Yeah please don't beat yourself up! Everything will fall into place, it always does. We are surviving on one wage and are having fun! We have also found a house we would like to buy in the $348,000 region on Duncan's $25 per hour wages! If we can do it, so can you!!!

I'm am really pissed off with Oz Forex at the moment. I booked in an order on Monday for a 24 hour thingy to reach 2.27, and it did reach that. But now they are telling me that is the customer rate and for them to let me have it at that it needed to reach 2.2798 or something like that, so therefore I didn't get it!!! Why the **** couldn't they tell me that when I booked the order? I don't know, now the rate has plummeted to 2.20 thus loosing us $3000!!!!!! How pissed off am I right now? I can't get hold of Duncan to tell him cos he's in the forest and hasn't got a signal, I just needed to vent. Sorry bout that folks!

Kerry

woah, that stinks Kerry, they could have given you some warning

It is a stressful time Beth no matter what anyone tells you, you are uprooting your family and moving to the other side of the world so to not have worries would frankly be odd.

Forget Tasmania for a minute, how about you and your family making a list of what you want in your new life in Australia what are your priorities, hobbies etc if outdoor living and a pool is top of the list then no Tasmania isnt the place. Then make a list of why you chose Tasmania.

The thing is no where has to be permanent you need to suck it and see.

My partner didnt seek work for the first few weeks instead we used the time to find an area we wanted to live in.

We were lucky when we arrived we found a short term furnished rental until our shipping arrived then moved to an unfurnished but then we arrived in winter and are on the coast .. a lot of second homes here that are left empty during winter so they rent them out.

Banks everyone will give you different advice we chose commonwealth just because it was easy, you can open an account in London. we just transferred our funds to it they contacted us when the exchange rates were good and then moved it over to a bank account here. all we had to do here was go in and activate it.

I was petfied of spiders, I'm presuming your fear isnt about being bitten? that doesnt normally come into the equation I know it didnt with me I just had an irrational fear of them my biggest fear was the huntsman not a deadly spider.

but I had some hypnotherapy for it prior to coming out and went on a course at London Zoo and it helped a lot but yep they are here we have seen some beauties.

Just ticked over at 37 degrees 2pm (that was a car thermometer reading) officially only 31 deg

Hi, thanks for the reply. The girls want a pool 100%......we had a good chat with them last night and asked them to describe what they thought their new home in Oz was going to look like. The older 3 said bungalow with 4 bedrooms, lovely garden with a pool, patio area and a huge b-b-q. They looked all bright eyed with excitement just telling us about what's in their head!!!
Hubby and I know that's not going to be the reality for them in Tas..........and it's shaken us to the core!!!
The whole reason we are emigrating is to give our beautiful daughters a much better quality of life.......and I don't want to burst their bubble.
Never thought I'd say it but Tas maybe the wrong choice for our family now
Beth x x

I have seen houses for sale in Tas with pools - i gather you just need to get a heated one for most of the year!
As for a bungalow with 4 bedrooms / lovely garden / patio area and huge BBQ - there's plenty that fit that bill in Tas - and most at a much lower price than parts of the mainland....
Depending on where you go on the mainland - i imagine in certain parts that it's very difficult to cultivate and maintain a lovely garden there - even just the grass. When we were in Perth in November it was horrible to see the dry / yellow lawns and not much about in the way of flowers... The few houses we saw with some lovely flowers were in our opinion obviously owned/looked after by older people....who may have the extra time it would need to look after them...and then in certain parts there's the worry of water restrictions!
My OH is very much into gardening - and spends hours all through the year in ours with his weeding / mowing etc etc....He also loves to grow from seed each year - and we couldn't imagine doing any of that in Western Australia...whereas in Tas he's already planning what veggies etc he can have a go at if we have enough land!

Seems a shame to change your mind about Tas just for a pool!
My OH's sister had a pool when they 1st moved to Perth - she has 3 daughters - and gradually as the girls got into their teen years they used it less and less as they were too busy doing other things - but his brother in law still had to keep cleaning it all the time.... Eventually they moved and when they did that time they got a SPA instead as it was less maintenance - took up less room in the garden, was cheaper to install and could be used all year round....

I feel like I'm in limbo right now!! Not sure what to do. The pool isn't an issue for me or hubby......the girls will be upset if they don't get to jump in one every day after school though.
How long does the warm weather last for in Tas in general? It has to last longer than we get here in the UK!!!
Beth x x

We all have been there - well some of us still are in limbo with decisions to make etc - so dont worry! It's part of the journey of emigrating i guess! Not much fun at times i know!!! and very stressful!

The locals had best answer the question regarding the length of the time it's warm over there....i'd only be going on something i read on the net!

I know that Teabag used to have a pool when she lived in Western Australia - maybe she can let you know whether her girls have missed it since moving to Tas....and what they've substituted their time doing!

I hate feeling like this!!!! Everything is up in the air again Not that I'm coming to Oz just yet as I haven't sold the house......but I need something to focus on.
Beth x x

Well at least you've put yours up for sale.....we've still got that bit to do yet!

Oh don't talk about selling the house!!!! Been on the market for 9 months already......and just heard that the interest rate isn't going down this month....staying at 5.5%
Beth x x

Beth

Sorry to hear that today is not a good one either.
Can sympathise with you as hubby very set on Tas, and I liked what I saw too, but would like better weather than here and I'm not so sure you will always get that. BUT life is always about compromise, I'm not sure we could cope with the heat on the mainland, where water shortages are an issue ( I know they are in some parts of Tas too)and we both really enjoy gardening, my hubby wants to grow loads of veg, so hopefully Tas will be good for that.
Until we have the visas and house almost sold, we have decided to be open minded about our destination, as ultimately it will be down to where OH and myself can get the right jobs.
I'm sure it will all work itself out in time.

Sam

What a great idea to help your fear, One of my biggest fears of going to Tas is the spiders, i practically hypoventilate if i see a big one here and i know thats no where the scale of Oz spiders, i might try the hypnotherapy thing nearer the time.

We don't miss our pool, it was a huge albatross around my neck as I had always needed to be out there with the girls to supervise and it would always end up being a two hour session, after work/school each day, made dinner late every night. We put a shade sail over the pool two summers ago and that made the water freezing and I stopped enjoying my swims.

Here in Tas we have had maybe 5 or 6 days I would have liked to jump into a pool but we went to the local council pool instead, the kids enjoyed the slides and stuff there.

I have seen house's here with pools, and we are actually considering a spa pool, run it cooler in summer just to cool off in and run it warm in Winter for an indulgence. Another option is an above ground pool, cheap and dismountable.

Anywhere that's viable to have a swimming pool has the trade-off of awfully hot and long summers.

climate average figures are here:

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averag...as_names.shtml

just click on the location you want.