Your diaries.
ok story so far...
9th Jan 07
Hello,my name is Andy and ,along with my husband Phil and our children Alana,5,and Arron,3, we
are emigrating to Brisbane in the summer of 2007.It all began on a wet miserable saturday in
February.We had just returned from holiday and were really low.Phil has always wanted to live in Oz
but for me it seemed too far away.For some reason this day I thought" what the heck,life is
too short we should give it a go!"
We began months of research into areas in OZ,jobs schools etc.I enlisted the help of an agent and
told our parents our plans.I spoke to a number of people and decided Brisbane would be ideal for
us.By this time it was May and I contacted alot of nursing agencies.Around the same time I posted
my CV(very basic at this point)on the QLD health authority website.To be honest, I then
forgot I had done so, and was really surprised when I got a call from the nurse manager at The
Royal Brisbane Children's hospital one night offerring me an interview.I was then offered a job and
applied for my QLD registration and my Skills Assessment.The registration came back within 3
weeks but the wait for the skills assessment was alot longer-the positive assessment was received
in november.
I have since employed a relocation agent to help with suburb searches and schools as well as
picking us up from the airport and arranging short term accomodation-so far we have narrowed the
area down to Brighton,Sangate and Bracken ridge.
So..we have our medicals on friday,have applied for our police checks and are having our final docs
certified this week.Our agent has completed our visa and is sending it to us for final approvel.We
are hoping for our visa by the summer and cant wait to go!
Will keep you informed.
Andy
Andrea, Phil and family . Northumberland, UK - Brisbane.
11th jan
Very stressed today! Had an email from our Migration agent saying he is no longer going to be an
agent.Could not believe it as our visa was supposed to be completed!
He has promised to still help us out though so I am trying not to worry.
12th Jan
Had our medicals today.Phil and I needed blood tests and chest Xrays and the kids just needed to be
weighed,eyes tested ,tummy felt etc.Pretty painless really until it came to parting with over £600!
Top tip- our nearest panel doctor was really expensive so I contacted the doctor in Edinburgh(about
a hundred mile drive) and booked an appointment with him.I didnt really mind the car journey.When I
called the local doctor to explain the reason for cancelling the appointment,he priced matched and
dropped his price by £230! This very same GP drives a Jag.Not surprising really!
25th Jan
The courier came to collect our visa application on Monday and it was signed for at the DIMIA in
Brisbane today.
it was a great service as you could track the parcels progress all the way. We paid £32 and I have
to say it was money well spent as I couldnt have put up with the worry of using Royal Mail.
Well there is not much more I can do now.I need to send off for my Oz police checks but
everything else is done.
And so the wait begins.....
29th Jan
Checked my emails this morning and could not believe it.Our application was received on the 25th
and money taken on the 26th and now our CO is requesting our Meds! Freaking out! Not really
sure what this all means as I thought it took months to get a CO.
15th February
Oh my God! We got it! Received the email today-we have been granted permanent
residency.Cannot believe it,it took 21 days.Not sure how I feel.Very excited but also really scared-it
all very real now!
19th February
Sent our passports off to the Australian embassy in London.
We also have booked our tempory accomodation.We plan to live about 20 mins away from
Brisbane in one of the coastal suburbs.Our relocation agent has found us a three bedroomed
cottage in the area we want to live in.Seems ok and is not too far from the beach.It should be a
good base from which to start our search for schools and a Kindy.
27th February
Booked the flights today.We got a really good deal from Singapore Airlines.Wanted to have an
overnight flight but they were much more expensive ,so we are flying from Teeside at 8am on the
3rd May-leaving Heathrow at midday and ,after a 2 hour stop-over in Singapore arrive in Brisbane
at 19.30 4th May-Oh my God! What a nightmare!
We have booked a caravan for the week leading up to our departure so we can get the house
sorted out and get rid of anything we aren't taking with us.I have managed to sell most of the
furniture already.The shippers came last week and took away the boxes.We are only shipping out
5 boxes-4 boxes for kids toys and 1 box for us!
I feel abit overwhelmed at everything that needs to be done-I wish I had a fast forward button so
we could be there already.
