Candygirl

Hi looking for advice, my parents have been refused an aged parent visa today on the grounds of my dad not meeting the health requirement. My parents are 81 and 82 and have been in Australia since March 2019. A few months after applying for their visa, my dad was diagnosed with dementia and failed his medical in October 2020. My mum is OK and has passed her medical. I am an only child and am a citizen. As I knew with my dad's diagnosis, it was highly likely their visa would be refused, I have been researching appealing a visa refusal and was ready to go down that route. However, Home Affairs have called me today say they cannot advise us what to do, but suggested applying for a Sub Class 602 Medical Treatment Visa. I was shocked to get a call from Home Affairs, but the lady explained she knew I was an only child and wanted to express that they were sorry that this decision had been made. My dad will need treatment and support as his condition worsens until his death. My question is if I apply for the 802, and my dad were to die before my mum, where does this leave my mum? Would we then need to apply for another visa for my mum again? We have been given 35 days to apply for a 602 medical treatment visa or appeal within 35 days of today's date. Has anyone been in this situation? If so, what has been your experience of a 602 medical treatment visa? Thanks in advance.

There are loads of gardeners around. We use Jim's Mowing. They also offer gardening services too, tree cutting, removal etc.

Well we are nearly at the 2 year stage. We have bought a house and have been renovating it from a 70's villa into what we hope will be a modern home. It has been hard work, but we are pleased with the results so far. We both still love living in Perth. We are still in the same jobs we got on our arrival here. Our families have been over a few times. We have family due at Christmas and have friends booked to visit early next year. We went back to the UK last year for BIL's wedding and felt like tourists but it was good to be in Europe and then could not wait to get home. We have been to Bali - had heard mixed reviews and went with open minds. We actually really liked it and will return. We have been down South three times for trips away, but have only managed to venture as far North as Jurien Bay. Overall life is still good and we do not regret moving Down Under.

We rented in Willetton when we first arrived in Perth almost two years ago. We think it is a great suburb. Excellent transport links to virtually anywhere, 20 mins to Freo, 20 mins drive to City (10 mins on train), 10 mins to nearest beach on the river at Attadale, Shopping at Garden City, Southlands and Carousel. As has been said, the suburb is expensive due to the school and the blocks being bigger. There are some "scruffy" roads, but overall people look after their properties and there are also people re-developing their blocks. We have moved to the suburb next door as we don't have kids and felt we were paying a premium for something we were not using. We still shop in Willetton as we like the shops.

Sorry not been on for a while. We have not stopped since being here. It will be nine months to the day tomorrow since we arrived and we also settle on our first Aussie home. It has been a bit of a whirlwind. We had been looking for a house for months, spending our weekends attending home opens, visiting show houses and looking at blocks of land to perhaps build on. We had got friendly with a local agent who had said he had an idea of what we were looking for and if something came up he would let us know. At 5.45pm on a Friday night we were driving home from work and he called. This house has come on the market and I think you should take a look. We asked can we look at it tonight? 10 mins later we pulled up outside and OH never said a word, but I now know he had decided this was the one. I knew when I stepped into the hallway. 9.00am the next morning we were sat in the agent's office, signing the contracts. That night, the agent was sat in our dining room confirming that the deal had been done and our offer had been accepted and the contracts were binding. This is very unlike us. We are a couple of ditherers and normally take our time to contemplate things. What we have learnt here is if you want something, you have to grab it with both hands otherwise you will turn around and someone else has grabbed it. We were concerned about how difficult it would be to get a mortgage as we had been here for less than year, but we only had to show 2 payslips each, bank statements, copies of passport and visa. We got approval the same day and unconditional approval seven days later. We also stressed over breaking our current lease, again worrying for nothing. The owners had two applications on the first home open. We are both in the same jobs and are still adapting to life in Perth. I don't think my accent is changing, but I was corrected by an Aussie work colleague the other day when I said daata rather than data. Still cannot get over how many Brits live in Perth, but I love hearing their stories of how they got here. We never get bored of seeing parrots flying around in the back yard (garden) or driving along and seeing a pod of dolphins in the river or looking at a field and seeing roos staring back at us. Perth has far exceeded our expectations and we are truly in love with her. Even though it is winter and believe me it is freezing in the early mornings, never thought we would have to scrape the windscreen, it is clear skies and sunny mostly during the day. The last couple of weeks have been trying with the heavy rain as an umbrella is no good here, it is torrential and seems to rain from the ground up too. If you are out in it, you get drenched. We are looking forward to Spring, but we know once the thermometer hits the 40's we won't like that. We have not done much at weekends in the last few weeks as we have been packing and/or trawling round salvage yards and are fast becoming "members" of the church of Bunnings on a Sunday morning, but no matter what the weather here is there is always something to do. In the Autumn before the weather changed we headed over to Rottnest and had a great day over there (although the crossing over is an experience if you don't have your sea legs and you want to stay dry). We did a tour of the island and saw some stunning bays and even got to see a few quokkas. We have learnt to like the Snags and chocolate, but no matter how much we try we cannot get to grips with the bacon here. We have put our house in Spain up for sale and are hoping that it sells within a reasonable timeframe. We both feel like we have been here forever and are still shocked how we have just settled so easily. We talk to our families at least a couple of times a week on either the telephone or Skype and have not really struggled with the time difference. I think that is a real positive for being on the West Coast, we are only 7 hours ahead. Although neither of us are working in the mining industry, we are earning decent wages and have a good standard of living. We are not extravagant and don't go mad, but we are doing what we what to do. We have bought a nice new car and our plan is still to buy a second hand caravan for weekends away. This month I got a 10% pay rise so a nice bonus as I was not expecting it. We have not left WA yet as we have been focused on buying a property and putting down roots, but our plan next year is to start to see more of WA. For those people who have "wobbly" days, we had them believe me, but once you are here, you forget about all the hard work and visa forms and headaches. I know everyone said to us It is worth it and we thought yeah yeah, but honestly it is. There are so many opportunities here if you want them and are prepared to work. The rental market has slowed down a lot and I think the occupancy rate is now 3.8% compared to 1.8% last year. People are tending to buy instead of renting. They say there is a slowdown, but we have not seen any sign of it. The shops are busy and people are spending. The home opens are like Piccadilly Circus on a quiet day and houses are snapped up or sold before they get to home open so people have money and are spending it. We are both incredibly busy at work and both our employers are having to expand and employ more staff to keep up with demand and the workload.

Can anyone recommend a company that they have used for a local move? TIA

Hello Everyone, Not been on for a while. Hope Everyone is doing well - whether here or there. We are still having fun and loving our new lives. I love my job and have landed on my feet and have just passed my probation. OH hates his, but knows it is not forever. We have started looking at houses to buy and have been to see a financial adviser about Super and mortgages etc and everything seems good there. We are off to the Basketball tonight at the Arena to support the WildCats and cannot wait. We have never been before. The Wrinklies are over with us for three months. Been a bit of a struggle for them in this heat, but they are taking it easy and pacing themselves and as it is going to be much cooler this weekend it will be better for them. They are loving Perth just as much as us and think we have a good life here. They just love looking out of the window each morning to say hello to 3 Ibis that walk down the street and cannot believe that we have parrots in the back garden too. We cannot believe it, but we are booked to go back to the UK in July for BIL's wedding. Shocked at the cost of flights from here to there, but hey ho got to be done and we have planned a trip around the North (we have not done much up there). Feels a bit like being a tourist in the UK, but really it is not our country anymore. We are also loving our new car, have bought a BBQ now so feel more like Aussies or should I say Possies. We now have credit cards to get ourselves into the credit system. We plan what we are doing each Weds evening. Last weekend we went down south to Bunbury and Busselton and hope to plan a trip to M River in the autumn. It has been roasting hot here and everyone we get chatting to tells how hot it has been, but to be honest, we have coped and have been sensible on the very hot days. We have still not bought our caravan, but it's on the list. The Hooligans are back to normal and can often be found causing havoc down at Attadale dog beach, which they love. Apart from that life is all good. Take care Lorraine x

As we have lived in Spain for the last 8.5 years and had to drink bottled water we now cannot drink the tap water here so are buying bottled water from Woolies. Costing me a fortune and not happy to keep carrying heavy bottles around. As people have said, the water is OK, but often comes out of the tape warm so you will need to chill it in the fridge.

Hi Lou, We used Whites and thought they were brilliant, but I had read some negative posts about Kents (who they use here) beforehand. Again, we had no probs with Kents and we will consider using them when we are ready to buy and move. I have never heard anything negative about Pickfords. Friends of ours used them and thought they were the dog's wotsits. We used Letton Percival. I found the chap I spoke to be very helpful and nothing was too much trouble to explain the process and offer good advice etc. You will only really know when an insurance company/broker is good when you need to make a claim. You think the visa process is a headache, then you start looking at shipping and the paracetamol come out again!! Good Luck.

You've done the hard bit. I think employers are generally happier when they know people are making "life changes" rather than moving to another employer. Good Luck with the three months. It will fly by and you will soon be here. I gave my old boss three months' notice and he did not speak to me for two of those in a social nature. Your boss sounds very happy for you.

Welcome to Perth and glad to hear that you had a good trip over. Made me laugh about the banana boy racer:biggrin: Baldivis is a beautiful area - Enjoy!

I agree with what has been said already. We have been here for 3 months now and have been earning Dollars for a few weeks. I shop at Woolies, Spud Shed and the Reject Shop. I do find it a bit annoying going to three different shops, but in the long run I find it more economical to do this. I go to the Spud Shed once a month to stock up on veggies and meat to put into the freezer and then do a weekly "small" shop in Woolies each week. We are finding things comparable with the UK. When you look at the prices when you first get here, they will seem a lot, but honestly, after a short while, it all becomes relative. Renting and/or buying at first also seem ridiculously expensive, but you have to consider what you are getting. We are 10 miles from the CBD and pay 525 per week for a 3x1 on a large plot. We would never get that 10 miles from London. We have recently bought a new car. We went in to purchase a used car, but it actually worked out cheaper to buy new from the showroom. We still seem to have a lot to pay out for at the moment and are still finding our "money routine" as we are both paid fortnightly. We have just had our first water bill and it was the princely sum of $9.67 for 6 weeks, which we found to be incredibly cheap. I pay $30 a month for a prepaid Optus mobile. This gives me unlimited calls to UK, local and QLD (I assume the rest of Oz, but we have only called QLD so far) and unlimited internet access. OH has a work mobile. Petrol/diesel is defo cheaper. Our only major gripe is the cost of eating out. We find that you pay a lot for sub-standard food. We have yet to find a decent Ruby in an Indian restaurant. We were in Kalamunda yesterday and had a 1/2 shandy and a print of Stella and that was $15 so a bit dearer than the UK.

Hi Fi, Fab. I have sent you a PM.

Can anyone recommend a pet sitter who takes dogs into their own home please? We are SOR in Willetton, but we don't mind travelling for the "right" person. I have seen many adverts for pet sitters, but they seem to want to stay in our home. Being in a rental at the moment, I don't think that would be a good idea in case something happened and we would be liable etc. TIA Lorraine

OK, thanks for that.