man_called_Horse

You can always get the SCV 444, you apply on arrival and as long as your papers are in order you will be granted it on the spot but it is only a 400 series visa (temporary).

Not sure if Kiwis on a 444 are treated like people on 457 when it comes to school fees. Someone mentioned $4500 per child.. I would check that out first. Then no nasty surprises.

If you are looking to go permanent and definitely avoid all that hassle you will have to apply the same as everyone else

Tubbs2Oz

Hornsby and the suburbs North of that are great places for families. I meet a lot of people from Hornsby Heights at swimming lessons with the kids. We chose Berowra because it's a bit less built up, very family friendly and the fast trains stop there just before they go to Hornsby.

paddyo

http://www.detinternational.nsw.edu....eespayment.pdf

paddyo

We looked at there and you can get a lot of house for your money, but my concern was its a bit out of the way and is far too close to things that bite you!! Could you genuinely live there as a double income family, i.e. both working, without own transport?

Tubbs2Oz

I suppose we have seen a redback in the garden, once in the 8 months that we've been here. Oh yes, and a blue tongued lizard at the weekend, but that was just cute!

My OH cycles to the station and commutes by train. There is also a bus that goes around the whole of Berowra to the station for $2 on a continuous loop most of the day. I don't work at the moment. A lot of my friends living here are double income families. I guess if you can afford it then go for the beaches. I prefer being in Berowra because I wouldn't want life to just be beach and you can jump on the freeway so easily here to be in Newcastle in less than 2 hours, Blue Mountains less than 2 hours, beaches less than 1 hour.

paddyo

Understand all that, apart from the Newcastle part!!! lol Been there a few times with work....makes Newcastle in the UK look positively fabulous!!

Tubbs2Oz

Wouldn't necessarily go to Newcastle was just using it as an example. We've got relatives in Medowie, which is just a bit North of Newcastle.

Big Galah

You'd need at least 1 car I would say. Otherwise if you were able to walk to Berowra station it would be too far to walk to the Coles or IGA at Berowra Heights, and vice versa. Plus the locals would think you were nuts.

Sure there are snakes and spiders (have seen funnelweb and diamond python in back garden), but you also get them in the other suburbs you mentioned.

Dijana01

Thanks thats very helpful. Kids have NZ passports. There seems no reason for me to get anything other than the temporary visa I get automatically on arrival.

paddyo

WHAT????? No effing way have I seen anything that slithers, crawls or bites me where I live (Northern Beaches)!!! Sod nature, I want a concrete jungle!!!

man_called_Horse

Where I used to live in Burwood in the innerwest there were loads of Redbacks in the back garden, I live in the hills now quite close to the bushland beside the M2 and have not seen any spiders in the 2 years I lived here... Although the last few weeks I parked the car out the front under some big trees and there like brown syrup stains all over it... Only caught on that it's Fruit Bat crap... The bats are massive about the size of your average cat with wings.

paddyo

ah...that will be the re-distribution of the tribe that was in the Botanical Gardens then!!! They decided to move them this year and used annoying noises to get rid of them...rather prophetic actuallly!!

man_called_Horse

There used to be cockatoo's in those trees and they have moved out and now we have the bats, have seen the odd Blue Tongue once or twice but usually only around Christmas time.

lapin_windstar

OP: my OH works in a field related to speech therapy (as in, OH works with a lot of speech therapists but isn't one). It's a good profession to be in in Sydney - there seems to be a fair amount of work.

OH also works towards Ryde - and the crappiness of the commute is not an exaggeration. You should pick somewhere to live where at least one of you, and preferably both of you, can commute by public transport and not only by car. But having said that, if you want beaches and you've got the cheese, don't forget that there are plenty of kid-friendly riverfront beaches in Hunters Hill, Woolwich, etc.

Dijana01

Thanks. I work with adults and I'm not sure the job market is as good as if I was a paediatric Speech Therapist. But let me know if your OH thinks otherwise...

Had a look at Hunters Hill. OMG. Beautiful but not really in our league!! We need at least 4 beds and a place big enough in Hunters Hill would be little more than a fantasy!