Arriving in June

[HelenS]

I'm also new to this forum. We are arriving in Adelaide on 27th June with our 2 children age 6 and 8 on permanent residency visas. We've let out our house and packed up our belongings and booked our flights. Feeling excited but also a bit nervous as we have never been to Adelaide before so not sure what to expect. We have lived in Sydney previously (2004-2008) but this was before the complication of kids and schooling. I have just booked a 3 week short term rental that I found on Gumtree which looks great from the photos and a reasonable price. I looked on Stayz but I found them all very expensive - possibly because the period we needed seems to be school holidays. My husband will be working at RAH and we have been recommended suburbs such as Henley Beach, West Beach and Grange. Does anyone have any info on these areas and schools? Also, do we approach schools directly in order to get our children enrolled or is there a central agency? As we will be arriving just as the schools break up for a holiday, I am assuming that there won't be anybody there to talk to us.

 

I have also been told that our car seats aren't legal in Australia - does anyone know the best booster seats for kids aged 6-9 that aren't too expensive as we will need to buy these as soon as we arrive.

 

Thanks for your help

[snifter]

I'm also new to this forum. We are arriving in Adelaide on 27th June with our 2 children age 6 and 8 on permanent residency visas. We've let out our house and packed up our belongings and booked our flights. Feeling excited but also a bit nervous as we have never been to Adelaide before so not sure what to expect. We have lived in Sydney previously (2004-2008) but this was before the complication of kids and schooling. I have just booked a 3 week short term rental that I found on Gumtree which looks great from the photos and a reasonable price. I looked on Stayz but I found them all very expensive - possibly because the period we needed seems to be school holidays. My husband will be working at RAH and we have been recommended suburbs such as Henley Beach, West Beach and Grange. Does anyone have any info on these areas and schools? Also, do we approach schools directly in order to get our children enrolled or is there a central agency? As we will be arriving just as the schools break up for a holiday, I am assuming that there won't be anybody there to talk to us.

 

I have also been told that our car seats aren't legal in Australia - does anyone know the best booster seats for kids aged 6-9 that aren't too expensive as we will need to buy these as soon as we arrive.

 

Thanks for your help

 

Hello and welcome to the forum

 

I'm running out the door in a few but wanted to reply re car seats

 

Have a look here - https://www.childcarseats.com.au/find-and-compare-child-car-seats#/results/3/2/-/-

 

They give test ratings and RRP but do shop around as often places will have sales on or you can find the same seat sold a bit cheaper elsewhere.

 

We bought our car seat after I did lots of reading into safety testing and other things. At the time it was the highest rated car seat in its type and also the cheaper by over $100 based on the RRP. I managed to then find it on sale in Target for $50 so saving $70 on the RRP of the time. I got the Hipod Boston which is actually the top rated one still from what I can see. It is sold under another brandname also and so they rated that too but clarified its the same seat. ITs RRP is now a bit more but you could probably find it on special somewhere I'd think.

 

If not there are a few other decent ones around for a bit less money or again, on sale.

 

Keep in mind Aus standards tests side impact also in their testing. Also the top tether is used so ensure your car has tether points either in the back seat or in the boot and that you can clearly tether them when in use. Tether points are easy to fit in cars if they don't have them but most cars should have them already. Usually much older ones that don't.

 

The only one I'd avoid is the Safe n Sound Hi Liner as its just a silly price, not because it isn't a decent seat. If you can get better rated or the same for less money, its a no brainer.

[snifter]

Just to let people know I've split this out from another thread as feel its better as its own discussion

[snifter]

I'm also new to this forum. We are arriving in Adelaide on 27th June with our 2 children age 6 and 8 on permanent residency visas. We've let out our house and packed up our belongings and booked our flights. Feeling excited but also a bit nervous as we have never been to Adelaide before so not sure what to expect. We have lived in Sydney previously (2004-2008) but this was before the complication of kids and schooling. I have just booked a 3 week short term rental that I found on Gumtree which looks great from the photos and a reasonable price. I looked on Stayz but I found them all very expensive - possibly because the period we needed seems to be school holidays. My husband will be working at RAH and we have been recommended suburbs such as Henley Beach, West Beach and Grange. Does anyone have any info on these areas and schools? Also, do we approach schools directly in order to get our children enrolled or is there a central agency? As we will be arriving just as the schools break up for a holiday, I am assuming that there won't be anybody there to talk to us.

 

I have also been told that our car seats aren't legal in Australia - does anyone know the best booster seats for kids aged 6-9 that aren't too expensive as we will need to buy these as soon as we arrive.

 

Thanks for your help

 

OK, back again. Its been a busy day but I've a few minutes to nip back and try to give a bit more info. Also being a long weekend here, public holiday on Monday, many people may be busy or away so might not stop by to reply atm.

 

The areas you mention as possibles to live are IMO good areas. Some good schools around there also iirc. Being close to the beach, airport and other things from there. Also a decent commute but keep in mind in rush hour driving it will be slower going.

 

If you want to read up on the schools in those suburbs, have a read of this thread and follow the links in the first post and use their search options to look up suburbs and schools in those suburbs etc.

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/kids-down-under/44624-useful-links-schools-primary-high-school.html

 

You approach the schools direct. Be aware that some primary schools are zoned and they won't take kids from outside it unless they are not full in which case they may accept kids from out of the zone. Often if a school is zoned they will ask for proof of long term rental so as to ensure you really are living in the zone and not just trying to pull a fast one.

 

I think the schools are staffed over the shorter holidays, at least some of the time. I know I went in to my sons old school during a school holiday to buy some uniform and the office staff were in. Best bet is to email before you move and find out. Also I'd wait to go see the schools in action once the holidays are over and perhaps let the kids have a taster day to see how it goes? You don't have to rush to put them in straight away to the first school you visit, take a week or two, go round the schools, have the tours, see which ones you like and so on. Your kids will have done almost a whole year of school coming from the UK when you do and won't then get their 6 week summer break till mid December. Having a few weeks off in June/July will be good, give them time to get over the jet lag, to have a bit of time with you exploring, getting organised and finding their feet before they get back in to school. There won't be a problem starting during the term. I know a few kids have done this when moving house, interstate etc.

 

I hope the Gumtree rental works out. I've read one or two dodgy stories about people renting via Gumtree, getting here and not actually having a house to stay in or it not being nice. Although those were second hand stories, not direct from the person it happened to so not sure how much truth in them or how bad. I have also read of others renting via Gumtree and being fine. Those were people themselves posting saying that they had rented without issue.

 

When you book a short term rental, you usually have to expect them to cost more than a normal rental house. You are getting all those extras included, bills, internet etc.

 

Feel free to ask away any other questions, we may not know specifics about a certain school perhaps but there may be some general things we can help with or just help explain the tables, the NAPLAN and other things that may shed some light on things.

 

I really like Adelaide. Sure it has some things that niggle on me, a few things I don't like much at all, but overall, its doing pretty well for us and we are very happy and settled here coming up to the 21 month mark. Of course, where you end up choosing to settle may be somewhere totally different to where you are thinking of now but thats not a bad thing. We were here 7 months, thought we knew where we wanted to be but ended up moving up off the flat and the metropolitan area and heading out into the foothills and the very outlying hill suburbs and right on the edge of one of those. If you had told me that when we first arrived I'd never have thought it.

 

Its smaller, has less of a city feel to it. In fact, I only real feel like I am in a city when I am in the CBD. When outside of there its feel is different, even with the suburban sprawl. Its more spread out than we are used to coming from England and that changes how I look at it.

 

We enjoy the lifestyle though the stinking hot summer days drive us inside with the aircon on or nipping to a family members house to jump in and out the pool. Or hit the beach at 7am, swim, splash and be heading home by 9am.

[HelenS]

Thanks for all that really useful info. I agree with you about not rushing the kids into school - they are already tired with coming to the end of the school year and then they will be jet lagged on arrival.

 

I hope that the Gumtree rental works out too - they have sent me a short term rental contract and are collecting some bedding from a friend for me as a favour so fingers crossed its legit. The attraction really is the fact that wifi is included and I am going to need that to find a long term rental and to keep the kids from going crazy without their iPads!

 

Thanks for the info about the car seats - I was looking at the Safe n Sound Hi Liner but I agree its expensive. The Hipod Boston looks like a great alternative. Any recommendations on the best place to buy them? In store somewhere or online? Would we be able to use our UK credit cards to buy stuff online for a delivery address in Adelaide? We still have our Australian bank accounts from when we lived in Sydney but we need to go into a branch to reactivate them and I'm not sure how long that will take. Bit of a problem - without the seats I can't go out in the car to buy car seats....

[flossybeth]

Welcome; we started out in Lockleys and sent our children to Henley Beach Primary. The area around there is great for commuting into the city - took my husband about 25ish minutes in on the bus as well as being really convenient for shops, the beach and all sorts of other city things. We moved out because we're not massive city people and wanted a small town feel and partly because we would have had to compromise on house size if we'd stayed there. Although they are lovely suburbs, especially if the beach is important to you working at the RAH I'm fairly sure that some of the north eastern suburbs might suit too - they're a pretty easy commute and slide into the hills so some lovely scenery on that side - there's a lovely park in Paradise (Thorndon Park Reserve). We considered Athelstone as well but there was nothing suitable for sale when we were looking.

 

I agree with Snifter with regards to not rushing to put the children into school - we arrived at the end of July (so at the end of the UK school year) and didn't put ours into school until the beginning of term 4 here (September/October ish). It gave us plenty of time to settle into being in Australia (plus we were house sitting and we had no jobs to come to so we had no idea where we'd actually want to settle) and really gave the children a long break from school - meaning they were really quite keen to get on and get into school and start making friends.

 

And car seats - our youngest was 7 when we arrived, so not legally necessary to get her a car seat but she didn't sit well in just the actual car's seats so we went for the Safe N Sound Encore because it was the only one we found that was actually big enough for her; she's just turned 10 and is still using it; she's happy to - it gives her her own space in the car and cuts out any squabbles as to where she's going to sit - and it's obviously safer for her too; so for us it was money well spent.

 

Good luck with the move.

Edited June 8, 2015 by flossybeth

[HelenS]

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies

[samandcraig]

Good luck with your move,we live further south so can't help with the areas, but hope your move goes smoothly

[snifter]

Thanks for the info about the car seats - I was looking at the Safe n Sound Hi Liner but I agree its expensive. The Hipod Boston looks like a great alternative. Any recommendations on the best place to buy them? In store somewhere or online? Would we be able to use our UK credit cards to buy stuff online for a delivery address in Adelaide? We still have our Australian bank accounts from when we lived in Sydney but we need to go into a branch to reactivate them and I'm not sure how long that will take. Bit of a problem - without the seats I can't go out in the car to buy car seats....

 

The black Hi Pod boston is on sale online at Target for $45 atm but has currently sold out. They have the grey version for $70 http://www.target.com.au/p/hipod-boston-booster-grey-black/51533465 You can google the seat and see what turns up price wise online as there were loads of returns for it.

 

Its aged up till 8 but as the Aus standards go by height markers not age, it could still fit a 9 year old or above, depending on their height. Our son is 7 and still fits it comfortably and he isn't on the small side height wise.

 

I think the Hi Liner is the same range age wise but again, its those all important height markers you need to be concerned with, not what age the seat is made for as kids grow at different rates. I found the Hi Liner on line for around $180 so not a huge saving.

 

Also some kids fit better in one seat over another width wise. I'm not sure of dimensions of the Hi Liner, we have one of those we got second hand from a friend as a spare for ferrying other kids round and don't use it often. It looks pretty much the same as the Hi Pod and our son fits it also just fine.

 

I think you'll need to go try some out in store (Target or some place should be fine for high back boosters, get the kids to sit in them, see how high the back goes and if they have a decent clearance over the shoulders and room to move up a bit more if need be. It may be your 8 year old is close to the height where they'll fit an adult seat belt in a year or so, perhaps not.

 

My son is nowhere near the advised height to come out of a booster seat so he is staying in it till he is. Even though from age 7 kids can travel without a booster according to the law, it seems wrong to me that while its legal, an adult seat belt would basically chop into his neck if we had an accident or could do him serious internal damage across his abdomen. They now advise for children to be between 145-150cm tall before moving them on from a highback booster but the annoying thing is, this means making them to fit up to age 10 or so at least, if not 12 for some kids if on the smaller side and most of the manufacturers here don't do that as its not the actual law, only the advice. They only got to age 8 and thats it. But they do make them for bigger kids when you go out from the height markers on the seats. Its so frustrating as most of them will fit kids up to an older age or a taller height but they go by the law when writing the blurb. At least the height markers means parents with smaller kids can clearly see to keep their child in the car seat at any age or not, regardless of the actual age of the child. If they've not reached the limit of the car seat, keep them in it is how I view it.

[flossybeth]

I've just remembered that the Red Cross do car seat hire ( http://redcross.org.au/sa/babyseats.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQjw18-rBRDogrTg4Lusuu0BEiQACs8YQgrTya9Fplhycpl0TtV0G9hdyZXd6BPKHGDqL3wc2JMaApfO8P8HAQ ) or if you're hiring a car initially then presumably you'll also be hiring car seats too so you'll be able to get around and find something even if you end up getting a couple of cheap seats until you work out your bearings and find something you're happier with.

[HelenS]

Thanks everyone. We have already bought a car from another doctor who is leaving RAH so will have to get a taxi to Target to have a look at car seats so the kids can try them out

[HelenS]

Well we have arrived and what a whirlwind 6 days its been! We sorted out mobile phones and booster seats on Sunday, bank account, car registration, driving licences and Medicare on Monday, looked at 3 houses on Tues, husband started work on Weds so the kids and I checked out another 2 houses. Offered on a property in Erindale on Thursday which was accepted within a couple of hours. I then phoned the local school, picked up the enrolment forms and today looked around the school just before it closed for the holidays. Kids now start when school goes back on 20th July. At every single encounter we have been treated by enthusiastic people who genuinely seem happy to help us. Loving Adelaide so far....

[samandcraig]

Welcome

[NicF]

Well we have arrived and what a whirlwind 6 days its been! We sorted out mobile phones and booster seats on Sunday, bank account, car registration, driving licences and Medicare on Monday, looked at 3 houses on Tues, husband started work on Weds so the kids and I checked out another 2 houses. Offered on a property in Erindale on Thursday which was accepted within a couple of hours. I then phoned the local school, picked up the enrolment forms and today looked around the school just before it closed for the holidays. Kids now start when school goes back on 20th July. At every single encounter we have been treated by enthusiastic people who genuinely seem happy to help us. Loving Adelaide so far....

 

Welcome to Adelaide. Erindale is a lovely spot to be living in. Sounds like you have got loads sorted already.

[Keith & Linda]

You will have to get yourselves down to the Rising Sun, on Bridge St in Kensington, some nice food there and different!

Hope life serves you well.

Keith