beach bound

Hi Marie

We went for the skilled independent visa 136 with my husband as the main applicant. We are one of the lucky post July ones - purely by chance because we got caught out by a longer than expected Vetassess timeline for the 5 points I could get and by the raising of the points score in April (we were on our rekkie in Oz at the time and were really upset to get back and find the change in the rules!). This led to a delay which led to us not being ready until June by which time our agent knew about the pre/post July thing and so delayed sending them until after the 1st of July. So in all we've not been waiting long. Our bond was raised last week and our CO is due to review our case again this week - so fingers crossed!!!

Would be grateful to hear how you get on with the school.

We were thinking about the camper van idea too since that was how we spent our April holiday - travelling from Adelaide through Melbourne to Sydney to just north in the 3 weeks we were there. It was a great way to view the country and meet the locals and try out everyday things like supermarket shopping, etc. The cost for a couple of months will probably bring us to the same conclusion as you though!

BB

beach bound

Hi Marie

Sorry, forgot to ask - what visa did you go for and how long have you had to wait? I used to spend ages searching around the immigration site looking for tips and clues on the visa procedure, timelines, experiences, etc - it is a brilliant forum which, as a non-visa owner, I still attend. It's only recently that I've taken the plunge to start turning the dreaming into planning for living in Oz (and asking questions on this forum) but I hope it isn't tempting fate with our visa app
BB

Marie_m

We were looking at a big camper van seeing as we would be living in it for 3 - 4 weeks and the cost was around $300 per day!! Instead we've found a holiday apartment for $400 a week, with a swimming pool, bbq and all the usuals
My fingers are crossed on the visa front for you Were lucky because I was born in Aus and me and the girls have our Aussie passports already. Just waiting for my partners spouse visa to come through and then we can book the flights :scared:
Do you have friends in Australia or are you just taking a leap of faith?? We have no friends or family over there and some people think were mad!! I suppose were must all be abit mad on this forum though
Will keep you posted on what I hear back from the school.

Marie

Marie_m

Ha ha, I know what you mean. Even though ours is a really straight forward visa it's still in the back of your mind, what if....... it doesn't come through!!
Although I'm sure I've read on here recently that once your bond has been requested your pretty much home and dry
We only put our application in to our agent last week so it's still early days, but I think the spouse visa's are coming through quickly and quite a few people are receiving them within 4 weeks.
I'll catch up with you later on in the week hopefully with a response from the school, take care
Marie

beach bound

The holiday apartment sounds by far the best bet. What an amazing difference in price!! You are lucky having your passports already - I'm sure it will take no time at all for your partners visa to come through.

We don't have any friends there and only distant relatives on my husbands side (in Perth). I went out there 8 years ago for a couple of weeks with work and fell in love with the place then. Have always gone on about how we should give it a try and my husband decided last year that he wouldn't mind having a look - think it's an age thing combined with a child thing and a stuck in a rut thing!! Anyway, started collecting all the necessary papers ready for the visa application and then planned the trip to have a rekkie and here we are - taking a leap of faith but hopefully with both eyes open. Funny thing is that since telling the families my sister and her partner announced they too had already started the initial 'think about it' stage and were off for 5 weeks at Christmas and then my mum chipped in saying if we go she'd like to go - so it might end up with all my little family out there at this rate My husband's family were fine about it too but are only planning visits rather then contemplating a move out there!! The only one who is upset is my close friend and that's because it's something she would love to do! No one has said we're mad - just us on occasion

Catch up with you later - good luck!
BB

jad n rich

Schools - dont worry too much, altough pre school places are hard to get (pre school is optional) once they get to grade 1 -12 there will be no problem. A state school is required to take your child, although some have zones you have to live in, basically if your child is eligible for school in australia they have to find a place even if it mean new classes end up being created.

roiboit

I can't believe how many are moving to Noosa all of a sudden! Previous comments on the Sunshine coast all seem to center around Caloundra and Buderim!

I agree on the school comment. The couple of schools i have contacted all say that they could take our son (6) no problem even during the year - the problem was the preschool. As mentioned above we are going with Sunshine Beach. Have actually had numerous e-mails with the registrar who is very helpful. If you don't have your visa yet you can not enroll your children. Luckily we just received ours in october (skilled 136 - 11 month wait!) so I faxed them copies of our visas and the grant letter and they have sent out enrollment forms which will allow them to reserve 2 places for our daughters in preschool.

I feel the same about getting "committed" to a specific place before we even arrive, but I really want the kids to all start in the same school and I really liked this one (although Tewantin state did look nice too).

Marie m, could you tell me which agency you found the house rental with?? Have been looking a bit too (we are going in Feb.) but didn't see anything with a pool for $400/wk!!

roiboit

The Bread Knife

BB,

Our house has been on the market since July.We have had no viewers since the begining of August!!!!!Feeling a bit depressed.........................but still dreaming of Noosa.One day very soon.Thanks for asking.

The Bread Knife

Marie_m

Roiboit

It's not a rental agency but a holiday let, there's afew around that price. A good alternative for when your settling in and looking around the area :-) Two bedroomed fully furnished house on a small complex with pool and bbq, what more could you ask for?

Marie

Marie_m

BB

Just to let you know I've heard NOTHING from the school But will let you know when I do get a response from them.
Just found out today that my agent hasn't lodged our application!! It's been sitting on someones desk gathering dust!! I'm not a happy bunny today

Marie

noosawannabees

Hi,
what part of cheshire do you live in?
we live in marple stockport and we to are going back to Noosa after 10 years because we could not get it out of our minds,we are going in 5 weeks with our 6 year old son who starts in the sunshine beach school on 28th Jan.
look forward to hearing from you.

Cameron & Nicola

noosawannabees

undefinedundefinedundefined[QUOTE=The Bread Knife]Hi Marie,

My Husband and I are moving to Noosa as soon as our house sells.We have a 9 year old son.
In August we went on a three week rekkie to Noosa.We had a look around Tewantin State School and thought it was great.We also met some expats there who also had their kids in the school.Definately worth a look around.
It is a really big school and is quite old but very friendly.The kids look happy and the class sizes were small(20 ish).
Noosa is such a beautiful place.Good luck!!!!

The Bread Knife [/QUOTE

My husband myself and our six year old son are moving to Noosa on jan 5th 05. we have lived there for a year in 1995 it is a great place and we can't wait to return.we have enrolled our son at Sunshine beach school over the net .The staff have written some lovely e-mails to us . Get in touch with us maybe we could meet up over there.
Nicola a Noosawannabee soon to be a Noosagonnabee.

Marie_m

Hi guys
Oh brilliant, I'm so jealous that were not going sooner. We've got our yearly snowboarding trip to Lapland at the end of Jan so were planning on going in Feb sometime, as long as the de facto visa comes through.
We have 2 girls one 6 (will be 7 in Jan) and one who's 9. I am hoping to put them both into the Sunshine Beach School as it looks fantastic on the website, but I will wait until we have looked at a couple of schools before I put there name down. We haven't actually been to Noosa so are there any particular areas you would recommend?? :-)

Marie

cazz

Heading to Noosa in Jan/Feb have been twice before and yes it is beautiful, house prices are more expensive but that is because it is such a beautiful area.
Roll on Janruary

carryon34

Hi, this is our first post, so please forgive us...!
We went to Adelaide and Queensland in February for 3 weeks for our look-see. Wedding in July and spouse visa took a week earlier this month. The passport was returned duly stamped yesterday!

Anyway we went to Noosa and were pretty impressed. It was sunny and sandy, but ultimately looked more like a holiday resort than a residential area. Then again we were tourists, so no surprise there. (no offence to anyone who calls Noosa home!).

We did drive around a residential area, which was canal living and very, very nice. It was so nice, my husband called the real estate company on the mobile there and then about one place we saw. Good job the car was in neutral and stationary - the house was $1.2m!!! :scared: The agent informed us that Noosa was one of the most expensive areas in Queensland.

If you like the idea of canal living, it might be worth looking at Bribie Island. We really liked Bribie/Banksia Beach too. It seemed a little more for locals and less for tourists. And there was a development being built and new canals being dug, so there's new properties available.

We hope to head for somewhere in Queensland - Bayside/Banksia/Brisbane - in March. Anywhere beginning with B, basically!!!

Nice to see all your stories, helps us feel more excited ourselves!

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