Mammoth Posted May 16, 2015 Report Share Posted May 16, 2015 Hi everybodyWe are immigrating to Melbourne, this coming Tuesday, 20 May. We are super excited as all the boxes are now packed and sent, admin completed and bank accounts opened.When immigrating, as I am sure you all know, you not only have to deal with your own emotions and fears but also with those of the rest of the family. We are the first people to immigrate to Australia in our families and we don't know anybody who lives there. So this process has been scary for us as well as our families.To help our families deal with our decision to immigrate we tried to get them to focus on positive things. Especially in the last couple of weeks we tried to get everybody to rather focus on coming to visits us instead of the fact that we are leaving. We have set-up Whats Up chats groups, skype accounts, rejoined facebook and made promises of keeping in contact. My mother and father in-law also applied for their passports a few weeks ago! I am so excited for them as they have never been abroad. My parents have started looking at flights for this Christmas which is great. Lots of positive energy being channeled towards coming to visit us.I'm just struggling a little with everything on my to do list and adding family travelling agent is a bit much. I would greatly appreciate it if you can send me helpful tips on the following:1. Visas for visiting relatives2. Appropriate accommodation options. We will be staying in a one bedroom apartment so there won't be any space for them to stay with us. My parents are also bringing their mountain bikes so a hotel might be difficult. I want to book them into a Caravan Park... good idea?3. Any great cycling routes in the Melbourne area.Thanks so much 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RYLC Posted May 16, 2015 Report Share Posted May 16, 2015 1. Visas: send your folks to the travel agent and they can give them the info - one less thing for you to do.2. Put this question on the back burner. Christmas is six months away with plenty of time between then and now to look at options.3. Just get here first. There is plenty of time to get maps / join a cycling meet-up group, etc.It sounds like you might be adding things to your urgent list that actually belong on your "in due course" list. Write then down for a later time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mara Posted May 16, 2015 Report Share Posted May 16, 2015 Mammoth, I would like to give you a few pointers for visiting relatives. 1. Visiting Australia, in December, their tickets will be extremely expensive as it is high season. The only way to get around this is to fly out of Johannesburg before the 25th November. Let them check with the travel agent when high season kicks in.2. December and January are the two months of the annual holiday break for Aussies. Everything tends to be more expensive, especially accommodation. It would have to be booked soon if you are thinking of a caravan park cabin, but even that could cost you around $90 a night in high season. Perhaps you could check out http://www.stayz.com.au and see what you could find there. You could also check http://bellcity.com.au which has fully furnished apartments for rent. Not sure what the cost would be in December. Although December is a favourite time for us to get together with family at Christmas, it costs an arm and a leg to do so. Perhaps a better idea would be to suggest that they come over in February, tickets are cheaper, as is accommodation, and site seeing is so much better with less people on holiday doing the same thing. Lastly, if you are interested in meeting up, when you arrive in Melbourne, then send me a PM and I will send you my contact details. Now at least you can say you know someone in Melbourne! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted May 17, 2015 Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 It sounds like you might be adding things to your urgent list that actually belong on your "in due course" list. Write then down for a later time...Thats very good advise RYLC. Many forum members recommend making a big list when you migrate. Then as your flights draw closer, go through the list again and decide what's actually urgent RYLC made another good point. There are lots of road rules for cyclists in the big cities. Joining a cycling club is definitely a good idea as there might be members there who will help you with these things... There are also mountain bike tracks across Aussie. Here are some in New South Wales -> http://nswmtb.asn.au/ridesAs for caravan parks, they are around, even in Sydney. But they are hard to find and may not be listed on accommodation sites. For example, they could stay in Lane Cove National park. its 30 mins to the CBD. http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/stay?keyword=Lane%20Cove%20National%20ParkAnother option might be to attend an industry show (once you get here). Here is the details of a show in Perth -> http://caravanandcampingshow.com.au/ But if you Google for a similar thing, there are different shows happing around Aussie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted May 17, 2015 Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 I would suggest looking at that to-do list and dividing it into 3 columns - urgent, important, can wait. Focus on the things that need to be done now. Once you get over to Oz, you will have a better idea of where to look for accommodation for the visitors.We moved over in Dec and shortly before we came over my in laws also got passports for the first time and will be travelling outside of SA when they visit us in Dec. I have found a travel agent in East London who I will communicate with closer to the time and they will be able to help with the visas. As for flights, I booked on SAA, as they were having a special earlier this year. Travel agents will charge a service fee to book flights and while they offer a knowledgable service, I used to be one, so I have become the family agent I think cycling info can be added to the 3rd column. Once you get to Oz, it is much easier to find out things and figure out a few rules for yourself. Good luck with the move over and all of the visitors 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeTMI Posted May 17, 2015 Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 There is a cycle path option button on one of the google map options that can highlight some tracks. But it was a bit rough and not very reliable.We found looking at the satellite view on google very useful in determining potential cycle route options. As above Dec is holiday time here and much accommodation will be booked up in advance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mammoth Posted May 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 HiThank you very much for your kind replies, much appreciated.Kind regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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