mandyp

Good luck with it all Becky, sounds like your just gonna have to take the 'bull by the horns' so to speak!!

Great news pumpkin blossom, hope it works out for you!!

Cheers
Mandy

bound4brissy

Officially homeless! All our belongings are somewhere between Glasgow and Brisbane and our flights are booked - fly out from Glasgow on the 30th of June with Singapore airlines.

Luckily I had held a flight last week as when we went to check prices on other flights at the weekend they had gone up by about £1000!!! phew.

Its all getting very exciting now - only 5 weeks and 6 days until we leave for our new life...yippee

Yvonne

Hey Mandy - THANKS!!! Will try anything once ! Where did you find out about it? Would be good for the kids I think too. Hope everything is going well for you guys ... bit by bit ... its some experience and we havent even left the country yet...!

Im doing hairdressing in Brisbane and also have a son of 11 - I think you are right... its now or never as you dont want to disrupt their schooling too much. My son should be starting high school in August but will do another 6 months of year 7 in Oz so its working out well that way. Good luck with whatever you decide!!

Yvonne

stumpysean

When do you start your course? Is it July? You say you're studying in Brisbane, at what college?

I've been looking all over, but decided on the sunshine coast as we have friends there.

Just need to get house on market now, then the ball's really rolling!

What age do the kids move to high school? I'm a bit confused about what year they'll be in. My eldest is 10 now (birthday in Feb), youngest is 8 next month?

Any info appreciated!

mandyp

How exciting Yvonne, yikes!!

We flew over with singapore, BA from Glasgow to heathrow. Great flights no hassles.

The info bout the meets are in the meet ups forum, i'm no good at doing the links!!LOL

And yeah, nothing ventured. . . .

Chers
Mandy

Scarlett1

do you have a link for the job list for the 457, please

stumpysean

have a look at this...........
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skill...ccupations.pdf

gives you an idea.

Becky

bound4brissy

Im going to Brisbane School of Hairdressing doing Cert III in Hairdressing and Diploma in salon mgt - starting on 21st of July.

The school year is end of Jan to mid December and age cut off is 1st of July for ages. It also depends when you go really but from every situation your child needs to repeat some school work as they need to complete every year. eg you couldnt go straight into year 7 without completing all of year 6 in the uk and you cant join a year mid way through if you havent started that year in the uk. Check out 3 months in Brissy thread - its explained really well there. Both my children will do an extra 6 months (july to December) in year 3 and 7 and they will have completed P3 and P7 here in the uk. Our kids are similar ages as my daughter was 8 in March - she will go into p3 again for 6 months.

I hope that makes sense!!

They work it out in line with what is best for the kids and from a social point of view I think repeating a few months is ok. You should contact Queensland Education dept - they will give you specifics about you own kids in line with their ages and are very helpful..


Same flight then! We have a transit stop in Singapore for 6 hours and Ive booked a 6 hour hotel so we can be horizontal for a bit and have a shower.

The 20k baggage allowance is a nightmare though - I did try and get the double baggage but they were having none of it!! Will need to do a serious clear out of the kids clothes to make room for mine...lol!!

Yvonne x

mandyp

We did the night flight n just a 2 hour stop in Singapore. The baggage thing is pretty crap, tho all our bags were bout 23k n a really didn't leave much behind. We've just asked for people to bring something when they come over!!

You must be sooo excited such a total buzz, enjoy every minute!!

Mandy

bound4brissy

So were they 23k each? If so did you have to pay extra? If not I might try and squeeze a couple of kilos extra too!

mandyp

No didn't pay any extra, really think it'll depend on who's on the desk, really nice girl who didn't bat an eye!

Mandy

bound4brissy

Hi Mandy

How are things going down under?

We have just booked a holiday unit for 3 weeks for when we arrive on 2/7 - might change to 2 weeks as hope to rent a house pretty quick. The unit is up in Redcliffe north brisbane so we can chill and have a holiday while we are there - its right on the beach etc and I think the kids will need a bit of a summer holiday (they are feeling a bit cheated that they have to start back school in July!!!)

Anyway hope you guys are all well and enjoying jobs college and general life in the Gold Coast etc etc etc..

xxxx

mandyp

Hi Yvonne,

All going great thanx, been a good week!! Hubbie landed a new job much better $$$!! We joined the gym too, only been twice but feel so much better already. We used to go a lot before we came over n haven't really done much since we've been here (the odd run n workout in the garage) so av put on over a stone!!

Weather hasn't been great last few days, cold n rainy, reminds us of Glasgow!!

Thats good that you got a holiday rental sorted! We did the same, 2 weeks at mermaid beach, it was fab n still one of our favourite places here!! Logan now n again will say she wants to go back to live at mermaid beach!

Is time going really slowly for you just now, bet you guys can't wait to get over!

Mandy

stumpysean

Hi, just a quick update for you!

Have decided to do the Welfare Course at Nambour. Booked in for July next year, planning on flying out end May time.

However, there may be a chance of sponsorship on the horizon too. Hubby is in talks with someone who may be interested in sponsoring him, and when we spoke to our migration agent in Brisbane the other night, I mentioned that I was qualified in childcare already and he stopped me in mid sentence saying he knows somebody looking for childcare workers and is willing to sponsor for 457's!

So we're a bit in limbo at the moment on what way we're going but thought we'd keep the course booked so if nothing happens about the sponsorship I can still go over on a student visa.

House is now on market, so we're actually getting somewhere!!!!

bound4brissy

Totally - Im on a total high ALL the time - got a night out tonight and tomorrow night - infact we have nights out planned for the next 4 weeks... think we will be exhausted when we arrive...

Im also trying to fit in the gym as been a bit lax recently - but we are both still working full time along with all the kids stuff too....Im sure the next 4 weeks will fly by.

Great news about the job - wow - Im not sure how we will manage financially as I wont be able to work with my course as its 9-5 Mon to Fri - does he have less time at college? Was it easy to get 20 hours a week work?

Dunno what Jonny will do either - he just wants to surf

Ahh beach life...just cant wait.. Its raining here too today and there is a weather warning for down south... so you can be sure that whatever the weather is there....its worse here...!!

Fab - keep your options open but its looking quite positive on the 457 front - fingers crossed!!!

I got an update the other day that they had REMOVED an occupation from the MODL. YIKES - I was so nervous it was hairdressing but luckily it was some IT job.... its the risk we take I suppose!!

pumpkin blossom

Just keep in mind that unless you have I think it is 5 years experiance of running a nursery (ie being the manager) with at least 20 children you can only get the regional 457 visa. Which if you are going somewhere regional is fine, but personally i would be insisting on the RSMS visa if you are in that position. Perminent residency straight away with that one.
Good luck