TheBteam

Ooh we have friends from Sydney who saw Trash Test Dummies and said it was good last weekend. I went in to see a stand up show on Thurs and was a bit unsuccessful... We got half price tickets for a children's show in the Garden later..fingers crossed

We can only get along to family friendly shows but went to Le Petit Circus at The Peacock in Gluttony on Sat. The little ones were mesmerised and it was pitched at the right level for them ( all under 10), so was enjoyed all round. Great for anyone having an afternoon-evening out with young children. We are nopefully going to try to get back to a couple more in The Garden before it ends.

I have had a few recommendations from 'home' that the Ray Bradshaw 'Dare' Stand up is one to try to get along to. We will only be venturing to child friendly events, and this looks like one for the adults. It's on at the East Terrace Continental Balcony 1-13 March

Hi Gary, We have been here around 6 weeks now and would stress that it is really difficult to judge where you will want to set up your first home. In the UK, i had an idea of where we would want to live, had looked at schools and rents etc. When we arrived, within a couple of days we had ruled that area out completely. We have decided on a few areas now that we like that we hadn't considered back before we set off. It's also worth stressing that we have viewed lots of properties and a fair number of them are not necessarily accurately portrayed by their photos on websites! (some clearly taken a long while ago) Plus many agents will not consider an application without you having viewed the property. I completely get where you are coming from in terms of wanting to get the right area from the kick off and not move schools, but in our very limited experience so far, it can be a huge benefit to try a short term rental to get a feel for an area first. Even just a couple of weeks can help get to grips with places you feel you could or could not set up home. We arrived during the long school holidays which has given us some breathing space but, and this is obviously only our opinion, we wanted to get the house/area right first, especially if the schools we then looked at in those areas are zoned. For what its worth, if we were going for a coastal suburb then i really love the areas that you are looking at too . Perhaps if you are looking to arrive outside of the holiday/festival season you could pick a short term rental up at a reasonable rate? Good luck with it all though!

Hi Soph Our family arrived last month from Manchester, knowing nobody here! It is overwhelming trying to get a handle on things quickly, especially as you are doing everything with a little one with you. We are not too far away, at Henley for the time being. My youngest is 2, all still at home as we haven't settled on area or schools yet but happy to meet up somewhere child friendly for a chat and coffee. Sarah

Hi Sam, its so lovely of you to post a follow up. I have read a few of your posts in the UK and now we are here! Day 10! We are currently in a short term rental in the eastern suburbs which although great for schools, will be a bit of a stretch for us to settle in the longer term i think...(bad day of home viewings today) Its great to be reassured that you have both made friends and settled into a nice property/area. Currently we are neck deep in all the home searching and comparing schools, desperately trying to find a good fit for us. I'm glad that you have weathered it and come out the other side with lots of positivity, its a great reassurance. Will keep fingers crossed you get work sorted soon. Sarah

Thanks so much ladies this is really helpful Flossybeth, 'going' post-it back on the washer and gets out the vinegar and soda crystals

Haha i think thats why i might need some convincing to strike the dryer off the list LC I use it all the time! And probably once a day or so for towels. I hate having the clothes airers everywhere so cant get my head round not needing one. Will be more that happy to be converted and convinced to ditch it though as they are not exactly the most economical piece of kit in the kitchen!

Hi We fly out in just over 2 weeks and am organising car hire this week. We have 4 children ages 9,8,4&2 Currently we are using backless booster seats for the older 2, a highback booster for our 4 year old with the seatbelt and a child stage 1/2 car seat with 5 point harness and has a top tether as can be used with isofix points. Am i right in assuming that we can't use any of them when we arrive and have to buy 4 new seats as they don't have the as nzs mark on them? Its no insignificant cost to replace them all ? Do we definitely have to? Any advice you can offer would be welcome Thanks Sarah

Thanks for the replies. I think we will just leave them behind for the tenant moving into our house then. Im not sure i can quite get my head round no dryer yet The 6 of us can churn out a fair amount of washing and bedding to dry. Thanks again

Hi folks Well the shipping company are here from next Weds packing us up and we set off on 28th!! With the end of term, Christmas festivities, work and fitting in meet ups and nights out with family friends its all very surreal and chaotic. On top of this, the manic steaming, scrubbing, disinfecting (and probably a heavy dose of zoflora fumes) has me panicking that i will forget to clean something properly. Which brings me onto the washer & dryer. Did anyone ship these? Is it worth it? Im worried i cant get in behind the filter and drawers to get them spotless, similar issue cleaning inside the connection hoses. The assessor from the shipping company was keen for us to take them but i wondered if anyone else had taken them with them? Is is worth it? Did you have any problems? Currently scrubbing our way through the toolboxes! Thanks so much for any advice you can offer. Sarah

We have looked into this as we have a 7 seater that is uner 5 years old and has been fab. However despite having a sole container it really didnt seem worth it when we broke down all the costs and procedures in terms of customs, procedures to prepare it for shipping and registration. There was a very good post i think either on here or poms in oz by someone who shipped his Audi who broke down all the costs. We have decided to just sell and sort out another when we arrive. If i can find the link i will post it.

I think i lost my last reply somehow. Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to give such comprehensive replies it's brilliant food for thought and we will take a look at the areas you have suggested. Instinctively i think we default to what our priorities are here in the UK and the reality is they may be different when we get there. Here we bought a house so that it is in the catchment for an outstanding high school and primary school. Our children have lots of schoolfriends who are neighbours as do we in their parents. I think we probably have to try not to get too overwhelmed by the details of everything but i am most guilty of this at the minute, and trying to research everything and every possibility when in reality we will only get a feel for what we like and dont when we have been over a while. Our biggest priority will most likely still be school & having talked it over, on the occasions we have moved before, we have always gone for older, established areas rather than newer developments. That said, we dont want to live in a fab pile of brick in a zone for a great school with no budget to fully throw ourselves into activities, making friends and getting to know our new home. Our children go to Catholic school at the minute so we have considered whether budgeting for this might make the transition easier on them but again it is a big chunk of change with 4! We need to heed all your advice, it has been great thankyou, and not try to pre-empt our decisions. You make a great point Snifter. Much as I love walking to school and then a stroll to the park and shops i dont fancy a 40 minute melt in the searing summer heat just for the sake of a coffee or a little shopping. Your comments have all been really helpful folks thanks so much again.

Thanks Tamara that's really helpful. Unless we could find a very big 3 bed i think we would probably be looking for 4, as we have a 9 year son who is seriously outnumbered by his sisters Yes, am trying to keep an open mind and not getting set on areas as probably even a few weeks isn't a great timescale to get a real feel for places but that said i don't really want to set up the children in school to move them again in 6 months Plan is, as you suggested to have a few weeks in a short term rental and car hire while we sort out transport, a long term rental and school. Thanks for the replies

Thanks for the quick reply Nic, The location is yet to be settled, all we have is southern and eastern suburbs so far, and rents we would want to keep as low as we can to achieve a big enough property in a nice family friendly area. Any suggestions where to start looking to get ideas?