buzzy--bee

Not sure what you mean by this statement but you are moving to a foreign country, in many ways as foreign to England as France or Greece or somewhere, you are going to find a lot of things very different. If you are looking for things to be the same as England then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Will your wife be working at Coles/KMart HQ in Mulgrave or somewhere else?

Haven't been to Chicago yet so can't comment, but certainly never short of fun in Melbourne. I found it strange that the article said Melbourne didn't have any decent beaches though, I live within walking distance of 4 of them!

Have you tried volunteering? There are often local groups getting together to do various things such as beach/creek clean ups or working bees at parks etc, great way to meet people.

Agreed. People who stay in our short-term accommodation generally stay for 4 weeks. The other issue with only staying 2 weeks is that you may have to accept a sh1thole as a rental because it is the only thing available the one week you are looking.

Hi Ken, I've PMd you as requested, hope it is helpful to you. BB

Nice area - we have lived in Mordi for 9 years. Primary schools here are good and none are zoned - Mordialloc Beach, Parkdale and Parktone schools. My kids attend Parkdale and their class sizes are in the low 20s. In the years they have been going the school has expanded from 400 or so kids to 600+. Parktone has expanded from 180 to almost 400. If you rock up on day 1 (Jan 30 - teacher only day) they should be able to fit your kids in but I agree that phoning first this term to advise them you may be coming would be good.

No need for an agent - can be done quite easily by yourselves. Most people stay in temp accommodation for around 2-4 weeks and find a longer term rental easily.

We have a carpenter staying in our short term accommodation at the moment - he and his partner arrived 2 weeks ago and he has already secured a permanent position. So there is work available clearly.

Do you mean a fibre optic cabler or an optical fibre network engineer? If the latter, the correct salary would be more than double what you have been offered.

Hi Jen Nurses normally find it quite easy to migrate (I think you may need to make sure your qualifications are at degree level?). Have a look at www.border.gov.au for visa requirements. Your partner could in the worst case get a WHV (you can get these up to 35 now I think) and then live with you for a year, and then apply for a spouse visa. Which part of Australia were you thinking of moving to?

One thing that will help you is a landlord's reference. If you haven't rented recently, some short term accommodation providers (such as us) will provide one as part of their service. BB

1) I assume eventually I'll need an AU driving licence - what are the rules around this? - Depends on which visa you are on. If you are on a temp visa, you can continue to drive on your overseas licence. 2) Car insurance isn't a legal requirement like it is at home but I assume most people get it anyway - will I hit high premiums with my UK licence? - possibly. 3) Good places to buy a car in Melbourne? Any car supermarket type places? - car city is a car supermarket type place. 4) any MOT style requirements? - no annual one, but you must have a roadworthy cert if you sell your car or if a policeman pulls you over and asks you to get one.

Hi Mark, I lecture on owner building. Bathrooms and Kitchens are pieces of string questions - can be done for $10000 perfectly adequately but basically, $20,000 + for a more contemporary stylish look. Flooring - $100 - $200 per sqm. painting - about $10,000 for painters to do a house of that size. Hiring trades - see the attachment which I hand out on the owner builder course. 9 signs of a good builder.docx 9 signs of a good builder.docx

Unfortunately we are 1) booked 2) not big enough... Try AirBnB.

Crown are in UK and Australia.

Simpsons do in the UK. http://www.simpsons-uk.com/

Have you considered places like Coburg or Reservoir which are very local? Or even Northcote or Thornbury if you have the budget?

Thank you for the recommendation MarisaWright! Happy to help out HankScorpio, please PM me if you need details.

I lecture in owner building (indeed at least one couple from this site have been on a course I lectured on). If you want to get exactly what you want, the only way is to owner-build. Any builder that you pay to do the job will always have their own way of working and will compromise your build to fit in with their normal practices. The big project builders will let you choose from a number of designs, but they won't let you make any major changes beyond cosmetic, and unless you employ an independent inspector which you pay separately from any arrangement with the builder, they will most likely give you a substandard build. An independent inspector I know finds on average 80 faults with every project home build he inspects that the client would not have found themselves. Some of these are structural! A smaller more expensive builder will build to your own design and specifications, however they will have the way they work, and you may not be able to change it. e.g. I did not want to build with a timber frame. Finding any builder that had any experience in anything else was almost impossible. So for 100% getting what you want, and being able to change things along the way, owner-building is the only way to go. But it is not for everyone, and it is rather full-time while you are on the build.

Hi Andy, I'm a trainer/assessor. Do you need any info about the course or qualification?

Hi, having a short break in the Sunshine Coast this week (Mooloolaba) but it looks like it is not living up to its name and the weather is going to be rather wet. Can any local from the area interpret the weather and let me know what it is really going to be like? We're up there from Tuesday evening to Friday, and Wednesday and Thursday say things like "60% chance of showers" - but does that mean a brief heavy shower and then sun, or continual showers all day or what? Grateful for any advice!

Go on to Training.gov.au, find the cert IV course, look at the assessment requirements for all the modules (there are about 10 modules) and see whether the UK ones map to them. Even if they do, you will still have to do the RPL, and an RTO will charge for this, I think around 50% of the cost of doing the actual course.

How long does it take to get from Williams Landing to Preston? I would have thought there were more convenient options. Maybe there is a short cut I don't know about.

Hi, whereabouts in Australia are you thinking of moving and what makes you think life will be better here?