Expected Arrival 10 July - Geelong

[Ta2Bryan]

After 13 months of pretty much waiting we're now in full swing. Emotions are all over the place. Feel like the Emoji selection board. So much to do all of a sudden and not much time to do it in.

Sarah is expecting to sign a job offer in Geelong on Wednesday and then it is all systems go.

We've been investigating all options and our plans (subject to change) are as follows:

• Finish work 22 June
• Pack Movecube and empty rental house 23rd-ish June
• Drive to PE and say bye to Sarah's family 4 days
• Drive to Plet and book into BnB for night to bring ourselves towards ourselves.
• Drive to Cape Town and say cheers to my family 4 days.
• Drive home about 7th-ish July
• Get everything ready to depart 9th July
• Get rental van at airport and drive to Geelong (Maybe book first night into a hotel near the airport, on previous international flights I have been unable to sleep at all, 6'2 and 100kg is not a good fit for plane seats)

 

Now some questions if I may:

• Luggage - how do we notify Qantis that we want to have 2 bags each? Just been searching fares and can't seem to find that option. I remember reading somewhere on the forum that they have a special concession, or something, for people immigrating to Aus
• Movecube - When packing the movecube, do we have to itemise every item, or can we say "box full of Lego" or "Toolbox with spanners and screwdrivers"? We're taking no furniture, only plastic crates with clothes, good linen, good quality tools, toys, a few electronics, good kitchen items and keepsakes. And 4 mountain bikes.
• Money - How is best to travel with money? We'll have opened an Australian Bank account and deposited most of our funds across. Should we convert SA Ronts into Aus $, and how much is sufficient? Is there another option I have not considered?
• Schools - We'll be arriving when schools are closed, do we just pitch up on day 1 and try register the kids (8 & 12)? We plan to try get a rental sorted during our first week so this would determine the school.
• Alcahol - do I buy a few bottles of Jim Beam and put in my luggage or purchase at Duty-free.... or get used to paying more from the get go?

 

That's all for now. Thanks in advance.

Bryan

[SandraDee]

1. contact the airline and ask them for the emmigration allowance - it is not a given

2. movecube- I assume box of lego etc is sufficient - customs need an idea

3. always bring some cash - remember you cant have more than $10 000 CASH per adult.

4. If going government - definitely get rental secured first- school admin usually open a week before schools go back.

5. Always worth buying duty fee!

[Piet1234]

Ill assist on question 4, since the schools work the same as here in UK. If you want to go to public schools.

 

Schools allow pupils in based on an catchment area, so if you want to go to a particular school you need to live in its catchment area. (Aus has less people than UK so some schools take outside of catchment, but I assume Sydney and Melbourne most kids will be in catchment)

 

Obviously if you want to send your kids to private schools, then I don't think catchment matters, as you need to pay school fees.

 

The way I do things is research what schools I want my kids to go to and then rent/buy in that area. 

 

In terms of registering, I think you would need to contact each school and find out what to do. In UK there is a date you need to register by in the previous year. 

 

 

[Samie]

Hie, exciting times indeed for you. I'm in Melbourne and I know with government schools you can definitely get a place to any school that is in your area. They do talk of catchment, but you find if the school is not full they will take you. You just walk in to the school or if you prefer phoning to set an appointment, any will do. Not sure if I'm right, schools will need your child (8) to be up to date with immunization (there are some immunizations that are not administered in SA but are required here, say at 4years here,in SA we do at 6, so he/she would have to catch up) they won't allow him/her to attend without that this being sorted out first (my assumption), it's just that my little one is 4 and we went through the same process for kinder, unfortunately the school system requires that too, what I'm not sure is whether you can do catch up at the same time attending, you would have to find out when you arrive. 

 

Money - since you have already transferred most of your funds here, when you arrive, your bank card will be just waiting for collection and probably activation then you can start using it. Since you have to book into a hotel around the airport, they are expensive, but I would say make provision for about a 2 weeks Incase there is any unforseen circumstances with your bank, you know, just incase, like card has not been ordered or perhaps any funny stories🤷‍♀️. Generally, food, public transport (not so expensive) but if you are to secure rental then Bond(deposit) plus rent needs to be available, say $4000 for both rent p/m and bond will get you anything btwn a (2-4) bed depending on the suburb (just a rough estimate), in your case Geelong, houses get pretty cheap as compared to the near city suburbs. Also factor in those few to get by needs like pots, spoons, beds etc. As long as it's under $10k like Sandra mentioned, you can travel with it. 

 

All the best!

[Ta2Bryan]

Thanks for the input all!

[CazK]

Hi @Ta2Bryan.

 

With regards to enrolling children in public schools, the immunisation thing can be an issue. We took both our children to a nearby GP and he sat and worked out what they were missing so that they could catch up. We then had to book a separate appointment to come back for each child to actually have the injections. Then you have to wait for the system to upload all this info so that you can print out a form from the Australian Immunization Register so that you can present it to the school when enrolling. While others may have had a different experience, my son had to wait almost two months while they sorted this out (it just took a long time to upload, apparently not normal) before he could go to kinder. All primary schools are required to have a copy of this certificate too when enrolling students. So my advice would be to do this ASAP when you arrive to avoid any unwanted delays.

 

Movecube: you can just state "box of lego", as you suggested. We used a movecube and never had any issues, in fact ours wasn't even inspected in the end.

Money: we used my husband's SA credit card when we first arrived until we got our bank cards.

Edited June 10, 2018 by CazK

[Ta2Bryan]

Movecube booked and paid.

Tickets booked for 6th July. Flying Qantas to Melbourne via Sydney.

First nights accommodation in a Melbourne hotel booked and paid (we land after 21:00 so won't be in the mood to drive far).

Car hire booked .

First weeks accommodation in Geelong booked and paid.

The adventure begins! 😀

 

Still outstanding: Open bank account. Pack up house. Say goodbye!

 

[iambrettstar]

Good luck! Melbourne is pretty chilly now, so bring a jacket 😊 in fact, if you want to fit right in fashion-wise, just about every 2nd person is wearing a black down puffer jacket, myself included 😋

 

Good luck with wrapping up at work, and all the driving and goodbyes!

[Daleen]

Wow Ta2Bryan, that sounds so exciting!  All the best, enjoy your new adventure 😀

[Ta2Bryan]

23 hours ago, iambrettstar said:

 just about every 2nd person is wearing a black down puffer jacket,

I have a snowboarding jacket so will wear that. Those puff jackets are popular in SA at the moment as well, but I don't foresee me wearing one.

[Bonny]

@Ta2Bryan I hope you’ve joined Qantas Frequent Flyer online, which is free for South Africans, using your SA Address (Aussies pay). Join all the kids too. Then go online and link your tickets to your memberships. Select your seats online now, asap. If you can by any chance afford Premium Economy, that’s the way to go at your size. My hubby’s even taller and 105kgs, he is simply too long to fit in the economy seats. If Premium Economy is not an option (we don’t pay for that), I do recommend buying a legroom seat. This is over the wing. The drawback is you are near the toilets but it’s invaluable space! Wr don’t chance it any more. We usually got a sympathetic check-in person who would fit us in the legroom seats, but nowadays they are all gone because people pay online for them all before we get there. So you HAVE to pay in that bit extra for legroom, or suffer! 

 

Secondly I do recommend the Klippies or whatever but remember it’s only ‘up to 2.25 litres per adult aged 18 and over’ .More than that will be thrown away by customs. You can do a price comparison for alcohol by looking on Dan Murphy’s or First Choice Liquor, for eg. 

 

Once the dust settles you transfer the whole family’s Qantas points onto one membership, it should be enough for an interstate flight or future upgrade. Also look online who Qantas partners are and use them after you land, getting points. 

 

Btw. Flybuys at Coles are a similar good deal, imho and I have linked my Medibank so I get points and have free wine delivered in exchange for points

 

Enjoy!

Edited June 25, 2018 by Bonny

[Ta2Bryan]

And so the time approaches.

Today they collect the items for the Movecube and then the house is empty.

For the first time since 1990 I am unemployed and homeless, and yet I am filled with optimism for this new journey,

Sarah and the kids are already in PE, I drive down tomorrow with the dumb blonde (10 year old Lab Bruno) who will see out his last days on a farm in the Eastern Cape with the Mother-out-law. Farewell with Sarah's family Friday, then drive to Cape Town Saturday, bye to my family and then drive back to Gangsters Paradise Wednesday to catch the flight to our new home Friday.

 

It is quite surreal how long the Visa process is, but the packing and saying good bye is so quick.

[Tntaglia]

So it's almost time for your flight, how's everything going?

[Ta2Bryan]

And we're here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been a whirlwind few weeks, but finally here and the adventure begins.

Landed and hot a call sim and modem sim, data and call costs are cheap. Take aways not so much. 

Driving into Geelong everything looked like we were driving into PE, feels comfortable already.

Will update in a few days.

 

Thank you to all on the forum, past and present, for all the help in getting us here.

 

[TamLovesRic]

@Ta2Bryan So happy for you guys!!!!!!!

 

What happened with your luggage? Did you manage to get a few extra cases onto the plane? 

 

Wishing you only good things!!!

[Ta2Bryan]

2 minutes ago, TamLovesRic said:

@Ta2Bryan So happy for you guys!!!!!!!

 

What happened with your luggage? Did you manage to get a few extra cases onto the plane? 

 

Wishing you only good things!!!

We decided to use the allocated 30kg each plus our 7kg carry-on. We used 6 big bags for the 4 of us, and you would be amazed how much that is. The problem is fitting it into a car this side, We hired a Holden Station wagon, and it all fitted....just.

 

Thanks for the good wishes.

[TamLovesRic]

6 minutes ago, Ta2Bryan said:

We decided to use the allocated 30kg each plus our 7kg carry-on. We used 6 big bags for the 4 of us, and you would be amazed how much that is. The problem is fitting it into a car this side, We hired a Holden Station wagon, and it all fitted....just.

 

Thanks for the good wishes.

But  I am sure there was plenty of space for the Jim Bean - heheheh!!!

[Ta2Bryan]

3 minutes ago, TamLovesRic said:

But  I am sure there was plenty of space for the Jim Bean - heheheh!!!

 

I was an idiot, decided not to bring any with me, went to the liquor shop today $50 a bottle.

Buy you favorite tipple at duty free in RSA.

Even beer is very expensive here, and i read in today's paper that it is about to get worse.