judith501 Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Hi - we will bemoving to CAnberra from Worcestershire in UK end of NOvember with our 3 kids aged 4,2,2. Hoping to start chatting to likeminded families who are already there or will be by the end of year.Please state which district you live in/will be aiming to live in and age of kids and perhaps we can all meet up. thank you:smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest destinationoz Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Hiya!! No idea if we'll defo be there by end of year (see my recent thread!!) But if we are: We're a couple with 1 x 8 yr old! Like to live in Inner North or Belconnen areas! Hopefully see others later this year ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 We're in Giralang (Belconnen District) with b/g twins currently aged 19 months :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judith501 Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 We're in Giralang (Belconnen District) with b/g twins currently aged 19 months :biggrin: Not far from Higgins then, and thanks for twins club links. When did you get to Canberra, where in UK are you from and do you have any regrets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I've been in Canberra since March 2010. I lived in NZ from 2004 until then. I originally hail from North Essex. It's hard to say about regrets as my circumstances are vastly different in that we didn't move out from the UK as a family. I went out to NZ originally on a WHV and subsequently met my husband several years after. We're in Canberra mainly because it's his hometown and we came back for family support when we had the twins as neither of us had family in NZ and the recession was making it impossible for him to get a job. We're in a situation now in that wherever we live, we're going to have family on the other side of the world, but I do keep up with a lot of people (in both NZ and the UK) on facebook and skype so it doesn't seem so far away. I don't think it's particularly better or worse here, just different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ramblemum Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Hi, we will be moving to Canberra by November will be in Sydney from August. We have 3 sons aged 4, 3 and 16 months. Looking forward to it but like you trying to find other families in the same situation. xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judith501 Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 Hi, we will be moving to Canberra by November will be in Sydney from August. We have 3 sons aged 4, 3 and 16 months. Looking forward to it but like you trying to find other families in the same situation. xx hi lucky you to sepnd some time in sydney first. we will be living in belconnen in a suburb called higgins. We shall be arriving 26th November. we must meet up and hope your boys will enjoy playinh with our son who will have just turned 5 and our twin girls who will be 2.5. Where in the UK are you from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ramblemum Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We are currently in Edinburgh been here 5 years now but originally from Brighton and lived in London for 5 years before moving up here. I have now idea where we are going to be living- we are very lucky that the company is getting us a place in both Sydney and then in Canberra until we find somewhere and settle. When we first get to Canberra we will be staying within walking distance of the business district. The boys are looking forward to it- it would be great to meet up! x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We are currently in Edinburgh been here 5 years now but originally from Brighton and lived in London for 5 years before moving up here. I have now idea where we are going to be living- we are very lucky that the company is getting us a place in both Sydney and then in Canberra until we find somewhere and settle. When we first get to Canberra we will be staying within walking distance of the business district. The boys are looking forward to it- it would be great to meet up! x That sounds like Inner North to me. Lucky your company is finding you somewhere to start with, that'll make it heaps easier for you. :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claireg Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Hi Judith We arrive in October. No idea where we will end up living yet. We are a family of four, 2 girls aged 4.5 months and 2 at the moment. We would be happy to meet up when you arrive too. Thanks Claire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryceandClaire Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We are moving over in October with our 2 boys aged 6 & 5. Just trying to sorting out furnished places to rent short term until we find a rental and our belonging arrive anyone got any ideas? Due to arrive October 11th into Melbourne then lazy drive over to Canberra. Meeting Settlement Service on 14th. Getting exciting now. Just waiting to exchange contracts fro house sale before finalising everthing, Hopefully all sorted by end of July. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judith501 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 hi all i am going to add you all as friends/contacts and then when i arrive in canberra i will source a venue and date for us all to meet up so we can chat and exchange stories and contact numbers. from previous travel experience i know how important it is to find friends and a social life , especially for the children, in order to feel settled and a member of the community in our new homes/lives. the quicker it can be done the less anxieties show about leaving our friends etc behind in UK. we have 21 weeks before our flight and although we are excited i also have days where i feel sick about the enormity of what we are doing. please include where u r from in uk as if you are near to kidderminster i would love to meet b4 we jet off to Oz thank you all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ClaireBrown Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi Judith, We have been in Canberra since October. My husband, myself and our 2 kids; little girl aged 7.5yrs and little boy just over 2. We live in Tuggeranong. Would like to meet up when you're here if you are interested. Good luck with it all! Claire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judith501 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi Judith, We have been in Canberra since October. My husband, myself and our 2 kids; little girl aged 7.5yrs and little boy just over 2. We live in Tuggeranong. Would like to meet up when you're here if you are interested. Good luck with it all! Claire have you settled, have you found work yet, where in uk are you from. is it what you expected? have you seen any spiders/snakes yet oohhh so many questions. why tuggeranong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ClaireBrown Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 have you settled, have you found work yet, where in uk are you from. is it what you expected? have you seen any spiders/snakes yet oohhh so many questions. why tuggeranong We have settled quite well, my husband has made some friends through work and I have made a few. With our visa (457) I am unable to obtain security clearance and living in Canberra that makes it really hard to find work if you only want to work part time. I have recently been contacted about a potential job but finding daycare is a nightmare. My son goes on a Thursday at the moment and although they actually have space (quite alot for 4 of the days), one begs to question why they have space and none of the others do!!!?? Not sure what I am going to do:arghh: We arrived with no expectations really, we'd never been to Australia before and it all happened so fast from the moment my husband met a guy in Rome on a conference to the moment he arrived here was 3 months. We had our house to sell (which thankfully sold twice within 2 weeks - 1st fell through) and organise so much! So we didn't have much time to think about anything really! Me and the kids arrived here a month after my husband. We stopped off in South Africa for a month to visit family along the way. By doing that, he was able to look for a house/ school etc without the worry of having us all live in a tiny holiday apartment AND by the time we arrived, it was only another 2 weeks before we got our container delivered....that was a big help. At first I was apprehensive about him choosing a house for us to rent but then realised that with frequent communication, he'd get the right one - which he did! We used http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential?gclid=COTh5pqpyKkCFYIkpAodtmtMOQ and it was great cos if he added any house to his watch list, we could both comment on them on their website and that helped him know my feelings on the house. I had one stipulation - NEW and not OLD! I don't like spiders and was worried with an older house, there may be bigger, more established spiders and with newer houses it would just be easier to manage. We arrived right in the middle of silly spider season. Apparently more spiders than normal. A week after moving in to our NEWish house, I was hanging up washing outside and on the concrete a metre away from my foot was a redback walking!!! And here was me thinking they only stayed in corners... Had another experience one night, inside the house, hanging from the downlight another redback - about 20cm from my face. We had the light off and thankfully I noticed this thing hanging or I'd have stepped straight in to it. Had one more experience with one outside our front door on the wall (in the middle)... All of these experiences were very strange. Everyone kept saying they never even see them and here was me with 3 different experiences. Saying that - I am no longer petrified of spiders. I have realised they are not out to get me and to be honest, you always see them and then I just squish them or spray them. We haven't even had our house sprayed professionally, we do it ourselves. So although I have mentioned my weird experiences, there really isn't need to be scared of them cos they really are few and far between and most people never see them and I have only met 1 person who had a bite from one and he survived just fine! Had one encounter with an Eastern Brown snake on a bush walk we did, it was sunning itself on the path. But again, true to their nature, it heard us coming and slithered away quite quickly. We have been on many more walks since then. Why Tuggeranong - well, it is about 20 mins away (by car) from most of the stuff we need (even the airport), it is on the outskirts of Canberra and therefore close to all the bush :biggrin:. We have bought a 4 x 4 and have started enjoying going out for picnics at the tops of mountains or just going for a drive, kids really enjoy the bumpy rides too! We're only 20 mins away from Tidbinbilla, and have really discovered so many great drives/ places this end. We're right by Lake Tuggeranong so often go cycling around it and infact at the bottom of our road there is a smaller one too. My husband says, how often can you go for a 5km run, and run around/ past 2 different lakes!! It is really beautiful this end of Canberra, a great mix of older houses and also new ones. There are fantastic parks for children and Ovals for fields. Great bike paths, schools and all the major shops are all actually within walking distance to us (Office Works, Pet Barn, Hyperdome - the mall, Post Office etc). We did have our daughter in a government school, it was ok, but as soon as we knew we were moving and as soon as we had idea of the location, we put her name on the waiting list at a private school...thankfully she got in at the start of this year. The only thing which took a while for her to accept was in the UK she was supposed to be starting year 3 when we left. When she arrived here, they stuck her back in year 1 for a couple of months til the end of the year and now she is in year 2. She is doing much of what she did in year 2 in the UK now, but with the Australian history etc so it is fine. She is an August baby, so was one of the youngest for her year in the UK anyway... Anyway, I hope that you find this helpful - sorry about the rambling on......:chatterbox: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoeCC Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Hi - we are also looking to emigrate and having done some research I have opted for Canberra as the place I would most like to go, we also have young kids (5 and 1). I like the small-city aspect and the climate being more seasonal so you dont miss out on the changing weather so much. I know the more beach-oriented cities are probably more popular - what made you choose Canberra? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 We're in Canberra solely because it's my husbands hometown and his family are here. We wanted family support while the kids were young. Otherwise we'd probably have gone to Melbourne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest destinationoz Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hi Zoe - we chose Canberra for several reasons (although not there for another 2 mnths but have been for a validation trip) - it's a city with the benefits of being a city but having tonnes of green open space, clean fresh air with blue bright skies! It's renowned to being family friendly with lots of activities for kids and families to do. The job Market is good for us too. The beach thing doesnt bother me at all - although I do like good outdoor pools in summer - but our nearest beach here is Skegness (!**!) which isnt as appealing as driving to the coast / beach resorts from Canberra which takes about 1.5-2hrs - doable for a day out and having the mountains and snow 2 hours the other direction ... seems like a great place to start life in Aus .... Good luck and maybe see you there! Cal C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judith501 Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Hi ZoeCC I look forward to meeting you when we get toCanberra also-we willbe living in Higgins in Belconnen. Where in UK are you from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoeCC Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Hi - we're from Reading. We havent started the visa process yet so it would be a long while away, but I wanted to get some opinions on Canberra - I've done a lot of research myself and think it looks lovely, good housing, good education for the kids, a nice small-city vibe, but there are a lot of not so positive comments as well (mostly around feeling Canberra is "boring" - although as we're not looking for nightlife but a place to bring up kids I'm not worried about that!) so I'm trying to get a good balanced view. How did you choose Belconnen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Family Anderson Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Hello Ladies I am Gina 39 years old and I have a 2 1/2 little girl Ellie & would love to dearly meet up with some of you when you arrive here in Canberra, we have been here now almost a year and would be more than happy to help in any way I can, loan of toys, cot bed or highchairs or even play dates for your children whilst you hunt for houses and alike. I know how difficult it can be hunting round for houses, cars etc whilst towing the children behind you, plus I would dearly love to make some friends here, God I sound lonely. We live in Gunghalin, which is ok and close it everything that you would need. Child care is difficult with places very limited, you may not get a place close to where you live. I am happy to help in anyway we can. Drop me a line. Good luck to you all xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Hi Gina, always happy to meet new people. We're here now and just down the road from you so I'll send you a PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinemac Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Have been a member of this forum for a while but never posted anything until now. After 20 months and lots of paperwork we finally got our visas granted last week. :biggrin: All we need to do now is sell our house and we can get going! We live in Angus in Scotland and are going on a State Sponsorship with my husband's job. I am a Primary School Teacher and hoping to get work once we have settled, although after reading some other posts I'm not sure how easy this will be! We have an 8 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. It would be great to meet some families on here so that we could meet up when we come across. We would love to be over by Christmas but it all depends on our house sale. We will need to find a short term rental while we wait for our shipping to arrive. Could anyone recommend anywhere? We have seen a variety of places but just wondered if anyone had tried and tested? Looking forward to meeting lots of people in the same boat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela820 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Hello We are arriving mid November also - have 2 kids - a boys who is 4.5 yrs and a little girl who is 3. would LOVe to meet up with others with kids once we are there and settled (have no idea where we a living yet!) Angela:biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Bumping up for those new to the forum and those due to arrive in Canberra soon! :witch-biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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