James_SC

Hi all,

We have survived the first two months and with our container being delivered on Tuesday (9 weeks White & Co), we are very close to getting a sense of calmness back in our lives. This seems to be the first week for several months where I have not had a form to complete, a payment to make or provided someone with a photocopy of my passport!

Things have gone remarkably smoothly so far (touch wood!). We have a nice rental in Ryde, bought a half decent car and our dog, Hudson, has settled in a treat. Work is going well, feel kind of accepted, but the local guys are a bit wary. This is understandable though, so I am just keeping my head up and working hard.

We are loving the fact that there is so much to do in Sydney....and the fact that there is no rush to do it all in 2 weeks! As with all big cities, there is the good and bad, but my overall feeling is that this is a good place to be.

Too early to decide if this is it for the long term, but we are happy. Not sure if being here is better or worse than our previous life.....but it is different and that feels good.

My boss only gave me one piece of advice when I arrived........do not get frustrated........keeping that in mind has helped when things have got a bit difficult.

I guess my biggest worry is money....it is pricey here, but if you shop around and be careful it is affordable. Being on a 457 also feels risky, but I knew that would be the case.....planning on starting PR process later this year all being well.

So we are looking forward to the rest of the year....hoping to avoid getting credit crunched! Hopefully later in the year we will have some friends over, as we miss them like mad (Skype is great though).

Take care,

J

Wendy66

enjoyed your update, good luck

Bermudashorts

Hi James

Glad it is going ok for you so far, I have only just started my application and always pleased to read the positive posts.

Did you bring your dog over from UK then? Was it easy? I have two cats I will bring with me, I have looked into the regulations and it doesn't sound too bad, although I read this bit about they must fly direct or not change plane, which I thought might be tricky?

James_SC

Hi,

Yes, we brought Hudson with us from the UK. The process is not overly difficult, but it is precise and you need to be organised. We used Golden Arrow Shippers, who were first class, they set out everything we needed to do and when. Our UK vet was also excellent and really helped us get through all the vaccinations and blood tests. We also got Hudson a pet passport to make any onward travel easier.

Although we never even comtemplated leaving Hudson in the UK, we were worried about how the trip may impact on him. Thankfully it has not changed him one bit and he is still a tinker!

Cost is a factor, and be aware that the shipping cost will exclude, updating vaccinations, blood tests (+ re-tests in our case), Australia quarantine fees and pet passport fees. All these additional costs nearly doubled the shipping cost! But we would not change a thing.

Not sure about the flight thing as Hudson came direct from London to Sydney, with a 1 hour stopover in Bangkok, Qantas flight.

Good Luck,

J

Bermudashorts

Hi James

Thanks for answer, we brought our cats to Bermuda a couple of years ago and then back last year. It was a lot harder getting back to UK than going to Bermuda but we muddled through so am OK about the vaccination side of things. I was also worried about the very long flight to Australia, Bermuda is only 6 hours away, so glad to hear Hudson is fine. Was he OK straight away? The older cat will only be about six, we definitely would not go without them, they are for life.

I am pleased to hear of your flight with only a one hour gap, we will look for one of them. I looked some up before I posted yesterday and they all had long stopovers which made me think the cats would be taken off, which I read was not allowed (or made things a lot harder).

Poor things, they must wonder what on earth is happening to them when they are in transit! I will have some very well travelled cats.

James_SC

Those cats will have some serious air miles, maybe an upgrade is available

Hudson was totally fine the minute he came home. We left him with golden arrow 2 days before we left UK, he then had drive down to Heathrow, flight (they do take the animals off at Bangkok to refill water and check they are ok to continue travel), and then 30 days in quarantine. We decided not to visit quarantine as we thought it may upset him. We did ring his handler on a regular basis for updates and paid some local dog walkers to take him out every other day.

All in all it was thankfully a drama free process (apart from lepto re-test and having to drive blood sample to London two days before xmas!)

J