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!

Sorry to gatecrash,been keeping up on you tnmm,so pleased all is going well. It all sounds so exciting.

Basically dp wants a stint abroad,I'm a tad nervous.He is favouring Oz,his best friend emigrated a few years ago and we visited about 10 years ago and loved it. Said best mate is in Melbourne,I fell in love with Sydney.Dp has seen a lot of jobs in his line of work in Sydney which is on the skills list,he has enough points etc.

Basically we don't know what to do.

Do you get the visa sorted then apply for jobs,there is no way either of us would be keen on going without a job lined up?

How much would we need to be ok in Sydney,not interested in private education but would want to rent a house in a nice area and not be paupers?I know Oz is a pricey place to live.

How is the economy, dp's line of work seems to be booming but if Oz is struggling I know that could change.

Do any of you live in the city,what's it like? Would want to be near a beach and the city ideally. What are state schools like,are there decent primaries or is private a must?

Also is Sydney as lovely as I remembered it? How does it compare to Perth and Adelaide,my other favoured options?

Again so sorry to gatecrash but I thought this thread was an ideal place to find out quite a lot of info.

Tnmm surely the garage is liable, thinks like this always happen when you don't need it,hope you get it sorted .

Oh what a pain TNM, and how scary for your DH. Imagine if the kids had been in the back! The garage are liable of course, if they are operating the car wash. I would get on the phone pronto and tell them that you will be dropping off the car and you will expect to pick it up within 24 hours with a new window; don't get into any kind of negotiation with them other than "your problem, sort it".

far out TNNM, thats the last thing you need. I'd call the police station maybe, to report the damage to the car, so that way st least its recorded somewhere if you need some 'proof' later on.

TNMM, What a nightmare!! I agree with Sunny - don't give them an inch!
MilaMae, can't help on visas, but the Australian economy is booming. We arrived here a year ago and people were already talking about the credit crunch (GFC as they call it here) in the past tense, and to be honest, it didn't seem to have much effect here at all.
What sort of work does your DH do?
re Sydney vs Perth and Adelaide - totally different. Sydney is a fairly good sized international city with all the good and bad that comes with that. Perth is the word's most isolated city (read large country town) with all the good and bad that come with that. I really don't know enough about Adelaide to comment, which says something in itself I guess?
Primary schools are generally very good especially in more affluent areas. The wealthier the catchment, the better the school (massive generalisation admittedly).
I live in a beach suburb near Bondi (near the city) and you cant buy a 3 bdrm semi around here for less than $1 million. Sydney is $$$ but there's a big variation and you don't have to go too far from the city or beach to get a big difference in house prices.
Have a look at Domain.com.au to get an idea of rents/house prices.

Monster how awful!

Mila my DH is from Perth and when/if we migrate it will be to there. It is a big city (we live in a small one here in the UK and you can tell the difference - more restaurants, more things to do, etc) so I wouldn't say it was a country town. But I would say that it cab be country-townish in attitudes and it is not as cosmpolitan or buzzy as Syd/Melb. If you are looking for great beaches and gorgeous Aussie sun and sand though it's hard to beat. SO it depends on if you are a true Big City Gal or a more outdoorsy kind of person. I would not, TBH, consider Perth were it not for DH's job but I know many people who would. Therefore I feel like I can give objective views :)

Yes it was awful! The company, Murco, have not even called us yet despite dh emailing and going along to the garage again today. It is just a petrol station so the staff there are not great and siad they had no contact no. for the company Our insurance is covering it but they shouldn't have to...and they said they didn't think the garage would pay out. Can't believe no-one has even called to apologise yet

Mila- don't worry about gatecrashing!! This thread has turned into a bit of an epic DH started applying for jobs first and once he had one the company sort out visas etc as they are sponsering us. Do you think you or your dh have jobs that could be sponsered?

I researched Sydney a lot as we thought that's where dh was going to be offered a job and although it look like an amazing city it was just too expensive. I was thinking we would need an income of at least $130k to live in the city. You may not want to educate privately but in NSW you have to pay school fees for any school if you are on a temporary visa (which most visas are). So you are looking at $4500/year/child upfront. This is why we are opting for private Catholic schools- the fees are much cheaper!

I would seriously consider Adelaide- much cheaper housing, no school fees, mediterranean climate, very family orientated...
I wouldn't consider Perth, due to the isolation factor but as Roary says many people do love it.

We are pretty happy with Newcastle. Housing is much more affordable than Sydney and commuting is much easier as it is smaller and less traffic etc.

Maybe call the police? Sounds like they won't be calling - they will just wait for you to get fed up and fix it yourself.
Otherwise take it down and park it diagonally across their petrol driveway with a big sign inside telling them to call you when they've fixed the damage? Then call the local paper.

You need to get legal TNMM. They ARE liable, write to them and tell them that you will be pursuing them for the cost of the repair - I know you have other things on your mind but you really shouldn't let them get away with it. A solicitor's letter won't cost much but might just chivvy them along a bit.

Mila - first thing you need to sort is visas. You say your DH has enough points to come here, be aware if you go for PR before you arrive it can easily take more than a year to sort it out. It took us 18 months. If you are thinking of a temporary adventure you might be better off trying to find someone who will sponsor him for a 457 (business visa) - obviously how easy that is will depend on what sector he is in. If you go down the PR route it can be very difficult to get a job before you arrive - a lot of Sydney companies and agencies won't even bother replying to overseas enquiries.

Sydney is an amazing place to live. It is also incredibly expensive (I think TNMM gives a very accurate figure of $130k to live in any kind of decent area in Sydney with a couple of kids and that won't be letting you fly back to the UK for holidays). There are plenty of beach areas in Sydney, I can only give you info on the Northern Beaches but if you want to rent a 4 bed house in somewhere like Mona Vale/Newport etc. you are looking at around $1,000 a week in rent (mind you, having had breakfast on Mona Vale beach in the sunshine this morning if you can afford it I really couldn't knock it!). I find the public (state) school system here very similar to Brighton where we moved from; great primaries, very varied secondaries. A lot of people where I live do public for primary then move private for secondary. One thing I can tell you from bitter experience is that if your kids have any learning support needs forget the public schools - we arrived with no intention of private schooling but pulled our eldest out of the local high school after 7 weeks. We then just put all three in the same private school as what they were offering was SO much better. If you have really bright kids they would probably do fine but with two dyslexic boys and a permanent move we just couldn't risk it. If you only want to come for a few years do be aware that, depending on birthdays, kids often go back a year when they arrive here because of the different school year and cut off dates, but if you return to the UK they will often end up having to go up, up to one and a half years, again depending on when in the school year you make the move.

They've agreed to pay it but seeing as we had already arranged it through our insurance they are only having to stump up 75 to cover our excess. All fixed now though.

We woke up to snow again here today!! All the poor crocuses and snowdrops

DH's new company sent through details of a house that's available for our first 4 weeks- it looks great and is in The Junction which would be ideal. His office is actually relocating from Mayfield to Hamilton. If we lived on the edge of the Lake around Valentine or Blacksmiths/Swansea how long do you think the commute would be? (to Hamilton)

How's it all going TNMM? Hope your car is sorted now - just not what you need at the moment.

Having a sweaty week here in Sydney - I really don't cope well with high humidity - grim!

Got the car all sorted- phew!

Still sooo cold here, 2C today and been snowing on and off for a week but not lying thank goodness. Just constant rain today. Don't like high humidity either though

The visas are being processed and I think they would be approved by now if we weren't waiting for BUPA to send the insurance certificate through- it's taken them 3 weeks- grrrr annoying!!

We are slowly selling most of our posessions. Feels quite good really. Oh and we have found people to rent our house out which is a big relief.

Slowly getting through the huge list of jobs but it's not easy when no workmen ever bother to get back to you

Off to brave the freezing rain to get the girls from nursery!

Given that this has become the general Sydney chat thread, I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS again to Thumbwitch! I know how hard you've been trying for DC2.

I know the guilt about being an older mum you were talking about on another thread. I resolved mine by bearing in mind that if I'd had children earlier, they wouldn't have been these exact children that I adore. Those eggs were in the chute for those two particular months they were conceived, and while I'm sure I would have loved other children too, I am very, very glad I've got the two I've got.

Can I jump in? I feel a bit isolated having left London and moving back to Brisbane.

Of course, HowsTheSerenity. How long have you been back in Brisbane for? I have friend who have just moved to Brisbane- like a week ago! Are you from Brisbane originally or just lived there before?

Ninedragons, that is a lovely way to think about it
Congratulations to Thumb too.

Only about 6 weeks left in the UK. Saying a lot of goodbyes. Think the school mums have got something lined up for me tomorrow night- meant to be a curry night but they are scheming, lol I'm going to miss them!

Welcome, HTS!

I know what you are feeling - I was overseas for 14 years and have been back for two, and it is hard to settle in again. All but two of my closest friends live overseas, and it is hard when your best mate lives in Singapore rather than three streets away.

There was an article in the weekend paper here about how hard it is to come back after a stint overseas because life has gone on in your absence - I can't find a link but will keep looking.

Welcome HTS

Nine - that's what I'm a bit bothered about when we return to the UK in a years time, having been away for a year - I'm so worried that everything will have moved on without us and we will find it hard to slot back in.

Congratulations thumb - brilliant news

How exciting (and I imagine a bit scary) for you TNMN - that seems to have come round quickly.

It's a year to the day today that we left the UK! Can't believe it's a yerar already. I have a feeling that the next year is going to fly by. I'm having really mixed feelings about returning to the UK at the moment - part of me is really looking forward to going back, and part of me really doesn't want to (I'm going to miss it here a huge amount)

I think email, Skype and Facebook and so on make it much easier to stay in touch with all the little details of people's lives. I will say that because I'm fairly good at staying in touch with people, when I do see them we can pretty much pick up exactly where we left off (it has been three and a half years since I saw my bestie in person, but we are still as close as ever. I would fucking love it if she got transferred to Sydney, though!).

But the missing places is not a problem you can ever solve. I have days when I really miss Shanghai or Hong Kong. I was up doing a feed at 2 o'clock this morning watching a documentary on Puyi (the last emperor of China) on the History Channel and positively pining for China, even though I was desperate to come home when we lived there.

Oh congrats thumb!

Do you have to go back Eralc? We know a few families who returned to the UK after their time was up but never settled and are either back, or on their way back to Oz again.

Good luck with the move TNMM, maybe we can use your arrival as an excuse for a meet up.

Ninedragons - would love to read the article.

Everyone has moved on and it is difficult to fit back in. Oh well, only time will tell.

I think we should definitely use my arrival as an excuse to meet up! Maybe towards the end of May- after we have had a few weeks to settle in?

I already have a playdate lined up with another mum I met on Pomsinoz site

I love t'internet! It's great to feel that i am beginning to make connections before we have arrived, makes it a bit easier! Also so grateful that I will be able to keep in touch with all my friends back here with facebook/skype.

Ooo - a meet up sounds fab. Would be lovely to re-meet some people and meet some new ones as well!

Facebook and skype have certainly made keeping in touch easier (although I am totally pathetically bad at staying in contact with people as much as I would like to).

Sunnydelight - we have to go back at the end of next year because OH's contract will be up (it was a 2 year fixed thing), and we are on a temporary visa so they will kick us out once the job is over :) Having said that, I suspect that DH would be able to get another job over here if we get back to the UK and decide that actually Australia is where we want to be.

Just thought I'd let you all know that the VISAS CAME THROUGH TODAY yay!!!!

However I am now insanely busy as we are getting the shippers in next week- aaaaaahh! Help!

Oh that's fantastic, congrats! Keep us posted through the chaos of the next few weeks if you can/

Oooh exciting!
Takes me back to that mad, pre-move stage. Stressful but exhilarating!
I kept making lists and losing them, so I bought a note book which I used for all my relocation related lists and notes - worked wonders!
When will you get here? Just in time for it to be properly cold and wet?
Still I think that is the best way - then you will get such a thrill when Summer comes around and you'll already have the right clothing!

Gosh this thread got long

That's fab news about your visa tnmm I remember the run up to our move well - DH moved a month before me and left me to tie up all the loose ends in the UK so he found it all a breeze while I was running around like a headless chicken

A meet up soon is definitely needed- it'll be the first one we've had where I'm not pg so I'll finally be able to partake in some