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Portsmouth to Sydney

Portsmouth to Sydney

Old Nov 29th 2006, 9:32 am
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Default Portsmouth to Sydney

Hi,

We've been lurking around on here for a while now and thought it was time to introduce ourselves.

We moved out from Portsmouth in October on a 457 visa and are currently living in Wahroonga. We've got four kids, aged from 3 to 13, and so any tips on childrens activities etc will be gratefully received!

Cheers

Ian and Carolyn
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Old Nov 29th 2006, 11:43 pm
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by yanH
Hi,

We've been lurking around on here for a while now and thought it was time to introduce ourselves.

We moved out from Portsmouth in October on a 457 visa and are currently living in Wahroonga. We've got four kids, aged from 3 to 13, and so any tips on childrens activities etc will be gratefully received!

Cheers

Ian and Carolyn
Hi Ian and Carolyn

Welcome! There are tons of activities for kids, but I guess it really depends what they enjoy. Are they boys or girls?

Many girls enjoy playing netball from about the age of 7 upwards. There are gymnastics clubs, dancing schools, diving, surf life saving, brownies, girls soccer etc etc. For boys, as well as some of the activities mentioned above there are soccer and cricket and many more (sorry - don't know so much about boys, I have 3 girls!).

I don't know if you have read the meet-ups section but a group of us "ladies" are meeting up next Tuesday morning not far from where you are and you would be really welcome to join us. We're a friendly bunch and it's always great to meet new people.

Take care

Rudi
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Old Nov 30th 2006, 5:54 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by Rudi
Hi Ian and Carolyn

I don't know if you have read the meet-ups section but a group of us "ladies" are meeting up next Tuesday morning not far from where you are and you would be really welcome to join us. We're a friendly bunch and it's always great to meet new people.

Take care

Rudi

Yes - come along on Tuesday if you'd like to see some friendly faces - play area for the kids so bring any little ones with you.

Binbird
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Old Nov 30th 2006, 9:56 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Hi Rudi, thanks for that. We have boys aged 13, 7 and 3 and an 8 year old girl.
What sort of time do you meet on tuesday, and for how long because I joined a playgroup last week till 11.30, but would love to come along after that if it is not too late.
Thanks, Carolyn.
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Old Nov 30th 2006, 10:02 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by yanH
Hi Rudi, thanks for that. We have boys aged 13, 7 and 3 and an 8 year old girl.
What sort of time do you meet on tuesday, and for how long because I joined a playgroup last week till 11.30, but would love to come along after that if it is not too late.
Thanks, Carolyn.

Hi Carolyn

We meet around 10.30 but then stay and natter until we have to leave to pick kids up from school, so please come along after playgroup, we will still be there!

look forwards to meeting you then.

Rudi
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Old Nov 30th 2006, 9:22 pm
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Thumbs up Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by yanH
Hi,

We've been lurking around on here for a while now and thought it was time to introduce ourselves.

We moved out from Portsmouth in October on a 457 visa and are currently living in Wahroonga. We've got four kids, aged from 3 to 13, and so any tips on childrens activities etc will be gratefully received!

Cheers

Ian and Carolyn
Hello Ian & Carolyn
You replied to one of my threads earlier this week. Did you arrive in Oz in Oct this year- or last. If 06 it must all still be new & strange-or maybe not!
How are you settling?How was finding a house?What do you miss? Or are you just blown away by the exciting new life?We arrive late 1/07,just in time for new academic year.Cannot quite get my head around this fact!
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Old Nov 30th 2006, 10:36 pm
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Hi Rudi,
Whereabouts is it that you are meeting? Me and Thomas (my 3 year old) will definitely be there late morning, probably 11.30- 12ish.
Look forward to it.
Thanks, Carolyn.
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Old Nov 30th 2006, 10:44 pm
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by yanH
Hi Rudi,
Whereabouts is it that you are meeting? Me and Thomas (my 3 year old) will definitely be there late morning, probably 11.30- 12ish.
Look forward to it.
Thanks, Carolyn.

Hi Carolyn

here is the thread about the meet

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410318

We are meeting at the Bonds Nursery (Flower Power) 277 Mona Vale Road at Terrey Hills. I will PM you my number just in case you can't find us.

Look forwards to meeting you then.

Rudi
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Old Dec 1st 2006, 9:59 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by Wilgar
Hello Ian & Carolyn
You replied to one of my threads earlier this week. Did you arrive in Oz in Oct this year- or last. If 06 it must all still be new & strange-or maybe not!
How are you settling?How was finding a house?What do you miss? Or are you just blown away by the exciting new life?We arrive late 1/07,just in time for new academic year.Cannot quite get my head around this fact!
Hello,

We arrived in Oz in October 06 so everything is still pretty new to us.

In terms of settling Ian and the three older kids have settled in well. Its been harder for Carolyn and Tom (our youngest aged 3) as meeting people is harder without going to work/school.

Deciding what area to live in was the hardest part of finding a house for us as we had never been to Sydney before. As Ian's job is based out of North Sydney we decided to live somewhere with easy rail access to there which pointed us towards the North Shore. We thought about Northern Beaches but were put off by lack of rail connections to the city. Once we had settled on Wahroonga we found a house quite quickly. Sorting out the rental agreement was quite painless and we had the keys to the house a week after viewing.

Other than the obvious friends and family, there's not really anything in particular that we miss, more just the familiarity of everything. Just knowing where everything is, what to do etc. I think this will pass in time as we get more used to the area and general way of life. Another thing we miss is a good night's sleep, as our stuff is still awaiting clearance from customs, 4 weeks after it arrived in Australia and about 9 weeks since we last saw it! Again, once we have our own things around us it will start to feel more like home and that we belong.

Can sympathise with your clearing out of the house. We didn't get a skip and made so many trips to the tip throwing stuff away that we lost count! God knows how we still managed to fill a 40 foot container. I dread to think what rubbish we have brought with us!

Ian and Carolyn
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Old Dec 3rd 2006, 9:24 pm
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Smile Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by yanH
Hello,

We arrived in Oz in October 06 so everything is still pretty new to us.

In terms of settling Ian and the three older kids have settled in well. Its been harder for Carolyn and Tom (our youngest aged 3) as meeting people is harder without going to work/school.

Deciding what area to live in was the hardest part of finding a house for us as we had never been to Sydney before. As Ian's job is based out of North Sydney we decided to live somewhere with easy rail access to there which pointed us towards the North Shore. We thought about Northern Beaches but were put off by lack of rail connections to the city. Once we had settled on Wahroonga we found a house quite quickly. Sorting out the rental agreement was quite painless and we had the keys to the house a week after viewing.

Other than the obvious friends and family, there's not really anything in particular that we miss, more just the familiarity of everything. Just knowing where everything is, what to do etc. I think this will pass in time as we get more used to the area and general way of life. Another thing we miss is a good night's sleep, as our stuff is still awaiting clearance from customs, 4 weeks after it arrived in Australia and about 9 weeks since we last saw it! Again, once we have our own things around us it will start to feel more like home and that we belong.

Can sympathise with your clearing out of the house. We didn't get a skip and made so many trips to the tip throwing stuff away that we lost count! God knows how we still managed to fill a 40 foot container. I dread to think what rubbish we have brought with us!

Ian and Carolyn
Hi -well I should think settling a family with 4 children takes a huge amount of energy & time. I think its often harder for the parents to settle as (hopefully) the children will make friends at school.You`ve not been there long and as children are natural icebreakers am sure you`ll meet people quite easily.

You are very brave to head to Sydney never having visited before! We had the same thoughts on where to live .I`d have loved the N.beaches but also were put off by lack of transport links.Shame!We hope to live Cheltenham/Epping(UK friends keep laughing at the names!)I`ll have to look up Wahroonga on map. Was it easy/difficult to rent in your chosen area?

We`ll also have a lean time with half our stuff on the ship for a while. Mind you having been throwing stuff out for weeks and now at stage where friends & rellies are taking stuff they have no doubt coveted for years I wonder how we had so much stuff in the house. We certainly miss nothing thats gone. Shows you don`t need much.We are aiming for a 20 ft container so are being fairly ruthlss.Hope you stuff gets ther soon and I`m sure having your own things will help to make you all feel at home.Happy settling.
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Old Dec 5th 2006, 10:17 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Hi Wilgar,

Having the kids certainly helps with making friends. We've already been to a Cubs function and there are a few school things coming up in the next few weeks.

There wasn't a huge choice of properties for us to choose from in Wahroong but then as there are six of us we were looking for a property with 5 bedrooms so that cuts the choice down. If you are looking for 3 or 4 bedrooms then there is much more of a choice.

We've just discovered that our container has cleared customs and will be delivered next week. It got packed up on the 21st September so its taken around 11 weeks to find its way through the whole process. We've got quite used to minimalist living over the last month so we are now wishing that we'd gone for a twenty foot container and been a bit more ruthless with what we've brought.

Cheers

Ian
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Old Dec 5th 2006, 11:02 am
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Smile Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Originally Posted by yanH
Hi Wilgar,

Having the kids certainly helps with making friends. We've already been to a Cubs function and there are a few school things coming up in the next few weeks.

There wasn't a huge choice of properties for us to choose from in Wahroong but then as there are six of us we were looking for a property with 5 bedrooms so that cuts the choice down. If you are looking for 3 or 4 bedrooms then there is much more of a choice.

We've just discovered that our container has cleared customs and will be delivered next week. It got packed up on the 21st September so its taken around 11 weeks to find its way through the whole process. We've got quite used to minimalist living over the last month so we are now wishing that we'd gone for a twenty foot container and been a bit more ruthless with what we've brought.

Cheers

Ian
Hi Ian
Good luck with the unpacking.It`ll be a bit like Christmas come early!
My boys do Cubs/Scouts here and the youngest wants to be a `Joey` in Australia. We saw evidence of Scouts etc near area where we think we will live. Thats a good way to join in and meet people. Thank God for Lord Baden Powell!!!!! Guess there will be lots of school things happening at Christmas which will also help you to integrate.
Interesting to hear how long your container took. We are now prepared for ours to take longer than the estimated 6 weeks. I`m even looking forward to living junk free for a while.

Did Carolyn & Tom make the Sydney Ladies meet yesterday- or is that today for you??
Are rents quite high. From properties on net we feel that they are and so we are not sure what sort of house we will choose. Are you planning to buy a house at some point?

My husband will be in Sydney ( this week for 3 days!!! )on business and will bring some stuff over to leave for our arrival.I sort of wish we could all come now to avoid the dreadful goodbyes etc!
Hope you continue to settle well!Sounds as if you are all doing ok. How have the children settled in at the schools?
Jane
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Old Dec 8th 2006, 10:16 pm
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Hi Jane,

We were suprised at the time the container took too having been also quoted around 6 weeks. It actually arrived in around 6/7 weeks but then sat on the quay side in Sydney for a another 5 weeks waiting for Customs .

Carolyn and Tom went to the ladies meet and had a good time. She also met up with them for a Christmas drink last night.

Rents are higher than we expected. I think they are pushed up if you live near to a station. However I didn't want to have to get a bus and then a train. We probably will buy at some point but we wanted to be sure of areas before taking the plunge.

The kids have settled well in school and are enjoying the usual end of term activities.

Hope your husband's trip went well.

Cheers

Ian

Last edited by yanH; Dec 8th 2006 at 10:37 pm.
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Old Dec 9th 2006, 10:22 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

Whereabouts in Pompey are ya from...............quite a lot of ex pompeys on here!!
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Old Dec 9th 2006, 10:56 am
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Default Re: Portsmouth to Sydney

We moved from Cosham, but are from Southsea. Whereabouts are you from then?
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