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I see you mention renting first, which in your position I would say is really important. Six months would be ideal, to settle into Australian life, get over the stress of moving out and really explore the areas you have in mind. Your ideas on what you think you want can change once you're living here. we spent a lot of time exploring north, and south, of Sydney as 2 of our children are there but as we initially came to Noosa (on holiday and before children came out) we are spoilt & found it difficult to find anywhere that suited us as much. But there are some nice places on central coast. As someone else said the prices are representative of how close you get to Sydney. my daughters in laws live in/around Lake Macquarie & Newcastle which apparently has some nice areas, but a longer drive to Sydney. Good luck with the hunt. Just keep reminding yourselves how exciting it is!

I've just come back from 6 weeks in Scotland and found Marks to be just 'dull' with very little worth buying. The store in an outlet centre did good value underwear (luckily in my size) and knitwear - and I got a really nice pair of black linen trousers (not needed in Scotland in winter!) for a staggering £4! The food, however, didn't class altogether - wonderful selection, lots of special offers - and delicious.

Ramot, that's a huge rise! We're 410's and get our insurance through BUPA, although we don't have lots of extra just about 3. Will be interesting to see what happens to our premiums on renewal.

Right - and now back to the original question. anyone have experience of house swopping companies? and thanks Fisher1 for your info - very intereting

Does anyone have experience of house swopping (specifically Oz with Scotland) with one of the established companies? Any information gratefully received

Already back in Oz. They picked my box up 11 days ago, it got 'delayed' between being picked up and getting to their warehouse in London. Now telling me that these are (which I put on Customs form so there wouldn't be a problem) and banned.

Ive just been back to UK, hurt my back and decided to send contents of suitcase/shopping by air freight. I'm now being told by the freight company that certain items - Cadburys chocolate and body lotions from Boots (all unopened and with clear list of contents) are banned under aviation law as unaccompanied items. Is this correct? Just can't get my head round it. Thanks for any information

We used Anglo Pacific recently to ship half a container. Very competitively priced, came and did a detailed list of what we wanted to send, men on the day for the packing were good & so was delivery to us the other end. Hope this helps

Like you, we're on a 410 visa. Moved out here 3 years ago & since then 2 of our 3 children have moved to Sydney, both of whom have PR and about to become Citizens. We have one daughter in Edinburgh, about to give us our first grandchild, so plan on returning there for 3 months every year. We have, up until now, kept our UK house and rented here. House now in the final stages of being sold and we then have to make some big decisions regarding buying here, and where. Very interested in hearing about good House Swopping sites. And also, how easy was it to get a mortgage as retirees? Hadn't even though of that one. Any keeping a property in the UK - does that have any adverse effects on the Tax Advantages of our visa? Sorry to bombard you with so many questions, but nice to find someone in a similar situation to us.

Follow the Contributory Parent Visa forum with interest and was just wondering, for those of you who have started a life in OZ - is it all you were expecting it to be? Do you have a better lifestyle, do you see as much of your children as you expected, do you find the Australians as friendly & welcoming as you expected. I think its always interesting to look back at the expectations you had and compare with the reality.

Andrew thank you for the reply. To correct the dates I gave - my husband has had his QROPS since October 2011 (we came out here in March 2011). I think we're going to wait until the Autumn Statement regarding Capital Gains on houses owned by ex-pats becomes more defined at the beginning of 2014 before making a decision whether to sell house before 2015 or keep it and suffer the Capital Gains on any uplift from that date.

My husband and I (64 & 61) are living in Australia on a 410 visa. My husband has a uk QROPS which is governed by the 5 year rule - he has had it since December 2012 (or therebouts). We are both deemed by HMRC as non-resident in the uk for tax purposes. Our family home in the UK (owned for approx. 16 years) has been let out for the 3 years we have lived in Australia - except for a 2 month period in 2012 when we used it on a visit to UK). We potential capital gains changes by the UK government we are considering returning in 2014 to make repairs/decorate etc & put house on the market. I know the rules used to be that you visit for 3 months at a time (and even take those 3 months on a back to back basis if in separate tax years) but understand that changes have been made and there is now a 6 week limit before being deemed as resident for tax purposes again. Is this correct? Any advice much appreciated

Hi Phoebe - we rent out our property in uk, are classed as non-resident landlords so no tax is deducted at source, but we have to declare the income on our uk self assessment tax returns. Hope this helps - if not, your accountant would be able to give up to date advice

In response to the question on whether she has family/partner in uk. No, she's single and other than aunts/uncles her immediate CLOSE family i.e. us (parents) and her only brother & sister will all be living in Australia - hopefull those two will have pr within the next year or so. Am thinking a migration agent might be the answer although always found the immigration department very helpful when we were applying for our 410. Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond

Husband and I over here on a 410 visa (10 year, renewable retirement visa, but we are classed as temporary visitors), we have a son & daughter in Sydney, both of whom are being sponsored by work & are intending to apply for the PR during 2012. We have one remaining daughter in the uk who is a 30 year old police officer. What are her best options of getting her out here visa-wise? If any of the oz police forces were recruiting she would apply but none are that we know of. At present we are thinking that she should apply for a working holiday visa before she turns 31 (end of December 2011) then come out here on that at the end of 2012 but it seems a bit temporary. Any suggestions or advice very much appreciated