Aussie mums who live/have lived in the UK.......I need help!!

[mymama]

We are going to UK for a year on 4th October this year. Have booked and bought our flights and passport apps etc are lodged. I have lots of questions though.

DH is in I.T. and planning to work whilst over there. He is eligible to work as his parents are British. He is hoping to get a job before we leave. Obviously this will restrict our options but if we had an idea of nicer family friendly areas we would direct our efforts to those areas. So...

If you could settle anywhere in England where would you go (considering the work/school options as well)?

Where would you strictly avoid?

Is it relatively easy to enrol our children in schools? Should this be done before we leave?

What is the best accommodation option when first landing in London (first week or so)?

Is it easy to rent a house?

Is it possible to live/work without a car?

Personal experiences would be fantastic and tips on what to do/what not to do. tia

not just London but guessing that is where most jobs would be. Also looking at Milton Keynes area as we have a good friend in that area.

Sunshinefairy we are from north Brisbane. We have friends not far from Wellington Point at Ormiston.

Thanks for the advice re the schools. We are going to put their names down at the school nearest our friend now as a safeguard, but it really does depend on dh's job. He will start applying around March/April so we will have a better idea then.

Hi mymama, remeber you need to have a UK address (could use your friends) to put your childrens name on the continued interest list for a school, you need to contact the school direct to find out about vacencies etc I would also contact Milton Keynes Local Education Authority. I would do this before you leave oz. Any more ed. questions I would be happy to help!

sunshinefairy I sent email to school we would be interested in, in the MK area last night. They replied promptly and directed me to the forms to complete and send in and advised there are vacancies at this time so have requested the dc's names etc.

My dh's cousin is a teacher over there and we are hoping he might be able to give us some inside info on reasonable schools in various areas.

mymama wow that is great news, you've got the ball rolling. best of luck

Hi Mymama, I've just returned to Brisbane after 11yrs o/s, mostly spent in West/South West London and Surrey. Our last 2yrs there were spent in Farnham, Surrey, about 50miles outside of London. Very nice area but we found it too far to commute into London each day, which is what we were doing. Salaries drop by quite a lot outside of London but the cost of everything else doesn't. Also the cost of train travel (not the tube, but services like South West trains) we also found very expensive, over £3k a year just to commute into London. dd1 went to nursery in Woking and I wish we had bought there, 20min direct train into Waterloo station, some nice areas around there to live in but everything still close by. In London itself, I like Wimbledon and surrounds, but was a little too expensive for us to buy or rent the type of place we wanted to live in
Being without a car is possible, but only if you're living close to a tube/train station and the further out of London you are, the more likely you are to need a car, we found anyway. I was able to walk a lot more to do most things when living in Southfields, Tooting etc in SW London then I was in Surrey. In winter, a car would make your life a lot easier, and at least then you can go out exploring places on the weekend as a family or go further afield like Scotland/Ireland/France.
I know you said your plane tickets are booked, but do you need to arrive in October? My advice would be not to arrive at the start of a UK winter, especially as the clocks will go back a couple of weeks after you arrive and it's dark and cold for Nov through to March.
We enjoyed our time over there and wouldn't have stayed so long if we hadn't been enjoying it, but an English winter does seem to go on and on , I noticed this a lot more after dd2 arrived and I was a sahm again.
Good luck, it's a great adventure for you and your children to experience. Any ideas how long you'll stay over there?

scully thanks for the great info re living/working in London. We will be there from 4 Oct 2007 to 29 Aug 2008. This is to tie in with both school years Aus/UK.

We have timed it in October as I want my ds1 to do his first year of school here in Australia. He will do January to September in Yr 1 here and go immediately into Yr 2 in October in the UK. We felt if v important that he does his first year in Australia, but also wanted the children to start school in the UK as close to the start of the school year as possible iyswim.

The hardest part, we find, is finding a nice area to live/nice school for the children. Other than that we do not have any predetermined ideas.

We thought if dh could travel by train to work we could hire a car on weekends and it may work out cheaper/easier than buying and paying taxes etc???

Which part of Brisbane are you scully?

mymama look into car prices for to buy can always sell when you go. hiring can work out very expensive, If you supply proof of an unblemished car insurance they take that into consideration for car insurance and it may work out cheaper, Here it is the car insured not the driver, ie: should not drive a car that does not have your name on the insurance whereas at home i used to hope into any car at home mums, sisters etc and drive.

Also remember there is 1/2 term holidays in october.

Hi mymama, we're in Wynnum/Manly area, grew up on the Northside though but really enjoying living this side now
Depending on what sort of and how much travelling you are wanting to do, I would consider buying a car rather than renting. A bit of a hassle possibly initially but when you're waiting for the bus and it's 5deg and raining, and you have 1 or all of your children with you, you get the picture
Also, you can visit so many places in England, Scotland and Wales, a lot of them just for the weekend as the distances aren't what you are used to in Australia, and you can take it on the ferry over to Ireland and France.
I just did a quick price check on Thrifty and they charge £120 for a 3 day weekend rental of a full size car. Not as much as I had expected but it will add up if you try and get away once a month and during school holidays.
Not that I still want to be selling our car in October, but ours is still in South London with friends, trying to be sold. An older but reliable Jeep Cherokee
Good idea with the schooling, that's the reason we left in October, just as dd1 would have needed to start in Reception over there, instead she will start in Prep here. Definitely tricky to find an area you will like, when you're not familiar with any of them. If you have a good friend in the MK area, I would stick North, as if you don't know many people initially you don't want to be an hour or more away from them, on unfamiliar roads. I have a friend who lives in St Albans, and it's very nice, also not so cheap, but because of that you should find the schools are ok
rightmove is worth a look for renting, as is loot
Good luck!

Hi mymama,

We moved from Sydney to London 8 years ago (started out as a 3 month contract and we fell in love with the place).
Biggest shock we had when we first moved over was handing over lots of $$$ in rent - you need to budget for at least 1 month in advance + up to 6 weeks for the deposit. A small fortune when converted into dollars.
Also to rent many agencies needed references (which we didn't have as we owned our home in Sydney). A letter from your employer (as a character reference) is handy even if from Australia. Once working in the UK, employers can provide references too.
We both work in IT and have found it to be a fast paced market, generally well paid too but it can take up to 6 weeks to be paid from the time you submit your invoices/bill the client so this + rent/deposit etc. means having some savings to get you started is helpful.

Good luck