midlife crisis

Hi Cheri

A belated congratulations on the house!!

Have you managed to sort out any accomodation yet? Let us know the latest. No wonder you're in panic mode.

Good luck with it all.

Sheilax

PS Mark your house looks fab. Keep the pics coming. I'm like Jules and love to hear all the news and gossip!

PPS Good luck Chrissy, I hope to see you soon!!! xx

wildmark

Will do, give us an update on your goings on??????

midlife crisis

HI Mark

Well not much has changed for us. We are really enjoying our new life here and our boys have settled in really well and have become proper aussie boys!! We are trying to stop the accent at the moment!!!

Both Paul and I are working full time on temporary contracts. It is really hard here to get permanent work, I think it is just a Sunshine Coast thing because the employers can be choosy as there is always people looking for work.

As you can see we have not rushed into a business yet and we are still thinking what we want to do. After living here for a while I dont think we want to buy an Insurance Brokers now which is what we were granted our visa for. So at the moment we are in limbo really until we can decide what to do. We don't know what to do with our house in the UK but at the same time the bulk of our capital is tied up in it.

Life on a 163 visa is not that great at times. I really wish we had residency already we could then plan things for the future. So at the moment we have decided to take each day at a time and see what arises with the work situation. If Paul does get a permanent offer of a job we may look at changing the visa which we believe may be possible.

Apart from that worry!!! everything else is great. We are living the life we dreamt of and the weather is fantastic.

Have a great weekend, I hear the weathers fab at the moment.

Best wishes to you all

Sheila

bloofox

If it's of any consolation you're not alone...we've been here on The Sunshine Coast for 4 months now, after wasting* three months on the Gold Coast, and we still don't know what business to go for...

Taking one day at a time is the way forward, and I think we both know this is a good place to find yourself stuck....as ruts go it's a corker ! The weather, the happy kids, the laughable attitude to drama...I think I'd rather be stuck between businesses here than anywhere I've been.

Your situation could be worse...at least you are allowed to work. We're still the proud owners of a house in England ( The buyers tried to sting us a week before we left...) we complete and move into a house here in two weeks and we aren't even allowed to go out and show the Ausies how it's done...I wouldn't mind but we waited 18 months for the visa, had to be here within 2 months of it being granted, experienced every nightmare along the way to get here...and I still haven't earned a Dollar ! Life on a 160 Visa is often full of colourful drama too...

Oh well, another day at the beach....another night by the pool..

A plan might be a good thing to have but, if you have one, it's probably a good idea to have at least two !


* for "wasted" read : Arrived to find that a family partnership with my brother was about as likely as snow in Coolum..... nothing to do with The Coast itself... I don't want to put anyone off going to the Gold Coast when they arrive !

The Vallies

Hi Guys!!

How lovely to catch up on all your wonderful news!! More 163'ers on their way to this beautiful country!! Good luck everyone!!!

Love the new house Mark!! How exciting for you guys!!

Things seem to be falling into place all round on this thread, and it makes great reading!!

We are all having a fab time! Had an offer accepted on a house that was up for auction - due to move in on the 4th July (I think thats the right date), so we are dead excited!!!

The kiddies started their new school yesterday and had a brilliant time! They were absolutely glowing when we collected them, had lots of new friends and cant wait to go back on Monday

Our son joined a local soccer team and has his first match on Sunday - Cool!

Money is running through our fingers in a big way - like we were warned! So we need to start earning some dosh soon! Andy is looking to buy a software business and we have a meeting with the SBDC on Monday to see if we can change our original business plan (which was something in Tourism), so hopefully all will go well there and we can move ahead!

We saw our pets on Monday (1 dog and 4 cats) in Byford Quarantine, and there looked fantastic! Our dog though was gutted when we went to leave, he thought he would be coming with us!!! Ah bless, soon we will have them out!!

So, thats our little update.... the weather has been divine...... the people have been nothing but totally kind and friendly to us and so far we are loving it!!

Happy Mothers Day for tomorrow everyone!!!!

Love Nicola
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julesandco

Hi right back at ya

Glad to hear things are going well - good to know that everyone's experiencing our motto; 'Welcome to Australia....... here's the bill!'

It is SCARY to feel that money slipping through the fingers so quickly, but hey....... no answer, just 'hey - she'll be right'!

Glad to hear you've got the house Nicola, that's great news. I was speaking with Bernie this week and we were both saying how fed up we are to be stuck in a shabby rental with half of our belongings still in boxes in the garage. It just doesn't feel like home as much as it should. Mind you, the slab went down on Bernie's house this week, so they (fingers crossed) should be in for Xmas.

We celebrate our 'six month's since leaving England' anniversary this week and it's been one hell of a ride! It's not until I look back at the blog that I realise how much we've achieved in this space of time. We cram so much into our lives - sometimes more in 6 months than friends and family would squeeze into 2 years. But we pay the price with illness and stress-related issues sometimes. It can't been 100mph all the time without some consequences. If only we knew that the stress of getting the visa was only the beginning..... actually, it's probably better we didn't

Glad to hear our mates on the East are settling down too. It is tough and it's not until you experience it you realise what aspects of the migration process affect you. The lack of PR thing is a bone of contention, especially when other migrants have to bring a lot less into the country, have to jump through a lot less hoops than us and are automatically entitled to the $7k home buyers grant, the childcare allowance and the medicare perks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not on the scrounge, but it makes you realise how the Aussie government are on a win/win every time with this type of visa. I think we were all mad to think that we may not be issued one. As a revenue maker for Australia, it's a 'no-brainer!'

Anyhow, love to all the 163'ers. Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

Take care,

Jules xxxx

Oh - and if anyone needs a monitored alarm system for their home, give us a call

wildmark

Great to here eveyone is ok.....ups and downs come with the territory I'm afraid!

Has anyone heard of Craig and Sarah, they have not been on here a while????

It would be great to see a good long update on whats going on.

Mark & Jill

steveyp

Hi,
Interestingly our business plan was software and now encompasses the pool shop too, as well as the online pool toy business. I went to see the SBDC and told them, they did not seem phased but only seemed interested in sticking to the original figures in my business plan rather than what it was I was doing.
Let me know how you get on with them, I would be interested if they are always singing the same tune. I will be pretty much full time in the shop from next week as I have just had a member of staff resign.. pop in and say hello I am only around the corner off Ocean Reef Road in Beldon.

Cheers
Steve

foxychic

This is interesting about Perth, Adelaide told us that we can do whatever we like, with as many businesses contributing to the final figure as we want, as long as we meet the critera. Perth sounds a lot tougher!

julesandco

Hi Gang,

Firstly (and importantly!) how did the football go?? Paul was gutted to discover that Foxtel had recorded the West Ham/Liverpool match, but neglected to allow for extra time. He and Sam wasted 90 minutes of their lives watching the match, only to have it cut off just into extra time Shame!!

Also, how did it go with the SBDC? Did they tell you that now we're all here (or very nearly ) they've lowered their expectations and as we're all such nice people we don't have to achieve any criteria at all and they'd love us all to go straight to PR??? No?? Why ever not?? Seriously, how did it go - any news on the criteria front?

Take care and have a good week all!

Jules

julesandco

And how did we all do for Mother's Day??

I received a dressing gown and slippers (cosy), as well as hand made cards and breakfast in bed (Weetabix with hot milk) and frothy coffee (best thing I ever did was teaching Sam how to use the coffee maker ) the best bit was, they'd even put their baby brother in his high chair and made him breakfast and Dad got a coffee too!

We took the boat out, did some fishing and saw more dolphins. Just the same as my last Mother's Day in the UK really...........NOT!!

Hope you were all spoilt - what pressies did you get?

Did all you Perthites hear the storm last night? Woke all of us up and we had a great game of 5 in the bed at 3am this morning!!

J

rammygirl

Hi there nice to hear the good news.

We have just had an offer on the house in UK and as they are cash buyers I think we will accept. Gulp not actually got the visa yet but medicals requested and sent a few weeks back and PCs sent with application so fingers crossed.

Hope they don't want to move too quick!!

Rammygirl

wildmark

They did not miss 90 minutes, it was the best final.....ever in modern day football!

midlife crisis

Hi Jules

I got slippers too!! Lovely lilac ones with a sparkly pattern on. I also got Desparate Houswives DVD, some chocolate (Dove, its the same as Galaxy) and an OK magazine! I hope this doesn't paint the wrong picture about me!!!!

I also had some handmade cards and my 6 year old made me a smelly thing at school which is now hanging on the loo holder. It was lovely with I love Mum on it.

We then had a great day on the beach at Noosa and then a fish and chip supper down by the river.

It rained here last night too, this is the first morning in about a month that I woken to grey skies. I hope the sun comes back out soon, Chrissy must be arriving in a couple of days.

Have a good week and keep the good news coming....

Sheilaxx

The Vallies

Hi Steve!

Yes, the SBDC seemed quite happy in principal (although our agent said they would be very obstructive - and let him deal with it ! Hmmmm.....) They said, so long as the figures were there (as before) they didnt see a problem but they needed it all in writing and then they would confirm back to us, asap!

Andrew went in yesterday and saw them again, and they seemd fine with it all but Genelle and Bruno are arnt back till next week, and they need to look at it also.

Yes, we will pop in and see you - we did pop in a couple of weeks ago but you were off.

Sorry you lost your employee, if you need any Brit workers (I know you prob have to have Aussie employees) let me know..... I will be looking for part time work after we move into our new house (first week July), for prob around 6 - 12 months - or until Andrew needs me in his new business.

See you soon!

Nicola
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