Sarah n Andy

Hi Joanne,
We visited Melbourne last year and absolutely loved it-definitely the place for us to settle but everyone's different.We have friends in Adelaide too and they love it there- I think Adelaide is a little bit quieter than Melbourne but that's to be expected with Melbourne being a city.Melbourne has lots of nice areas on the outskirts and good schools (the ones we've found have been mainly on the east such as Warrenwood, Ringwood,Croydon) House prices have gone up a lot since we were there, we are currently looking Berwick way.I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice from guys that have researched Adelaide or that live there too so it will probably be a really tough call.Good Luck and let me know if you need any more info on Melbourne-I can't promise I'll have the answers but will do my best.There is a document called "Where to live in Melbourne"-it lists all the areas, top schools,crime hot spots,population of the area, avaerage house prices etc... really good info for helping you pinpoint good areas if you do decide that Melbourne could be for you.
Good Luck Joanne
Take Care
Sarah

ianbrown

Joanne

Like you, we spent weeks to'ing and fro'ing between Perth and Brisbane, eventually being dead set on Perth. It was only when we realised how much work was available for Ian in Brisbane, and that Brisbane is the transport/logistics capital of Australia that we became dead set on Brisbane. I have a cousin there and Ian has friends there also and I think its really important if possible to have a bit of a support network waiting for you when you arrive, that wasnt crucial in the beggining for us but is now, local knowledge being priceless in helping us settle in. If you dont have that network there then I guess the whole of Australia is your oyster and wherever you decide Im sure you will research it properly.What also swayed it for us was how isolated Perth is from the rest of Oz. Eventually we would like to explore Sydney and visit friends in Melbourne on holidays, I believe Sydney is a 10hour drive and Melbourne 18 spread over a couple or three days, being in Brisbane opens up much more of Australia to us, not to mention Gold Coast and all the fab theme parks and holiday places there.
I have heard that Adelaide is very quiet, (not sure if true), where as Melbourne has everything any major world city has, not to mention a great nightlife and restaurants if your into that, and Victoria has a cooler climate, Its whatever works best for you and your family, I suppose I am trying to say that it is only natural to question whether you have chosen your future home correctly as somewhere that suits your whole family, I guess we will never know until we get there too. Its natural to worry and change your mind (and back again), thats what we have done, but the more we research Brisbane, and because we have a network of friends and family there we are 100% sure that it is right for us. But everybody is different and just wondered if anything has put you off Adelaide in particular?

bextaroota

Great news- here's hoping Irish Gal! Good luck all Augustees for next week

bextaroota

We have (sort of!) decided on Perth as it's so family orientated, warm only getting really hot a couple of weeks of the year, and we have a friend of friend there, but I can't help thinking of Brisbane (for the same reasons as you), so Joanne you're not the only ones undecided! I've never even been to Oz () oh has stayed in Brisbane, he has an uncle (who is lovely) and a lot of family in Brisbane so that would definitely help with the move- it's so hard to know what to do- I know I could convince my hubby (heh heh ) to go wherever... you've got me thinking again... which isn't a bad thing, I just need to get more informed and decisive (sooo sick of all the decisions- do your blokes leave it up to you too..??!!!)

Huni

Hi vickie, We just about live in Surrey and have booked medicals in Thornton Heath (Croydon) .. the waiting time was only 7 days.. Brigstock Medical Practice

mOZzy

yes BEX he more or less leaves everything to me. sometimes it looks like he isn't even interested at all - but when he tells me that he can't wait to hand his notice in i know better


VICKI we are just not surrey, but berkshire. we went to maidenhead to the 'bridge clinic' - good service and everything on site so that made it much easier for us with the 2 little ones!

vickie

An angel?! Sounds perfect, I'll look into that one, seems I completely overlooked that on my list!

Thanks, Vickie X

vickie

VICKI we are just not surrey, but berkshire. we went to maidenhead to the 'bridge clinic' - good service and everything on site so that made it much easier for us with the 2 little ones![/QUOTE]

I have 2 little ones too! Can I be nosey and ask how much you paid? My task this week is to start getting quotes and to then book up and feel like I'm doing something whilst waiting for a CO!

Thanks, Vickie x

PIPPADEE

Hi Guys
Trying not to put a dampener on things but its a holiday in Adalaide tommorrow (monday ) so i dont suppose any of us need to check our emails. Roll on Tuesday
Pippadee

vickys

I'd agree pippadee, it's only a holiday in certain area's of Oz from what i have read, it just so happens that the DIAC happens to be located in one of the area's who are on holiday

Well i've done really well, managed to stay away from here for a few days (had an awful week and didn't want to make peoplefeel even worse) and it doesn't look like i've missed much sadly. Glad to read about good news for some with houses and even a case officer. Not meaning to put anyone even further down than they already are but it's been 9 weeks now since we got our Case Officer (we'd sent out med's in the week before) and we haven't heard a thing. MODL priority doesn't seem to make any difference, well it doesn't appear to have in our case. BUT on the positive side there isn't many July applicants still waiting now so surely it can't be that long until we start getting ours??!!!???

Anyway i'm going to be the first so that i can free up our case officer for someone else who is being driven as mad as me, i feel as though i have kept onto mine for far too long now and it's only fair to others that my CO is free to deal with someone else who hasn't got one. Well i can try to think positive - dont' quite think it's working though to be honest!!!

All the luck in the world to all Augustees for some news this week. IT will happen and it will definately be worth the wait once we are there

Irish Gal

Hi Vicky,
Are you with an agent? Just wondering why its taking so long for you being as though you have a case officer. What date were you given to have all your med/pcc in by?

Mottie

Another Holiday:curse::curse: I suppose they'll be wanting Easter off as well!!!:curse:

mOZzy

I have 2 little ones too! Can I be nosey and ask how much you paid? My task this week is to start getting quotes and to then book up and feel like I'm doing something whilst waiting for a CO!

Thanks, Vickie x[/QUOTE]

have a look on their website
www.bridge-clinic.com/immigrtn.htm

tells you everything and more

vickys

Yeah we're with an agent chuck, not too sure on the date we were given to be honest. We had our meds and xrays on 4th january, bloods came back clear on 11th and then everything was sent off to LCU on that day. We took a chance in doing this as we hadn't heard a thing since sending our application off in July. Our PCC came back to us in the post on the 19th January and i logged on monday morning to an email asking us if we'd received it back and could we scan it in as we'd been allocated a case officer. Obviously i did this straight away as that is what i had orginally logged on to do. Spoke to our agent week last friday and she's sent an email to CO asking if meds are clear and how long? I know they're on holiday tomorrow but i'm still going to email our agent to ask her what's happening, i'm getting really fed up of waiting to hear anything now. Even if we knew that the med's were clear it'd be something.

PIPPADEE

I know how you feel , we got our Co on the 30th Jan , just after you and we have heard nothing either. They have everything they asked for and meds cleared LCU 4 weeks ago , so why are we waiting ( feel another song coming on )
Pippadee