Ex-pat Mums in Oz??

[yummimummy]

Is there anybody out there......?
(Apart from me)

but you're almost in the tropics, does it affect you too?

I tell you what, the stars in the firmament just blow me away. I just walked down the road to drop something off at a neighbour's house and the sky is sublime. Thank goodness ds1 likes me to take him to the planetarium ( the biggest one in Australasia I might add) as I am beginning to learn about them finally at my adavanced age

Anyone really that interested in The Commonwealth Games? I suppose I should try and generate some.

caught the last half of the opening ceremony - kindy parent meeting tonight. Willbe watching the sports... dh said the aussies looked like school kids intheir blazers. I taught one of the men's hockey team and a couple of the swimmers went to a school I taught at.

I have one tree that actually loses it leaves...there is a little chill in the air - lost that real closeness even though the days are warm iyswim.

The sky is one of the things I missed when I lived in England - even more amazing when I lived in a piddly little country town a few years ago - night sky was just incredible - the stars were sooo bright!!

Stars.
The most amazing thing I have seen celestially speaking was the night sky on Moreton Island when we were over there for Xmas one year.
There was no sky visible just stars.
Then one night some time later I was driving alone from Biggendon ( don't ask) through dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere, and stopped to view the stars away from city lights.
A car drove past and a couple stopped to ask if I had broken down. I was too embarrassed to say that I was stargazing and pretended I was getting something out of my boot!
The Aussie sky is like no other!
Commonwealth Games - I've seen weightlifting and shooting so far - not too interesting.
Looks like the Aussies are going to clean up again though - good on 'em.
"La la la la la la la Australia Fair, la la la la la la la Australia Fair."
Does anyone know the words?
The atheletes don't seem to.
Apparently you can text them good luck - perhaps someone should text them the words.
Not me obviously.

good afternoon ym

yes, the stars. Wow.

I don't know all the words but there is one line which goes "girt by sea" and makes all the Aussies titter. I really should brush up as I'm be singing them when I get my Citizenship later on this year.

So, tell me again, this is Autumn???

I've been enjoying watching the Aussies get their medals. The news says "Australia gets its first medal" (15 minutes into the start of the games) while at home it would be "WE GOT A MEDAL! OMG A MEDAL!!!"

Eids - I did think they were schoolgirls. Admittedly just back from a night out when we were watching, but they were all in blazers and pulling faces at the camera.

YM - We've seen all the Peter Kays. Our house loves him. "Garlic Bread" is our household motto. Rola Cola has us on the floor. It's so my DPs parents. We're getting DSS to bring them all out with him when he arrives for Easter.

SW - I know. It's dire isn't it? When I first arrived I was only supposed to be here for 5 months, so couldn't get it. Now we've extended our stay we're in a short term lease for 3 months while we sort ourselves out, so again can't get it. When we do get it it'll be with the pause button that's for sure.

You know this is reminding me someone still has my Albert Halls dvd of Peter Kay and they have 't given it back yet

I have to say I found Max and Paddy a disappointment

"has tha' nowt moist?"

Been lurking on this thread .... can I join you? I am in Auckland though so a fierce rival to you Aussies (West Islanders we call you ) ...

The only kiwis on mumsnet live in England and the only other Brit immigrant to NZ on MN is threebob ...

Had a wee chat with suzy on MSN but she is never online when I want her (Perth is bloody well miles away from here ... 5 hrs difference I think SW? Our clocks go back this weekend though)

Re accents ... my DS was known as the 'cute little English boy' at kindy as he sounded like something out of Enid Blyton. Within a week of being at school and starting to learn how to read, his accent changed (repeating the words that the teacher said, "The cet set on the met")
When we went back to England last year he said to my dad, "Hey Grended, do you know what tin tins are?"

My dad thought he was talking about a comic book character that had a little white dog

Sad thing is, I have been here so long that I have no idea who Peter Kay is

yummi - I know where Biggenden is - drove there many a time from Eidsvold to the coast.... used to teach and live in Eidsvold.

Hand up - I know the first verse but not the second. I like seeing the athletes sing their national anthem when they are on the medal podium.

Suzy - dh is thinking about whether to apply for citizenship - which he can do in June - we will have been here two years then - boy time flies.

Ghosty I had to ask dh who he was.... I shared a house with a kiwi when I first moved to teach in Eidsvold - we both taught at the high school.... I used to crack up when he asked about the chilly bin ( esky) and the 2/4 diary for warren's - the corner shop. They are the two that still stick in my head. BTW we will let you crash the thread.

and YES Suzy it is autumn even though it was 30 degrees here today.

singing lesson - anthem lyrics

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree

just joshing

Advance Australia Fair

Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
With golden soil and wealth for toil
Our home is girt by sea
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia Fair
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.

must look up that second verse...

ohhh you learn something new every day - written by a man born in Glasgow!! and it has more than two verses...

see
\link{http://www.hamilton.net.au/advance.html\here}

Hello
can I gate crash? We are seriously considering emigrating to Victoria (well the mornington penisula). My sis lives out there (she is Aus citizen now) and we just loved the lifestyle and how friendly everyone seemed.

We have one DS (4.5) and I am worried about inflicting such a huge change on him. Ghosty (hi by the way )has raised the point I have been pondering which is - do you think he'll be teased about his english accent? Realistically (by time we've got visa etc) he'll probably be 5.5 or 6 by the time we mov. It does worry me as it would be such a huge upheaveal anyway (although I do think that ultimately would benefit him with a much better life).

Hi Katierocket
I don't know about kids teasing in Australia but DS was never teased for his accent when he was at kindy ... it was the mums who used to go all gooey when he talked and say, "Oooooh, he's soooo cuuuuute!"
I think that both Australian and NZ cities are so multicultural really that young children are really used to other nationalities and accents. I don't know Victoria at all so it may be different there but I think you will be fine.
Also, I really think that at that age (5/6) kids aren't really into teasing in that way ... IME (I moved to the UK when I was 6 for a while and was known at school as the 'little Dutch girl' ... but I don't ever remember being teased or bullied for it). If your children were older and nearer teens then that may be different ...
I am sure the Aussies here will give you more info on that sort of thing in Australia ...

hi KR

bring him over, no he won't be teased and if he is tell him to remind the Australians that we used to own a third of the globe including Australia. Not really

My ds1 is the same age and has been here for 18 months and is very plummy still and never gets teased

I am jealous!!! DH is an Aussie, his whole family are in Brisbane (apart from his uncle in Perth) but he has been living here in the UK with me for over 10 years now. I hassle him with alarming regularity to go back, especially since we now have 16 month old DTs.....he seems keen but then always goes on about not being able to get as good a job.

Personally I think his job here is killing him as I often wake up at 3 in the morning and find him on his laptop! ANyway enough of the sob stories - I need some words of wisdom to how to persuade him that growing up in a more outdoors environment will be good for our boys - can you help ladies!!!??

Oh and SuzyW - after your words of advice re Kota Kinabalu and the Tanjung ARu - we are booked to meet up with DH's sis and family in May!!! Thanks lots.

Oh hurrah! you'll have a great time there

Umm...... re your DH, don't know what to say really. IME there is no contest between what we could provide our kids with in London and what we can here, even if we had reached the next rung of the prosperity level. I don't know your financial situation obviously, but you can't buy the fresh air, the space and the sunshine and the pace of life. You should get him to watch the Commonwealth Games, particularly the closing ceremony, that should get his Nationalist heart strings tugging and then when he's teary eyed, go in for the kill.

Good luck, you'll get here in the end

katierocket - definitely wouldn't worry about the accent thing. For a start, a child that age would sound Aussie within about 6 months! But I'm a teacher and have several students with different accents due to family background... just never an issue. A few questions at first, but then it's not even noticed (and this is secondary!).

Oh thank you everyone. We are so so close to taking that step. I'm just agonising about leaving my poor mum who already has one daughter in Australia and a son in the US. I just really feel that it would be a better life for us all. Not sure why I'm a bit worried about the accent thing except that we have just come back from a visit and some of the mums my sis hangs about with were doing exactly what you describe ghosty. Saying "oh we just love his accent" and I guess it made me very conscious of it. She lives 20 miles from Melbourne so it's not exactly the sticks.

I do love it and watching the games makes me desperate to be over there {sigh}

well your mum will be eligible to migrate to Australia as well if the majority of her children are there.

is that right Suzy? Just wondering how easy it would be if we were to go there to get my parents over too......?

harrogatemum - I think if you are prepared to sponsor her she can come on a family visa - from my very poor memory.

Arf - "Cheese Cake? Cheese......Cake?" Ha ha
Hi KatieR, Hi Ghosty, welcome
Eids - thanks for the link and the 1st verse.
What is a 'girt'?
I'll need to look up Eidsvold on the map and see where you were ( I had assumed your name was an anagram rather than a place!)
Re visas, your parents can emigrate to Oz if the majority of their children live here.
My parents are thinking of applying but, at present, most of their kids are in the UK.
I was talking to a woman on the last plane journey I did and apparently the wait to get in is shorter now than it was but it still takes 3 years or so, and then they have up to 5 years to arrive after that ( need to check that).
If they pay $40,000 ( bargain) they get to come straight in!!
I go home each year and my parents see more of me than they do my brother who lives in Newcastle ( Upon Tyne).
But having a baby here is harder than I thought - not so much practically, although if we have more kids this will become an issue - but just dealing with the sadness my parents have about not seeing their DGD (?) regularly. ( they have no other grandkids yet)
I think Oz is a much more positive environment to bring up kids than the UK. There is more emphasis on leading a healthy lifesyle which is easier to do with the outdoors being so usable.
The health care system ( if you can afford private insurance) is much better than the UK ( much the same if you don't have private insurance). The education system, I'm yet to experience.
But it's not the Eden that lots of Brits think it is.
Working hours here are longer ( on average), pay is often worse than in the UK ( on average) and it's not nearly as cheap as everyone makes out.
It's also bloody miles from anywhere useful.
But I do love it here and would recommend having a trial over here. Some immigrants love it, others go home. It's great, but it's not for everyone.
Rant Over

Hello, hello. Apparently it's autumn but with an average of 33 every day it doesn't really seem that way! Def cooler in the morning though - takes longer to heat up and cools down more quickly so s'pose could be autumn. Our lows are now 23 instead of 28 and we don't need the aircons on overnight.

News of the day is the battening down of the hatches for Cyclone Larry which is due early Monday morning...probably being unduly cautious but feel if well stocked then it's less likely to happen and it's not as though we won't use the stuff before we leave (well, maybe not the tinned ham...).

Ds1 was 5 when he went to preschool here and was identified as Scotland boy for about three days and since then it hasn't been an issue. I think there are so many accents it doesn't really matter - it's not something kids really notice.

Off to tidy up outside now...

Hannahs - good luck with Larry. I bet the kids are really excited!

Apologies to any non Peter Kay fans - couldn't resist - this has been sitting untouched in my hotmail inbox for about 2 years.

THE TRUTH by Peter Kay

1. Triangular sandwiches taste better than square ones.
2. At the end of every party there is always a girl crying.
3. One of the most awkward things that can happen in a pub is when your pint to toilet cycle gets synchronised with a complete stranger.
4. You've never quite sure whether it's ok to eat green crisps.
5. Everyone who grew up in the 80's has entered the digits 55378008 into a calculator.
6. Reading when you're drunk is horrible.
7. Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly.
8. Your never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden.
9. Nobody ever dares make cuppa soup in a bowl.
10. You never know where to look when eating a banana.
11. Its impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat.
12. Prodding a fire with a stick makes you feel manly.
13. Rummaging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball.
14. You always feel a bit scared when stroking horses.
15. Everyone always remembers the day a dog ran into your school.
16. The most embarrassing thing you can do as schoolchild is to call your teacher mum or dad.
17. The smaller the monkey the more it looks like it would kill you at the first given opportunity.
18. Some days you see lots of people on crutches.
19. Every bloke has at some stage while taking a pee flushed half way through and then raced against the flush.
20. Old women with mobile phones look wrong!
21. Its impossible to look cool whilst picking up a Frisbee.
22. Driving through a tunnel makes you feel excited.
23. You never ever run out of salt.
24. Old ladies can eat more than you think.
25. You can't respect a man who carries a dog.
26. There's no panic like the panic you momentarily feel when you've got your hand or head stuck in something.
27. No one knows the origins of their metal coat hangers.
28. Despite constant warning, you have never met anybody who has had their arm broken by a swan.
29. The most painful household incident is wearing socks and stepping on an upturned plug. (or Slugs!!!!)
30. People who don't drive slam car doors too hard
31. You've turned into your dad the day you put aside a thin piece of wood specifically to stir paint with.
32. Everyone had an uncle who tried to steal their nose.
33. Bricks are horrible to carry.
34. In every plate of chips there is a bad chip.

thanks for those thoughts yummimummy, very useful. I am conscious of not looking at it through rose tinted glasses too much. I do worry that at least at first we would be totally skint. That's what's scary about it all I guess, the thought of what happens if you get over there and it is really hard but then again, the thought of being old and regretting not going, seems harder.
Re: my mum, she's already said that she wouldn't emigrate because she couldn't face it and also her life is here - friends, active social life etc. Also I have another brother who is still in the UK so it's not as though all her children would be abroad. Oh I don't know, it's such a tricky decision but I just do feel that ulitmately and long-term, it would be a better life.