Russ_Sarah

first post here on the "update forum"...

i have been addicted to this part of the website and have spent months looking in here and reading the trials and tribulations of everyones move...

well, we are on our way...we are a mid 30's couple with a 3 yr old boy...I am irish and my wife is welsh..we were living in south wales up until 3 years ago..i am a quantity surveyor and was working for welsh water..had a nice life, lived near the inlaws and things were going well...then a friend of mine got a job working back over in Dublin on double the salary i was on in wales..my head was turned and before i knew it we were looking at how much equity we had in our house in wales and then we decided to go for it ..put the house up for sale..and it went really quickly...i was working in dublin, renting a nice pad ..on what was loads of more money than i was on in the uk, this put us in a lucky position in that the wife didnt have to work, so she took up a course in Hollistic therapies and is now qualified..i had a fab year getting loads of different kinds of massage!!!

but dublin wasnt all it was cracked up to be..house prices were crazy...crime is awful with just about one gangland shooting every weekend since we were there...and the traffic is just unbelievable..sometimes taking me over 2 hours to get home from work...

then last january we were at a wedding of a friend of mine in newcastle..

one of my old school friends was there and him and his partner were only 2 weeks away from heading out to sydney on a sponsorship 457 visa...

we woke up in bed the next morning, raining pouring down, and the wife said..lets try and get out there to the sun....

so we had a little look...and got ourselves a similar job offer to my friend who is there now..

i have never been to australia before..my wife was out there as a back packer in the late 90's..

we got the job offer quite quickly..and the 457 visa soon followed..

it all seemed like a great idea and everything is booked now..the company have paid for our flights, visa expenses etc, a 20ft container with all our stuff and are providing accomodation in manly for the first 4 weeks..at the time it was like..wow..lets just do it..

and now i have left dublin..we are back here in wales with the inlaws..we have a wedding to go to on the 19th sep and we fly out a couple of days later on the 22nd sep..

i am nervous..we have opened a bank account with westpac and this morning just used Hifx to trasfered half of our life savings...

i guess everyone that goes through the move must get the jitters like this..who knows if it will all work out..who knows even if we will get permanent residency...i guess thats what i am most scared about as the 457 visa is only for 4 years..it would be crushing to have to think about coming back after going through all the emotions of getting there...but..who knows what will happen in the future..

i just wanted to say what a great website i have found this to be..it has been fab to use it as a sounding board over the past 8 months or so...and i will post an update once we get there..

we are flying with Singapore airlines' so for anyone thinking of booking..i will post an update on what the flight was like soon


good luck to one and all thinking of or going through what we have gone through!


Russ

Jamesfam

Hi Russ

I would like to be the first to congratulate you and wishing you the best of luck on your big move Down Under. We move on 23rd October and I can totally empathise with your feelings of OH S**T!! But I am sure when you arrive and get settled you will love it.

Take care, Clare

Colly-Gill

Hiya,

Looking forward to reading your update from Oz. We are flying with SA in October so would be great if you let us know how you found flying with them. Wish you and your family all the best for the future.

Gilllian

Sally Simpson

Some K for you for that good update

Wishing you loads of luck with your move & enjoy your last week