ShoppingJoJo

Hello

We (that is me, my hubbie and 2 small children) are going out to Sydney in March for a holiday/reccie before we take the plunge of deciding whether to move out to OZ or not.

My husband has been offered a job via a relocation and the choice is Sydney, Brisbane or Cairns. We are very excited about the prospect but also very unsure as our children are just 18 months old and 5 years (my daughter has just started school).

I spent two years backpacking in Oz 10 years ago, but can hardly base the next move on that! Is their anyone going out to Sydney or Brisbane that fancies meeting up for a coffee/beer with us before we go out there to give us a more realistic insight of what life might be like for a young family?

We will be in Sydney from 14th-18th March and then are travelling up the east coast (port macquarie, coffs harbour, byron bay) and will be in Brisbane around 24th March.

We would really appreciate any advice anyone has.

Jo

Nickie

Hi, we arent going to sydney, we are going to Perth. Our youngest son is 4 and half and will be starting school in jan.

I think that life will be fantastic for the children and its probably the best time to take them, my eldest is 14 and the others 11 and 9.

Where abouts in kent are you?
we are in orpington area.



Nickie

ShoppingJoJo

Hi

Good to hear from someone...and not too far away either!

We are just outside of Gravesend in a village called Shorne. It's so good to hear some positive thoughts about it, so many people have insinuated that we are mad and would be disrupting my little ones schooling and nursery....hence my recent lack of confidence!

Not sure how the schooling works out there, do you know where we can find out about that? Do they have the equivalent of Ofsted out there to read up on schools before we go....if it all falls into place that is?

When are you going?

Jo

kericare

hi jo,im kerrie we live in cliffewoods,how strange is that yr only 5 mins drive from us,we alsoare going to perth the house is sold we have had the survey done and were looking at going feb time,hope to here from you kerrie

Nickie

Hiya, we are hoping to go round about april time.. the paperwork was all sent to Adalaide dec 3rd so hopefully just gotta wait and hear round about end of jan then sell the house and away we go.

I dont think your mad taking the children now...its best to go while they are young, i think, so they dont establish firm friendships or be in exam years etc etc...people have all sorts of ideas. You are doing the best thing for you and your family so dont have any doubts or feel guilty, maybe the other people are jealous...haha

Luckily our children are raring to go but there are others on this forum whose teenage children are adament they arent going and then all the problems start then, your kids will love it.

Have a great reccie and if you want to meet up then that'll be great, shame we arent going to the same parts of oz but its not that far to travel...if you dont mind flying..haha

speak soon and chuck those doubts away.

Nickie

ShoppingJoJo

Hi Kerrie,

How strange, yes we are quite close by?

We are heading out to Sydney probably or maybe queensland but it all depends on my husbands job offer and after we do our 'reccie' trip in March.

When are you going? How is the whole process going?

Jo

ShoppingJoJo

Hi Nickie,

Thank you for your words of wisdom! We know that we would be making the right decision, but I suppose the 'doubts' come creeping in at times.

I hope your application process goes well and do let me know, as I will you how things go our end.

Jo

Nickie

The little boy in our picture thingy is my son hand feeding a kangaroo...i mean...come on.... where in england are they gonna get those experiences????

it was in a wildlife park but he stroked a koala, a wombat and fed kangaroos!!!

cant wait to go back.

nickie

ShoppingJoJo

When did you decide to go and why? Have you been on many holidays in Oz?

Kelsey37

Hi Jo, Kerrie and Nicki. I'm Kelly and we, thats hubby and our two boys 8yrs and 17yrs, we live in Edenbridge near Westerham, Orpington is only down the road.

We would love to come to a meetup, sorry Jo but we too are heading for Perth and hope to be there Aug08 pending all being well with visa app etc, still waiting for pre ack, we applied august07 and still waiting like many others, from what I can gather it was a very bad month to lodge app.

Regarding Ofsted, we were in Perth october on our reccie and when viewing some schools when I mentioned this they didn't seem to know what I was talking about but said the schools that do well are announced on the TV. However,the schools we chose to register our youngest with were very impressive, I think its the same in Aus as in Uk you need to do your homework and view.

My eldest son will do university in Perth, we viewed a few but the Murdock was fantastic. Both our boys are looking forward to going though I do agree with with Nickie the younger the better. I'm not looking forward to the farewells.

Enjoy your reccie Jo find out as much as poss.

Kerrie and Nickie where in Perth are you going?

Kelly

Nickie

Hiya, we have only been to Australia the once..and that was in March for 2 weeks.
I have always wanted to go to Australia and Kev has thought about it a bit...i asked him 3 years ago about going and he initially said no..then we decided to just do it...

Cant wait.

What made you want to go??

Nickie

Nickie

Hiya, we are going NOR, Butler way..Ocean reef, Ellenbrook, around that way.

Where are you going?

If you want to meet up let me know.

Nickie

Kelsey37

Hi Nickie, I would love to meet up with yourself and any other fellow poms taking the plunge like ourselves.

We're going to settle in Mandurah for starters which is south of Perth, its a very pretty coastal city and apparently the fastest growing in WA, and only 1hr 20mins drive to CBD. So its a good starting area for us. The place is so huge though I still struggle with the distances, we used our milage quota in less then a week when we were there in Oct.

PM me about a meet up maybe Jo and Kerrie would like to come too.

Happy New Year guys

Kelly

ShoppingJoJo

Happy New Year!!

Yes, I would be up for meeting even though I am heading towards Sydney or Queensland. It would be good for me to hear all the positives of why you guys are emigrating.

You are much further down the process than I am and I'm sure you can give me a good insight.

Hope that's ok.

Jo
xx

asher

hey you lot I am in Sydney at the moment but will be back in the UK

when are you thinking of meeting?