Matt&beck

I agree looking at what's going on around us property wise we have come to the conclusion it wouldn't be wise to buy just at the moment. Rentals are sitting empty, houses not selling and prices are coming down. The agents using every tactic in the book/clearly getting desperate to sell us a house, even to put in drastically low offers because the sellers are keen to sell!!

We moved over in January and my husband had 2 job offers in 2 weeks. He took a massive step down and salary decrease from the UK but got into a big company and as worked hard - this week he was promoted 3 roles ahead. Perhaps he is just lucky, but our experience has been good jobs wise. Just to warn you though, he applied for 200+ jobs from the UK, not one bothered to reply to him till he had an Aussie address. This all being said, I think the economy is on the downturn so it might be worth waiting an extra few months to see what becomes of it all. We are a family of 5 and all in the move probably cost in the region of 40k. We shall see if it was worth it, we are still new lol time will tell!

Sat in front of gas fire freezing my whatsits off. I didnt move for this!! Ha... bring on spring I say, and yes I realise its not winter yet but my toes need defrosting.

I miss my mum and sister terribly even though back in the UK we were miles and miles away and only saw them once a year there. The physical distance became more obvious. Never been truer than when my mother in law passed away a few weeks back and we couldnt get back in time to say goodbye and then decided that my husband should go back alone for the funeral. Being here alone with the kids was just plain weird! Ive made some nice friends already in the 14 weeks we have been here though and they helped us through despite being so new. Everyone here understands that distance and how huge the move is. But yes, it is hard. And yes, it is flipping freezing - I have woolie socks, trackie, hoodie etc on tonight and its like a flippin esky in this place !! LOL

I got my ahpra registration through - 8 months after applying!! WAHOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lou will be able to tell you more about Tranby College (Private). I went to visit Baldivis High and really liked it. It only has around 600 students at present and senior years arent open yet. The building itself is very lovely and shiny and they seem to have a lot of resources. The staff I met were so enthusiastic and friendly. I was really keen for my son to go but we ended up in Secret Harbour so out of catchment. Ive met a couple of girls with children there who say their kids like it. It has a FB page so if you wanted you could join that and have a look at the page. I think its going to grown massively in a short amount of time because the population has exploded and it is one that is keen for good quality public education. It should also attract decent staff because many of them will be local and want to stay local but of course that will depend on the head. But no, Ive not heard anything terrible!

Where is it for Dewie?

You can't apply for centre link without your tax file number so do that online straight away. It takes up to 28 days but often comes in a week. And it depends on which office you are looking to go to to know if they are in together, all our different.

This is such good news! I havent had an interview here yet, are the scenarios emergency type things or 'what would you do in this situation' type thing? And the management plan - did you do use an acronym or anything? Im wondering how much detail I need to go into and suddently realised my registration isnt far off and I probably need to start thinking about these things! My interview when I qualified 9 years ago was the one and only midwife interview Ive had Whoops! Have you got family down here then? Whats drawing you to the area? If there is any questions you have for me feel free to ask or pm me Ill try my best x

Hi Dewie, Did yours go to board very quickly then? and did you fulfil the continuity criteria? Im just wondering at the last minute if there was anything else I couldve handed in!! They just kept asking for more and more and in the end I had to insist it went to board without as I literally had nothing else to provide! The commute to Fiona Stanley probably isnt too awful - it takes 35 mins door to door with no traffic, however the traffic can be bad particularly on a 9-5. Most appear to drive to Warnbro and get the train which takes about 22 minutes I think. For me its just all the mucking about, paying for parking, train tickets blah blah blah basically plus I have school age children and my husband is out of the house at 5.45am so Im a little worried about early morning childcare if Im on nights or earlies. Just all round, Id prefer to be closer. Secret Harbour is nice, particularly if you have kids as my experience of both the primary and senior school have been very good and I certainly see no need to consider private schooling. It is full of english people though and a real pocket of expense as in the properties are more than neighbouring suburbs, even Golden Bay which is currently going through massive building and will eventually neighbour the suburb with little differentiation between the areas is much much much cheaper. There is also not much here, one supermarket, a dr and few bits but in general I find myself in Port Kennedy most of the time! In fact, Id move to Port Kennedy but its not the high school catchment. The suburbs here are weird. Its like a planner in an office imagines and little village and then goes and builds it as prettily as they can, lots of greenery and little parks and palm trees lining roads, its pretty but souless and to me most suburbs are similar, houses - particuarly in newer suburbs that ALL look the same, a few shops in the middle and a road out to a more major road. I dont know, Im not completely sold and suspect when I visit other parts of Oz I may prefer them (we will maybe not have to go visiting for a few years as I couldnt cope with another move right now!!!). I love the city, driving up there and seeing the skyline and the feel of the city is lovely, but very expensive to live there. If anything, Im tempted to go inland to the hills. We shall see, first of all I need to get AHPRA and start a flippin job!!! When do you arrive here? Becky

Is Kinross north? Im in Secret Harbour - SOR but pretty bored now its all settled down and kids are at school so can do a meet up! We arrived end of Jan and still pretty unsettled

Sorry to say but what is sufficient for anmac is very different than for ahpra.... I'm not sure what qpo is but if you mean your log book then you need it to have 10 minimum in the caseloading section. Most midwives I know only do 3ish so won't meet the criteria fully without supervision. By the sounds of it you will meet the pharmacology though. I would not hold your breath re 4-6 weeks for ahpra - in fact I'd suggest 4-6 months might be a push! They are absolutely useless and that's me being polite! I applied and everything was sent and in their hand 8 months ago. That's not a backlog, that's sheer inefficiency. I would suggest applying for ahpra at the same time as your anmac. Also in regards to the offices, all applications are initially screening by the local offices you mention but then go to a 2nd team for international assessment which is the same no matter which you apply through and then it has to go to a board which only meets monthly for a decision, which takes them up to 4 weeks to tell you the answer. My board was 3.5 weeks ago and I'll die of shock if they bother to tell me this week. So yes, a 4-6 week timeframe I'd die of shock if they managed to meet that one! I would suggest getting back in touch with the matron and asking specifically about whether they would accept supervision and if she isn't aware of it then start worrying as for international midwives it's going to be the norm and all the public hospitals have put into place employment and strategies to get us through it. Sorry I'm not sounding v positive.... It's been a huge long journey from hell with ahpra. We arrived in Perth mid Jan and I'm still not working. We are financially suffering now and mentally/emotionally it's been a challenge. They say they want UK midwives but I've just wanted to turn around and go back they've made the process so unnecessarily stressful!

Googling house and land packages - sooooo impatient!

Just an update - I have one in Comet Bay College, Secret Harbour and 2 in the primary school here. Just in case anyone wants info on them in the future

Hi there ladies, I am a midwife in Perth on a 189 PR skilled visa, currently living in Secret Harbour, about 15minutes north of Mandurah. My AHPRA went to board on the 2nd April 2015 - just to warn you, I applied on the 1st September 2014.... You absolutely need to have completed 10 caseloading continuity of care cases as part of your training and modules in pharmacology in order to get straight on the register. You also need to be degree qualified not diploma. If you didnt do the 10 cases then you have to be supervised for around 3 months although the level of supervision is determined by the midwifery manager where you are employed and a supervision plan submitted to ahpra and agreed. Most hospitals over in WA are now aware and working with AHPRA and international midwives to get this started however it is a new development and also means they only have a few places in each area because these midwives may need to be supernumary. Is Peel region private or public? I understand that southern health wa are really trying to get this going but Peel I wasnt aware if they were employing with supervisory conditions on registration so it may be worth checking if you cant meet the full criteria. I would certainly be keen to go to Mandurah to work - the commute will be a million times easier than here to Fiona Stanley. Anyway good luck with it all, Becky