Bacon

Hi - my husband has been offered a job to start end of January. Our PR runs out in March and because of our age we won't get the chance to get a PR or working visa again. We want to accept the job but our soon to be 17 yr old son is not keen and feels it'll be the worst thing for him. The last thing we want to do is muck up his education, or to send him somewhere he going to hate or not settle in......so here's the plan.

OH has booked flights for he and son to visit Bunbury for a week. Can't do any longer because if he likes it we need to return to UK and pack etc to fly out again permenantly about 10 days later. If there's no way he will give it a go we come back to UK and respect his decision, BUT we want him to make an informed decision hence the last minute reccie

So, you guys out there, I was wondering if you had kids say 17-18 if we could meet and they tell my son what it's really like from that age point of view. He likes cricket and footie so if there was a game on or trip to town - anything to give him a proper feel for it, I'd be so grateful.

Flights not yet confirmed but looking like arriving on 30th dec but actually getting to Bunbury New Year's Day to the 5th jan.

Please PM me if you have nice obliging kids or anything else you may be able to help or suggest...
Can't believe it may mean we do a full emigration in 3 weeks, haven't even told anyone yet

Thanks so much for any help in advance
Bacon

Geezer123

Bunbury is a lovely little town, but like any isolated town in Australia, New Zealand or America where there are large distances between cities, the successful kids usually leave for a better life, and the ones that stay end up smoking crack/meth.

Just a reality of the dynamic of these towns.

Kim67

Bunbury's the second largest city in WA and it's very close to Perth.

Pollyana

Do you actually have any experience of living in Australia . If so, where? It would be useful to know on what some of your opinions are based........

Bacon

That's so informative thanks really helpful

Bacon

Thanks Kim/Pollyanna
Thanks both. Oh and I have both lived in Perth (northern burbs) before and know what to expect but son was only 6 at the time so no memories. And I felt, if someone said, " I want you really quickly to decide to live in Timbuktu, " the first thing I'd say is well I want a look at it first to have something to base my decision on. So that's kinda why I want to do this for him.
So real estate is all ok and I've investigated local schools and he'd be year 12.
its just we all need some sort of buy in to give it a good go
hes worried re friendship groups so I thought a friendly experience would help
Thanks

Pollyana

I know Kim has plenty of WA knowledge
For my part, i know a family who moved there from Ireland about 8 years back, settled well, absolutely love it. The kids were early teens when they moved and I've not heard any complaints about them wanting to leave the area, they seem to love it and are really happy there.

Kim67

I have loads of family in Bunbury still - but they're all as mad as cut snakes so can't recommend someone to show Bacon's son around. I loved my holidays in Bunbury as a kid and teenager though.

daunted

Hi Bacon....I live in Australind just north of Bunbury but work in Bunbury. I arrived with teenage kids (all subsequently left home for uni/army), but they loved it here. What does yr son like to do? There's a good Soccer (football) scene here if he's interested in that. What school will he be attending?

Tr1boy

I think this would be terribly hard to pull off, for a few reasons. It's Xmas hols, so most people will be away. I doubt there will be any games on due to the time/ heat.

Your son will be there for a week, so your husband has a choice. Either cram the week full of stuff for your son to do that isn't ' reality', or he won't be able to find enough to do to change your son's mind. It's a tough situation.

My other thought is, if your son really takes to it based on a week, there could be a danger of the 'honeymoon' period being over pretty quickly for him and you face a backlash. Either way, kids go their own way when they are adults anyway.

Does your husband also need to reccie for himself? That's some big expectations for one week, especially with some jet lag thrown in.

Have you lived in Oz at all?

DanSolihull

I used to live in Perth and drove down to Margaret River for a few nights, I can't remember if it was Bunbury or Mandurah that I stopped off at on the way but if it was, I got the feeling it was a retirement sort of area but nevertheless a nice area.

I would suggest some road trips to Freo, Perth and Margaret River. Definitely rent a car otherwise the isolation would be felt.

northernbird

I'll be honest and tell you it's an awful time to move your 17 year old. Years 11 and 12 are the 2 important years at school in Australia and to expect your son to do 2 years work in 1 is pretty much impossible in my view. If he is bright and University bound you could well be shooting yourself in the foot. It wouldn't surprise me if schools suggested he goes back a year and in all honesty this would (again IMO) be a wise choice if he is Uni material.

Bacon

Thanks everyone for all your replies

An update. Husband job has been frozen in line with government jobs til June. So we didn't go out Xmas but have arranged to visit last couple of weeks in March. This way husband can meet potential employers etc, we can all visit then and for a bit longer so it could work out well.

Only glitch is that our PR runs out before June - but I reckon they may give us a year extension (rrv) if we can prove job offer and it's not our fault re delay. Original plan was if job was in Feb, I could stay back and sell UK house etc, but this way I can't work my notice etc and do that as no formal start date for him yet, so by the time he gets it, my working notice, selling house period etc will be after PR expires by a couple of months. If anyone can advise on the likihood of getting a rrv in these circumstances, please can you advise? He works in fire safety so it is a skill they need out there

many thanks
Bacon

Bermudashorts

Unfortunately no way of knowing whether you will get the RRV or otherwise in advance. On paper you would not appear to meet the criteria (I am assuming you have not lived in Australia since your visa was granted) but in practice I have seen loads of RRVs being granted when the person did not appear to meet any criteria.

In your shoes, I would apply for it before the current visa "expires", so any time around now and you would have to make a very good case for it on the strength of the job offer you have.

The reason I would do it now, before the current visa expires, is so that if it is refused you can make a decision and if need be get out there whilst you still can.

On the other hand why have you not moved so far? You appear to have left it until the worst possible time for your son. Sometimes people panic when the visa is about to expire and think they ought to make the move, when in reality maybe the best thing is to just let it go and forget about it.