Monkey2645

The irony is that the horse hair came out of Australia in the first place. I wouldn't want it destroyed as it was made by my dad but don't mind paying if they want it treating

To slightly hijack - is there a website that lists things they won't let in? I know about untreated wood/wicker etc but we have a rocking horse with real horse hair - does anyone know/think that might be a problem?

Hoping to get a long term rental either Halls Head or Falcon - not too fussy at the moment just need to be in the catchment for South Halls Head. Staying in Comfort Inn for the first few weeks - not swanky but didn't want to waste all our funds on some of the lovely accommodation available for short term.

Hi all, this is probably a long shot - but did anyone move from elsewhere than the UK? we'll be coming from Abu Dhabi and am trying to get to the bottom of how to ship our items. We only want to take personal things (est 25 archive boxes of books, DVDs, CDs, few pictures, precious ornament-things, plus a rocking horse, toy box and table all made by my dad) so not wanting a container, but can't seem to get move cubes here :-( the things we are taking are pretty important to us so we want our odds to be as good as possible of getting them all to Aus in one piece. We used a British company to get them here from uk and lets just say won't be using them again as I like our stuff Does anyone know if you can use excess cargo on the plane for that kind of volume? (I'm thinking no) Anyone used anything like FedEx to get stuff over? Any other pointers? thanks

There'll be lots of teachers in Mandurah at least. Hopefully they've got plenty of bars too ;-)

He means you need to take the weekly rent multiply it by 52 then divide by 12 to get your monthly rent (just a lot of people are inclined to take a weekly rent and say 4 times that is the monthly amount, so the real amount looks higher)

A new question has anyone been to Singapore? Staying for 4 nights. Small children and have heard the zoo is good - is it? Can't wait to try the street food and will definitely be ticking off 'have a Singapore sling at raffles' (even though I don't even like them that much, it's the principle ;-) ) any 'don't miss it' things? (Nothing too night-time based cos of the kids but during the day happy to drag them pretty much anywhere) thanks

lol not at all. I've seen your replies on other threads too and you always seem a fount of information.

appreciate the the heads up - but I will only have been travelling for a few hours as coming from Singapore. Had also considered that driving in the middle of the night with few cars on the roads might be a bit easier than rush hour based on what I've heard of the driving, although I currently drive in the Middle East so suspect I'll be ready for anything as far as that goes ;-)

Thanks VS, very helpful gum trees produce conkers?! Excellent. Literally learn something new each day.

I've booked the car through hertz. Had good service from them in the uk so fx... theyre open till 230am so just really have to hope the flight isn't delayed as we're due to land at 1230, although I understand the branch is actually in terminal which should save time. Think im im just going to head straight to mandurah - those apartments look great but I want to be located in mandurah so figure one night close-ish to the airport may be more hassle than it's worth. Thanks for all the feedback

Having spent many hours reading an inspired thread by akasully2 asking all the things she needed to know I thought I'd have a go asking a few randomised questions myself, although I'll certainly not be as entertaining or witty. To to start with, does anyone have any personal recommendations for short term holiday rental in Mandurah incl specifically Halls Head? what's coastal erosion like in Western Australia? Do bits randomly fall into the sea like the East and South Coast in the uk? Where do you go to buy top quality furniture? (And then, because I suspect there's a lot of people on here whose budgets are rather above mine, where do you go to buy not quite the top quality but good value furniture?) Same applies for electronics/white goods. I hear a lot that cheaper brand clothes aren't all that cheap and are terrible quality. Can you compare that for me with british brands? Eg do you have an equivalent for primark in quality but the cost is way more, etc? Where do you go for better quality clothes? And what kind of prices are you looking at? is there a good food/fruit/veg market in mandurah? Or do you have to go to Fremantle? Is there anywhere to bulk buy? I don't think there's Costco but anywhere else? where do you get conkers from!? Do I have to wait till autumn? thanks very much

Thanks all. Looks like I'll be travelling straight to final location. That is if I can pick up my hire car at that time of night... these logistics are a nightmare ;-)

Hi all, will be arriving on my own with two small children just after midnight, in November. Was wondering if there were any hotels actually in the airport (like Radisson blu in Manchester airport, if anyone knows it) thank you

Can anyone recommend a company where you can do medium term car rental? Probably 4 months plus? Thanks

Thank Clo

Thanks Steph I've actually seen that 'in Aus' applications are still saying 12/15 months (I didn't realise at first that they were two different visas). Me and hubby are currently filling in the application - can anyone give me guidance on how much info they expect? Eg for the explanations of nature of financials, nature of household, etc we've used hardly any of the allocation!! But we do have a very straightforward life so I feel like we've summed it up pretty succinctly. How much do people write for that? Then it asks about past relationships?! We've been together for 11 years, neither have been married or even engaged before. Maximum we have is I lived with a guy for a couple of years - but it ended when I was 20!! And I'm not even sure of the spelling of his surname now never mind his date of birth. But does it sound weird if we simply say 'no' to past relationships? Thanks for any input

I can't say specifically on transferring your qualifications...but...I am going to be doing my Masters in Secondary Education when I get to Aus and I know that you must take a 'major' subject, that requires a certain amount of level 3 degree work in the subject - and you can teach that subject to year 12. You then also take a 'minor' which allows you to teach the second subject to year 10. So what I am saying is I think the schools would expect you to be able to teach your subject to year 12. You should check out the WA teaching website as each states requirements do vary and maybe speak to a uni - I'm looking at uni of WA - about whether they can offer you any modules to bring you up to speed for year 12 teaching. I would also assume that WA is as desperate as most other places for maths teachers so maybe none of what I've said will matter!

The immi website is currently saying 6-8 months for partner visa, but that's for applications out of Aus. What's the visa you entered on? We would be interested in that as hubby's work might be coming to an end in next couple of months and I'd rather not go back to UK while waiting for partner visa if we can help it. Are you able to work on your visa? Thanks

Thanks for the info everyone. I agree zebradeb it is such a personal thing and we won't know for sure until we get there. We're sorting out my husband's visa now and are aiming to arrive before the new school year but just want some idea of where to start - just Perth and the environs is a huge area and even just looking at a map at all the suburbs makes my brain hurt! I agree about a principal being vital - hence why secondary options is a bit muh at the mo as a change in principal can send a great school hurtling and vice versa. But would be hoping that choosing somewhere near a good state school that has the sense to keep their principal might see us right! I find that schools that perform well but not exceptionally tend to also have good pastoral care, which is the most important aspect for me - I would want to avoid any schools (both primary and secondary) that are known for being very pushy academically. Work for husband is an issue - we'd need to be a reasonable distance unless he's fifo - but won't know till he had a job which is unlikely to be before we arrive!! Work for me not so much - will be at uni for a couple of years but full time it's only 15 hours max per week so don't mind a couple of hour commute. i feel like a circus act with everything balanced on everything else!!

Hi all I'd be really grateful for some feedback to help choose an area to settle in. I know we should really find out for ourselves but we have young kids and would like some kind of idea to help with choosing schools etc as we don't want to settle them somewhere and then have to uproot them if it's completely wrong for us - so views from people on the ground would be fantastic. In an ideal world we'd love to be close to a beach, although I'm sure that would be out of our budget in a lot of areas. Don't want to be too close to Perth - neither of us need to work in city. Flexible between new build and established. We'd like to be close to a decent secondary, although it's a few years before that will be an issue. What are the thoughts on Mandurah and surrounding areas - I think it looks fantastic but the property seems suspiciously cheap compared to other areas - is there a reason for that other than the distance from Perth? Any thoughts on specific areas around there? Any knowledge of good/bad primary schools? also, Rockingham, Secret Harbour, Joondalup - thoughts, pros and cons, good primary and secondary schools. Thanks all