11 Plus Exams Forum

My eldest dd has just been allocated a place at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia from July 2015 for her third year of her existing International Management degree.She has travelled and lived abroad alone before.I would however be grateful for any advice parents may be able to give about pitfalls which we might not necessarily think about and which can be avoided with careful planning and some foresight.I am aware there are many thousands of parents whose children now go abroad as part of their degrees.

I spent a year abroad as part of my degree, and I can't think of any immediate pitfalls.

Make sure you know what arrangements are in place for health care, dentistry and pastoral care, but as she will be at a University, not "employed and alone", I'm assuming that all of that will be part of the package.

She will undoubtedly want to travel, so she needs to be clued up about safety in Australia - it is a very wild place indeed once you get beyond the coastal areas. Just wandering off alone into the bush is not a good idea.

Familiarity with the local bugs and beasties is quite important. They aren't as ubiquitous as people like to make out, but they are never far away.

A couple of books are worth reading: Bill Bryson's "Down Under" is hilarious, and really captures the Australian lifestyle and mind-set brilliantly. Another interesting book, if a little dated now, is The Pocket Aussie Fact Book" which gives a good picture of the country. It is out of print, but there are used copies on Amazon.

My favourite fact in it (from a previous edition) is this.

"The world's largest cattle station, 30,028.3 square kilometres, is Strangeray Springs in South Australia. It is almost the same size as Belgium."

Rather puts the Belgians in their place, doesn't it?

Brisbane is a lovely city, and I'm sure she will have a wonderful year out there.

Sally-Anne thank you for your message I have ordered the books you suggested.Your advice is noted.

Worth looking into if its possible to open an Aussie bank account?
Its the other way around but many overseas students here say its helpful and cheaper to have a UK bank account ( use as 2nd form of id/address & lower charges).

Also, if you have any contacts out there it might be worth strengthening so she has someone you trust in the vacinity in case of emergency. I'm sure the university she is studying at will provide pastoral care of all kinds but for your peace of mind you might want to know there is someone you actually know who is there 'just in case'.

It sounds like an amazing opportunity!

Thank you for the the thought of the Aussie bank account I hadn't considered it .My eldest daughter was in Hong Kong on a internship in the summer for 2 months and she just about managed with a UK bank account.
The world is a very small place and we have discovered my friends daughter is at the same University in her second year.This is a friend I studied with 30 years ago.Also another student is also going from her course.
Contact is much easier with skype now than relying on BT phoneboxes once a week as I had to use when I was a student.
Life is what you make of it.Live it while you can it flys by too fast.

Although its far away it must be one of the easiest places to adjust to and has great medical services etc should they be needed. No reason why it shouldn't be a fun experience that will go all too quickly!

I remember having to walk for up ti hakf an hour on a Sunday afternoon looking for a working phone box to make the weekly call home

Thank you KB for your replies.
I think my eldest dd is looking forward most of all to seeing the Great Barrier Reef, one of the wonders of the world. Sadly it is gradually being destroyed by as many believe by the effects of global warming. Who knows what it will be like in 20 years time as the coral dies?
I write this after watching the news yesterday that this year could be the warmest on record in the UK.It doesn't feel like it waking up to sub zero temperatures and black ice on the roads.

If she can then recommend snorkelling trip - totally amazing!! Some did scuba but unless you do a live aboard dive trip the snorkelling is just as good, if not better.

And Byron is pretty cool. One of my favourite places, even though was a bit older than most visitors

I found Fraser island a bit weird. Would only go in a mixed largish group. Beautiful walks though.

quasimodo wrote: I think my eldest dd is looking forward most of all to seeing the Great Barrier Reef, one of the wonders of the world.

The cost of trips to the Reef can be eye-watering. If the Uni has a Scuba Club, she might want to make a beeline for it when she arrives.

Its not only the costs of the trips to the reef. I had thoughts of visiting my eldest dd with the family in their summer at Xmas 2015 and the prices are about 2000 pounds a person. I think if we do go it will be in our summer when prices are much more reasonable.