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

Hi, I replied to your suburbs post and included a bit about my husband who works in IT. He was offered a job within the first week of us arriving, 5 years ago, and hasn't been out of work since - he's had 3 permanent positions, all in and around the CBD. He made contact with agencies when we came on our recce and then again when we arrived a few months later and his first role came through one of these. Good luck with it all.

We have a north facing back garden and it's really tricky to get anything to grow in it (unless we want a desert garden). I don't find the summer sun/heat on the actual house too much of an issue because we have a large veranda that provides shade for the windows but in the bedrooms that have windows facing north we do close the curtains to keep the sun out. I wouldn't avoid a house because of it's orientation if I liked it for all sorts of other reasons because there are things that can be done to keep the sun out - windows shades etc. and certainly it's a benefit in winter to have the sun on the windows to heat the house.

I think if you know you want the short commute and are happy to be city based then you're not going to be short of choices but it's definitely worth taking some kind of short term accommodation before choosing from the other side of the world. When we arrived 5 years ago we (3 children then aged 10,9 & 7) took a couple of house sits which gave us almost 3 months practically rent-free, one was north of the city and the other down at Moana. From that we knew we didn't want to be so far out of the city and managed to get a rental in Lockleys. However, 12 months later when we were looking at buying we knew we didn't want to be in the city! (TBF if we could have afforded to buy the size house we needed in the area we probably would have stayed, so like NicF mentioned earlier make sure you can afford to buy before you settle). We now live all the way down in McLaren Vale and my husband commutes to the CBD; he catches the train from Seaford and with the drive/walk at each end it takes about 1hr10mins. For a couple of years he was driving to just outside of the CBD and that would take 50ish minutes. He works in IT, was offered a job within the first week of us arriving and hasn't been out of work since (he's been in permanent roles). I'm a Family Day Care Educator (child minder) and can reassure you that you'll find decent care more or less wherever you settle; again it does depend on your preferences - there are all sorts of centres so make sure you have a look at a few and find one that suits you.

I heard it on the news but didn't really follow the story up to know what the full implications maybe; even as a citizen it does concern me though as we have three, currently aged 15, 14 & 12, who will be having to make decisions about further education or not (and therefore their intended careers) in the relatively near future. What bothers me most though is that the Government demand degrees and more for all sorts of careers whilst also seeming to think saddling young people with huge debt is a really good way to set them up in life. And then they wonder why first time buyers find it hard to get on the property ladder...

Hello and welcome to the forum; unfortunately I can't offer any guidance re the timings - we've been here for 5 years and our visa process was different but I can sympathise with the waiting. Fingers crossed it's a relatively short process.

I switch between two mainly because of opening hours and appointment availability. The last one I went to I had booked my appointment, arrived on time and was informed the doctor was running late; which was fortunately OK for me on that particular day, almost 50 minutes later (good job I had my book with me) the doctor rushed me in and told me that I had to be quick because she was running late and flu clinic was about to start! Luckily for her it was a quick thing (I already knew what the problem was just needed a script!) I don't quite know what we'd have done if it was something bigger.... On the whole though doctors are easy - it just seems so much more complicated until you actually use them.

Henley High is a good school - it's the one our children would have gone to if we'd stayed in the city and it's a little closer to Salisbury than Brighton. If you're not already here in Adelaide it can be tricky to pick somewhere to live which is a good base for work and schools so I suppose it would depend a lot on how comfortable your husband is with commuting (city commuting is slow - stop start at the traffic lights every few minutes) and what other things you're looking for in an area - beach/hills/children's other interests/your hobbies etc.

There's a guy down here in McLaren Vale - Tim Birchall - who's pretty good; we used him a couple of years ago for a general service but he's definitely well respected locally.

I have finally been registered for Family Day Care and have a few questions about having a baby here in Aus! My first one is: I've just fitted a top-tethered rear facing car seat into my car, now how do I get a baby in around the straps?! Secondly where is the best place to go to try out prams/buggies etc - I know what I like (I've been through a fair few in the past 16 years) however the market has both changed and is different and although I've had a look online I'd really like to try them out before I spend upwards of $1000 (I'll need a single and a double and I don't want a double decker). I've dropped into Baby Bunting at the south end of South Road and I know Toys R Us has a selection but our closest at Noarlunga doesn't have many - is the one at Gepps Cross so much bigger with a better selection that it's worth the day trip? Any other good places with a wide selection that I might not know about?

Glad you went and saw it for yourself; worth the drive out anyway and if you've seen a bit more of SA then that's a bonus. Good luck with finding a stable job closer to home.