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Check out this place in the CBD if you haven't already: http://www.blackebysweets.com.au/ Oh - just noticed, they have one in Hallet Cove which I guess is the one you mean. They have loads of all the old favs so worth a look.

Big plastic lunch box, piece of card......that's what I have used. They are fast and a brush is handy to kinda move them into an easier area to catch. I've found wolf spiders harder to catch....they are faster I reckon. In truth, what worries me the most is roos bouncing out in front of the car, not an issue if you are in the city, but anywhere on the fringes and beyond its a risk, especially around dawn and dusk. I see them alarmingly regularly on the sides of the road around here, both dead and alive. And Tyke, that really doesn't surprise me

So true - it's a great school and a little overlooked I think due to being quite close to Tatachilla (private school). Our eldest has thrived in her first year.

You can relax a little about the spiders - you'll just need to check over any outdoor furniture or toys for "messy" webs from time to time - which are the ones red backs spin. A spray of mortein takes care of them and will deter them for awhile anyway. The big spiders look horrific but are actually pretty friendly in a strange sorta way. With regard the UK sockets - we are still using a few UK 4 way sockets even after 2 and a half years.

I forgot about the Smile cover - we do have that, it's supposed to give a bit of a discount, but not sure if it brings our dentist down to just normal prices. Going to give it a couple of years so we have some comparisons.

Just to add some experience - this has been our two year "medical journey" if you like: 2 adults, 3 children, 1 dog. We have ambo cover - its about $100 a year and I think most people sign up for it as a minimum - a callout can cost $800+. We haven't needed one yet but like the peace of mind. Dog has insurance via pet plan - $57 a month but vet bills are huge so seems a good idea. One girl has cut her foot on rocks, A&E - patched up, no cost. Boy broke his arm, A&E, then hospital - x-rays, sling, no cost. I have a blood test, lung function test, flu jabs, some drugs for a cold, all via mediacare so no cost. Both adults have had dental work recently - spent about $3500 but hopefully that's caught us up. Girl has needed specs - $600 All kids have had dental work via the school dentist, no cost. So most stuff so far has been covered. I find the whole private insurance so confusing, as do many Australians that I talk too but what we've decided is to keep the covers we have, and just start a medical fund. Is that right or wrong - no idea but it's what we've decided to do, at least for now.

There is the School Dental Service which is offered for school aged children; if you're entitled your child has a set amount of money in a fund (somewhere) and you can access the dentist and any treatment you need throughout the year (although I expect there's probably more waiting time with the SDS than there would be with private). I'm not sure if this service covers orthodontics though, sorry.

Two out of our three kiddies are at McLaren Vale - which is very full and zoned so that's worth thinking about. The school is pretty good - nice spot, friendly enough, good outdoor space and all that. They seem short on doing anything beyond normal teaching though, not many clubs. Teaching wise we have found it a bit hit and miss, some teachers are great but there are a few that seem to be just ticking over till retirement and our kiddies struggle with them as there is little motivation or enthusiasm from the those teachers. They were previously at Henley Beach and we didn't think that was especially good either so maybe it's our expectations. I don't have any horror stories from the McLaren Vale school anyway, it does the job but not much more. I know what you mean about going around in circles - we also looked at Old Noarlunga primary school which is small and I often think would have been better for ours - though until they try it you just don't know. If we had the funds we would have probably tried out the Waldorf school which is perhaps a little alternative, but the times we have visited we felt that the teachers probably just put that more in - and it really is quite a lovely space for learning. On the other hand, our eldest has moved on to Willunga High School and is having a fantastic time - plenty of clubs, really happy and we have no concerns there at all. We have also found with McLaren Vale, with our boy being in year 6, that most of his friends are leaving at the end of year 6 to go to Tatichilla so the year 7 becomes fairly quiet.

You are probably still devaluing the money a bit at the moment, but it's much better than a couple of years ago! I don't believe there are any tax implications if you bring it as soon as you move. If you bring it later, you are eligible to pay tax on any profits that have been made in the meantime - i.e. interest and exchange rate increases. I think that's the case anyway.

Interesting about the jobs that may not exist, and I know you've brought this up before. Just an observation, but one recruiter always seems to have "Systems Administrator" listed as a job - with quite vague details. The fact that it seems to change only a little suggests exactly what you are saying. It may be worth exploring other cities job lists as well from time to time - my employer, for example, has it's head office in Bendigo, but a large office in Adelaide and they recruit jobs in either locations - so our team for example, is split across both sites as I think they sometimes struggle to fill posts from Bendigo. I assume they also advertise in Adelaide but you never know.

How rude Anyway - it's a typical stupid Boris idea - the UK turned it's back on the Commonwealth years ago and got into bed with Europe - now that hasn't worked out too well you get stuff like this. As for Australia, it needs to find it's own way in the world which means embracing all cultures, not having open doors to the UK. We got the chance to come to Australia because we had an education, had worked hard, didn't have a criminal record, were responsible people, all those values the UK doesn't seem to value anymore. Am I precious about this opportunity we had? - you bet I am!

That is a lot of fun! 11,734 so far.

Things on the job market are a bit quiet though, and it will get quieter until after the Christmas break. Good luck.

I can imagine - McLaren Vale High Street is quite busy. I actually think it needs another pedestrian crossing near the school, to help stagger the traffic....which would mean a second set of traffic lights - though as soon as you get out of the town it gets quieter - still far nicer than driving in the city.

I made appointments and visited agencies, Candle, Paxus, Finitie, Talent - so I could present myself and take all of my qualifications along. It seemed to help. Are you currently in Australia?

I drive around in an old Commodore and tried lots of different techniques to driving around the city, the racing, the cruising, the mellow, you are right, the traffic lights will always have their way with you. In the end we moved to McLaren Vale to escape them. But I know they are still out there.

Wow - those two museums in one day?! You have more energy than I do - they are huge and yes, free. Amazing places. Lyme Regis and nearby West Bay are two of my most treasured places - childhood memories of fossil hunting with dad. We got our lad a giant Megalodon tooth from the fossil shop in Lyme Regis a few years ago and had it framed for him, it makes the Great Whites teeth look like a goldfishes! It's worth going there just to see the Ichthyosaur fossil they have there, taken from the rocks just a few miles away.

One thing we did learn is to also check the area you are thinking of for the actual house prices if you were to buy there - whilst our rent in Lockleys was quite cheap, the actual house prices were crazy - so we ended up having to re-think once we decided to buy (might be that you don't have any intentions of buying but you never know). This meant another move for the kiddies but we all got through it. I also always think that tidy gardens are a good sign of a decent area, simple but seems to work, people who look after their places are generally okay to live near - Google street view is good for that. Though having said that, our front garden is a mess.........

Mostly only areas that were familiar already- Dartmoor, some of the Cornish fishing villages, childhood haunts. Further afield, would probably check out Natural History Museum in London (just love it), Lego Land is awesome and we miss that. Always fancied going to Edinburgh but never made it, though have been to the High Lands - they were stunning, quite fancy that again. Erm, North Wales - Snowden, never made it there.

Regret - yeap, that's the big one. We came to Australia in 2003 on holiday for 4 weeks and just where blown away with what we experienced but it took us until 2011 before we realised that if we didn't give a shot, we would never know if life could be better out here - age of children and age of us was starting to close doors. In Feb 2012 we got our permanent Visa, almost couldn't believe it, house then sold and by July we were living in Adelaide. It wasn't easy - and yes, it was a massive upheaval - to see our entire life just thrown up in the air was, at times, so scary that we just felt numb. The thing is, you just don't know how things will be until you try it and everyone's experience will be different. All I can say is that after 2 years here, I feel we've achieved a higher standard of living than all the years of slogging it in the UK. We still have all the day to day stuff to deal with, but being some where different has been great for us. It's come at a cost though - leaving family is hard beyond words and being set back financially also took us by surprise. But, you dig in, work it out, explore, laugh, cry, get cross, get excited and to me, I feel like we are living our lives again. I don't underestimate the opportunity we have had and we've been very lucky. I believe we will be spending the rest of our lives here. I think what I am trying to say is that, if you really think it's an opportunity that you can't let go, go for it - you will work things out along the way. On a more practical note again - I do think if you can cover off your rent with savings, the salary will be manageable I think - we survived on a comparison salary of about $63,000 if I take our rent away - though as PRs we do get family assistance. Just be prepared to be careful. Good luck!

We are also a family of 5 and I think it will be a tough call - not impossible, but you might have to really careful and I am not sure you will have much spare to enjoy the free time, which will be a shame as half the fun is exploring your new home. I think the cost of living equates to around double, so think of that salary cut in half and that gives you an idea of the pounds equivalent - could you afford to live on a salary of 26,000 pounds? Ours are all at school age, and that adds costs, even when they are at public school. Cheaper rentals are out there - we found a basic, but clean 3 bed place in Lockleys (nice area) for $330 per week. You have to go and see them though and there were plenty of shockers.

What a strange evening - we were driving back from Mount Compass and it was incredible - blood red sun set on one side, and multiple flashes and bolts every second on the other, never seen anything like it before. Lovely pictures mate.

I am an IT Server Engineer so not the same job description but I have had some experience of the IT sector in Adelaide as we've been here a couple of years now. Most IT jobs are based in and around the CBD and the market place for IT work is quite small and much of the work is outsourced to HP, NEC and a few other IT companies. Other IT related jobs can be found in the utilities and government work. You can probably cover most of the main positions by registering with a few recruitment agencies - Paxus, Finite, Talent and Candle are the ones I have used and they have all been helpful in the past and you should get a good response from them if you approach them. The market seems to come and go, January is a good time to be looking as companies start to gear up again after the summer and Christmas holiday. Whilst the market is quite small, I have found, in my line of work, that the amount of good IT people that stick around in Adelaide is on the low side which is a bonus, most people seem to chase the bucks over in Sydney and Melbourne. I can't obviously say it will be easy, but when we landed here in July 2012 I had two interviews within the first week of arriving - and got offered one of those jobs which I am still in and ticking along nicely. I have had a couple of interviews since with a few jobs offers so the market may be small, but its not dead - you just need to make sure you can survive for a bit whilst you are looking. Obvious really. In terms of transferring skill set, I think IT is quite straightforward - I slotted straight in and haven't found too many differences in the way things are done. It's taken us a couple of years to properly settle but I wouldn't swap our life here back with what we left - a bit like you and many others, it's a huge financial gamble and we are only just starting to get back on our feet but life's good, different and sometimes a bit lonely but I can honestly say we made the right decision.

I use Moneycorp - you can check online each day and see the rates, plus they do alerts for when the exchange rate hits a certain level. Works for us.

Oh, and here's our "bloodhound"..... Scary huh? Airships, I've never heard of such witchcraft!