Our Story....been here 11 weeks tomorrow!!

[MeJulie]

We are family of 5 from Bristol, Julie, Rob, Chloe 20, Tommy 18 & Callum 4. I have read many stories of different experiences since joining this forum and have loved reading them so thought I would post ours.

 

Our visa (175 Independent) was granted in September 2010 (after many years of planning) which was a bit of a shock really as we thought it would take much longer than the 5 months since applying, plus we completed the whole visa process ourselves, but it was a great feeling to know that we had been accepted. In October we put our house on the market via an online estate agent who required a fixed fee of just under £500 (NO COMMISSION) to put our details onto Rightmove.co.uk and started to make our plans to leave, which was going to be around June 2011 as my older son finished his education – perfect timing!

 

While waiting for house to sell etc. my husband decided to start trying to look for a job in Oz, by the way we were originally heading for Queensland, so applied for pretty much everything and also applied directly to big companies, which seemed to get some positive replies but all of them said contact us when you arrive – which is pretty common story. We decided then that maybe a good idea would be for my husband to fly out for a week and try and meet with as many companies as he could, so he flew out to Brisbane for a week in November and had about 3 interviews lined up plus what he could manage to sort while he was there. All pretty positive interviews except they had nothing to offer at that moment and suggested keeping in touch, which he did.

 

We had a few viewings with the house before Christmas but nothing much happened until beginning of January when we got 3 offers in one day, so that was it done and no commission -bonus!! So it was all systems go! things were really happening.

 

Not long after house sale one of the companies that Rob had met in Brisbane contacted him to say there was a position available in Adelaide and would he consider it, and if interested could he meet with their local office in Bristol for informal chat, which he did and he got the job plus some relocation expenses – another bonus!! Only thing was they wanted him to start ASAP which meant he would leave before us, so he left at the beginning of April and headed to Adelaide which left me to sort out everything in the UK, house sale, shippers, sale the cars, blah blah blah which was pretty stressful at times and to be honest I felt very overwhelmed and even slightly panicky. At least this way we didn’t have the worry of going over with no work and not knowing how long it would take to find work, plus he could sort long term rental for us for when we all arrived.

 

If there is any advice I can give anyone in the process of doing this right now is make lists, I used a spread sheet and listed everything I could think of, I worked backwards from leaving date and slotted everything into order, and keep looking at it every day because you will always remember something else! And it’s never too early to start one.

 

We had leaving party the weekend before we were due to leave, and when people said goodbye I would reply “it’s not goodbye, we will see you later”, doesn’t seem so bad then.

 

So our day of departure had arrived, we were packed and ready to go (although baggage was very overweight) with 40KGs of checked baggage each (free extra allowance with Singapore Airlines) plus hand luggage, and couple of suitcases to send unaccompanied we were off! I had prepared myself mentally that the flight was going to be awful with a 4 year old, everyone kept saying he will be fine, but I thought if I think the worse then it can only get better…and he was absolutely fine, changed him into his pyjamas and he had his blanket and pillow and he slept pretty much most of the way from London to Singapore, we had about 5 hours in Singapore and we booked into the transit hotel (which you need to pre book) for a rest and shower before heading onto Adelaide. The hotel in Singapore was brilliant and was so nice to freshen up and put clean clothes on, makes you feel so much better. The time flew by and before we knew it we were in the air again and on our way to Adelaide and again little one slept most of it.

 

So we arrived on 25 June 2011, which was almost 11 weeks ago! Time has really flown by, and we have achieved so much, furnished the house, little one in Kindy, Banks, Medicare, Tax File Numbers, eldest daughter has a job, bought cars and still found time to explore what’s around us. We have been to some of the vineyards in Maclaren Vale for tastings, been to several of the local beaches (although still a little chilly at around 18 degrees), visited Victor Harbour in the hope of spotting some Whales which we didn’t on that day…..we happened to be in Port Noarlunga (about 10 minutes away from home) last weekend having leisurely stroll along the jetty when my eldest son said “oh look mum there’s a whale” and sure enough there they were, two of them swimming slowly by within 20-30 metres from us…….amazing experience!!

 

It’s still early days for us but so far so good, things are different here and it does take a bit of getting used too, but you just gotta have an open mind, don’t have too many expectations, take whatever help is offered and get out there and make the effort.

 

Good luck to all those who are currently making the move or are waiting too, it is worth the wait!

 

Julie & Co.

[Guest Jane & Tony]

Great post. You have been lucky. Wait till the weather perks up!!

Keep us posted

Take care

[Guest Lou]

Sounds like you have had a brilliant time since arriving. My husband also flew out before myself and our 3 kids, it made everything so much easier to have a rental ready for us to arrive to! My husband has now been here just over a year and we have been here 11 months. The time has flown by and we have loved every minute! We have just bought our first house here and look forward to our decorating to be over and to move in properly!

Well done spotting whales, we have been trying to spot them at Victor Harbor too but they are never where we are! My daughter has managed to see them a few weeks ago down at Silver Sands!

I hope that Oz is everything that you want it be to and more, I know that it is for us!

[MeJulie]

Sounds like you have had a brilliant time since arriving. My husband also flew out before myself and our 3 kids, it made everything so much easier to have a rental ready for us to arrive to! My husband has now been here just over a year and we have been here 11 months. The time has flown by and we have loved every minute! We have just bought our first house here and look forward to our decorating to be over and to move in properly!

Well done spotting whales, we have been trying to spot them at Victor Harbor too but they are never where we are! My daughter has managed to see them a few weeks ago down at Silver Sands!

I hope that Oz is everything that you want it be to and more, I know that it is for us!

 

I was in the same spot as we saw them just a couple of days before that with my camera and zoom lense and not a sausage, typical when I do see them I just have my phone with me lol.... totally unexpected!

 

Good luck with your house move

 

Julie

[howard]

Excellent post - perhaps I should do our story! We have been here for 7 weeks and have mostly only had good days - altough my son (16) has just announced that he isn't enjoying it as much as he's been saying he is! (I'm trying to work out if he actually means that or if he's just having an off day - he's currently at the "don't talk to me" stage!).

 

I absolutely love it here and wish I'd come over years ago. I'm still getting used to the kind offers from strangers and hope to be able to repay the offers as soon as we're established!.

 

I totally agree that the wait is worth it!

 

Jo

[Guest mark&rachel]

Good Post, enjoyed reading it. Well done and hope you stay settled.

[Guest Jennet]

I see some of you live in Aldinga beach, could you please give me details what it is like to live in Aldinga Beach that is the area we are looking at for 2012, my friend lives in seaford and she said a good choice but someone else told me its quiet and not much around that area????

[Guest shella_n]

Good post! We've been here 15 months and I keep saying I must do one of these updates cause I think they are really helpful for people still in uk planning the move - watch this space! Well done & glad you are enjoying it!

[Guest Littledragon]

oh that was such an uplift for 4 me .. oh and sry hi guys been lurking a few days now .. we are just at the beginning stages having tried a few years back but hubby got cold feet at last mintue after spending kkkk *sigh*

 

But this time round it feels different , not so stressed about it and he seems more excited and the kids really want it now too , so maybe last time we were not all in the same head space.

 

i love reading your updates they are so helpful to people doing the move. so thank you guys for posting your experiences

 

nice to hear of people having a good time

[Guest leeannekays]

Suc a good post Mejulie, thank you. We are in Bristol and due to fly out April next year. myOH is trying to sort a job before has 2 we go, has 2 contacts. Our house is going up for sale 21st this month, we have a gent-ive not signed the form yet, they are charging 1%plus vat! now you have said that about how you sold your house - its so much cheaper. Did you do all your own photos?

 

We have a fully furnished rental in Moana for the first 4 weeks, We are so looking forward to it.

Leeanne

[Guest gabriel]

Lovely post mejulie we are from Melksham not too far from brizol!! It is our last day in our house today, the shippers come tomorrow and we move in with our in-laws til after xmas (a different stress I know) lol! I am hopefully going to be like you & embrace everything with open arms and when comes to the goodbyes say "see you soon" that it the only way I will cope with saying goodbye to my beloved sister who I see every other day!!Just got to keep thinking we are doing this for our little family! Anyway all the best best get back to packing & cleaning the dirt of the bikes!!lol! xx

 

Trudy

[Guest leeannekays]

Hi Gabriel,

 

Wishing you all the happiness in the world with your move, we are going in April next year. How soon did you tell your childrens school? and the mums from school? i have met some good friends there and dreading telling them. We are so looking forward to the move but i get panicky because I am close to my mum and know I will find the distance hard but I still want to go.

Leeanne x

[Guest jaffa]

Glad everthing has worked out. You will enjoy life in Oz I am sure.Wait until summer comes and you can really enjoy the aussie lifestyle. i love life down south.

Jaffa

[Guest gabriel]

Hi Gabriel,

 

Wishing you all the happiness in the world with your move, we are going in April next year. How soon did you tell your childrens school? and the mums from school? i have met some good friends there and dreading telling them. We are so looking forward to the move but i get panicky because I am close to my mum and know I will find the distance hard but I still want to go.

Leeanne x

 

aww thanks Leanne wish you all the best too, our school have seemed to know right from the beginning as used to chat to school secretary then Gracie who was 6 when we started all this started telling the kids in her class, then the mums would come up to me etc. I had to book an afternoon off for the medicals & one of my friends sister is my Gracie's teacher. When I went to collect them from school that lunchtime the head master was coming out of his office and said "how's it all going"!!!! "how exciting"!!!Even my son's new teacher knew we were going & said how long have we got you for!!lol!! as for mums well that's going to hard ..i'm dreading it ..my mum & dad split when i was little & even thou I see my dad i go weeks without seeing him so i'm used to not seeing him for period of time..it's my mum I worry about as she's on her own & not in great health. She's got my sis & I worry that my sis will end up resenting me for looking after mum...my mum is not very independant and has always relied on us for everything...Anyway hope your move goes well too my love, tell school sooner than later you will get loads of people initially asking you but at least you can tell them you are going in April...with ours we didnt know for ages due to a few jobs being done on house it being rented out etc!!It's nice to have a plan in action now!!xx

T

[Guest wiaferg]

Hi Julie,

 

Loved reading your story. I met an Ozzie bloke in a pub in Lancaster when I was 17, fell in love and was told by him that if I wanted to stay with him I had to be prepared to live in Australia, as he did not want to live in England. We managed to come to a compromise, on the grounds I said I wanted to have my children with my mum around. 7 years later and after my husband doing a stint with Lancashire Constabulary we moved to Adelaide with a 2yr old and 4th old....long flight and disastrous.... we survived and I am now an Australian, our 3 children (had an Ozzie boy), all have partners and we have 5 beautiful grandchildren....I miss my Mum and Dad but make an effort to go back and visit every 2yrs....this country has given me so much and I love the lifestyle,,,,,,,so all I can say is welcome and enjoy what this country has to give you but don't compare to England....

[MeJulie]

Great post. You have been lucky. Wait till the weather perks up!!

Keep us posted

Take care

Can't wait for the warmer weather, more socialising, weekends on the beach to name a few.....yay

 

Good luck with your move, it wont be long, where are you staying?

 

Julie

[MeJulie]

Good post! We've been here 15 months and I keep saying I must do one of these updates cause I think they are really helpful for people still in uk planning the move - watch this space! Well done & glad you are enjoying it!

 

Yes these are excactly the kind of posts I loved to read, as well as the bad ones!.....It's not everyone's cup of tea I know, but you should just do it.... will be looking out for it - no pressure lol x

[MeJulie]

Suc a good post Mejulie, thank you. We are in Bristol and due to fly out April next year. myOH is trying to sort a job before has 2 we go, has 2 contacts. Our house is going up for sale 21st this month, we have a gent-ive not signed the form yet, they are charging 1%plus vat! now you have said that about how you sold your house - its so much cheaper. Did you do all your own photos?

 

We have a fully furnished rental in Moana for the first 4 weeks, We are so looking forward to it.

Leeanne

 

Hi Leeanne,

 

Another Bristolian, which part?

 

1% doesnt sound much but when you look at the final figure + your VAT of course it can add up, thats why we did it the way we did, its like couple of your flights paid for! If you want the name of the company we used PM me (as I am not sure I am able tell you on here), I did our photos and I dont think they had limit which for us was great (nothing worse than looking at properties online and only 2 pics to look at) but they take pics (incl in price) and they come round and do the measurements and descriptions (which you have input). This suited us as we were the ones getting to show prospective buyers round, nobody can sell your home as good as you can!

 

Moana is lovely, right by the beach (we are couple of minutes away from there) we frequent there regularly, even more so when the weather warms up here.

 

Let me know if you need any info?

 

Julie

[MeJulie]

Lovely post mejulie we are from Melksham not too far from brizol!! It is our last day in our house today, the shippers come tomorrow and we move in with our in-laws til after xmas (a different stress I know) lol! I am hopefully going to be like you & embrace everything with open arms and when comes to the goodbyes say "see you soon" that it the only way I will cope with saying goodbye to my beloved sister who I see every other day!!Just got to keep thinking we are doing this for our little family! Anyway all the best best get back to packing & cleaning the dirt of the bikes!!lol! xx

 

Trudy

 

Hey Trudy,

 

Hope all goes well with packers and the move, you will be here before you know it! Just gotta keep remembering your reasons for wanting to do it in the first place.

 

Julie x

[MeJulie]

Hi Julie,

 

Loved reading your story. I met an Ozzie bloke in a pub in Lancaster when I was 17, fell in love and was told by him that if I wanted to stay with him I had to be prepared to live in Australia, as he did not want to live in England. We managed to come to a compromise, on the grounds I said I wanted to have my children with my mum around. 7 years later and after my husband doing a stint with Lancashire Constabulary we moved to Adelaide with a 2yr old and 4th old....long flight and disastrous.... we survived and I am now an Australian, our 3 children (had an Ozzie boy), all have partners and we have 5 beautiful grandchildren....I miss my Mum and Dad but make an effort to go back and visit every 2yrs....this country has given me so much and I love the lifestyle,,,,,,,so all I can say is welcome and enjoy what this country has to give you but don't compare to England....

 

What a lovely story, hope I can write a similar one in years to come.....

[Guest hughescl]

We are family of 5 from Bristol, Julie, Rob, Chloe 20, Tommy 18 & Callum 4. I have read many stories of different experiences since joining this forum and have loved reading them so thought I would post ours.

 

Our visa (175 Independent) was granted in September 2010 (after many years of planning) which was a bit of a shock really as we thought it would take much longer than the 5 months since applying, plus we completed the whole visa process ourselves, but it was a great feeling to know that we had been accepted. In October we put our house on the market via an online estate agent who required a fixed fee of just under £500 (NO COMMISSION) to put our details onto Rightmove.co.uk and started to make our plans to leave, which was going to be around June 2011 as my older son finished his education – perfect timing!

 

While waiting for house to sell etc. my husband decided to start trying to look for a job in Oz, by the way we were originally heading for Queensland, so applied for pretty much everything and also applied directly to big companies, which seemed to get some positive replies but all of them said contact us when you arrive – which is pretty common story. We decided then that maybe a good idea would be for my husband to fly out for a week and try and meet with as many companies as he could, so he flew out to Brisbane for a week in November and had about 3 interviews lined up plus what he could manage to sort while he was there. All pretty positive interviews except they had nothing to offer at that moment and suggested keeping in touch, which he did.

 

We had a few viewings with the house before Christmas but nothing much happened until beginning of January when we got 3 offers in one day, so that was it done and no commission -bonus!! So it was all systems go! things were really happening.

 

Not long after house sale one of the companies that Rob had met in Brisbane contacted him to say there was a position available in Adelaide and would he consider it, and if interested could he meet with their local office in Bristol for informal chat, which he did and he got the job plus some relocation expenses – another bonus!! Only thing was they wanted him to start ASAP which meant he would leave before us, so he left at the beginning of April and headed to Adelaide which left me to sort out everything in the UK, house sale, shippers, sale the cars, blah blah blah which was pretty stressful at times and to be honest I felt very overwhelmed and even slightly panicky. At least this way we didn’t have the worry of going over with no work and not knowing how long it would take to find work, plus he could sort long term rental for us for when we all arrived.

 

If there is any advice I can give anyone in the process of doing this right now is make lists, I used a spread sheet and listed everything I could think of, I worked backwards from leaving date and slotted everything into order, and keep looking at it every day because you will always remember something else! And it’s never too early to start one.

 

We had leaving party the weekend before we were due to leave, and when people said goodbye I would reply “it’s not goodbye, we will see you later”, doesn’t seem so bad then.

 

So our day of departure had arrived, we were packed and ready to go (although baggage was very overweight) with 40KGs of checked baggage each (free extra allowance with Singapore Airlines) plus hand luggage, and couple of suitcases to send unaccompanied we were off! I had prepared myself mentally that the flight was going to be awful with a 4 year old, everyone kept saying he will be fine, but I thought if I think the worse then it can only get better…and he was absolutely fine, changed him into his pyjamas and he had his blanket and pillow and he slept pretty much most of the way from London to Singapore, we had about 5 hours in Singapore and we booked into the transit hotel (which you need to pre book) for a rest and shower before heading onto Adelaide. The hotel in Singapore was brilliant and was so nice to freshen up and put clean clothes on, makes you feel so much better. The time flew by and before we knew it we were in the air again and on our way to Adelaide and again little one slept most of it.

 

So we arrived on 25 June 2011, which was almost 11 weeks ago! Time has really flown by, and we have achieved so much, furnished the house, little one in Kindy, Banks, Medicare, Tax File Numbers, eldest daughter has a job, bought cars and still found time to explore what’s around us. We have been to some of the vineyards in Maclaren Vale for tastings, been to several of the local beaches (although still a little chilly at around 18 degrees), visited Victor Harbour in the hope of spotting some Whales which we didn’t on that day…..we happened to be in Port Noarlunga (about 10 minutes away from home) last weekend having leisurely stroll along the jetty when my eldest son said “oh look mum there’s a whale” and sure enough there they were, two of them swimming slowly by within 20-30 metres from us…….amazing experience!!

 

It’s still early days for us but so far so good, things are different here and it does take a bit of getting used too, but you just gotta have an open mind, don’t have too many expectations, take whatever help is offered and get out there and make the effort.

 

Good luck to all those who are currently making the move or are waiting too, it is worth the wait!

 

Julie & Co.

 

Hi Julie

 

Great post, we have been here 10 weeks tomorrow

Claire x

[MeJulie]

Hi Julie

 

Great post, we have been here 10 weeks tomorrow

Claire x

 

Hey claire, how are you getting on? where are you??

 

Julie

[Guest hughescl]

Hey claire, how are you getting on? where are you??

 

Julie

 

Hi getting on great starting to feel settled now, we are down at Aldinga are you at Seaford? maybe we could meet up

Claire

[MeJulie]

Hi getting on great starting to feel settled now, we are down at Aldinga are you at Seaford? maybe we could meet up

Claire

Yep we are in Seaford, you are not far away in Aldinga, yeah would be good to meet up, PM me your contact details and hopefully arrange something?

 

Julie

[Guest jade88]

This is to both Julie and Howard really. My parents made the move 2years ago now and unfortunately I couldnt go on their visa as I wasnt in full time education so i had to go over on a working holiday visa and I only stayed 4months. (for you howard) I found it really hard at 21 because I had a large social group in the UK and the night life etc was very diff in adelaide and I work at the Holdfast pub (Holdy) while I was there but I could nt find proper work as i was only on a working holiday so i fell this made a big difference to me wanting to stay. To my parents disappointment I came back to the UK, which at the time was the right thing to do. However, now i have met my partner and we live together, he is going back to college to do welding and I have applied to go to uni to do nursing as we DEFIANATELY want to be back in adelaide, my partner came to visit my parents in January of this year. Also while over in adelaide my family knew of a couple and his son who had been there for 4 years and their 17 year old son decided he prefered the UK so they packed up and came back to the UK, however within 4months they were back in Adelaide again and still there now.Any advice I would give to your son is to stick at it and you need to give it time, I wish i had made it work while i potentially could but I wouldnt have met my partner or going back to uni. Julie- I was just wondering was your 20yr old daughter in education when you applied for your visa as my parents were told I couldnt go with them, was this a mistake from the agency?? jade