Quoll

Neither can I. The regulations for citizenship by conferral for children under 15 seem to indicate that they need to be permanent residents which would not be the case here I would have thought.

Actually, check in in Australia couldnt give a toss about your UK passport, they will only want to see your Australian one. One time I did have a newbie on the check in desk and for some reason she thought we needed to link our UK and Aus passports - I have no idea what that was all about but she went off with them (and her supervisor) and then assured us it was all OK - gave us duff information that we could actually exit on our UK passports because they had been linked. Never had that problem before or since. As the OP is going to live in UK it would be confusing for them to enter UK on an Aus passport and get it stamped with a 6 months visitor visa, it's very easy to just change passports during the trip, I've never had an issue.

You haven't screwed up. You show your Australian passport when you check in at Melbourne and going through any passport controls in Australia then you put it in your bag and forget about it for all subsequent passport checks and use your UK one. Ive just returned and didn't put my passport info anywhere before I rocked up at check in. What's API?

If he's "new" and you are a British born citizen then you just apply for his passport. If you are a British citizen by descent then unless you've lived some years in UK before his birth you can't pass your British citizenship to him. https://www.gov.uk/get-a-child-passport/first-child-passport

I don't, that's the trouble! I'm very Aussie when I'm there - even when I'm not there, so I'm told and I have an Australian accent and all. It's much more ephemeral than that. I was chatting to a NZ chap the other day on the top of Mt Ainslie. Lived in Australia for over 20 years and said he still doesn't feel at home - "the colours are all wrong"! I know just what he meant!

One of mine is in UK and the other would like to live in UK (hates the heat) but has kids and his ex wouldn’t let him take them with him! They’re both pretty fixed for a few years yet!

I'm A Southerner and have never belonged despite all sorts of logical rationalisation. I'm still waiting for the belonging penny to drop.

Yup, your selfishness and self sufficiency certainly grows as you don't have the safety net to fall back on (I don't mean selfishness in a pejorative way, just that is a survival strategy) and that generally translates as a more coping adult (my sons are distinctly more coping than their partners who haven't had the experience of living in isolation from extended family. And I am astonished at the level of support those supposedly independent women actually think they need) Another thing to consider when moving is that sometimes things change so even if you arrive thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread, a few decades down the track either your life or your nearest and dearest's may have cataclysmic changes and that may mean that you need to consider where you are in the world. The key is not to get trapped anywhere and that you are always free to move where and when you feel the need. I agree with Marisa above - Australia isn't England on the other side of the world with "better" weather and English as it's national language. Treat it as you would any foreign country and a move will either work or it wont. If it doesn't (and I don't mean things like "no decent sausages") then move on, it's not a jail and if it becomes a jail for whatever reason then you're screwed. If you belong you're fine but if you don't belong you're going to struggle to make it work long term and that sense of "belonging" is very ephemeral and not at all decided by logic. Of my cohort of Expat friends (and accidentally, most of my friends are expats) only one "belongs" in Australia (she was from Manchester so that may be it!) the others are all now trapped for one reason or another and all would give their eye teeth for what we have been able to do (escape for 8 years) And these are people who've been in Australia for decades. Looking at them though, I don't know that any of them came with an intention of doing more than having a good adventure at the time and for a time it was a good adventure. Maybe that was the migrant attitude of the 60s and 70s. I dunno.

I thought this one was because they purchase "green energy" from SA and somewhere the grid broke down like it often does in SA

Better to let your eldest stay in UK to finish A levels - as long as he is on your visa and has validated, he has 5 years to make his move. He could stay with friends and finish his schooling then he has the luxury of deciding where he wants to do further education as A levels travel very well to Aus. If you cant get him to Aus when he is 16 or about to be 16 so he can start year 11 in the January (like next week) then he's really missed the boat for his final two years 11/12 and they are all important. He cant really just pop into the course half way through and expect to get a good score.

He could come and live in our suburb in Canberra - we have them in our front garden but they're not all that friendly, especially the big ones! (No idea how to attach a picture!)

It'll either be strong enough or it wont. None of that will necessarily change the outcome of the visa decision but it's good that you will be together especially with a new baby on the way. It'll just be the same old waiting game that everyone else is engaged with! Congratulations on the baby!

The hail damage will take months and months to clear. I saw that they reckon panel beaters will be taking it in for the next year or more! I suspect a lot will just be written off. We found that insurance companies are quick to pay out for fire destruction - not through any altruistic motivation but as soon as they paid the owner for the building damage they were no longer liable for third party insurance on the block and fire damaged blocks can be a liability nightmare as they're not the safest of places to be. Mind you with so many claims just this month, the insurance companies are going to be a bit stretched to cover everything.

LOL Yes. It's hard enough for a citizen to get a hip replacement these days! I guess the issue is whether it was declared elective or not. I can imagine that a hip replacement following a fall would be necessary whereas a hip replacement because of cartilage deteriorating could be elective. Similarly with eye problems - a detached retina would be necessary, cataracts maybe not no much. I remember a few years ago someone on a reciprocal was refused a biopsy or some scan for potential cancer which, of course, in their minds read necessary but not according to the PBS schedule. Fortunately, that person discovered that their family was covered by an employer health insurance arrangement. You never can tell.

The problem with reciprocal Medicare is that it doesn't cover everything, only necessary intervention so anyone elderly thinking of staying would be sensible to take out private health insurance. If it's an elective procedure they expect you to go home for it and that can be tricky if you are a Pom because if you've left the country for more than a holiday you're no longer residents for NHS purposes.

You can pay from an Australian account either as a direct bank transfer or through one of the currency exchange companies (Money Corp have a thread on here). Guess it all depends on where your money is!

Do you really think that Australia is going to offer you this???? I've been in Australia for nearly a month (on holiday this time but have lived here for over 30 years) and my time outdoors had been more severely limited this last month than for the past 8 years in UK! I'm restricted when I can walk because some days get too hot, we've had the worst air quality in the world because of bush fires and having to exercise in a P2 mask hasn't been fantastic (and advice has been dont exercise at all outside). I've been bitten several times by mozzies and a March fly had a go at me yesterday. I've been almost caught outside by one of the biggest thunderstorms I've ever seen (but we weren't one of the 11000 insurance claims made here as a result). And my Great Aussie Wave has been much practiced (I dislike flies trying to crawl into every head orifice while I'm walking) Fresh fruit and veg - get plenty of that in UK, quality just as good, variety greater and generally cheaper than it is here. Meat - well, I have yet to meet anyone better than our village butcher in UK, especially for sausages. Laid back??? Probably in some rural towns but city folk are highly strung - never seen so many tail gaters in my life and road courtesy - nah. Add to that longer working hours and only 4 weeks rec leave a year. I really think laid back is a thing of Australia's past now that pretty much every family needs to be two income just to cover the mortgage. If you're in it for adventure then go for it. If you've got a skill that's in demand, and a nice savings buffer behind you then have fun!

Fortunately haven’t got a car! We borrowed one of the DS’ but we were lucky that both of them were ok! I had been walking up Mt Ainslie and could see it coming like a bloody juggernaut and I made it into the War Memorial coffee shop with just 30 seconds of soaking. I wonder what all the poor devils on Mt Ainslie fared - there was a constant stream of them going up as I was racing down! No shelter up there at all! It was a ripper!

And don't forget to get your British citizenship if you don't already have it while you wait. You could start applying for jobs any time you like but your DH might be better waiting until his visa comes through and you could move over to start work ahead of him - you'd both have jobs for the interim then as soon as his visa comes through he can apply for jobs and wait till he lands one or move over and have a hiatus period until he gets one. I guess only you are going to know what chance there is of two similar roles cropping up in the same place at the same time in your field of expertise, but once one of you had a foot in the door, the old boy network opens up a bit.

Yes we will be back for good (minus regular sanity hits) once dads house has gone through (couple of months perhaps). Not looking forward to it but you do what you’ve got to do and my DH has already gone above and beyond. I’ve enjoyed granddaughter time - the eldest has finished her first real knitting project and it’s excellent and both of them have had decent haircuts. I’ve been to the ballet with one and Built a Bear with the other and we’ve done a couple of 1000 piece jigsaws so it’s been great on that front. Friend wise - underwhelmed tbh. I’ve caught up with one (expat Pom) and felt like I was intruding on another (expat Pom) and most of the others have either not bothered to respond or couldn’t make an hour for coffee. Think I will join something and see about new friendships when I get back. I’ve been doing well with the walking though, going up the local hill every second day. To think of doing it for months/years on end - meh!! Hope you’re hanging in there! Maybe one day Tatts will come to your aid!!,

Hell yeah! This!!!!

Yeah, don't sweat it. If you can find a full time child care centre she will probably get some reasonable input but just go with the flow - if she's doing things spontaneously now she's not going to be irrevocably far behind when you return. English schools seem to say so a really good job at helping kids catch up. Unlikely to get a place of she isn't already on a waiting list - some of these kids are put down for the best private schools at birth. They're generally not academically assessed for entry other than if they're thick as a brick they won't get in - they're not competitive entry like selective high schools. You could try and make a case for early entry based on profound giftedness but that's not just in the top 1% on an iq test and skills well in advance of age but similar levels of adaptive behaviour and social, emotional and physical development. You'd have to get an independent psychometric assessment and make a case but Victoria is notoriously sticky for rules so Im not sure that your chances would be great.

You're right, it's bloody annoying! Kindy in WA is what would be called Preschool in some other states and what you call PrePrimary is Kindergarten in some other states. Not all states have universal free pre-compulsory early education either so in some states its user-pays and the structure also differs from state to state - a mixture of days /half days whatever they decide they can cope with. Conflating school (full time and compulsory) with "pre" school (part time, non compulsory and often user pays) is also misleading.

Kindy/preschool/whatever its called is only part time, not universal and in some states not free, it's certainly not compulsory in any state. For full time school WA cut off is 30 June so if the OP lived in WA their child could start school in the year they turn 5 but in Victoria the cut off is 30 April. Luck of the draw really.

OMG! It's all happening! Good to hear that things are selling well!!!