Mike@Bonbeach

We stopped at Townsville for one night in October whilst driving from Trinity Beach to Airlie Beach. We were pleasantly surprised at the place. The Strand with Kissing Point boardwalk at the north end, Palmer Street for the restaurants and last but not least the drive up Castle Rock (think that's the name), and the spectacular views from the top. Mike

Hi calNgary www.speedtest.net will let you check your speed. Mike

Hi We are on holiday in Queensland at the moment and in the two places we've stopped at (apartment blocks) in Trinity Beach and Airlie Beach, the internet speed has been abysmal. On a speed test (Ookla) it is showing a speed of less than half a Mbps. At home in Victoria the same test shows around the 15Mbps. Surely the speed I'm getting in Queensland isn't typical?. I guess the quality of the in-house WiFi in the two apartment blocks could have a bearing on the speed though. I'd hope so for business' sake. Interested to hear what locals are experiencing. Mike

Tina Just a little bit of advice on the penguin visit. Even if it's 30c in Melbourne make sure you take something warm to wear when you see the penguins, if there is a southerly blowing, it can get bitterly cold. I'm speaking from experience, we left South Melbourne area at around 30+c wearing shorts and T shirt and we literally froze while waiting for the "show". Mike

Considering the weather forecaster had stated there was a state wide fire ban, it does seem a bit careless of the Fire Service to do a controlled burn. Some control!!!!. I wonder if the poor guy who lost his uninsured house will have any comeback against the CFA or whoever did the controlled burn. Mike

The problem as I see it with the Extras part of the health cover (we are with NIB, we were with BUPA both the same rules) is that although we are entitled to $300 per year each for spectacles, to get that $300 you have to spend $500, ie out of pocket by $200. Even if you buy a pair of glasses say for $300 you will be out of pocket by $120. I'm talking about varifocals and decent quality lenses. I followed up an advert by Specsavers who offering varifocals at $99, when I went in to the store the assistant said that yes they were available at that price but were the most basic lenses, with no coating or glare reduction. I would love to know of an Extra provider which would allow me to claim $300 per year without out of pocket expenses. Anybody know one???. Mike

Hi Folks Please realise that the CSHC is not the same as Seniors Card, both give different benefits. I believe that the CSHC is a Centrelink responsibility whereas the Seniors Card is run by the individual states which is why you get different benefits in each state. Mike

I contributed for the full quota of years, was it 40 or 44 ? can't recall the exact figure, and then they go and freeze it when we come to Australia. Yes I know, I knew about the freezing before we came here. Mike

Thanks Tonyman This just confirms that the CSHC doesn't qualify for any of the discounts like energy, rates, health etc. (except for medicines). OK for cheaper stamps tho. Mike

Not really a complaint FOC. As far as I'm aware we cannot claim rate reduction or water or energy on the CSHC, that would be nice if we could. As far as free out of rush hour travel, again no here in Victoria although we do get some concessions on travel, but we don't use public transport very much. Once we have been here 10 years we will then qualify for the Senior Australian tax offset which should mean we should then be paying next to no tax. Mike

Tonyman Yes, our son put up the $14,000 AOS, (well we paid it really), I believe he gets something like $300 interest every 6 months. I'd imagine he's paying the tax on that. Mike

Now I'm pretty sure that Connie and I aren't the only PIO members who have this card. June 2015 was the last time the supplement of $239.85 per quarter was paid. The supplement, in line with the Governments commitment to older Australians, is no longer paid.(some commitment to older Australians !!!!!). We are still able to claim the Energy Supplement of $69.65 per quarter but it all adds up to a loss of around $680 each of us each year. They have increased the threshold to allow more Seniors to claim the various benefits, eg cheaper medicines, But that doesn't help us as we are well below the current threshold. I'm surprised that this has not received any publicity in the Media. We still have just under 2 years to go until we will have been here 10 years, in the meantime we still carry on paying tax to the Government on our UK pensions and a little bit of Bank savings interest, not even qualifying for the Senior Australian tax offset, and our income is around the $30k mark each, out of which we owe the ATO around $2k annually. At the moment I'm not happy. Mike

Dear Pom Queen As it was me who started the thread in the wrong place can it be moved to the correct one? Thanks Mike

Thanks for that Bridgeman, will start right away. Mike

Hi As all you people in receipt of a UK Age Pension probably know that there is an 8% allowance against your taxable income here in Australia.( not much but better in our pocket than the Governments). My query is, is it possible to claim a similar relief from your private UK pension?. My private UK pension is a Final salary, defined benefit Plan, where both I and my employer paid into the plan, somewhere about 9% each I seem to recall. The pension is based on my years service X final pensionable salary X accrual rate. Although I have claimed the 8% UPP on my UK Aged Pension I have not thought to claim it on my private UK pension until now and I am just wondering if anyone has been in the same situation and what is needed to claim the UPP on my private pension. Regards Mike PS Connie is in a similar situation so if we were able to claim it we should be able to get a substantial rebate as we have been here over 8 years now.

It seems only a few weeks ago that it was being said that applying GST would bring in something like $1B, but it would cost something like $1.5B to administer. What's changed? Mike

Pc That sounds a bit condescending. My wife and I are pensioners, we both have top level CCs, (cleared each month), and with many times that limit of your suggestion, no matter how much is on them. I would imagine a pensioner has more idea how to budget his/her income as well as any wage earner. Mike

We came on a CPVisa in 2007, seem to recall the visa was $55,000, the AOS was @14,000, then shipping a small amount of stuff about $3,000. Flights were about $5-6k, we came economy plus (or what ever it was called..extra legroom). We sold our beautiful Audi A4 for a mere pittance, 8000 GBP I recall and bought a Mazda6 when we arrived. Didn't have to spend anything on accommodation as we stayed with our son and DIL. Exchange rate then was about $2.5/1GBP. I think at the current exchange rate and the current cost of CPV, and the cost of housing here, we would probably not even consider it now. Mike

Would you rather there were no warnings? Looks to me as though the press are just passing on the information, and nothing to do with "gutter press". If anything happened to you or your "loved ones" you would probably be the first to cry" why weren't we warned". At least now people are aware of what "could" happen. Mike

There are some plonkers on here sometimes. Back to the OP's question. before we came to Australia in 2007 we holidayed twice a year in the South of France driving each way and we used to break the return journey ai a small village just north of Dijon. The inn was just a 2 star but I used to enjoy the coffee served with our petitdejeuner each morning. Thick and black with a dash of milk but it certainly set you up for the remainder of the drive home. Mike

Australia would lose the Queen's Birthday public holiday. :biglaugh:

It's a hard way to learn about speeding in Australia. It is so easy to wander above the speed limit when you are in a stream of traffic, constantly keeping an eye out for people around you and not realising you are speeding. Mind you the streams are usually only 3-4 kph above.. It is one reason my satnav is set so to warn me if I go more than 5kms above the limit. A very nice lady says "YOU ARE OVER THE SPEED LIMIT". I don't think anyone doing 20 mph over the limit (or even 20 kph) deserves any kind of forgiveness. Mike Last time I had a speeding fine was 1964, aren't I a good boy ?... or more likely, just plain lucky.

Thanks Always remember assume can make an "ass" out of "u" and "me". Mike

Harpodom. You are at it again saying that I and others think "turning the boats back into the ocean is our preferred solution". See earlier post. Nowhere have I indicated such a thing. You are the one who started this thread yet neither you or anyone else has come up with a practical solution. At least I have the guts to say that I have no idea how the problem is to be resolved, could I suggest you do the same?.

Yes, I wonder how much (if at all) he will be fined, after all if you can and do get fined for inadvertently bringing in a piece of fruit at the airports, surely what he has done warrants a greater penalty. I don't think Barnaby Joyce went far enough. The dogs should have been seized immediately, put in quarantine and a substantial fine imposed, the salon where they were taken should have been closed down, thoroughly fumigated or whatever was needed and itself quarantined for the regulatory period and Depp made to compensate the owners. You see these programs on television about border security and how serious the staff take the job, surely that's not just for the cameras.