Shall we do an Aus/NZ round up?

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

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

Hello Lulalullabye. Where are you living? I'm in Beaumaris. When you're settled, do get in touch.
I'm at [email protected].

Echt, I am in Sandringham and would love to meet up. Next week maybe ? I will email you. How old are your dc's ? My eldest 2.9 is getting itchy for new friends.

My DD is 13 - so no luck there, but the area you're in is swarming with young things and you'll be sorted as soon as. You'll be having cafe lattes at "Brown Cow" before you know it.
Do email; I'm back at work from next Wednesday, but am flexible both after school (I teach near Sandy) and at weekends.

Look forward to it.

Echt, thankyou again for the other day. We had a lovely time.

Lulalullabye, hello. My two dds are 2 and 5 and are in great need of friends. My dd1 is starting school on the 2nd. I haven't managed to find any playgroups or anything as everything seems to be closed for the summer holidays. My e-mail is [email protected]

Can I ask a question re the baby bonus and economy kick-start payment?

Not being rude - just curious. Why would you be entitled to those payments if you are not an Australian citizen/resident or your baby is not born in Australia?

If I moved to the UK would I automatically be entitled to payments over there?

I was resident in Australia on the day the kick-start payment was handed out, but the assessment date was about six weeks-two months prior to that.

I would have liked the baby bonus because I am an Australian citizen and gave birth to an Australian citizen.

The government taxes me on money I earned offshore when I lived offshore, but apparently doesn't distribute it under the same rules it collects it.

Sorry, wriggly toddler so I didn't edit that properly. I meant to say money I earned while I was living offshore.

Its weird not receiving any child benefit over here. Its pretty automatic in the UK I think. ND - buggeration I can't beieve you didn't get the bugaboo bonus despite paying taxes - its outrageous. I'll buy you another drink for that!

at paying taxes and not getting the bonus.

Apparently there is talk of another bonus. Will you get it this time?

How long do you have to be in Australia before you are entitled to anything?

They are very quick to cut off the payments.

We went to the UK in October 2007 for 11 weeks 5 days. 12 weeks is the cut off for Family Tax Benefit once you are out of the country. They cut our payment at 11 weeks and we had to reapply when we returned.

They didn't have the baby bonus when I had my dc. We had a maternity payment of $800. The bonus came in the year after. Typical.

Hey y'all, how hot is it in Melbourne. We have a/c where we are staying but by goodness it is shit.

Enjoying being here and ticking boxes off one by one

superhot for you lot, supercold here - 8" of snow last night, potential for same again tonight.

Am posting for Ghosty - good luck with February! I hope things go well.

Hello. We have settled in a little more and the weather is cooler, or it may be that we have moved accomodation and the a/c is better. I must admit though that I didn't mind the heat as England was so cold when we left.

Savoy we must meet up for a plat session. Dd's have started nursery now so they are more stimulated and it is a great nursery(thanks Melbourne mum)

Now, it would be great to meet up with more of you melbourne people in and adult friendly environment, ie a drinking establishment. Wilba mentioned maybe March ?

Hello everybody, we had our first possum and spider experience last night. The possum, friendly enough was sitting in the back garden in the dark staring at us. It was the cat who tipped us off. I guess if old Boris the cat had not been patrolling the perimiter the possum might have come indoors as the door was open

Spider wise, he wasn't a huntsman or anything but he was big, prob about 3" diameter. We laid in bed for a long time wondering whether we could just leave him on the ceiling and sleep. The decision was made and he was caught in a glass after being chased around the room with a broom. I have a theory that if you kill a spider, then his friends will come back and get you ! I may have to revise that theory if I do meet a huntsman l

oh boy I've been out of it for a long time

Can somebody summarise for me? Been out of the loop and am in the office with not time to read everything!

As for bonuses... hubby doesn't qualify because we didn't submit a tax return for last tax year... go figure LOL. Anyhow I work and pay taxes but because I'm on a weird visa I'm entitled to exactly NOTHING and not even medicare. now THAT sucks

Hi everyone,
We've just managed to secure a transfer back to Sydney at the end of this year - very exciting!!
I'm soooo looking forward to having grandparents on tap for the first time ever!
We have a baby due in less than a month, so am hoping that the time will fly by and we'll be back before we know it (I'm not very patient).
I've been wandering around humming Peter Allen tunes like a mad woman for the last day or two. Must calm down!