Originally Posted by Poppy 2

Hi Jackie

Thanks, i will let you know. Where are you heading?

All the best

Originally Posted by Poppy 2

Firstly, Happy Christmas to you all! just got three kids, well four if you count the OH off to bed! phew!!

Got our visas in March 2004, validated October 2004 and emigrated 17th November 2006!

We lived in London and rented our house out which was so stressful just before we left as once we packed up our furniture and shipped it out with John Mason, we had to redecorate our house for tennants and repair stuff that I had been waiting to be done for years - typical, looked great when we left! Got a buy to let mortgage on the house and released some equity to bring with us and the tennants pay the mortgage which, if it works, will be great! We have an agent managing it and so far, so good! Got flights with Singapore Airlines which cost us around 1500 pounds I think, for 3 kids, 2 adults with Asda travel! Got the 40kg after emailing and begging as we had already validated. I begged like never before, but it worked! Our friends booked a party for us, dj, food and even had invites printed and then gave them to us as a surprise which was great, we had a brilliant night and they even sorted out a book for everyone to write a message which I couldn'd read until we got here and it brought tears to my eyes! The mums from school organised a party for my kids and we didn't have to do a thing because they saw how much pressure we were under - I tell you what, it makes you realise what great friends you have! I was very emotional, cried if somebody said we'll miss you, even if I wasn't that close and when kids gave their pocket money to my kids as a pressie, I was in floods! My kids got around 50 pounds each from their school friends to bring, people were so generous. They got a trampoline with the money when we got a garden! And a great bit of advice that I got from here and followed was not to let anybody come to the airport and I am so glad that they didn't because I couldn't have coped. I phoned people when I got to the airport, but didn't see anybody that morning and I would highly recommend it as it would be too much to bare. It is so hard saying goodbye, but I just tried to think to myself that I was going on holiday and I wouldn't let anybody say it, I got people to say 'See you soon"! it helped me anyway. Even at our party, I asked people not to mention that they wouldn't see us for a long time and that helped!

We arrived 18th November into Sydney, flight was OK, left in morning from Heathrow so we would land in Oz at night and have to say it is definitely the best way, having tried a night flight a couple of years ago! We arrived, booked into a hotel and went straight to bed and woke up feeling fine!

We wanted to check Central Coast out, so decided first to go and look at some cars as we needed transport and thought rather than waste money hiring we would see if there were any good deals. We went to Suttons in Arncliffe first and then to Australian Fleet Sales where the Manager is a Pom. We were shown a few, but liked the look of a Mazda MPV, it was 5 years old and had 49,000 kms on the clock which was great and the car was in excellent condition. We ended up, after deliberating for a couple of hours, buying it for $25000. Only thing is, we hadn't yet had our money transferred, so they kindly lent us a courtesy car to go to Central Coast with! Result!

Off we went to Central Coast, checked out Gosford, Terrigal and lots of other places, liked Terrigal, but only for a holiday, a little quiet for us having lived in London, needed to be weaned from the rat race a little slower! Our friends suggested Cronulla as they knew we wanted to be fairly close to the beach. By this time, a week had gone by and our money transferred, so off we went to pick up our car! Had to go to TRA to get the Rego which is a percentage of the purchase price, we ended up paying around $700 and then changed our driving licences over which is very easy, all you need is your passport and UK licence plus proof of address (or an Oz citizen with a licence) to sign and witness the form for you. Was a bit shocked that the licences only last a couple of years, then you have to pay again! The guy couldn't believe you only pay once for UK ones unless you lose them or change address! We were now feeling more settled, car, driving licence and then off to Medicare for the cards which again, was easy, just showed our passports and they said they would post the cards. You need to have been in Oz for around 2 weeks, just enough time for Immigration to have notified them of your arrival before they can process your information or so they told us anyway! We now have our Medicare cards! We then went online for our Tax file numbers which was so easy and then got the numbers in the post the next week. If you have quite a bit of money in the bank from a property, you should get a Tax File Number as soon as you arrive, otherwise the bank takes the tax at the top percentage, once you have given them your TFN, they put it on file and then you need to sign a form for them to claim overpaid tax back to you. I would highly recomment St George Bank, I originally tried to open an HSBC account from the UK and after 6 weeks, I got a call literally as we were in the queue at Heathrow to leave saying that HSBC had declined our application because they weren't happy with my driving licence as it didn't have a photo regardless of the fact I had supplied copies of passport and birth certificate! I was furious and told them that they had wasted my time and it was their loss!! Went to St George in Erina Fair and the lady Janet (who moved to Oz from Manchester in the 70s) was fantastic, she has gone out of her way for us, calling on my mobile to see if we are OK, couldn't rave enough about the bank, we got our cards in the post 5 days later with cheque books and have had no trouble. I have to say, everything has been so easy and after having read some nightmares people have had, I was expecting the worst and have been pleasantly surprised, it has gone so smoothly and I think that has been down to everybody we have met being so helpful, Ozzies are just so helpful and friendly and we are bowled over by it! We haven't dealt with one bad or awkward person since arriving, maybe we've just been lucky, but I'm impressed by the service in most shops, alright you do get some who can't help and can't be bothered, but they're not rude with it, certainly not the ones we've come across.

Anyway, off we go to Cronulla in our MPV! Got there quite late and found a motel on the Kingsway, it was bloody awful and we felt quite depressed that night, but then when we checked out and made our way down to the beach, we really liked it and the shopping street their is nice too. We also drove round and went to Woolooware, Gymea and Caringbah, but decided we liked the look of Woolooware and spoke to a couple of people who said there was a good school there, so we decided to go to the Real Estates and check places out. Not a lot around for our price range which was $500 a week maximum. We have 3 kids so wanted minimum 3 bedrooms! We then were told about a place to stay in the meantime, which was Quest Apartments overlooking the beach and they are great, we got a one bedroom with sofa bed for $210 a night which is very expensive, but worth it - we knew it was temporary and it had a pool and felt like we were on holiday! Kept searching real estates and then a couple of days later, we went to see a bungalow in Woolooware and although its very small, it has a good size garden so we ended up applying for it. All we had to do was show a bank statement so that they could see we had sufficient money to pay the rent as my OH didn't have a job yet and we got it, it was as easy as that! Moved in two days later with nothing but suitcases, so off we went to the Good Guys and bought a washing machine - got a Fisher and Paykel (not sure if I spelt it right) top loader and I love it, fits twice the washing load in than our front loader at home and it doesn't take half as long and get the stuff clean, so highly recommended! it was $1049 which may sound like a lot, but it is their new one, the Aquastmart and I can't recommend it enough! then a fridge freezer, we went for F & P again, only a small one as our kitchen is tiny, but it suits the purpose! They were delivered and then we went to Target and got air beds and friends lent us some camping chairs and we got bits from K Mart and we are still waiting for our furniture to arrive. It landed in Oz on December 11th, the company picked it up from the dock on December 19th! and then they said it would be around 2 weeks after that, but that there is a backlog! shame, because it would have been nice to have it for Christmas, but hey ho!!

We phoned the local school and the Headteacher said they could start end of January and it was as easy as that! She said to go and see her the next day, we did and she was lovely, showed us round the school, introduced the boys to their teachers and then said they could go the next week for a day to meet kids before breaking up for holidays. The boys went in and loved it, so much so, that they begged me to go in the next day, so I spoke to the Headteacher and she said OK and they went in again. The kids were so friendly and made them feel very welcome. When I went to pick them up, kids were shouting bye to them, I am very impressed with the whole thing. The heateacher then sent personal letters to the kids at home saying how pleased she was that they were joining the school and she was looking forward to seeing them at the start of next term - wow, you don't get that at home and after two days, my 10 yr old said he preferred the school to England and he loved his school in England! I know, we have been so lucky!
and then to add to that, we discover that two kids from the school live next door but one, so the kids have got somebody to play with throughout the Summer holidays and they have a pool! could it get any better! Still have yet to get my four year old into Kindergarten because the one that has spaces is $41 per day and thats why it has spaces, the others are around the $30 mark and have waiting lists as long as your arm, but still, mustn't grumble! just have to decide if we can afford one or two days which is hard has he was in Reception in UK and had a year in full time free place Nursery prior to that, so he needs the stimulation, but nevermind, I'll just have to try and teach him a bit at home!

Things I have noticed that I find irritating are very little really because I wasn't expecting things to be the same as home and there are so many things that are better! Things that are better/good:

The weather, the fruit and veg, the roads, the beach, the laidback lifestyle, the friendliness of people, people willing to help, the price of petrol, the lorikeets in the garden, the school, the automatic car, and lots more I'm sure, but can't think at mo!

Irritating things are mainly the recycling bin which only gets emptied every two weeks, so we have it stacked up in the garden as it won't fit in bin and I have to say, that's all, Oh, one thing too is that drivers are not keen in letting you in, but I can deal with these things. I am sure there are a few more, but nothing I can't handle.

My OH is looking for work, he's a bricklayer by trade, but had his own building business at home, doing lofts, extensions, kitchens and bathrooms, so it will be difficult for him to get back to the bricks, but he's optimistic. He's got a couple of numbers to call on January 4th, so lets hope they come to something. If the worst comes to the worst, I can always go temping, but I'd rather not.

Its hard some days, especially not having female company being with a house full of males, but it doesn't last long and I know that I will meet people. My mum, who I am very close to (I'm her only child and she's single) phones quite a bit as she has a number which she dials before ours which makes the Oz call the price of a UK local call - the number is 08452 449 449 and then you dial the Oz number. It works because she has called her brother in Adelaide every week for the past year and because her calls, local and national are included in her monthly tariff, she ends up not paying for the call because its classed as local, how good is that! So since getting our phone connected (we chose Optus for phone and broadband), we have given this number to family and friends and they phone quite regularly! So I suppose because of this, I find it easier to cope. My family phoned me tonight, just about to eat thier dinner and I had a few tears, but then I'm fine again now. I only have to see the lifestyle to realise that we have done the right thing and it makes it bareable! Our kids can play out the front, can call for friends in the street, wander between each others houses and I'm not a nervous wreck. We go to the beach often which is 10 minutes walk, what more could you ask for!

HOpe that this has been helpful and not too boring! Good luck to those still waiting, just be prepared for differences, but embrace the changes rather than criticise them, every good thing has its price! but its not a lot to sacrifice if its going to make life better for your kids which in turn makes your life better, then you can't ask much better than that! I realise now how little freedom my kids had because of where we lived and don't get me wrong, we loved the community we lived in and the people were great, but the weather didn't allow them to get out much and there wasn't that much for them to do when the weather was good!

I'll stop rabbiting on now!

All the best!