Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

hi all... I have only 2 wks till my trip - yay!

Gary/anyone else interested - the monthly parents group is on this Sat if Vikky is interested in coming?

Sam - is it right that you can only take 100ml of liquid in carry on now? Does it include milk for my little one (she wont like the uht stuff that is on the plane)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Effie

Not long for your trip, can't believe mine has been and gone but then again it was only 2 weeks!

You can only take one small sealable plastic bag per person with containers no larger than 100mls, they were really strict on it on all of our flights. I'm not sure about individual airlines but Melbourne airport info does imply you can take baby milk on board of larger quantities but check with the airline for further advice:

http://www.melbourneairport.com.au/F...Explained.html

Sam

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

From travelling when Jared was younger and the new rules were in effect then, it was ok to take a bottle ready filled alongwith cartons of ready made formula milk.. Only thing with the bottle was that we were asked to "sample" a bit in front of the guy at security after our hand luggage was scanned (if anyone's ever tried SMA or similar - you'll know why i offered that job to Andy LOL). I also travelled with a couple of babyfood jars and was asked to open just 1 of them and eat a bit of it! ;) When we arrived in Australia from the UK though - i had 2 unopened cartons of formula milk and those were confiscated, so if you buy any small formula milk cartons for use on the way back to Oz, you might want to fill your babies bottle up just as you leave the plane incase they do the same to you....:)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

thanks guys... she isnt on formula, just full cream milk... i just know she wouldnt like uht if thats all thats available on the plane. I guess if I put it in baby bottles if I need to drink it then I can... just wasnt sure if they would allow me taking milk bottles?

I got a little bottle of infant calming remedy - our pharmacist is a naturopath too so I am glad I have that if I need it.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

You might want to check if planning on taking more than one bottle...i'm not sure if they'll allow more than one already filled... they do prefer to see sealed cartons / bottles. I think like anything though - it depends on who is working that day! Good luck :)
I'm glad i dont have to worry about anything like that now, only whether or not my son will have a terrible two's tantrum! LOL. :)

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Hi all
You probably don't remember me......but introduced myself about a year ago with the intention of moving to tas late last year. As you can see it didn't quite work that way and we are still here!
We are finally ready to try again and hope to move later this year instead.....
I have continued to look at this thread from time to time over the last long year and wondered if anyone could help us with a couple of questions?

Firstly we are wondering about schools. My children are 14, 12 and 6 ( so pretty much cover all age groups) and i would like to get them settled asap. Does anyone have any opinions on particular schools/areas that they could share with me? (Hoping to be around Hobart area). I have looked at loads of websites but it's pretty hard to get an idea of what a school is actually like from those.

Then we need somewhere to stay when we first arrive. We are looking for a holiday let type of thing i think - any recommendations?

Lastly we are bringing our dog too - has anyone else shipped a dog over to tas? If so who did you use?

Would be so grateful for any advice - it's so exciting to be back!
Anna

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Anna

Nice to hear from you, I do remember you, we don't get so many people on this thread!!

Schools - well, it's all down to personal preferences but for what it's worth, I'll tell you the little I know:

Taroona High School has a good reputation but does have a strict catchment area, as it is so popular

Most of the Catholic schools in and around Hobart seem to be good, depends what your feelings are on that, we chose a Catholic school in Kingston/Blackman's Bay area although we are not in any way religious simply because it seemed a better option than the state school.

Hutchins and Collegiate are both very good, wish we could afford to send our children there but starting at about $12k per year per child it was not an option for us.

Maybe mention some of the ones you have thought about and I might know a bit more.

Holiday rentals - we stayed at Rosie's Cottage at Lindisfarne, this was a great place to base oursleves for 3 weeks as it was very cosy and a real home from home. www.quaysidecottages.com.au

There are also:

www.salamancaterraces.com.au (we stayed here when we came on holiday 2 years ago, really well positioned and in the nicest bit of Hobart, in my opinion!)

www.oldwoolstore.com.au (not stayed here but have heard it is nice)

Check out www.tripadvisor.com, www.wotif.com.au and www.stayz.com.au for more places.

Dogs - we didn't bring our dog (sob :() as we were concerned about the quarantine period (4 weeks) she didn't cope very well with stress (barmy cocker spaniel) and we also had some concerns about where we would rent with a dog as most landlords will not allow dogs in the house. We were lucky as she went to people we knew who have kept in touch with photos and emails but I still regret not having her with us, unfortunately hubby was never keen on her coming so with the added concerns it was no hoper. Check out the main forum and search for dogs, quarantine etc and you'll find loads of threads about bringing your dog.

Good luck and shout up if you need more info. It's a bit quiet on here at the moment but hopefully someone else will be able to give you some more info.

Sam

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

hi Anna...

I'm newish to the thread (but not to being an expat)... I used to work in Hobart while living in Launceston and stayed at the woolstore a number of times... it is good in that its mostly self catering apartments, and is close to town. Might also be worth checking on realestate.com.au - some of the corporate rentals are cheaper than the hotel rates if you are planning on staying there for more than a couple of weeks. There are a couple of agents who do that in Launceston (where I am) and I think there are some in Hobart as well.

Schools - while we are in Launceston my step son attends a catholic school and DD will when she is older. Like Sam, the costs for private school were out of our reach but we did like that there was something in between. A friend has said though that in comparison to the uk the schools here are quite behind... her 9 yr old has been put up a year and is ahead of that year too.

We are off to the uk next weds! stop off in melb on tues and then the long haul starts. I spoke to singapore airlines and they said that I can take up to a litre of milk with me so all is good. Our bag is almost packed - I have managed to limit us to one suitcase as mum has clothes there for my little one.

Best go for now, hope everyone is ok, its very quiet at the moment

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Good luck for your trip Effie, how long are you going for?

Don't envy you the journey (I'm not in a hurry to do that again) but wish I was going back for a longer stay, I only just got to say hello to everyone before it was time to say goodbye again!

Have a good flight x

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Sam - I leave on Weds and come back late on the 3rd Sept (15 days I think)... part of me would like to be there longer but part of me knows I will have had enough and want to come back!

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Sam and Effie - thanks so much for both the welcome back and the advice.

The rentals look great Sam, i just can't believe i havn't found them myself as i have spent hours looking online....

So i gather neither of you are very impressed by the state schools? I havn't looked at Catholic schools yet but will do so now. Are fees more reasonable? $12k per year is way way beyond us - especially as we have 3 children!! Have also been reading about the Christian Schools in Tas - Calvin is the one i remember, any thoughts? Their website does not mention their fees though. Must admit i'm a bit panicked by the thought of huge school fees on top of everything else.

How are you finding the winter weather? Temperatures in Hobart don't look too bad but i guess a lot depends on the wind. what sort of time does it get dark at the moment?

Hope you have a good trip Effie!

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hi Anna...

Just while I think of it... not 100% sure as my partner pays his sons fees, but I am pretty sure that they are around $800 per term (and there are 3 terms in Tassie) - he is 9 if that is any help, and there could possibly be a sibling discount? State school wasnt something that either my partner or his ex considered for him, even though currently they arent overly impressed with the particular school principal where he is.

I've always found Hobart colder than Launceston - the wind in Hobart does bring it down quite a bit... really its like the sth of England in winter temp and climate wise.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi again

Calvin Christian School - there is a primary and secondary school in Kingston, they were a bit more pricey if I remember, maybe email them and ask for the fee schedule. We would have possibly have been happier with the kids there as although it is a Christian school I don't believe it has such a religious slant as their current Catholic one but at the time, we were given several recommendations for the Catholic one but in hindsight I would have visited more schools. Having said that they are happy at the school and neither would wish to move again, so we just put up with the Virgin Mary bit (sorry, no offfence meant to anyone!)

School fees for the whole year (we pay in 3 installments) are approx $4000, so not too bad really, about £2000. All schools have some levies, usually about $300-$400 perchild at public schools. Our fees include all of their day outings, cookery ingredients, musical instruments (my daughter has a brand new clarinet) the only things on top are the yearly school camp and uniform.

Temps in Hobart, well,not great recently, we moved here in the middle of Winter last year and couldn't believe how good the weather was, lots os sunny days but this Autumn and Winter have not been so good, alot wetter and lots of grey days. Effie is right in saying Hobart is not as warm as the North of the island, pretty windy which often keeps the temps down a bit. At the moment it is getting dark about 5.45pm, in the summer I think it was about 9pm ish, maybe a bit later in the mid summer.

Sam

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Helloooo I hear your having a lot of floods? beautiful and sunny here :p

Cant believe i've been here a month already, Col has flown back via Perth he's catching up with some friends and family for a few days. I'm now based at my Mum's and just hanging on for my neices wedding in september.

Hope everyone is well, how are those twin cuties doing Kerry? :):wub:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Everyone - just catching up - it's been very quiet on here! I hope everyone is well? :)

Effie, not sure if you'll be checking on here whilst in the UK - but i hope you have a great holiday :)

Anna, welcome back to the thread :)

Kay, how are you finding having been here in the UK for so long? are you missing Tassie? (i know Colin is back in Tas so i'm sure you're missing him!).
I'm sure you're enjoying spending the time with your Mum/family & friends though, not long now till your nieces wedding!

Sam/Kerry & all - how's the weather been in Tas? I see you've had some changeable weather?

We got back from our holiday late yesterday afternoon - and it was a bit of a shock to climb off the plane here into weather pretty similar to what we'd left! :D I know it wont last though - never does, but how typical that we missed some lovely hot days whilst away! :lol: Had a great time away though, although euro rate made it all pretty expensive so now we're skint whilst recovering from Andy not having earned any money for 2 weeks! Kids had a lovely time though, and overall it was quite relaxing (despite our original hopes of Eden going to the kiddies club each day - she only went once for an hour!!!;)), but we had plenty of time to think & talk about stuff that we needed to which was good.

We had the estate agent we're planning on using ring Andy's Mobile
twice whilst we were away...he did say that prices had risen slightly in our area (hooray)...Just need to get the kitchen finished now so that we can try and get the house on the market before the end of September...

Anyway, i'll say bye for now! take care everyone...
Cathy :)