Quoll

LOL if they can speak English! The lady who had a right to at me was barely understandable and she had a real attitude on her!

It’s policy but I think they might have a hard time enforcing it if a person has a passport (the clue is on the name there) of a different country. What are they going to do except give you the third degree and tell you not to do it again as you stagger off to the plane. However, ever the coward, I would most likely suck it up and fork out for the Aussie passports, it’ll be a hell of a lot easier than getting them in Uk, not to mention considerably cheaper!! There is a thread here for people who’ve had it happen https://expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/7987/leaving-australia-on-a-foreign-passport

Aha! You've twigged! Not everyone who wants to move to Australia can do so.

No idea! Probably before Christmas at this rate. Exchange 6/12, complete 19/12 is the protection then depending if DS1 and his family are home or not we might impose upon them for Christmas or take advantage of the lower fares over Christmas itself and fly then. It's the logistics of the last days that worry me - what do we sleep on, when do we get rid of the cars (how do we get rid of the cars!!!) etc that worry me. I shouldn't worry though, we did it before in 6 weeks (including, would you believe, getting me a PR visa!) but that was 40 years ago! Have you got a date?

Going well Vickie! We are doing much the same in the opposite direction and the DH has put a big Gantt chart up on the kitchen wall, much like your list! I will confess to some procrastination because clearing out my parents house and getting all the POA stuff on Dad's affairs in order is altogether too huge to view with equanimity but one of my sons always lived by the adage "if it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done!" So I'm hanging on to that!

Sadly, now untrue. Temporary residents pay school fees in ACT, NSW, WA, SA and Tasmania - all somewhere in the region of $5k or above (ACT is double that) Temporary residents don't get any help to pay for school fees.

But wont get you a visa!

You will need to be more specific - which state, which year level, how many kids. Some states dont charge but the ones that do will be upwards of $5,000 per child per year.

Thanks! Wow! Wow!!! All that?! Based on that we could probably get away with a small! We've mocked up the space but I guess we won't know until we get things in boxes. I guess we should do that very soon. I don't think we will be in a rush to have it all arrive, we've got pretty much a parallel house in Australia and I have a half decent wool stash and DH has a house full of books there!

LOL, probably. I worked in some of those much less classy areas!!!

Of course you get decent families sending their kids to government schools! It really depends on the locality they are in, the offerings of the local school, any old boy connections etc. Historically, there was a large Catholic migration into Australia which is why the Catholic system is so strong. In Australia, government schools are obliged to find a place for a kid who lives within their priority enrolment area but you may request a place at a school which is not your local one - the school may choose to accept you or turn you down. In opposition to Toots, I have actually seen parents dropping their kids off in pyjamas - not too often, that's true but there have been a few places in my past where that would not have been out of the ordinary! But, in general, no parents dont usually drop their ankle biters off in pjs and fluffy slippers.

Are you taking about government schools or public schools as in UK? Are schools on a par? Hard to say, Australian kids learn to read and write and go to University and figure on the world stage at the end of it. In visible terms, if you like what you see happening in UK schools you may well be distressed at the apparent lack of rigour in Australian schools (not sure about SA but some states have more rigour than others). At each year level in primary you will likely find that Australian kids lag behind what you think or have seen happening in UK. There's more likely a less "teaching" more "exploratory" approach to learning. And for some kids one or other approach may meet their needs, for others it's a disaster. Australia has one less year of schooling in school and one more year in Uni to get honours so it sort of evens out at the end. Government schools are much of a muchness and, as I said, generally reflect the suburb so if you're in a more affluent suburb you're generally more likely to have parents who care about their kids education and consequently the standard reflects that whereas in maybe less affluent suburbs the parents generally couldn't give a toss and their standard reflects that! In general, if you have parents who make a choice for their kids to enter the private system it's because they're interested in and concerned about their kids' education and standards tend to reflect that (parents are paying, they want observable value for money or they walk). We sent our kids to private schools and I don't regret that for one moment even though it meant financial stress for us but having observed first hand the behaviour in some of our local HS I wouldn't have put my dog in one. Primary, not so bad and they generally do a good job. You'll just need to do the eyeball test and see if you like what you see coming out of school and also if the kids seem happy to go in in the morning. Only problem with private is that you might not get in!

Nah, finish renovating the house then back here periodically to see dad and the grandson (and son, of course!)

When you say "a lot more stuff" did you bring furniture and the like? We don't have any (apart from maybe the tumble dryer if it'll fit). My DH is more worried about the weight limit as his stuff - books and tools - weigh heavy but the Dyson will definitely be in there!!! There's probably not going to be much difference in price between the medium and the large I guess. The other question I was going to ask - how long before leaving did you guys book the move cube? We are in the confused position of not knowing when we will be leaving other than the protected exchange rate on the house and completion will be?? After that.

Schools tend to mirror the suburb so if you're happy living in a suburb chances are you'll be happy with the school. If you want the kids to go private, especially for HS that's quite common in Australia, where I lived it used to be close to 50% of kids go to private HS. I suspect that will be lower in SA but remember that the Catholic schools are private and there's a roughly parallel Catholic system. I think you'd be wise to find a house that's vacant that you can afford in a place close enough to work in an area with all the other amenities you might think you will enjoy and Hope for the best.

Thanks for that! Actually I had forgotten the vacuum packing - there's a load of stuff I can vac pac but my husband's books are going to be the killer LOL. And his bike. Wonder if we could change from medium to large on the day too if we needed to. Actually, we dont have THAT much stuff I suppose, once it's boxed up, we've only been here 8 years and then just with our backpacks so we cant have accumulated that much, right?! Edited to say, in response to your original - there wasnt much I would think of stockpiling.

Interesting! How much stuff are you taking? We are dithering between a large or a medium and have done a 3 dimensional mock up in the hall! We've not packed boxes yet so I guess we do need to do that. Only thing I'm stockpiling is yarn to feed my yarn addiction habit though where the hell in going to put it when I get there is anyone's guess. How much notice did you have to give the Movecubers?

To cut your food, the things they give you to eat meals aren't fit for purpose these days.

With a May birthday, the cut off date for Victoria is April 30 so technically she wouldn't be eligible to start school until Jan 2121 anyway. She may be able to access kindergaten/preschool for some of the week but that's a user pays program. School enrolments happen mid year for the following year and there is usually a transition process from a kindergaten to big school

It doesn't matter where you purchase, it's the origin of the return flight which sets the price. But yes a UK-Aus return is cheaper than an Aus - UK one.

Gosh, if only it were that simple, every man and his dog would be doing it. Which visa are you applying for? What skill do you have and have you checked is on the skills in demand list? I hope you're not going to the embassy because there isn't one in London - its the High Commission and who do you think you are seeing there who could give you a visa? Or are you an Australian by descent or something (in which case you would have an appointment with an officer to verify your documents).

Book holiday accommodation for a month then take your time with the eyeball test, visit local coffee shops, drive around a bit and see what takes your fancy. Your vibe might not be anyone else's vibe. Doing it remotely is probably a recipe for disaster, you don't know about the drunken orgies, the broken down holdens in the yard, the pooing pooches from afar but you soon get the gist if you go for a look.

Have you got a visa? That would probably be a first step before you go into things like restaurant equipment providers.

Yes, gov schools have a catchment area where they are obliged to find a place for a child living within their boundary - I can think of a couple of examples in ACT where there is a specialist program that isn't residence related but that's made very clear on their Websites. In very general terms, though, yes if you live in catchment you are guaranteed a place but be sure to check the boundary, it's often on the school or Dept of Ed website if you look hard enough or any follow up email could ask them to send you a map of the catchment area - there are city /suburban schools where the boundary can go down the middle of the road so kids on one side of the street go to one school and across the road they go to a different school. The school probably won't be interested until you've got an address they can work with.

I worked on the Traralgon/Churchill fire back in 09/10 (cant remember which, any more). Never seen such a martian landscape for miles and miles. Dont recall Boolarra, we were just west of that around Jeerilang, Koornalla and Traralgon South. Was that where your daughter's place was? That scared me so much that I insisted that the DS make a fire shelter on his place at Cabanandra - he did but he didnt use it for people just his kero, ammo etc - it was the only thing on the block that survived, apart from a couple of ducks and an apple tree.