FED up with schools in New Zealand, the Post family took a chance and moved from Auckland to Albury so their children with special needs could get a better education.
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Five years later it seemed the gamble had paid off, with Reza and his wife Kira, along with their children Victoria, 20, and Dirk, 15, living happily in Lavington.
Mr Post found out about Wewak Street School, which caters to autistic students, online.
Dirk, who is happy at Wewak, was treated to some laps at Winton Raceway over the weekend as a belated Christmas present.
“It was good,” he said. “Scary, but a lot of fun.”
A staunch Ford fan, Dirk chose a V8 Falcon to race in.
“It was fast, it went 300 km/h,” he said.
Mr Post said he was dissatisfied with how his children were progressing in New Zealand.
“That's really the reason why we came over to Australia,” Mr Post said.
“In New Zealand, you don't have those sorts of schools or they're very hard to access if they do.”
Wewak principal Linda Cain said another family moved from Queensland with a child with special needs.
“We prioritise with families what their needs are for their children as well as looking at what the curriculum needs to be,” she said.
Mr Post praised his children’s new school.
“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Linda,” he said.
“Students learn life skills by going to the shops and learn how to buy food and make meals.”
Mr Post said in New Zealand youngsters with special needs were allocated funding but it was “a little bit of a lottery”.
"My daughter – she's now 20 – we couldn't get her funded. It took us years to get her funded. And she's quite seriously autistic,” he said.
But Dirk started attending Wewak at an earlier age.
“Dirk's certainly come a long way I think,” Mr Post said.
“Victoria might have been a little bit late.”
The Posts were happy with the move.
“I wouldn't go back (to New Zealand),” Mr Post said.
