Metoo

Thanks Jakc, i stil have mine too. How I wish I had sold them before we left. I wonder if we could transfer them to a uk relative and have them sell them for us?

Hay @Jakc did you manage to sell your shares please. I am having the same problem with Tesco shares. I wish I had sold them before I left the uk, what a pain this has become.

I’ve checked our landlords insurance policy, we are covered for up to $10,000 of our own contents as well as the building cover. The tenants contents are not however covered on this policy, they need their own insurance. good point though Parley, you had me worried there for a moment.

We rent out a property in QLD. We pay for the Building house insurance, but not contents. We also cover the rates and the water bill, up to a set amount of Litres. Any usage above this amount is payable by the tenant as “excess water usage” this is in case they leave water sprinklers etc on or leave taps running unnecessarily. Telephone and internet is paid by the tenant, as is electricity and gas. Our property has bottled gas which lasts for absolutely ages, 2 full bottles were supplied when they moved in and there should be 2 full bottles left when they move out. Our tenants are great, we wish to keep them so we look after them. Repairs are carried out promptly, and anything that will make their lives more comfortable we oblige if it’s within reason. We have just had additional fly screens fitted for example at their request. We will be fitting an additional split system air con for them and we have had a massive tree removed from the garden as it was dropping litter all over the washing line. They pay us a good rent so we look after them as best we can. everyone is happy

Sunset driving home through Glenwood QLD

Regarding evidence, put everything in joint names if not already. Car insurance, AA membership, electric bill, gas’s bill, rent contract (if you have one) council tax, Photos of you both taken at family weddings/Christmas/Birthday parties etc You will need a statement from a non family member who knows you both and will testify that you are a couple in a genuine relationship. Your partner will need a medical examination and a police check (don’t do either of those things until you are asked to as they expire after 6 months. oh, and start saving up, this is an expensive project (-: We did ours without an agent, it was quite simple but very time consuming. Lots and lots of forms to fill in but all info that only you can provide so even if you paid an agent, you still have to collect all the info yourself. Good luck

We are in the process of buying a house with Westpac. They wanted to see the last 3 months pay slips. They already knew our bank details as we bank with them anyway. I have been in my casual job for 5 yrs, hubby is on permanent contract for the past year in his current job. Good luck with your move, very exciting times. Metoo

Congratulations ramot it’s a great feeling isn’t it. Its about time Ted had a day out, I will take him somewhere next week and post on his thread. Hope you are well x

Ha ha Ted is not the husband, he’s a Ted lol husband is already a citizen as he was born here so no need for a ceremony for him. meet Ted

Thanks Toots, we love our life here. Wouldn’t change a thing except, maybe should have come sooner

We are in Bundaberg now. Very lazy old fashioned Australian atmosphere. Still a bit humid in summer months but not as hot and sticky as Cairns. Winter months are very pleasant, about 25 degrees during the day and 10 degrees at night (although last night dropped to 4 degrees which is unusual brrrrr) I get what you are saying about lock down, so far we have escaped almost unscathed (touch wood) We had a couple of weeks of mask wearing and a shortage of toilet rolls at the start. Have a look on realestate.com to get an idea of house prices etc good luck

Awww thanks Parley, she is a beautiful cat. We rescued her as an 8 yrs old from the local rescue centre. She was to be company for our other old cat, who came with us from the uk. It took them a long time to become friends, but they ended up best mates. Unfortunately the old boy (17 yrs +) passed away 2 weeks ago. Nothing particularly wrong with him, I guess it was just his time. Very sad for our little girl cat who is looking for him.

Sorry, that was a bit of a long winded epic. here are some photos to make it even longer lol IMG_1307.MOV

Hello everyone, So as we approach our 6 year mile stone, I thought it was about time for an update. We arrived in October 2015, landed in Sydney and booked into a. air b n b for 2 weeks. Within the 2 weeks we had bought a car and secured a rental property on a six month lease. 4 weeks later Mr MT started working for a National company based in Sydney. Although we loved living in Sydney, trying to buy a house was a bit depressing, prices were going up all the time, anything we could afford was not really what we had moved all this way for and Mr MT was not enjoying his job too much. So, we looked further afield, Queensland seemed a much better option with regards housing and also seemed more laid back. So as we reached the end of our lease, MrMT handed in his notice and we drove to Queensland to look for a house. having found a nice 4/2/2 we put down a deposit, drove home to Sydney, packed up our stuff and three weeks later we were in our very own home and feeling a lot more relaxed about the move. it took some weeks but eventually we both found jobs and so began our life on the Fraser Coast. Two years later we were selling that house and moving yet again. Mr Mt had secured another job 100Ks further North and had been commuting daily, it made sense to move nearer work. We packed up again and moved to our current house where we have 3 acres and our own dam. We are semi rural but still only 10 minutes from our local shopping centre. I am still working as I was able to transfer my job so that worked out great. This year, on Australia Day I had my Citizenship ceremony, I am now an Aussi citizen and can apply for a passport (not that I can travel anywhere just now lol} It was a great feeling and I feel like I have a much better connection with this wonderful land we now call home! Two weeks ago we decided to visit the bank and make tentative enquiries about maybe buying a second property, houses are still relatively cheap here but prices are definitely rising since the Covid problem. We looked at a few houses and one in particular caught our eyes. We put in an offer on the spot which was eventually accepted {after much wrangling} and we are now in the process of buying that house. The long term plan is that we rent out that house for the next few years and as both of us are getting to be a bit "long in the tooth" when the day comes that we are not capable of looking after this current property (lots of grass cutting and land maintenance) we will sell up and move into the new house which is a very easy maintenance block. Life for now is great, we have chickens which we raised from day old chicks and they have started laying eggs this past two weeks. My little veggie plot is producing some nice tomatoes and other fresh veggies and of course we have our lovely swimming pool to cool off in on hot summer days. We had intended to visit our families the UK in the summer of last year. Obviously that did not happen, nor will it happen this year or possibly next year. This is probably the only negative thing about our emigration journey. However, we are holding on to hope that with the vaccine roll out the boarders will open up and we can travel again to see our loved ones. So, is this the end of our story? possibly it is. Then again, life has a habit of presenting new opportunities all the time and you just need to be brave and seize the day. Good luck everyone else with your own journeys I will revisit this post in a couple of years and see if anything has changed. Metoo ps my user name was chosen years ago before the "Metoo"movement was even invented. (I have never been molested by a film producer or anybody else - for clarity )

Great, will look forward to seeing what you have done.