Any Sydney mums around?

[thatsnotmymonster]

I am getting pretty excited as it is looking increasingly likely that dh is about to be offered a job in Sydney (should know by next week). However, whether we are able to accept or not all depends on the salary package, particularly with th school fee issue- has anyone else moved and had the company pay the school fees?

We live in Scotland and so ds is in P1 but he will be 6 in March and dd1 is due to start school after the summer as she will be 5 in July. I don't know whether they should go into Yr 1 and 2 in Oz from when we move or whether they shoud go into Yr 1 and kindergarten. Do most people wait until the year the dc turns 6 or send them the year they turn 5?

The office is in Pyrmont and we are hoping to rent in a nearby suburb- I have been looking at Lilyfield, Five Dock, Drummoyne...can anyone recommend any other nice suburbs in that area or tell me if there are any to avoid?

Anything else I should know? If this happens we will be moving around April.

Thanks!

really??
Well, unless things in the UK have gone up massively since I was there last August, then most things are more expensive here except petrol!

Clothes definitely, especially children's clothes.
Books and DVDs - oh God yes, you'd be horrified at the cost of new books. And no Amazon here!
Toys - variable.
Wooden furniture of any type = more expensive here.

I'm a little out of touch with the cost of white goods so can't really say about those; ditto other household electrical - although DH did tell me to buy a new laptop in the UK as it would be cheaper there than here - I bought it in Tesco, so he was right about that.:)

Food is variable - but generally our bills are bigger here than they would have been in the UK.

Garden centres are about the same though, if you're into plants and gardening - except Christmas trees. There are very few real Christmas trees here in Australia - I mean proper real ones, as opposed to the top of some roadside fir tree that smells right and looks ok but has completely the wrong type of branch/needles for hanging things on. We bought a potted 1' high real proper one for $16 last year. In about 10 years, it might be useful! To buy a potted 3' one would have cost me ~$100, or £60. That is waaaay too much.

What else is there?

ok I just looked at food online at Woolworths and it was expensive when converted to GBP but then our weekly budget in UK is around £85 and our budget for Australia is $250 so really things are not any more expensive in relation to the general salary/cost of living.

Prices in the UK have gone up quite a lot in the last 6 months- it is definitely noticeable in food shopping.

We have a set budget for things in Australia according to the new salary. I think we will just work within that framework rather than comparing dollars/pounds all the time.

There is a good website Bobinoz where he works out how much things cost in terms of hours worked- so taking an average salary and dividing it by average hours worked. When you do that you find most things are 'cheaper' in Australia.

I think that's probably a very good idea, TNMM - but I'd still buy as many clothes as you can in the UK. The cheap end here is more expensive however you look at it because the quality is so much poorer as well (although apparently it's even worse in NZ, according to an English friend of mine who has lived in both).

I think that will be fine- my mum loves buying clothes for the kids and is already planning on buying them loads of new stuff before we go!!! She is planning to visit early next year and will bring more with her then too. She will also buy and post anything I need

What kind of clothes are useful for winter-time. Should be fine for Jerseys/fleece tops etc. Same sort of stuff you might need in Spring here?

Are we better buying UV sun suits here or over there? They seem quite expensive here but will buy them if they are cheaper then there!

Hmm. You'll be pushed to easily find them to buy at the moment, I have enough trouble finding them at the beginning of summer! But actually I probably would buy those here (and have).

But then I only look in places like Target, KMart, Big W etc. and they're not always well laid out for finding swimmers; there are probably better places to buy these things from. I can't even remember the name of the ones that seem quite common here - long-sleeved swimming tops, can someone else remind me what they're called? tis a brand name that's synonymous with the item...

Winter - I think I covered that further up thread but to save you going back:
boots, jeans, socks, lots of thin layers rather than thick ones, some thick jumpers, hats, gloves, scarves - all these may be necessary. Some days they won't be and other days they will - it's not like a UK winter where you can guarantee you'll need your thick coat, gloves, hat and thermal undies on a daily basis.

But I live in jeans through the winter here; and usually have on a vest, a thin top and a jumper (and a fleece jacket if I'm going outdoors). Then if it gets warmer I can take the jumper off; if it gets unseasonably warm I can even go down to the vest. It has been known for me to go out on a day trip dressed in jeans and boots but with sandals and shorts in the car in case it heats up that much (which it can).

The book depository is a great friend in aus. They will post books at uk prices for free. It is like amazon. Takes about a week to get them but a way better option.
Rash vest wise ie swimmers, I am planning on buying them here. Sainsbo's have loads at the moment. Don't buy sun hats here. Go to a chemists when you get to aus and buy them as they all have string chin ties which ate essential on a rainy day. I found target was about the same quality as tesco/ sainsburys. Bras are not great over there so buy what you like and take with you, although bravissimo do deliver if your are big enough.

thanks lula- will have to keep the book depository in mind- though we do have a ridiculous number of books so I rarely buy any...and there are libraries too, surely?

Will buy the swim things next time I see them at a good price. As for the bras- sounds like a great excuse for going underwear shopping before I go then

I meant a windy day for the sun hats and please don't eat them!

lol!!

We don't have TK Maxx or anything like that, really, so stuff like bedlinen (which I've bought for next to nothing in the UK) is surprisingly expensive - eg a queen-size fitted sheet in 100% cotton would be around $60-70 from Target. But salaries are a lot higher than in the UK - I can't believe what is quoted on here as a good joint income. We would starve to death on that.

UV swimmers are called Rashies. Deffo buy them before you come at end-of-season sales. They are about $30 or $40 here - PILs brought one for DD that they'd got for a pound or two. Go-Lo can be quite good for things like floaties (think you poms call them waterwings?), basic toasters, craft stuff for DCs.

Actually my secret is jumble sales and gararge sales, which are much more common here. My annual budget for dressing DD is about $20. Whenever one of the local schools has a fete, there is always a children's clothing stall, and I wait until the end of the day when it's fill a bag for $5. Same for toys.

But then I am incredibly tight.

Meant to say, that Target is the bottom end of the market. That sheet would be probably $100/odd in Holy Sheet and $130 from David Jones (big department store patronised exclusively by old people)

Just thinking about it, because wages are higher, anything service-related is expensive. I use a 1920s wind-up watch and when it needs to be serviced it's cheaper by about 70% to FedEx it to my old watchmaker in Hong Kong and pay for it to be FedExed back. I got quoted $300 to service a wind-up clock last week, so that's on its way to HK soon.

at the bedlinen costs!!!!!!!

I will just get them posted over if I need anything like that then. King-size sheets are about a 10-20 quid in the supermarkets.

Am happy to buy 2nd hand clothes too.
As for floaties- we call them armbands!

Actually I just compared John Lewis/Target on sheets and for a 600 thread count the prices in Target are much cheaper- $69-$89 compared to £53-£99

In Tesco- £17 but for a much lower thread count so equivalent to the room essential sheet at Target $16.99...

I haven't bought any sheets for a while!

Well if you can bring what you already have with you, I would. I did! But then we went and bought a Kingsize bed and none of my linens fit. So have had to search around for linens that I can bear to buy - so far, David Jones 70% off sale was useful, and roving market stalls that sell slight seconds or over-stock have been very useful. Spotlight had the best deal on a mattress protector, in the sale (about 40% off, iirc).

I am not quite as tight as ninedragons but I do tend to only buy in sales as the full price of anything is too much, IMO. Op shops (charity shops), garage/yard sales and the shop at the tip are all good places to pick up things for the DC - one of my friends regularly goes to the tip shop to pick up outdoor toys for her DS, sometimes they need a bit of mending but as often as not they don't.

In the end - I would reiterate to bring as much as you can with you rather than buy it new here.
I didn't know you could buy Rashies (thank you) in the UK. Only thing is it won't be the end of season sale for them when you come over - it will be the beginning of the season so they'll likely be full price. But you're not likely to need them yet - better to get your parents to buy them in August when it IS end of season sale time and send them over, then you'll have them in time for summer here.

Ah, I was looking at the Room Essentials ones last weekend, and they are polycotton, which I don't do (I'm tight, but still a snob about polyester!). Ikea is not bad for bedlinen but it's such a massive PITA to go I would have to be pretty much sleeping on the floor before I'd drag my arse up there.

Talking about linen. It took me a long time to understand that all linen in Australia is called 'manchester'. It is a generic name. I just kept going in all the shops and thinking how popular this Manchester thing was.

We will definitely bring all our bed linen and our king size bed and mattress

Half of the Tesco sheets are poly/cotton too.

Rashies are for sale everywhere in the UK- all supermarkets/department stores/Boots/Next/M&S/TK maxx! They tend not to ever be on sale and are available all year round- loads at the moment for people going away for half/term and Easter.
There are lots on ebay so I think I will buy off there before we leave.

Where is Ikea, Ninedragons? Is it in Sydney?
Ikea beds are different sizes anyway so a lot of their bed linen doesn't fit normal beds!

There is a giant Ikea in Sydney (Rhodes). Like every branch in the world, it's hell with arrows on the floor.

I have never been in any IKEA anywhere

I'm not sure about mattresses - do they need special treatment or anything? We only brought a pretty new cot mattress with us, we needed a new one for the double bed and knew we were buying a new kingsize bed when we got here anyway - does anyone else know? Just thinking of the concept that mattresses harbour bedbugs etc. - do the AQIS get arsey about them and demand they are treated?
Probably not but it's worth checking, I suppose.

We brought mattress from China with the rest of our stuff and didn't have a problem. I don't think anything got fumigated. The box of Christmas decs was opened but when they realised it was glitter & tinsel rather than pinecones they just shut it again.

But actually in hindsight I would have left the mattress and bought another one when we got here - we ended up on an air bed for about six weeks while we waited for our stuff and it was deadly uncomfortable.

thanks ninedragon - I wasn't sure what their policy was on mattresses.
6 weeks on an airbed! Hope you have a good masseur/chiropractor!

The speedo shop always have good sales (up to 50% off) and we get all our swimmers and rashies there. If your DC swim a lot (eg weekly lessons) you will probably find that Uk swimmers aren't up to the job. We have a lovely friend in the UK who has sent swimming costumes (very sweet - much nicer looking than speedos reallY0 for the DC and they have onloy lasted about 3 months before becomming baggy and see through, unfortunately. Also, do check that rashies are actually certified as being UV proff - some cheapies are not.

Target is quite good for kids clothes, quality wise, although a lot of it is (IMHO) ugly and tacky. You need to get in early in the season (Thats NOW, ladies already in Aus!) to get the nicer stuff, especially plain coloured tops, undecorated jeans etc (but you can layby it and buy it when its actually cool eough to wear).

Health insurance - we buy extras cover and it works for us - we use a bit of chairo and physio, DH has glasses every year or so, and the kids dental is completly covered and they go every 6 months. we go every year, and we are not out of pocket much. We usually buy the cheapest hospital (there are disincentives for not buying it once you are over 30 - you pay more medicare levy each year that you don't have private cover..or something like that), but we upgraded to top cover in case we want to have DC 4 in a private hospital - we'll drop it again after s'he is born though.