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Original poster

Shall we do an Aus/NZ round up?

191 replies

ClaudiaSchiffer · 05/12/2008 02:50

Hi all

Where is everybody? It seems that all the old familiar Oz/NZ mners have wondered orf . . . shall we have some hellos?

I'll kick off

Hi there, I'm ClaudiaShiffer, I have two daughers and live in Adelaide, I am a Pom and have been here for 2 yrs. Mostly loving it. DH is an Aussie and is beyond delighted to be back in Oz after 10yrs in the UK.

Now your turn

OP posts:
showmeyourpuku · 14/01/2009 04:08

Hi, been a watcher not a big poster...

In Northland, NZ. Nice to know other people are up at the same time as me!

ninedragons · 14/01/2009 06:09

Is Brighty around? I need to ask how she found her childcare.

I am supposed going back to work soon and would like to find a childminder who can take DD with another child. As an only, she doesn't have enough contact with other children and is fascinated by them when we're out and about.

God, the childcare centres are such a mess here. I rang the central agency for our area and the woman said "of course we can put you on the waiting list - when is the baby due?" When I said she was coming up for her first birthday, the woman all but hung up on me.

I'm quite tempted to write to the paper. I have three degrees, years of experience, a job that has been moved from Asia to Australia specifically for me, I work in an industry that's crucial to the economy, I'm desperate to pay tax on my earnings and I can't work because I can't find fucking childcare.

sunnydelight · 15/01/2009 05:07

Whereabouts are you savoy? My youngest is a 5 year old girl who is always happy to meet others. She'll be starting school (with her big brothers) on the 29th but maybe we could do something before then?

On a totally different note, I don't suppose any of you know someone wanting to rent a 4 bed house with pool in St. Ives? (upper North Shore, 10 minutes from Gordon station). We've just bought a house which I am SO happy about - I hate being in rented accommodation - but our landlord is being a shit and wants to hold us liable for the tenancy until it runs out on 15th April. We want to leave on 20th Feb.

savoycabbage · 15/01/2009 07:22

That would be great Sunnydelight. I live in Mitcham. I have got a car though and I am going to master the trains any day now. Am staying clear of the trams for a while though. Talking of which what do those yellow lines in the middle of the roads mean?

ghosty · 15/01/2009 12:37

Hello Savoycabbage - welcome to Melbourne
Drop me a line if you feel like catching up - I am not that far from Mitcham really
9Dragons ... are you are cocktail girl? I have just had a holiday in QLD and drank far too many Cosmopolitans for my own good ... yum ...

thumbwitch · 15/01/2009 22:37

hi ghosty - how are you doing? getting ready for February?

savoycabbage · 15/01/2009 22:41

I would love to Ghosty.

ghosty · 16/01/2009 05:30

Hey thumbwitch ... how's things? I am very excited about February
Will you come to Melbourne when you move?
Savoy - I bought a lovely one of you today from coles . My email is the same so do get in touch and I'll send you my phone number

hkgirl · 16/01/2009 05:58

Hi Savoycabbage

Hope you're enjoying melbourne. If you fancy a meet I'm just down the road from you in Blackburn. How do you like Mitcham? It's a nice area. Definitely go to Halliday Park as it's in Mitcham and has a lovely playground. I've got two boys age 4 and 2 and they both enjoy meeting new friends.

savoycabbage · 16/01/2009 08:11

Hi hkgirl. Halliday Park is great. We have been there a few times. I would love to meet up with you.

smugaboo · 16/01/2009 09:01

Ninedragons- what a nightmare. I went around to all of them when I was 5 months pregnant with my first and some of them said they had a 2 year waiting list.

You're probably in a high demand area? I ended up putting my 2 in Parramatta as my husband works close by (we live in Ryde). So, I'm sure that's not much help to you.

What about the home care options?

ninedragons · 19/01/2009 01:37

Worst comes to worst, we will have to get a nanny, but as far as I know you only get the tax breaks if you use a proper nursery.

I'm fucked off about that because (a) if the government wants women to go back to work then it should provide the facilities to enable that to happen, and (b) it looks increasingly like I'll be paying into the tax system but not getting anything out of it.

Our suburb is Inner West Bugaboo Nation and both DH and I work at Circular Quay, so there are no centres near our home or our offices with places.

ninedragons · 19/01/2009 02:06

Sorry, I've just read that back and I sound really churlish.

It's just that moving back from China, I seem to have walked into an orgy of government money (we didn't get the baby bonus because DD was born overseas, which is fair enough. We don't get Family Tax Benefit because we will probably be over the threshold. We didn't get the kick-start-the-economy bonus because we weren't resident on Oct 23 or whenever the date was. Our local primary school is apparently so oversubscribed that you have to queue overnight to enrol, so we may have to send DD private) It's just hard to shake the feeling that the government is spraying money around like a broken fire hydrant but it's looking to us to fund its vote buying generosity.

ThumbBurns · 19/01/2009 02:41

hi ninedragons, that is unlucky, isn't it. I know DH was hoping we'd get the baby bonus for DS but I guess not from what you've said. We'll just have to have the next one in Australia then!

I don't think you sound churlish, just pissed off and frustrated, reasonably so!

ghosty - might have to come to Melbourne to see people when I get there, plus I haven't ever seen Melbourne outside of the airport when I was on stops between the Red Centre and Tasmania, and Tasmania and Cairns. Depends on what's going on - won't be for a while yet, I wouldn't think. We're moving to 1 1/2 hours north of Sydney whenever we get there - still haven't really done anything proactive about it!

brightongirldownunder · 19/01/2009 02:50

Hi NineD Back - had a shitty week after moving in - old landlord being a prick. Anyway, found the nannyshare just through word of mouth at playgroup. I too have given up with nurseries - bloody hell I didn't think it would be worse than Brighton here... Anyway my nanny share is possibly on the way out thanks to one of the other mums going back to work, so I may have to look for another one. Want to meet up and chat about possibly sharing one? If we can find one that is...
Agree about bugaboo nation. I couldn/t believe how many there were here when I arrived. I brought mine over, but its so caked in food, mud, general child flotsam that i get looks of disgust from other bugaboo mothers.
Have you still got my no? Give me a call as I don't have yours.

EdwardCullenCanBiteMe · 19/01/2009 03:28

I just wanted to sympathise with you 9D. We had our 4th baby here and didn't get the baby bonus either as we weren't resident on the day, and that also meant that we weren't entitled to the Kick-start-the-economy bonus either.
We have been here for 3 years and have only just become eligible for FTB, and until we moved house we had the option of a totally awful school that was surprisingly empty, as noone wanted to send their kids there, or 2 private scghools that we had to wait for 2 years to even have a vague hope of getting a place in.

We now have a lovely local school and have them down for private secondary school, as the public high school isn't great.

Now I feel churlish, but it helped to get it off my chest, and to know that I wasn't the only one in that position, so thanks 9D for sharing

ninedragons · 19/01/2009 04:58

I just wanted to come back before someone misconstrued me and turned it into one of those thousand-post board wars between people who think they pay too much tax and people who tell you they live on casseroles made from snotty tissues fished out of municipal bins.

I don't have a problem at all with paying tax, it's the idea of paying privately for services for which I already pay through the tax system that rankles. I was working it out that if I have to pay a nanny from my post-tax income, I have to make about $300 a day just to break even on childcare - that's before I've paid for a single bus fare, bought a sandwich or had a suit dry-cleaned.

I don't have your number, Brighty (I had one of those disposable SIM cards in June) but I'll CAT you. A nanny-share partner sounds great, if you don't think your DD will be inhibited by mine (still only one, needs two naps a day and can't quite walk or go to the beach or anything fun). Shall we meet for a drinkie anyway? My PILs arrive for three weeks this evening and I will be looking for any excuse to get away.

brightongirldownunder · 19/01/2009 14:26

I'll check my phone and see if you're under some obscure name, 9D. Are you up for playgroups? The only alternative is to go to a few and ask around, there seem to be more nannies than mums at most of them and it means you can check them out before asking. (Yes, I am a sly one)
CAT me anyway and lets go out asap. I'm getting serious cabin fever and seem to have forgotten that there are still huge boxes of things to unpack.

ninedragons · 20/01/2009 00:24

I don't think the number you might have would still be working. DH is going to take DD out this afternoon so I'll CAT you then.

DD is not on any sort of routine, so we haven't tried playgroups yet. She sleeps when she wants to sleep so I can't really book her in for a regular playgroup.

I still have boxes waiting to be unpacked too! Let's go and get pissed and maybe when we get home the Unpacking Fairies will have been.

flummery · 20/01/2009 11:38

9D just a note about the queuing, that is only for the preschool, which takes 40 children a year. The actual primary school has to offer you a place as you're in area.

brightongirldownunder · 20/01/2009 11:55

Yes I agree lets go and get plastered! I'll call you tomorrow - just got your CAT.

ninedragons · 20/01/2009 22:02

Ah. I wish there were alumnae admissions - that's the pre-school I went to many many years ago.

Still pissed off, though. I read KerryMum's thread about queuing for a week to get her DS into school and thought oh bollocks, I hope that's not me in three or four years.

lulalullabye · 21/01/2009 02:03

Hello, we are here and my it is hot !! Just trying to sort a car out and stuff stuff stuff.

Bouj · 21/01/2009 04:18

Am in Brisbane, still MN sometimes, though rarely get a chance to post. I've two boys, 5 and half and 2 and a half. British husband, and one son who swears he is also British. Hate the heat, but love having my parents nearby!

sunnydelight · 21/01/2009 06:21

Doh, savoycabbage. I didn't realise you were in Melbourne - we're in Sydney so coffee isn't really an option

I'm always happy to to out and get pissed, and I'll try to keep the silly grin off my face that by next Thursday ALL THREE kids will be in school so my childcare nightmares are a thing of the past! I got very excited about getting $3k from Kevin before Christmas until I realised that, like everything else child related around here, we were not entitled to it. We pulled our eldest out of the local high school after 7 weeks (an American girl who started the same day lasted 2 weeks) so we didn't even go there with the younger two, hence school feesx3 too, but hey, the sun is shining and the wine is cheap!

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