Our familys journey, so far

[evojoan]

We arrived in Adelaide on 2 September at 20:15, flying by Emirates from Birmingham airport in the UK. The flight was faultless, comfortable with plenty to eat & watch. We noticed that the lady checking our declaration card didn’t have a local accent; she advised that she was in fact from Wales and whatever happened to give Australia at least 2 years before making a decision to go home. Took a mini bus taxi from the airport to our holiday rental (unit) in Henley Beach, which cost about $20. The unit was in an ideal location as it was 10 minutes walk to the shops and 15 minutes walk to the beach and 20 minutes by bus to the city. We have found the buses & trams quite easy to use and very reliable. Thoroughly recommend our landlords Joanne & Phil; they made our 2 & a half week stay thoroughly enjoyable in a clean and welcoming unit. We opened a bank account whilst still in the UK which we could put money into but couldn’t take money out of, until we arrived in Australia and registered our arrival at the welcome meeting with the bank on 3/9. During the meeting we also picked up our bank cards and pin numbers. I arranged my tax file number on line, it was sent to our unit within a week. Started looking on the usual websites, Seek, Career one etc for work and managed to secure a casual position within a week of being in Adelaide as a boilermaker/welder with an agency, but the contract only lasted 8 days and then disappointingly there was no more work for the time being. My wife and son went to the South Australia welcome meeting, where a variety of different people gave information on training, transferring qualifications, adult learning, visas etc. We managed to secure a longer term let in Henley Beach, a street away from the beach. The interior of the bungalow is very dated but after a spring clean, we are now happy to call it home. It is in a quiet street with a large garden and in the catchment area for Henley High School for our 15 year old son. We viewed and enrolled our son in Henley High School, just needed copies of our passports, copy of rental agreement, copies of bills etc to confirm that we did in fact live in the catchment area. There were some concerns about whether we would have to pay international school fees due to coming on a 489 visa, but on speaking to the education department in Adelaide they confirmed that we would only need to pay the same as a permanent visa holder, $920 per year. Our son starts school on 15 October after the school holidays in year 9. Once settled in our new home, started to apply for more jobs via seek, career one etc but received no responses from any of the applications. Just when we were weighing up our future options, I received a telephone call and asked to go for an interview at another agency. Whilst on a day course to get my white card on Friday 27/9, I received a phone call asking to go for a weld test on Saturday 28/9. The weld test was successful and I started work on Monday 30 September. On Friday we bought a cheap car for $1185 to get me to work and are now able to get out and about and see more of SA. It is early days for our new life and we are taking each day as it comes, but so far so good.

Edited January 12, 2014 by evojoan

[Guest MandiMR2]

Sounds good & it's reassuring to hear that things are happening for you all. I'm here in Adelaide now on my visa validation & research trip & can't wait to return permanently in Jan!! The area your staying is lovely, I was there with a friend recently enjoying the views. Wishing you continued happiness & success, Mandi x

[natasha2106]

well done!

 

It can be very daunting and worrying when no work, but congrats on carrying on and now securing work. We have been here now for 5 months and absolutely love it!

Both hubby and I are working and our children settled into school very quickly.

 

Enjoy the journey, it gets better !

[Adaobijoy]

Congratulations! Nice to hear things are working out for you...it simply gets better....one step at a time

[Bal67]

Hi Guys,

 

What a lovely post and just what someone in our situation wants to hear, you have not gone there with rose coloured spectacles, been very open minded with houses etc got yourselves settled and now your son will soon be starting school.

 

We are from Birmingham and we have a 16 year old daughter and 13 year old son, we have not yet decided on an area yet I think it will be work dependant, we were originally going to Perth, but mu hubbys job was taken off SOL so Adelaide is our next destination.

 

Good luck with everything and keep us posted.

 

Bal,

[evojoan]

Hi All

 

Just thought I would give an update 5 months into our new life in Australia. OH has continued to work on the same contract with the agency since September and on Wednesday was offered a permanent position, subject to a 6 month probation period, with the company he is contracted to. As for me, I start a volunteer position in the next week or so to give me some local work experience and meet people. We went through all the usual emotions and upset when moving a teenager to another country but I am pleased to say he has settled in well, has a good group of friends and if you ask him now if he wants to go home, the answer is a firm no. Our eldest son came out to visit for a month at Christmas and he now says he can see himself moving over here sometime in the future. Now looking forward to the in-laws arriving in 5 weeks time and the count down to hopefully being able to apply for a permanent visa in September 2015. Good luck to all those making the move x Jo

[Diane]

Just want to say thanks for the update. I love reading these "just arrived reports" (even though I've been here myself for nearly ten years now) and it's so nice to read the next chapter of a family's story.

[evojoan]

Hi Diane, after 10 years would you consider moving back or are you settled here ?

[Diane]

Hi Diane, after 10 years would you consider moving back or are you settled here ?

 

I reckon we're pretty much settled. We've been lucky enough to have family visit just about every year since we've been here, and have had a couple of trips back ourselves. Nowhere is perfect and the job market here presents its own set of problems and challenges (my OH is an engineer/project manager who started off here in the automotive manufacturing industry, but not any more) - but I think now we've been away from the UK long enough to feel like foreigners there as much as here! Certainly for our kids though, they've had the opportunity to go to an excellent school here, have made some great friends and have had some great experiences. I wouldn't rule out moving to a different state at some stage in the future, but can't see much back in the UK that would pull us back, to be honest.

[Daviesfamily adelaide]

What a lovely story, thank you evojoan, hope everything works out for you. How do you all feel about leaving family? My mother isn't dealing with our move very well, but our one way tickets are booked and we are on way, just wondered how you feel when you are so far away

[fahaditq8]

We arrived in Adelaide on 2 September at 20:15, flying by Emirates from Birmingham airport in the UK. The flight was faultless, comfortable with plenty to eat & watch. We noticed that the lady checking our declaration card didn’t have a local accent; she advised that she was in fact from Wales and whatever happened to give Australia at least 2 years before making a decision to go home. Took a mini bus taxi from the airport to our holiday rental (unit) in Henley Beach, which cost about $20. The unit was in an ideal location as it was 10 minutes walk to the shops and 15 minutes walk to the beach and 20 minutes by bus to the city. We have found the buses & trams quite easy to use and very reliable. Thoroughly recommend our landlords Joanne & Phil; they made our 2 & a half week stay thoroughly enjoyable in a clean and welcoming unit. We opened a bank account whilst still in the UK which we could put money into but couldn’t take money out of, until we arrived in Australia and registered our arrival at the welcome meeting with the bank on 3/9. During the meeting we also picked up our bank cards and pin numbers. I arranged my tax file number on line, it was sent to our unit within a week. Started looking on the usual websites, Seek, Career one etc for work and managed to secure a casual position within a week of being in Adelaide as a boilermaker/welder with an agency, but the contract only lasted 8 days and then disappointingly there was no more work for the time being. My wife and son went to the South Australia welcome meeting, where a variety of different people gave information on training, transferring qualifications, adult learning, visas etc. We managed to secure a longer term let in Henley Beach, a street away from the beach. The interior of the bungalow is very dated but after a spring clean, we are now happy to call it home. It is in a quiet street with a large garden and in the catchment area for Henley High School for our 15 year old son. We viewed and enrolled our son in Henley High School, just needed copies of our passports, copy of rental agreement, copies of bills etc to confirm that we did in fact live in the catchment area. There were some concerns about whether we would have to pay international school fees due to coming on a 489 visa, but on speaking to the education department in Adelaide they confirmed that we would only need to pay the same as a permanent visa holder, $920 per year. Our son starts school on 15 October after the school holidays in year 9. Once settled in our new home, started to apply for more jobs via seek, career one etc but received no responses from any of the applications. Just when we were weighing up our future options, I received a telephone call and asked to go for an interview at another agency. Whilst on a day course to get my white card on Friday 27/9, I received a phone call asking to go for a weld test on Saturday 28/9. The weld test was successful and I started work on Monday 30 September. On Friday we bought a cheap car for $1185 to get me to work and are now able to get out and about and see more of SA. It is early days for our new life and we are taking each day as it comes, but so far so good.

 

That's such a nice n informative story , I'm kind of in your shoes except didn't move yet hopefully Aug will be their I was wondering if you could tell us about your accommodation arrangement how did you made it n how much was it n would love to know the details of that car also .my son will be only 4 year old although but still wondering the steps and guidance of yours in making the big move.

Thanks

[Guest Toodolou]

lovely , good luck with everything

[goldie]

Hi Evojoan

Just read your story and it was very interesting, it made me cry a little, we are hoping to come to Australia this year and we too are leaving our eldest daughter behind but I really do hope she will follow us, and reading this last post was amazing and so please he will be joining you.

[BillyJo]

This thread is officially Awesome.....thank you so much for writing the updates.

 

Gives us "trying to get there" crew .....so much hope

[evojoan]

Hi Daviesfamily

The hardest part was leaving family, but we were lucky we had both sets of parents support. Is your Mum planning to visit, at least if she books her flight she has a date to count down to until she sees you again. My in-laws arrive in two weeks and time has flown so quickly since they booked their flights. We speak to our parents and our eldest son every weekend on Skype or FaceTime so this helps with the homesickness. What do I miss about the UK, family and .............. chocolate as over here it doesn't seem to taste the same.

Good luck with the move and really hope your Mum comes round to the idea of your move.

 

jo

[Guest pg77]

Diane - as for kids' schools - private or public?

[Bala]

Nice thread, tnx for sharing very informative n nicely written...

[Diane]

Diane - as for kids' schools - private or public?

 

My two went to a public/state primary school - and were lucky enough to have the most awesome teacher for years 6 and 7 who brought out more than their full potential, so they were both able to get a partial scholarship to an excellent local private high school. Actually, where we live we are blessed with fantastic local state high schools as well, so would probably have been just as happy to send them there. Lots of private schools here though offer scholarships for things like academic ability, music, sports, the arts, so if private is the way you think you might go, it is well worth looking into that.