flossybeth

Welcome, hope your move has been easy and you're settling well. Start with your library, they'll definitely have activities and be able to point you in other directions too.

We've been here 6 years and I've never really thought too much about prescription charges; we're not too reliant on prescription medication and the few we do need I generally pick up from our closest which happens to be a Chemist Warehouse. This last week though I knew I needed my prescription refilled and that I wouldn't be able to get to the chemist so I asked my husband to pick it up from the chemist on campus (he works at one of the unis) - it cost $21, it usually costs $9 (and I even had the chemist phone me once to tell me they'd overcharged for the generic and I should go back for a refund!). I don't know if it's just because he didn't specify that he'd be happy with the generic or what but it's certainly given us a shake to remember that everything is not equal!

The first week we were in our new house we had a pink sticker slapped across our un-emptied bin because it had the 'wrong' council stamped on the front (a relic from when one end of town was under a different council to the other) ... It's not like we brought it with us so who knows what the people before us were doing with their rubbish!

Your local library and Children's Centre will run various groups depending on where you are or possibly your local primary will have some sort of playgroup.

Tamara I always used to think when my 3 were younger that if we were split up on a flight people would soon be happy to move around! and although we never had any issues when my husband flew back from the UK a few years ago with Malaysian and he helped a lady with 3 very small children who was very grateful because her husband had been upgraded and left her to sit in economy by herself!

I've noticed recently that a lot of our post coming from UK organisations (such as Student Loans, The Donkey Sanctuary!) are coming via Budapest according to the stamp label and they're taking a long time - anything up to 6 weeks to be delivered. Anyone know why this might be?

Just to make you aware that it's dark by 9pm in mid-summer but it evens out by our winter evenings being just a little lighter (5ish) so there are no really long summer evenings; I'm not sure how Melbourne fairs being slightly further south. I'd choose Adelaide over Melbourne but that's because I'm not bothered for big cities at all - we live in McLaren Vale and with all of the coastal expansion happening down towards Aldinga it's even beginning to feel crowded this way! Good luck with your choice.

Welcome Adieplatts; there are always a million questions about such a big move and usually someone on hand to help out so fire away.

I'm fairly sure that all of SA is classed as regional for the 2nd year requirement, I suspect it might be the actual work you can do to qualify, maybe try the Riverland for fruit picking (citrus are definitely in season) or any of the wine regions even though vintage is finished for this year there is still a lot of vine work (pruning etc) begin carried out at the moment.

That's handy to know for when we all go back next year - we'll be looking for all the savings we can then.

I had a phone case with slots in it so I had both with me until about 2 weeks ago - I dropped the phone and it landed on the corner; the only bit unprotected! So my husband decided I needed a tougher case which is less fiddly but doesn't have the handy slots; now I won't need them *I'd had an old style Nokia for over 7 years which barely had a scratch on it but had to switch to a smartphone for doing Family Day Care (and because they're turning off the signal in July) and smashed the screen within months...

Thanks all, I booked direct with Singapore in the end - it's an 8 hour stop over in Singapore but the flight times were best all round. @Tamara (Homes Down Under) it's not so much a small saving I'm after it's more I'm not terribly keen to spend anything at all but it's my Mum's 70th and there's an expectation (even from the other side of the world I can feel my Mum's stare )

I've always used sites like Skyscanner/Kayak when looking at flight prices but now I am actually booking a flight to the UK for November I'm not sure how safe a third party booking system is? Skyscanner came up with a $100 cheaper than direct with Singapore Airlines but I'm not sure how well rated Skidoo are - I've read reviews that suggest they delay your payment and then make you re-book at a higher price. Does anyone use a third party or suggest the best way to book?

Josh Rehn was excellent last year when our hot water stopped working - called in after 6pm and had the job done in a couple of hours for us; his charges weren't stupid either. https://www.facebook.com/joshrehnplumbingservices/?hc_ref=SEARCH

Thanks NicF, I didn't actually mean we do have a desert although the 'lawn' is doing a pretty good job of imitating one... I suppose what I meant was that you have to be a little more choosy in your plants; certainly this year we had tomatoes and capsicums with surplus (our first year of trying them), we've got a passionfruit vine that's rather more vigorous in it's growing than we expected, a Mitre 10 reject lemongrass that won't stop growing and my favourite are the wonga wonga vines going along the back fence as well as plenty of native plants. There are lots of others that we've tried that have given up to the heat of the sun though - it's definitely gardening by trial