: Well we arrive on 2nd Feb but only for 9 nights (not long enough xx) after a week in Sydney I think it will be even more appealing to us!!

Can't wait for Christmas to come and go ( I know bah-humbug )
I do like Christmas i'll just be glad we can then focus on our Oz holiday and stop spending on bloody toys!

Everything is now booked YAY!!
Just wondering as this is a validation trip for us, do we need to do anything different to the normal procedure in the airport ?????
I assume that its automatically held on a database for the next 5 years that we have entered Oz by our final date

I must stop thinking!!
ZOE x

HI

Glad you've got it all sorted for your trip, sounds like you will have a fab time.
Know what you mean bout Xmas, we haven't even got the visas but it still dominates everything, including what presents to buy, as I keep thinking "can we take that with us?" about everything.
You never know, you might have sold your house by the time you go!!

Sam

Oooooohhhh don't forget about lil old me!!!!!!!
We are ready to come NOW.........but haven't sold our house
Have decided to live within a 10 mile radius of Hobart to start with
Hoping to be there within 6 months!!!
Beth x x

hi Zoe, we got back Monday from our 3 week trip to Oz (Perth & Tassie). You dont have to do anything at the airport - they just scan your passport - and stamp it....
Our initial entry had to be by March 2008 (we received visa's in April 07), so we now have until March 2012 (just over 4 years) to become permanent residents before your visa expires.... The 5 years only applies from the 1st date of issue - and you still only have that 1st year to make initial entry.
We never realised until recently though that if you delay entry until near your visa expiry (not that we want to wait that long! ) - but if you need to return to the UK - and you haven't done 2 years residency or started the application for permanent citizenship then you would then need to apply for a resident return visa to let you back into Oz!

Hope this helps..... know what you mean about Christmas. I bought a few bits before we went in November - but now we're back - i'm dreading the credit card bills - as i have loads of presents still to get - and we spent loads of money whilst away Oh well - such is life!!!!

Thanks for that!!

I know it seems obvious but I can start myself off worrying about anything especially all this emigration and visa stuff!!

When do you hope to be over there for good??

I'm hoping it won't be longer than 2 years from now fingers crossed xx

Zo x

hi, the original plan prior to the trip was that if we liked the place to put the house on the market immediately after christmas. now that we've discovered my OH's wages are to be less than we'd 1st anticipated - we've decided to postpone the move for a bit longer - in the hope that we can save a little more money! Fingerscrossed house prices wont drop here - or go up over there in the meantime! Our concern is that we both work over here - albeit part-time for me, but when we move i'm planning on having a break from work for a little while. Whilst we're renting etc we'd be fine as we'd have the equity from our UK house sale in the bank - but we're worried once we've used that to purchase a property on the island - as i want to have a "pot" of money left in order to fly back with the children to the UK at least every 18months (due to ill-health my parents are unable to come to Oz)..... As flights are so expensive (and cost more when flying from Oz to the UK) we want to make sure that if we need to get back we have a little bit more savings as the wages he'll be earning wont allow for us to save to cover them....

We still hope to be out there by the end of 2008. I've been going through a lot of heartache about the move - especially knowing my parents are both never going to be able to come visit us, its hard knowing i'm taking the children away from them (they all adore one another). They've been quite positive about us going recently - it's probably just me emotionally torturing myself!
I still want to go - and especially having now been there - now we're back in Romford i feel "hemmed in" if you know what i mean. We virtually live on top of one another here - in Oz there's so much more open space and distance between you and your neighbour!

You will have a great time in Feb.... we wished we'd stayed in Tassie longer rather than spending a lot of our trip in perth...

Hobart's a lovely clean city - and reminded me of the UK - one reason i love the Island.... it's also got lovely old buildings - one thing sadly lacking in Perth
(i'm not a fan of the legoland new build suburbs sprouting up there)....

Hey Cathy, the more i read your posts the more concerned i am as well money wise, like you i am hoping to not have to work in Tas like i do here, i think we will have to see what we think when we get over there next summer (hopefully for our validation visit) bbut all being well would like to be out there by the end of 2008 as well. i am so close to all of my family and have daily doubts about not seeing my mum or sister as i do now, and taking the kids away from everyone, is it the right thing to do ? who knows unless we try. I havent even been to Tas yet, but get as much info as i can from Corinne so i feel hemmed on anyway just on what she has told me. Cant wait to go, gonna have 5 days in Sydney and then hopefully two weeks in Tas.

Shona

It's so hard having to face up to leaving our loved ones here while we jet off to the other side of the world

I will miss my Dad and brother and sister so much but my sister has her own family and my brother is a ' Traveller' by nature and has been to Aus before and never wants to leave to come home! ( a permanent visitor I think!!) so he is practically packing my bags..........that just leaves Dad and although he is happy for us, he sees the boys a few times every week and I speak every day either in person or on the phone so I think it will leave a huge space in his life ( he has re-married )...but since my mother died 5 years ago it really made me think on many levels that this is my family and I really have to do what I feel we should as a family ( I do feel selfish at times though)

I really want to do it and if I didnt get to go I would always think What If............it's cheesy but Life really is too short (My mother was only 51 when she died) Get off the morbid stuff!

Sorry if I bored you all!!!! (what do you mean you nodded off!!)

Love Zo x

Not bored at all, comforting to know others are in the same situation as me. As much as i can see the sadness in my mums eyeswhenever i talk about Tas, when i first told her of our plans, her words were "do it, i don't blame you" and " i might not be here in ten years" (again morbid) but shes right at some point you have to be a little selfish for yourselves and start thinking of your family and whats best for the kids, its such a big thing i have doubts on a daily basis, and then something will happen and i will think 'god i wish i was in Tas'

Sorry, i seem to have invited myself to join in x

You are more than welcome xxxxx

I'm just off on the dreaded school run , speak soon

Zoe

i don't think it's selfish to do what you want with your life-i don't want to be in the situation when i'm 70/80/90/whenever and saying "what if i'd actually gone to Australia"...

exactly, i keep saying we are doing this for the kids but part of me is actually choosing to do this for myself and the OH as well, whats wrong with wanting something different and hopefully better out of life. Most of the people i have spoken to on here who have made the move to Tas have not once said they have made a mistake yet.

Hey everyone, i think anyone that hasn't made the move has those "pre moving jitters" - Not that i've ever been married - but it must be like pre-wedding nerves!
Everything everyone has said this afternoon is true.....life is very short - and it's a shame that quite often we allow our fears of hurting / upsetting other people to delay and interrupt what we want for our own lives...
I agree with Ian, i'd rather do the move than look back in 10 or 20 years time and wonder "what if"....

and Shona..... dont let my comments about salaries affect your thought's on the Island - you may find out next year that your OH will be earning much more in his job.....i was only commenting on what we'd found out recently with regards to Sheet Metal worker jobs and some other trades........
I know it's all relevant and i guess we need to think about the whole picture more rather than keep comparing things to the UK.....

and i agree, not once during our visit did any of the people we met regret for one minute about moving to the Island.....
I imagine the only regret anyone (probably will include me in a years time) is that they didnt discover the place sooner!