loads of questions

[nikki]

Hi All, am delighted to have found this site as my husband and I are eager to emigrate to australia from england but need to be 100% certain before putting in our application. we have been intouch with an agent and they have told us that we have enough points !! We would be looking to move to north of nsw, bryon bay sort of area but am finding it really hard to find out things about schools - i was thinking of sending 3 children private and belived the system to be the same as in NZ paying a very reasonable $500 approx per term not the very scary amount read earlier - is this really true. What are the state schools like ? Do you have to be Catholic to go to the Catholic School - are they very strict. my son is at private school at the moment & the thing he enjoys most is the Rock group (music) Do state schools Catholic schools etc do this sort of thing ?

I spent a year in Oz about 20 years ago and can't remember about weather in this area. I really need to find out about the water issue - wages how do the compare ie day rates for bricklayers Isaw in an earlier listing that the cost of diesel is about half of what it is here.

got to go but loads more to ask (child Crying!!)
Any help and advise would be fantastic.
nikki

[Dolly]

Hi nikki,

Welcome to the forum.

There's a lot to think about and plan when migrating. Doing research is very important.

There are a few bricklayers who post on here, if you do a search and put 'bricklayer' in the search line you'll come up with quite a few recent threads. There may be some info in there that might help you.

Re schools. If you choose to put your children into private schools, the fees vary with each individual school. Here in Victoria, fees per term (there are 3 terms a year) can vary from $1.5K to $5.5K per term. We have a very good private school here but we just couldn't afford the $30K a year fees for both our boys. We chose a public school and the boys are very happy there (fees are around $450 each per year). If you are thinking of a catholic school, then generally speaking, you do have to be a catholic. Again, it will depend in the individual school if they will accept a non-catholic (some schools do).

Here are some links for NSW schools:

NSW Public Schools Home Page

http://www.schoolchoice.com.au/

Most school websites will give details on fees.

In the sticky at the top of the page "PLEASE READ. helpful websites.." there are links to employment agencies. That will give you a very rough idea of what you'd expect for a bricklayer's salary.

Good luck with all the planning, if you have any other questions then just fire away, someone on here will be able to help you.

Dolly

[kaz101]

Hi Nikki,

Welcome to the forum.

You may have already seen it but there is a schools link in the "Please read..." post towards the top of the forum. We don't have kids so I can't help you from personal experience there.

There is also a weather link in the same post. I'm in SE South Australia so I can't say how bad the water issue is around Byron Bay. We don't have any water problems down here, or at least not yet.

Regards,
Karen

[Dolly]

Lucky you!

We have Stage 3a water restrictions here in Victoria.

We can only water our garden twice a week, on certain days/times.

We can't water our lawn (that's banned).

We can't use a sprinkler system but you can use a dripper system (midnight till 2am) or hand held hose (from 6am to 8am).

Grey water/rain water can be used at any time.

Can't wash cars on the drive.

Dolly

[kaz101]

Well the strange thing is that Adelaide has water problems so there are some restrictions in place in South Australia but they don't apply to us because we are not supplied by the River Murray.

We are under permanent water conservation so we have to be careful with water...

• we can water gardens (hose, sprinkler etc.) after 5pm and before 10am

• washing cars is allowed with hose with trigger nozzle or bucket

And that's really about it. I didn't think about when we were moving to the area but we are supplied by the Blue Lake so we don't have a problem. Further north they have level 3 water restrictions too.

[nikki]

Thank you for your reply - esp grateful for the schools link - will get on to that tomorrow.

Is it true then that water is becoming a real issue. I've heard that last year there was not enough water to supply some livestock in melbourne and that several herds had to be distroyed. I can't belive it to true but the story must have come from somewhere! Melbourne has a very similar climate to UK if i remember rightly.

Will gather more thoughts and questions together and be back to you soon.

Many thanks
nikki

[kaz101]

Hi Nikki,

Water is a real issue in Australia since there's been a drought here for several years. We seem to have too much rain and floods up north and a drought further south. There are discussions about canals to bring the water from the north to the south (that would be expensive) and there will be a de-salination plant around the Adelaide area (but everyone in South Australia will be taxed for it whether we use the water or not).

Dolly will be able to tell you more about Victoria since she's near Melbourne where as we are 18km over the border on the west into South Australia.

Regards,
Karen