karen8459

Hello Everybody. Just moved to Chatswood area from Wales. Wondering if anyone knew of any meet ups or ways to socialise/ meet new friends in the surrounding area. We have 2 children age 2 and 3. Boy and a girl. Would be most grateful for any advice.

itxrd

Hey - we;re in neutral bay so bit far but we have kids about the same age. They help in making friends. Try the local park and you'll get talking to folk. Local library too and they have playgroups eve lot of fmailies in same berywhere as well. Will boat as kids too young for school. Am sure you'll be fine. The ozzies tend to have their own cliques already but their are tons of fellow immigrants around ;-)

SamG

Hi, I moved to Chatswood 5 years ago with 3 kids between 4 and 1 (plus I was 6 months pregnant!). We live in Killara now and most of my children are at school, it all seems a long time ago. Anyway, the first thing I did when we arrived was find some playgroups - they saved my life! Local playgroups are listed on page 16 of this document:

http://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Ign...ughby07(1).pdf

I went to the one at St Pauls on Fullers Road - I don't know what it's like these days though - but have a look around and find one that suits you.

The other thing we did was find a spot at preschool, this will be hard but you have to be persistent. Explain that you'e not only new to the area but new to the country, this will get you to the top of any waiting list. Also keep ringing the preschools - I got a spot just be 'being keen' and ringing every few weeks and kept my kids in their minds as a spot became available. It depends where in Chatswood you live but 2 good ones on the Western side are the KU West Chatswood and Lady Game Kindergarten (this is in W Lindfield but only a few minutes in the car from W Chatswood).

Even going to the same parks regularly you'll meet the same families, I found Aussies much more friendly than where we were living in England and got chatting to other families very easily. And how about any activities for the kids? Spring is about to start so how about swimming lessons for your 3 year old? I think I also took my older kids to kindygym classes - you meet other families by doing these things too.

Don't feel in too much of a rush, there's so much to get used to in the early days of settling in. Once you get a routine going and get into a preschool you'll be well away.

We're about to move to the States for a few years (leaving in 3 weeks!!) but am happy to grab a coffee if you like. Feel free to pm me, even if it's for some advice via email.

Good luck!

greenpea

Hi there,

We are in Lane Cove, so not far from you at all (we go to Chatswood on the bus at least once a week). I have a 2 year old boy, and am expecting number 2 in February. If you fancy meeting up for a coffee at some point I would be more than happy to (there's a small but quite nice soft play centre in the shopping centre in Chatswood that I often take my little boy to!)

Clare

seayork2002

If all goes to plan I will be arriving (with a then nearly 3.5 year old rascal, I mean boy ) in Jan and to start with will be in Greenwich (near St Leonards)