katrina and Martin

Hi all
My family and l are hoping to move to Perth in Sep'07 and are at early stages of visa application, would love to meet with others in same position. We live in N. Ireland but are willing to travel for meet.
Hoping for some replies,
katrina and martin

grainne

hi katrina, were abouts in the north do u live, i lived there, now in melbourne

Irish Aussie Teen

We lived in Galway in the west but now we live in the gold coast

katsmajic

oooo spooky....i dont live in northern ireland, but your thread spooked me, im katrina and my hubby is martin...were in cheltenham...heading for brisbane ish next year..
best of luck with your visa application xxx

katrina and Martin

Hey Grainne
good to hear from you. we live in a village 12 miles from Omagh, 12 from Strabane and 20 to Draperstown (does this mean anything to you!). What about yourself were abouts in the north were you? how long you in Melbourne and are you 'living the dream'? as you know trying to get an irish meet together, notice on most of sites l'm visiting mainly people from England and Scotland not so many irish, do you know of any web sites that may be worth trying? l am originally from glasgow my husband and kids are irish and as much as l go back to glasgow to see family would have preferred a meet in ireland but if welcomed could go to a meet in glasgow with sister who is also hoping to move to perth with her family.
katrina

katrina and Martin

well hello there katrina and martin
can l just say you have really great names haha. how far into visa process are you and are you using agents? have you any kids or is it just the two of you heading over? were hopefully coming in package of five but at this early stage of process seems a long, long way away.
katrina and martin

katsmajic

hiya, were just setting out on this long long process...i want to start packing!! were assembling martin's tra at the mo, doing quite well with it as references are coming in without delay...we have 4 children, 14, 13, 8 & 2. middle 2 are girls and are monsters...boys are lovely..what about yours?
we have decided to set about the application ourselves, figured as we would have to do all the running around for the tra information etc we may as well fill in the form ourselves too...just hope that pays off martin wants to go to brisbane but im not too sure as yet...
how are you getting along with your application?
best wishes, katrina and martin xxx

katrina and Martin

hi guys
know what you mean bout the packing bit i'm not very patient at the best of times so l anticipate the wait is going to kill me. we decided to go with agent as martin brickie for 20 years but no formal qualifications and figure tra sounds difficult enough without taking advice on it. have been told by one agent that martin can be assessed and rubberstamped with australian bricklaying qual. by an independent assessor from australia due to arrive in uk july'07 but will cost extra £800. if it meant not having to do half the paperwork required for tra would seriously consider it but intending to research this further before deciding which agent to use.
3 kids(well 1 nearly adult) 17 turning 18 in july, 16 and 11. oldest looking into uni's in perth so we would like to be over by Nov'07 given new school year aand uni's begin feb, we'll see how it goes. had considered melbourne but climate of 4 seasons in one day put me off as get enough of that here, although weather great at present how bout were you are?

katsmajic

Hi, the weather here is fantastic...lil man is in paddling pool...ive been topping up tan and catching up with reading some books which has been lovely...
would your assessment by the indepentant guy mean you wouldnt have to do the tra again once you got to oz? if yes then its probably a good idea as alot of tradesmen have to do their tra again once they get there..
how are your kids re the planned move...mine were cool...now were commiting ££'s to it the oldest 2 are throwing wobblies....theyve got lives here n friends etc we're cruel parents etc...ive just told them its for a few years for them if they dont like it they can come back on their own!
we're hoping to get the tra sent off in 2 weeks max now...its really coming together, thankfully...cant believe how much info they need...and doing lots of it as we were told you can never do too much!
Hope your well etc and the weather stays nice for you too.
kat xxx

katrina and Martin

hi guys
weather here still glorious, not working today so happy, happy, happy. dont know a lot about independent assess. yet hoping to speak to agent next few days, will know better then. oldest 2 kids ok bout move, it the youngest (11) who is having probs with it but beginning to come round to idea. my sister and her family are intending to make the big move too so that's making difference for her. panicking big time about house prices in perth seriously thinking may have to reconsider perth! good to hear your tra near complete, good luck with it.
katrina x

breezeboylan

Hi, we are Irish (from Dublin) but live in Manchester. We are just waiting for the visas to be granted now and then we're of to Perth. We'd love to meet up with any one else going over. Lets hope we can arrange something soon. There is a tread on the main forum for Irish Expats that went on for a while maybe we could bump that back up and see if anyone there is interested?
Tracie

katrina and Martin

hi tracie
good to hear from you must look up the thread you mentioned as would be keen to get some kind of meet together over here. you must be so excited at this stage of process, did you do a 'rekkie' to perth or are you just taken the chance? house prices over there at present making me anxious, starting to have second thoughts about perth.
katrina and martin

breezeboylan

Hi, yea we went on a Rekie last year and fell in love with Perth. I do worry about the house prices and every now and then think about some were else but then I look at pics of Perth again and think sod it if we're going half way around the world I want to be in the place I fell in love with, (does that make sense). We plan on renting for a while just to be sure on the area we've picked and also cause rent seems so much cheaper then mortgage payments so it will give the hubbie a chance to get sorted with work. I'm the main applicant as a nurse and already sorted a job so at least we know one of us is working. Have you been to Aus yet and which part are you looking at going to?
Tracie

katrina and Martin

going to perth in jan'07 without kids for 'look,see', like you may fallin love with it and not worry about house prices! not worrying about work for martin as according to posts i've read loads of work for brikkies. i'm in social work and been told pay not as good (and l think its rather crap here) but currently training as beauthy therapist, so who knows may be able to do that instead when/if l get there as fancy a change.
katrina

buck-egit

Hi katrina and martin

I live in coleraine and work mostly in the triangle area as a kitchen fitter

I am in the mifddle of trying to get together my TRA forms and REfs etc etc
I have ben in the kitchen trade for 17 years manufactured them for 10 year partner in the family business and when dad retired i decided to go into the fitting instead ... FED up working with the joe publics not paying for jobs!!!!!

I am almost there with the tra forms just need my accountt to do me a letter teling me i have been self employed for 14 years in the JOINERY trade

email me if you want or pm me

Darren

I have wife and 2 kidz
wife yvonne
Robyn 5
Ben 3