Australian Family moving to California!! (Riverside, Ontario: relocate, hotel, travel)

[twinmum]

"Cost Plus's web site is Cost Plus World Market - unique gifts, handcrafted furniture, home decor, baskets, jewelry, food/wine and more from around the world and they should have stores in Riverside. I know there's stores in Orange County for sure."

We have a Cost Plus in Temecula.

[oz2socal]

thanks twinmum!
really feels so much better to actually discuss this with a local..such a big decision for us. i have a couple more questions if you wouldn't mind??? i would like to have another baby and i will need to have a c-section..what is the hospital situation like? is there a waiting period with private health cover before you can use it? or is the public system ok? you did so well having twins!! go you! also, how far is Temecula from the airport - commute time? my husband will have to travel a fair bit. thanks so much again for all this information, i really appreciate it!

[evolutionrules]

Met my wife in Sydney in 97. I'm from Canada and she is from San Diego. We both miss Australia. there is no public health system. You will need health insurance which is usually provided by your employer. Please be VERY careful when you buy this insurance so you are ensured of coverage especially if you are in need of a C-section which ran $25,000 for my wife (covered by insurance). If you have any questions don't hesitate to send me a message and I will try to answer any of your questions. Temecula schools are incredible and we are moving there as well. All of the California standards can be downloaded form the internet so you could compare them to what your kids were learning back home. They might not align perfectly and he may need to be a grade behing or ahead. School starts in Sept and runs through June with July and August off (our summer). Only 2 weeks off at Xmass so don't plan a long trip home. Miss the timtams and pumpkin soup (XXXX, VB and Tooheys as well!).

[oz2socal]

ok, thanks for the heads up about the health insurance. any particular company that has better coverage than others, in your opinion?? where in Temecula are you moving to? you have obviously done the research - so i can take full advantage!! We love Australia - but are very excited to live in another country for awhile - have a bit of an adventure!! all up in the air a bit at the moment - due to the US economy being the way it is at present. cant believe that the Aussie dollar is nearly equal to the US!! we are looking at rental properties around the $2000 p/m mark - it looks like that will secure us a fairly nice house in Temecula area? what do you think? thanks so much for all your advice - much appreciated!!

[evolutionrules]

check out craigslist for rentals inland empire apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

we're moving to winchester area just north east of Temecula. As for insurance...I have no idea. Mine is provided by my employer (I'm a teacher) and it's really good. Stay away from HMOs and stick with a PPO plan.

[connie&dave]

For $2,000 you can get a big, new 4 bedroom home in Lake Harveston in Temecula. It is a lovely family neighborhood with pools, water play area, walking trails, clubhouse, and its walking distance to great schools, shops and restaurants. Craigslist is a great source for finding good rentals, good luck

4 BR BRAND NEW HARVESTON HOUSE

PLUS LOFT- HOUSE BY THE LAKE AT HARVESTON (broken link)

New Harveston Home

[Unkllars]

I second not playing the HMO game. Big headache for few benefits. PPO's are more user-friendly. We have Blue Cross, which is quite good, but there are many to choose from. What does work have to offer for healthcare plans?

[twinmum]

hello again oz2socal -
when you are checking into insurance - stay clear of Kaiser Permanente ... they might end up having the cheapest premium rates but the facilities are terrible here (I know because we have Kaiser coverage). I did not have my children here, but I know plenty of people who have. As far as hospitals we have two and they are quite small. see http://www.ivrmc-rsmc.com
My friends’ mum works at one of them as a labor and delivery nurse and it is a fine facility - not knowing what Australian hospitals are like I can hardly make a comparison. If you are in need of an NICU or are considered "high risk"(as some of my multiple birth friends have been) or need more specialized care you would most likely need to go elsewhere. I've had friends that chose to go to Fallbrook, San Diego and Riverside in lieu of having their children here…. San Diego has Sharp healthcare facilities and they are fabulous, there are also great hospitals in Orange County. Really, if you can schedule your c-section and don’t mind driving an hour or so you could have your pick of some of our countries better healthcare facilities.

Temecula schools start around the 20th of August and run through mid June.... see http://www.tvusd.k12.ca.us/ click on schools and you can look at each schools "accountability report" which outlines test performance, demographics, etc.

Airports are another story they are all a commute away - we fly out of Ontario, CA it is about an hour drive depending on the time of day and how fast you tend to drive. We are also close to San Diego airport - it takes about the same amount of time but I find it is easier to fly out of Ontario and usually cheaper. We are also not unreasonably far from John Wayne (in orange county) or LAX but they are a bit of a commute.

connie&dave mentioned Harveston as a great neighborhood and it is - I am partial because that is where I live. We have a lovely lake to walk around, plenty of parks and open space as well as rentable pedal boats for the lake.... the lake is man-made and you cannot swim in it but it looks lovely… see http://www.harveston.com/walk.htm we also have a community pool. Off the subject a little: we actually are considering putting our house up for rent on craigslist (someone mentioned craigslist earlier) as we might be moving to the East Coast.... it is a great place to find rentals, also try www.pe.com and www.nctimes.com (our two local newspapers). You can also find rentals via property management companies in Temecula as well. There is an elementary school right here in the neighborhood called Ysabel Barnett. We actually lived in numerous neighborhoods for a few years renting before Harveston. We love Harveston and purchased our home here instead of other neighborhoods because in our opinion it is the BEST neighborhood in Temecula.

As a side note, my kids go to a Temecula Charter School - http://www.temeculaprep.com/ which in my opinion is far superior to any of the other Temecula schools (if you are unfamiliar with Charter schools in the States they are basically private schools that are free. i.e. part of the cities unified school district but ran independently). You have to put in an application and get your child on the list – the openings are based on a lottery style drawing and the names are put in a number order and when they have spots to fill they just start going down the list until someone wants the spot….

That is my two cents! I hope it helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

[klum123]

I'm new to the forum here, so I stumbled upon your thread. I would stay as close to Riverside as possible and try to avoid any type of commute. Commuting around here in Southern California is not very fun and can wear you down fairly quickly, unless you like to spend time in your car. Riverside is a very large and somewhat diverse city although probably not the "first choice" for many. In any case if you want to spend more time at home than on the road I would try to find a home/house as close to Riversdie as possible. Oh, and about the hospitals make sure you do your research very well. My family belongs to Kaiser Permanente right now and I can only say it is an okay facility (in Riverside), but it does have literally everything you need under one roof. There are many other choices!

[oz2socal]

thanks everyone for your thoughtful advice! i really do appreciate it as this is a bit daunting - but very exciting too! I had a look at Lake Harveston - WOW!! I absolutely love it. it certainly is the loveliest place/houses that i have looked at so far. definately top of the list - speaking of- thanks for putting me onto Craigslist too - before that i was having great trouble finding pictures of rental properties. thanks one and all again for your very helpful advice and taking the time to post it!