daunted

thanks guys! just back from my daughters graduation assembly at school! very emotional but a great start to the day!

somme

You have at least done an update, I am still trying to build the corage to do that, have a great day, maybe one day x

PMV

Just found this thread, and I have read it from start to finish (in one sitting!!!).

Really enjoyed reading your updates from 2007 to now in one go .. bit like the Eastenders omnibus .. no waiting for the next installment But now, I've read them all, keen to hear the next installments!!

Anyway, it makes great reading, and good to know that others go through some of the same things. So thanks for posting.

daunted

Thanks guys - PMV you must be one very brave person LOL

will get on with it soon x

deb68

I think you might have better things to do at the mo, especially as your summer is just around the corner, some of us in blighty have winter to look forward to! Brrrr!

deb68

Throughout your posts you have given us well-meaning advice and suggestions, and do's and dont's on your current experience of living day to day in Australia. It would be really useful if you could take the time to compact them all, and compile them into a post to help us learn from your experience. And then when its time for our turn to land on Australian shores, we will be some the wiser!

daunted

funnily enough that is just what i am intending to do - it of a mini journal for the kids to look back on

daunted

Figured it was time for the 3 year update. Am still writing about our experiences for the afore mentioned 'book' for the kids but here is another upto date snapshot.

27th november 2010 marked our 3 year anniversary. we are now 11 months from being able to apply for citizenship.

I stand by many previous posts that it has been very very hard, but no harder than it was in the UK. My daughter has just graduated high school with a high ATAR score of 83.2. She is planning to start uni at mid year intake this year, studying for a degree in Social Work, something she has always talked about wanting to do, but i feel she needed the high ATAR results before she believed in herself enough to actually do it!.
Education???? my experience here with my 2 teenage children is that the standard of education is much lower than that of in the UK. Having had one child go right through the education system from primary school to university - i think i am qualified to comment that I dont feel my two children here have been stretched anywhere near enough as my eldest son was in the UK. It wasnt until they had been in school here for nearly 18months that they started learning something they hadnt already covered in the UK. Despite various 'schemes' designed to stretch the able child I still feel they are at a lower level of education than they would have been in the UK. On a confidence level though, the education system here is leaps ahead. Students are taught to have a voice and mostly within school they know when it is acceptable to use that voice and when not to. I feel the teachers we have encountered, whilst may be good at teaching, are far more intent of being 'friends' to the students and this has proven to be a bit of a stumbling block for my youngest child who doesn't need his teacher to be his friend, he needs his teacher to be his teacher! this has resulted in a few problems with my son only achieving the bare minimum to get by and despite countless conversations with the school, i may as well be banging my head against a brick wall. I am looking forward to him finishing school. He just isn't getting the 'firm hand' he needs in the class room to keep him focused. He is very intelligent, and he will pass his exams (lucky sod finds learning natural) but he wont achieve his full potential because it seems that just 'doing enough' is acceptable.

The cost of living has sky rocketed since we arrived. My food shop cost is much higher than i used to spend both in the UK and when we first arrived here. Wages haven't increased the same amount and things are tough. We frequently have days when we just have to put strange concoctions of meals together from pantry and fridge contents until pay day. In the UK i lived payday to payday (always over drawn). Here i still live payday to payday, only difference is that i don't have an overdraft facility here so we make do. Guess i could apply for one but would rather not. The mortgage rate is forever climbing. For now I am just about managing but honestly think that once the kids have left home I will sell up and buy a small unit, walking distance to the beach

I am still working much longer hours than i have ever worked in my life. My wages are higher than i was earning in the UK but with the rising cost of living it really doesn't feel like i am better off. My work/life balance is truely weighted in mainly work which gets me very down but one day i will shift that balance.

Friends? I have made lots. Initially through this forum funnily enough. People that were already here went out of their way to welcome us and in return i make a point of looking for new arrivals and introducing them all to help the settling in phrase. I dont see many of them on a frequent basis because i am mainly working or cannot justify spending $30 on a lunch outing, but there are a few choice ones in the crowd who i know i can always rely on and i will be eternally great-full for that.

This beautiful country has so much to see and offer those willing to get out there and experience it! I have driven 13 hours north to Shark Bay, been to Sydney and Melbourne and spent a week in a very humid Darwin. Every corner you turn causes you to stop and stare. It truely is a wonderful country. Its people are somewhat scary at first. They tell it as it is! Appearing harsh and brash at first but when you look deeper you find some of the most down to earth relaxed people you are ever likely to meet. One of the first things that attracted me to Oz when i first visited on holiday 10 years ago was the fact they seem to work to live and not the other way around as i was so used to doing. It is still an art I am trying to fine tune but hope to get there eventually

I guess we have been very very lucky in that we have suffered no home sickness. My son did have a tough month last year when he was desperate to go visit UK to see his old friends but mainly his dad and big brother. with increasing hte phone calls and emails etc he came out of it the other end and is now settled once more. My ex (there dad) comes to stay with us for 3 weeks each year and my eldest son and his girlfriend are due out again in april for another holiday with us. Without wanting to tempt fate they are looking at moving out here permanantly this year too. He has PR and his girlfriend should be able to come on visa with him. Then my family will be complete.
I had a very angry period a few months ago when the husband of my best friend in the UK was diagnosed terminally ill. He died last month. THat is probably the only time i have ever really wanted to get back on a plane if i had had the money, not to stay but to be there for my friend. It doesnt matter what anyone says, a plane ride is a plane ride and nothing like being able to jump in your car and be where you need to be in a couple of hours.

All of that said and done would i change anything???? NO!!! not one single thing. Australia is where i was born to be. I love it here, i love the country and its people and for all the hard times I honestly wouldnt have it any other way!!!

Roll on November when we can finally hope to claim our Australian citizenship cos this is the country i plan to live and die in

louise

Fab update Mandy, can't believe you have been in Oz over 3 years. You are obviously a survivor and you do it so well. Congratulations and hopefully the eldest will move out permanently and you will feel complete

Cheetah7

Excellent update, time goes so quickly.

smiling4

FAB update hunny!!!

Ems xox

lancastrian48

Excellent posting Daunted...interesting...good luck.

daunted

thanks guys

wannabees

fab to read youre doin so well, hopefully your son will join you and you will feel complete, it must have been difficult at the time when you were leaving, and he was still in england, i have the same 'dillemma' coming up! anyway,lovely to hear your recent update - always a good read!! take care x

daunted

Just to shout to the world "my son is arriving in 10 days time" Unfortunately its just for a holiday but maybe next time ............................