Canberra 2011 arrivals

[Toitjie]

Louiset - what are your impressions of Amaroo primary school? how does it look and why did your boys choose the other school? I think we will probably settle in Amaroo, cant say for sure obviously, but I think we may....Im curious to find out as much as I can about the school and the area in general

thanx

[Deon-Louise and kids]

Hi Deon,

Do you still have contact with Sandra and her hubby who helped you to buy the car? We will also be looking for a cheapy when we arrive (9 MARCH!!), until we have decided what we want to buy. OR, does anyone else in Canberra have anyone they can refer us to?

Thanks

Yes I see Sandra frequently, But her Hubby has changed jobs . Will ask if they hear of anything

[Herman_K]

Looking to come over in July-ish dependent on the sale of our house in CPT. I'll keep you guys posted.

[Jenni]

Yes I see Sandra frequently, But her Hubby has changed jobs . Will ask if they hear of anything

THANK YOU, I will appreciate any help!

[louiset]

Hi Lousie,

Thank you for the reply. I am delighted that we have chosen a good school, and a good area.

We are currently still in SA (Midrand), but are flying to Sydney on 5 March and arriving in Canberra on 9 March!!! I still have so much to do and finalise, and my head is spinning!

My kids are also in a private school in Midrand, so I was not sure if they would be able to adjust easily to the public school system in Oz. But I am certain that they will be fine at Gold Creek.

The school has informed me that Gaby (turning 7 this July) will be going into Year 1. She is actually in Grade 2 in SA, because we got special permission for her to do grade 1 a year early. I am not concerned though, because I am sure they will do what is best for each child.

When are you arriving in Canberra?

I look forward to meeting you, and I am also happy to assist with anything you need.

Hi Jenni,

So glad to hear your journey on this side is almost at an end. Your journey in Aus is about to start, I wish you the best of luck.

My hubby will be arriving sometime in March (we are just waiting for dates from the conveyancing lawyers re our house sale transfer date). Our sons and myself will be coming once transfer has taken place - should be about mid-May.

I'm sure you will be well settled by then and you'll be able to give me advice when I arrive....

I'll be thinking of you on the 5th - only 3 more days to go!!!!

Louise

[louiset]

Louiset - what are your impressions of Amaroo primary school? how does it look and why did your boys choose the other school? I think we will probably settle in Amaroo, cant say for sure obviously, but I think we may....Im curious to find out as much as I can about the school and the area in general

thanx

Hi Toitjie,

Amaroo school is very new - the buildings are modern and they have a wind turbine on the playing fields which generates elec. It was very clean and smart. The teachers were friendly but I didn't get a chance to chat to any of the kids as lessons were on when we went.

I can't say there is anything bad at all about the school. It is a long straight building, it was a bit dark inside and some corridors are inside under cover as well. All the areas surrounding the classrooms was concreted/paved so the only "greenery" was the sports fields which are to the rear of the school. It had a huge canteen (tuck-shop) and eating area.

Gold Creek is also fairly new but seemed a bit more open and airy but the buildings are older.

I think they are both excellent schools and as I tend to be a modern/futuristic person, I would have chosen Amaroo but I thought it best to let my sons choose (they will be spending most of their day there, not me).

I got info packs from both schools so if you would like to have a look sometime just send me a PM and we can make arrangments.

Louise

[M&L]

Hi All

We just received our Visa grant yesterday!!! We are SOOOOOO excited as its been a long journey indeed. Now its actually happening, words cant express the excitment we feel right now, yet at the same time the nerves about all that needs to be done before we leave as well as "the unexpected" that awaits us on the other side.

We have our house of sale, so we are really hoping we can sell sooner rather than later, the quicker it transfers the quicker we can leave. All goes well we should be on a plane September/October this year.

To those who are still awaiting their visa's to come through and those who have just started the process .....hang in there, try keep your mind on other things so that the time passes faster, it can drive you crazy....the not knowing....its horible, but well worth it!!!!

Look forward to seeing fellow South African's in Canberra

[louiset]

Hi All

We just received our Visa grant yesterday!!! We are SOOOOOO excited as its been a long journey indeed. Now its actually happening, words cant express the excitment we feel right now, yet at the same time the nerves about all that needs to be done before we leave as well as "the unexpected" that awaits us on the other side.

We have our house of sale, so we are really hoping we can sell sooner rather than later, the quicker it transfers the quicker we can leave. All goes well we should be on a plane September/October this year.

To those who are still awaiting their visa's to come through and those who have just started the process .....hang in there, try keep your mind on other things so that the time passes faster, it can drive you crazy....the not knowing....its horible, but well worth it!!!!

Look forward to seeing fellow South African's in Canberra

Hi M&L,

We are also in Northriding - we got our PR visa in July2009 and are finally making our move in the next few months. We did go over for a trip last year - Canberra is beautiful.

We have just sold our house, wasn't on the market long so I don't think you will wait too long.

Send me a PM if you want to get together.

Louise

[Elanza en Jannie]

Hi we, Elanza and Marius, arrived 4 Mei 2011, permanent residency. My husband, son and daughter will be visiting in June when SA schools have their brake. They will only be coming in Jan 2012.

[Toitjie]

Louise - have you arrived already? Please let us know.

All the new arrivals are very quiet at the moment. I will PM you about the school packs you mentioned.

[louiset]

Hi Toitjie,

My hubby, Patrick, has been in Canberra since mid-April but our boys and myself are still here living in an empty house!!

Our house was supposed have been transferred at the Deeds office two days ago but apparantly they are behind due to all the public holidays. I am hoping transfer will go through this week some time. The boys and myself will probably fly out early in the week of the 16th May.

When are you planning to do your move?

I still have the info packs for Amaroo and Gold Creek if you want them - just let me know.

Louise

[Toitjie]

Louise - we were supposed to go around Nov/Dec but thats not going to happen.

We sold our Margate flat in Janauary (signed the offer to purchase) and now - May - it has not even been submitted to the deeds office, so we realised that selling our house, meaning having the money in our bank accounts, before August was not realistic. So we will validate, and come back, and sort out the selling of the house etc

I would appreciate the info packs if you are not going to use them anymore.

Shame, it cant be easy being this side and your hubby that side. Hang in there!

[Cramer]

Toitjie we did it in 3 months because we had to, we were lucky to sell our house in 1 day. If you get the house sold everything else will fall into place.

[M&L]

Louise - we were supposed to go around Nov/Dec but thats not going to happen.

We sold our Margate flat in Janauary (signed the offer to purchase) and now - May - it has not even been submitted to the deeds office, so we realised that selling our house, meaning having the money in our bank accounts, before August was not realistic. So we will validate, and come back, and sort out the selling of the house etc

I would appreciate the info packs if you are not going to use them anymore.

Shame, it cant be easy being this side and your hubby that side. Hang in there!

Hi Toitjie

Shame sorry to hear it's taking so long to transfer. Ironic thing is, we bought a flat in Margate to, September last year, before all the Australia things started happening. Anyway, we bought from the developer and it only just transferred now on the 6th May, 8 months later. We have just put it on the markets to sell again, so we don't have anything going on this end while in Australia. In the mean time we looking for a tenant to stay there in the mean time. Whee about is your place in Margate, we in Whale Rock on Marine drive, it's a new complex.

Luckily we don't need that money in order to leave as our Jhb house should transfer by end June. Matt, my husband, has confirmed his ticket and flys out tp Canberra on the 3rd July, arrives in Canberra on the 4th July. We will follow around September, will stay behind to finalize few things.

Exciting, terrifying times ahead!!

Look forward to meeting you all soon in Canberra :-)

[Toitjie]

Just off Marine drive, in Ridge Road (near the Checkers)

Its sad, I thought that would be our holiday place until forever, the kids could go there when they are in matric...now thats gone too

[Toitjie]

sorry, duplication (Firefox is messing with me today)

[M&L]

Just off Marine drive, in Ridge Road (near the Checkers)

Its sad, I thought that would be our holiday place until forever, the kids could go there when they are in matric...now thats gone too

Yip, it was our exact plan and thoughts too!! But we move on, and we will just have to find another place for the kids, one that is safer at least :-)

Best of luck to you, hope everything comes together quickly for you guys

[beval2011]

We are expecting to get our visas middle February. Not sure when we will be arriving, but might be in July.

Also a bit worried about moving my eldest son in the middle of the year, he is in grade 6 this year

Other two boys are 5 and 2.

Hi there

I see we are much in the same boat over here! We have our visas but need to sell our property (just going on the market - Glenvista area) - we also have a son in Gr6 and are facing the same dilemma as you are - especially since Gr7 and 8 are the middle school years so one doesn't want to mess them around too much ... let us know your progress - we can help each other along the way! Also have a daughter in Gr 4 ... Go well

[Orion25]

Hi there

I see we are much in the same boat over here! We have our visas but need to sell our property (just going on the market - Glenvista area) - we also have a son in Gr6 and are facing the same dilemma as you are - especially since Gr7 and 8 are the middle school years so one doesn't want to mess them around too much ... let us know your progress - we can help each other along the way! Also have a daughter in Gr 4 ... Go well

Hi there Beval2011,

We will also be in Canberra early next year and currently have a son in gr6 and daughter in gr4 and a little one starting gr R next year, it would be great to meet for the kids and us so that at least they will have friends the same age. Do you have any ideas on what schools you are looking at?

T

[Cramer]

Shoot me down if I am wrong, but here I see a lot of you delaying for various simple reasons, almost like you are not to sure and just want to try buy a bit more time in SA, or maybe stick around a bit to see if things get better. Maybe you should be asking yourselves if this move is what you wanted and if not then call it quits.

We had the oppurtunity to 'delay', our CO gave us a choice redo medicals and then we would have ourselves another year or be in Australia 3.5 months from grant date. We opted to work within the 3.5 month time frame and got it all done. Sold our house and got everything arranged in under 3. Its doable you just have to want it bad enough.

Dont worry about the kids finishing the year, they will fit in here just fine. The curriculum is different anyway. Do yourselves a favour, set a goal date and a realistic timeframe to work towards if you are sure you want to emmigrate and stick to it.

And the bonus is that Canberra is awesome!

[Toitjie]

hi Cramer, I hear you, but funds for us is the big issue. We simply dont have the money to come over. My pension will have to carry all those costs and help us to survive for a couple of months until we find work. But my our pension fund sometimes take 3 months before it pays out, and only pays after I resigned, so I need the funds from the house after it is sold, to survive. Its a delicate situation, and believe me, I am frustrated as hell that we cant come over sooner.

[PackingforCanberra]

HI Cramer

Woman think a little bit different to men. We sometimes look at other things men don't seem to get:) Thank goodness for my husband !

Sandra

[Apollo]

This may be a little premature as we are still in the "medicals" phase and do not yet have the visa grant.

HOWEVER, we are planning to be there in December 2011 / Early Jan 2012. We have committments here that we need to honour before we can jump the puddle.

Biggest concerns are school then rental accomodation, we believe Canberra pretty much slows down completely over the December period.

Just waiting to see what our CO processes as the entry date and then we are A for Away!!

SO EXCITING

PS May have to swim across the puddle judging by Qantas engine issues

[Cramer]

Toitjie, Sandra I hear you and understand. It is a big scary move. But worth it.

Apollo, yes Canberra does slow down in December but then picks up again middle to end of January and February. Reason being is that is when the embassies/consulates get new staff in. Also it is when the Universities (2 Major ones) and other institutions open for the new year. Makes property hunting a little difficult.

Wade

[beval2011]

Hi there Beval2011,

We will also be in Canberra early next year and currently have a son in gr6 and daughter in gr4 and a little one starting gr R next year, it would be great to meet for the kids and us so that at least they will have friends the same age. Do you have any ideas on what schools you are looking at?

T

Hi, sorry only saw this post now ...! At this point we have no idea, have been reading about Gold Creek and Amaroo ... but have been so hung up on getting the house sold etc that I haven't thought much about schools yet. What about you guys? How is your timing at the moment?