elaineh33

Hi Louise my friend came over last month and didn't realise she needed a visa. The morning she was due to travel she applied online and it was processed within 20 mins. All ended well. Hope you get it sorted for your mum.

I know What you mean Louise I only found out today that you have to park in the direction of the traffic. You can be fined for parking facing oncoming traffic !! Or so I was told. Didnt know now what the Mona Lisa touch was all about till I looked it up there lol !!!

Are there any pics lol

I am so jealous. You lucky ladies

Fab see you there

It's was a lovely walk with some great company. Although Guess what sunburned looney forgot sunscreen today ? I'm now sporting a lovely bright red nose along with bright red face. It's a good look

Sorry we won't make it. We joined the surf club today and ended up soaked to the skin. Back home now trying to heat up. Hope to meet up with you all soon

Was lovely to meet you all and thoroughly enjoyed the walk. See you next week

Looking forward to it. See you tomo

Thanks Laura that'd be lovely my daughter is 10 and is missing some company. As am I. I ll send you a wee message. Your right Deb, I'm trying to get into as much as I can while I'm looking for work. Thanks

I'm two weeks in and have managed to tick all the boxes in terms of practical things tfn done✔ bank sorted✔Medicare yup✔ even have a car and somewhere to stay short term and have been out exploring the area and up until yesterday I felt fantastic. Yesterday hit a brick wall. Today I'm questioning my sanity. Why did I do this? Anyone else felt like this ? Is this "normal"?

Hi I'm in quinns about 20 mins away. I'd love to come along too x

Yeah keep in touch and hopefully it won't be too long till your here sipping wine watching the gorgeous sunsets. Xx

The school was fairly easy to sort. I contacted them prior to arriving then popped in and got the enrolment forms and she was in within a few days. They just needed to see a copy of passport and visa. It's good you know people, I didn't know anyone so it was quite daunting. The time will fly by and before you know it you ll be here n we ll be organising a meetup for a well deserved drink. My advise ... Start organising now lol. I think I dilly dallied n at the end was running around like a headless chicken. X

If the weather holds up we'd love to come along if that's ok x

Hi Ellie, doing well. Looking for work and then somewhere more permanent to stay. Still exploring and finding my feet. We are living in quinns rocks right now. Beautiful area. Hope your plans start to come together. You sound like you're one determind lady so I'm sure it ll be fine. Do you have people you know in perth? X

H Elliew, good to see you're getting there. I am in perth with my daughter, my son is back in Scotland finishing uni. Can't believe I'm actually here. It's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me but that's to be expected. It's a beautiful place and I've met some lovely people so far. I'm only here 3 weeks so I'm very much a newbie. Good luck, hope to see you out here soon x

We flew with Emirates and stopped in Dubai. The allowance was 30kg each plus 7kg carry on. We were about 10kg over which they took from my friends allowance on the Glasgow to Dubai leg. From Dubai they told me to take the laptops out and upped the carryon allowance to 10kgs. It was a worrying time and nearly cost me an extra £500 but thankfully it worked out ok. My advise would be to look at what you think you really need to bring. I wish I'd put more of the stuff in the move cube.

Thanks jenpen feeling much better after hearing from people here n realising it's fairly normal. Thanks for the hugs much appreciated x

Yeah bridges I agree wholeheartedly it's definitely the people I ll miss. All of this has been a huge journey for me as I'm sure it is for so many people. I fell in love with aus 20 years ago and knew I wanted to come here to live one day (just didn't expect it to take so long) I started the visa process 2/3 years ago and took 6 months to get my visa, I then went through the process of adopting a child whom I'd cared for for many years. I couldn't imagine my life without this gorgeous funny child. So then I had to sort out her adoption and visa. All the processes went to plan but it felt like it was going on forever and I'd never actually get here. Then eventually it was time for the big move and all the goodbyes and endings ... these were harder than I thought - the worst was leaving my son in Scotland to continue his studies. I know this is the right thing for me and my daughter (and my son ) I know it's something I've always wanted so I guess that's why it felt odd to be having a meltdown in the mall bawling my eyes out. Its good to know though that I'm not alone on my emotional roller coaster and thanks Steve p for giving me a time frame for when I should expect that to ease lol. Thank goodness for Skype and social media. Hats off to the people who done this many years ago without such luxuries. Xx

Hi cutchibear I had to leave my cat behind for various reasons. Heartbreaking decision but I didn't feel I was able to bring him right now. Fortunately my friend has him and if there's a chance of bringing him over in the future I ll do it. Any friends or family able to help out ? Good luck with whatever choice it's not an easy one x

hi cutchibear sorry for the delay in replying, the last month has been a whirlwind getting us moved from Scotland to perth. Everything was done very quickly in the end. I booked a move cube n it was delivered 3 days later. The cube is dropped off at your home for 4 hours approx n you have that time to fill in. I mapped out the area in the garage to get an idea of how much would fit in. I booked a large one and have managed to fit huge amounts in. I haven't brought any of the big furniture. Figure I ll get onto gumtree. My advice would be to start the de cluttering as soon as possible. I ll let you know how it goes at this end. Xx

Thanks so much for the support. Despite the meltdown yesterday I'm looking forward to this adventure. Though I think I'm just getting a sense now of what a roller coaster ride it is. It's a beautiful place to be and I've met some lovely people so far I'm sure you're right verystormy once routines set in it ll feel better. Right now it's all a bit up in the air. michealr we ll be on the other side of this someday soon I hope and passing on our support and wisdom to others (fingers crossed it's not too long) xx

I'd say "don't be so hard on yourself you're doing the best you can"

Yeah hopefully we ll make it along. Be nice to meet everyone.