DH been offered a job in Brisbane and accepted subject to details etc

[Naetha]

The whole emigration idea only started on monday so it's a bit .

I know there's another couple of threads about moving to Brisbane that I've been avidly reading but I really am completely new to the whole thing (but very much up for it!).

Any advice, or any advice on where to get advice will be very much appreciated :)

Am a little bit excited :o

[chloeb2002]

Good luck new brisbanites... Hopefully we will arrange another meet up soon!

[Naetha]

Good luck cocokev!

This must be so exciting for you! Can't wait until we get there ourselves.

Removals all done, went pretty smoothly, except for the fact they packed a few things I didn't want them to - (kids swimming things, toys for the flight, and the v5 logbook for the motorbike!). None of it is the end of the world, just a faff getting replacements.

The kids have settled well into a virtually empty house which makes my life easier. Just need to finish selling everything on ebay!

Dh having a fab time - one of his work colleagues' husband is a used car dealer, so he's keeping an eye out for us for something in our price range. As for places, I think DH has his heart set on Forest Lake - every time he's passed through there's always seemed to be something going on, and loss of young families about. Also fits in well with him travelling to work.

That's it for now, more stuff to get on ebay!

[CocoKev]

Naetha- glad to hear you're on track! We fly out on Saturday and will be staying in Kangaroo Point for a month in a serviced apartment while we find somewhere more permanent. See you over there!

[Naetha]

Well the removals people are here and they're scarily efficient!

4 hours down and the house is already eerily empty.

Still got loads to do, including all the clothes and computer stuff, but at least there's a bit more space so I can actually sort stuff out.

I've now got until monday morning to do the rest of the organizing and packing.

Dh keeps on sending me amazing pictures - he's off on a recce trip this weekend with a colleague who has kindly offered to give him a guided tour of Brisbane. He prefers the feel of the western suburbs (Kenmore, Moggill, Ferny Grove) which wasn't somewhere we'd particularly considered, but looks lovely!

Right, back to packing!

[empirestateofmind]

Good luck with organising the move. Never easy.

If you are renting your house out get the electrics checked out sooner rather than later. We had to get our house rewired two weeks before we left as they failed an inspection.

One thing we did that went down well was taking a video of our house, our DCs quickly forgot what the house looked like inside and this was a reminder.

Don't forget to take your DCs' baby books/baby photos with you as they do like to see them and you frequently need this sort of thing for nursery/primary school projects. We wish we'd brought more memorabilia with us. I would love to look at my wedding album but it is in storage and it looks like I won't see it for another 4 years.

I echo Bubbaluv saying scrub everything. Not only can things be delayed but you may incur a fine if customs have to clean boots/golf clubs/bikes.

[Bubbaluv]

Full steam ahead huh!?
Good luck with the packing etc - it's always a bitch.
Portable DVD players are a lifesaver with little kids on the long flight, and you can get great mini headphones on Amazon.
Get yourself a pedi and a new bikini before you leave - you'll be on the beach before you know it!

[Naetha]

Just thought I'd post a quick update on here.

Everything going broadly to plan - our 457 visa has been applied for by DH's company, they don't anticipate any problems, and expect it to come through within 4 weeks at the most. We plan to fly out around the 7th September.

DH flew out to Brisbane last Friday as they were having major IT issues after the latest contractor jacked his job in. He's had 1 day on the job over there and loved it. Everyone's really friendly, already been taken out for drinks (right now probably!). He will be flying back for about a week before we all fly out together. The weather is fab there at the moment (much better than our miserable summer). It also gave him the opportunity to take over an extra load of stuff - he's taken nearly all his clothes, as well as some toys for the kids and extra bits and pieces. This weekend he's going to the Gold Coast to "check it out" - I'm very

I can't deny it's difficult without DH around - removals guys come on Saturday, so the kids (3 and 18mo) are going to stay with my sister for a long weekend. This means I can actually focus on getting things done.

Once the removals have been, then it'll give me the chance to focus on getting other stuff done - preparing the house for letting etc.

Friends and family have been amazing - I'm going to really miss them, although my sister is already looking into hypnotherapy for her cockroach phobia so she can come and visit next year, and my Dad reckons he might come and visit us for Christmas!

[wheresthepimms]

Naetha have not moved to Aus but did live in the US for the last 2 years, we have 4DC and as far as the moving went the older 2 knew what was going on but the younger 2 5& nearly 2 at the times thought we were going on holiday for a long time. We packed kids off to grandparents whilst the removals were there so they didn't see the upheaval of what was going and what was going into storage. We then picked them up had a couple of days in London before flying, think it was when 2 years later we were about to come home that one actually said "well that was a long holiday" hadn't even realised when we put them in school and nursery Guess what I am saying is they are pretty resilient and will take it all in their stride, bribery works well but don't rely on it too much as it will become a habit

Good luck with it all I am soo

[Bubbaluv]

Good luck Ravenous!
BTW what sort of company has a jeans and thongs dress code!?

[ravenousbugblatterbeast]

I have an interview!!!! Eek! Brisbane here I come!

[Bubbaluv]

Ravenous, re the cars, it would totally depend on where you live and where you work. My DH works in the city so he gets the bus to work and leaves the car for me to lug the kids about and do the grocery shopping etc.
Australian cities do tend to be far more spread out than UK cities, so people do tend to rely on cars far more.

OP, one thing I found was that my Aussie GPs found it quite difficult to translate my DCs immunisation records as the drug names etc were all different and half of it was written in a UK-centric shorthand which didn't help, so if you can get your GP to print out a fully worded record it might make life easier this end.

Also scrub your shoes and boots and bike tyres and anything else that could be muddy. If they find a pair of muddy boots it can delay your container for weeks while customs searches it.

Camping in Aus is wonderful. I've seen one snake in 30 odd years. You can't live in Brisvegas and not go camping on Fraser Island. Still better than some expats I've met here who say they will never swim in the sea for fear of sharks!

[ravenousbugblatterbeast]

What are you planning to do about car(s)when you get out to Brisbane, Naetha? It's a lot of money to find - can I ask you guys living there - is it possible to get cars on finance with a job offer? What's a reasonable amount to pay for a small-medium size car - what's insurance like?

Also, are company cars a possibility or are they really complicated tax-wise re. distance travelled etc like over here?

And also do you need 2 cars, or does a non-working partner use public transport for school runs etc? DS is 8 so will be at primary school, we're looking at maybe living in Manly/Wynnum area, and me commuting to a new(ish) development just off the freeway, so inaccessible to public transport...

Sorry, lots of questions, I've had another, interim, semi-informal interview which might get me nearer to the final interview, so I've got my hopes (slightly) up again...

[zzlondongirlzz]

Naetha, I'd agree with you on the bringing your furniture from the UK. We have brought everything from the UK in a container which literally just arrived. Having even our very knackered/old stuff is making the whole transition much easier. Also, its' not so much the price of furniture from what I've seen here in QLD but the overall quality versus price. Yes you can get reasonably priced stuff inc furniture and clothes but it's poorer quality in my opinion than the same priced goods in the UK. Clothes in K-Mart and Target etc I not as good a quality (or good a choice) as kids stuff in say Asda, Tesco or Next. We took the plunge and bought a garden table and chairs and a sofa to bring out here - I'm glad we did, it's definitely been a worthwhile investment. Australian clothes retail is very different from Europe (in Brisbane at least)- no Gap, Zara, Next or H&M etc etc - if you like any of these kinds of shops then definitely take the opportunity to get some bits before you come!

[Naetha]

Yeah he's been in Piriton syrup (which he has for eczema) twice a day and it's still horrendous - I guess some people just get it worse than others.

We've had all the removals people round, and one quote left to come in. For sole use of a 20' containter using about 900ft3, we seem to be looking at the region of £3350. It's not as cheap as I was hoping initially (it's our entire relocation budget which is meant to include airfares too!) but I think it's worth it if we're going to make a proper go of things.

The cheapest and best removals quotes have been from White & Co, Dolphin and John Mason. Hopefully by Monday we can decide on who to go with and book a date for the container - then we'll have about 3 weeks to get everything ready!

Next week: Car to be fixed up and put up for sale, big car boot sale on the Sunday, meeting my sister, BIL, niece and nephew on the Thursday, and more and more things on ebay.

[ravenousbugblatterbeast]

Ah, good point...

Have you tried antihistamine for DS? Mine was on a daily does for hayfever when he got chickenpox, and he got through it really easily.

Thanks for the Bobinoz link, looks great!

[Naetha]

One thing you have to remember Ravenousbugblatter is that if you're going to be earning in Oz, to use the 2x or 2.2x markup, rather than the GBP/AUD exchange rate - took us a while to get our heads round it, but it means that the cost of buying things over there isn't quite as prices as initially seems if you're earning over there. That's assuming of course that you'd be earning 2.2 times your salary over here.

One cat rehomed now - DS didn't seem that fussed in the end to be honest - waved goodbye from the window then went back to watching peppa pig ;) Two more will be going at the end of the month to my friend's, then we'll need to work out how to do the handover with the last cat who is going next door.

DS has a horrendous case of chickenpox at the moment which isn't making things massively easy, but better now than the week before we fly. Unfortunately, it does mean that he'll miss out on nearly all of his last week of nursery :(

I'm finding the Bobinoz blog really useful btw for just day to day life in Brisbane - some great tips on there :)

[ravenousbugblatterbeast]

Thanks Naetha, I've got another "informal chat" before the final interview can be scheduled, so hopefully we're still on track. Neither of us has the right skills/work experience/age combinations to get a "proper" visa so this is our only hope...

Will you get getting another cat in Oz? We're going to have to leave our old boy behind (hopefully he'll come as a sitting tenant with the house, as we have (hopefully) found friends of friends who want to rent it..) and I'd promised DS a new kitten in Sept as we lost our other 2 cats, including his furry best mate in the Spring and he was devastated, as were we. Cats pretty much have to be kept indoors I think, but I don't know how that goes down in a rental house... I'd definitely focus on bribery, as well as getting him used to using Skype to talk to family, even in this country, so he'll still be seeing them.

That's the point I was making re. shipping, if the container's coming, might as well fill it. Also, things do seem cheaper here, on the whole, and there are more daft reductions to be competitive - Amazon are selling a 51" 3d plasma tv for £675, the same one is $1400 in Oz (not that we're buying one, but just for comparison). So I'm not having a go ChloeB, just trying to maximise our budget!

[echt]

Feeling for you about the cats. We only had one, and at 12 he was shipped over. V. expensive, but he loves it here and knocking on 18 years old.

When we told DD we were going to Australia, she was 10, her first question was can echtcat come too?

About a 3-year-old child, I've no experience, but think savoycabbage might know more about this.

In the short term, I'd guess bribery is good.

[Naetha]

It's not that stuff is loads cheaper in the UK at the moment (although clothes are v cheap) but it makes more sense to ship a sofa, table and chairs, kids beds and other furniture than buy new when we're over there given that we'd get a pittance for selling them in the UK, and the cost of shipping them is less than a quarter of what it would cost to buy them all new.

We will have approximately $25-30k in hard earned savings when we get over there - half of that is earmarked for a car, a bit more is earmarked for new furniture etc (if possible a new motorbike for DH), and the rest will be kept as a get out of shit fund if the cost of living is as high as everyone makes it out to be and we find it hard to economise. Unfortunately we just can't afford to buy everything from new, lovely though that would be.

Fingers crossed for your interview Ravenousbugblatterbeast - if for whatever reason it falls through, do you think you'll make your way over to Oz anyway? We decided that even if we didn't get the position in Brisbane, that we'd make our own way out anyway.

Bit of a sad weekend though - we're rehoming one of our four cats tomorrow (people came round to see him today, and they fell in love with him) and have just told DS - he's very upset, doesn't want the cat to go and doesn't want to go to Australia :( Any tips on easing the idea of emigration on to a 3 year old other than emphasising the positive and bribery where appropriate? :o

[CocoKev]

Our 457s have just been issued and flights are booked for the 20th Aug- all starting to feel very real now- eeek! Naetha- are you flying Singapore Airlines? I wanted to (hear they are v child friendly and with an 8 month old DS I think we'll need all the help we can get) but the BA luggage allowance is considerably more so we've gone for them. We're also stopping over in Changi- looking forward to the butterflys and swimming pool!

[chloeb2002]

I guess stuff must have got loads cheaper in.the UK in the past 4 years ... Certainly we do have aldis , dollar shops etc to buy cheap basic stuff and ikea etc for furniture so I guess we only brought over ... Special ... Furniture . Certainly didn't buy any to bring! And if we ever did move again we wouldn't get a container ! Electric stuff bought in the UK will have the wrong plugs on and no warrenty .. so I wouldn't do that. You can of course buy all UK books a nd downloads for kindle etc. (book depository send here ) and getting a new home with new stuff when you get here is part of the fun ? I'm impressed if you have room for plastic plates ... Our cases were very full just with clothes !
Weather in September is still cool but improving. Spring temps ... So not too cold over night but maybe only 20 / 25 in the day. With the off random hot / cold day.

[ravenousbugblatterbeast]

I'm still waiting to hear if I've got a final interview (it all seemed nailed-on a few weeks back, now it's gone quiet and I have a baaaad feeling ) but I had planned things like buying some nice picnic plates, bowls and cups and packing them in our suitcases so we could use them before our proper stuff arrived and also as picnic stuff afterwards. Also think about what you buy here more cheaply then over there (pretty much most things it seems!) and if you have room in your container then buy them and bung them in. I was happily hoover-shopping (as I can't imagine getting our existing hoover free from dust sufficiently to please AQA) and also things like a bed, sofa etc, as our existing ones have seen better days. Can any Aussie expats help out of what to bring? I was also planning to get a Kindle, and leave it attached to a UK based account to get UK books.

Singapore airport is fantastic - there's a cinema, butterfly garden (bizarrely opposite the smoking lounge ). You can also tour the city while you're waiting : Changi Airport Who are you flying with?

Gosh, how exciting for you all, although I am also very

[Naetha]

Well this is all going well so far - kids passports applied for (1 week wait time) and DH's A-level certificates on their way. These are the only things we're waiting for before the visa can be applied for. Still on track for flying out 31st August.

I'm trying to work out what to pack for the first 10 weeks over there before our container arrives. What do you recommend? What did you take and not need? What did you need but not take?

I'm guessing a fairly limited number of clothes and toiletries, obviously all the paperwork, identification, references etc, but what else?

We'll be arriving in September, what will the weather be like realistically in Brisbane? Will we need coats other than rain coats? What about cardigans/light jackets.

Stuff like sun cream and mossie repellent - is it worth buying it over there rather than before we go? Is it that much better or cheaper over there?

Also what would you recommend for the plane? We will be having a 14 hour layover in Singapore (probably hire a room in one of the transit hotels for 12 hours and chill out a little bit).

[chloeb2002]

as long as you have pr you can get finance very easily.. however you will need id stuff sorted and pay slips etc so it wouldnt be immediate i dont think. we just bought older cars when we got here and bought outright. now we have slowly changed them for new ones.
yes you can buy smaller engined cars... lots of differnt ones!