Happy little Vegemite

As ridiculous as it sounds, it might be easiest to get him immunised again, if that's possible? If you can find his red book, take it with you to the doctors and see what they can do. All the info from my kids red books was accepted and transferred to their Australian record, but since they have different schedules in the UK they had to have a couple of extra injections here (hep b I think, and chicken pox). When we arrived I signed an objection form against the chicken pox vaccination (I am pro-vaccination btw, but because they already had natural immunity through contracting the actual virus in England I thought it a waste of time, money, effort and pain). Since they have changed the rules this year we've had to get the kids vaccinated against chicken pox (eldest is scheduled to have his injection on 30 June!) because they will only accept pathology results as proof of having natural immunity through having had the virus.

Sounds great VS, worlds away from life in Dawesville!

Hi Lynseylou, We came over almost two years ago with my hubby on a partner visa so my information is a bit old, I wouldn't rely on it 100 %, but I'm not sure that much will have changed, apart from the waiting period and the cost!!! For us, it was just a matter of gathering together all of the required information, paying the fee and waiting the time. As long as your case is as straightforward as it sounds (i.e. no other dependants, the kids are not from a previous relationship/partner, no hideous criminal record, etc.) then you shouldn't need a migration agent, although if you can get free advice from one then that's always worth taking! The length of time that you have been together and having kids together should make you eligible for the subclass 100 straight away (permanent visa) without the two years provisional 309 visa. Are the kids eligible to be Australian citizens by descent? If so, I would say that is the first step to take if you haven't already done it, that way they don't need to be included on the visa application (they get listed somewhere but aren't actually a part of the visa application) and shouldn't need medicals, so you can save a bit of money (but maybe that won't save money, seeing as you have to pay for their citizenship and then get them Oz passports, which, when we did it, includes fronting up in person to Australia House in London or the office in Edinburgh). You will be the only one who needs a medical and you won't have to sit IELTS or anything, just being married to your Aussie husband makes you desirable enough to let into the country . Good luck with it all, we're in Mandurah, so maybe we'll see you around in a year or so! Feel free to PM me. Cath

Was watching the clouds last night, amazing!!! Scary times for those affected, stay safe everybody...

I commute from Mandurah (halls head) to the current children's hospital by train and it takes me an hour and a half, door to door. With a corporate smart rider card it costs around $7.65 each way. The few times I've driven it has taken a similar amount of time and costs around $17 a day for parking (if you can find some!) so the train is heaps cheaper and easier. I only work 3 days a week (no shift work) and to be honest, I'm not sure how long I could keep it up if it was 5 days a week, the long days don't suit me... The 50 minutes or so on the train is good for down time before getting home, I've re-discovered being able to read without being interupted by little people which is nice. We have family down here which is why we chose Mandurah but I'm so glad we did, it's a beautiful place to live and it still feels like we're living in a holiday house! I could be wrong but I think Fiona Stanley also has a paediatric ward if that's what you're looking for, it is closer to commute to from Mandurah and is right on the train line.

Not sure about what sort of casual childcare options there are available for you, but I only work part time, so depending on what you organise with the uni I might be able to help you out by looking after them for you, assuming your children behave like angels at all times of course (I am by no means a child minder, but my kids have made it to the ages of 4 and 7 relatively unscathed). I don't suppose the uni has any childcare available?

Something to consider, if planning to apply on-shore, what visa would your wife enter Australia on? Not sure how happy immigration would be letting her in on a tourist visa on a one way ticket with all of your worldly possessions in tow, with the intention of applying for a partner visa once she got here, doesn't seem very touristy? To add misery, further costs to factor in to the cost of moving are the kids citizenship certificates if you haven't already got them (I think ours were about 80 GBP each a few years ago) plus their Aussie passports (can't remember how much they were). But, on the plus side, your wife will be the only one who has to have a medical, so that should save you some money...

Snap, me and the kids are Aussie, had to wait for hubbys visa before we could come. What's the wait time now for the visa, it was 9 months when we applied. We've been here almost 18 months now and man has it flown! We're in Halls Head and it's a lovely area, very family friendly. To the original poster I can assure you that there are poms everywhere! (but not too many that you feel like you may as well have stayed in the UK). Our kids are at South Halls Head PS and we really like it. If I remember rightly there are a few on here who's kids will be starting pre-primary there next year, so might be in the same class as our daughter

We stayed at Somerset Liang too, great location and would definitely stay there again (I don't know what it cost though as my dad paid ). We've stayed on sentosa too and i much prefered staying on the main land.

We live in halls head and really love it, sitting in the back garden in the evening listening to the ocean is pretty special! As VS said earlier, I personally would avoid the eastern side of the main road (old coast road I think it's called) because of the proximity to the estuary and therefore mozzie breeding grounds, but horses for courses, we've got friends that side and they don't seem bothered by it at all. Our kids (7 and 4) go to south halls head and we're happy with it, the amount our youngest has learnt in kindy is amazing! Naplan results are above the other schools in the area (although these results alone are only a small part of what makes a good school IMO). As well as the academic stuff they have a really great music teacher who stands out to me as a real asset for the school. I can't really comment on high schools as our kids are not there yet. The public ones seem to get a bad wrap, not sure if it's still deserved or if it's historical, but I've met several people who are happy with the local high school. Again I'm sure it's horses for courses. Dawesville has got two primary schools (one public, ocean road and one private, st Damien's) but no high school. I saw someone advertising a break lease in the catchment area for south halls head the other day, feel free to PM me if you want any more info about anything.

Woj, your post just made me want to cry. With a similar story in many ways to ours I feel your pain! I moved to the UK in 2001 and lived there until last year, when we moved back to Oz with a 3 and 6 year old in tow. Getting my hubby to agree to the move almost broke us. I know it wasn't an easy thing for him to do, but circumstances in Oz took me to a place where I didn't feel like I could stay any longer in the UK, I needed to come home. That rock and hard place will always be there! First bit of advice I would give is to definitely all agree to give it longer than a year, I don't think it's worth the upheaval and upset, not to mention the cost, for such a short time. Knowing you're only doing it for a year would make you not want to even bother settling I think. Even though I'm the Aussie and am thrilled to be living close to my family for the first time in years, it hasn't and isn't always easy and there have definitely been times when I would have been happy to throw it all in and go back to the familiar. Saying that, once you've left somewhere, the place you go back to will be different, people and things inevitably move on without you. Australia seems a pretty different place to what it was when I left (although that could be partly to do with now living on the west coast!). Second bit of advice, don't underestimate the impact that it might have on your kids, I know I did! Ours have found it much harder than I thought they would. Even though they've got family here including cousins of similar ages and we all get on really well, it's not the people that they've grown up with and is taking some adjusting. The friends they had in England they had known since they were tiny babies and it's heartbreaking to see them struggle with finding good friends here. I know it's only a matter of time, as it was in England, but can't help feeling guilty about it. I imagine this would be even more apparent moving from a non-English speaking country! This is just the bad bits though! For all of us the good far outweighs the bad, we are much busier and more active together as a family here than we ever were in the UK, and have made some really good friends in the time we've been here. It has always been one of my mother in laws dreams to visit Australia so we will be able to make that come true for her when she visits us in November, small consolation for taking two of her grandkids away maybe, but we Skype every weekend, and they have a special bond that will never be broken from the years the kids spent growing up in England. We've kept our house in England as a bit of security for hubby that we haven't cut all ties and although it's a bit of a pain, it is something that we had to do to make the move sit easier with him. I feel for you on the visa front, man has that gone up in price in the last few years. I think hubby's was only around 1800 pounds and took 9 months to get. Good luck with the decision making and the visa process, it should just be a formality for you with your situation, and I really hope that your wife can embrace the opportunity that you guys can have!

Your search area seems a little limited, secret harbour sounds like it ticks the boxes as it has a surf life saving club, no idea what it's like to live there though, a bit like vegemite from what I've read on here. Mandurah surf life saving club is at madora bay I think, again no idea what it's like to live there. I agree with VS about further south (depending on where you are commuting to), we live in Halls Head (seascapes part) and think it's a great place to live! We're five minutes walk to the beach and park (with coffee shop just across the road) and the kids usually find friends to play with whenever we go up there. Kids are at South Halls head PS, which we're really happy with and we're a 10-15 minute drive to the train station (depending on traffic). Lots of sporting clubs around after school and on weekends. Only downside, I would say our beach is not great for swimming, but blue bay and doddi's going 5 minutes (drive) north or falcon and Avalon going 5 minutes (drive) south are great and kid friendly. Pyramids beach at Dawesville has a surf life saving club (10 minutes drive). Rentals, there seem to be quite a few around at the moment so prices look like they're coming down, we're about to move to a 5 bed with swimming pool for under $500/week. Feel free to PM me

Did you get to watch paper planes? It's on my list of movies to convince my son that he wants to watch so that I have an excuse to watch it too Congratulations ashelenelouise, great news! Safe travels odies and enjoy that long flight, you have nothing to do the whole journey but sit back and relax after all that pre-moving stress!

Congratulations on the job, makes it so much easier knowing you have something to come to! Childcare is available at PMH so I assume it will be at PCH too but not sure if it is restricted to staff only (I don't know who you will actually be employed by in your job). I imagine that the childcare also has a huge waiting list, but it might be worth investigating.

You could check these out too, save on buying a tent, hire a car with a roof-top tent! http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/australia-campervans/van-type/mini-campers/mini-camper-3.html