Dawn&Andy

we went today too, awesome is all i can say well worth a trip down if u get chance before they move on, managed to get couple nice pics, sorry if they bit big

ok dont panic thats supposed to happen apparently, its the overflow for any excess moisture, tho dont take my word for it cos ours is broke lol

still looking for someone to come join my worktop, no one seems interested cos its only one join

i think its all dependant on what each individual wants, when we was looking was had a very tight budget, and there wasnt a lot around the area we wanted, now we could have sacrificed that and gone to the next suburb or even further afield, and yes we did look further out but our hearts were set on staying in a certain area and we seen much bigger houses in other areas but it wasnt where we wanted to be, so we stuck to what we wanted and had a smaller house in the area we wanted and within our budget. Its not the biggest house by aussie standards, but its home for us and was more important to be where we wanted than the size of the house,and its on a bigger block than many of the newer houses, and anyway when the kids all leave home it will be perfect for me and hubby, we wont need to downsize:) There are some older houses that go at good prices compared with the new, depends if you are happy to do a bit of work on one to turn it into your dream home. If you wanna buy id just say keep looking, took us months and months of searching, much like trying to find a rental i guess, eventually after hours of viewings the right one will turn up: Good luck in finding your home, whenever you decide to buy:)

cheers for that:)

Hi we are in the process of putting in a new kitchen and whilst we are trying to do everything ourselves, we are looking for someone who can come fit our benchtops to a good standard, infact we could fit them ourselves just need them cutting to size and routing the underneaths for clamping them together for a nice fit:) wont be for a week or two cos havent done the kitchen yet but wanted to put some feelers out if theres anyone out there who could or if anyone knows anyone before i hit the yellow pages:) Cheers Dawn & Andy

when we came over right upto 5 days before we flew we didnt know if we were comin or not, house had sold and was due to complete on the tues, friday before was told our buyers buyer hadnt even had mortgage approved, so we hadnt been able to book anything, so our last week in uk went summat like this tues- buyers buyer mortgage finally approved and contracts signed wed - packed the few things we was bringing with us anything we hadnt sold by this time went in a skip thurs- house completed, moved in with mum for few days fri- booked flights and two weeks in caravan park mon- flew from heathrow wed- arrived in adelaide to rain hadnt a clue what was gonna happen after that, felt like we packed up our life in that last week cos right upto the death we didnt know if it was gonna happen, luckily it did, and we havent looked back, its worked for us and we wasnt organised at all cos of way things went, so u sound like you are already one step ahead of us, caravan park wasnt that bad although small its a roof over ya head til u get sorted, and finding a rental can be a bit of a chore but u will find something eventually, just takes lots of viewings til the right one turns up, least it will be warmer in oct than it was for us in april surprising how different u will feel with the sun shining go for it i say and good luck when u arrive, hope it all goes well for you all:) Dawn x

does anyone know where i can purchase a inground spa cover from?? we have a hexagonal, i think it is, inground spa and we had a cover for it til today when our unruly 8 month old labrador decided to chew it to bits in 5 seconds flat!! and so i need to find a new one and aint got a clue where to look or how much they cost Any ideas much appreciated???? Dawn x

HI Clare what a dilemma eh i feel for you !! If u check on realestate.com under rentals, theres about 12 within ur budget in the seaford/seaford rise areas, theres even one on ur street up for rent, no 13, u could chuck ya furniture there from ur house no advice really just wanted to wish u well in whatever u decide Dawn xx

You dont need first aid cert here in SA to gain a licence, cos my hubby did his thinking he needed one like other states, but its not a requirement here in south australia, you need wiring regs course pass certificate and artc cert as far as im aware, will ask hubby to reply when he gets home cos hes the electrician:)

yep if u went through tra u can still go peer for wiring regs and get ur licence that way,the new module thing is only for those that have gone the new route through vetassess:Dso dont worry you be fine:)

aww if u got nowt else to do with em heaps, you could always wrap a box up for my birthday and drop em round tomorrow

mmmm that box looks open to me heaps, i hope ur not trying to sell a empty box!!!!

ohh we landed that same rainy morning as you dan and steph and we too thought omg, glad to hear you both love it now, we do too:) Heres to many more happy years eh Dawn xx

we have our first visitor here at the moment, my father in law, tooeasys dad:) hes been here 4 weeks and goes home a week saturday and have to say its been a pleasure having him here, kids have thoroughly enjoyed his stay, i was a bit nervous about him staying so long as id never had anything other than over nite visitors before, but have to say we have had no probs at all, hes been helpful round the house, washed up after meals, even cooked a few for us, offered to pay for things, cleaned up after himself, infact its been so lovely having him i keep threatening im sending hubby back to uk and keeping my daddy in law here lol sorry you have had a bad experience, maybe cos its our first visitor since we got here its been different, ask me again once my parents have been:biglaugh:

Libby i used daryl to learn to drive, 40 years old and id had a few lessons beforehand in uk but i was nervous as hell starting again, and like tyke says daryl is brill, and yep deffo funny, i looked forward to my lessons and stopped being nervous and i think all down to my lovely instructor, id recommend him over n over to anyone Good luck with it when u start Dawn x

hi i got my ps last year, and didnt know about the uk license being taken into account and hadnt bought my uk license with me, so i emailed dvla who sent me a computor print out of my licence details and took this in along with my aussie cert after doing that and i had only been learning here a few months and they accepted my uk licence, that was at christies beach office too, so dont know why they wont accept urs, i know others too whos have been accepted, i did the log book tho, had to get 50 hours driving in and pass a final drive and they accepted it this way, so dont know if taking a regular test is the difference cant be any help as who to contact about it but seems unfair they are accepting for some and not others Hope u get it sorted Dawn x

hi i just bought hubby a new phone and he no longer needs his old one, its the one in this link, its in decent condition, got the charger for it but no manual, think we lost it when we moved, he said if ya interested you could have it for $70 the only network it wont go on is 3 thats cos the simcards are different, we are in seaford so you would need to be able to get down here to pick it up, just pm if ya want it if not will be on ebay shortly lol http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Unlocked-Sony-Ericsson-Walkman-W810i-Mobile-Phone_W0QQitemZ110365944775QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Mobile_Phones?hash=item110365944775&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 Dawn x

no vetasses is for skills and u need a positive skills assessment before applying for a visa, i suggest maybe contacting a agent who can run through the stages of all this then you can decide whether or not you feel comfortable going it alone for info on vetassess you can check out this website http://www.vetassess.com.au/index.cfm?menu=1.3a and can apply here http://www.tradeassess.com.au/webpage/index.cfm

its the 175 you want coral, will need to do vetasses now i believe for electrician for skills assessment, so that will be your first step, i think you should have enough points for the 175 visa, if you dont feel confident doing it alone then i suggest contacting a agent, the skills assessment process is probably the hardest bit tho,once thats out the way the visa will seem easy in comparison Good Luck Dawn x

our kids were 8,9 and 15 when we came out last year, so not far off your kids ages, only advice i can give really is turn it into a adventure, say its not gonna be forever if they dont want it to be, talk about it as much as you can and get their imput on reasons they dont wanna go and try reassure them, watch every aussie program going, buy a map and show em where it is you will be going, point out all the fun places you might visit once you are here, once you make it look like a fun place to go and in their heads they know if you all hate it you can go back then i think they feel much better about the idea of going. our kids didnt wanna come either, well the two youngest came round to the idea because we talked about this big adventure we was going to have, til last day in uk and we had tears as we left to go to airport and i could have easily given up then listening to the sobbing in the back of the car, it was awful, but they have settled so well, they made new friends pretty easy, they still miss nanny and grandad etc but with promises of them visiting seems to keep those pangs away, the older one who didnt want to come at all, now says after 10 months he never wants to go back, so things can turn around and probably will for many Good luck with your visa process and with selling it to the kids:)

i never thought we would buy in oz, we came out with no equity left for a deposit for a house, and i really thought we would be renting for at least a few years, yes if you want a huge house on a huge block then you could well struggle to finance it, but if you like us just want summat to call home, then it still is achievable. Hubby earns a basic of not much more than you quoted on your post and we have recently bought our first home on just his wage, we are on perm visa tho so do get help with family assistance and we got the first home owners grant. We could only afford a small 3 bed in the area we wanted but its home and we much rather be living in our small house than renting for the long term, so dont give up hope , like i said if you dont mind being flexible in what your idea of a dream house is then it is still possible We have 3 kids too, not sure how many you have but we manage just fine and have a decent standard of living, yes we have to mind the cents n dollars at times, but we wouldnt change our life here for the world now:D Dawn x

you dont have to do anything special to validate your visa, the moment you pass through immigration at the airport and ya passport is stamped thats ya visa validated:)presuming you are on a perm visa, cos im not sure about rules on temp visas weather can still be nice in april some warm days some not so warm days we landed last april and after coming from a uk winter if felt pretty nice:) pack a jacket or a jumper or two tho cos it can get quite cold at nite early april last year they had a few days where it was really hot so you can still get nice weather, but be prepared for it getting cold soon after, it will be coming upto winter, tho winter here didnt seem too bad compared to uk, this winter im dreading tho now ive got used to the warm weather Have a safe journey in april and hope the next few weeks fly by for you Dawn x

hi we came on a 136 visa which was the old 175 before they changed everything lodged 25th march 2007 case officer late july 2007 visa granded 7th august:) 2007 so just a tad over 4 months for us but we did front load everything ready Hope you dont have to wait too long and good luck Dawn xx

2pm hun til late i guess like last time lol be few sore heads sunday morning i guess lol we brought a nice new bbq yesterday, house warming gift to ourselves so be plenty food will pm u new addy now, see ya sat