Sooty

We spoke to our case officer by Phone/email we arranged to leave for New Zealand on the Monday and return on the Friday once she knew our arrival time in NewZealand she issued our visa. When we re-entered Australia the customs officers took us to one side for a few minutes and then it was all systems go I hope this helps it was a lovely feeling for it to be all sorted. Good luck. 

The Mornington Peninsula 1 hour south of Melbourne is lovely, not the Temperatures of Noosa but not the humidity either.  But don't let on as it's rather special ?. Lots of lovely winery's & restaurants plus miles of uncrowned beaches, except for the 6 weeks or so over Christmas. 

23 minutes ago, Catlady2014 said:

Just to give you some perspective - my daughter just bought a brand new Toyota Corolla 1.8 automatic for $22,000.  You could get an ex-demo or low mileage one a lot cheaper than that though.  I decided a long while back not to take my car, because the shipping costs (I think about £1,500, but not certain now) made it just not worth it.  And there would have been extra costs for the roadworthy test, rego etc.  I will sell it just before I leave and should get about £3,500 for it, but at the time when I was considering taking it the resale value was about £5,000 - and still not worth it.  

When we brought our car to Melbourne 9 years ago, we had to have owned the car for 1 year.  So buying just before leaving won't work, unless the rules have changed.  We were very pleased we brought our car over, we had enough things to sort out when first arriving without having to decide on a new car, some models are different.  So it was a good move for us. ?

1 hour ago, Catlady2014 said:

Completely agree.  No point taking my large fridge/freezer, which wouldn't have been big enough to do the job in a hot climate where so much needs to go into the fridge.  Anyway, it went on ebay last summer and I've been making do with my smaller one, which I'll leave behind for my house buyers.  I'm taking very little with me and reckon to save thousands on shipping costs.  Added to that saving is the stuff I've sold already.  My total of ebay and private sales plus the stuff currently on sale or still to be sold, comes to about £5,000.  I've  also had my daughter in Aus pricing up a lot of the stuff I will need and I'm confident I can get it all at really good prices. But each to their own, people are sometimes attached to particular belongings, whereas furniture etc diesn't generally have any pull for me and I'm looking forward to a completely fresh start.  If I can fit it all into a Movecube, I will take a small but rather nice sideboard and two matching lamp tables, bedding, towels, pots and pans etc, printer and coffee maker, clothes, photographs.  That's it, and anything that won't fit will stay behind.  

I'm opting for the granny annexe, as my daughter's plot has plenty of room for an annexe and it's a short walk from shops, restaurants etc, and 5 minutes drive from the beach.  

I took my nearly new HP printer 8 years ago they make the same model here but the print cartridges are not compatible.. you might like to check it out HP said sometimes a new code would work, but it would not. A new printer is under $100 so not worth the bother.  

My GP gives me up to 6 repeats on a prescription. I'm in Victoria. Before I was permanent my prescription costs could be anything from $6 for antibiotics to $58 for migraine tablets, my medical insurance covered anything over $32. Now I'm permanent the costs are less but not much less because I can't claim anything back on insurance now. But there is a yearly cap I think it is $600. 

Hi geoffandgill. We shipped my Jeep inside our container and really wish we had shipped my husbands jag as well we came in 2008 PSS helped us and it was very straight forward we sold the jag in the U.K. for £5k and would have got $60k here ?  

You will have to advise your case officer that you are onshore, and she/he will advise you.  We went Monday to Friday as they won't issue a visa on Sunday not sure about Saturday.  This was in 2014, I'm so sorry your CPV's are taking so long now.

9 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

@NanaJan someone quoted earlier (fisher1?) they went to NZ for 5 days but visa was though the day after, so a weekend would have done them. Troll through earlier posts  But who knows might not be next day. Hope others share their experience with you on that. Good luck! 

Y

1 hour ago, Geoffandgill said:

For us, selling our house, which we had lived in for over 38 years, caused us no feelings of heartache. Our eldest two children already lived abroad ( USA & Australia), so when our youngest moved to Australia in 2015, the house gradually stopped feeling like a family home, and more like a millstone round our neck. Although the house held memories, they were still with us, but we looked forward to the future more, especially our grandchildren growing up. For us, this was the best decision, but obviously everyone is different.

Geoff & Gill

We sold up and moved to the Mornington Peninsula Victoria nearly 9 years ago it was very hard leaving 2 sons and my elderly mother and our only granddaughter. But our daughters and husbands were heading here and we felt that it would be a far better life for them.  We were right in the last 6 years we have had 6 new grandchildren here and 1 more in the UK.  We have never regretted our decision, it is hard being so split  but we usually go back each year.  We got our CPV 4 years ago and are now citizens.  We have a lovely lifestyle so different from what it would have been had we been still in the UK, our little grandchildren keep us very busy.

Hi genie 1

We were already here in Oz and pre loaded our American Express Card and earned enough Singapore Airlines points for 1 return ticket to the UK which worked very well for us but if you are off shore you might be able to do the same with a credit card, there was no surcharge.

I think we had about 28 days to pay.

Good luck

Sooty

There are lots of display home sites here in Victoria, it depends where you live really but if you can find a display home style you like the prices are pretty good for what you get and very big compared to UK houses you can also customise them. Google Metricon homes or Henley Homes for an idea lots of choice just depends what you want really. We have not gone that route but built a one off to our own design, on our own block a very hard and complicated route not cheaper but we have got exactly what we want.

good luck Sooty

Hi Phalarope83

We have been here in Oz for 5 years now and are just at the end of a house build in Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsular in Victoria, the property market has not done much at all in this time. Citizenship can be applied for after being in Oz for 4 years one of which as a permanent resident. It just means that you will not have to renew your residents return visa every 5 years which means your CPV it is about $150 not a lot I know, but citizenship gives us an Aussie passport ie dual citizenship so even if we leave the country for say 5 years we can always just come back it keeps our options open if you like and makes us completely safe. Saying that we have made friends who came here as $10 poms 40 years ago and they have not bothered with citizenship even though the husband was leaving the country on business and his visa would run out before he returned so it caused him to miss his flight while he sorted it out. So once a citizen you can forget about it. Both of our daughters and husbands have now got citizenship and of course their children born here are automatically citizens they will also be able to get UK passports if they want to do gap years in the UK etc when they grow up, citizenship here is just a few multiple choice questions then a quick service. I will really feel that I belong here then, although we personally would never go back to the UK to live. We return each year to visit family and friends that is the hard part but could not contemplate living there again, if you try to be friendly with neighbours etc I'm sure you will soon make friends. We have found everyone very friendly.

We are not sunworshipers but who would want the UK weather at the moment, we now know where the phrase "sunny disposition" comes from we find in general that people are happier here.

Good luck. Sooty

Bumping this up! Where are all our `parents`????

We applied onshore for an offshore CPV in May 2012 it was granted in October 2013 5 years to the day of our first setting foot in Australia. A very painless experience except the money of course but were glad to be legally here now. Will go for citizenship next year.

Good luck everyone. Sooty