Adelaide/ life in Australia.

[Romalo]

Hi, we have the go ahead for a move from Scotland to Adelaide, yee ha! DH handed his notice in today and we're moving first couple of weeks in July.

We have DS1(7.5), DS2(4.11) and DD(2.6)all of whom are very excited and talk about our move all the time. Does anyone have any tips or info which would help with the transition? DS1 is currently in Primary 3 here, birthday in Nov, does anyone know which year he will go into? We hope to be there and organaised enough to get schooling started for the beginning of the winter term on 21st July.

TIA.

Hi Romalo, I'm in Sydney so not quite sure about Adelaide schooling etc but assuming it's the same

DD is 7 with birthday december and is currently in year 2. They start later here than in the UK . So in theory your ds might be put into Y2 as well and redo some of the year. However, when we moved here a year ago, I didn't mind dd repeating most of then Year 1, as that gave her time to concentrate on making new friends as opposed to having to concentrate on academics. Best bet is to contact the local school once you know where you are going to move to.

My ds will be 5 in September and missed the Kindi cut-off which is in June/July and will start in Jan/Feb 2010. I think same would apply for your ds2, but again check with the local school

And then of course depending on which visa you'll be over on you need to sort out medicare, tax file number etc

Good luck!!!

Hi, I am in Victoria so I'm not much help! I think that the different states have different rules. I found my dd's school by looking on the Department of Education website and then by looking at their websites.

Make sure all of your injections are up to date as they won't let them in the school until they are. And you have to pay over here so it's best to get them done before you go.

My dd settled into school very easily. I would go and look at the schools when you get here.

In Victoria four year olds do something called 'four year old kinder' which is twelve hours a week. You have to pay. Then when they are five they go to school. Some of the children who start are 4 and they turn 5 in the first three months of school. So your dd will probably be able to go to school in January.

oh yes... the immunisations. Have a look at the state's immunisation schedule as e.g. here in NSW they kids get Hepatitis B and my kids are on a catch-up program. If you have most things they should let them into school/care though provided you've got a doctor write you a note that you're on a catch-up program.

Oh, thank you both for that. Immunisations is a really good tip. DS2 will be 5 in a couple of weeks so looks like he'll start reception in July I think. Have to get a house organised pronto so I can get them started. Thanks again.

No words of wisdom but wanted to wish you all the best. We're heading for Perth in September!

Hello there,

I live in Adelaide. I don't have children yet so I'm of limited help there I'm afraid.

But Adelaide is lovely! Nice size, close to the beach and the countryside, affordable, great restaurants, good schools (as I understand it), excellent climate.

Where abouts are you going to be living?

Any other Adelaide info you need, just let me know. I moved here 6 months ago from Sydney, and am originally from the UK.

Oh, hi Ozziegirly, lovely to talk to someone who's actually living the life! We have been before and loved it and DH was there a couple of weeks ago securing his job. We're looking to be as close to the city as possible, North Adelaide if we can find something affordable there or Norwood area. We are going out to stay in hospital accommodation initially and fight for a house from there. I understand there is quite a bit of demand for rentals? Are there any other areas you would recommend?

Glad you are enjoying it. A friend (also from UK) is in Melbourne and says it feels like she is on holiday everyday, despite working full time and being there for years!

inscotland, good luck for your move to Perth, it's beautiful there too. How are your arrangements going?

Thanks for replying.

North Adelaide and Norwood are both really nice. Other good areas are Hyde Park, Goodwood, St Peters, Unley, Mitcham. What we did was take a drive all around the outskirts of the city, and pretty much everything is nice, the not so good areas are a lot further out.

People say there is a demand for rental places, but we didn't find any problem at all finding somewhere.

For your info, we spend $390 per week on a 2 bed house in Hyde Park. It's fairly small, but has a garden, space for 3 cars, is a 2 minute walk from lovely shops on King William Road in Unley, and I can walk to work in the city in 40 minutes, or drive in 15. $390 is about 195 pounds, give or take.

We looked at some places for around $500 per week and for that money you would probably get 3-4 bedrooms and maybe a pool if you're prepared to be a little further out.

To compare, we were paying nearly $800 a week for a 2 bed flat in Sydney!

There are loads of good things to do around here as well. Stirling in the Adelaide Hills is really nice, and there are loads of walks in the national parks.

Good luck with it all!

Thanks so much for that, have been checking out places to the south of the CBD which we hadn't really looked into and does look ideal. We visited Oz for a month a few years ago and the one of the best things we did was visit Cleland Wildlife park on Mt Lofty, cannot wait to take our stream of visitors there! Look forward to seeing Stirling, thanks for the recommendation.

Good to hear you didn't have trouble renting. Will come armed with references etc. Sydney sounds horrifically expensive! We discounted going there for that reason but didn't think it was quite that much!

All very exciting. The goodbyes here are going to be hard though, might be easier just to do a midnight flit....

Do you come back much and do you see Australia as your home now?

Thanks again.

Slowly! Just waiting on the last part of the visas to come through. We've got a closing date on the house so I need to hope that they last part comes through quickly unless I can beg my solicitor to drag his heels a bit over the house sale!

I feel a bit in limbo at the moment and just out of sorts by being here and knowing such a big move is just a few weeks away. I just want to go!

Good luck with all your plans!

oh I just want to go now too! Limbo land here as well, we would get on the next plane if we could.

Great you've sold your house, good luck with the visa. This time next year we'll all be sitting in the sun (drinking wine in our case....) having forgotten most of the hassles involved in getting there!

It is worth remembering that all states in Australi ahve their own rules & regs re schools, road rules..inc learning to drive etc. So if you do google anything, make sure it is SA specific!

School in Australia is Jan - Dec. Children start school here in SA the term after their 5th Birthday. Dd was 5 in Aug 2008 & started school in October 2008 (term 4). She did term 4 & will do this whole year in reception.

Our term dates are

Term 1 27 Jan - 9 Apr
Term 2 27 Apr - 3 Jul
Term 3 20 Jul - 25 Sep
Term 4 12 Oct - 11 Dec, returning on 27 Jan 2010.

School also charge differently here, even in the same state. For example, we pay the school fees & included in that is all dds equipment for the school year. Books, paper, pens, textas, text books, paints etc. (In many schools exercise books have to be covered with clear plastic stuff to protect them)

In other schools, you pay fees & have a school list. This tells you what to buy. This includes pens/pencils/exercise books etc. Some schools supply the bare minimum.

Immunisations - our dr bulked billed for under 5s on medicare. So I didn't pay for dd nor do I pay for dd2. When we got here dd1 was 3 (had dd2 here) and they made her a catch up schedule & brought her up to Australian standards. There was a couple that the UK didn't do. They immunise for Chicken Pox here too, although that it optional & the schools don't refuse entry without it.

You can claim back on Medicare for these.
They are very strict here in child care facilities, some will not accept a child who is not up to date with Imms.

Australian Immunisations Schedule

Oh & we pay $250pw for a 3 bed with a decent sized garden.

With looking for a place, you find a house you like, attend the 'open' (they hold open days here, you don't need an appointment, just rock up & look around the house at the same time as everyone else who likes it) If you like it you collect a application form on the way & apply via the agent. The landlord then choooses who they want liviing in their house.

This is good site to get an idea of properties. Real estate

And

Please as soon as you get here, get Ambulance Cover. It is one of those things that you may never need, but if you don't have it an ambulance will cost you $600. It is around $100 for the whole family.

Go to centrelink as soon as you can & get you & hubby Tax File Numbers If you don't have them you will pay more tax. Although you can claim this back once you get your file number & do a tax return. You can also apply online.

Also if you are permanent residents you may be entitled to Child Tax Benefits (like Child benefit in the UK) so make sure you get the relelvant forms. You won't lose anything by trying.

Be careful which bank you choose to bank with, as some charge per transaction (so each ATM, debit (EFTPOS) in shops, direct debits etc) & you end up like us, with $30 worth of charges in the first month!

We are with ANZ & pay $6 per month for limitless transcations.

Excuse spelling, it's getting late here!

sandcastles - excellent info, thanks for taking time to reply. Especially about the bank account, will look at that a lot more closely. Are you and your family enjoying your life there?

Love it here. Well I do, dh still not really settled (even tho he has family here) but he is working on it.

Anything you need to know then email [email protected] I'll be happy to help.

On banks - we have an account with HSBC with an account in both the UK and Australia that are linked. This means we don't have to pay to transfer money between them.

HSBC are linked to Westpac over here which means withdrawels are free from all HSBC and Westpac machines.

We also don't pay any monthly charges.

I've been really impressed with the service we've had from HSBC and we set the account up in the UK so it was all up and running by the time we got here which was really handy.

Tax File Number - good idea to get this ASAP when you get here as you will be taxed at a much higher rate until you do. And you won't get that tax back until the end of the following tax year. Tax years here run July - June.

I'm not sure you say which visa you are coming on - if you're permanent resident you can transfer your UK to South Australian driving licence very easily and quickly.

If you're not Perm res you can stay on your UK licence.

Sandcastles, will def get in touch, thank you so much.

Ozziegirly, we will be on a permanent resident visa so will have to get driving license changed, glad to hear it's easy and great info about bank, thank you.