Family moving to Aus / NZ

laurach

Just looking for some info on families with kids that have talen the plunge and moved to Aus/NZ in the last 12 months. How is the work situation and how have kids settled. Most of the threads on here seem to be for the younger unattached so am looking for a different perspective.

Zambia

Welcome to Boards

Where would you like to live in Oz.

We dont have many posters who migrated with young families.

This forum has more of that advice
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54

However you never know. Where would you like to live in Australia?

laurach

Melbourne or its hinterland.

Pugins

Moved to Melbourne early 2011 with 2 children under 2. Worst part was jetlag!! Hard to deal with ourselves but horrible with the children.

Trying to think of a few key points:

Melbourne is great for children. So many activitities for them. Zoo, Aquarium, Scienceworks, Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks are all worth visiting, lots of playgroups and playgrounds. There are toy libraries run by council too where you can borrow toys, these are fantastic. Ours has Play/Development Specialist who recommends appropriate toys. Fantastic service. Also library in our area (Stonnington) runs free weekly storytime sessions with stories, songs and crafts.

Childcare can be hard to find. But there are great council run facilities for childcare called occasional care. You can book in from 1 hour to a full day. You pay by the hour and you can only book max. 2 weeks in advance which means theres usually availability. Appears to be great flexibility here with employers so many parents (women!) work 2, 3, 4 day weeks. There are options then for shared nannies (or childminders as we know them). They cost about 20-25$ an hour.

Rent is expensive, well it is in the inner suburbs where we are.

Contact your maternal health service after you arrive. They will fill you in on whats in your area.

All children go to 4 year Kinder (montesorri, usually 15 hours a week, I believe). It can be hard to get into council ones. Many people put children into 3 year kinder and automatically get into the next year. There are private ones but much more expensive.

Many people send their children to private schools, particularly at secondary level. This means high fees ( we're talking thousands, and waiting lists). Catholic schools seem to be a good option as they cost a lot less than the other private schools. I've heard that there are many fine state schools at both primary and secondary. Seems to be big snobbery with private schooling here.

Thats all that occurs to me now but if you have any specific questions I might be able to help

laurach

Thanks for that info pugin. Was beginning to think only the childless had moved down under! Also wondering about job availability. I am an Accountant, have you any info or could recommend publications to look at online that carry job adverts.

Zambia

www.seek.com.au

laurach

Cheers for that Zambia

Zambia

Have you considered what part of the hinterland as it goes very far and can range from good to bad to pretty awful.

East ?
West ?
North ?
South east?
South (you need a boat to do this)