kissofthegypsy

Indeed

No they are subsidised so you dont pay full price but they are not concessional for me, ie centrelink, disability, veterans etc. Script for one box of Anti Rej drugs is 39.50 which is max for a script. Just I have a few of them. Price without the subsidy is about 160. I would imagine the risk of needing another transplant in the future would be the main concern not just the cost of the meds.

I have an IPTV service which I use through KODI on my PC and through an Nvidia Shield box in my media room/TV, costs me 60 quid a year and is awesome. Obviously timing is lousy and I havent worked out how to record but its great for the UK sports

Just for reference, my transplant drugs cost approximately $400 per month max, mine are Liver and I pay the costs myself, no concessions.

Hi everyone, its been ages since i have been on here, life is good in sunny Queensland :-) My friend from the UK is searching for one of her Nans friends, the post is below if anyone has any information, Chapel Hill area. Thanks Sean

When you send in a CV (Resume) chase it up with the agent the same day so it puts you on their radar as half of them wont call you back and most of the jobs on seek are gone or cv gathering. Linkedin is the new seek, upfate your profile, agencies use linked in to advertise now as there is less red tape and they can get an add (or post to their profile a lot quicker). Search for Brisbane Recruitment, send a linked in request with a short message, then follow your feed. I find it easier to get in with an agent who has a speciality in your field. Arrange to meet a number of agent before you get here and catch up with them straight away, Hays are ok (charge rates are high) but they are in the med field a lot. Government run a panel now so find out which agencies are on their panel or you will be spammed by agencies on the off chance they can get you in. M&T Resources, TEKSystems and U&U are good although the later three boutique with specialist roles. Hays would be my first attempt as they cover a lot of admin roles too if you need something quick.

Commutable, rent is expensive within the 8km circle around Brissy. Not too bad further out but then you hit the Rhyl like areas for a fair distance, no offence to anyone who lives there, but Eagleby, Woodridge, Beenleigh, some areas of Logan. You can go inland, travel in can be shit though. From Ormeau down is ok but an hour on the train, but close to beach and theme parks. I hate the CBD as after a day working in it I want to not look at it. I work on the coast now which after 7 years is awesome. As everyone has said, the longer here the more of a weather slut you become, I love the heat, this time of year tho I find it cold in the mornings and my office is baltic. The lights turn off at about 51pam which I hate, sun goes down in about 15 minutes, the quicker they allow us to trial daylight savings the better (poor cows). Winter clothes definitely, no tie for the office, usually shirt and trousers, too warm in summer for suit jackets. You could look to live north of Brissy, just avoid the Bruce highway and the train can take forever depending on how far you go up. There are nice places around Brissy tho too.

Hi I have been on the coast for 8 years now. As others mentioned, no council tax it is expensive enough. Most of these depend on the house size and what it comes with (ie pool) Car insurance about 300 per year, Ford Kuga full comp. Mobile phone, mine enables me to call UK anytime, unlimited calls and messages and 25gb of data which i need for work (its a lot) and thats 175 a month. Wifes is less than 100. I personally dont think rent is the same, we have a 5 bed on corner block with pool and pay 590 a week. Cheaper for less, they are building lots of owner rentals and they got for between 350 and 450 a week, not much garden, corrugated fencing, etc. nice houses all the same. Big diff for me is grocery shopping, I have just come back from UK and tesco is a god send, over here I do find things to be more expensive. Depending on the size of your family, make sure you allow enough, at least 300 per week. Electricity, dont get me started, captive audience, they keep pushing the prices up, elon musk has promised to build a battery plant which affords cheaper electricity, we need it. Solar helps but large discounts have been taken up. We have to clean our pool each day, our bill is over 1000 a quarter. We have unlimited fibre to the kerb internet, 30mbps and is 100 per month. Dont have home phone anymore, mobiles take care of that. Petrol again, we are at the beck and call of the oil fields and have peaks and troughs, I found some for 1.05 per litre the other day, it can be around 1.40, it is cheaper on certain days. Car wise, anything german is expensive, also cant believe a performance ford can be 70k but depends on what your budget is, we bough a top of the range kuga second hand for 25. Weather is free :-) and I love the gold coast.

Hi. Im 44 and been here 8 years but have some health issues. Is it possible to extract early from the UK state pension if you are under ill health? Thanks Sean

Well done CalNGary, I remember you meeting me (Sean) off the plane nearly 7.5 years ago and hooking us up with somewhere to stay in Jimboomba before we moved to Coomera Waters.

We took a 457 to get us here and then QH sponsored us for PR after 6 months. When I was looking around, no one mentioned that my 457 was restrictive and in my specialist field I found a job pretty easily. That was nearly 5 years ago though and I know since then the government has pricked up the ears of employers with the many changes they have made to the visa since I obtained one. Everyones situation is different and reasons for moving most definitely are, I know people who have emmigrated and returned before their container arrived, others like myself find that working over here and building a network of opportunities is a s fruitful as you make it, but granted to the OP, you need to be able to get a steady foot in the market to get that chance. Sorry it didnt work out.

lo,, we bought the cats when we lived in a unit, always wanted dogs so when we moved, bought two beautiful labs :-) Cute tho :-)

I didnt say "I" have little surplus, I meant that if I had a choice of where to have little, I would choose Australia over the UK :-)

I earn between 170k and 230k depending upon contract and I find this country very expensive indeed. However, if I had a choice of where to have little surplus, it would be Australia. Our rent is 600 a week and we have two cars, two dogs, two cats and a pool. Tax is ridiculous, a quick pop into the supermarket is rarely less than 150 bucks, electricity is a rort and will continue to be, the politicians are all muppets and have run this country into the ground but i still love it here after nearly 5 years. It depends on where you live and how you want to live and what you are leaving behind in the UK.. You can live cheaply over here and still have a wonderful life.

Dont get too think, its winter here so it helps to hold a little muffin top to keep you warm until summer lol. I live in oxenford and commute to brisbane everyday from helensvale. Some parts of Coomera are better than others, but you need to be here to see them for yourself. Dissolved girl, whereabouts are you moving too, any advice anyone needs let me know.

We had two reactions, on the OH side her mom was very selfish and even when we said we were only 24 hrs away, still carried on like a pork chop. On the other hand, my mom said, awesome, dont you dare come back until you have tried it for at least 6 months and 5 years later I am still here, the cheating bitch I came with is too, just with someone else haha. The moral of the story is and this is why I hate watching this part of WDU, is that for people involved with large families the wrench is bigger but it also helps if you have a supportive family that understand that you are doing this for a better existence and a better opportunity for your children in most cases.

I worked in Telford for HMRC in the Plaza buildings for a couple of year before I emigrated to the Gold Coast nearly 5 years ago, hated Telford as a place, reminds me of Milton Keynes but with 5 babies to every teenager, McDonalds used to be packed with convoys of loco prams. So I think the OP will be living the dream if he moved to Cannock haha (that's where I am from). Life is what you make it, I have to be up at 5am to get to work in the CBD and get back at 530pm, still 12 hours out of the house. But I can lay golf every weekend as its generally not pissing it down and swim in my pool after work. You wont regret it mate, just tough to get in here, as the UK should have been instead its now the dustbin of Europe.

I agree with Ozziepom, we recently moved house and looked at 3 or 4 at Ormeau, they were OK but I didn't get the family feel for it and it is a fair way from anywhere (apart from the M1). I used to live in Coomera Waters which is also quiet, so for me, look a little further south, Hope Island, Helensvale, Oxenford, Paradise Point. Helensvale and Oxenford can access the M1 easier that the others and not far from the theme parks, etc.

1) Takes many years to get over the homesickness. Surely poms understand that before they move here? 2) Of course the fishing is different. If you wanted the same why did you leave Blighty in the first place? You live in the 'Blighty bubble' and you'll never escape it. 3) Thank god we are crap at soccer (Girlie Ball), and hopefully we will remain that way! 4) Change your shopping habits. If you shop like a pom, only in supercraps, it can be expensive 5) Haven't been to a beach for 30 years. You wouldn't get me back to Blighty under any circumstances 6) Probably your most insightful post yet. I'm impressed 7) It's called research. You obviously did very little! 8) When you have been here half a century you learn a thing or two. Take heed! Sprintman, above are your comments on Wattsys posts thus far, people come on here for advice and maybe arent as "knowledgeable" as your mighty fine self who I see as an ex-Pom who has denunciated his birth place and now takes solace in mocking people for doing what you did 50 years ago (whether that was by choice or not) and more strangely for being Poms like yourself. I wont be 'taking heed' of any of your comments and I advise everybody else to do the same as they are not serving any purpose whatsoever, although they do help build a healthy appreciation of what can happen to someone who has been here 50 years!

Wattsy, I live in Oxenford, been here 4 years from just outside Birmingham, emigrated with my partner of 7 years, diagnosed with a chronic illness, she cheated on me, kicked her to the kerb (we had PR :-)), married a beautiful Tasmanian, have two Labradors, 3 cats and 2 fish, play golf every weekend and take it for what it is. Its not a country full of what us Poms might call hundreds of years of culture, it is a new country, that said, and the fact that we are known as Whinging Poms, there is a banter which I love with the Aussies, especially when do **** at the Olympics, they are crap at soccer and also at the moment shocking at cricket (so all is good on the sporting front). Now back to your starting post, its a mahoosive leap, you know it, we all do. My mom said to me, don't you dare come back until you have given it at least 6 months. Its wasn't like the end of Wanted Down Under where the families said, don't go, come back, at time I found that a little selfish, although it could have been the editing. My mates said I would be back in 2 months, one of my mates, went back before his container arrived lol. But its not for everyone, you have to give it a go and see how you feel. Family are a massive pull and Skype is a help, its not the same as grabbing a beer with you mates, and drinking wine at 8am when you talk to your sister, has to be slowly coerced into any relationship haha. You have taken up Golf, awesome, embrace whats available, I play like I have just taken it up and am a member at Gainsborough Greens, its a great club and costs about 800 a year to join. Great place to meet nice people too. When I arrived I didn't want to move to a mini-England and be surrounded by countless poms, otherwise I would have stayed where I was. I wanted to see what was to offer and yes, its a big adjustment on some counts, little things like a small shop in Woolies always costs 250 bucks, everything that bites hurts (including the ex lol), sport - whenever we lost against the aussies they love it, but they are the worst winners I have also ever known - great banter tho, its costs a lot to live here - no doubt you need to earn the coin to have a good life but people do perfectly fine on lowish wages - people would rather be here in this climate on the same money than be on it in the UK. PM me mate and I will add you to my Facebook and you can take a look at the pics and stuff and you are more than welcome to pop round for a beer and a chat. You cant go back yet, not until we have won the ashes :-)

Pack it and take it with you in a cycle box, wont cost too much extra.

Wattsy, we are on the goldy, been here 4 years, where are you?

We were lucky, 4 months after being here on a 457 QH sponsored us for PR. Had it since and never looked back. Citizenship application in process. However, the job market has drastically changed and if it was the same 4 years ago as it is now (Brisbane anyway), we probably wouldn't have come over. Anyway, all worked out well, we have since split and I am now married to an Australian just to back up my PR just in case haha

i needed the license to collect my bank card with westpac

We needed it for the bank :-)