Wisette

Hi All, so so we are coming up to being in Adelaide for 2 years which means that we can apply for residency:). I was wondering if there are anyone on here that have recently applied for there permenant residency recently on the back of a state sponsorship visa and can give advice on how to conduct the whole process? Also, how long did the process take you? thanks in advance,

Hi Snifter, Thanks for the links...very informative. Budget for a property will be around the $450,000 mark and I know that we will get more for our money further South. Budget on Schools: We obviously would love our son to go to the best public school in the area, but we are willing to pay the extra for a good private school if the zone policy is an issue. Anything that improves on $90 a day full time child care ($23000 a year) is a bonus as this is our current outlay for ELC fees . Cheers, Mark

I posted a simular post yesterday but not as far south as you are looking. Snifter has sent an informative response. See the link below: http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/education/43644-great-schools-south-western-suburbs.html

Hi Guys, Just needed some help on the best primary schools in the Hallett Cove to the CBD area. Our son has just turned four and we are currently looking to buy a house in the South Western suburbs. He currently goes to ELC at Annesley Collage on Greenhill Road but it is $90 a day in full time child care...BIG Bucks!!! When he turns five Primary fees will be $7950 per year. This making it a lot cheaper but once we buy a property would like him to go to a school near by. We are willing to base the buying of our new home around a good school. Needs to be south western area as we love the beach life but need to stay South due to my work being in Lonsdale. Thanks in advance, Mark

What was the international freight company please Claire?

Hi All, I have to return some clothes that i brought online from Sports Direct and I am struggling to find a cheap way to ship them back. any ideas ????

There is a good english shop in the Hallett Cove Shopping Centre. Not sure of the name but has the old school sweet jars everywhere but also stocks other foodie favs.

Hi Bal, Be great to meet up with you guys. When are you getting here and where are you looking to settle in Adelaide? Hope that your prep is all going well. It's a bit of a roller coaster ride but well worth it. PM me when you get here. Good luck and all the best, Mark

Hi All, Me and my wife are in our 30's and have a 3 year old boy and are looking for new buddies in Happy Valley area. We both work full time, I am a engineer and my wife is a project manager. My wife likes going to concerts, Rihanna, Alicia Keys & Bon Jovi to name a few she has been to since we arrived back in May last year from Wiltshire. Oh and shopping, this is her favourite hobby . I like to watch the football ( not going to call it soccer:) play golf...badly and have a few beers at the weekend. As a family we like to get out and about to see all that the beautiful SA has to offer. We are free weekends as the weekdays with little man are hectic , and would like to meet some peps that have similar interest. Cheers, Mark, Meike & Kayden

Sorry Mike, sold straight away on gumtree. Had it on both. thanks

Hi All, I have a spare ticket after a friend had a change of commitments. If you are interested please PM me I want $50 for the ticket which is the face value for bronze seating area. Cheers, Mark

Hi All, When we moved from the UK we had to buy some bits and pieces while waiting for our shipping container. Now that it is here and we have to sell the stuff we have bought. We have: 24-piece cutlery set, stainless steel $15 Kitchen utensil set $10 Microwave $20 Kettle $10 4 slice toaster $15 Washing machine $150 Philips steam Iron (brand new, not used) $30 Ironing board (brand new, not used) $15 5 piece knife set $5 King size duvet $80 Ryobi Wet n dry hoover $60 Please PM me for details if you're interested!

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the advice. Just to answer a few of the questions: I have only been in the country since the 2nd May 2013. I have travel insurance but they will only cover £250 of which I have to pay the first £60. So this will not cover much in the way of the treatment and as previously said. They will only pay to take the immediate pain away. So the Antibiotics and xrays $126. I have looked at Full Dental insurance for the 3 of us, 2 adults and on 2 yr old was $118 a month. I have to wait 2 months (Pay my premium up front) for a basic check up and clean and to have the tooth removed I have to wait 6 months. Medical was seperate and was over $1000 a quarter. the fees are so high because we are on a Reciprocal Medicare Card until we get residentcy. Based on these cost and only one of us working we can't budget for this sort of out going right now. Because we are on a Reciprocal Medicare Card we don't get any help in the form of goverment funding. So don't make a difference if we go private or public. Unless anyone knows a loop hole and a way of getting some sort of money refunded on the costs? MALVINA: What is the health dept and where is the nearest one to Happy Valley? I know of people that have gone without concession. That is the purpose of it - 'free' for those that can't afford it' In an emergency you can be seen, otherwise you need an appointment. But noone is supposed to suffer pain without treatment. Get onto the Health dept and ask., they will probably refer you to your local public hospital. Best thing - is just go there! (wherever that is) there's nothing that speaks more of an emergancy than by just sitting in the waiting room. I was just hoping that someone might know a GOOD & CHEAP dentist that will be able to remove this tooth and then put a bone graft in for I will phone all the dentist in the yellow pages on Monday and will let you guys know what the cheapest one is.

Hi All, Need some help please. I have abscess and I have been to the Dentist today. Not sure what hurts more my wallet or my tooth:arghh:. I have had Xrays and given antibiotics and that set me back $126. I have been told that the tooth needs to be removed and a osseous (Bone ) graft put in after the antibiotics have worked there magic. This has been quoted at $250 to remove the tooth and $650 to have the graft. Then in min 4 months time I have to have a replacement put in which will be $1000. We are on a state sponsorship so are not entitled to any help from the gov and was hoping that someone might know of a good cheap dentist??? -- Best Regards, Mark PLEASE HELP

Thanks for the help all, We went for The Brighton Espy Hotel Sunday carvery. It was $12.90 per adult and $8 for a children's menu with a free toy. They have a play area for the kids which was great. There was a salad bar and a fresh bread. For the main you had a choice of Lamb, Beef or Pork so I had all 3 . Mixed fresh veggies of broc, carrots and colly and roast potatoes. Had mint jelly, apple sauce and horse radish to compliment, Not bad for the price but don't expect one like you get back home, no yorkies or honey roasted parsnips. There was some fruit for dessert. For quality 7/10 for value 10 out of 10 Where is next guys, come on share with us all your expertise on the Roast Dinner Hunt!!!!

Hi All, So far: Transglobal express:£53 plus £12 to deliver from airport to door or you can pock up from there depot for free. Interparcel: £75 Voovit: £164 to fly or £100 to ship Any others ???

Hi Guys, I am hoping that someone can recommend a great place to go for a Sunday dinner or Carvery. We are living in Flagstaff Hills area but are willing to travel up to1/2 hr in ether direction. I normally would cook my own (Well mum use to do an amazing roast!! ) but we are in temporary accommodation with no cooking facilities to be able to cook one. I did see the previous post: Sunday Roast Hunt??, but the 2 places recommended was nearly an hour away. They was Simply Organoleptic Café Meso at McLaren and Victoria Hotel in Starthalbyn. Any closer would be greatly received. Cheers, Mark

Hi Guys, I want to ship or fly a parcel 10kg parcel 50 x 30 x 20cm. The cheapest I have come up with so far is : http://www.parcelmonkey.co.uk/quotev2.php?sub=service at £52 to fly it here and will take 4 to 5 days. Any ideas on the cheapest??? I have tried all the usual places DPD, Royal Mail, Parcel2go, Interlinkdirect but all well over a ton. Any help PLEASE :-) Mark

Hi There, Sounds really familiar! Our stuff got packed up on 23/4, and still not on the way either - shared container as well. Cant get any straight answers from the removal company as I keep chasing them up for an update. They informed us the shipment has now been passed over to the 'shipment department'- not sure what this means, has the shipment left or is it leaving soon?! Have asked the question, but have been told to contact them again in 2 weeks for more news. In the mean time I should count on 12-14 weeks, but again not sure whether this is from now, or from when the shipment leaves! Driving us up the wall! Thankfully, all we have is clothes, books, toys and some other bits and pieces in the shipment, so we can get by for now, but do need to go shopping for winter clothes and shoes by the sounds of it!

Sounds great! Look forward to being able to try it out Good luck!!

Hi All, Hope that someone has been through this and has a way to get this fee overturn/reduced!!! We are selling our property and to cancel our mortgage just 2 months prior to the end of the 2 year fixed term- our mortgage runs out on 2nd July 2013- with the consequence that we owe Santander a 3% fee of £3665.76p. Our property has been for sale for a long time because of the current situation within housing market. Because of this we have had to sell the property for less than we thought and would have liked to. We have asked the buyers if they will wait on the completion date for the sale but they have not agreed We have been very loyal customers to Santander for many years. Me and my wife both have our Current Accounts and Saving Accounts with them and have had our mortgage with A & L and then Santander since we have owned both this house and our previous property. To try and get the fee waived we have contacted the local branch by phone who advised us to call the mortgage team. We contacted the mortgage advisor who confirmed that they are not able to do anything for us; only to defer our mortgage to next house which is not possible as we are moving abroad. Next, we contacted our local branch mortgage advisor at Swindon Santander mortgage team, but there was also nothing he could do and we were told to email Santander Customer Services. We contacted them in writing via email, and were told they can't reply to us via email as it’s is not secure and we were asked to phone the mortgage team instead. We called the mortgage team who spoke to a supervisor, but there was still no-one willing to help, so we put in an official complaint which was opened there an then on the phone as well as closed directly on this call as they said it’s just for their records to help their future customer service, so pointless! They stated there was nothing more Santander could do. Then we went into the local Santander Branch in Swindon town and spoke to the Manager who took all the details, advising us that there was a new rule in place regarding mortgage clients moving abroad- she was hopeful something could be done. However, she phoned back the next day and explained that she had spoken to the Regional Manager who confirmed there was nothing they could do and we would have to pay the fee. Lastly, we contacted the financial-ombudsman, however the waiting list for help is currently 6 to 9 months and looking likely that this will be too late for us to do anything before the sale of the property. We understand why the fees are in place to stop you leaving and getting a better rate with another lender, however we are forced to cancel the mortgage as we are leaving the country, so we are so disappointed Santander is not even considering any kind of help. Please, if there is anyone that has a magic wond... HELP!!! Mark

Thanks for the post Zoe, Really needed to read this as been telling people at work today as moving in less then 3 weeks and been getting: Why are you going to Adelaide? Out door life style (All good at this point, happy for you etc ) So, who do you know in Adelaide? No one? (Strange look and then "ooohhhh" ) Have you got Family in Adelaide? No, No Family (Riiiggghhhhhttt??? ) So what job have you got??? No Job, applied for shed loads with no luck so far (OOOOKKKKKKKK!!!! ) So your wife has a job right??? No, she has no job??? (Blank look!!! ) O.K Good Luck (And by this point I thinking and are we really doing all this!!! ) Same questions about 20 times to day and lots more people to go. Reading all these positive post I can't wait. Thank you for POMS in Adelaide to pick you up when you down. Good luck with the job hunting and give up all the good contacts on here if you find any please. Mark

Loving the heads up on the spices shop http://www.keo.com.cy/spirits .Was it Keo Brandy uummm

Hi John, Jane and Little man, We are in the same boat as you at the moment. We leave 25th April and with soooo much to do in such a short space of time. We have a 2 and half your old, and its been difficult (Especially the loft while he kept climbing the ladder!!!) to keep him happy while getting it all done. You also get a lot of your friends and family trying to talk you out of which don't help. Putting negative thoughts in your head about moving to the other side of the world. Just remember the day when you and your wife made the decision to move down under and the happiness and excitement that you felt. Your doing this for a better life and out door life style to boot. I always look at the last 2 summers where it has rain practically all the time and our winters are 8 months of the year. On top of that the way the economy is looking bleak in the U.K I think it will be a long time before we see an improvement. What I am trying to say is you started this process for a reason right??? Don't be like my work colleague who had his visas, didn't go, and now regrets it to this day that he didn't at least give it a try. You get one crack at the whip and if it's not for you at least you tried. Theres always sunny England to go back to right !!!! Mark

Hi Tony, Thanks for the reply. I sorry I haven't got back to you sooner. I have gone through and emailed all the CAD companies in and around Adelaide with little or no reply and I am now leaving for Adelaide in 3 weeks so will go and see them directly with CV in hand when I get there. I hope that your move has worked out and that you have arrived safely in Adelaide. Also, that you found the job you wanted. Keep me updated. Best Regards, Mark