boganbear

I should have left after a couple of years but I was lazy, got stuck in a rut and didn't look for jobs out of London. Its dirty, transport is terrible, expensive, crime ridden and takes ages to get anywhere.

one of the reasons we moved from Melbourne to Brisbane was because of the weather. Its no different to the Uk, just a bit warmer. We got fed up of the rain and cold in winter. Most houses do not have any heating whatsoever so when the antarctic winds blow, you might as well be in the UK and it can be overcast for weeks on end. Spring and Autumn are nice but summer can be over 40 degrees one day and 20 the next. I would say that the weather is better than the Uk but not as good as Queensland....which can get incredibly hot too!

I would avoid London completely. I lived there for 10 years and the best thing I did was leave

I consider myself lucky then to get a job in 2 weeks of arriving in Melbourne over 5 years ago in a field that i love and which paid more than than my current job does now . However, I've had to put up with a lot of crap, changed job 5 times in 2 years and moving to Brisbane was the best thing we have done. I too found the needs Aussie experience annoying and it really is an excuse most of the time but a lot of employers also wanted me for my UK experience so it works both ways.

It can't be any worse than the Courier Mail, Herald Sun, Today Tonight, A Current Affair or even the Aussie version of the Grauniad

We are building at the moment and I would agree with Eeera, add 30% to what they say it will cost and have a good 20k extra for extras such as plugs, landscaping, outdoor tiling, solar and aircon. We have gone for top quality finishes/tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms and a double garage for resale value, not because we like really want them

It could be spam. if you havent got your confirmation letter/email of your visa then be very careful

Redfern

I just wonder what the relative's reactions would be if you told them you were moving to another part of the country and whether it would be the same. In practice, moving to Oz or somewhere a few hours drive away is the same as you can't just pop around when you feel like it but special occasions and emergencies are obviously a lot easier to manage. I've always lived many hours drive away from my family or abroad so they have effectively been strangers to me

Don;t feel guilty as you have done nothing wrong. Your parents are in the wrong for being selfish and spiteful. Follow your dreams and give it a go because if you do not then you will wonder for the rest of your life "what if". When I told my dad he was understandably upset but he said straight away to go for it and if he was 30 years younger he would have done the same (hmmm so why didn't you dad?). We speak on the phone nearly every week and he has got on with his life and got remarried and seems to be on holiday or travelling more often than he is at home. I've mentioned this before in a number of posts but my grandparents almost emigrated to oz in the 1950s with absolutely everything paid for. When the movers came Nan got cold feet and refused to go as she didnt want to leave her sister. Six months later her sister met a Canadian airman, had a whirlwind romance, got married and emmigrated to Canada. I remember Nan saying it was the biggest regret of her life. You cannot live your life through other people and what they want, you have to do what you want and is best for you, your partner and your future together.

I hope he recovers but unless a zoo's primary aim is to breed endangered animals for release in the wild they should be shut down. I'm no politically correct lefty but animals should not be used for entertainment or kept in cages where they cannot behave normally. The last time I visited a zoo was many years ago and was shocked to see how the larger animals in particular were kept at Paignton Zoo. The giraffes looked so depressed, I have refused to go to a zoo ever since. If you want to see these animals watch a documentary or go on a safari.

My credit card is with HSBC as it is fee free but you can get a fee free card with Coles now. To be honest I find the service of HSBC here to be worse than in the UK and only seem to be interested in you if you are Chinese. I went to 2 different branches and was ignored by staff but they were pretty quick to serve Chinese customers ahead of me as soon as they walked in the door. I've found NAB to be pretty good but as with banks in the UK, if you got a group of people to discuss the major banks they will all say they are rubbish

It would be very tight but if you rent, you do not pay for water or rates as the landlord has to pay these. make sure you have a lot of savings to to draw on.

Some banks do offer fee -ree accounts or fee -ree if you pay your wages into the account. If you want an overdraft you have to pay a monthly fee for it even if you do not use it. Overdrafts are not as common in Australia as in the Uk as the banks are better run and more cautious, so I would be amazed if a bank gave you one straight away.

We left simply because we could and the outlook for staying in the UK looked bleak as our temp contracts were both ending with little hope for getting permanent work. MY OH had not seen his family for many years and life in the Uk was getting very expensive with no hope of being able to buy our own home. Life has been hard at times since being in Oz but we both consider ourselves very lucky and the future looks very rosy. Despite my whingeing about Australia at times, it has been a good move and neither of us want to go back to England

It depends where you will be but i was pretty fit before emmigrating and piled on the pounds. I'm now running 5k a day and lost quite a bit but in Qld you have to be up very early as it gets too hot to do anything. If i'm not running by 5am its too late as the sun and the humidity can be horrible, particularly now and for the whole of summer. I tried swimming which I love but had to stop as I was getting sunburn, even with putting sun cream on. i was definitely fitter in England!

I would love to know where all this cheap overseas labour is coming from. everyone I know on a 457 earns far more than I do. Most 457s are not flipping burgers in Maccas but are highly skilled and qualified.

Unless you are 100% cash buyer you will probably not be able to get a mortgage if you are outside the UK. I would certainly not buy a property without seeing it myself and keeping a very beady eye on the estate agent! Just wait until you get to the UK to buy somewhere. Don't forget that renting is different in the Uk to Australia and you cannot offset maintenance expenses against rental income or negatively gear it.

A friend of mine in Adelaide managed to get a gammon joint. she had to go to the butcher, describe what it actually was and which part of the animal it was from and wait 3 weeks for the butcher to find a supplier. All of the people I know of who want gammon come from up north so it must be a northern thing.

Dont ever try to get rid of them as they do eat mozzies and other bugs. They are perfectly harmless. Just be thankful for that

I.ve just had a look at the Australian Customs website http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page5549.asp#Calculating. If you import goods over $1000 you are charged duty at 5% and GST n the cost of the goods and shipping and duty so make sure your goods are under $1000 and if they can be split up into smaller parcels, make sure they are not sent at the same time as they may consider them to be one lot of goods. Sending/ordering them a week apart might be a good idea. $1000 is about 680 pounds

Just use a UK website or send cash or lie about the value. It is pretty crap but you can blame the UK government AND the EU for that. At least in Oz you can buy stuff abroad up to $1000 before you have to pay duty etc. If you buy things from the UK or EU to go to Australia remember that VAT does not apply and should not be charged. Some sites I've been on still charge VAT when they shouldn't so I avoid using them.

We ended up buying nearly everything from Ikea as places like Nick Scali, King furniture, Adriatic were very nice but incredibly overpriced. Fantastic Furniture was cheap and looked cheap - think student houseshares, dodgy landlord cheap. Ikea wasn't too expensive and depending what you buy (some of their stuff is crap) looked not bad either. When you have to buy TVs, fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers etc as well because they are not included in rentals you have to make sacrifices somewhere.

Thomy mayonnaise from Coles is lovely. Much better than that Hellmans crap. I think the bacon is cured or semi cured, probably to stop it going off and i find it lovely and its great to have huge strips of bacon too. I've not found gammon or a decent pasty