Queensland 2015???

[jac2011]

Just looking for others that may be looking to emigrate to Queensland in 2015?

 

Anyone want to share their journey along the way?

 

I will start:

 

There will be me (MH Nurse) & Hubby (University administrator) and our 3 monkeys DD (10), DS1 (8) and DS2 (3).

 

We have a plan to have the visa, AHPRA registration and finances ready to go by Mid 2015, however if I have not received any job offers at this point we are setting a date to fly mid Sept 2015 to Townsville when I have 12 months work experience and will have saved a little more survival money.

 

Is anyone else still 12 months or so away from their journey? It is driving me crazy waiting. I want this so much, my life has been preparing for this opportunity forever! Its all I focus on each day!

[Gbye grey sky]

See timeline below. We are looking at Redlands Bay area, south east Brisbane when we do our recce. Have only one child, who will be 11 in mid 2015 so same age as your oldest.

 

Our route is somewhat different and easier via a partner visa. The wait is self-inflicted to some extent though it fits around school and our work situation in the UK. Also hoping the exchange rate will be better in 2015 so we can get more house for our money but that may be wishful thinking.

[jac2011]

Nice to speak to you!

 

I am a little bit annoyed with the exchange rate at present, I know on the whole its improved a lot since last year and is at a relative high, but a few weeks ago it got above 1.90 and I was hoping it would pass 2.0! I promised the children I would buy them some dollars if that was the case. Hopefully though, like you say between now and next summer it will creep up slowly. It does make such a difference when you are bringing cash over. Even the visa charge varies daily by quite a lot for us as a family of 5.

 

Is your daughter excited? My daughter seems to have given up on her life here. She has friends but all she talks about is the friends she will make in Australia. Your daughter sounds about 6 months younger than mine. If she ever needs someone to talk to PM me and I will pass on my daughters email.

 

I looked at Redlands, it looks beautiful. I would love the flexibility of moving anywhere but I am struggling as I will only have 12 months work experience so we are heading rural to start. Townsville seems to have the lifestyle we have been looking for and the uni up there specialises in marine biology. My daughter has stated she wants to be a marine biologist since she was 5 and she is so stubborn I can see her actually achieving it. We had considered Redlands Bay though, if we had been free to choose where to live. If I get offered a job prior to booking accommodation and flights who knows I could end up anywhere in Queensland.

 

I see you are heading over on your reccie soon! Are you excited?

[Gbye grey sky]

I have just had a look at Townsville and it looks appealing particularly in the winter months.

 

Our daughter will be 11 in January. After having a couple of her birthday parties almost cancelled due to snow I think she is going to find a summer birthday a pleasant change. She makes friends easily so we do not think she will have problems adjusting. At the moment it seems too far away for her and I'm not sure she thinks about it much. That may change after the recce which will make it more real for all of us.

 

I will post details of the recce for those that may be interested. I am a regular lurker on PIO and have been for the past year. Some great people on here and hope my path crosses with a few in the coming years.

[jac2011]

Wow, I must of misunderstood my daughter is December so they are really close, perhaps nearer the time we can introduce them on the children's section on here. Perhaps calm their nerves. My daughter posted a few years ago but lost interest. I think recently her best friend started being difficult with all the girls in class and instead of letting it get to her she calmly said to me 'it doesn't matter I am moving to Australia anyway'. That's when I knew that despite not talking about it I think she takes more in than she lets on.

 

I would absolutely love to do a reccie, but it would just cripple our safety net for the year after so we always said we would leave it. My husband has been as he has family over there and the amount of research I have done over the past few years has hopefully had some benefits. It is finally starting to become real for us, mainly as I am finishing my degree and that is the start of our visa process. We have waited such a long time and I have changed careers completely.

 

Townsville does look lovely, the more research I do the more I know it will suit us. Its the dream life we pictured in our minds. There is the element of isolation that may surprise us and be difficult at first, however my husband and I have always agreed we need to chill out more and enjoy what we have on our doorstep rather than drive to the other side of the UK or off to Europe just on a whim! Hopefully, Townsville will teach us to chill out more!

[IroncladFitness]

Hey, my wife will be moving in early 2015, about feb time, I will be going towards the end of this year. We are moving to Brisbane.

 

Im in from there originally and can't wait to get home! We got the forms all filled in for her visa application this weekend and are going to the Australia embassy in London next Friday to ask some final questions before submitting it all.

[Londongal76]

Fingers crossed if I get my skills assessment, EOI and visa, i'll be joining you all. Early days yet but working hard.

[jac2011]

Nice to hear from you both. Its lovely to meet people that understand the frustration of the move being so far away but also so close too...

 

I have been waiting since 2008 to be in a position to go, so I am really excited at how close we are but also frustrated that its still a long way off with so much to do in between.

 

We have been looking at booking some accommodation for 4 weeks on airbnb so that 1. we secure somewhere suitable within budget (There isn't too much choice in the areas we are looking) and 2. We finally put plans in motion and it feels psychologically like we are booking things!

 

Good look to you all and stay in touch! x

[mazzagirl]

Hey all

 

We aim to join then too, my hubby has sent off for acs accreditation and has done ielts but is redoing it on the 10th may so we can get full 20 points for English. We are waiting for July to apply as we are hoping my husbands job moves from CSOL list to SOL list, ACS have recommended this happen so fingers crossed. All being well if that happens we will sell our house this summer but don't want to move until next summer as we want to squeeze in a few holidays abroad etc first amongst other things. So I guess if all went to plan we would move to Brisbane in July/Aug 15. Currently preparing our house for sale and starting to clear stuff out

[mazzagirl]

Hey all

 

We aim to join then too, my hubby has sent off for acs accreditation and has done ielts but is redoing it on the 10th may so we can get full 20 points for English. We are waiting for July to apply as we are hoping my husbands job moves from CSOL list to SOL list, ACS have recommended this happen so fingers crossed. All being well if that happens we will sell our house this summer but don't want to move until next summer as we want to squeeze in a few holidays abroad etc first amongst other things. So I guess if all went to plan we would move to Brisbane in July/Aug 15. Currently preparing our house for sale and starting to clear stuff out

Oh and we have three children aged 7, soon to be 5 and just turned 3, I'm a housewife

[mazzagirl]

hey all, just wondering where everyone is at on their journeys. ACS wrote to my husband to say that even though he is a security specialist for a bank that they recommend he apply for a different code/title, asked them why and explained he couldn't be any more in i.t security and they just said apply for the other code or you will be unsuccessful - very helpful! So we are going to have to go with that and hope it works out though it seems a little bizarre and hope that all his work experience is counted. He is also sitting his ielts on saturday again as he was 0.5 off getting an 8 in reading.

We are waiting for July to see his if his occupation currently on the CSOL list will be added to the SOL list, ACS have recommended it and for us everything is hanging on the balance of this. If it goes on we aim to do EOI as early as possible in July.

Has anyone got any areas in mind for when they get there - we are looking at areas around inderpoolily, north lakes and Manly west. Seem to be some good value houses in inderpoolily and really good schools but obv risk is it was hard hit by the floods.

H

[IroncladFitness]

hey all, just wondering where everyone is at on their journeys. ACS wrote to my husband to say that even though he is a security specialist for a bank that they recommend he apply for a different code/title, asked them why and explained he couldn't be any more in i.t security and they just said apply for the other code or you will be unsuccessful - very helpful! So we are going to have to go with that and hope it works out though it seems a little bizarre and hope that all his work experience is counted. He is also sitting his ielts on saturday again as he was 0.5 off getting an 8 in reading.

We are waiting for July to see his if his occupation currently on the CSOL list will be added to the SOL list, ACS have recommended it and for us everything is hanging on the balance of this. If it goes on we aim to do EOI as early as possible in July.

Has anyone got any areas in mind for when they get there - we are looking at areas around inderpoolily, north lakes and Manly west. Seem to be some good value houses in inderpoolily and really good schools but obv risk is it was hard hit by the floods.

H

 

hey sorry I can't help with IT stuff but I will ask my dad about what job title because he is pretty hooked up in the IT world.

 

My family used to live in indooroopilly and it's very hilly there so if you do want to live there try find a house that's high up the hill if that makes sense...it will when you see the place. It is close to the city tho wich is good for commuting. I am looking at property on the north side tho because that's where my family now live, caboolture has a new housing estate, you can get information on the internet about how far the flood went also, my brothers house was evacuated but my sisters house in kallangur only one suburb away was fine

[MWJ]

Just a quick post to say hello, we are moving in Aug 15, I join the ADF and wife, 5yr old son (at that time) and 2 yr old twins will likely be in NW BRisbane near Enoggera barracks. Still flapping about finance, whether to take the car and if we can live on the wage but we r coming!!!

[IroncladFitness]

Just a quick post to say hello, we are moving in Aug 15, I join the ADF and wife, 5yr old son (at that time) and 2 yr old twins will likely be in NW BRisbane near Enoggera barracks. Still flapping about finance, whether to take the car and if we can live on the wage but we r coming!!!

Did you transfer from the British forces? What trade are you?

[Jules RT]

Hi all,

 

We are hoping to move to Queensland next year :smile: We visited family at Christmas and loved it, we stayed in the Sunshine Coast. I'm a Medical Radiation Therapist & sent off for my skills to be assessed 6 weeks ago & l sat the academic IELTS 10 days ago, l get my results on Friday argh!!!! OMG that was tough, I recommend you do all the practise test papers.

 

My husband is a Kiwi so if all else fails we will go over on his passport, but that would mean we would be temporary residents which I'm not keen on as l have 2 boys, age 14 & 17 who I'd rather not have to pay for in the education system. My 17 year is still undecided if he will come, it seems to depend if he has a girlfriend at the time!

 

I agree the process takes sooo long!!!! We just want to be there, I lost both my parents 18 months ago, so apart from friends, my remaining family is in OZ & my husbands family is in NZ. And unfortunately I'm 2 years off my 45th birthday so time is running short. So fingers crossed.

 

Jules x

[jac2011]

Been a while since I caught up with this thread, I am trying to avoid PIO as my dissertation is due in a fortnight!

 

Glad to hear everyone is still on their paths but such a shame to hear of peoples difficulties.

 

JulesRT I am so scared about the Academic IELTS, I was going to do it back in February but kept putting it off. I think I will be doing it now in August but I cant book as I am ordering a new passport in my married name to save the palaver of everything having different surnames on it.

 

Well, like I said dissertation is due in within the fortnight for me, that would be my final academic piece of work for my degree. I have a 3 month placement in a low-secure forensic unit this summer and then I qualify (hopefully) in Aug/Sept. I will be applying for AHPRA as soon as possible as I believe it is taking at least 6 months currently (none have been processed since Sept/Oct) and then In December my skills assessment will be submitted. We are still hoping to have everything back by June for a move between the 1st and 14th September as eldest and youngest children should be starting new schools.

 

I have a spreadsheet with how much we need to save for the move and I believe we are currently at 19%. This will be to pay for visas and all the other documentation, posting, signing, medicals, small movecube, police checks, flights, accommodation and spends for 2 months, utilities, initial basic furniture etc... I think for our family of 5 we are looking at just over £15k SHOCKING!

 

Hubby and I were sunbathing in the garden on Friday evening thinking about how we could buy a reasonable house here for £150k and the £15k is a 10% deposit. It is scary to think we are going to spend all that purely on the move.

[Guest]

Been a while since I caught up with this thread, I am trying to avoid PIO as my dissertation is due in a fortnight!

 

Glad to hear everyone is still on their paths but such a shame to hear of peoples difficulties.

 

JulesRT I am so scared about the Academic IELTS, I was going to do it back in February but kept putting it off. I think I will be doing it now in August but I cant book as I am ordering a new passport in my married name to save the palaver of everything having different surnames on it.

 

Well, like I said dissertation is due in within the fortnight for me, that would be my final academic piece of work for my degree. I have a 3 month placement in a low-secure forensic unit this summer and then I qualify (hopefully) in Aug/Sept. I will be applying for AHPRA as soon as possible as I believe it is taking at least 6 months currently (none have been processed since Sept/Oct) and then In December my skills assessment will be submitted. We are still hoping to have everything back by June for a move between the 1st and 14th September as eldest and youngest children should be starting new schools.

 

I have a spreadsheet with how much we need to save for the move and I believe we are currently at 19%. This will be to pay for visas and all the other documentation, posting, signing, medicals, small movecube, police checks, flights, accommodation and spends for 2 months, utilities, initial basic furniture etc... I think for our family of 5 we are looking at just over £15k SHOCKING!

 

Hubby and I were sunbathing in the garden on Friday evening thinking about how we could buy a reasonable house here for £150k and the £15k is a 10% deposit. It is scary to think we are going to spend all that purely on the move.

 

Just cooking a bbq in the garden in my shorts and we are basically in winter Can do this all year round here!

[MWJ]

Yep transfer complete to ADF- army, just visa to do (just ha ha)