I haven't often posted on this site but have used it many times in the early days of visa application and found it a great help so thought I would write a few lines on our experiences to help out those who are awaiting their visas.

LEAVING DO'S

We had several leaving do's in the two weeks leading up to our departure from the UK.  During the application process, which in our case took nearly 2 years, we kept the whole thing low key as we did not assume that our application would be cut and dried and did not want to tempt fate by discussing our plans which may never happen. Only close family and friends were aware of our plans and were all supportive. My work colleagues did not know I was emigrating until 4 weeks before I left, I informed them that I had handed in my notice one day, (this was enough of a shock for everybody, I had worked at the company for 13 years), and then went in the next day and told them that I was emigrating.  After the initial shock, everybody rallied round and we arranged four leaving do's in the space of 3 weeks; a night at a club, a night out for a meal, an Australia night at a friends house and then the family and friends leaving do on the Saturday night before we left on the Monday.

The final leaving party was a great success and was enjoyed by everybody although the last half an hour was very difficult as it was the last time we would see most of the people there and everybody got emotional.  We took lots of photos which we posted on our own website which we use to track our journey.

HOUSE

We hadn't sold the house so we left this in the hands of my sister, who as Power of Attorney can act on our behalf.  The house is currently under offer and hopefully fingers crossed the sale should be complete in the next 4 - 6 weeks.

FLIGHT

We hired a car to drive from the North East to Gatwick and flew on 28th November to Singapore and Dubai, arriving in Brisbane at 6.30am on 30th November.  One of our cases went missing for a while, and one thing I would recommend would be making a short list of everything you have in each case, because we just shoved everything in everywhere (6 suitcases) and I was panicking about the contents of the missing case.  The case turned up the same day luckily.  The journey was pretty uneventful, the tv screens in the seats of the plane kept the kids occupied and the food was okay (Emirates).

ARRIVAL

On arrival we stayed with hubby's Aunt and Uncle for a couple of weeks and in this time we hired a car, applied for Medicare and Tax File Numbers as well as Family Assistance.  One thing I would recommend is to apply for your Tax File Number immediately on arrival.  We were given forms to fill in from Centrelink, however you cannot apply through these forms if you have just emigrated.  You must apply online and you cannot apply for your Family assistance or Rent assistance until you have these numbers.

BANK

We started the application for a bank account online in the UK through ANZ and found it really easy, we just popped into the branch and we were given our account cards there and then.  We have bank accounts and credit cards still in the UK and found this really useful as we were only able to pay for things such as Insurance and Car Hire either by Cash or Credit Card, not by eftpos. We used our UK Credit card and then paid them through the UK bank account online.

MEDICARE

You have to wait about ten days after arrival before applying for Medicare as there is a time delay before your details are transferred to their system after you have arrived.  Our daughter caught pneumonia around two weeks after arriving and we managed to get an appointment at our Uncle's doctors and she was prescribed antibiotics.  The doctor bulk billed, which meant that we just had to give the medicare reference number and had to pay around $16 for the prescription. Again, we found this very easy to do.

HOUSE RENTAL

We decided on the Upper Coomera area and have rented a house for 6 months until our house sale is completed.  We took bank account balances etc to the Real Estate agents, and offered to pay the rental in advance to get around the reference issue as we had never rented before.  Neither of us had work, however we came to Oz with enough money to last around six months, and were hoping to either sell the house or find work within that period.  We moved into a four bed house near to Upper Coomera State College with air conditioning for $340 per week just before Christmas.

EMPLOYMENT

Hubby found work within 3 weeks of moving to the area.  He is on what we consider to be a very basic wage, he is an engineering tradesperson, however we are just pleased he has found work quickly as this means we can start to make permanent roots here. So far he is enjoying the job, and is enjoying working outdoors as he has always worked in a factory environment.  His wage will increase as he completes his training and we figure that if he gets a little bit of overtime in each week we should be okay.  I have been looking at the availability of part time work, which there isn't a great deal of, and will wait for the kids to settle at school before I apply for anything.  After working full time in a very responsible role, I am struggling with the boredom of sitting indoors while everyone else in the family are at school or work and hope to find something soon.  The difficulty is that you don't have the support of your immediate family on hand and therefore I don't feel that I can commit to a full time job as I need to be there if my kids need me. I am sure that most people find this a problem.

FURNITURE SHIPMENT

Our furniture arrived a week ago and unfortunately a few things were damaged in transit, some of which were due to lack of packaging and I found this particularly hard. I have complained to the shipping company, although have not had much of a response. We are insured but that is not really the point.  We have paid a lot of money to ship these items and have waited a long time for them to arrive only to find that some of them are useless.  We had selected a company which had a really good reputation and they weren't the cheapest, which is why I found it difficult to comprehend the lack of care that went into the job.

SCHOOL

After a shaky couple of days the kids have settled in really well and have both made friends, (son 6, daughter 13). I went to an open night at my sons class and was quite happy with the impression that the teachers gave of the school and the way that they run the classroom.  The classroom was really bright and cheery with lots of visual signs and charts around.

SHOPPING/FOOD/EATING OUT

We find that this area is very good for shopping centres and we are within 30 minutes driving of several large shopping complexes which keeps the daughter happy. Food shopping; I am a bit disappointed with the prices, I find that the individual prices seem expensive, especially the basics such as bread, milk fruit and veg.  I think that the meat and poultry prices are pretty good and the quality in my opinion is as good or better than the UK.  I still tend to convert everything back to £'s and wonder how long it will take to get out of that habit.

Eating out is a lot less expensive here and that may explain why I have gained half a stone since arrival, so much for the healthier lifestyle!!!

Chocolate is really expensive and nowhere near as nice as UK, however that should be a blessing in disguise.

Alcohol; well we are now used to the drive thru bottle shops and know what to ask for.  Prices aren't too bad and the wine casks are very cheap.

SIGHTSEEING

We have done quite a lot of driving and sightseeing since we arrived and this has been great.  We have been to Minyama in the Sunshine Coast for a weekend and we have travelled all down the East Coast to Byron Bay, the Glass house Mountains, Hinze Dam and lots more places which I can't remember the names of.  The area is beautiful, we are within 20 minutes of the Tamborine Mountains, Theme Parks, Coomera River and Surfers Paradise and we are quite happy with our location.  Our family are based in Reedy Creek/Elanora/Varsity Lakes and we have spent quite a bit of time there and find Currumbin and Burleigh beaches to be really nice.

We have purchased annual passes to Wet n Wild which is only ten minutes drive from our house and have been there about 6 times in the last 3 weeks, just for a couple of hours each time.

We have all bought fishing rods and we all go fishing, just for fun, anything we catch gets thrown back because I wouldn't know what to do with it!

CONTACT WITH HOME

We took on our rental under the impression that we could get broadband however this has not been possible and we think it is something to do with an alarm line in the house.  This has caused a lot of grief, and we have settled with dial-up temporarily as we do not intend to stay in the house longer than the six months.  We catch up with people at home on MSN which is great. I also bought a phone card for $20 which gave so many hours worth of calls to the UK which is great as I can sit and have a long natter and know that the phone bill is under control.

We also have our own website www.mccluskey.org which is a bit basic at the moment but we intend to improve on when we get onto broadband.  The feedback from home is great and family and friends love to check out the photos and leave messages on the guestbook.

VISITORS

We have told all family and friends that they are welcome to come out any time, and we have our first visitors booked for 4 weeks in July.  My work colleague and her daughter are coming to stay.  We think that Tony's mum and dad will get out here in September and will probably stay until after Xmas.  We have been here for around nine weeks now and haven't been hit by homesickness yet, probably been too busy.  I find that hearing favourite songs which I used to listen to in the UK makes me feel a bit strange, but I will probably get used to that.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

We feel happy enough here.  Its no better or worse than the UK, just different.  We haven't found the heat to be too stifling although I will probably prefer it when the temperature cools a bit so we can get outdoors more.  We won't have the same level of income here, but as far as we are concerned the lifestyle itself suits us, we are family orientated and like to travel and you can do a lot of things cheaply here.  We had a good income in the UK and weren't any happier, we have found the more you earn the more you spend and you don't end up with anything to show for it except a lot more stress and perhaps a few grey hairs  We now spend a lot more time together as a family.

(Check out our Australian Forum where you will find many migrants who have already made the move, and those in the process of moving.)