they are of no use to DIAC as they already have the grading formulas and al that...But still from the candidate side the documents are incomplete...Its such a diasaster for my sister..... Please guide me what should she doo??? Will this affect her application???? Any negative affectsss????????????????????????????

Hi Everyone, We are new in Oz and moved 2 weeks ago from the city to Dee Why. We are really excited to be close to the beach and enjoy beachside living :-) I have been checking out this website for months but was too shy to join...but have now!! So if anyone else is new to Dee Why and wants to get together let us know. We have moved from country to country the last year so we excited to settle and are looking to met new people. Though we find it hard too out here...So if anyone else is in the same boat let us know. We are in our early 30's. Have a great day!! Alex

For those of you who need the odd thing for a house. This Saturday 24/09/2011 there’s going to be a sale at the big brown warehouse in hawthorn, 2 Lynch St Hawthorn Massive warehouse sale. Everything at or below cost Towels, sheets, glassware, crockery, cooking items, cutlery Brands include Sheridan Le Creuset Mud Royal Doulton Bodum Villeroy and Boch Chilewich Tefal Kate Spade And many many more! Thousands of Items all have to go, Cash or Credit Card but no eftpos.

Hey all. I was in K-Mart earlier today (day off, yippee!) and purchased a new outfit given the warm weather we are expecting this weekend. A pretty summer top and a pair of shorts. The grand total of these purchases? A mere $25. This seems extremely cheap to me, and they weren't the least expensive items on sale. I suspect that my buying these threads are helping to feed an industry of exploitation, and that I am therefore supporting the horrific conditions in the sweat shops who [probably] made these items. What is too cheap? In this day and age, thrift is important to the majority of us, but when does buying cheaply made goods become immoral? Have I done the wrong thing by purchasing goods from this store? Or am I just being economic? I'd be interested to hear others views? Cheers Kat

Hiya I have been reading a thread about repaying UK debts before leaving for Australia. I tried to get through every page of the thread but got bogged down in all of the comments about the banking collapse ... moral responsibilty to pay off debts etc! :confused: What I would like to know is this: If I enter into a DMP with my CC and Loan companies in order to try and repay my debts quickly (and stop the interest building), will this affect my visa application? I have no intention of running away from my debts but also do not want to be stuck in the UK for many years to come whilst I am paying them off without entering a DMP. Any advice would be very much appreciated xx

My daughter is in Year 6 and will be entering Year 7 next September. There is an awful lot of hype already about joining Year 7 and being in Senior School. I'm just wondering what effect it will have on her to be doing this about a month after arriving in a new country. It's different for my youngest as he's in Year 4 so has some primary years left. I've just found out that there aren't any places left in the school we wanted them to go to when we arrive which has gutted me tbh. The school would have allowed them to remain together until Year 12 but it looks as though they'll have to go to different schools:sad: Any experiences would be much appreciated.

Hi guys...:jiggy:, i need to find a shipping company that provide the "LARGE" shipping boxes/ tea crates, i have a few items that i want to take with me to australia and i remember ages ago when my mum and i moved from australia to the uk (20 odd years ago)..we had big wooden tea boxes...but the companys i have contacted so far only provide boxes/tea crates that seem no larger than 2 foot long by the same deep and 1 foot high( too small)...i need ones that are around 3-4 foot long and 2-3 foot deep and 2-3 foot high.....(or simler size as possible)...does anyone know of a company that provides larger boxes...or something that could help me...its so frustrating .!!!!. x thanks guys.:chatterbox::arghh::eek: