Any Australians/ New Zealanders?

[KLJC04]

Hi there,

Just checking to see if there are any Aussies or Kiwis out there??

[witt]

here I am

here I am

I think I'm the only one though, never seen any others.............
We are in Wellington, NZ
My signature contains probably all you need to know!!
We have 2 boys and number 3 on the way.
how bout you? where are you?

[KLJC04]

Hey!!

Nice to get a reply. My partner and I are from Sydney, Australia. I am a SAHM to our 18 month old twin girls. Considering TTC#3.

Lisa

[witt]

We are coming to Sydney in Feb 8-11!! Family wedding! Staying really central. I love Sydney been there a few times.

There must be a big lesbian mum community in Sydney?? It's big enough here in Wellington.

NIce to see your post

[KLJC04]

Yeah there is a big community here....we have a group called Rainbow babies and Kids , plus there are a number of other groups throughout the suburbs. I know from the clinic we used there were so many other couples & singles TTC as well ....so many wanted and loved babies in the world ......now if only our Governments would catch up with the times hey !! :

[witt]

I know what you mean

but our govt is pretty good now, we have the Care of Children Bill which puts Laura's (my partner) very firmly as role of mother. She has additional guardianship and soon will be able to put her name on birth certificate as other parent. Technically she has all the rights of a bio mum also. It only came through last year.

With our new baby due in July she gets automatic guardianship now we don't have to apply through family court this time

Civil unions have come thru too now

[KLJC04]

I didnt realise that......New Zealand is ahead of Australia, some states are better than others. we are about to apply through the family court for guardianship for my Dp for our girls. We have a will and have each other as power of attorney but thats about all we can do. There were only 2 clinics in Sydeny that would let us use donor sperm so I guess we were lucky to even get Pg.

Maybe we need to jump the ocean to live....good ole Johnny Howard

[KLJC04]

Look what I read in the news today we wont be able to gooverseas and marry, what's next? http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=81811 ....why do these so called leaders waste their time & money on making life difficult for others

[witt]

that is terrible. Well things may change a labour/left wing govt must be due for you over there!!!

Labour are in their third term here and they got loads of slack for the changes in law to civil unions and lesbian gay parenting rights. The critics accused labour or "social engineering".

Still they got the bills into Law! We were overseas at the time (in UK living there last year) I'm pleased I missed it all, sounds like media etc was full of homophobic Christian comments and others whining about the sanctity of marriage etc and the poor children!!!

It's all settled now it's passed into law

[KLJC04]

Yeah our Liberal Govt is in it's 3rd term and they won the last election quite easily and have majority power which means they can pass any laws :

Well Done Govt of New Zealand

[etsba]

Me too!

I'm from Melbourne, me & my wife have 3 kids. Two sons, an almost 4yr old and a 7 1/2yr old & a 1yr old daughter.
We'll be celebrating our 8th anniversary this May.
My wife is a dual Aus/UK citizen so we will be getting married at the British Consulate soon (civil partnership registration - http://bhc.britaus.net/Consular/cons...ult.asp?id=682
). Although it won't get recognised here it gives me & our kids rights in the UK and parts of Europe, where I want to work as a midwife once I graduate.

I'm so envious of NZers. Compared to Australia there's better laws for queers, way better feminist stats, better reconciliation with the Indigenous population, the anti-nuclear policies, the midwifery system is awesome...
I'm this close to migrating.

[KLJC04]

Thats great you get the opportunity to do that. Some of the world is moving ahead while the rest seem to be going backward somewhat :

Maybe we can move our family for work...... DP and I are both Registered Nurses.

[witt]

hi there welcome!

THought there were only two of us!! Nice to see another australian!
Just got back from Sydney today. So nice to have hot sunshine, and I come back to NZ and it's cold.

So Oz is not all bad you guys!!

Oh well, you have poisonous creatures, we have earthquakes!

[ThisLifeTimeMother]

Thought I'd say hi!
We're in Brisbane (me and my 2 girls), though we lived in northern NSW for a while. Much prefer NSW. Queensland hasn't at all recovered from the days of Sir Joh. Extremely conservative. And small. But it's where family is, so I suppose it's got its good points

[witt]

Hi Jenn
welcome

[ThisLifeTimeMother]

Must have been having a really BAD day!!

Hi,
Thanks for the welcome. I've just looked at what I've written. Oh, my
I must have been having a very bad day.... Or it might have been that I'd just read the newspaper - always a mistake for anyone who want's to forget they live in crazyland. In any case, it's not really all that gloomy.
We're going to Woodford to plant trees and listen to great live music for the long weekend. Wonderfull! It's so great to be out in the bush, living in our tent. Food for the soul.
Jenn

[witt]

sounds great

sounds lovely, although I have to admit I'm a little paranoid in Australia re spiders and poisonous things........... must be what you are used to I guess.

I live in a city where there is a 90% chance of major earthquake in the next fifty years......... and we have them all the time........... that would probably freak you out if you weren't used to it.........

[ThisLifeTimeMother]

Yeah, earthquakes .... I think you can keep those. I've just spent 5 months or so travelling through central Australia with my girls, just driving a regular car and sleeping in our tent. One night we were awoken by my daughter yelling that something was wrapping itself around her thumb. After I stopped trying to tell her it was just a dream I started paying attention. A centipede had crawled into her bed and really was wrapping itself around her thumb. It's amazing she wasn't bitten or stung or whatever they do. A local told us they give one of those painful stings that make you wish you were dead for many hours. Like having boiling water poured over you, he said. So then we jumped up and got out of the tent into the shade shelter, only to find a snake hunting near the zipper door. We spent the rest of the night playing chess by candlelight with our feet pulled up on the chairs. Dawn has never been more welcome. Until the bush flies started up in their thousands again. I swallowed about 6 of them packing up the tent that morning.
I love this country.
But I would love to spend time in New Zealand too. A friend lived in a women's community over there for a few years, and it sounds like a good place to be. Didn't know about the earthquakes though. Give me creepy-crawleys any day.
Jenn

[KLJC04]

Hi Jenn & Welcome,

My Dp & I are from Sydney, we have twin girls that are 20 months old.

Hmmm...yeah I'd take the creepy crawlies over an earthquake. So witt..do you have them all the time (smaller ones) that must be freaky. How is your Pregnancy going, do you know what you are having?

Lisa

[BrookeC]

Hi All, I'm new to this site! It's great to hear of other lesbian mums in Australia and New Zealand. My partner and I like to hear of other peoples experiences, be them good or bad and how they handle day to day issues. We have been lucky that most people are very accepting of our lifestyle, however we still encounter some negativity. It's great to have somewhere to share thoughts, and ask for or offer advice.