Quoll

For years I had an O2 payg and as long as I used it for something every few months it stayed in service and cost me next to nothing. It wasn’t enough for regular long term used in UK especially as iPhone have developed because I kept lurching over my data limit but it was fine for holidays.

You will need to contact George directly and privately for advice

So glad you're enjoying your weekend! It's not a bad place is it?!

Honestly? No, it won't get any easier. You're always going to be an only child - and that sux when you're considering your life on the other side of the world regardless of whether your parents don't handle it very well or not. In fact, it sux full stop especially when your parents age. I was in your position 30 years ago, sort of. Only child, only grandchildren but my parents bit the bullet and decided they would come and visit us for 6 months every year and that worked quite well for 16 years until they just got too old and the travel insurance got to expensive and they began to ail. They thought about staying in Australia but, quite rightly, they thought they wanted their old age in the life that they had built over decades with their own social group. I coped then by visiting every 9 months or so, one of my kids, now grown, moved to UK (well, he actually never returned from his holiday) so he was at least in the same country. Seeing them get more and more frail and bawling my eyes out on the train every time I left them was very hard even though I am a hard hearted Hannah. Then came the day when I managed to drag my Aussie husband over (he hated to come) for our son's wedding and he took one look at my parents (the wheels fell off the wagon the week we arrived) and said "we can't leave them here alone" so we have stayed. None of us thought it would be 7 years and mum died last year so now we care for dad. When I left initially I didn't give my parents a single thought and they never guilted me as I have never guilted my kids but I do know where your parents are coming from - being a grandparent on the other side of the world sux. Personally I don't find Skype or FT that enjoyable - when the kids are little they would rather be off playing than talking to some adult they don't know who lives in a box then when they are older having a chat with an old person is boring and I defy anyone to get a cuddle over Skype! One of my granddaughters was very little when we left and she really had no idea who I was when I got my first trip back to Aus after 3 years - the old lady she talked to on the computer wasn't a real person she knew no matter how many chats. I'm not condoning for one minute the guilt trip your parents are putting on you but they're grieving and one of the stages of grief is anger - they're doing with it the only way they know how and is probably not just their grandchild but knowing they won't be there for the wedding of their little girl. Expect emotionality! A few words of warning - can your fiance get citizenship before you go (if he doesn't have it already) because if you do need to come back, the spouse visa is a killer. Secondly, read up and thoroughly understand the implications of the Hague Convention - if your relationship goes belly up then chances are you will never be allowed to leave Australia with your kids (there is a long sticky thread on here somewhere). Thirdly, personally I would avoid going back to "his place" - move to the same country but not in his family's back pocket then your little family is on a level playing field with you both having to make new friends and connections (he's probably feeling the pinch now and resenting being so close to your parents when his parents are missing a grandchild!). Others don't agree with that and they get on fine with their in laws (as do I) but I've had many messages on this and other boards from English women who've not necessarily found their Aussie husband's mob to be all that they could be and their mate changed when in his own environment. Bottom line, it's your life and you'll have to be selfish and self reliant and live with your decision but cut your parents some Slack and go with your eyes wide open. Either country is going to offer your daughter great opportunities so look at the real reasons you are thinking of going. Good luck!

You don't need a British credit or debit card to order from a UK based site so if you want to use Amazon or any of the other stores that do mail order then use your Australian card just the same. I'm in UK and use my Aussie card all the time (yes I know it's stupid but there were reasons) and very very rarely have I been knocked back because it's a Foreign card, maybe twice in the past 7 years. A lot of places now take pay pal which is even easier! This year for the first time I am sending my son and granddaughters something from Amazon Au - it cost $75+gst. The same thing (thought I might get it for son and grandson) in Amazon UK £69.95! I'm rethinking that one! Usually though we suck it up with the postage because the granddaughters love the personalised "Pops wrapped" goodies.

Castlemaine has a nice little second hand bookshop with an eccentric owner who tends to not like browsers just buyers. IIRC it was where the iconic Blue Heelers was filmed (that's probably its only claim to fame!).

Are your parents generally resident in UK? If so, then they will be covered by the reciprocal agreement for necessary medical intervention BUT that doesn’t include everything that could go wrong with an ageing body so the sensible course would be for them to get comprehensive health insurance. If they aren’t normally resident in a country with the reciprocal agreement then health insurance will be essential. No, they can’t work. Nor, btw, can they leave the country unless they apply for a bridging visa which allows them to leave.

My favourite is the Australian War Memorial along with a walk /drive up Mt Ainslie (depends on your activity level) but Parliament Houses, old and new, are interesting. The woodwork in the High Court is lovely. Questacon is interesting but probably more so with kids. A walk around the central basin is nice or a boat trip on the lake. View from the top of Black Mountain Tower is interesting but personally I prefer Mt Ainslie as it's free and if you go to the exhibition near the Water Jet you can see how the city relates now to Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney's plan. Some folk like the Australian National Museum but I wasn't that impressed TBH. Restaurants - rather depends on your style. There are several nice ones in Manuka, Kingston, Civic but it all depends on what you want and how much you want to pay for the privilege, also, how close they are to your hotel. Many of the hotels have pretty good dining rooms. Have a great weekend - it's not the boring place many folk would have you believe.

It all depends on the individual. That's why you need an expert as everyone is different. I doubt there is anyone with a child who is exactly the same as your child.

He may be very sporty and love to be outdoors but unfortunately that's not what immigration assesses. They will be more concerned how much support for him is going to cost the Australian tax payer. There's a bit of a catch 22 in that if you get a visa the chances are he isn't going to be eligible for support in school or for post school options. If he is eligible for support in education then chances are he won't get a visa. You will need to provide updated medical, therapy and educational assessments including current psycho educational assessments (iq, adaptive behaviour, skills levels etc) and current interventions, ieps etc.

Unfortunately having a child with an Australian isn't a reason to get to stay in the country and immigration rules aren't governed by emotional blackmail and not should they be. You're going to have trouble being financially responsible for the two of them if you don't have a job and your chances of getting another job are very slim with the new crackdown on temporary visas so in order to provide for him you might have to go home to get a job . Getting married or pretending to be in a relationship just for the sake of a visa is also not looked upon very favourably either. You definitely need a good agent and it's going to cost you a lot.

Have you thought about going to live with her in Syria and get the evidence to support your application of a genuine relationship. Once you've got your year together then put in your application. You'll at least be together which seems to be your aim. Partner visas from HR countries always take much longer anyway so plan on being away a few years.

I would guess that you have 60 days to leave the country. Usually employers are required to pay fares home but as your employers have gone bankrupt I've no idea how they can be up for paying your fares. Have to put in a claim with the liquidators probably. Is your son's mother Australian? Are you in a relationship still?

You may desperately need PR but it's not looking good as I would have thought your 186 will collapse now there is no job. As your 457 will now cease you'll have 60 days to leave the country but at least your employer will be paying your fares home. That's always the problem with temporary visas, you must expect to leave at the end of them unfortunately.

You do realise that this is just a forum and has nothing to do with the granting of visas. You've been given good advice - check the government website to see if your skills are in demand then, given your lack of comprehension about the whole process, perhaps consult a MARA accredited agent to walk you through the process. Your English may indeed be better than it appears but you will need to demonstrate that through an IELTS assessment. That involves spelling, grammar and oral language to quite a high standard. BTW, some of us aren't sirs.

If you are coming as a tourist but tell them you're intending to stay, you run the risk of being sent home and banned. Your bridging visa kicks in when your tourist visa expires providing you have put in your application for a parent visa. Wait until you've got a visa which allows you to stay, albeit precariously.

Your partner could always join you at home while you wait thus ensuring you are there for the birth of your child. Aren't PMVs taking 12-18 months these days? BTW, Australia isn't your home, you've received a 3 year ban and that alone can come back to haunt you.

Find a good registered agent. However, you’re going to have to give them a lot more information than you’ve given us.

Try marriage counseling, the pair of you have to find a compromise situation or your relationship is probably doomed. What are you prepared to compromise on and what is he prepared to compromise on? There are loads of us - I was on the other side, desperate to leave but with a husband who wouldn't. He relented and we have had 7 glorious years here now. Your kids would be just fine in UK, having a loving extended family, along with all the first world benefits you find in Australia, could actually be a real benefit for them. My boys, now grown men, have both said they regret the isolation from extended family and the relationships they've missed. Your DH is probably depressed - a lot of us have/had situational depression and is a very real beast that will eventually drain your soul especially if the resentment seeps in. Only solution is to remove from the situation. Sadly we see many relationships ending because of the inability of partners to accommodate the needs of each other.

If you are British, then you are entitled to reciprocal cover and, yes, you should go and register at your local Medicare office and get a medicare card - it won't be a full medicare card. But you should also have taken out private health insurance so that you are covered in the event of something which is not covered by the reciprocal agreement. Expect to pay some part of your doctor's consultation - most Australians do anyway, it's a co-pay system, it's not like the NHS. But do be aware that something you may consider necessary might not be considered necessary by the medical profession so not everything automatically be covered.

Sign up to a GP and go and have a consultation.

With a niece who has just qualified as a paramedic, I'd say midwifery as paramedic jobs aren't that easy to come by, especially for new graduates. No idea whether either is still on the visa list if you need to get a skilled visa. Mind you, WA used to have the least qualified paramedics in the country - though that may have changed now, there was talk a few years back of national skill levels, registration etc.

That’s what my husband said at one point. Fortunately for me he took one look at my aged parents and said “we can’t leave them alone here like this” and we never returned from the holiday we were on (just the odd holiday back in Australia). That was 7 years ago and he has really enjoyed himself in UK, good friends, variety of things to do, places to go, people to see etc. He has since apologised for his intransigent stance as he could see just how bad my depression had become, once I no longer felt depressed by being in the wrong place. Situational depression is a very real beast and living with it drains your soul. Both of us feel that people are more important than place and we will move back to Australia at some point once my dad dies (he’s 94, it’s only going to end one way) but for a while there I was resigned to the least worst option - the most important person in my life in a place I loathed. I guess you have to work out whether people or places take first prize in your life - you can’t cuddle a country when you get old!

Really doesn't matter what time you arrive, kids come and go all the time. The thing to do first is to find the home you want to live in 24/7 - location to work, other facilities, other interests, availability, rental costs etc etc. If you don't want to live in a suburb, chances are you won't want to send your kid to school in the suburb. With a 7 year old it isn't that vital when they start or even which school they go to and certainly not worth planning a move around. https://www.myschool.edu.au is the general go to site for school comparisons but, really, nothing beats the eyeball test. As long as you live in a catchment area then the school is obliged to find a place for a child. If you live outside a catchment area then the school is not obliged to find a child a place but they may choose to offer a place if they have space. Always good to remember that there is roughly a parallel private system in most suburbs - usually Catholic so if you dont like the government offering you can opt for Catholic (if you have the background, usually). The schools are much of a muchness though and tend to change with periodic leadership moves. Far more important to you when moving will be - when will your job need you? where will you be working? how far are you happy to commute? etc. It's usually not a great idea to arrive just before Christmas because Australia shuts down then and if you are in the unfortunate position of not having a job to go to, you dont want to be hanging about until early Feb when people start getting their act into gear. Also, as more internal moves happen over that period, you tend to get more pressure on accommodation and competition for rentals. It really doesnt matter when a kid moves, as I said. Theoretically, you can rock up one day with visa, vaccination book and rental agreement in hot clammy little hands and expect the child to start there and then but the school usually asks for a couple of days to get organised - find a desk, shuffle a class etc. You can take your time to enrol a child in school, nobody gives a toss if they are out for a couple of months while you find somewhere you want to live.

A lot of people hold their kids back because of the ramifications of older teenagerdom actually, rather than kindergarten stresses. In some states the dates used to mean that kids could be heading for Uni at 16/17 and they just weren't ready to cope. Also, being younger in a cohort where sex, drugs, rock and roll and driving can be very tricky and a lot of younger kids founder when faced with those sorts of stresses whilst lacking the physical and emotional maturity to deal with it. Bullying is rife in Aussie schools too so the smaller weaker (often younger) kids cop the brunt. At the end of the day I think it rather depends on the kids - size, skills, emotional and social development, environment, resilience etc. There's no right or wrong but pushing a kid one way or the other when they are going to struggle usually leads to disaster.